Over the past thirty years, clinical research has benefited substantially from the adoption of electronic medical record systems. As deployment has increased, so too has the number of researchers seeking to improve the overall analytical environment by way of tools and models. Although much work has been done, there are still many uninvestigated areas; two of which are explored in this dissertation. The first pertains to the physical storage of the data itself. There are two generally accepted storage models: relational and entity-attribute-value (EAV). For clinical data, EAV systems are preferred due to their natural way of managing many-to-many relationships, sparse attributes, and dynamic processes along with minimal conversion effort and reduction in federation complexities. However, the relational database management systems on which they are implemented, are not intended to organize and retrieve data in this format; eroding their performance gains. To combat this effect, we present the foundation for an EAV Database Management System (EDBMS). We discuss data conversion methodologies, formulate the requisite metadata and partitioned type-sensing index structures, and provide detailed runtime and experimental analysis with five extant methods. Our results show that the prototype, EAVDB, reduces space and conversion requirements while enhancing overall query performance. The second topic concerns query performance in a federated environment. One method used to decrease query execution time, is to pre-compute and store "beneficial" queries (views). The View Selection Problem (VSP) identifies these views subject to resource constraints. A federated model, however, has yet to be developed. In this dissertation, we submit three advances in view materialization. First, a more robust optimization function, the Minimum-Maintenance View Selection Problem (MMVSP), is derived by combining existing approaches. Second, the Federated View Selection Problem (FVSP), built upon the MMVSP, and federated data cube lattice are formalized. The FVSP allows for multiple querying nodes, partial and full materialization, and data propagation constriction. The latter two are shown to greatly reduce the overall number of valid solutions within the solution space and thus a novel, multi-tiered approach is given. Lastly, EAV materialization, which is introduced in this dissertation, is incorporated into an expanded, multi-modal variant of the FVSP. As models and heuristics for both the federated and EAV VSP, to the best of our knowledge, do not exist, this research defines two new branches of data warehouse optimization. Coupled with our EDBMS design, this dissertation confronts two main challenges associated with clinical data warehousing and federation.

