The South African government has recognized tourism as a key development priority and an important contributor to the South African economy. Numerous global lifestyle and travel trends impact the nature of tourism, changing it from consisting of mass standardized travel options to more customized niche offerings. Globally adventure tourism has been recognized as one of the fastest growing niche travel market segments. Whilst South Africa has enormous potential for adventure tourism, it is fast becoming a highly competitive sector with many countries competing for a share. For the South African adventure travel product to grow and prosper, it needs the support of South African Tourism (SAT) to successfully market and promote it to the appropriate target market.

The South African government has recognized tourism as a key development priority and an important contributor to the South African economy. Numerous global lifestyle and travel trends impact the nature of tourism, changing it from consisting of mass standardized travel options to more customized niche offerings. Globally adventure tourism has been recognized as one of the fastest growing niche travel market segments. Whilst South Africa has enormous potential for adventure tourism, it is fast becoming a highly competitive sector with many countries competing for a share. For the South African adventure travel product to grow and prosper, it needs the support of South African Tourism (SAT) to successfully market and promote it to the appropriate target market.

The study explored how private firms and their constituents capture value through Public-Private Collaboration (PPC) in South Africa. Partnerships are touted as key enablers of firm innovation and value creation in an increasingly complex global context. Yet, very few studies have provided the evidence base of value creation and capture beyond the ‘feel good’ process considering integrated value for firms. Nor is there clarity on how value can be planned for, operationalised and measured for improved management practice. This study progressed knowledge on practice and evaluation of PPC processes for firms by going beyond traditional linear models that have been found to be deficient in complex contexts. A qualitative case study was explored in the mining sector to provide richer and deeper insights into PPC processes from a firm perspective in its collaboration with government entities. The study provided the evidence base and indicators of value creation and capture for a private firm through a PPC process, exposed generalised assumptions, disaggregated value dimensions, and foregrounded a foundational multi-dimensional model and partnership value framework. The study contributed an integrated strategic value lens and the choices made in aggregation and disaggregation of value constructs in diverse contexts. It demonstrated new combinations of constructs whereby PPC processes created sources of competitive, collaborative and societal advantage for firms through mediated pathways. Contextualised concepts and data gathering of use value, exchange value and transformative value offered the evidence called for on value capture through PPC processes. It revealed the need to disaggregate value dimensions such as intellectual, relational and political value from social value. The role of PPC processes in Balancing Accountability between public and private sectors was suggested as a concept in progressing the field of cross-sector governance. A multi-dimensional model is presented reflecting the iterative and evolving nature of PPC processes and the interaction between value creation and value capture. An extended value indicator framework aims to aid in operationalising the assessment of PPC processes. The study promotes PPC processes as a mechanism to operationalise concepts such as Creating Shared Value (CSV) and respond to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2018. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / PhD / Unrestricted

This doctoral thesis focuses on creation of strategic partnerships between small and medium enterprises. The purpose of the thesis is to study the attitude of enterprises toward strategic cooperation and to characterize the cooperation of enterprises within strategic partnerships. The research started with collection, evaluation and analyze of secondary data on strategic cooperation. It has been found, that in spite of high number of publications, there is a lack of joint methodology and unified use of the basic notions. Strategic cooperation is becoming a more and more up to date topic in the Czech Republic these days. One of the partial objectives of this thesis is to enrich the knowledge in this field by creation a complex theory. Other part of the research focuses on small and medium enterprises in the South Moravian region. This is connected with the second partial objective which is the analyze of the environment the companies are embedded in. In the framework if this, strong and relatively new, but fast developing branches of economy are distinguished. The creation of strategic partnerships within these branches can be a key issue in the short future. In order to get a more detailed view on attitudes of enterprises toward strategic partnerships and to find out the special features of these relations a primary research has been conducted. Both, qualitative and quantitative methods were applied with an aim to get a more complex overview on the topic. After the analyze of research data, the hypotheses were tested and conclusions and recommendations were formulated. The final part of the thesis emphasises its contribution to the theory, practice, as well as education.

