This thesis introduces new theoretical models and concepts in support of strategic thinking about the dynamics and complexities of organisational relationship positioning that could improve public relations education and professional development linked to strategic management careers in international organisations. An exploration of public relations in the United Kingdom and Nigeria illustrates that there is a significant practice mainly concerned with communication that develops strategies and tactics in support of already established strategic organisational goals. Progress with professionalisation of the practice also shows an increasing need and want to operate at senior management levels, although it questions if the academic preparation to do so is adequate. Advances in communication technology and education approaches provide opportunities to better understand complex networks and relationships. The emphasis in this thesis is on strategic planning. Most frequently used tools and approaches are briefly discussed. They are mainly descriptive and often provide snapshots of current situations that can help with formulating a future desired situation. Most of these tools and approaches expand the brainstorming horizon providing opportunities for vertical (deeper) and horizontal (broader) thinking about organisational relationships. This thesis introduces additional models, namely the revised public relations catalyst model and the public relations lava lamp model, and concepts such as organisational personality that could be used to further the strategic thinking about the dynamics of such relationships. The new insights and perspectives on strategic planning presented here stem from qualitative explorative research based on observations and interpretations from applying strategic thinking exercises in seminars at the University of Central Lancashire, and from action research approaches by leading strategic planning and organisational change activities at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) which involved in-depth interviews, workgroup sessions and online questionnaires. Positioning of organisational relationships is an increasingly important function of strategic management in international organisations such as IITA. This is driven by pressure for more engagement, transparency and accountability by public investors and partners related to providing the essential resource base in terms of finance and implementation capacity essential for the organisation’s existence. Improving strategic planning competences relating organisational relationships not only provides opportunities for public relations practitioners to be part of senior management but also is essential for an organisation’s continuity and relevance. It was found that strategic thinking improves by stimulating both vertical and horizontal thinking about initial surface problems. Problem based learning approaches in public relations education should be considered as they can help prepare future practitioners to improve their strategic planning competences. Advances in communication technology have the potential to maintain and improve organisational relationships far beyond current organisational network boundaries and creates opportunities for advancing strategic thinking and planning. Logical framework planning and other problem-based tools can help to identify solutions for a central problem. However, they require the facilitation of planning teams with different personalities that are encouraged to think deeper and wider to ensure that alternative solutions are considered and that enough cause-effect relationships are established for strategic interventions to be successful. The use of the lava lamp metaphor also stimulates strategic thinking about the dynamics of organisational relationships aided by different perspectives that stimulate vertical and horizontal thinking. The concept of organisational personality has potential to identify which organisations would be potential collaborators in finding better solutions and help to understand potential relationship issues better.

abstract: Industrial design is the practice of creating solutions by studying people and businesses. Originally centered on development of goods, industrial design uses methods rooted in human behavioral study, human factors, and strategic problem solving. As our economy and professional practice shift away from manufacturing towards a service-dominant landscape, industrial design must align its profession to formally include service design. The small service business setting is a microcosm in which the value of design and branding in business is magnified. This research reinforces design's ties with services marketing and business and is dedicated to finding solutions for the backbone of our economy. Micro-businesses with fewer than 20 employees often lack the sophisticated management, marketing, and strategies that bring about success. Despite the fact that 70% to 80% of small and micro businesses are service based, little research is dedicated to unique strategies for these small service firms. Research has shown that using strategic business design increases small business success. Given high small business failure rates, it behooves entrepreneurs to use intuitive planning tools that are appropriate for the dynamic startup years. When put within reach and context of small business owners, the tools used in design draw a clear map of insights into the "design" of small businesses. Through a literature review, interviews, and a new workshop method, the needs of small business owners and the challenges they face are used to design and implement an accessible, actionable strategic toolkit for small service businesses. This simple, interdisciplinary toolkit was designed with the goal of increasing the efficacy and likelihood of ongoing strategic business planning through context-specific, instrumental activities. The tools are shown to help a business owner form pragmatic, iterative problem-solving approaches that allow the business owner to plan in the face of uncertainty and find insights into her own business, brand, and services. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S.D. Design 2012

