Purpose The aim of this thesis is to find out the perception of the usefulness of key performance indicators (KPIs) among Logistics service providers (LSP) who are in the category of Micro and Small enterprises (MSEs) companies in Dhaka and Chittagong in Bangladesh. What is the perception of the usefulness of Key performance Indicators (KPIs) among the managers of LSP MSEs in Bangladesh? Methodology The data for this thesis was collected through qualitative research techniques through semi-structured interviews with 7 LSP MSE companies In Bangladesh. Theory Theory section highlighted the challenges LSP MSE companies continuously face. With an increasing number of companies, the number of LSPS are growing at a faster pace to support those companies. LSP MSE companies have to compete more in a vibrant market for which it is crucial for them to track the performance of their company and make continual improvements. KPIs are a performance measurement tool which can help the LSP MSE companies to be more competitive in the market as business survival is one of the main priorities of these companies.  Empirical findings, Analysis and Discussion This part presents the responses from the managers of LSP MSEs and then the narratives are explained with supportive theories. Findings show a moderate level of adoption of KPIs among the companies. With the right KPIs companies are able to turn the complex matter into a simple form with KPIs. KPIs can enable the companies towards better decision making processes with a clear picture about the direction. To improve the business performance, interviewed companies perceive that on time delivery, customer order cycle time, supply chain cycle time, on time shipping rate, number of customer returns, returns on investment, paying and returning customers are the most suitable for them. With KPIs they are able to act quickly when there is a downward trend in the company. Interviewed companies assert that KPIs provide a clearer view of the overall health of the organization than other performance assessment techniques.

<p>Interrogating the concept of power is ethical social work practice. This research aims to investigate the manner in which visible minority women social service providers perceive the concept of power as non-managerial employees in the women’s shelter system. Therefore, the necessity to delineate the ongoing challenges and contradictions that shape the work experiences of visible minority women social service providers contributes and furthers our understanding of social justice, critical social work practice, and strategies to enhance workplace equity. In addressing the phenomenon of power from the viewpoint of those affected, this ultimately helps to broaden the understanding how as social workers it remains pivotal to raise awareness about the ongoing power imbalances in social services settings. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews with visible minority women employed in the women’s shelter system in southern, Ontario were conducted and complement the author’s own personal reflections as a visible minority woman previously employed in the Violence Against Women’s shelter system. This research suggests that due to ongoing power differentials, neoliberal restructuring and discriminatory incidents, continued attention is required in order to address social inequality and enhance workplace equity.</p> / Master of Social Work (MSW)

Urbanization, changing forest landowner values, and restructuring forest industry are creating challenges for the active management of small parcels of forestland. Many traditional service providers are reluctant to service small acreage parcels due to economies of scale, shrinking profit margins for unprocessed stumpage, and changing landowner expectations. They do not understand traditional forestry operations and do not know where to look for service providers. A gap in our nation's forest system has emerged. A new market opportunity exists for service providers willing to work with small-scale forest landowners. In this study, over sixty forest service providers working with small acreage or amenity oriented clients were interviewed to determine how their business is structured, how they charge for the services they provide, what reactions they get from their clients, and how successful they perceive themselves to be. Informants came from a wide variety of professional backgrounds, including forestry, logging, arboriculture, landscaping, and woodworking. In addition, about 20 public-forest professionals were interviewed to determine how they and their programs are changing in response to emerging conditions. Successful service providers generally charge by some measure of time and materials rather than by commission. They exhibit a willingness to diversify their business to offer a bundle of services, and to cooperate with professionals in related industries. Value-added processing and creative marketing assist service providers in achieving a profit from small-scale tracts with traditionally low-value products. Lessons learned from these early adopters will assist other service providers interested in working with small acreage private landowners. / Master of Science

