Thesis (Ph. D.)--Harvard University, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 179-185).

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The primary purpose of this study is to explore the social media habits of South African previously disadvantaged entrepreneurs and the way in which the activity of online social networking through social networking sites (SNS) results in the outcome of building social capital for a business venture. At the heart of addressing the research topic is the concept of selfefficacy, which is explored as a key component of human motivation and behaviour. The study explores how self-efficacy beliefs are developed with regard to social media usage and their potential to influence positive outcomes for a business. Based on the research topic, the study which is empirical in nature, has applied a qualitative research design in order to interpret rather than measure self-efficacy behaviours related to social media usage. A purposive non-probability sampling procedure has been adopted to select twelve previously disadvantaged South African entrepreneurs for the study. Semi-structured interviews provide for an interactive and insightful data collection process. As a qualitative study, attention is given to guidelines which establish reliability and validity. Key findings from the study support and refine established Internet selfefficacy research (Eastin & LaRose, 2000) based on Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura, 1986). Based on the established relationships between various constructs and self-efficacy beliefs, the results of the study have been interpreted positively. The findings of the study contribute to the current digital divide debate, and point to a narrowing of the access and participation gap. According to the sample, social media has become embedded in their daily lives for both social and business purposes, and is contributing towards building social capital. This study provides scope to further explore social media as a new opportunity for previously disadvantaged entrepreneurs in South Africa.

Esta pesquisa estruturou-se a partir de três relevantes fenômenos da economia contemporânea: empreendedorismo, inovação e relações universidade-empresa, elementos convergentes no ambiente das incubadoras de empresas de base tecnológica. Considerando que a justificativa para a criação deste tipo de incubadora é o fomento ao seu próprio contexto, o problema que norteou a pesquisa questionou a efetividade da Incubadora Tecnológica de Caxias do Sul (ITEC) em seu cenário. A ITEC foi selecionada por sua relação com a Universidade de Caxias do Sul (UCS), uma de suas entidades mantenedoras, bem como por se tratar de uma iniciativa única na região Nordeste, uma das regiões economicamente mais importantes do estado do Rio Grande do Sul. A metodologia utilizada na pesquisa foi o estudo de caso que, tendo por base a pesquisa bibliográfica e documental, valeu-se de entrevistas semiestruturadas como principais fontes de dados. Foram entrevistados, além da gerência da incubadora, representantes de todas as empresas incubadas e de aproximadamente 80% das empresas graduadas em atividade. O estudo procurou delinear o contexto relativo ao empreendedorismo, à inovação e às relações universidade-empresa, no qual se insere a ITEC e paralelamente, procurou-se descrever o desempenho da ITEC na promoção destes elementos. Para tanto, aplicou-se uma perspectiva baseada na ensinagem e na aprendizagem, respectivamente, enquanto condições de desenvolvimento proporcionadas pela incubadora às empresas e às práticas gerenciais adotadas por estas. Os resultados sugerem que, notadamente no passado recente, a incubadora vem se constituindo como importante mecanismo de fomento ao contexto assinalado e paralelamente indica a existência de um amplo potencial a ser explorado, especialmente em termos de inovação e relações universidade-empresa. / Submitted by Marcelo Teixeira (mvteixeira@ucs.br) on 2014-05-20T18:45:54Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Antor Beltrame.pdf: 1735218 bytes, checksum: 478d7b0a200255dc81598883388e666b (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-05-20T18:45:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Antor Beltrame.pdf: 1735218 bytes, checksum: 478d7b0a200255dc81598883388e666b (MD5) / This research is structured on three relevant phenomena in the contemporary economy, entrepreneurship, innovation and university-industry relationships, converging elements in the environment of technology-based business incubators. Considering that the justify to the creation of this type of incubator is the endorsement to its own context, the problem which guided the research questions was the effectiveness of the Technology Incubator of Caxias do Sul (ITEC) in the promotion of these three factors of economical development. ITEC was selected due to its relationship with the University of Caxias do Sul (UCS), one of its supporting entities, and also due to the fact that it is a unique initiative in the northeastern region of Rio Grande do Sul, one of the economically most important regions of the state. The methodology applied in the research was the case study, based on the bibliographic and documental investigation, making use of semi-structured interviews as main sources of information. Besides the incubator s management staff, representatives of all companies currently incubated, and representatives of approximately 80% of the graduated companies in activity were interviewed. The study sought to delineate the context related to entrepreneurship, innovation and university-industry relationships, which insert ITEC and, at the same time, it sought to describe the performance of ITEC in the promotion of these elements. For this, it was made use of the teaching-learning perspective respectively, while the development conditions offered by the incubator to the companies and the management practices adopted by them. The results suggest that, particularly in the recent past, the incubator has become an important mechanism for the endorsement of the mentioned context, and at the same time, it indicates the existence of a great potential to be explored, mainly in terms of innovation and university-industry relationships.

