The advent of globalisation and technology has had a profound effect on the business environment. This has changed both the manner and speed with which business is conducted globally. Technology has facilitated the expediency and closure of major business deals at the click of a mouse, to comply with the shift in consumer tastes, values and preferences. This paper will focus specifically on the impact that the World Wide Web, the Internet has had on the print media, the latter being narrowed down to newspapers generally and that specifically published by the Independent Newspaper Holdings stable. The literature review will expound the debates of various acclaimed academics. The works of Michael Porter on competitive advantage, Hamel and Prahalad on core competence, issues of leadership and change management by Kotter will be reviewed and the data collected by way of interviews and surveys will be evaluated in support of the findings. Strategic management tools (SWOT, PEST and Porter's Five Forces) will used to examine the strategic and operational environments in which Independent Newspapers is operating. This will be supported by the research findings, which will attempt to make recommendations of the strategies that must be implemented for the sustainability of the Group. Furthermore, since 1994, South Africa has experienced a change in government and its laws have changed causing global and local competition to intensify. Businesses also have to contend with a service quality revolution between consumers and service providers. Following the introduction of new labour laws, the workplace has become diverse in its composition and culture, resulting in workers, shareholders and customers demanding to be included in the decision - making process. Ethics is another key factor, which pervades almost every aspect of business. This code of ethics evolves with changing societal values. This is a primary dimension, which must be taken into account in charting the way forward. The existing code of ethics must be revisited, given the changes that have taken place. It is imperative that this framework be continuously evaluated. Management of all types of organisations has to rethink their approach with regard to their operations, human resources, marketing and the physical environment. This paradigm shift is causing new organisations to emerge, which are more responsive to both their internal and external environments. (Kasirnoglu 2000). / Thesis (MBA)-University of Kwazulu-Natal, 2004.

Support provision is a personal and important element of daily life for many people with disabilities. The study examines the ways in which organizational mandates and philosophies shape interactions between people with disabilities and support providers at two unique organizations: a L’Arche community for people with intellectual disabilities and a Independent Living Resource Centre. The project is framed with the social model of disability, the work of Titchkosky (2003) and human geography. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews, including a scenario component, with administrators at each location, people with disabilities using the services and support providers. The findings demonstrate that both organizations have strongly articulated philosophies that the participants are familiar with. The L’Arche model creates an environment that determines certain ways of interacting and while the IL participants amend the philosophy to reflect the daily reality of support provision.

The overall purpose of this study was to better understand why youth travellers are visiting Manitoba. A web-survey was administered to visitors of the Hostelling International - Canada, Manitoba Region website. Youth leisure travellers planning to visit Manitoba were found to be between 24 and 28 years of age, mostly from Canada and Australia, not students, but educated and employed, with between $501 and $3,500 available for travel purposes. Respondents’ travel plans were found to include; travel alone or with one other person, an average stay of 5 days planned for Manitoba, travel by rented vehicle or by bus, and the use of the internet, guidebooks and family and friends as information sources prior to travel. Dominant motives for travel to Manitoba were uncovered, and relationships of Manitoba specific travel motives were found with several demographic and travel characteristics. The results of this study can be used by the Manitoba tourism sector to market Manitoba travel experiences and to emphasize how they cater to one or more dominant travel motives. This will enable them to better attract and satisfy their customers.

Ninety students in an introductory psychology course were each assigned to one of three matched groups, which were levels of multiple-baseline format. For each level, a simple within subjects reversal design was used, in which points were awarded for participation in study sessions during a nine-day, two-week period, preceded and followed by periods when reinforcement was not available. Participation was defined as studying for at least 15 minutes and then completing and scoring the daily quiz in study session. Of the 90 students, only 61 picked up instruction sheets, and of these 27 actually participated in one or more study sessions. The two most significant findings were that course credit points did reinforce participation in study sessions, which was shown by a clear reversal (a return to no participation when points were withdrawn), and that significantly more top than bottom students participated in study sessions (p<.05). No significant sex differences were found.

Support provision is a personal and important element of daily life for many people with disabilities. The study examines the ways in which organizational mandates and philosophies shape interactions between people with disabilities and support providers at two unique organizations: a L’Arche community for people with intellectual disabilities and a Independent Living Resource Centre. The project is framed with the social model of disability, the work of Titchkosky (2003) and human geography. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews, including a scenario component, with administrators at each location, people with disabilities using the services and support providers. The findings demonstrate that both organizations have strongly articulated philosophies that the participants are familiar with. The L’Arche model creates an environment that determines certain ways of interacting and while the IL participants amend the philosophy to reflect the daily reality of support provision.