A study is done on the protection of sound recordings in the decentralized peer-to-peer (DP2P) file sharing in the United States, the United Kingdom and South Africa. This study reveals that because sound recordings have unique features different from other copyright works, the illegal sharing of sound recordings can ordinarily be filtered, identified, and detected by the Internet service providers (ISPs) before granting access to users and without infringing the users‟ right to privacy. However, the ISPs have failed in this regard, hence, they are strictly held liable under the contributory, vicarious and inducing infringements notwithstanding the statutory law which prohibits ISPs from monitoring, and intercepting their networks. In fact and law, the terms filtering, identifying and detecting on the one hand and monitoring and intercepting on the other hand are different in relation to sound recordings and as such ISPs are not prohibited from filtering, identifying and detecting illegal sound recordings on their networks, thus, ISPs are not protected under the limitation law as it is generally believed. However, several recommendations are made for reform, inter alia: a review of the limitation law to include the terms filtering, identifying and detecting in pursuance of the terms monitoring, and intercepting, if the intention of the legislators was meant to include the latter terms; protection of access right in digital sound recordings, protection of the neighbouring rights of ISPs in the digital world, imposing levies on all recording equipment, the insurability of sound recordings and ISPs‟ signals, and bandwidth. / Mercentile Law / LL. M. (Mercantile Law)

A study is done on the protection of sound recordings in the decentralized peer-to-peer (DP2P) file sharing in the United States, the United Kingdom and South Africa. This study reveals that because sound recordings have unique features different from other copyright works, the illegal sharing of sound recordings can ordinarily be filtered, identified, and detected by the Internet service providers (ISPs) before granting access to users and without infringing the users‟ right to privacy. However, the ISPs have failed in this regard, hence, they are strictly held liable under the contributory, vicarious and inducing infringements notwithstanding the statutory law which prohibits ISPs from monitoring, and intercepting their networks. In fact and law, the terms filtering, identifying and detecting on the one hand and monitoring and intercepting on the other hand are different in relation to sound recordings and as such ISPs are not prohibited from filtering, identifying and detecting illegal sound recordings on their networks, thus, ISPs are not protected under the limitation law as it is generally believed. However, several recommendations are made for reform, inter alia: a review of the limitation law to include the terms filtering, identifying and detecting in pursuance of the terms monitoring, and intercepting, if the intention of the legislators was meant to include the latter terms; protection of access right in digital sound recordings, protection of the neighbouring rights of ISPs in the digital world, imposing levies on all recording equipment, the insurability of sound recordings and ISPs‟ signals, and bandwidth. / Mercentile Law / LL. M. (Mercantile Law)

A qualitative study was undertaken to develop an understanding of the social welfare services rendered to street children and to ascertain how these social welfare services can be enhanced from the perspective of service providers employed by NGOs in Pretoria. An explorative, descriptive and contextual research design was utilised. The researcher used purposive and non-probability sampling methods to draw the sample. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect information from nine service providers working with street children. Data were analysed according to the framework provided by Tesch (in Creswell, 2009). Data was verified using Guba‘s model (in Krefting, 1991).The study highlights challenges faced by NGOs in providing social welfare services to street children. The study provides a critical analysis of some of the key social welfare service challenges that need to be addressed to ensure effective and sustainable delivery of social welfare services. how these social welfare services can be enhanced from the perspective of service providers employed by NGOs in Pretoria. An explorative, descriptive and contextual research design was utilised. The researcher used purposive and non-probability sampling methods to draw the sample. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect information from nine service providers working with street children. Data were analysed according to the framework provided by Tesch (in Creswell, 2009). Data was verified using Guba‘s model (in Krefting, 1991).The study highlights challenges faced by NGOs in providing social welfare services to street children. The study provides a critical analysis of some of the key social welfare service challenges that need to be addressed to ensure effective and sustainable delivery of social welfare services. the social welfare services rendered to street children and to ascertain how these social welfare services can be enhanced from the perspective of service providers employed by NGOs in Pretoria. An explorative, descriptive and contextual research design was utilised. The researcher used purposive and non-probability sampling methods to draw the sample. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect information from nine service providers working with street children. Data were analysed according to the framework provided by Tesch (in Creswell, 2009). Data was verified using Guba‘s model (in Krefting, 1991).The study highlights challenges faced by NGOs in providing social welfare services to street children. The study provides a critical analysis of some of the key social welfare service challenges that need to be addressed to ensure effective and sustainable delivery of social welfare services. / Social Work / MA (Social Work)