Strategy and strategic management have always been on the radar in academia. A few years back, some scholars studied strategic management further and concluded that the terms strategic planning and strategic thinking as part of strategic management should be spoken of seperately. As academia has evolved, few scholars have embraced this. However, there is a clear distinction between the two terms, where a separation is necessary in order to fully comprehend the differences between them. In this study, a line between strategic planning and thinking has been drawn. What was further realised in the first phase of the study is that strategic thinking as an individual concept lacks integration into crisis management in academia. This presented a fruitful opportunity to explore the topic. The purpose of this research thereby became to identify how strategic thinking may occur within organisations, particularly during a crisis. Specifically, it is the aim to find out how strategic thinking manifests itself in private organisations during times of crisis. This has been done in a timely manner where the world currently is experiencing a pandemic caused by the virus Covid-19, which has presented difficulties for organisations all around the world. The study has chosen to look into private organisations operating in Sweden, with a qualitative approach using semi-structured interviews. Primary data was as a result gathered based on respondents' own experiences and thoughts regarding strategic thinking as the concept is of a complex nature. The data gathered was later analysed in a manner where the connection between strategic thinking and crisis management was looked at. Our findings show that strategic thinking is manifested in crisis management in different ways, where it was determined that the manifestation is highly dependent upon an organisation's strategy, environment in which it operates in and its overall business model. Strategic thinking has additionally been concluded to manifest differently in terms of opportunities and threats, where it was found that some respondents used it more for the long-term benefit of the organisations rather than as a short-term solution to obstacles.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2000. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: With each passing year and the intensification of competition, strategic management becomes more important. In an ever-changing business environment, management, and especially strategic management, becomes increasingly crucial. This empirical study attempts to conduct a literature study of strategic management in order to develop a strategic planning model. A simplified model is proposed as a framework on which a practical application can be made. Boland PKS, a division of the Board of Executors, has been elected as the organisation to whose strategic management the model will be applied. Boland PKS will be applied to the model in an effort to accept or reject the following statement of the problem: The author is of the opinion that strategic planning is not being applied in Boland PKS. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Jaarliks toenemende kompetisie maak strategiese bestuur toenemend belangrik in hedendaagse besigheid. In 'n snel-veranderende wêreld word bestuur, en veral strategiese bestuur, kardinaal. Hierdie empiriese studie poog om 'n literatuur studie in strategiese bestuur te doen ten einde 'n strategiese beplanningsmodel te ontwikkel. 'n Eenvoudige model word dan voorgestel as 'n verwysingsraamwerk vir die praktiese toepassing van die model. Boland PKS, 'n afdeling van die "Board of Executors", is gekies as die organisasie waarop die model toegepas sal word. Die model sal op Boland PKS toegepas word in a poging om die volgende probleemstelling te aanvaar of te verwerp: " Die skrywer is van mening dat Boland PKS nie strategiese beplanning toepas nie."

In contemporary world, there is a constant need for leadership development. Technological advancements, excessive uncertainty and severe hostility on one hand and high expectations from subordinates, pressure from stakeholders on another hand force leaders to develop more skills and competencies in order to succeed. Leadership competencies represent a set of behaviours that are seen to be crucial to deliver desired outcomes. Organisations design competencies models that are used for diverse reasons within human resources management, such as employee selection, career development, succession planning, performance management and employee development. The current most common practices in leadership competencies development applied by organisations include coaching and mentoring, 360‐degree feedback, specific job assignments, networking, action learning, corporate case studies, computer simulations, experiential learning and of course classroom‐type leadership training. However, the future generation of employees are the nowadays youngsters whose life is widely influenced by technology. A specific interest among them is in online and computer-based games, on which they spend a considerable amount of time per week. Games in general were proven to be an effective tool for education among children and young adults, and were discussed to be useful for adults as well. Presented research is performed with the goal to create an understanding of the game-based learning approach to leadership competencies development. Our first ambition for the research was to find out what leadership competencies are most likely to be developed though GBL approach. We came to the results that GBL approach can be effective in developing social interaction competencies such as motivation, facilitation, coaching, effective communication, collaborative negotiation, effective teamwork and such cognitive competencies as strategic thinking, decision making, problem solving and technical competency. Our second aim for the research was to draw on a conceptual framework in form of an experiment to answer to the question of how effective is game-based learning for development of leadership competencies. The experiment model proposed in this conceptual paper was designed by us by putting together elements in form of such games as "Spaghetti Tower"; "Strategic thinking game with 8 players" for measurement and "Acquire" board game for development of the "strategic thinking" leadership competency.

