South Africa is listed among the world's top ten countries with the highest unemployment levels (World Bank, 2018). The National Development Plan (2013) envisioned that by 2030, 90% of new jobs in the country will be created by small and growing enterprises. Worryingly however, South Africa lags in meeting its target for job creation as set out in the National Development Plan despite some effort made by the government to promote and grow small businesses. Globally small and medium enterprises have been acknowledged for their key role in driving economic growth, job creation and poverty alleviation. Despite this important role, South Africa still has one of the highest small and medium enterprise (SME) failure rates in the world (Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, 2014). To circumvent this challenge, the South African government established development strategies including the notable Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) to drive the growth and expansion of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). BBBEE is intended to drive enterprise and supplier development (ESD) and improve the development and long-term growth of SMEs. Notably, large private corporations in South Africa have made significant investments in ESD; however many SMEs fail to survive past three years. This study therefore investigates the extent to which integration into a large corporate value chain promotes the sustainability of a SME. The study also examines the impediments that inhibit the growth of SMEs that are integrated in large corporate value chains. The research was conducted using an explanatory qualitative methodology. Five SME owners and six large corporate managers were interviewed to assess their perspectives and opinions on the SME-Corporate relationship. The research results concluded that corporate initiatives on ESD are of a significant benefit to SME growth, however challenges such as negative corporate perception and access to external funding remain a hindrance to SME growth. The study proposed recommendations to improve the successful integration of SMEs into corporate value chains.

El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado. / The manufacturing specifications used by small leather and footwear businesses are neither up to date nor based on innovative production and new technologies. Consequently, their production times are higher, rendering them unable to sufficiently compete against other developed countries. Thus, this study seeks an innovative way to reduce times that do not add value to the product, such as reducing travel distances between stations, and proposes improving procedures for a better monitoring of the resources required. As a whole, this proposal focuses on designing a model to minimize the displacement of different processes. This practice is currently being implemented in the manufacturing sector, but not in the footwear sector. The proposal provides broad results, saving around 33% in transfer times and 85% in distance traveled in footwear production.

El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado. / This article explores the application of continuous improvement tools in company M4C1 to improve processes and production procedure for a production line of polo shirts and the distribution of workstations to provide a more efficient flow, thereby reducing non-productive times of materials and people transportation. The steps to determine the correct approach of the procedures to control excess in production times and reprocesses for its correct implementation, flow charts, and work indicators to measure the production processes of polo shirts will be described. The Arena Simulation tool will then be used to simulate the operation of the production process of polo shirts and to compare the results before and after implementation. Finally, the conclusions of the project will be presented.

Since the beginning of man, there has been great technological development. Both the industrial revolution and now, industry 4, are good examples of this. This has led to a big change both in our everyday lives as well as for companies and their daily operations. The paper is based on a series of analyses on different documents from the internet, organization documents and documents from public authorities. This will then in turn be combined with a literature review and traditional theories regarding the topic. The paper concludes that customers' changing purchasing behavior has created a need for change in the retail mar. The changing purchasing behavior is attributed to the digitalization of society and customers' new expectations of the companies. To remain relevant in the market, organizations today must meet customers and their expectations through digital portals in a way that did not exist before.

Magister Commercii - MCom / South Africa is faced with a triple threat of poor economic growth, poverty and unemployment. Concurrently, the production of waste is increasing predominantly among urban areas. If catered for, the informal recycling sector has the potential to create a notable amount of opportunities for improving livelihoods and generating jobs. Street Waste Pickers (SWPs) are identified as individuals who collect recyclable waste material from households or industrial firms with the aim of selling them to recycling firms. This study aims to identify the barriers and challenges for job creation along the value chain of plastic recycling that SWPs face in the urban regions of Cape Town. In the absence of national database on the informal recycling sector, this study utilises primary data collection methods in the form of semi-structured interviews and questionnaires. The findings in this study indicate that the informal recycling economy is predominantly male-dominated. This is particularly due to the labour-intensive nature of the activities in this sector. Furthermore, the informal recycling economy possesses little to no barriers of entry. This is substantiated by the slight difference found in the comparison of earnings by race, age and educational attainment. These results reveal that initiatives to absorb these individuals could potentially curb the large amount of unskilled unemployed citizens of South Africa and simultaneously help decrease the level of unemployment in the country.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・論文博士 / 博士(地域研究) / 乙第12941号 / 論地博第19号 / 新制||地||62(附属図書館) / 32151 / (主査)教授 荒木 茂, 准教授 伊谷 樹一, 准教授 大山 修一 / 学位規則第4条第2項該当 / Doctor of Area Studies / Kyoto University / DFAM

This thesis assesses the impact of the Jepara Furniture Value Chain (FVC) project, which was conducted by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) to address challenges faced by small-scale furniture producers in Jepara, Indonesia. This assessment focuses on the effect of membership in the APKJ, a producer association started as part of the project. The propensity score for association membership was estimated using unchanging firm and owner characteristics, as well as information recalled about firm operations in 2009 (before the association was formed). Propensity score matching was used to compare outcome variables of association members and non-members. Results suggest that membership in the APKJ does not have a significant effect on profit levels. Using differenced current and recalled marketing and production behaviors as outcome variables with propensity score matching indicates that members have improved their bargaining position and marketing behaviors more than non-members since 2009. Additionally, APKJ members are more likely to have obtained certificates of timber legality / Master of Science

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how Covid-19 affects international e-commerce firms. Covid-19 has been the source of changes in the international business environment across world from the beginning of year 2020. The effects on e-commerce firms are nearly unknown, therefore this research is unique. The aim of this study is to gain more knowledge on how international e-commerce firms are responding to the pandemic. By following a qualitative research method, the study will explore and conduct a deeper understanding on the e-commerce firms experience through a data collection. The literature review has been established, theories are mostly related to digital business environment and international value chain activities. The literature review has been summed up into a conceptual framework which illustrates the connections between the theories and Covid-19. Furthermore, the conceptual framework has been used to analyze the findings from the empirical data which was conducted in a multi-case study. The analysis chapter discusses similarities differences between the cases and connection to theory. Lastly, the conclusion chapter of this thesis concludes the findings and analysis, and it contains theoretical implications, recommendations, limitations and suggestions for future research.