Ein empirisch belegtes Phänomen ist die steigende Anzahl strategischer Allianzen von Unternehmen, speziell in dynamischen Wettbewerbsumgebungen. Über strategische Allianzen versuchen Unternehmen, auch in einer dynamischen Wettbewerbsumwelt unter hoher Unsicherheit Wettbewerbsvorteile aufzubauen. Dabei belegen verschiedene Forschungsarbeiten, dass strategische Allianzen häufig scheitern und weisen übereinstimmend relativ niedrige Erfolgsquoten von 50% nach. Harbison und Pekár belegen zwischen Unternehmen eine hohe Varianz und identifizieren, dass einige Unternehmen bei 87% ihrer strategischen Allianzen erfolgreich sind, während andere Unternehmen nur eine Erfolgsrate von 37% aufweisen. Die Fragestellung, warum Unternehmen in dieser Hinsicht so signifikant differieren, bildet die grundlegende Motivation für die vorliegende Arbeit. Die Ursache für die hohe Varianz der Erfolgsrate von strategischen Allianzen zwischen Unternehmen, ist in den internen Prozessen und Strukturen der Unternehmen zu vermuten. Diese unternehmensinternen Prozesse und Strukturen werden mit dem Begriff Allianzfähigkeit bezeichnet. 1. Forschungsfrage Aus welchen Prozessen und Strukturen besteht Allianzfähigkeit in Unternehmen? 2. Forschungsfrage Wie entwickelt sich Allianzfähigkeit in Unternehmen? Die vermutete Kausalität zwischen Allianzfähigkeit und der Erfolgsrate bei strategischen Allianzen verweist auf einen post-positivistischen Charakter der Untersuchung. Es wird auf wissenschaftliche Literatur, aber auch auf Beiträge von Unternehmensberatungen, Nichtregierungsorganisationen und andere Quellen zurückgegriffen, wie es als Forschungsansatz im Kontext strategischer Allianzen vorgeschlagen wird. Zunächst werden im zweiten Kapitel die beiden beobachtbaren Phänomene, eine steigende Dynamik der Wettbewerbsumwelt vieler Unternehmen und die zunehmende Anzahl strategischer Allianzen, die Interdependenzen aufweisen, unter Einbeziehung der Literatur, charakterisiert. Insbesondere die Motive von Unternehmen und deren Strategien zum Eingehen strategischer Allianzen werden erläutert. Im folgenden dritten Kapitel werden die traditionellen Erklärungsansätze des strategischen Managements anhand einer empirischen Literaturanalyse skizziert. Das Ergebnis der empirischen Literaturanalyse ist die Notwendigkeit eines neuen theoretischen Zugangs, der die gestiegene Dynamik der Wettbewerbsumwelt stärker reflektiert und interne Prozesse von Unternehmen intensiver betrachtet. Mit den Beiträgen von Teece et al., Eisenhardt und Martin, scheint sich der fähigkeitsorientierte Ansatz als neue Erklärungsperspektive zu etablieren. Der junge fähigkeitsorientierte Ansatz wird als geeignet identifiziert und im vierten Kapitel ausführlich dargestellt sowie in seinen aktuellen Entwicklungen erläutert. Das vierte Kapitel bildet den theoretischen Rahmen für das folgende fünfte Kapitel, das die Charakterisierung von Allianzfähigkeit auf der Grundlage eines Literaturreviews umfasst und direkt die Forschungsfragen anhand einer Modellentwicklung adressiert. Erkennt¬nisse aus anderen theoretischen Perspektiven werden in den fähigkeitsorientierten Ansatz übertragen und in das Modell integriert. Ein Vorgehen, das in der Tradition des strategischen Managements, insbesondere der Beiträge zum fähigkeitsorientierten Ansatz, steht. Im sechsten Kapitel wird das skizzierte Modell als Grundlage verwendet, um die Entwicklung von Allianzfähigkeit empirisch anhand einer Longitudinal-Fallstudie zu untersuchen. Die Analyse von Allianzfähigkeit sollte vor dem Hintergrund einer hohen Wettbewerbsdynamik unter der Bedingung von Hyperwettbewerb (Kriterium 1) in einer Branche erfolgen, bei der strategische Allianzen eine hohe Rolle spielen (Kriterium 2). Darüber hinaus soll die Möglichkeit bestehen, Zugang zu Dokumenten, Interviewpartnern sowie Datenbanken zu erhalten (Kriterium 3). Aufgrund dieser Kriterien wurde die Börsenindustrie als Industrie und die Deutsche Börse als Unternehmen ausgewählt. Das Ziel der Fallstudie ist die Darstellung der Entwicklung der strategischen Allianzen der Deutschen Börse von 1997 bis 2007, um Rückschlüsse auf die Allianzfähigkeit des Unternehmens ziehen zu können. Da die Entwicklung der Allianzfähigkeit im Vordergrund der Fallstudie steht, wird eine Längsschnittfallstudie mit chronologischem Aufbau verwendet. Dabei wurden drei verschiedene Quellen, Experteninterviews, Datenbanken sowie Dokumente, ausgewertet. / Firms are confronted by a lot of internal and external challenges within a dynamic competitive environment. Especially the increasing technological change derived from innovations, the fast diffusion of new technologies, the development of new business models, and the globalization are known as the main drivers for this. The consequence is increasing dynamism and complexity in business relations resulting in the emergence of strategic alliances, such as joint ventures, virtual organizations, and loose contractual agreements among firms. In this contribution strategic alliances are defined as cooperative agreements of any form with the aim of strengthening the partners’ positions in an industry (Arino & la Torre, 1998). Opportunities for risk and knowledge sharing among business partners, obtaining new veins for new markets, and the possibility to add new competencies are the main forces behind this trend towards strategic alliances (Prahalad & Hamel, 1994). Several quantitative studies counted an increasing number of international strategic alliances during the past four decades (Büchel, 2004; Gomes-Casseres, 1988; Hagedoorn & van Kranenburg, 2003; Narula & Hagedoorn, 1998). But even if the strategic alliances are popular, several studies reported a high failure rate of strategic alliances between 40% and 60% (Drago, 1997; Bresser & Harl, 1986; Hennart, Kim & Zeng, 1998; Park & Ungson, 2001). Harbison and Pekár (1998) analyzed that some firms have a success rate in strategic alliancing of 87% while other firms have a success rate of only 37%. The main motivation of this contribution is to address this significant difference and to analyze the impact of internal capabilities in strategic alliances. Therefore we argue that firms need a specific capability to build up and develop strategic alliances, which is labeled as the alliance capability. This contribution covers two research questions: (1) Which processes and structures determine alliance capability? (2) How do firms develop alliance capability? Even if alliance capability covers identifiable routines and resources, it has a dynamic character which means that these capabilities could increase or decrease over time. This capability is a result of learning processes and past dependent experiences. An alliance capability is positively related to an increased absorptive capacity and to a firm’s performance in the full sense of successful behavior in the market (Kapur et al., 2005). Therefore an alliance capability is necessary to operate in a co-opetitive environment which is characterized by Bresser and Harl (1986) or more recently by Luo (2007). Schilke (2007) argues that an alliance capability has an influence on the competitive advantages of a firm. This contribution will describe a research framework of alliance capability to analyze the roles of resources, processes, and paths in respect of alliance capability. To validate the model, an explorative study of the alliance activities of Deutsche Boerse Group (DBAG), a global stock exchange company, between 1997 and 2007 will be performed.