The American social welfare system is a mixed system consisting of loosely coupled government programs, private nonprofit and for-profit organizations, grassroots and religious entities. Although religious entities historically played a key role in the development of the social welfare system, the faith-based initiative of President George W. Bush targeted religious service providers to receive government funding and take on a larger role in service delivery to at-risk populations based on the belief that these providers were substantially different from traditional providers. Using a cross-sectional research design and a survey instrument created for the study, data was collected from 121 nonprofit service providers in the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area of Virginia. Nonprofit organizations were selected from three online databases using identified criteria and sent paper surveys and/or emails inviting them to complete a web-based survey. The study identified similarities and differences between characteristics of faith-based service providers and traditional providers and used a conceptual model composed of Resource Dependence Theory and Neo-Institutional Theory to suggest dynamics impacting similarities and differences between providers. Data analysis included univariate and multivariate analysis of organization characteristics. Univariate findings identified that faith-based organizations in the study were older, served more people in 2006, generally provided services via volunteers, received more funding from congregations and other religious entities and did not favor membership in professional organizations. Other than these notable differences, faith-based providers were fairly similar to their traditional counterparts. A multivariate analysis used a two-group discriminant function (DFA) procedure to determine which variables best discriminated between provider groups. Two variables, funding from congregations/other religious entities and funding from government grants/contracts, were found to be the most important discriminating variables. Study findings were consistent with prior research comparing the provider groups. Although some differences do exist, overall similarities tended to outweigh differences suggesting that the claim of substantially differences between providers did not fit the geographic area studied. For those concerned with community service delivery, the implication is that recent economic developments suggest that attention should be placed on collaboration and service delivery capacity-building rather than on the differences between service providers.

The thesis explores the influence of economic recession and recovery on strategy of courier, express and parcel service providers and on a change of the service portfolio. It then focuses on the development of the supply chain caused by increasing volume of small consignment. The thesis also analyzes the impact of the economic crisis on employment and turnover of selected service providers.

Due to strong growth in the virtual business environment, online internationalization has become a topic of high interest. This makes it necessary for firms providing software online to carefully investigate and understand barriers and differences in countries before entering them. Further, companies expanding abroad face a variety of differences compared to their home market, which has to be carefully understood in order to succeed internationally and to avoid misinterpretations. This thesis took a qualitative approach and was based on six semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions, all performed with CEOs, founders or managers with explicit knowledge in the online internationalization phase of their firms. The insights from the interviews acknowledge which differences and barriers the firms faced and how they perceived them. The outline and result of the study were based on the four dimensions of cultural, administrative, geographic and economic challenges. The result showed that the cultural and geographic dimensions were barely perceived as barriers by the firms, the administrative dimensions moderately, whereas the companies clearly perceived the economic dimensions as barriers in their internationalization processes. Additional findings of the study were the importance of cultural leadership, hierarchies &amp; decision-making processes, high-density clusters and pricing strategies.