Submitted by Adriana Alves Rodrigues (aalves@espm.br) on 2017-11-21T14:50:55Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Luis_Eduardo__Maturano_Cipolla.pdf: 1592066 bytes, checksum: d6aa39817cd4a326f137a2b23765d205 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Alves Rodrigues (aalves@espm.br) on 2017-11-21T15:09:06Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Luis_Eduardo__Maturano_Cipolla.pdf: 1592066 bytes, checksum: d6aa39817cd4a326f137a2b23765d205 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ana Cristina Ropero (ana@espm.br) on 2017-11-22T12:59:49Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Luis_Eduardo__Maturano_Cipolla.pdf: 1592066 bytes, checksum: d6aa39817cd4a326f137a2b23765d205 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-11-22T13:00:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Luis_Eduardo__Maturano_Cipolla.pdf: 1592066 bytes, checksum: d6aa39817cd4a326f137a2b23765d205 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-03-31 / The process of internationalization of emerging economies´ companies, from the point of view of insertion in the Global Value Chain, is the object of study of several researchers. The companies seek insertion in Global Value Chain through capability for the international market, using several Upgrade mechanisms, among them, improvements in product, in process, or in the expansion of the technological functions in the company's activities or inter-sectoral. This dissertation´s objective is to analyze the upgrade mechanism, using as a case study the company Bodega Catena Zapata. Through knowledge´s accumulation, the company added value to its products and the interpretation of these results is presented based on the Matrix of Competences, developed by Sato and Fujita (2009). The empirical study was done through a single, multilevel, exploratory case study (YIN, 2005), in a wine company located in Mendoza, Argentina. The main contribution of this dissertation is the interpretation of the results using the Matrix of Competences of Sato and Fujita (2009) in two different moments. The evaluation was elaborated for the stage that the company was in the 1990s and in 2016, describing the company´s evolution in relation to the knowledge accumulation process. It was verified that these processes are related to the company's performance in the international market, which gradually seeks to be included in the Global Value Chain of the wine sector. / O processo de internacionalização de empresas de economias emergentes, sob o ponto de vista de inserção na Global Value Chain, é objeto de estudo de vários pesquisadores. As empresas buscam a inserção por meio de capacitação para o mercado internacional, utilizando-se de vários mecanismos de Upgrade, dentre eles, melhorias no produto, no processo, ou na ampliação das funções tecnológicas nas atividades da empresa ou inter-setoriais, dentro da cadeia de valores. O objetivo desta dissertação é analisar o mecanismo de Upgrade, usando como Estudo de Caso a empresa Bodega Catena Zapata. Por meio de acumulação de conhecimentos, a empresa agregou valor aos seus produtos e a interpretação desses resultados é apresentada com base na Matriz de Competências, desenvolvida por Sato e Fujita (2009). A empiria foi feita por meio de um estudo de caso único, multinível, em caráter exploratório (YIN, 2005), em uma empresa do segmento de vinhos localizada em Mendoza, Argentina. A principal contribuição desta dissertação está na interpretação dos resultados com o uso da Matriz de Competências de Sato e Fujita (2009) em dois momentos distintos. A avaliação foi elaborada para o estágio que a empresa se encontrava na década de 1990 e no ano 2016, para descrever a evolução da empresa com relação aos processos de acumulação de conhecimentos. Verificou-se que esses processos estão relacionados com a atuação da empresa no mercado internacional que, gradativamente, busca se inserir na Global Value Chain do setor vitivinícola

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-05T19:12:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 17 / Nenhuma / Esta pesquisa visou testar e analisar a cadeia de valor como uma ferramenta gerencial necessária à formulação de estratégias para as organizações desenvolverem vantagens competitivas no mercado em que atuam, buscando ressaltar a necessidade de informações para tal. Para isso foi necessária a mensuração econômica de uma cadeia de valor. Sendo assim, o estudo teve como objetivo mensurar a cadeia interna de valor da etapa de processamento do pinus como forma de evidenciar o resultado e a contribuição de cada fase do processo na formação do seu resultado econômico. Quanto à metodologia utilizou-se uma pesquisa exploratória realizada com base num estudo de caso em uma indústria madeireira, a qual possui as atividades desde o plantio da semente até a entrega da madeira beneficiada de pinus ao cliente. Com o uso de algumas técnicas e métodos da gestão estratégica de custos como o método de Custeio Direto, o Preço de Transferência (Preço de Mercado) e o Custo de Oportunidade, foram desenvolvidos modelos de relatórios / This survey was made in order to analyze the value chain as a necessary management tool. And this tool it is really needed to formulate strategies for the organizations to develop competitive advantages in the market they act, emphasizing the necessity of information. In this context, the project had the objective of measuring the inside value chain of the pinus processing as a way to present the result and the contribution of each stage of the process into the economical result. About the method, it had been used an explorer research, based in a case studied in a wood industry, that acts from the seed plantation to the delivery of the favoured pinus wood to costumers. Based in some techniques and methods of strategic costs management, for example the Direct Cost method, the Transference Price (Market Price) and the Opportunity Cost. It had been developed samples of management reports in the value chain point of view. As a result, it has been noticed that the present project tried to contribute to taste and c