The following study about the economic performance of the Johannesburg’s small Internet service providers investigates the economic performance of the small Internet providers against the backdrop of regulatory conditions. The study departs from the view point that reports about previous studies have not given particular attention to the economic performance of the small Internet service providers and other impacting factors. The study employed the qualitative research approach with an aim of obtaining deeper understanding and internal view as reiterated by the respondents. The analysis presented follows a guide by Neuman (2006) which departs from the premises of themes or concepts. The results of this study provide a perspective of respondents and the conclusions drawn by the researcher. The study ends by providing suggestions and recommendations for future studies. Suggestions and recommendations provided at the end have been prompted by the results and experiences encountered during the study. / M.A. (Communication Science)

A quantitative, descriptive, explorative, contextual study was conducted to determine pharmacists and drug vendors' level of knowledge, attitude towards and practice on Emergency Contraceptive (ECl in Addis Ababa. Forty licensed service providers in Addis Ababa were randomly selected during 2008 and interviewed using a structured interview schedule. Data were analysed using a computer software package. The findings revealed that although these service providers were knowledgeable on the purpose and dOSing schedule of EC, they lacked knowledge on side-effects, contra-indications, and types of ECs. Most respondents portrayed a subjective attitude towards easy EC access of especially adolescent girls, since they believed that it will encourage promiscuity and unprotected intercourse. Their knowledge and practice need to be improved, as it has a direct effect on potential users and reducing unwanted pregnancies among young. / Health Studies / M.P.H. (Health Sudies)

The backlog in foster care applications has been an issue in the Department of Health and Social Development, Johannesburg office, for the last number of years, resulting in foster care placement applications accumulating and families’ quality of life being affected and compromised. The service providers are inundated with high caseloads. Foster care applications could take up to a year or longer before they are processed and finalised at the Children’s Court. The aim of the study was to explore and describe the factors contributing to the foster care backlog from the service providers’ perspective and to provide suggestions to address this continuing backlog. The researcher employed a qualitative research approach and an explorative, descriptive and contextual research design. Factors such as high caseloads, lack of resources and lack of support and training from management were identified as contributing to the backlog. Recommendations made are the immediate filling of vacant posts, induction of new social workers, provision of adequate resources and infrastructure as well as the division of foster care services. / Social Work / M.A. (Mental Health)

Funding of Relief Services for Handicapped Children in the Liberec Region The theoretical part, divided into eight chapters, defines the following concepts: family of a handicapped child and society, relief services, domestic public sources to fund relief services, care subsidy, European sources to fund the relief service projects in 2007{--}2013, funding relief services by corporate sponsors, funding relief services through foundations and foundation funds, other sources to fund relief services. The objective of the thesis is to summarize the system, possibilities and forms of funding of relief services for handicapped children in the Liberec Region. Within my research, I applied the combination of semi-controlled interviews with the relief service providers and semi-controlled interviews with handicapped children{\crq}s parents. I also performed content analysis of documents. The semi-controlled interviews with the relief service providers showed that the current status of funding of the organizations providing relief services is not systematic. The results of the semi-controlled interviews with handicapped children{\crq}s parents indicate that the parents taking care of handicapped children in the Liberec Region barely use relief services. The interviewed parents do not distinguish between relief services and the other types of social services, do not know the organizations providing relief services in the Liberec Region and do not have even a vague idea of service costs. The research results lead to three hypotheses: the relief service providers in the Liberec Region must learn to utilize strategically both domestic and foreign financial resources. The relief service providers in the Liberec Region have the opportunity to start a long-term cooperation with corporate and individual sponsors. Handicapped children{\crq}s parents do not distinguish between relief services and the other types of social services. Keywords: relief services, social service providers, family, handicapped, handicapped child, Liberec Region, funding, financial resources.

Innovation incentives are imperfectly provided in market settings: When deciding on their innovation activity, firms tend to focus on the maximization of their private benefits, poorly internalizing social benefits. This thesis analyzes how policy intervention could be designed in order to align private and social incentives. <p><p>In the three papers of this thesis, I will consider three environments where firms' choices in a laissez-faire situation may be socially inefficient. The inefficiencies arise because of learning externalities, free riding when the innovation decision is made by a group of participants, or because firms are not willing to invest in a new activity that has a higher social than private value.<p><p>In the first thesis paper, I deal with the strategies of firms in innovative consumer product markets characterized by demand uncertainty. I analyze the timing and location decision of firms in that context.<p><p>In the second thesis paper, I consider the investment incentives of financial market infrastructures (FMIs). FMIs comprise the set of institutions that allow financial market participants to engage with each other. I assess the innovation incentives for different forms of ownership (user-owned versus third-party owned) and identify infrastructure service provision equilibria. <p><p>In the third thesis paper, I address the question of how a government should allocate a subsidy budget over time in order to maximize the innovation activity in an industry. / Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

