M.Phil. / Successfully establishing an organisational service delivery footprint in Africa is a challenge that faces many South-Africa-based companies. Africa is a large continent, containing numerous countries, dialects and cultures. Each country presents its own set of unique opportunities and threats, and therefore a focused approach is required to develop a plan for organisations to not only grow into new markets and to service new clients, but also to expand service-rendering capability among its current clients by providing services from the product source to their end destination in Africa. It is therefore the purpose of this research project to focus on Mozambique and the Port of Maputo, with a detailed consideration of the strategic value that the Port of Maputo presents to organisations on the basis of its geographic location and proximity to product sources, both within Mozambique and its neighbouring countries ...

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Technology: Industrial Engineering, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2014. / The SADC region has seen both man-made and natural disasters killing over 90 thousand people and affecting millions in the past 33 years. Most of these deaths were as a result of lack of infrastructure and preparedness. Looking at the challenges for providing relief to victims/evacuees throughout the entire disaster and post-disaster periods in the region, the emphasis of this thesis is on last mile transportation of resources, victims, emergency supplies, aiming to optimize the effectiveness (quick­I response) and efficiency (low-cost) of logistics activities including humanitarian supply chain. A survey was used for data collection. Statistical analysis helped determine the impact of disaster relief chains and lead to the development of a mathematical model that shall equip the region with mechanisms for response and recovery operations. An EXCEL optimization tool was used to find the optimal way of transporting relief in the region in case of a disaster. / PDF Full-text unavailable. Please refer to hard copy for Full-text / M