This study uses academic literature from peer-reviewed journals to assess the literary consensus of the three perspectives. The literature has been found by using specific keywords and an assortment of scholarly databases. The analysis of the literature is structured according to explanations for alliance formation, the attainment of advantages, and disadvantages according to the perspectives. The study is written in article format. Conclusions: The perspectives both overlap and differ from one another but focus on different aspects and incentives. There are, however, more similarities between the resource-based and knowledge-based views. Transaction cost theory and the knowledge-based view are narrow explanatory models, whereas the resource-based view offers a broader view on alliances.

<p>Enterprise system (ES) is being considered an important phenomenon in the corporate use of information technology, enhancing organizational cross functional efficiency and effectiveness through the integration of all the information flowing through a company. The implementation and use of this system involve high expenditure and risk and it has a great impact in every aspect of an adopting organization. The wrong selection of this system would have an adverse effect on the company performance. So the selection of this system deserves considerable attention from the practitioner and researcher.</p><p>In this study, our objective is to identify the influencing factors on the ES selection process from the existing theory and investigate them in real life situation from the client and vendor’s perspectives.</p><p>To fulfil the first objective of the study, we have made a comprehensive review on ES literature and synthesized an integrated framework of influencing factors on the ES selection process. To fulfil the other objective, we have made a qualitative empirical study through multiple case study approach. To collect necessary in-depth information, we have used purposive sampling and general interview guide approach. The integrated framework has guided us in empirical study and the cross case analysis of empirical data has been performed on the basis of this framework from the view point of client and vendor.</p><p>The result of this study shows that there exists a good fit between client and vendor views about the influencing factors on the ES selection process, in spite of insignificant imbalance between them. The result also reveals that most of the influencing factors of integrated framework have been recognized both by client and vendor with some diversity. Three new influencing factors: geographical proximity, requirement specification and sales skill of vendor have emerged from the study.</p>