Esta pesquisa estruturou-se a partir de três relevantes fenômenos da economia contemporânea: empreendedorismo, inovação e relações universidade-empresa, elementos convergentes no ambiente das incubadoras de empresas de base tecnológica. Considerando que a justificativa para a criação deste tipo de incubadora é o fomento ao seu próprio contexto, o problema que norteou a pesquisa questionou a efetividade da Incubadora Tecnológica de Caxias do Sul (ITEC) em seu cenário. A ITEC foi selecionada por sua relação com a Universidade de Caxias do Sul (UCS), uma de suas entidades mantenedoras, bem como por se tratar de uma iniciativa única na região Nordeste, uma das regiões economicamente mais importantes do estado do Rio Grande do Sul. A metodologia utilizada na pesquisa foi o estudo de caso que, tendo por base a pesquisa bibliográfica e documental, valeu-se de entrevistas semiestruturadas como principais fontes de dados. Foram entrevistados, além da gerência da incubadora, representantes de todas as empresas incubadas e de aproximadamente 80% das empresas graduadas em atividade. O estudo procurou delinear o contexto relativo ao empreendedorismo, à inovação e às relações universidade-empresa, no qual se insere a ITEC e paralelamente, procurou-se descrever o desempenho da ITEC na promoção destes elementos. Para tanto, aplicou-se uma perspectiva baseada na ensinagem e na aprendizagem, respectivamente, enquanto condições de desenvolvimento proporcionadas pela incubadora às empresas e às práticas gerenciais adotadas por estas. Os resultados sugerem que, notadamente no passado recente, a incubadora vem se constituindo como importante mecanismo de fomento ao contexto assinalado e paralelamente indica a existência de um amplo potencial a ser explorado, especialmente em termos de inovação e relações universidade-empresa. / This research is structured on three relevant phenomena in the contemporary economy, entrepreneurship, innovation and university-industry relationships, converging elements in the environment of technology-based business incubators. Considering that the justify to the creation of this type of incubator is the endorsement to its own context, the problem which guided the research questions was the effectiveness of the Technology Incubator of Caxias do Sul (ITEC) in the promotion of these three factors of economical development. ITEC was selected due to its relationship with the University of Caxias do Sul (UCS), one of its supporting entities, and also due to the fact that it is a unique initiative in the northeastern region of Rio Grande do Sul, one of the economically most important regions of the state. The methodology applied in the research was the case study, based on the bibliographic and documental investigation, making use of semi-structured interviews as main sources of information. Besides the incubator s management staff, representatives of all companies currently incubated, and representatives of approximately 80% of the graduated companies in activity were interviewed. The study sought to delineate the context related to entrepreneurship, innovation and university-industry relationships, which insert ITEC and, at the same time, it sought to describe the performance of ITEC in the promotion of these elements. For this, it was made use of the teaching-learning perspective respectively, while the development conditions offered by the incubator to the companies and the management practices adopted by them. The results suggest that, particularly in the recent past, the incubator has become an important mechanism for the endorsement of the mentioned context, and at the same time, it indicates the existence of a great potential to be explored, mainly in terms of innovation and university-industry relationships.

No description available.

