Submitted in fulfillment of the requirement for D Phil: Management Sciences (Marketing), Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2017. / There has been substantial research related to small and medium-sized Chinese enterprises in various countries. However, little research has been done on marketing by Chinese entrepreneurs in South Africa. Furthermore, no documented research has been conducted on the use of marketing intelligence by Chinese entrepreneurs in KwaZulu-Natal. For entrepreneurs, marketing intelligence plays an important role in the performance of their businesses. This study is aimed at assessing the application of marketing intelligence by Chinese entrepreneurs regarding their survival, growth and success in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. This study was conducted within the main industrial areas in KwaZulu-Natal, where Chinese entrepreneurs are based. The research was of a quantitative, descriptive and cross sectional nature, conducted among a sample of 120 business owners, managers, marketing executives and senior staff. The results revealed that the use of marketing intelligence in strategic decision-making by Chinese entrepreneurs in KwaZulu-Natal is very limited. The extent of awareness of marketing intelligence was fairly low. It also emerged that most of the respondents still acknowledged the importance of marketing intelligence and the role it could play in their businesses’ success. Pursuant to the general requirement for an original contribution in a doctoral thesis, the study provides a framework for current and potential Chinese entrepreneurs with regard to the application of marketing intelligence in their marketing planning. / D

國際貿易對臺灣經濟有著舉足輕重的影響力，然而隨著貿易商競爭越發激烈以及去中間化之議題逐漸興起，臺灣的貿易商為了提升競爭力逐漸轉型，使自身企業之價值更加提升。貿易商轉型後之角色，以銷售代理商為被學者探討最多之主題，研究者認為採購的角色也是交易不容忽視的另一方，因此本研究以國際採購代理商為研究主題，探討採購代理商如何保有競爭力，吸引客戶與其合作，以及如何在與客戶合作時發揮中間商之功能與價值。 　　本研究之研究問題為：「哪些因素會影響國際採購代理商與客戶合作之內容?」，經過文獻探討及研究者之採購經驗歸納，本研究整理出五類因素影響採購代理商與客戶之合作內容：(1)外國客戶之合作動機；(2)外國客戶之策略與資源；(3)採購代理商之策略與資源；(4)採購代理商與外國客戶之合作成果；(5)採購代理商與外國客戶之合作關係。本研究以個案研究法進行研究，並搜尋次級資料及實際訪問採購代理商與採購協會來進行個案分析及整理，進而提出結論與建議，期望本研究結果對於採購代理商之業者及欲轉型為採購代理商之業者具參考價值。 　　透過資料蒐集及個案訪談之結果，本研究之研究結果支持研究初期所設計之研究架構。外國客戶之合作動機、外國客戶之策略與資源與採購代理商之策略與資源會影響雙方之合作內容與方式，合作之結果有可能是好的或不好的，也有糾紛發生的情形，這些合作結果會影響雙方之合作關係，而關係的強化、弱化會影響下次的合作內容，或是產生停止合作的結果。本研究依據研究發現，整理五類因素之內容，以供業者參考。本研究建議業者須發展企業自身之獨特核心資源，並建立與客戶及供應商夥伴關係，以持續保有自身之競爭力。 / International trade has decisive influences over Taiwan’s economy. As competition between traders has become more intense, and companies are taking consideration about disintermediation, Taiwan’s traders need to transform themselves to enhance their values and strengths for competiveness. Sales agents are the most popular role for this kind of research topic; however, the author thinks purchasing agents are also important. This research aims at studying how international purchasing agents remains their competitiveness to attract their clients and display their functions and values as middlemen. The research question is “How purchasing agents cooperate with their clients?” According literature review and purchasing experience from the author, the research summarizes five cooperation influential factors between purchasing agents and clients: (1) incentives for clients working with purchasing agents, (2) strategies and resources of clients, (3) strategies and resources of purchasing agents, (4) results of cooperation between purchasing agents and clients, and (5) relations between purchasing agents and clients. The research used case study method with collecting information and visiting target companies and institute to analyze and organize summery along with suggestion. The purpose of the research is giving valuable reference for purchasing agents and those who will become purchasing agents. After analyzing related information and visiting target companies and institute, the result of the research supports the research framework. Incentives for clients working with purchasing agents, strategies and resources of clients and strategies and resources of purchasing agents influence ways and contents of cooperation between two parties. Results of cooperation may be positive or negative, and even disputes can occur between two parties. These results will strengthen, weaken or even end cooperative relationship between purchasing agents and clients. According to research findings, the author summarizes contents of five cooperative influential factors between purchasing agents and clients for reference. The research suggests purchasing agents should develop their core resources and built up relations with clients and suppliers for maintaining their competitiveness.

