It is of vital importance never to forget that the world is ever changing. Therefore, it is crucialfor organizations not to only alter but also to improve their performance in order to becomemore competitive on the market. One way of achieving this is to work with continuousimprovements. However, this requires that the employees receive the needed training for thispurpose. In multinational corporations they must also all receive the same training in order tocreate a common culture throughout the whole organization. This study therefore aims toinvestigate how a multinational corporation can organize an Improvement ManagementTraining. Which are the main areas that are desirable to have knowledge in when leading animprovement work? In order to identify the areas of interest, a case study has been performedat Ericsson Supply Site Borås. The investigation was conducted as a combination of aqualitative and a semiquantitative study in order to determinate the empirical data. The resultsrevealed that the following five major areas are essential for an Improvement ManagementTraining: Leadership, Lean¸ Organizational Behavior, Project Management and StrategicManagement. / Program: Bachelor of Science with a Major in Industrial Engineering – Work Organization and Leadership

This study explored Visual Art creation by Grade 11 learners in the art classroom and the relationship with attaining creativity acumen. Creativity acumen in this instance is looked upon as the ability to visually conceptualize imaginative ideas and then translate that into an individual rendition of a concept presented. The learners first perceive an idea and then conceive a concept. Visual perception is a function of how the eyes and brain see whole images, but these images are broken down into their visual elements, such as lines and shading during Visual Art creation. The visual elements are then created in forming an art-work, which in turn lends itself to understanding complex concepts and themes. Creativity acumen involves two processes: having ideas (creativity-relevant processes) and then producing a visual exposé of such ideas. A literature review was conducted which provided useful insight into the components of the creative process and the contextual factors influencing creativity acumen within the school environment. An empirical study was conducted with six art learners in Grade 11, selected through purposive sampling. Creativity questionnaires were completed pre- and post-art creation as a self-assessment tool of how effectively individual implementation of the creative process occurred during idea development and artistic expression in attaining creativity acumen during Visual Art production, if at all. The art creations were observed from task presentation through to completion deadline. Photographic records of the art creations were captured as they were produced and completed. Interviews were conducted at the end of the art creative process. The data was descriptively tabulated into photo-sheets and tabulated for qualitative interpretation and description of findings and results. From the empirical study it can be concluded that there is a dialectic relationship between the creativity-relevant processes and art-relevant skills, as set out theoretically by Amabile (1996) when creating Visual Art. The relationship is intertwined and compounded by overlapping factors in acumen to be creative and creating an art-work. Both require openness to new ideas and perspectives and both need perseverance and effort to learn new skills and craftsmanship. The conclusion of this study is that creativity acumen and art creation have variation of outcome and expansion of ideas in common. Creativity acumen is a means of extending one’s outlook and ability to question, look for new information, develop ideas independently while art creation is a means of visual expression in learning to elaborate on a concept through externalised representation which guides further possibilities and understanding of new concepts and perspectives. There is a dialectic relationship between art creation and creativity acumen or ability as one possibly informs and develops the other. / Psychology of Education / M. Ed. (Guidance and Counselling)

This study examines the factors appear to lead to the failure of small businesses in the Kagiso Township. The high failure rate can be partially attributed to the lack of support that the small, medium and micro-enterprises (SMMEs) receive from support institutions as well as to their own internal weaknesses. Strategies are recommended that will help small businesses be more successful. The study was exploratory, descriptive and qualitative in nature. Semi-structured interviews were used to gather data. Results indicated that the most common causes of business failure were lack of knowledge regarding legal matters, lack of funding and a general lack of business acumen. The study recommends that government should improve the effectiveness of its support mechanisms and that record keeping and cash flow management training is critical for SMEs. These recommendations, if applied properly, will ensure small businesses' success in Kagiso and the rest of South Africa. / Economics / M.Tech. (Business Administration)