The overall purpose of this study was to better understand why youth travellers are visiting Manitoba. A web-survey was administered to visitors of the Hostelling International - Canada, Manitoba Region website. Youth leisure travellers planning to visit Manitoba were found to be between 24 and 28 years of age, mostly from Canada and Australia, not students, but educated and employed, with between $501 and $3,500 available for travel purposes. Respondents’ travel plans were found to include; travel alone or with one other person, an average stay of 5 days planned for Manitoba, travel by rented vehicle or by bus, and the use of the internet, guidebooks and family and friends as information sources prior to travel. Dominant motives for travel to Manitoba were uncovered, and relationships of Manitoba specific travel motives were found with several demographic and travel characteristics. The results of this study can be used by the Manitoba tourism sector to market Manitoba travel experiences and to emphasize how they cater to one or more dominant travel motives. This will enable them to better attract and satisfy their customers.

The purpose of this research was to investigate the effects of independent study programs, as perceived by teachers and principals, upon student control in selected secondary schools. The specific intention of collecting this data was to provide educators with useful information to help formulate ideas relative to independent study programs and student control.After the review of related literature on independent study and student control in secondary schools, a teacher questionnaire and a principal interview guide were developed for four schools located in the Northeast and Upper Wabash Study Councils of Ball State University. Also, Burris Laboratory School of Ball State University was included in the research because of the extensive independent study program conducted there, One hundred and thirty teachers responded to the questionnaire and five principals were interviewed.The study was designed to obtain teacher-principal perception of factors which influence independent study and student control. The data were analyzed and conclusions drawn from these perceptions to show the effects independent study had on student control.The questionnaire instrument developed for this study included six major categories and thirty-five specific questions. The six categories for teacher perception consisted of the following: (1) unscheduled time, (2) self-discipline, (3) decision making, (4) attendance, (5) interest in school activities, and (6) respect for school. A final item allowed the respondents to answer' an open-ended question pertaining to personal observations.The principal interview guide included ten open-ended questions covering the following topics: (1) positive aspects of independent study, (2) negative aspects of independent study, (3) direct effects of independent study of student control, (4) personal feelings concerning independent study as it relates to student control, (5) student rejective behavior while pursuing independent study, (6) student aggressive behavior while pursuing independent study, (7) student withdrawal behavior while pursuing independent study, and (8) student evasive behavior while pursuing independent study.Major findings of the research included the following:1. Independent study programs were consistently perceived as having positively affected school attendance. General attendance was seen as good, while class cutting and truancy were indicated as being low.2. The teachers indicated that students spent too much time roaming and talking in the hallways and wasting time in the student lounge. Principals agreed that time was misused by pupils roaming the hallways and groups congregating during free time.3. The research data indicated that both teachers and principals perceived students to generally have poor selfdiscipline while participating in independent study. Peer group pressure was perceived to often cause student control problems and teachers believed more rules and regulations were needed for control purposes. Principals indicated poor selfdiscipline involved a minority of the students.4. The teachers and principals perceived students as often making unwise decisions while pursuing independent study. It is their judgment that the younger students and the less academically talented students were not responsible enough to make the personal decisions necessary in independent study.5. Teachers indicated that there was a tendency for student interest in subject matter to be high. Principals felt that student interest toward academic pursuits were greater under independent study programs.6. Teachers indicated a feeling that student disrespect for authority was high. Principals indicated a feeling that better relationships existed between students and school staff. Student fighting and incorrigibility were not perceived as problems, although there was an indication that some vandalism did occur during student independent study time.

No description available.

Abstract The natural progression of generators and retailers, following electricity deregulation, to vertically integrate is a contentious subject involving, at one extreme, expectations that a laissez- faire market approach will deliver economic benefits to all participants, and at the other extreme, suspicions that the unusual features of the electricity sector, in providing generators with market power, may not provide electricity consumers with an improved outcome. The objectives of this thesis were to: understand fully the drivers of generators and retailers to vertically integrate and to apply this knowledge to the Queensland electricity market to determine the financial impact on generators, retailers and consumers from vertical integration (VI). A literature review was undertaken of VI in a generic sense, noting the distinction between market contracting and ‘internalisation’, with particular reference to the writings of Oliver Williamson. The Federal Court case involving Australia’s largest electricity retailer, Australian Gas and Light Ltd, seeking approval to purchase a minority shareholding in the Victorian generator Loy Yang Power, was closely examined from the perspectives of theoretical and practical electricity sector VI integration issues. A quantitative analysis was undertaken of an assumed 60% VI of the Queensland electricity market to assess the costs and benefits to generators that vertically integrated and to consumers. The quantified generator benefits included margin elimination, savings in overheads, more rapid decision-making, and demand side management (DSM) savings in deferred capital expenditure on peaking generation and network expenditure through reduced peak demand. To support the quantitative analysis, two scenario models were developed. The first model replicates the process by which generators build up revenue certainty over time from hedge contract sales and bidding of output into the electricity grid. How generator bidding behaviour is affected by the level of hedge cover and hedge contract prices is examined, particularly in regard to how this behavior is affected by the competitive relationship between retailers and generators. The second scenario model replicates the attitude of vertically integrated generators (VIGs) towards offering DSM services by observing how the attitude of individual VIGs is affected by level of peaking generation and by the generation-to-retailing output proportion. It was determined that a combination of these features and particular market scenarios could result in some VIGs being financially worse off by providing DSM services, an important conclusion in the context of the increased community focus on energy conservation. The extent to which VIGs pass on VI and DSM benefits to consumers was calculated under scenarios of weak and strong retail competition. Of most relevance was the difference in market behaviour between retailers that had became vertically integrated, and those that had not, with the latter expected to become less competitive in both the wholesale and retail markets. This outcome was observed to provide generators with additional market power potential, a subject closely examined. The quantitative analysis of the Queensland market concluded that the maximum possible benefit that consumers could expect from VI was $138 million per annum with current DSM technology and strong retail competition, increasing to $156 million per annum if DSM technology improved, for example in regard to more cost-efficient meters. Total possible benefits to VIGs and consumers was estimated at $321 million per annum, so that consumers could expect to receive no more than 50% of total expected benefits from VI. This conclusion is not surprising because generators will only seek to be vertically integrated if they perceive clearly identified benefits from VI. The reasons why consumers are unlikely to receive benefits greater than this are: • $30 million per annum of internal savings being retained by VIGs; • VIGs achieving a minimum $60 million per annum additional revenue benefits through wholesale and retail price increases, arising from their stronger generation and retail positions; and • $75 million per annum of potential DSM benefits not being offered to consumers, because of the reluctance of VIGs to provide DSM services where the outcome could be reduced export revenue, reduced sales revenue and lower pool prices. In summary, using the Queensland market as a case study, in a strongly competitive retail market consumers could expect to receive, at the most, 50% of VI and DSM benefits. However in a weakly competitive retail market, where VIGs retain most of the benefits and are able to achieve higher wholesale prices, the outcome could instead be an overall cost to consumers. The thesis concludes with a brief discussion of policy implications and approaches to addressing key issues arising from increasing VI in deregulated electricity markets.