This thesis addresses the phenomena of Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO): often MVNO do not come from the telecom sector but they rent the network to mobile operators to become fully mobile operators on their own. So they compete directly not only with the other mobile operators but also with their hosting mobile operator.<p><p>Hosting MVNOs, supporting them from both operational and commercial perspectives are new challenges for the mobile operators: they have to set up a specific internal organization because they used to be a vertically integrated industrial structure. All of this represents tremendous changes for them.<p><p>This thesis describes first the strategic models for hosting MVNOs. The regulatory aspects, that are an essential driver for the liberalization of network economies, are then analyzed. The key point is: are the MVNO able to increase the efficiency and competitiveness of mobile markets.<p><p>Another important aspect is the modelling of a mobile network: the MVNOs will use some components while other components are unuseful for them. Without such model, it is impossible to derive the right costs and price to be charged to the MVNO in order to have a win win industrial model for both the MVNO and its hosting operator.<p><p>A case study of a corporate MVNO focusing on needs of multinationals is analyzed. Such case study describes all the steps for an economic actor to become MVNO from scratch. Such MVNO are not yet present although there is a market demand.<p>The last chapter makes a comparative study of the MVNO markets in the European Union.<p><p>Cette étude aborde le phénomène des opérateurs de réseaux mobiles virtuels ;il s’agit d’acteurs économiques - parfois sans lien aucun avec les télécommunications - qui louent le réseau d’opérateurs mobiles ;ils deviennent à leur tour opérateurs à part entière au point de devenir concurrent non seulement des autres opérateurs mobiles mais aussi de l’opérateur mobile qui leur a loué une partie de son réseau.<p><p>L’hébergement technique de l’opérateur virtuel, son support opérationnel et commercial, l’organisation que doit mettre en place l’opérateur mobile pour héberger son opérateur virtuel afin de partager avec lui son réseau sont des nouveaux défis auxquels les opérateurs mobiles, habitués à être des structures industrielles totalement intégrées verticalement, font face pour la première fois.<p><p>Cette étude traite des modèles d’implémentation des opérateurs de réseaux mobiles virtuels :elle aborde d’abord les aspects stratégiques qui fixent le cadre pour les opérateurs mobiles qui veulent ou sont forcés à héberger des opérateurs virtuels. Les aspects réglementaires, une composante essentielle des économies de réseaux en voie de libéralisation, sont ensuite étudiés, en particulier, comment les opérateurs virtuels peuvent contribuer à améliorer la compétitivité et la libéralisation de ces marchés.<p><p>L’étude modélise ensuite le réseau d’un opérateur mobile de façon à mettre en évidence les éléments à partager qui seront utilisés par l’opérateur virtuel. Cette modélisation est essentielle pour déterminer le coût de l’hébergement et du partage du réseau de façon à créer les conditions de rentabilité de ce modèle d’opérateur virtuel.<p><p>On aborde enfin un cas d’étude d’un candidat à devenir opérateur de réseau mobile virtuel qui souhaite répondre à la demande transnationale des grandes entreprises. Ce type d’opérateur virtuel est encore inexistant de nos jours.<p>Enfin, nous terminons par une étude comparée de la situation des opérateurs mobiles virtuels à travers l’Union Européenne.<p><p> / Doctorat en sciences appliquées / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Electronic Payment Systems (EPS) are gaining popularity all over the world. An EPS consists of many component technologies which facilitate cashless payments for services. The focus of this thesis is on device associated technologies that an end customer uses to initiate an e-payment for a particular service via a Payment Service Provider (PSP). A technology solution in an EPS is developed by a Payment Solution Developer (PSD). The market between a PSP and a PSD is a B2B market. A PSD must understand and develop that combination of technology and service which will successfully diffuse. The success of a PSP therefore depends a lot on what a PSD develops. A theoretical framework to measure diffusion of e-payment technologies, services and their combinations in the B2B market was developed and empirically assessed in this thesis. Two concepts namely concept of breadth and concept of spread were defined. The concept of breadth and spread were applied to e-payment technologies, services and their combinations. The derived concepts namely technology breadth, service breadth, technology spread, service spread and technology-service combination spread were defined and measured. We then extended the concept of breadth to understand utilization of technologies and services within an EPS. Set theory was used to describe the framework. A sample of 45 EPS was compiled from various sources. This secondary data of EPS consisted of 8 technologies and 16 services. The 8 technologies are Interactive Voice Response (IVR), text messaging using Short Messaging Service (SMS), text messaging using Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD), mobile internet using Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), mobile application, Near Field Communication (NFC), Personal Computer (PC) internet and smart card. The 16 services are retail shopping payment, banking, health payment, insurance payment, mobile bill payment, mobile recharge, money transfer, movie ticket booking, parking fee payment, restaurant payment, payment at sports/swimming club, toll payment, transportation payment, tuition fee payment, utilities payment, and vending machine payment. Three categories of PSPs namely core payment service providers (n=18), non-core payment service providers (n=12) and merchants (n=15) were identified from the 45 EPS. Binomial proportion test was used to verify the concepts of breadth and spread. Spearman correlation was used to find correlation between the concept of breadth and spread of technologies and services. The 45 EPS in the sample were then grouped under three sub groups based on the categories of their PSPs. Binomial tests were used within each sub group to understand the preferences of technologies, services and their combinations by each category. The results verified that certain e-payment technologies possess more breadth i.e., capability to deliver many e-payment services and certain e-payment services possess more breadth i.e., delivered by many e-payment technologies. A difference in diffusion i.e., spread of technologies, services and their combinations were observed. Details of these differences are discussed in this thesis for technologies, services and their combinations. A positive correlation was observed between the concept of breadth and spread. Specialization of technologies, services and their combinations within categories of PSPs were observed. Variations in utilization of technologies and services by EPS were observed.