The goal of this thesis is to understand how the Biomimicry Toolbox (BT), a practical tool for applying biomimicry, currently supports strategic thinking in order to create sustainable solutions. A pragmatic qualitative research approach was used, in which the BT was analysed through the lens of the Five Level Framework (5LF), a tool for planning and analysing in complex systems and the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development, the application of the 5LF for sustainability endeavours. Interviews were conducted with people experienced with the BT. Results show that the BT has several aspects of strategic thinking. It supports the application of a systems perspective, provides a success goal to move towards and offers tools for a strategic process to follow. The authors conclude that the BT could benefit from including understanding of the patterns and structures of the social system in relation with the earth system. Also, it can benefit from including a section on upstream thinking helping users of the BT consider root causes. Lastly, it could benefit from a strategic approach for evaluating how sustainable solutions are and include a simple and clear prioritisation process. The improvements can make the BT more impactful in supporting societies transition towards sustainability.

Absorptive capacity plays an important role in the organizational adaptation process. Prior research on absorptive capacity focuses on its role in organizational outcomes such as financial performance, innovation, new product development, etc. Recently, scholars have called for research on factors that influence absorptive capacity. Because absorptive capacity plays a vital role in achieving organizational outcomes, it behooves us to improve our understanding of absorptive capacity and its antecedents to serve both researchers and practitioners. In this investigation, strategic thinking is posited to be a key antecedent of absorptive capacity. Capability theory suggests that strategic thinking is a metaphysical (higher order) capability that influences an organization's absorptive capacity. Combining this argument with Miles and Snow's typology of organizational adaptation process, it is posited that the relationship between strategic thinking and absorptive capacity can be clustered into different "groups." Prospectors, defenders, and analyzers, characterized in Miles and Snow's typology of firms are viewed as distinctive groups that exhibit different relationships between strategic thinking and absorptive capacity. Results from an empirical examination suggest that strategic thinking is positively related to absorptive capacity. The results also suggest that the relationship between these two constructs is different between these groups and that the strategic thinking of prospectors has a weaker relationship with absorptive capacity than other type of firms.

在政府將金融創新列為工作項目之一，台灣在金融創新的議題上也投入相當的研究，但多半是從產品的創新著手，鮮少從經營模式創新來分析金融創新，因此本論文將透過經營模式的創新來探討兩家日本銀行金融機構－瑞穗金融集團及新生銀行－如何在環境的變化中，重新尋求自己在產業中的地位，探討銀行業如何進行經營模式的創新，在競爭激烈的市場中為消費者創造價值，而進一步提升企業的獲利狀況，從日本銀行的經驗中獲得對台灣銀行業的啟示。 透過策略再思考:重新定義自身產業，重新思考企業的定位與方向，在創新的理論中找出創新的來源，透過經營模式的元素－核心策略、策略性資源、顧客界面、價值網絡－將之落實在改革的過程中，透過經營模式的創新變革，讓金融業可以了解如何在市場上與競爭者進行不同的競爭。 在分析完個案後，本論文也提出幾點結論：1. 追求規模的擴大不如追求如何去經營模式的創新：開創各種新的獲利模式，對獲利來源也要進行風險管理；2. 獲利結構的從傳統利差走向複雜管理收入：銀行如何適應新的競爭環境；3. 從分散到聚焦，從通才到專業化：專注於重點區域，妥善配置企業資源。銀行業未來的走向會越來越趨向專業化的方向，銀行組織設計會朝向以產品線或顧客為主的設計，而不是傳統的功能式設計；4. 從規模擴大走向深度成長：企業績效評估系統的改變，讓銀行經營的更有效率；5. 從外部綜效走向內部綜效的產生：綜效可以透過內部系統良好運作而產生，不一定要靠併購。 關鍵字：經營模式、策略性思考、經營模式創新 / Financial innovation has been one of government’s priorities, and the academia also puts much research into the topic, but most are from the product innovation perspective instead of business model innovation. In the research, we have analyzed two of Japanese financial companies- The Mizuho Financial Group and Shinsei Bank – and discuss how they redefine their positions in the industry in the changing environment, how they create value for consumers by business model innovations and further improve the profits states of enterprises. Finally, we want to get enlightenment from their experiences for Taiwan financial industry. Through strategic thinking: Redefining your industry, rethinking your positioning and directions of enterprises, finding out the sources of the innovation from theories; through the elements of business model – core strategies, strategic resources, customer interface, information technology- it could be implemented in the reforming process; through the business model innovation, financial enterprises are capable to understand how to compete in the market base on differentiation. After analyzing the cases, the thesis proposes some conclusions: 1. In order to create more new profits-making sources, pursuing new business model is more important than pursuing a larger scale simply. Also, risk management is needed in the topic of profit-making sources. 2. The profit-making structure of banking changes from traditional rate margin to complicated management expertise: how the banking adapts to the new competitive environment; 3.From dispersal to focus and from general to specialization: Future of banking will tend to focus on the key area, and allocate the enterprise resources properly. And the financial industry will be more specialized; the design of organization structure of banks will mainly rely on product lines or the customer, instead of traditional function. 4. from expanding the scale to deep growth: The change of assessing the enterprise's performance will bring banks better operational efficiencies.5. From external synergies to internal synergies: synergies can be generated through the internal well-operated system, not only depend on merging; Key words: Business Model、Strategic thinking、Business Model Innovations

