Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Rochester, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 180-186).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Harvard University, 1991. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1968. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Mtech(Business Administration)--Cape Technikon, Cape Town, 2001 / The researcher identified an absenteeism problem at the Cape Technikon Library and sees the effect of it on a daily basis. It is a costly and disruptive problem and places unnecessary pressure on staff that are at work. From the outset, companies might not realise the cost of absenteeism until they actually measure it. Absenteeism of other staff members create various problems such as low morale, increased stress, break in team work, etc. between the staff that are at work. To reduce the absenteeism rate, certain measures and control systems should be put in place. Absenteeism can either be addressed by putting a reward system in place or making use of punishment contingencies, or using a combination of both. If staff members see that other staff members get away with excessive absenteeism, they will soon follow. Within the context of the Cape Technikon Library, a culture of absenteeism has been created and it is not easy to break that culture. This study considered possible reasons for the absenteeism as well as possible solutions. To improve productivity and cost-effectiveness, the Gross Absence Rate (GAR) should be less than 3% (Van der Merwe: 1988:25). According to Van der Merwe (1988:25) an absence rate of 10% is extremely serious and any absence rate of more than 5% should be regarded as an indicator of a situation needing further investigation. An absence rate of less than 3% can be regarded as satisfactory, although capable of furtherimprovement. On some days the absenteeism rate at the Cape Technikon Library is approximately 12%.

M.Com. (Business Management) / Imperative changes in the global economy continue to change the complexion of many organisations in their quest to remain competitive. Hitherto, their strive to have sustainable competitive advantage is challenged by factors such as increased competition, market volatility, geographically dispersed operations, customer awareness, raising workforce diversity and stringent regulatory regimes. These factors have driven, and in turn, have been driven by an increasing complexity of products, services and the processes that create value, resulting in changes in the structural and functional dimensions of the organisation. Equally, industry captains and scholars alike acknowledge the shift in value creating assets from the traditional land, labour and capital to intangible assets such as knowledge and information becoming the most important resources an organisation can muster. The combination and integration of intangible assets such as human resources, structural and relational resources have been grouped under the umbrella of intellectual capital. This study sheds light on the unique variables which accelerate intellectual capital as leverage for optimising competitive advantage and collates them with the case study findings of the research conducted at an international oil and gas company headquartered in South Africa. These variables include human capital attributes, such as competencies, tacit knowledge or experience, communities of practice, and competitive intelligence; relational capital attributes such as brand, customer loyalty, corporate social responsibility, and partnerships or joint ventures; and structural capital attributes such as corporate culture, leadership philosophy, and technology or systems. The research design follows a case study approach and applies the method of content analysis of annual reports and of analysing the content of the oil and gas company, Sasol's, four-year annual reports to establish the disclosure of intellectual capital. In conclusion, this study finds that the realisation of sustainable competitive advantage for any organisation, particularly blue chip companies like Sasol, is the choice to implement a unique wealth-creating strategy, namely leveraging its intellectual capital. This study highlights that intellectual capital has the potential to offer companies sustainable long-term benefits through intangible assets that are inimitable, that is, current and potential competitors would not be able to duplicate of imitate.

M.Ing. / The ability of construction firms to stay solvent largely depends on productivity. Productivity improvement is the key to economic prosperity in the long term. It provides the basis for increasing wages and more prosperous firms. Various methods can be implemented to measure and increase productivity which will result an increased output and efficiency. The aim of this work is to address the methods to be used for labour productivity measurement and improvement in civil engineering context. A case study will be done on a current construction project.

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