by Leung Koon-keung Jack. / Bibliography: leaf 54 / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1982

The research problem addressed in this study was aimed in assisting the management of Bridgestone/Firestone, Port Elizabeth plant, in selecting an appropriate process for the formulation of an operations strategy. The author embarked on a literature survey to gain understanding of the challenges that are occurring in the market environment. The theories and techniques around operational strategies were extensively researched in an effort to effectively and efficiently assist the management of Firestone in achieving a competitive advantage over rival competitors. Other areas of focus include the content, development, principles and concepts in developing an operations strategy. The author details the process of the formulation of an operations strategy as well as the discussion of four models/procedures deployed in organisations that would enhance strategy formulation. It is evident from the findings of the empirical study that a high percentage of the respondents “agree” that the strategy deployed within Bridgestone/Firestone, Port Elizabeth plant is appropriate, yet an alarmingly high percentage believe it to be “ineffective.

Value Stream Mapping is a common tool used in a lot of instances in today’s industrieswho have adopted any kind of Lean initiatives. However, Value Stream Mapping (VSM) may not always fit to the best extent and intention of the industry applying it; therefore a need for tailoring certain aspects of it have been seen in some cases where the original tool has not been enough. However there is little research on how to adopt VSM towards the tire industry, it is the case that some adaptation is needed in order to fully map the value the chain is trying to capture as seen by some authors who use VSM on other industries. This leads to conclude that further research is needed in order to see the benefits and chal-lenges in the creating of a tailored value stream tool in order to understand how it would affect the company its applied on as well as increasing the knowledge of its capabilities and drivers for it application. The impact this research would have is to begin bridging a gap of the usage of how a Tai-lored Value Stream Mapping (TVSM) tool would affect when applied to a specific industry. For this paper, a case study within a Tire Company located in Europe, who stated that they had issues regarding their current usage and utilization of VSM, was conducted. The com-pany has projects going all over the globe but sees a lack of initiative and success without the direct involvement of its central plant. The purpose of this research is to investigate the perceived impact as well as the benefits and challenges of utilizing a company TVSM, in-stead of a standardized one, taking into consideration both particularities of the industry, as well as the culture of the firm. Also an understanding is sought to recognize the motiva-tions that drove the Tire Company to choose a tailored approach. The research was conducted as a qualitative single case study involving three different sitesbelonging to the tire industry located in Europe. It is built upon both a theoretical part, comprised by a literature review of the concepts of VSM, Lean and TVSM; and an empiri-cal part derived from the case. The Empirical data was collected through semi-structured interviews as well as participant observations, supported by secondary data collected from the company in form of written documents concerning the internal training of VSM. The findings concluded that, the reasons for sustaining a TVSM are its ease of use, and ability to reach out and be understood by people with little to no training in VSM’s. The company fitted training documents would decrease the training needed and the time spent doing so. Some other benefits were the empowerment of employees and the sharing of knowledge across multiple sites in a standardized company language. Albeit with the chal-lenge of creating and upholding such documents and training, compelling the company to have experts with knowledge of VSM and the company processes and culture with the added challenge of also maintaining regularly updates as the company moves forward. Implementation of a tailored approach is practical where there has been identified that it exists a gap between different plants or departments, local or globally, regarding knowledge or experience when there is a requirement for standardisation, communication and need for change.

Thesis (M.A.)--Youngstown State University, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 113-117). Also available via the World Wide Web in PDF format.

abstract: The current study combines field study, survey study, and public financial reports, and conducts an in-depths comprehensive study of the cost of the global tire industry. By comparing the price and the total cost structure of standardized tire products, we investigate Chinese tire industry’s global competitiveness, especially in light of China’s fast increasing labor cost. By constructing a comprehensive cost index (CCI), this dissertation estimates the evolution and forecasts the trend of global tire industry’s cost structure. Based on our empirical analysis, we provide various recommendations for Chinese tire manufacturers, other manufacturing industries, and foreign trade policy makers. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Business Administration 2015

