M.B.A. / As e-commerce becomes a more accepted and important way of doing business, the strategist's stock-and-status will rise accordingly. With more of a company's communications and revenue moving through the Internet, Web work will be seen less as a separate project and more as a core business process. Web business strategy will become of such fundamental importance that it will fall under the CEO's purview (Cutler, 1996:3). The Internet is an area of high seismographic activity, increasing the danger that strategies will be built along a fault line. The technology advances so rapidly, and the numbers change so often, that time scales have to be compressed, and planners must learn to make decisions in an environment filled with ambiguity (Cutler, 1996:3). Learning, comparing and evaluating how companies devise their e-commerce strategies could explore common factors, which could be summarised into key steps aimed at assisting management in the future, who plan to embark on a project of implementing Internet technologies...

Information Security is currently viewed from a technical point of view only. Some authors believe that Information Security is a process that involves more than merely Risk Management at the department level, as it is also a strategic and potentially legal issue. Hence, there is a need to elevate the importance of Information Security to a governance level through Information Security Governance and propose a framework to help guide the Board of Directors in their Information Security Governance efforts. IT is a major facilitator of organizational business processes and these processes manipulate and transmit sensitive customer and financial information. IT, which involves major risks, may threaten the security if corporate information assets. Therefore, IT requires attention at board level to ensure that technology-related information risks are within an organization’s accepted risk appetite. However, IT issues are a neglected topic at board level and this could bring about enronesque disasters. Therefore, there is a need for the Board of Directors to direct and control IT-related risks effectively to reduce the potential for Information Security breaches and bring about a stronger system of internal control. The IT Oversight Committee is a proven means of achieving this, and this study further motivates the necessity for such a committee to solidify an organization’s Information Security posture among other IT-related issues.

M.B.A. / Eskom, South Africa's electricity utility, is the electricity supplier for South Africa. It has 20 power stations with a nominal capacity of 39 154 megawatts. Eskom is among the top five electricity utilities in the world in terms of size and sales and strives to remain one of the lowest-cost producers of electricity in the world. Eskom supplies 98% of the country's electricity requirements, which amounts to more than half of the electricity generated on the African continent. Eskom supports the development of a Southern African transmission grod to encourage cooperation and accelerate economic growth in the region. Eskom support employment equity and encourages employees to develop to their full potential through training. Eskom sees itself as a respected corporate citizen and is working towards environmental sustainability and socio-economic improvement (Eskom report, 1997). The growth of Internet technologies (and within Eskom the Intranet) has been phenomenal. On 23 July 1998, after extensive consultation and compilation, an Eskom Internet / Intranet strategy was approved. The strategy defines the way in which Eskom will employ this technology to support their business, to ensure synergy in organisational efforts. This chapter gives an overview of the strategy (Eskom Report, 1997). The strategy positions Eskom to be able to derive significant business benefit. from the technology, and ensures we will not be "left behind" by our competitors and customers, but ensures that our use of the technology and the resulting costs can be properly managed. It accommodates the different cultures in the business groups, from progressive through conservative, in terms of the deployment of the technology ...

Thesis (MAcc (Accountancy))--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / The purpose of this assignment is to ascertain whether the COBIT framework is an adequate framework to assist in the governance of virtual private networks. The assignment focuses on whether the framework can ensure the identification of virtual private network-related risks and address IT compliance with policies and statutory regulations. A brief summary of the risks and issues pertaining to the pre-implementation, implementation and post-implementation phases of virtual private networks is included in the assignment. These risks and issues are then individually mapped onto a relevant COBIT control objective. The scope of the assignment does not include the intricacies of how these networks operate, the different types of network topologies or the different technologies used in virtual private networks. It was found that the COBIT framework can be implemented to manage and/or mitigate virtual private network risks.

