Thesis (MBA (Business Management))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: A number of studies analysing the success, or lack thereof, of mergers and acquisitions have been done in the United States and Europe. Very little is known about these transactions in South Africa. The aim of this study is to examine a successful South African acquisition transaction and to compare that to theory derived from findings in the United States and Europe. Barclays acquired 53.96 percent shareholding in Absa in 2005 for R29.7 billion, representing the biggest direct foreign investment in history in South Africa, and also the biggest investment by Barclays outside the United Kingdom. The envisaged R1.4 billion synergies were realised 18 months early, indicating that the integration of the two entities, Absa and Barclays, was a success. Research in the United States and Europe indicates that companies may consider investing in mergers or acquisitions for reasons such as expansion, market entry, economies of skill and scale, geographic motivations and financial reasons. Only market entry did not serve as motivator in the case of the Absa-Barclays transaction. Reasons stated for the success of the transaction correlate well with findings in the United States and Europe, including the prompt appointment of new leadership, the establishment of clear goals, a strong integration structure, well developed communication channels, addressing of cultural issues and active risk management. The only aspect that did not receive particular attention was a focus on the external client. Possible pitfalls that were negotiated successfully during the transaction include Barclays not paying too high a premium for the Absa shares, using the best suited financial structure, focussing on the implementation of the transaction, as well as merging for the right reasons. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Daar bestaan ‘n hele paar studies wat die sukses, of gebrek daaraan, van samesmeltings of aankoop van maatskappye beskyf in die Verenigde State van Amerika (VSA) en Europa. Daar bestaan egter baie min inligting oor soortgelyke transaksies in Suid-Afrika. Die doel van hierdie studie is om ‘n suksesvolle Suid-Afrikaanse transaksie te vergelyk met teorie wat afgelei is uit resultate verkry in Europa en die VSA. Barclays plc het in 2005 beheer geneem van 53.96 persent van Absa aandele teen ‘n totaal van R29 miljard. Dit verteenwoordig die grootste direkte buitelandse belegging in Suid-Afrika in die geskiedenis, asook die grootste belegging van Barclays buite die Verenigde Koninkryk. Die verwagte R1.4 miljard se volhoubare sinergieë was behaal 18 maande vroeër as verwag, wat daarop wys dat die integrasie van Absa by Barclays suksesvol was. Navorsing in die VSA en Europa dui daarop dat maatskappye samesmeltings en aankoop van maatskappye oorweeg vir redes wat insluit uitbreiding van die maatskappy, die binnedring van nuwe markte, skaal en vaardigheids ekonomieë, geografiese motiverings, asook finansiële redes. In die geval van die Absa-Barclays transaksie was al die bogenoemde redes relevant, behalwe die binnedring van nuwe markte. Redes vir die sukses van die transaksie vergelyk goed met die redes gevind in die VSA en Europa; dit sluit in die spoedige aanstel van die nuwe leierskap, duidelik gekommunikeerde doelstellings, ‘n sterk integrasie struktuur, goed ontwikkelde kommunikasie kanale, adressering van kulturele aspekte, asook aktiewe risiko bestuur. Die enigste aspek wat nie aktief bestuur is nie is die fokus op eksterne kliënte. Moontlike struikelblokke geïdentifiseer in Europese en Amerikaanse studies, wat suksesvol bestuur is, sluit in dat Barclays nie te veel vir die aandeel in Absa betaal het nie, die gebruik van die regte finasiële struktuur, fokus op die integrasie proses asook samesmelting vir die regte redes.

A good product does not guarantee its successful adoption. This can be seen in a project in rural Ethiopia, in which a new type of house provides great advantages over current housing alternatives. This thesis, which focuses on the Sustainable Rural Dwelling Unit project in Ethiopia, aims to contribute knowledge about how to implement rural-housing innovations successfully. Interviews with the project’s stakeholders show that although a construction concept is a genuine breakthrough, its diffusion process may stumble. Successful diffusion of a housing innovation appears to depend on wider factors. Two success factors identified here are: (1) to analyse the innovation’s attributes, and (2) to analyse the interests of stakeholders. Furthermore, these successful practices are possible with analysis tools that are exemplified in the thesis. The needs for clear communication among stakeholders, and for identifying contradictory implementation strategies, were identified to be important elements for successful innovation diffusion. Another conclusion of this thesis is that the studied project both has great potential for future rural housing in Ethiopia and is relevant for other developing countries where there is a need for durable, higher-standard, low-cost housing.

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are considered to be a most efficient tool which is able to push economic and social development to experience significant progress and development as they offer useful services to consumers, and provide much needed employment. With this in consideration, they are useful for training, acquiring experience and technical and managerial skills. The objectives of this research are to identify the Critical Success Factors (CSFs) for SMEs in Saudi Arabia. Based on the literature review, 20 factors have been identified and subsequently structured into three groups, namely entrepreneurial, enterprise and environmental factors. The study also focuses on the SMEs Support Programme by identifying the current situation and accordingly providing recommendations based on those made by the support providers. Data have been collected by utilising a mixed method approach: first, 146 postal questionnaires with SME owners/managers have been analysed by using SPSS; second, in order to gain further understanding of the situation and particular challenges, 15 in-depth interviews with support providers have been conducted; and third, Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) has been used to analyse the pairwise comparison of the factors. The main findings of this study are that, for the CSFs for SMEs in Saudi Arabia, three factors are deemed to be important both for owners/managers and support providers. These factors are quality of the product and service, customer satisfaction, and business planning. The findings also indicate that there are many 'important support gaps' which show that existing support needs to be addressed in order to improve and develop the support structure.