Submitted by Danilo Misticone (danilomisticone@hotmail.com) on 2015-01-12T17:38:59Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Danilo Misticone MPA.pdf: 1722559 bytes, checksum: 832984c82da672c1f2d2376ea5247152 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ana Luiza Holme (ana.holme@fgv.br) on 2015-01-12T18:38:52Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Danilo Misticone MPA.pdf: 1722559 bytes, checksum: 832984c82da672c1f2d2376ea5247152 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-01-12T18:58:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Danilo Misticone MPA.pdf: 1722559 bytes, checksum: 832984c82da672c1f2d2376ea5247152 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-12-15 / This paper approaches the strategy in business management and aimed at identifying and outlining the interests and commitment of stakeholders in strategic resources management concerning production and implementation of wind turbine equipment of a Brazilian wind power company and also verifying if internal and external results deriving from such activities were sustainable, taking as main reference seminal publications and periodicals relevant to the research point that discuss the Resource Theory, Stakeholders and Sustainability. An analysis was carried out to assess how stakeholders, beyond the temporal context, intermediated the composition, development and management of the organization´s resources, as well as the social, environmental and economic results obtained from resources management in the production and supply of wind turbines to a Wind Power Plant located in the State of Ceara, in order to portray that Brazil sustainability can be an important competitive advantage source that creates value for shareholders and the community (Hart & Milstein, 2003). The strategy herein applied was the qualitative investigation using a single study case, which allowed for the thorough examination of an active organization operating in the Brazilian industry of wind power and also the resources used in the production and implementation of wind turbines supplied to the a Wind Power Plant in Ceara. Considering the content analysis and the triangulation principle, three qualitative data collection methods were applied to identify and characterize stakeholders’ interest and commitment in resource management of the organization operating in the Brazilian wind power industry, as follows, semistructured deep interview with managers of tactic-strategic level and analysts of organization´s value chain nine activities, analysis of public internal and external documents; and analysis of audio-visual material. Nonetheless, to identify the internal and external economic, social and environmental results of implementation and supply of wind turbines to the Wind Power Plant in Ceara, semistructured interviews were also carried out with the residents of the region. Results showed the BNDES (Brazilian Development Bank) and the organization head office were the stakeholders who exerted the strongest influence on resources related to production and implementation of the aerogenerator product at Trairi Wind Plant in Ceara. Concerning the organization resources, at the current stage of the Brazilian Wind Industry ,although the brand, reliability and reputation of the organization under study were valuable esources, rare, hard to imitate and exploited by the organization, it was noticed that opposed to RBV, they did not actually represent a source of competitive advantage . For the local community the social, economic and environmental results related to the wind turbines implementation were more positive than negative, despite the fact that the productive process caused negative environmental impacts such as the high emission of CO2 to transport wind turbines components to Trairi Wind Power Plant. / Este trabalho, localizado no campo de estratégia empresarial, teve como principal objetivo identificar e caracterizar os interesses e envolvimento dos stakeholders na gestão de recursos estratégicos relacionados à produção e implementação do produto aerogerador de uma organização atuante na indústria brasileira de energia eólica, e verificar se os resultados internos e externos decorrentes da realização destas atividades foram sustentáveis, considerando-se, principalmente, como referencial teórico, publicações seminais referentes às abordagens da Teoria dos Recursos, Stakeholders e Sustentabilidade. Foram analisados como os stakeholders, além do contexto temporal, intermediaram a composição, o desenvolvimento e o gerenciamento de recursos de uma organização, bem como os resultados econômicos, sociais e ambientais obtidos da gestão de recursos na produção e no fornecimento de aerogeradores a um Parque de Energia Eólica localizado no estado do Ceará, de forma a retratar que a sustentabilidade pode ser importante fonte de vantagem competitiva e de geração de valor para acionistas e comunidade em geral (Hart e Milstein, 2003). Para atingir o objetivo deste trabalho, utilizou-se a estratégia de investigação qualitativa, por meio de estudo único de caso, o que permitiu a exploração detalhada da organização atuante na indústria brasileira de energia eólica e os recursos utilizados no processo de produção e implementação de aerogeradores fornecidos ao Parque de Energia Eólica, localizado no estado do Ceará. Considerando-se a análise de conteúdo e o princípio da triangulação, foram utilizados 03 (três) métodos de coletas de dados qualitativos para identificar e caracterizar os interesses e envolvimento dos stakeholders na gestão de recursos da organização atuante na indústria brasileira de energia eólica: entrevistas semiestruturadas em profundidade com gestores do nível tático-estratégico e analisas das nove atividades da cadeia de valor da organização, análise de documentos internos e externos públicos e análise de materiais audiovisuais. Por sua vez, para identificação dos resultados econômicos, sociais e ambientais interno e externos relacionados ao fornecimento e implementação dos aerogeradores no Parque de Energia Eólica localizado no Estado do Ceará, foram realizadas entrevistas semiestruturadas com moradores residentes em torno dessa região. Os resultados encontrados demonstraram que o BNDES e a matriz da organização em estudo foram os stakeholders que mais exerceram influências sobre os recursos relacionados à produção e implementação do produto aerogerador no Parque Trairí. Por sua vez, com relação aos recursos da organização, constatou-se, principalmente, que, no atual estágio da indústria eólica brasileira, embora a marca, confiabilidade e reputação da organização em estudo sejam recursos valiosos, raros de difícil imitação e explorados pela organização, os mesmos, no atual estágio de maturidade da indústria eólica brasileira, e, contrariamente a Teoria dos Recursos, não representaram uma fonte de vantagem competitiva à organização. Por fim, para a comunidade local, os resultados econômicos, sociais e ambientais relacionados à implementação do aerogerador foram mais positivos do que negativos, embora o processo produtivo do aerogerador tenha gerado alguns impactos ambientais negativos, como, por exemplo, o alto nível de emissão de CO2 para o transporte dos componentes dos aerogeradores até Trairí.