La déconstruction des liens de coopération entre les pouvoirs publics locaux et les migrants s'opère dans cette thèse par l'étude des réseaux d'alliance stratégiques en France et au Mali. Ils sont à l'origine du processus d'institutionnalisation de la migration et du développement dans les dispositifs locaux de coopération internationale dans la région de Kayes au Mali. L'engagement de ces acteurs met en lumière la multiplicité des stratégies de légitimation et la divergence des intérêts. La cohabitation de ces différentes rationalités permet d'étudier la dimension stratégique de cette alliance au prisme des luttes d'influence, de pouvoir, de résistance à la domination, d'identification et d'auto-identification. Cette recherche montre que malgré leur hétérogénéité, ces éléments contribuent de manière paradoxale à unifier les acteurs de la configuration locale de la migration et du développement. L'étude de cas de la coopération décentralisée entre la région de Kayes, la région d'Île-de-France et les ressortissants de la région de Kayes en France est mobilisée pour révéler l'importance stratégique de l'alliance créée entre migrants, pouvoirs locaux et ONG. Elle permet notamment de cerner les tensions, conflits et relations d'interdépendance au cœur des changements et des recompositions de la coopération décentralisée franco-malienne depuis maintenant trois décennies. La spécificité de cette coopération est finalement mise en exergue au moyen de l'étude de cas comparative des modes d'engagement français et canadiens dans le développement local au Mali. / The study of cooperation between local governments and migrants is realized in this research through its focus on strategic alliances networks in France and Mali. These networks are involved in the institutionalization process of migration and development in international activities of local governments in the region of Kayes (Mali). The commitment of these actors highlights the multiplicity of legitimization strategies, the marginalization of minority communities and the divergent interests. This research shows that despite their heterogeneity these issues contribute paradoxically to unify the actors of local migration and development configuration. The case study of decentralized cooperation between the region of Kayes, the region of Île-de-France and the migrants originated from Kayes is mobilized to reveal the strategic importance of the alliance created between migrants, local authorities and NGOs. It allows to identify the tensions, conflicts and interdependent relationship at the heart of changes and reconfigurations of franco-malian decentralized cooperation for the past three decades. The specificity of this cooperation is ultimately highlighted by comparative case study of French and Canadian modes of engagement in local development in Mali. This demonstration put special emphasis on the critical discourses of the Malian authorities as partners of international cooperation.

The purpose of this research project was threefold: 1) to establish a set of research questions, propositions and hypotheses about the nature of international fast-food franchising; 2) to identify the distinctive strategies employed by fast-food franchise firms in foreign markets and 3) to provide a set of guidelines for managers which will assist them in dealing with the challenges of initiating and expanding a fast-food franchise system in a foreign country. A multiple-case study approach was used focusing on how U. S . franchise firms have adapted their domestic business practices to the Canadian, Japanese, and Russian Markets. Special attention was given to the degree to which their firms have modified franchise objectives, expansion strategies, marketing mix elements, control system and support services. A principal finding of this research project is that fast-food companies do in fact extend domestic franchise strategies to foreign markets when expanding internationally. However, they do make certain alterations in their domestic method of doing business. The alterations are in the areas of expansion strategies, franchise objectives, control systems and support services. These alterations do not follow a consistent pattern. They vary from country to country and from firm to firm. / Ph. D.

Bakgrund: Digitaliseringen har lett till förändrade förutsättningar för finansmarknaden och finansiella tjänster som Swish och Bank-ID är idag väletablerade och används av miljontals svenskar. I takt med utökad innovation har fintech-bolagen vuxit fram, vilka sträcker sig från mindre start-ups till framgångsrika aktörer som Klarna. Fintech-bolag erbjuder finansiella lösningar på ett digitalt innovativt sätt. Till följd av införandet av PSD2 som innebär att banker är skyldiga att möjliggöra transaktion och kontoinformation till tredjepartsaktörer, har intresset vuxit bland nya aktörer att ge sig in i finansbranschen. För bankerna har detta inneburit förändrade marknadsförutsättningar med kunder som väljer att ha sitt finansiella innehav hos olika finansiella aktörer. Bankerna har inte längre den hela bankkunden och ett sätt att bemöta den nya marknadssituationen har varit för bankerna att ingå strategiska allianser med fintech-bolag.   Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen har varit att undersöka och identifiera vilka strategiska val de fyra största bankerna i Sverige har gjort för att möta den nya utmaningen från fintech-bolag.  Metod: Studien är en kvalitativ fallstudie, vars datainsamling inhämtats från fem semistrukturerade intervjuer med respondenter från de fyra största bankerna i Sverige. Studien har en deduktiv ansats med induktiva inslag och intervjuunderlaget framtogs utifrån vald referensram. Utifrån empiri, referensram samt tidigare forskning har analys genomförts för att redogöra bankernas strategiska val samt operativa risker.      Slutsats: Studien visar att de fyra största bankerna i Sverige använt strategier av varierande karaktär när de ingått samarbeten med fintech-bolag. Fokus på snabbhet, för att som bank vara aktuell på marknaden samt en ökad flexibilitet som mindre formellt knutna samarbeten bidrar till, identifieras som anledningar till att bankerna väljer att ingå samarbeten med fintech-bolag. Studien identifierar två huvudsakliga orsaker som motverkar bankernas innovationskraft, vilka grundar sig i en historisk passivitet till innovation samt omfattande regleringar. Vidare argumenteras skillnader i kultur och riskattityd som försvårande omständigheter för ett framgångsrikt samarbete mellan parterna. I samband med strategiska allianser har flertalet operativa risker identifierats, vilka riskerar få konsekvenser på bankernas rykte och varumärke. Samarbetena riskerar medföra konsekvenser som berör hela bankernas verksamheter, varför grundläggande riskanalys blir viktigt för bankerna att genomföra innan samarbetena ingås. Däremot konstaterar studien att svårigheter uppstår vid utförandet av riskanalys till följd av att många nya fintech-bolag saknar den bolagsdata som krävs för att fastställa riskprofil.

[pt] O objetivo desse trabalho é contribuir com a literatura de alianças estratégicas e desempenho de inovação.Especificamente, pretende investigar o papel da Diversidade nos portfolios de Aliança e seu impacto no desempenho das firmas.Este estudo busca replicar e adaptar relações e construtos observados em outros artigos para um país latino americano. É utilizado modelo de modelagem de equações estruturais (SEM) através de micro-dados fornecidos pesquisa nacional de Inovação da Colômbia baseadas no manual de Oslo. A presente dissertação desenvolve um estudo cross-sectional do país selecionado, faz uma breve revisão dos modelos anteriores e propõe um nova modelo para estudar suas hipóteses. O trabalho tem observações significativas que apoiam o impacto da Diversidade, tanto na inovação como no desempenho financeiro. Foram também estudadas as relações entre os diferentes tipos de inovação e a Capacidade Absortiva de Construção. / [en] The objective of this work is to contribute to the literature on strategic alliances and innovation performance. Specifically, it aims to investigate the role of Diversity in Alliance portfolios and its impact on firm performance.This study seeks to replicate and adapt relationships of constructs observed in other articles to a Latin American country. It uses structural equation modeling (SEM) through micro-data provided by the National Innovation Research of Colombia based on the Oslo manual.This dissertation elaborates on a cross-sectional study of the selected country, makes a brief revision on past models and proposes a new one to assert about its hypotheses. The work has meaningful observations that supports the impact of Diversity both on the innovation and financial perfomance. Relationships between different types of innovation and the construct Absorptive Capacity were also studied.

The online media industry has undergone changes during the last decades. Driven by technology advancements, there has been an increasing number of actors that can enhance the value of service in the media industry. The fast changing environment calls for a dynamic lens when analyzing strategic alliances forming between actors in the industry, thus this study uses a Business Ecosystem perspective to analyze how alliances should be formed to enable competitive advantage. A xase study was performed on a world leading provider of broadcast and media services to analyze how the dynamic setting affects suitable strategic alliance forms, using a partner selection framework to identify possible alliances. The results showed most potential within alliance forms of lower intergration, such as Franchise, Licensing Agreement or  Arms-Lenght Market relation. Hurdels for the higher forms of integration were identified as mostly caused by requirements of low investments and implementation times in the fast moving dynamic environment.  Identified future work is presented as performing a similar study where these hurdels are nonexistent to further analyze which alliance forms are applicable in a dynamic industry.