摘 要 本研究主要是藉由探討台灣企業在面臨「轉型升級壓力」而必須做經營策略調整時，經由本研究所建構的理論模型與實際個案間的檢證研究突顯出「企業學習能力」在企業轉型升級與策略選擇過程中的關鍵地位。 本研究以創造台灣最高經濟產值貢獻的資訊科技(IT)產業之個案廠商為對象，探究其「企業學習能力」對「企業轉型升級策略」選擇的影響，以及「目標產業的知識特質」、「企業學習能力」、「企業轉型升級壓力」三者間的關聯性。本論文的研究方法是以對個案的資料文件做深度探究的內容分析法為主，選取國內具代表地位的二家資訊硬體大廠為研究對象，嘗試對其「企業學習能力」與「企業轉型決策過程」作系統性的探索。 本研究歸納分析所得到的研究發現如下： 【研究發現一】取得「企業學習能力」的實證觀察指標。 【研究發現二】「企業轉型升級壓力」的大小會影響「企業轉型升級策略選擇」。壓力愈小時，企業選擇「攻勢」之轉型升級的機會就愈大；反之，則企業選擇「守勢」之退守退出的機會就愈大。 【研究發現三】「企業學習能力」的強弱會影響「企業轉型升級策略的選擇」。企業學習能力愈強時，則企業選擇「攻勢」之轉型升級的機會就愈大；反之，則企業選擇「守勢」之退守退出的機會就愈大。 【研究發現四】「企業學習壓力數學關係式」的發現實證了「企業學習能力」與「目標產業知識特質」和「企業轉型升級壓力」之間，存有簡單的「數學關聯」。 【研究發現五】「企業轉型升級策略選擇」的決策關係式。 因此，本研究認為企業在做轉型升級的決策時，千萬不要忽略企業本身的「學習能力」是否能承載「目標產業的知識特質」？建議企業宜在所欲朝向轉型升級之「目標產業的知識特質」下，考量企業本身的「學習能力」強弱，評估本身「企業轉型升級壓力」的大小，最終對「企業轉型升級策略」做出合乎自身最佳利益的理性選擇。此外，本研究亦建議企業或可藉由參考「企業學習能力系統-SOFA模型」來規劃建構或是強化自身的「企業學習能力」，以因應未來無窮的變局與挑戰！ / Abstract This research is conducted by exploration and explanation between theoretical model and case studies to prove the key role of the enterprise’s learning ability (ELA) in the procedure of the enterprise’s transformation and the option of strategy. The researcher selected cases from information technology industry which contributed most to Taiwan economic growth in recent years to explain the influence of ELA on selecting the strategy of transformation and to explore the relevance among the characteristics of objective industrial knowledge, ELA and the pressure of enterprise transformation. This thesis applied content analysis to explore the documents from two big enterprises of information hardware , trying to systematically study their learning ability and to find out how they make a decision of transformation. According to the analyses of these two cases, the study has got the following conclusions： 1.The collection of empirical indexes of enterprise learning ability (ELA). 2.The pressure of enterprise transformation will influence the option of transformation strategy. The smaller the pressure is , the bigger the chance for the enterprise choosing aggressive way to transform would be. On the contrary, the bigger the presser is , the bigger the chance for the enterprise choosing conservative way to withdraw would be. 3.The performance of ELA will influence the option of enterprise transformation strategy. The stronger the ELA is , the bigger the chance for the enterprise choosing aggressive way to transform would be. On the contrary, the weaker the ELA is , the bigger the chance for the enterprise choosing conservative way to withdraw would be. 4.The formula of enterprise learning pressure proves the existence of simple mathematical relevance among ELA, the characteristics of objective industrial knowledge and the pressure of enterprise transformation. 5.The decision-making formula of the option of enterprise transformation strategy. As a result , this research indicates that an enterprise making transformation decision should never neglect the fact whether its ELA could undertake the characteristics of objective industrial knowledge or not . This research suggests that enterprises facing transformation pressure from the characteristics of objective industrial knowledge had better take their learning ability into consideration , and finally make a rational choice of transformation strategy to meet their best needs. In addition , this research recommends that enterprises might use “Enterprise Learning Ability System (ELAS)” i.e. “SOFA model” to construct or strengthen their learning ability in order to cope with countless challenge in the future.

This study examines the factors appear to lead to the failure of small businesses in the Kagiso Township. The high failure rate can be partially attributed to the lack of support that the small, medium and micro-enterprises (SMMEs) receive from support institutions as well as to their own internal weaknesses. Strategies are recommended that will help small businesses be more successful. The study was exploratory, descriptive and qualitative in nature. Semi-structured interviews were used to gather data. Results indicated that the most common causes of business failure were lack of knowledge regarding legal matters, lack of funding and a general lack of business acumen. The study recommends that government should improve the effectiveness of its support mechanisms and that record keeping and cash flow management training is critical for SMEs. These recommendations, if applied properly, will ensure small businesses' success in Kagiso and the rest of South Africa. / Business Management / M.Tech. (Business Administration)

Text in English and Arabic / In pre-colonial Africa, the Southwestern Sahara which includes Mauritania, Mali and Senegal belonged to what was then referred to as the Sudan and extended from the Atlantic seaboard to the Red Sea. The advent of Islam and the Arabic language to West Africa in the 11th century heralded an intellectual marathon whose literary output still fascinates us today. At a time when Europe was emerging from the dark ages and Africa was for most Europeans a terra incognita, indigenous African scholars were composing treatises as diverse as mathematics, agriculture and the Islamic sciences. A twentieth century Mauritanian, Arabic monograph, Irshād al- Muqallidīn ʿinda ikhtilāf al-Mujtahidīn1, written circa 1910/1332, by a yet unknown Mauritanian jurist of the Mālikī School, Bāba bin al-Shaykh Sīdī al- Shinqīṭī al-Ntishā-ī (d.1920/1342), a member of the muchacclaimed Shinqīṭī fraternity of scholars, is a fine example of African literary accomplishment. This manuscript hereinafter referred to as the Irshād, is written within the legal framework of Islamic jurisprudence (usūl al-fiqh). A science that relies for the most part on the intellectual and interpretive competence of the independent jurist, or mujtahid, in the application of the methodologies employed in the extraction of legal norms from the primary sources of the sharīʿah. The subject matter of the Irshād deals with the question of juristic differences. Juristic differences invariably arise when a mujtahid exercises his academic freedom to clarify or resolve conundrums in the law and to postulate legal norms. Other independent jurists (mujtahidūn) may posit different legal norms because of the exercise of their individual interpretive skills. These differences, when they are deemed juristically irreconcilable, are called ikhtilāfāt (pl. of ikhtilāf). The author of the Irshād explores a corollary of the ikhtilāf narrative and posits the hypothesis that there ought not to be ikhtilāf in the sharīʿah. The proposed research will comprise an annotated translation of the monograph followed by a synopsis and commentary on its dominant themes. / Religious Studies and Arabic / D. Litt. et Phil. (Islamic Studies)