Under en lång tidsperiod har transportering av gods förekommit och i dagens samhälle blir det allt mer vanligt att man anlitar en tredjepartslogistik-aktör (TPL-aktör) som sköter hela eller delar av ett företags distribution. Fallföretaget i denna studie är en nyetablerad TPL-aktör som idag inte nått ut till så många kunder som önskat. Fallföretaget erbjuder ett flertal tjänsten inom logistik, som t.ex. lagring, packning, transport, flyggodshantering och säkerhetsrådgivning.   Syftet med denna studie är att identifiera och redogöra för vilka krav som är betydelsefulla vid urval av TPL-aktör. För att kunna skapa ett underlag till studien samt besvara studiens syfte har litteraturstudier samt intervjuer genomförts med fallföretaget, tre av deras befintliga kunder samt en potentiell kund. Utifrån vetenskapliga artiklar, litteratur samt webbsidor har en relevant teori tagits fram. Studiens empiriska material som bestod av intervjuer jämfördes och ställdes i en analys, mot den samlade teorin (för att därefter kunna dra en slutsats).   Resultatet består av intervjuer med befintliga kunder att samt en intervju med en potentiell kund. I intervjun framkommer det att de mest förekommande och avgörande kraven som ställs vid val av TPL-aktör för kunderna samt fallföretaget är leveranssäkerhet, pris och kundservice. Kund A och den potentiella kunden är de enda som nämner närhet som en betydande faktor. Även informationsdelning är en faktor som nämns att vara betydande för respondenterna. Kund A samt den potentiella kunden ser flexibilitet som ett avgörande krav vid val av TPL-aktör. Alla befintliga kunder samt den potentiella kunden värdesätter leveranssäkerhet väldigt högt. Kund C anser att rätt resurser och rätt egenskaper är ett krav som ställs på TPL-aktören men även den potentiella kunden ser det som en betydande faktor.   Man kan dra slutsatsen att de främsta anledningarna till varför företag väljer att outsourcar delar av sin logistikverksamhet beror på att de vill spara pengar och fokusera på den egna kärnverksamheten. De mest förkommande kraven som ställs på en TPL-aktör enligt de kunder som intervjuats, är god leveranssäkerhet, bra pris, bra kundservice, korrekt informationsdelning och god flexibilitet. Rätt resurser och rätt egenskaper som hög pålitlighet är faktorer som specifika för just val av TPL-aktör, inom flyggodslogistik. / Transportation of goods has existed for a long period of time, and in today's society it has become increasingly common to employ a third-party logistics actor (TPL-actor) which manages all or part of a company's distribution. The case company in this study is a newly established TPL-actor which has not yet reached as many customers as desired. The case company offers a number of logistics services, such as storage, packing, transport, handling of flight goods and safety consulting.   The purpose of this study is to identify and describe what requirements are important when selecting a TPL actor.   A literature study have been conducted. Existing and potential customers of the case company have been interviewed. The study´is empirical material that consisted of interviews was compared and later, in a analysis, put up against the overall study to draw a conclusion.   As for the findings, it consists existing customers as well as an interview with a potential customer. It appears in the interview that delivery security, price and customer service are the most occurring and crucial requirements when choosing a TPL-actor. Customer A and the potential customer are the only ones that mentions proximity as a significant factor. Information sharing is also another factor which is significant according to the respondents. Costumer A and the potential customer sees flexibility as a crucial requirement when choosing a TPL-actors as well. All existing customers and the potential customer values delivery security highly. Customer C considers that right resources and right attributes is a requirement placed on the TPL-actor which the potential customer agrees upon.   As a conclusion, the main reason to why companies outsource the parts of their logistics management is to save money and focus on the core competence of the business. The most occurring requirements placed on TPL-actors according to the interviewed customers are, good delivery security, good price, good customer service, correct information sharing and good flexibility. Right resources, right attributes as well as high reliability are factors that are specific regarding the selection of TPL-actors, within air goods logistics.

