Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Research in the field of strategy execution ability is limited with most strategic fields referring to execution only as an afterthought. In addition, failure rates in strategy implementation are extremely high. Even when strategy is implemented, organisations still fail to capture most of the value defined in the measures of success. This research assignment investigated current literature on strategy execution factors, models and frameworks to gain an understanding of the thoughts and findings dominant in this field. The common traits within this field were established in order to create focus areas for further research. Therefore, this investigation of the various attributes can be leveraged for strategy execution ability to create insights into their nature and the thinking patterns accompanying them. Many of the already established models and frameworks offer strategy execution as a process with flow. This research focused on the attributes that organisations can use to define strategy execution ability as an organisational competence. The attributes identified are grouped into three processes namely the strategy, people, and operations process. These processes operate in the organisation’s internal as well as external environment each with attributes offering strategy execution ability if managed well. To conclude, this study found that strategy execution ability is created by the combination of attributes that an organisation have at its disposal, specifically set up to enable strategy execution where, when and how it is required.

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

published_or_final_version / Business / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Non-profit organisations are of great importance in community development. These organisations often take up those issues of concern in communities, which profit making organisations are not interested in pursuing. Many South African non-profit organisations remain dependent on sources of revenue such as subsidies, donations or grants (if available) from the government or the private sector. As times have changed in the country whereby such revenue sources are limited, non-profit organisations focus on becoming more efficient in the management of these organisations. Managing non-profit organisations is in many cases carried out by participants on a voluntary basis. Projects and programmes can ensure meaningful outcomes if Strategic Management principles and processes are applied efficiently in the initial phases of development. Some examples of non-profit organisations in communities are evident in the form of educational institutions, social and welfare organisations, environmental community forums and organisations representing the business sector. / Prof. N. Lessing

Preliminary desk researches suggested that strategic planing and management needs empirical evidence to broaden itsapplication to different industries, The purose of the study is to examine the practical framework for the plannng and development of strategy and strategic plans from the current practice of retail operations in Thailand. Theoretical reviews were carred out at early stage of the research on strategic decision making, planning systems, strategy and retailing to build a framework for research objectives and to form research questions. The main objective of the research is, therefore, to examine forms of strategy development process and the influence of marketing concepts to the planning processes of selected organisations. Fieldwork was planned to investigate at several modern retailers in Thailand, where retail competition has been intensive. Five retailers allowed their co-operation, and several methods of data collections, such as different types of interviews, observations and the analysis of achieval record, were employed to generate five case studies. The main conclusion drawn from the study would indicate that the term "strategic planning process", together with budgeting and long-range planning systems, are embedded in yearly periodical planning systems that react to external environment challenges only in the short term. The yearly periodical planing system together with an administrative system forms an on-going planning cycle. The strategic management process, on the other hand, is future-oriented planning process that has a time-span of more than a year. Strategic decisions generated by the strategic management process together with the outcome of other strategic decision-making are the inputs to both components of the on-going planning cycle. Therefore, short-term and long-term strategy development processes are distinct processes that require different approaches. However, the two processes are linked and both should be embedded within the overall strategic development process. The study also suggests that Thai retailers have to strengthen their strategy development process to be able to encourage learning and understanding of key business environments, business concepts and strategies before generating their own "winning formula". The outcome from the thesis is, therefore, a practical framework for the planning and development of strategy and strategic plans from the current practices of retail operations in Thailand that can be applied as a checklist for monitoring and evaluation in large-to-medium sized retailing organisations in similar trading environments.

M.Com. / In this treatise, research is done into the various theories with regard to the business phenomenon and the various phases of the business cycle according to various economic indicators. A characteristic of the South African economy as well as other capitalistic systems, is that business indicators have a unstable tendency. Times of prosperity are followed by times of recession when unemployment, production, prices, profits and economic welfare, decline. The recession is again followed by times of prosperity which are characterised by increases in job opportunities as well as rising prices, profits and living standards. This wave like movement in economic activity is known as the business phenomenon. There are certain forces which directly affect the business cycle - some of them force it upwards while others force it downwards. The direction of the business cycle depends on the dominant forces. As soon as the forces are exhausted, a turn in the cycle results. The series regarding the business cycle are classified according to specific schools of thought in order to investigate their development as well as the main causes of the wave like motion in economic activities. A simple classification can be made by dividing the theories into those which preceded the publication of J.M. Keynes' General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money in 1936 as the Classical or Pre-Keynesian, and those which form the Keynesian school of thought and which appeared since the thirties as the Post-Keynesian theories. Firstly the Pre-Keynesian business cycle theories are discussed with reference to amongst others the demand theories, supply theories, the monetary theories and. the impulse theories. Thereafter the Post-Keynesian business cycle theories are discussed, that is those of Hicks, Kalecki, Goodwin and Duesenberry. An examination of the different phases of the business cycle implies a study of the movement of economic data in a upward and downward direction. Four phases can be discerned within the business cycle namely: the upward phase, the upper turning point, the downward phase and the lower turning point. The position of the various indicators will determine in which phase a country's economy finds itself. Economic activities are never stagnant, with the result that a period of prosperity may be followed panicking or a pez'Lod of depression. Several economic indicators may indicate this sequence, for instance unemployment, declining output and profit margins, and the resulting loss of income on the national level. As soon as the lower turning point is reached, the economy starts to recover and a period of prosperity again follows. It can thus be argued that the business cycle is a result of interaction between demand and supply. The business cycle has a significant result on the economy as a whole. It influences the prosperity of the country and even that of the undertaking, its manpower position, its capacity occupation and its factors of production. Every individual is effected to the extend that his disposable income is directly determined by the position of the business cycle. The phases of the business cycle and the inclining and declining motion of economic data contains the nucleus of the effect of the external environment on the undertaking.