Les partenariats stratégiques entre les ONG et les entreprises sont encore peu étudiés dans le contexte français, mais revêtent une importance de plus en plus forte, tant sur le plan théorique qu’empirique. L’objectif de cette recherche est de mieux comprendre ces relations très particulières entre deux organisations dont les objectifs sont a priori assez éloignés. L’un des intérêts communs entre les ONG et les entreprises est celui de la Responsabilité Sociale de l’Entreprise (RSE). En effet, la RSE, par-delà même l’ensemble des définitions proposées dans la littérature, questionne la prise en compte des attentes des parties prenantes de l’entreprise, ainsi que la capacité des entreprises à tenir compte de ces parties prenantes et à leur rendre compte. Cette approche est la plus répandue et est qualifiée de « firmo-centrée ». Nous avons choisi ici une approche différente qui se veut « ONG-centrée ». Cela nous est apparu comme une nouvelle manière d’aborder les rapports ONG – Entreprise, qui s’inscrit dans la perspective d’une « open RSE » que nous soutenons dans ce travail. La RSE peut être considérée comme un vecteur qui permet aux ONG d’atteindre les entreprises et d’influencer leur positionnement, leurs stratégies. Nous établissons ainsi notre problématique : Comment les partenariats avec les ONG peuvent-ils influencer la responsabilité sociale de l’entreprise ?Pour y répondre, nous adoptons une démarche de recherche qualitative, multi-cas et comparative. Nous avons suivi deux phases distinctes : onze cas exploratoires puis trois cas en profondeur. Nous suivons démarche abductive, avec plusieurs allers retours entre le terrain et les construits théoriques retenus.L’argument principal défendu dans ce travail doctoral consiste à soutenir que le partenariat stratégique permet aux ONG de contribuer à la construction des stratégies de RS des entreprises. Il est même un levier essentiel de cette construction. Cependant, ce levier stratégique dépend de différentes variables (ou prérequis). Certaines ont déjà été identifiées par la littérature, d’autres non. Nous mettons ainsi en évidence de nouvelles variables et proposons un enrichissement de la littérature. Cet enrichissement prend la forme d’une classification des variables ou pré requis identifiés par la littérature, complétée des nouvelles variables identifiées. L’étude approfondie des cas permet en outre de proposer deux modèles complémentaires des partenariats stratégiques ONG-Entreprises, l’un compréhensif (avec des leviers et des freins) et l’autre dynamique (en quatre phases). Ces modélisations illustrent notre approche qualifiée « d’open RSE » : l’importance de l’ONG dans la définition des stratégies RS des entreprises, ainsi que le caractère dynamique des partenariats ONG-Entreprises sont considérés ensemble. Nous montrons que le partenariat stratégique ONG – Entreprise permet ainsi aux ONG de co-construire les stratégies de RS des entreprises lorsque la dynamique du processus est complète (quatre phases). / Strategic partnerships between NGOs and businesses are still little studied in the French context, but their importance is more and more strong, both empirically and theoretical. The objective of this research is to better understand these very special relations between two organizations whose objectives are a priori quite distant. One of the common interests between NGOs and businesses is the social responsibility of the company (CSR). Indeed, CSR, beyond even the definitions proposed in the literature, all questions taking account of the expectations of the stakeholders of the company, and the ability of companies to take account of these stakeholders, and to their account. This approach is most prevalent and is referred to as 'firmo-centric’. Here we have chosen a different approach which is ‘NGO-centric’. It appeared to us as a new way of approaching the NGO reports - company, which is part of the prospect of a 'open CSR' which we support in this work.CSR can be regarded as a vector that allows NGOs to reach businesses and to influence their positioning, their strategies. Thus, we establish our problematic: how partnerships with NGOs can influence the social responsibility of the company?To respond, we adopt a qualitative research approach, multi case and comparative. We have followed two distinct phases: eleven exploratory cases, and three cases in depth. We follow abductive approach, with several back and forth between the field and the theoretical constructs selected.The main argument in this doctoral work is to support the strategic partnership allows NGOs to contribute to the construction of companies’ social responsibility strategies. It is even a key leverage of this construction. However, this strategic leverage depends on different variables (or requirements). Some have already been identified in the literature, some not. We thus highlight new variables and offer an enrichment of literature. This enrichment takes the form of a classification of variables or prerequisites identified by literature, supplemented by the new identified variables. The comprehensive study of cases can also offer two complementary models of strategic partnerships NGOs - Companies, a comprehensive (with leverages and restraints) and the other dynamic (in four phases). These models illustrate our approach referred to as ‘open CSR’: the importance of the NGO in the definition of companies’ social responsibility strategies, as well as the dynamic character of the NGO-business partnerships, are considered together. We show that the strategic partnership NGO - Company enabling NGOs to co-build companies’ social responsibility strategies when the dynamics of the process is complete (four phases).

A presente dissertação objetiva estudar as estratégias atuais da política externa angolana, considerando os 41 anos desde sua independência. O estudo apresenta dois modelos para analisar duas formas de inserção internacional angolana. O primeiro modelo se aplica ao período de 1975 a 1991, o qual enfatiza a agenda de defesa, paz e segurança que levou Angola a buscar por uma inserção internacional mais isolada, tendo em vista as Guerras Fria e Civil. Já o segundo modelo se aplica ao período de 1992 a 2016, que analisa como Angola procurou se adequar ao novo contexto internacional no Pós-guerra Fria e Civil. O trabalho questiona como Angola formulou seus interesses estratégicos ao longo desses períodos e quais são seus reflexos para as estratégias atuais. A maioria dos estudos anteriores caracteriza Angola apenas como “receptor” de políticas externas das grandes potências. Esse trabalho não nega tal premissa histórica, mas argumenta que as relações construídas com as grandes potências configuraram fator fundamental para proposição das próprias dinâmicas regionais do país, transformando, ao longo do tempo, Angola em um ator proeminente das relações internacionais, tanto no plano regional, quanto global. / This dissertation aims to study the current strategies of Angolan foreign policy, considering the 41 years since its independence. The study presents two models to analyze two forms of Angolan international insertion. The first model applies to the period from 1975 to 1991, which emphasizes the agenda of defense, peace and security that implied Angola to seek for a isolated international insertion, face of the Cold and Civil Wars. Already the second model applies to the period from 1992 to 2016, which analyzes how Angola sought to adapt to the new international context in the post-Cold and Civil Wars. The research questions how Angola formulated its strategic interests throughout these periods and what are its reflexes for current strategies. Most of the earlier studies characterize Angola only as the "recipient" of the major powers' foreign policies. This study complies with this historical premise, but argues that the relations built with the great powers have formed a fundamental factor in proposing the country's own regional dynamics, transforming, over time, Angola in as a prominent actor in international relations, both at the regional and global levels. / Dissertação (Mestrado)