Recent trends point toward a decline in solo and small business medical practices, yet, the need and demand still exists for this model of health care. The purpose of this case study was to explore effective approaches to help physicians in solo practice and small medical group primary care practitioners (PCPs) retain their small business medical practices. The study included purposive sampling and face-to-face interviews: 11 physicians, predominately primary care practitioners, in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan region, were interviewed until data saturation was reached. A component of systems theory (strategic thinking) and the dynamic capabilities concept were used to frame the study. Audio recordings were transcribed and analyzed to identify themes regarding effective competitive approaches to help small medical group physicians retain their practices. Four major themes emerged: need for flexibility and adaptability, need for higher levels of business acumen, need to fully embrace automation, and a focus on pursuing financial stability before pursuing growth and expansion of the medical practice. Results may benefit society by preserving and strengthening a source of patient-centered, effective, affordable health care for communities served by small business medical practices. Implications for social change include presenting methods to enhance stability and organizational sustainability of small business medical practices.

The effective and sustainable use of ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies) in education has become commonplace as it is necessary to keep up with demands of the 21st century. ICT in education has become a tool for the empowerment of both teachers and learners for better teaching and learning. Although various ICT strategies and initiatives are implemented across South Africa, no system-wide effective and sustainable ICT integration in schools has yet come about. The pace of integration is slow and teachers avoid using ICT in their teaching and learning practices due to insufficient training. The aim of teacher professional development (TPD) is to improve teachers’ ICT application skills and knowledge, as well as to enable teachers to integrate ICT effectively in their classroom practices. Principals play a vital role in leading school reform, implementing innovations and bringing about change. The widespread assumption that high-quality leadership is an essential dimension of successful school management, leads to the question of how principals can influence teachers’ effective and sustainable integration of ICT into classrooms through TPD activities. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to determine the influence that principals have on teachers’ ICT integration through TPD. As school leadership is frequently cited as an essential for the successful integration of ICT into education, the very position of the principal is associated with authority, accountability and power. My initial research is based on Stoner’s (1999) Adapted Life Cycle Model of Learning Technology Integration. I used this model to illustrate the principals’ influence on teachers’ integration of ICT into education. From this review subsidiary questions emerged. Qualitative research through in-depth interviews formed the basis of an interpretative perspective, allowing principals to reflect on ICT integration, as well as their influence on teachers’ use of ICT. This study followed a basic grounded theory approach where I assumed an inductive stance and strived to derive meaning from the data in order to develop new theory. Pre-defined theoretical criteria determined the selection of the respondents to ensure validity of the data. The seven principals represented secondary schools across cultural and socio-economic levels. The perceptions and experiences of the principals were analysed, compared, and patterns of influence were identified. This study indicated that principals do not only influence the integration of ICT in classrooms through their leadership and management styles, but also through their attitude toward ICT integration, knowledge on related ICT and TPD issues, as well as their strategic thinking on ICT integration. Emerging findings on the role of the principal lead to new insights on the empowerment of teachers. The study resulted in a proposed theoretical framework that indicates the interrelatedness of the emerging patterns that influence the principals’ role through TPD. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Curriculum Studies / unrestricted