Programas que contemplem a restauração florestal são importantes para conter o processo de degradação ambiental. A análise do processo de restauração florestal se faz necessária para verificar como estas ações vêm sendo realizado e quais suas características, bem como os principais atores do processo. Este estudo apresenta um diagnóstico do estado atual e das tendências que guiam o processo de restauração florestal no Estado de São Paulo realizado por prestadores de serviços e organizações do terceiro setor. No primeiro capitulo é apresentada uma revisão com aspectos conceituais e práticos da restauração florestal, com a descrição das partes interessadas da restauração. No segundo capítulo foi realizado um diagnóstico do processo de restauração florestal realizado por organizações do terceiro setor (organizações não governamentais) e empresas prestadoras de serviços da área. Para isto foram realizadas visitas a campo e entrevistas com organizações do terceiro setor e prestadores de serviços que desenvolvem projetos de restauração florestal. No capítulo três foi realizado um estudo de caso analisando a colheita de sementes para a restauração florestal por produtores familiares na região de Ribeirão Grande, SP. De acordo com os resultados obtidos no diagnóstico observa-se que a restauração florestal realizada por organizações do terceiro setor e prestadores de serviço do Estado de São Paulo está seguindo duas vertentes: a restauração para recuperação e conservação ambiental e, a restauração devido a exigências legais, para compensação de passivos ambientais ou licenciamento ambiental. Dentro destas vertentes têm surgido novos mercados de valorização da floresta, como o marketing ambiental e o mercado voluntário de compensação das emissões de carbono. As organizações do terceiro setor são também articuladoras do processo, tendo um trabalho importante na captação de recursos para a restauração e na formação de uma consciência ambiental pela sociedade. Para a maioria das organizações do terceiro setor e alguns prestadores de serviços, o processo de restauração florestal tem obtido melhores resultados quando envolvem atividades de educação ambiental e ações participativas com as comunidades envolvidas. A diversidade de espécies utilizadas nos projetos aumentou, bem como a preocupação com a qualidade das sementes utilizadas, apesar da dificuldade de rastreamento do processo. A atividade de colheita de sementes por pequenos produtores familiares tem se desenvolvido como um complemento à renda em regiões com fragmentos de mata nativa. A colheita de sementes também proporcionou uma maior valorização da floresta pelos produtores rurais. As dificuldades enfrentadas pelos produtores relacionam-se à falta de capacitação com a colheita, a identificação das espécies, a marcação de matrizes e também com o transporte das sementes. A colheita de sementes trouxe alguns benefícios econômicos para os produtores, porém aquém do esperado, em parte pela falta de estruturação na comercialização das sementes e de capacitação para a colheita. Os resultados encontrados poderão ser úteis na formulação de políticas públicas para regular e guiar o processo de restauração florestal e a melhoria da qualidade dos projetos resultantes. / Forest restoration programs are important to mitigate environmental degradation. The analysis of forest restoration process is needed in order to determine how these programs are being carried out, its mains characteristics, as well as who are the key stakeholders. This study provides an analysis of the current state and trends that drive the process of forest restoration in the São Paulo State conducted by NGOs and service providers. The first chapter presents a review addressing conceptual and empirical aspects of forest restoration. The descriptions of main stakeholders involved with restoration projects were also reported. Chapter two presents an analysis of forest restoration projects and their underlying process. Field visits and interviews were conducted with NGOs and service providers for forest restoration projects. In chapter three a case study was conducted based on seed collection practices for forest restoration by farmers in the region of Ribeirao Grande, SP, Brazil. The results of this thesis show that the restoration projects are being conducted for two main purposes: for recovery and conservation of environmental services and due the legal requirements to compensate or for compliance with environmental licensing. New markets and opportunities had emerged for forest restoration, such as green marketing and voluntary compensation of carbon emissions. NGOs are important players, raising funds for the restoration and environmental awareness. Forest restoration projects have shown better results when they involve environmental education and participatory activities with communities. The diversity of species used in these projects has increased, as well as awareness about seed quality, despite difficulties from collection, tracing and proper economic valuation. Seed collection by small farmers has generated income alternatives for areas with native forest fragments. Farmers are also giving proper value to forest areas. Seed producers main difficulties are associated with seed collection, species identification, seeds transportation and seed registration. Seed collection brought some economic benefits for collectors, but less than expected, partly due to the lack of seed market structure and of capacitation. These results may be useful for policy making and makers to regulate and guide the process of forest restoration, and improving quality of the resulting projects.