<p>In most business sectors environmental programs focus on direct, production-related environmental impacts. The design and development of products with reduced environmental impact is considered more difficult. The opposite applies in the environmental technology sector. The business model of environmental technology companies focuses on delivering solutions that contribute to improving the environmental performance of their customers. Products and services delivered by this sector have prominent environmental profiles. However, companies in this sector may not necessarily set and implement environmental goals for their own activities and manufacturing processes, and may not clearly distinguish between production and product related environmental aspects.</p><p>This thesis presents results of an online survey of environmental technology companies listed by the Swedish Environmental Technology Council (Swentec). The survey found that depending on the subsector, only between 21% and 45% of companies provide information about their environmental work on their website.</p><p>Environmental impacts of a company may be product and/or production related. The survey found that these dimensions are treated differently, and are not always clearly differentiated in environmental tools and guidelines, such as the ISO 14000 series, the Reporting Guidelines for UK Business, the GRI and The Swedish Annual Accounts (ÅRL). There are also differences in the ways that information about production and product related environmental impacts are considered within the environmental technology industry. Some companies clearly distinguish between product and activity related environmental issues, while others are unclear about the distinction between their products and their activities in environmental policies and management. While some companies in the sector limit the environmental information they disseminate to the environmental benefits of their products, others explicitly articulate that the predominantly product related environmental profiles in the sector drive them to additionally minimise environmental impacts of their own activities.</p><p>This thesis proposes environmental aspects of products and production as bases for corporate environmental profiles, corporate greening, and for defining ‘green’ and ‘green-green’ business, and concludes that companies within the environmental industry should be expected to be green-green business. This thesis concludes that companies within the environmental technology sector should increase their use of both production and product related environmental profile information in their presentations on their own websites and at platforms such as Swentec. Furthermore, the thesis shows that the use of the term ‘process’ within environmental technology sector to describe both the companies’ own operations and their products can create ambiguities in understanding. Companies that deliver ‘processes’ as products should avoid ambiguity by describing their own operations with terms such as ‘production processes’, ‘production’, ‘manufacturing process’, ‘operation’ or ‘activity’.</p> / <p>Ett företags miljöpåverkan kan vara kopplad till tillverkningsprocesser och till produkter. Miljöprogram inom de flesta industrisektorer är inriktade på direkta, produktionsrelaterade miljöaspekter. Däremot anses design och utveckling av produkter med minskad miljöpåverkan svårare. Inom miljötekniksektorn gäller det motsatta. Miljöteknikföretag erbjuder produkter och tjänster med framträdande miljöprofil och levererar lösningar som bidrar till förbättrad miljöprestanda hos deras kunder. Det betyder inte nödvändigtvis att dessa företag arbetar med miljömässiga mål för egna aktiviteter och tillverkningsprocesser, dvs. att dessa företag gör distinktion mellan tillverknings- och produktrelaterade miljöaspekter.</p><p> </p><p>Det övergripande syftet med avhandlingen är att öka förståelse av och insikt i miljöengagemang och miljöprofil inom miljöteknikföretag. Studien innehåller en onlineundersökning av miljöarbetet inom företag som är listade av Sveriges miljöteknikråd, Swentec i dess nätverk för den svenska miljöteknik­ sektorn. Studien visar att, beroende på undersektor, mellan 21 % och 45 % av företagen i undersökta miljöteknikområden har lagt ut information om sitt miljöarbete på företagets hemsida. Information om produktions- och produktrelaterade miljöfrågor varierar. Det finns företag som tydligt skiljer mellan produktorienterade miljöfrågor och miljöfrågor som berör deras tillverkningsprocesser och aktiviteter. Andra företag gör ingen tydlig åtskillnad mellan dessa frågor i sina miljöpolicydokument och miljöprogram. Vissa företag i branschen begränsar sin miljöinformation till miljömässiga fördelar med deras produkter. Det finns dock företag som tydligt uttalar att sektorns produktrelaterade miljöprofil är en drivkraft för att minimera miljöpåverkan från sin egen verksamhet.</p><p>I studien framkommer också att produktions- och produktrelaterade miljöaspekter behandlas på olika sätt, och är inte alltid tydligt differentierade i olika miljöverktyg och riktlinjer, som i ISO 14000 serien, Rapporteringsriktlinjer för UK Business, Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) och i den svenska årsredovisningslagen (ÅRL).</p><p> </p><p>Produktions- och produktrelaterade miljöaspekter föreslås som dimensioner i ett företags miljöprofil och i beskrivning av företagets miljövänlighet. Det samma gäller som grund för definition av ’gröna’ och ’grön-gröna’ företag. En viktig ståndpunkt i denna avhandling är att företag inom miljötekniksektorn bör vara ’grön-gröna’ företag och att dessa företag bör öka användningen av informationen om produktions- och produktrelaterad miljöprofil, både på sina egna hemsidor och i sina presentationer inom nätverk som Swentec. Dessutom visar studien att användningen av begreppet "process" inom miljöteknikföretag för såväl den egna verksamheten som för sina produkter i vissa fall är otydlig. För att undvika denna oklarhet bör företag med ’processer’ som egna produkter, beskriva företagens egna verksamheter med begrepp som ’produktionsprocess’, ’produktion’, ’tillverkningsprocess’, ’aktiviteter’ eller liknande.</p>