Grounded in the positive psychology paradigm the recently recognised core construct of psychological capital was focussed in a South African study. A non-experimental, correlational study (n=204) examined the relationship between authentic leadership, psychological capital, psychological climate, team commitment and intention to quit. The present study was exploratory in nature and the pattern of relationships being investigated had not been previously tested in a South African context. A self-administered composite questionnaire consisting of five psychological scales were distributed to employees in the junior to senior management level at a global tyre manufacturing organisation based in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. The five scales were the Authentic Leadership Questionnaire by Walumbwa, Psychological Capital Questionnaire by Luthans, Psychological Climate by Koys and DeCotiis, Team Commitment by Bennett and the Intention to Quit Scale by Cohen. All the measures applied on the South African sample were developed outside South Africa and model equivalence had to be established. The content and structure of the measures were investigated through confirmatory factor analysis and exploratory factor analysis. With the exception of the Cohen scale of intention to quit, all other measures changed their factorial structures to suit the present data. The propositions in the study were tested through descriptive statistics, t-tests, ANOVA, post hoc tests, Cohen’s d, Pearson product-moment correlation and multiple regressions. Structural equation models were built to test the relationships between the scales and sub scales of authentic leadership, psychological capital, psychological climate, team commitment and intention to quit. Results of the analyses carried out, show significantly strong relationships between the variables. Of note is the marked relationship between authentic leadership and psychological climate. Most of the propositions were accepted in light of the relationships that emerged. The proposition indicating structural equation models was rejected because none of the models built in the study successfully produced an adequate fit on the data. Contributions of the study were in terms of the portability of the measurement instruments applied in the study as well as the relationships that emerged. Re-validation of the measures is required to enable clarity on how the variables in the study are interpreted across cultural contexts. Directions for future research include extending the study to other samples and other cultures. Measuring social desirability of the instruments could possibly provide clarity on how the different samples respond to the measures. Studies that compare the reading ability as well as the ability to comprehend the items in the measures would provide valuable information.

Employee involvement and participation in HIV-prevention interventions at the workplace remains a barrier to effective programme implementation, which contributes significantly to programme failure and the consequent continued spread of HIV among employees at the workplace. This study explores employee involvement and participation in HIV-prevention interventions at a Bulawayo tyre manufacturing firm. It assesses factors affecting employee involvement and participation in these interventions, and examines the implications of these findings for programme implementation. I used a semi-standardised interview schedule to conduct in-depth, face-to-face qualitative interviews and a self-administered questionnaire to collect quantitative data. The responses showed the nature of employee involvement in HIV-prevention at the firm was at a co-option level, and the type of participation was mere token participation. I recommended that the firm should develop a clear understanding of the importance of stakeholder involvement in HIV-prevention programmes. / Sociology / M.A. (Social Behaviour Studies in HIV/AIDS)

Employee involvement and participation in HIV-prevention interventions at the workplace remains a barrier to effective programme implementation, which contributes significantly to programme failure and the consequent continued spread of HIV among employees at the workplace. This study explores employee involvement and participation in HIV-prevention interventions at a Bulawayo tyre manufacturing firm. It assesses factors affecting employee involvement and participation in these interventions, and examines the implications of these findings for programme implementation. I used a semi-standardised interview schedule to conduct in-depth, face-to-face qualitative interviews and a self-administered questionnaire to collect quantitative data. The responses showed the nature of employee involvement in HIV-prevention at the firm was at a co-option level, and the type of participation was mere token participation. I recommended that the firm should develop a clear understanding of the importance of stakeholder involvement in HIV-prevention programmes. / Sociology / M.A. (Social Behaviour Studies in HIV/AIDS)

Only a few middlemen linking chemical intermediate product supply to world tyre productions have managed to survive new direct business models. In fact, the only region, where the practice of using a middleman in the supply chain of tyre production, for a certain primary manufacturer, is in South Africa. Tyre producers in other world regions, similar in market complexity to South Africa, have experienced the elimination of the middleman. Hence the question of this research, why is the middleman in the supply chain of tyre production in South Africa still a better option than that of direct business models? To begin with, the thesis stated that the middleman in the supply chain of South African tyre producers delivers better value than that of the direct business model. To prove/disprove this thesis, the principle that value is a trade-off between what you get for what you give was the basis of this research (Zeithaml, 1998). Further, a model was developed, from secondary literature, to conceptualise this trade-off to provide evidence to prove/disprove that the middleman provides greater value than value from the direct business model. From this point, the research approach was to collect data through interviews to find out the most important aspect of value created by the middleman. Data collected were analysed, using the structure of the model as a guide, to find evidence of the trade-off. This analysis provided evidence that the relationship between the middleman and the tyre producers in South Africa and between the middleman and primary product supplier is the value that the direct business model cannot replace.