Magister Commercii - MCom / The Internet is now facilitating the provision of an increasing number of services. Thus, technology has become a more integrated part of people‟s daily routine. Some of these technologies include electronic communication, online banking, and shopping as well as electronic learning - to name but a few. However, for various reasons, such as limited formal education (which is a key promoter of reading and writing skills), access and skills, not everyone has an equal opportunity to benefit from the use of these technologies. The unequal distribution of opportunities of such nature is often broadly referred to as the digital divide. That is the gap between those who have access to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and those who do not. One noted challenge that influences the use of ICT consists of socioeconomic conditions, which together elicit high levels of poverty. An identified strategy for uplifting these areas was (and still is) entrepreneurship, notably small businesses. These small businesses however, generally have very short and mostly unsuccessful lives. As a result the government at all levels (national, provincial and local) has endeavoured to provide support to these businesses. Some of this support is provided through mediums, such as the Internet (here named “electronic support”) to assist these small businesses. This support, which comes from government, is however, not being fully utilised by the intended beneficiaries. Thus, the small businesses are not benefiting from the support provided. Consequently, many are still experiencing a short and unsuccessful existence. This research thus analyses the small businesses in areas of the greater Cape Town, which are characterised by high levels of poverty and unemployment. Previous studies in these areas have reported the lack of ICT related skills, also known as electronic skills (e-skills), as one of the reasons for the low uptake of electronic support (e-support). This e-support is provided by various levels of government through selected agencies (service providers). In essence, this study is aimed at investigating the influence of e-skills in the access and use of the provided e-support by owners of small businesses. Considering that the lack of adequate e-skills has been identified as influencing the use of e-support, the study also aims to identify the e-skills needed to fully utilise the provided e-support. The approach to this investigation included a review of pertinent literature and devising a conceptual model. This model was then tested in the empirical setting of this study. This setting included: (i) Providers of e-support (various specialised government agencies) and (ii) the intended beneficiaries of this esupport, i.e. small businesses in the previously disadvantaged areas (PDAs) of the greater Cape Town. Through the use of case study methodology and face to face interviews, it was found that many small business owners were not able to appropriately use the provided e-support. This was due to their lack of e-skills, which resulted in their inability to use ICT. Additionally, some were unaware of the existence of the e-support or the service providers. During the review of pertinent literature done as part of the study, an e-skills framework was designed. The framework identified the e-skills considered necessary in order for small business owners to effectively utilise the provided e-support and other technologies. The e-skills framework suggested by this study could be used as a tool to assist: (i) The providers of e-support to understand the usage of their services and enable (ii) a more informed understanding of the need for appropriate e-skills among small business owners, in relation to their use of the provided e-support. Additionally, (iii) small business owners should be in a better position to recognise the benefits of using technology, especially the Internet. The contribution of this study is seen as twofold. Firstly, it should assist the providers and users of e-support. This is done by addressing the practical side of the provision and usage of these services. Secondly, the study contributes an informative e-skills framework related to the effective use of esupport. This study also furthers academic knowledge in the area of the investigation, and suggests further directions for research. Considering, the limited small business sample (only participants from three PDAs), the generalisation of this study is limited. This limitation does not however, influence the validity of this research, or the credibility of the findings.

Act No. 108/2006 Coll., on social services and bureaucratization of the activities of NGOs This thesis deals with the Social Services Act (No. 108/2006 Coll.) in the context of the bureaucratization of the activities of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that are providers of social services. The first order of business is to answer the question whether the law contains elements of the bureaucracy, which the law establishes in the activities of social services providers. A second related objective is to determine whether NGO consider the elements of bureaucracy contained in the Act on Social Services as the main obstacles for the way they operate and whether in connection with their introduction observe within their organization typical dysfunctions associated with the process of bureaucratization. Theoretical background and set of research tools are based on R.H. Hall's research in the field of dimensional analysis of elements present in the structure of bureaucratic organizations. As a research method to achieve the first objective is used quantitative content analysis. The results of the analysis confirm that the Social Services Act contains elements that bureaucratise activities of social services providers. As a research method to achieve the second objective of the thesis is a quantitative...