Target firms in Australian takeovers are required to obtain an independent assessment of the offer price in situations where the Corporations Law considers the bidder has a superior bargaining position. The intention of this requirement is to protect target shareholders from being offered a lower takeover premium. The only empirical study of expert reports, Eddey (1993), is consistent with expert reports achieving their purpose, as the results indicate no difference in target firm premiums in offers with and without an expert report. Eddey also reports that a revision in offer price is more likely where an expert indicates the bid is �not fair and reasonable.� Using all takeovers from 1990 to 2000, this thesis aims to re-examine and substantially extend the findings in Eddey. As the sample includes all bids, irrespective of the form of payment consideration, the thesis will assess whether the results in Eddey can be extrapolated from cash-based bids to all takeover bids. In addition, the analysis will extend Eddey�s results by investigating whether expert reports result in a higher probability of a revision in offer price relative to takeovers without an expert report. This study also investigates the impact of the expert report on bidder announcement abnormal returns and examines the returns to both bidders and targets when the expert report is released. This will add to the limited current knowledge on the impact of expert reports on the capital market. This thesis also tests the validity of public criticisms of expert independence. Firstly, experts have been publicly criticised on the basis that they are not independent from the target firm. It has been suggested that such experts will be more likely to provide an opinion that agrees with the recommendation of target directors. Secondly, it has been alleged that experts who are also the target auditor provide their reports at a lower fee by cross-subsidising the reports� preparation from other fees received from the client. The concern with this practice is that these reports may be of lower quality. This criticism is tested by developing an expert fee model. This fee model is then used to assess whether, similar to evidence in the auditing field, �quality� experts earn a fee premium. The results indicate that the need for an expert report does not affect bidder abnormal returns at either the announcement of the takeover or release of the expert report. On the other hand, target shareholders earn significantly lower abnormal returns at the announcement of a bid where an expert report is required. This result is inconsistent with Eddey (1993) and raises doubt over whether experts prevent bidders from using their superior bargaining position to offer target shareholders a lower premium. Consistent with Eddey, the probability of an alteration in offer price is greater where an adverse expert opinion is given. The results also show that the presence of an expert increases the likelihood of a bid revision relative to takeovers in general. Target abnormal returns on the release of an expert report are positive and significant, irrespective of the type of expert opinion. This result however, is sensitive to any association between the author of the report and the target. In the case that an expert discloses any prior or current business dealings with the target, abnormal returns are insignificant. The conclusion from this finding is that the market perceives expert reports prepared by an associate of the target as lacking credibility. In light of this lack of information content it is recommended corporate regulators review those experts permitted to prepare reports. Contrary to the published criticisms, experts who have business dealings with the target are just as likely as other experts to provide an opinion that agrees with the recommendation of directors. The tests of a fee reduction by experts associated to the target indicate significant lower fees where the expert is the target auditor. Further analysis shows this result is only significant where the auditor is also a non-Big 6/5 firm. These auditors are also found to provide reports that are significantly shorter than other experts, suggesting the cut in fee is achieved by reducing the amount of effort. The results also find that the top two experts, Grant Samuels and Associates and Price Waterhouse Coopers, earn a fee premium over other experts. The finding of a fee premium for a large accounting firm indicates that such firms may receive a premium for both auditing and non-audit services.