Cette recherche a eu pour but principal de montrer, à travers l’exemple de l’industrie informatique dans les années 90, que la stratégie de partenariat est aujourd’hui devenue un outil essentiel pour permettre aux entreprises à la tête d’une industrie à forte innovation technologique, confrontée à des changements structurels importants, et en particulier à la désintégration menant au leadership technologique partagé, de maintenir leur position dominante. <p> <p>Les quatre parties du travail constituent une suite logique d’étapes contribuant chacune à valider la thèse: la partie I porte sur la synthèse des principaux courants de la littérature scientifique sur les accords de collaboration et leur relation avec l’évolution des industries. Le but poursuivi dans la partie II est de décrire les changements intervenus dans l’industrie informatique au cours des années 90 et de formuler l’hypothèse d’une relation entre ces changements et la stratégie des firmes dans le domaine des accords de collaboration. Cette hypothèse est vérifiée empiriquement dans les parties III et IV à l’aide d’une banque de données sur les accords de collaboration. La partie III du travail présente les résultats descriptifs et la partie IV les résultats analytiques permettant de valider l’hypothèse.<p> / Doctorat en sciences de gestion / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Thesis MA (Political Science. International Studies))--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / This thesis is, in essence, a theoretically informed, qualitative study of an intermediate power coalition in international trade negotiations. More specifically, it critically evaluates the cooperation of India, Brazil and South Africa (IBSA) in the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The IBSA Dialogue Forum was established in 2003. This was also the year the three emerging countries first drew attention to their collective bargaining potential. First, they were instrumental in negotiating a waiver in the WTO that allowed for relaxed patent restrictions on the import of generic drugs for countries in the developing world facing health emergencies. Then, they also played a central role in the collapse of the WTO talks held in Cancun, 2003. This study looks at what IBSA aims to achieve in the WTO and then tries to establish whether it is possible for the initiative to achieve these aims (in the WTO). It asks, firstly, what kind of coalition IBSA forms in the WTO. Then, it asks whether it makes sense for India, Brazil and South Africa to form this type of coalition. Finally, it discusses some of the complexities involved in the three countries’ claim that it speaks for the “developing South”. The study makes use mainly of a neo-liberal institutionalist theoretical approach, while being open to constructive debate and critique from the reflective school. Ultimately, the study argues that the challenges that bind these countries also constrain each of them. The three countries might be emerging, but they are also developing countries with limited capacity that face serious developmental challenges. In addition, these countries of the South are situated in complex regional environments. In the WTO, IBSA aims to cement a coalition through processes that promote the cooperative dimensions of interaction and minimise conflictual ones. This innovative approach to cooperation does provide some hope. How they use their collective capacity will prove decisive. No doubt, successful cooperation will require hard work, especially as the coalition will have to deliver concrete results not only to domestic constituencies, but also to the developing world as a whole.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T16:44:50Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 ADM - Alipio Bedaque Jr.pdf: 659389 bytes, checksum: 5e9724d45f32adc7ec03fbff3e6299fd (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-10-24 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The increasing changes in the organizational environment, propelled globalization, have lead companies to rethink their business models in order create value. Therefore, the organizational arrangements that emphasize innovation and cooperation are understood by many researchers as possible answers to these new challenges and potential sources of superior results. This research essay points to different ways of management strategic alliances considering their dynamics, their benefits and risks in environment in which organizational competence of value innovation is of importance. Empirical researches were held at EMBRAER concerning the family regional jets 170/190, as semi-structured interviews, and these data complemented with secondary sources. Bibliographic revision was also done during all the stages of the survey order to assure theoretical basis and offer main subsidies to the questionary preparation, the choice of methodology and the field data collection work itself. The results of the empirical data point to, among others, some relevant contributions: the importance of strategic alliances in an open innovation model, the possibility that innovation might be considered an organizational competence and the importance of value innovation to create new markets in which traditional competition becomes secondary importance / O significativo incremento das mudanças no contexto organizacional, impulsionadas pelo fenômeno da globalização, tem levado as empresas a repensarem seus modelos de negócios para gerar valor. Neste contexto, modelos de arranjos organizacionais que contemplem a inovação e a cooperação são entendidos por vários pesquisadores como propostas de respostas a estes novos desafios e fonte potencial de resultados superiores. Este trabalho de pesquisa aponta caminhos para a gestão das alianças estratégicas considerando sua dinâmica, seus benefícios e riscos em um ambiente no qual a competência organizacional da inovação de valor assume importância. Foram realizados levantamentos empíricos na Embraer relacionados à família de jatos regionais 170/190, na forma de entrevistas semiestruturadas e estes dados foram complementados a partir de fontes secundárias. Foi também realizada uma revisão bibliográfica durante todas as etapas da pesquisa de forma a delimitar as bases teóricas e fornecer os subsídios fundamentais para a elaboração das questões, a escolha da metodologia, a elaboração do questionário e o próprio trabalho de coleta de dados no campo. Os resultados dos levantamentos empíricos realizados apontam, dentre outras, algumas contribuições principais: a importância das alianças estratégicas em um modelo de inovação aberta; a possibilidade da inovação ser considerada uma competência organizacional e a importância da inovação de valor para a criação de novos mercados no qual a concorrência tradicional passa a ter importância secundária