The United States has high failure rates of small businesses, with 50% of new small business establishments failing during the first 5 years, and 60% of small business owners failing within the first 6 years of business operation. Small retail services business owners help provide job creation as a driver of growth for the U.S. economy. The purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore the strategies small retail services business owners use to sustain their business for 5 years or more in San Diego County, California, with entrepreneurship theory as the conceptual framework. A purposive sample of 2 successful small retail services business participated in the interview process describing their perspectives. The research question aim was to identify strategies that successful small retail services business owners apply to sustain their business beyond 5 years. Coding keywords, sentences, and ideas from semistructured interviews and document analysis into categories was the key for the data analysis using method triangulation. Six themes emerged: (a) education and training skills acquired, (b) motivation, (c) brand awareness, (d) community involvement, (e) client loyalty, and (f) small business survival tactics. According to the responses of the participants, brand awareness and client loyalty were the most vital strategies to sustain business more than 5 years. The implications for social change include the potential to provide new strategies to support small retail services business toward sustainability; create strong relationships between small business; and enhance perceptions of community in order to increase sales, revenue, and job creation.

<p>Despite the existence of extensive literature regarding risk management, there still seems to be lack of knowledge in identification of Critical Success Factors (CSFs) in this area. In this research Grounded Theory is implemented to identify CSFs in Risk Management Systems (RMS). Factor analysis and one-sample t-test are then used to refine and rank the CSFs based on the results of a survey which has been performed among Risk Management practitioners in various types of Swedish corporations. CSFs are defined from three different perspectives: (a) the factors that have influence on the inclination and readiness of corporation for implementing RMS. (b) the factors that are important during the design and implementation of RMS in corporation and can significantly affect the success of RMS design and implementation and (c) the factors that are crucially important to successfully run, maintain and administrate RMS after the closure of the project of RMS design and Implementation.</p><p>This systematic approach towards understanding the taxonomy of the success dimension in RMS is important for re-enforcing effective risk management practices.</p>

<p>In the current fast-moving, global and complex business world, implementing organisational change has become one of the major leadership issues. Indeed, competitive organisations are turning out to be the ones that are flexible, able to adapt rapidly and continuously; strong leaders are turning out to be the ones who are transformational and who are able to implement change successfully.</p><p>However, as the business world is becoming more complex, organisations are following the same path and are developing increasingly complicated structures. Risk of failure in implementing change in such complex organisations is consequently high and leaders must lead strategic moves with dexterity. They must understand their role, the required skills as well as the importance of the people while starting to implement change. They must understand where to exert their influence and they should therefore be able to determine what are the key success factors to be taken into consideration in the implementation process.</p>

<p><strong>Title:</strong> Implementing an IBX e-procurement solution – are there any success factors?</p><p><strong>Subject: </strong>FE02E bachelor thesis, logistics</p><p><strong>Authors:</strong> Linus Jönsson, Emma Oscarsson, David Skoglund & Max Stafström</p><p><strong>Tutor:</strong> Roger Stokkedal</p><p><strong>Keywords:</strong> E-procurement, implementing, critical success factors, benefits, problems, MRO-products</p><p><strong>Background:</strong> One of the major problems that organizations face today is how to bring home savings. E-procurement solutions can be a tool to reach efficiency and reduce costs within organization. One of the biggest spend issues companies wrestle with are indirect material, also defined as MRO products (maintenance, repair, operations).</p><p><strong>Purpose:</strong> The thesis will examine why companies decide to implement an e-procurement solution and what their expectations are. The purpose of the research was to identify which the success factors are when implementing this type of solution. Eventual problems that may emerge during the implementation and benefits that the implementation might lead to, will also be presented.</p><p><strong>Methodology:</strong> The thesis has a survey design which studies variables in an e-procurement implementation. The scientific perspective is positivistic and has a deductive approach. The sample contains customers to IBX which use the entire solution, from planning to follow-up. The data has been gathered through a post-questionnaire.</p><p><strong>Result /Conclusion:</strong> When deciding to implement an e-procurement solution companies base this decision on a number of reasons. The most common reasons are to increase the internal efficiency and reduce the supplier base. There are also other encouraging reasons to the implementation which all concerns saving time and money. Once the decision has been made, expectations on the solution arise and companies expect the solution to bring benefits. Most common expectations are much alike the reasons concerning saving time and money on purchases of MRO-products. Besides the reasons and expectation companies must consider the critical success factors, both before, during and after the implementation. These factors will determine whether or not the implementation will be a success and they can be divided into factors that affect all companies and factors that just affect some. The key factors, affect all, are defining an e-procurement strategy, change management and training and education. Secondary factors will affect some companies, and depending on the situation organizations must take them into their perspective. These factors are i.e. well defined steering group and communication. If companies don´t consider the success factors problems may emerge, where change management is one of the most common problem. This is an organizationalproblem just like lack of information from external parts and lack in project management skills internally. Besides the organizational problems companies can also experience technical problems, which are directly associated to the solution that‟s implemented. Some of these problems are complex usability, complicated to communicate and integrate. By avoiding the problems companies can expect to see more benefits from the solution, the most experienced benefits are compliance savings, reduced supplier base and lowered administrative costs. These benefits mainly considers time saving and are all associated with the reasons to the implementation and expectations on the solutionResult /Conclusion: When deciding to implement an e-procurement solution companies base this decision on a number of reasons. The most common reasons are to increase the internal efficiency and reduce the supplier base. There are also other encouraging reasons to the implementation which all concerns saving time and money. Once the decision has been made, expectations on the solution arise and companies expect the solution to bring benefits. Most common expectations are much alike the reasons concerning saving time and money on purchases of MRO-products. Besides the reasons and expectation companies must consider the critical success factors, both before, during and after the implementation. These factors will determine whether or not the implementation will be a success and they can be divided into factors that affect all companies and factors that just affect some. The key factors, affect all, are defining an e-procurement strategy, change management and training and education. Secondary factors will affect some companies, and depending on the situation organizations must take them into their perspective. These factors are i.e. well defined steering group and communication. If companies don´t consider the success factors problems may emerge, where change management is one of the most common problem. This is an organizationalproblem just like lack of information from external parts and lack in project management skills internally. Besides the organizational problems companies can also experience technical problems, which are directly associated to the solution that‟s implemented. Some of these problems are complex usability, complicated to communicate and integrate. By avoiding the problems companies can expect to see more benefits from the solution, the most experienced benefits are compliance savings, reduced supplier base and lowered administrative costs. These benefits mainly considers time saving and are all associated with the reasons to the implementation and expectations on the solution.</p>

The container shipping industry is essentially a service industry, based on the derived need of shippers wanting to transport their goods to buyers around the world. The industry relies on the volume of world trade and consequently is highly cyclical with its profitability being dependent, in large part, on the health of the global economy. It is also a highly capital intensive industry that requires large amount of investment in large scale fixed assets, such as ocean vessels, ports facilities, terminal equipments, global office networks and communication infrastructure. The industry has been undergoing a period of restructuring and consolidation in the 1990s, reflected in both merger and acquisition and in the formation of global alliances. This paper will explore the literature on growth alternatives and competitive advantages of the industry. The specific case on NOL/APL growth path and its key success factors of strategy-performance relationship will also be identified. This paper will conclude by making some suggestions on longer-term strategy for the company in order to generate sustainable profitability and financial success for the NOL/APL group.

The primary goal of the study was to identify key success factors for the management of wedding tourism in South Africa. This goal was achieved by firstly conducting a literature study to determine the key success factors of strategic management for special events as stated in books, articles and other sources. Secondly, wedding tourism was analysed to provide an overview of the wedding tourism industry and weddings as tourism products. Thirdly, the results of the empirical research were discussed followed by the conclusions and recommendations made with regard to further research. From the literature study, aspects regarding strategic management were discussed namely, the strategic management process, marketing for special events, human resource management, financial management and operational management. These aspects were included in the questionnaires for the empirical research. Two different questionnaires were developed, one for wedding planners and one for owners/managers of wedding venues in the Gauteng and North West provinces. The purpose of the questionnaires was to gather information on the key success factors for wedding tourism and to gain insight of the wedding tourism industry. Personal interviews were held with wedding planners and owners1 managers of wedding venues; questionnaires were also distributed via email. All the data was processed by the North-West University's Statistical Consultation Services. A confirmatory factor analysis was done to produce a small amount of factors. The following factors were identified: strategic planning; SWOT analysis, human resources, financial management, market segmentation, promotion and operational management. After analysing the data it was clear that operational services like ensuring high levels of hygiene, having a liquor license, accessibility, secure parking and that services must meet the needs of guests were considered extremely important aspects for a wedding venue. The following aspects were considered extremely important by wedding planners: services must meet the needs of guests, offer unique products and develop a checklist as control mechanism. Owners of wedding tourism products and wedding planners have to consider and apply the key success factors in order to grow the industry and create sustainable products. / Thesis (M.Com. (Tourism))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

This study focused on identification of success factors of strategy implementation in retail branches of a bank. The objective of this study was to identify and investigate the possible factors which influence successful implementation of strategic plans in a retail banking environment. In doing so, establish various factors that inhibit successful strategy implementation and explore approaches or best practices that could be adopted to facilitate effective implementation of strategic decisions. The data was collected through questionnaires distributed to the branch managers of the institution. 153 respondents out of a population of 615 participated in the study. The results showed that understanding one’s local market, knowing your customer, communication, leadership, culture-strategy alignment, resources-strategy alignment, rewards and tactical plan are the top success factors of strategy implementation within branches of this bank. / Thesis (MBA)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013