In most business sectors environmental programs focus on direct, production-related environmental impacts. The design and development of products with reduced environmental impact is considered more difficult. The opposite applies in the environmental technology sector. The business model of environmental technology companies focuses on delivering solutions that contribute to improving the environmental performance of their customers. Products and services delivered by this sector have prominent environmental profiles. However, companies in this sector may not necessarily set and implement environmental goals for their own activities and manufacturing processes, and may not clearly distinguish between production and product related environmental aspects. This thesis presents results of an online survey of environmental technology companies listed by the Swedish Environmental Technology Council (Swentec). The survey found that depending on the subsector, only between 21% and 45% of companies provide information about their environmental work on their website. Environmental impacts of a company may be product and/or production related. The survey found that these dimensions are treated differently, and are not always clearly differentiated in environmental tools and guidelines, such as the ISO 14000 series, the Reporting Guidelines for UK Business, the GRI and The Swedish Annual Accounts (ÅRL). There are also differences in the ways that information about production and product related environmental impacts are considered within the environmental technology industry. Some companies clearly distinguish between product and activity related environmental issues, while others are unclear about the distinction between their products and their activities in environmental policies and management. While some companies in the sector limit the environmental information they disseminate to the environmental benefits of their products, others explicitly articulate that the predominantly product related environmental profiles in the sector drive them to additionally minimise environmental impacts of their own activities. This thesis proposes environmental aspects of products and production as bases for corporate environmental profiles, corporate greening, and for defining ‘green’ and ‘green-green’ business, and concludes that companies within the environmental industry should be expected to be green-green business. This thesis concludes that companies within the environmental technology sector should increase their use of both production and product related environmental profile information in their presentations on their own websites and at platforms such as Swentec. Furthermore, the thesis shows that the use of the term ‘process’ within environmental technology sector to describe both the companies’ own operations and their products can create ambiguities in understanding. Companies that deliver ‘processes’ as products should avoid ambiguity by describing their own operations with terms such as ‘production processes’, ‘production’, ‘manufacturing process’, ‘operation’ or ‘activity’. / Ett företags miljöpåverkan kan vara kopplad till tillverkningsprocesser och till produkter. Miljöprogram inom de flesta industrisektorer är inriktade på direkta, produktionsrelaterade miljöaspekter. Däremot anses design och utveckling av produkter med minskad miljöpåverkan svårare. Inom miljötekniksektorn gäller det motsatta. Miljöteknikföretag erbjuder produkter och tjänster med framträdande miljöprofil och levererar lösningar som bidrar till förbättrad miljöprestanda hos deras kunder. Det betyder inte nödvändigtvis att dessa företag arbetar med miljömässiga mål för egna aktiviteter och tillverkningsprocesser, dvs. att dessa företag gör distinktion mellan tillverknings- och produktrelaterade miljöaspekter.   Det övergripande syftet med avhandlingen är att öka förståelse av och insikt i miljöengagemang och miljöprofil inom miljöteknikföretag. Studien innehåller en onlineundersökning av miljöarbetet inom företag som är listade av Sveriges miljöteknikråd, Swentec i dess nätverk för den svenska miljöteknik­ sektorn. Studien visar att, beroende på undersektor, mellan 21 % och 45 % av företagen i undersökta miljöteknikområden har lagt ut information om sitt miljöarbete på företagets hemsida. Information om produktions- och produktrelaterade miljöfrågor varierar. Det finns företag som tydligt skiljer mellan produktorienterade miljöfrågor och miljöfrågor som berör deras tillverkningsprocesser och aktiviteter. Andra företag gör ingen tydlig åtskillnad mellan dessa frågor i sina miljöpolicydokument och miljöprogram. Vissa företag i branschen begränsar sin miljöinformation till miljömässiga fördelar med deras produkter. Det finns dock företag som tydligt uttalar att sektorns produktrelaterade miljöprofil är en drivkraft för att minimera miljöpåverkan från sin egen verksamhet. I studien framkommer också att produktions- och produktrelaterade miljöaspekter behandlas på olika sätt, och är inte alltid tydligt differentierade i olika miljöverktyg och riktlinjer, som i ISO 14000 serien, Rapporteringsriktlinjer för UK Business, Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) och i den svenska årsredovisningslagen (ÅRL).   Produktions- och produktrelaterade miljöaspekter föreslås som dimensioner i ett företags miljöprofil och i beskrivning av företagets miljövänlighet. Det samma gäller som grund för definition av ’gröna’ och ’grön-gröna’ företag. En viktig ståndpunkt i denna avhandling är att företag inom miljötekniksektorn bör vara ’grön-gröna’ företag och att dessa företag bör öka användningen av informationen om produktions- och produktrelaterad miljöprofil, både på sina egna hemsidor och i sina presentationer inom nätverk som Swentec. Dessutom visar studien att användningen av begreppet "process" inom miljöteknikföretag för såväl den egna verksamheten som för sina produkter i vissa fall är otydlig. För att undvika denna oklarhet bör företag med ’processer’ som egna produkter, beskriva företagens egna verksamheter med begrepp som ’produktionsprocess’, ’produktion’, ’tillverkningsprocess’, ’aktiviteter’ eller liknande.

This thesis is devoted to recruitment and information technologies that support this process. The aim was to get recruitment process in concrete company more efective. The theoretical part deals with concepts and perspectives on the recruitment process as well as information technologies supporting HR field and webdesign innovations. In the practical part was analyzed the current status of the recruitment process and career sites, as the strongest source of candidates in a concrete company. There were identified weak points. Based on this analysis have been implemented new e-recruitment application and new career site that eliminate these weak points. The last part of thesis was based on real measurements evaluating the benefits of implemented changes.

No description available.