Thesis describes leasing operations from accounting and tax point of view. It focuses on accounting and tax obligations of a lessor and a leaseholder. In the practical part it analysis leased assets of a chosen prague company.

The advertising as one of the tools of the marketing mix has positive influence on sales and is differenciating the product from competition. According to persuasive view the advertising contributes to the differences in firms' cost conditions, creates abnormal profit and is able to deter the entry into the market. The question is whether the advertising can have such a influence on competition at the market.The goal of the thesis is to introduce the major views on advertising in economic theories and based on available emprical studies to define and describe the major differences in the views. The impact of advertisng on perfomance indicators is analyzed in own empirical study for the market of chocolate bars, covered and partially coverd wafers.

Este trabalho apresenta uma plataforma para coleta e análise de imagens urbanas, que integra Interfaces de Programação de Aplicativos \"Application Programming Interfaces\" (APIs) de sistemas de busca de imagens, Sistemas de Informações Geográficas (SIGs), mapas digitais e técnicas de visão computacional. Esta plataforma, INACITY, permite que usuários selecionem regiões de interesse e capturem elementos de relevância para a arquitetura urbana, como, por exemplo árvores e buracos em ruas. A implementação da plataforma foi feita de maneira a permitir que novos módulos possam ser facilmente incluídos ou substituídos possibilitando a introdução de outras APIs de mapas, SIGs e filtros de Visão Computacional. Foram realizados experimentos com as imagens obtidas através do \"Google Street View\" onde árvores são capturadas em áreas de bairros inteiros em questão de minutos, um ganho significativo quando comparado com o procedimento manual para levantamento deste tipo de dado. Além disso, também são apresentados resultados comparativos entre os métodos de visão computacional propostos para a detecção de árvores em imagens com outros métodos heurísticos, em um conjunto onde as árvores estão marcadas manualmente e assim as taxas de precisão e de redescoberta de cada algoritmo podem ser avaliadas e comparadas. / This project presents a platform that integrates Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), image retrieval systems, Geographical Information Systems (GISes), digital maps and Computer Vision techniques to collect and analyse urban images. The platform, INACITY (an acronym for INvestigate and Analyse a City), empowers users allowing them to select a region over a map and see urban features inside that region that have relevance to the urban architecture context, for instance trees. The implementation is extensible and it is designed to make it easy to add or replace new modules, for instance, to add a new API to present a map, different GISes and other Computer Vision filters.

No description available.

Yes / Procurement digitalisation can provide significant opportunities for excellence in remanufacturing operations. The close attention of firms is required during the configuration of procurement 4.0 resources for applying front end and base technologies in order to develop the correct set of these resources. Based on Resource Based View theory, this research examines the role of resources influencing procurement 4.0 for driving productivity in remanufacturing operations and circular economy performance. The survey data for this research was gathered from working professionals in South Africa and results reveal that technological resources are necessary in procurement 4.0, which can in turn improve the productivity in remanufacturing operations. An upsurge in performance in remanufacturing operations can enhance the circular economy outcome. To the best of authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to provide insight for researchers, practitioners and academics with an empirical test of digital procurement on remanufacturing operations and of circular economy performance in an emerging economy like South Africa.