Thesis (MComm)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Big data is an emerging technology and its use holds great potential and benefits for organisations. The governance of this technology is something that is still a big concern and as aspect for which guidance to organisations wanting to use this technology is still lacking. In this study an extensive literature review was conducted to identify and define the business imperatives distinctive of an organisation that will benefit from the use of big data. The business imperatives were identified and defined based on the characteristics and benefits of big data. If the characteristics and benefits are clear, the relevant technology will be better understood. Furthermore, the business imperatives provide business managers with guidance to whether their organisation will benefit from the use of this technology or not. The strategic and operational risks related to the use of big data were also identified and they are discussed in this assignment, based on a literature review. The risks specific to big data are highlighted and guidance is given to business managers as to which risks should be addressed when using big data. The risks are then mapped against COBIT 5 (Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology) to highlight the processes most affected when implementing and using big data, providing business managers with guidance when governing this technology. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: ‘Big data’ is 'n ontwikkelende tegnologie en die gebruik daarvan hou baie groot potensiaal en voordele vir besighede in. Die bestuur van hierdie tegnologie is egter ʼn groot bron van kommer en leiding aan besighede wat hierdie tegnologie wil gebruik ontbreek steeds. Deur middel van 'n uitgebreide literatuuroorsig is die besigheidsimperatiewe kenmerkend van 'n besigheid wat voordeel sal trek uit die gebruik van ‘big data’ geïdentifiseer. Die besigheidsimperatiewe is geïdentifiseer en gedefinieer gebaseer op die eienskappe en voordele van ‘big data’. Indien die eienskappe en voordele behoorlik verstaan word, is 'n beter begrip van die tegnologie moontlik. Daarbenewens bied die besigheidsimperatiewe leiding aan bestuur sodat hulle in staat kan wees om te beoordeel of hulle besigheid voordeel sal trek uit die gebruik van hierdie tegnologie of nie. Die strategiese en operasionele risiko's wat verband hou met die gebruik van ‘big data’ is ook geïdentifiseer en bespreek, gebaseer op 'n literatuuroorsig. Dit beklemtoon die risiko's verbonde aan ‘big data’ en daardeur word leiding verskaf aan besigheidsbestuurders ten opsigte van watter risiko's aangespreek moet word wanneer ‘big data’ gebruik word. Die risiko's is vervolgens gekarteer teen COBIT 5 (‘Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology’) om die prosesse wat die meeste geraak word deur die gebruik van ‘big data’ te beklemtoon, ten einde leiding te gee aan besigheidsbestuurders vir die beheer en kontrole van hierdie tegnologie.

The Integrated Apartment Management System (IAMS) is a web-based system that allows tenants to make appointments with repairmen on line and notify both apartment managers and repairmen of appointments through an email directly from IAMS. IAMS also keeps a database of appointments, repairs, and payments that can be accessed by tenants, repairmen, and apartment managers.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / In a relatively very short period the Internet has grown from being virtually unknown to becoming an essential business tool. Together with its many benefits, the Internet has unfortunately brought with it several new organisational challenges. One of these challenges is how to manage personal Web usage (PWU) in the workplace effectively. Although many managers see PWU as a form of workplace deviance, many researchers have pointed out its potential benefits such as learning, time-saving, employee well-being and a source of ideas. To help organisations manage PWU in the workplace more effectively, this research realised the need for a typology of PWU behaviours in the South African workplace. Multidimensional scaling (MDS) was identified as an objective method of creating such a typology. The objective of this research was therefore to develop an instrument to gather data for a multidimensional scaling study of PWU behaviours in the South African workplace. A questionnaire was designed that consists of three distinct sections. The first section contains seven pre-coded demographics questions that correspond with specific demographic variables, proven to have a relationship with PWU. The second section of the questionnaire is designed to gather dissimilarity data for input into an MDS algorithm. To begin with, 25 Web usage behaviours of South Africans were identified using Google Ad Planner. After weighing up various options of comparing the Web usage behaviours, the pairwise comparison method was selected. Ross sequencing was used to reduce positioning and timing effects. To reduce the number of judgements per participant, the 300 required judgments are split six ways, resulting in 50 judgements per participant. The last section of the questionnaire is designed to gather data to assist with interpreting the dimensions of the MDS configuration. Eight benefits and risks of PWU were identified. These are combined into a matrix together with the 25 Web usage behaviours. The data from this section will allow future research to use linear regression to discover the relationship between the Web usage behaviours (the objects), and the benefits and risks of PWU (the variables). It is believed that this design offers a fair compromise between the time and effort required of participants and the quality and integrity of the acquired data.

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

Abstract not available

published_or_final_version / Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy