Abstract Ever since the early 90¡¦s the global software market has been growing at a rapid speed, even faster than that of the hardware market. Along with the development of Internet and e-commerce, the demands for software have been continuously on the rise. The Taiwan software industry has to improve the quality of its software products in order to compete in the international IT arena. The present best option is for the Taiwanese software firms to achieve the Software Engineering Institute¡¦s Capability Maturity Model certification. This study shows that the obstacles Taiwanese software firms in adopting Capability Maturity Model can be categorized into three main factors: human resources, environment, and technology. Therefore, the software industry must start solving these issues to improve quality and Subsequently attain international standard.

In the present day, the worldwide competition has emerged in the high-tech industry, such as semi-conductor, information, and software etc. Industry observers have perceived a dilemma companies encountered. A large number of companies have accumulated some valuable resources, but they can¡¦t transfer their valuable resources into useful capabilities, let alone using them to build the long-term competitive advantage. However, in the shadow of worldwide recession, game software industry acts in the opposite way. Due to the prosperity of online games, increasing numbers of game software companies perform quite well, even more go on pubic offerings. In fact, the game software industry is a highly competing and turbulent context. In this industry, understanding how these firms striving to accumulate and make use of their resources and capabilities to achieve the expected performance brings the motive of this research. The focal point lies in the interrelationship between these processes. To react to the new type of competition, the research starts from dynamic capability viewpoints, analyzing the operating processes of game software industry firms towards resources and capabilities and interrelationship between them and organizational performance. The result shows in two dimensions: 1. The mutual influence between dynamic capabilities In the evolutionary process of a firm, the development of a successful path has been influenced by the intensity and direction of firm¡¦s learning capability. In a high velocity market, learning capability has obtained not only from the performance and trial and error experiences from events, but also from external environment. Besides, learning capability facilitates the fostering of resources reconfiguration when it¡¦s necessary to make any prompt correction. In such a turbulent context, in order to lower the increasing complexity of internal resources position resulted from external risks, firms tend to enhance the elaboration towards managerial process, such as the capabilities of integration, learning, reconfiguration, and transformation. Systematic tools used in traditional managerial process have difficulty when applying to the high velocity markets. To improve the timeliness of integration, informal interactions become the most important parts of internal operations. 2. The relationship between dynamic capability and organizational performance Due to high organizational flexibility firms in the game software industry need, more emphasis should be put on the integration of managerial processes and routines of execution. The consistency within process and routine can be regarded as one of the standards of performance evaluation because the well development of managerial process and routine will facilitate the building of competitiveness. Meanwhile, research shows, in a high velocity market, both the technological capabilities and timeliness of interaction between complementary assets are the two main factors in the process of commercialization of new technology, thus become another factors that influence on the market performance of organizations. In responding to the change of external industrial structure, in order to improve the performance by external resources, firms tend to make use of their high popularity and reputation to form alliance with different industries. This move not only improves their popularity but also facilitates the fostering and obtaining of new capabilities.

Abstract The research is to discover the competition among banks with platinum card without yearly charge. First of all, the general situation of the market of platinum card from May 2002 to June 2003 will be analyzed. Second, it is for the purpose of discovering the strategic groups, dynamic resource analysis, and reaction time of competitors respectively of the whole market of platinum card. Some factors that can influence the strategy of banks, such as time, competition, customers, resources and other parties will be regarded as analytic aspects. Finally, new 7¡¦S model will be used as an analytic tool in order to understand the main competitive strategies of China Trust Bank, Taishin Bank and Fubon Bank, which are the three primary competitors in the market. In this research, the primary information is attempted to be collected via deep interview in qualitative research method; then, the analysis will be completed by means of the integration of secondary information. The results of the research are also divided into five parts: 1. The interaction between banks and timing: Banks of small scale will prefer to follow up after the market leader joins; the timing that the competition launches the product will affect the policy of banks, and they will adjust the major functions or services of the products according to the different timing of entrance. 2. The interaction between banks and competition: Thorough differentiating the main competitors of banks, they can arrange the order and priority of the actions while implementing the strategies. In the future, banks should start to think from ¡§how to increase competitors¡¦ movable obstacle¡¨, and demolish the features that strategies are highly similar and easy to be imitated in the credit card industry. 3. The interaction between banks and customers: Banks must understand the difference of needs between what customers recognize and what banks recognize; then, endeavor to minimize this difference. Banks should undertake how to raise customers¡¦ switch cost, to find their needs that they themselves do not discover yet, and try to increase their loyalty. 4. The interaction between banks and resources: Banks should consider from a long-term point of view for the accumulation and creation of their internal resources, and the application for the resources lever. In addition, resources and capabilities required for the future should be trained up in advance. On the other hand, the obtainment of external resources is as important as the training of internal resources; hence, banks should think both of them highly and take advantage of each other. 5. The interaction between banks and other parties: The future competition might be the competition between industry networks, financial control companies, blocs or issuing organizations. Banks should improve their competency and increase the bargaining power with their partners. Therefore, they are able to look for a good partner and raise the barrier of exit of partners. Last but not least, some specific suggestions would be addressed to the banks of big, middle and small scales for the reference of their strategic planning in the future. Keyword: platinum card, competitive strategy, timing, and resource capability.

Modern power systems are now stepping into the post-restructuring era, in which utility industries as well as ISOs (Independent System Operators) are involved. Attention needs to be paid to the reliability study of power systems by both the utility companies and the ISOs. An uninterrupted and high quality power is required for the sustainable development of a technological society. Power system blackouts generally result from cascading outages. Protection system hidden failures remain dormant when everything is normal and are exposed as a result of other system disturbances. This dissertation provides new methods for power system vulnerability analysis including protection failures. Both adequacy and security aspects are included. The power system vulnerability analysis covers the following issues: 1) Protection system failure analysis and modeling based on protection failure features; 2) New methodology for reliability evaluation to incorporate protection system failure modes; and, 3) Application of variance reduction techniques and evaluation. A new model of current-carrying component paired with its associated protection system has been proposed. The model differentiates two protection failure modes, and it is the foundation of the proposed research. Detailed stochastic features of system contingencies and corresponding responses are considered. Both adequacy and security reliability indices are computed. Moreover, a new reliability index ISV (Integrated System Vulnerability) is introduced to represent the integrated reliability performance with consideration of protection system failures. According to these indices, we can locate the weakest point or link in a power system. The whole analysis procedure is based on a non-sequential Monte Carlo simulation method. In reliability analysis, especially with Monte Carlo simulation, computation time is a function not only of a large number of simulations, but also time-consuming system state evaluation, such as OPF (Optimal Power Flow) and stability assessment. Theoretical and practical analysis is conducted for the application of variance reduction techniques. The dissertation also proposes a comprehensive approach for a TTC (Total Transfer Capability) calculation with consideration of thermal, voltage and transient stability limits. Both steady state and dynamic security assessments are included in the process of obtaining total transfer capability. Particularly, the effect of FACTS (Flexible AC Transmission Systems) devices on TTC is examined. FACTS devices have been shown to have both positive and negative effects on system stability depending on their location. Furthermore, this dissertation proposes a probabilistic method which gives a new framework for analyzing total transfer capability with actual operational conditions.

Abstract From the multi-level marketing industry in Taiwan, this study chooses a multi-level marketing company which comprises the characteristics of the niche-based industry in Taiwan and has been established for more than a decade as its subject, aiming to analyze the key to the success of the said company. After the literature review and in-depth interviews with the industry in question, the findings are as follows: I. This study finds out that honesty, kindness and positive marketing concepts are the moral standards salespeople should possess; and the characteristic of being gregarious is regarded as special for the multi-level marketing industry. The operation of the multi-level marketing is based on the cooperation between the upper- and lower-level salespeople on a team basis, and those salespeople support, service, and help one another to accomplish everything, while the conventional business places emphasis on individual performances. Against the backdrop, the characteristics of the multi-level marketing salespeople are somewhat different from those of the conventional salespeople. II. The making of the multi-level marketing industry is that multi-level marketing salespeople have a better capability of providing services. Also, the capabilities of making recommendations, arranging organizational action competence, and drawing up plans for the organization are the factors used to evaluate the success of a multi-level marketing company. III. The interview with the case company done by this study proves the idea proposed by Porter (1985): the innovation of products or services contributes to the differentiation between an enterprise and its competitors, and the enterprise can acquire a better selling price; and the innovation of important techniques or approaches enables an enterprise to enhance efficiency, lower costs, and even form a differentiation. The said principle is applicable to other industries, and likewise to the multi-level marketing industry. Keywords: multi-level marketing, morals, service capability,

In the 21st century, the rapid developments and growth of information and communication technology have triggered a new wave of Healthcare Industry. This study utilizes the secondary data analysis to analyze and generalize the processes, contents and models of health care management. In addition, discuss the changes in both healthcare informatics and medical related processes based on the innovations for the traditional models to the new home health care management models. Further, the standard of the evaluation are according to the expert consultations, to see the critical impacts of the innovations on the stakeholders: healthcare customers, healthcare providers and healthcare regulators are identified, so as to explore the core capabilities in these dimensions of the innovation. These results indicate that the innovations for home health management care are differences in the technological knowledge and business model aspects. We further identify five home health management models and their core business capabilities that are necessary for the stakeholders to cope with the changes, each appearing to address either technical or care aspects of the transformation. The findings have the potential to contribute to the understanding of impacts occurring in the change associated with the innovation in the care process and offer rich insights for the stakeholders to exploit the opportunities.

Increasing public awareness on the environmental and social growth has promoted the application of sustainable development in construction. The triple bottom line, namely economy, society and environment is generally recognised as significant dimensions for measuring the performance of sustainability. However, most research often puts their focus on environmental issues, rather than the whole sustainability concept. The implementation of sustainable construction also differs greatly from one practice to another, since its definition and principles are still highly debatable. Additionally, it appears that various standards and certifications in the market do not embrace three pillars – environmental, social and economic sustainability in their assessments either. To incorporate the best value of sustainable construction, it is crucial to determine the gap between stakeholders’ expectations and actual deliverables of sustainable construction. Therefore, this research aims to explore and determine the maturity status of sustainable development implementation in the current construction industry. The Sustainable Construction Maturity Model (SCMM) is developed to assist construction stakeholders in gaining a richer understanding on the practices of sustainable construction. Pilot interviews were conducted to determine the appropriateness of research methods as well as to validate the SCMM. The research employed in-depth interviews and case studies as principal research methods to develop deeper insights of the development of sustainable construction, by triangulating data sources. A supplement questionnaire survey was also used to have a meta-analysis on the results obtained. The empirical evidence implies that sustainable construction could be practised at two extremes – exceptionally high and low maturity, regardless of sectors. This large gap suggests that the development of sustainable construction are rather diverged and fragmented in the industry. Although social and economic sustainability may not be absolutely excluded, current sustainable practices tend to put more effort on environmental sustainability. A loss of balance in achieving the three pillars may undermine the full potential of realising sustainable construction. Additionally, the research also found that good coordination between stakeholders is required not only during the design and construction stages but also in the post occupancy stage. Building a good sustainability culture could always bring more significant implications on the maturity status of sustainable construction, rather than the built-in high technology facilities in the built environment. To transform the built environment into a holistic sustainable development world, striking a balance of the triple bottom line is required. This research can steer the construction community to improve their performance in attaining the goals of sustainable construction. The SCMM can also provide an objective and consistent assessment tool to manage sustainable capability and capacity and to position the current performance level. By having a better understanding of the overall development of sustainable construction, practitioners can shape their future directions and strategies better and, in turn move sustainability performance in construction to a higher level of maturity. Since sustainable construction emphasises long terms development, continual efforts shall be made to achieve sustainability. / published_or_final_version / Real Estate and Construction / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Since colonization, Indigenous women in Chiapas have occupied very disadvantaged social positions, characterized by ethnic, gender and class-based oppression. However, during the last thirty five years, important social dynamics have taken place which have driven women to perceive themselves as the main actors of social transformation, and to start participating in planning and development efforts at a household and community level. Building on the ideas of Paulo Freire and Pierre Bourdieu, oppression is understood as a dynamic where the oppressed are also implicated by, among other things, the involuntary body adhesion to oppression, experienced as shame, fear and silence. Therefore, the main focus of this research is the processes by which women achieved to exercise the internal capability to speak out; as well as how this new ability has been critical in order to have transformative agency, by having a meaningful participation in planning, agency and decision-making in the different spheres of their private and public life. The main findings of this thesis arise from six month of field research. With a phenomenological and hermeneutic approach, seventeen Indigenous and ten non-Indigenous women participated through in-depth interviews and focus groups. Participatory observation and a validation workshop were also undertaken. Findings are related, first, to women’s participation in group processes, by which, on the one hand, they achieved to generate critical-reflective awareness, denaturalizing oppression, and, on the other hand, they removed embodied oppressive dispositions by retraining their bodies through dialogue and corporal techniques. Second, praxis of liberation aroused from reflection, with no need of a mechanistic plan informed by efficient and effective predetermined justifications. Praxis of liberation took the form of practical wisdom and wise judgment for the achievement of good life.

Management of any aspect of life remains the single determining factor for success, wealth, growth and prosperity – this is a general truth. Without an effective management system, nothing will have direction and no milestone can be achieved. The most important management section of any organization is the management on ground level. If ground level management of an organization is defective, the organization will not function and will soon only serve as a reference to a valuable lesson. The sustainability of local government is determined by the same principle, with the success thereof ascribed to the management of infrastructure and processes within a municipality. One such functioning aspect of municipalities is the electrical energy metering system. A wellmanaged and maintained electrical energy management system is one of the few capital resources of any municipality. The electrical supply system can however also be one of many constraints, impeding development if mismanaged. This research study shows the effects of management, or the lack thereof, on selected rural municipalities. Research was done to determine the current state of technology and the associated financial impact on these municipalities. Although it is not possible to generalize, it is evident from this research study that an underlying problem is the lack of proper ground level management. Design science research was used to add value in the form of a capability maturity model for rural municipalities. Such a model can be used to score a municipality in terms of its capability maturity at national level. When applied correctly, this model can be used as a management tool. By the implementation of certain management strategies based on technical principles, the impact of an electrical energy metering management system was also illustrated by this research study. This research study also covers the applied method and results as implemented by several municipalities within the Republic of South Africa. / Thesis (MIng (Electrical and Electronic Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013

Management of any aspect of life remains the single determining factor for success, wealth, growth and prosperity – this is a general truth. Without an effective management system, nothing will have direction and no milestone can be achieved. The most important management section of any organization is the management on ground level. If ground level management of an organization is defective, the organization will not function and will soon only serve as a reference to a valuable lesson. The sustainability of local government is determined by the same principle, with the success thereof ascribed to the management of infrastructure and processes within a municipality. One such functioning aspect of municipalities is the electrical energy metering system. A wellmanaged and maintained electrical energy management system is one of the few capital resources of any municipality. The electrical supply system can however also be one of many constraints, impeding development if mismanaged. This research study shows the effects of management, or the lack thereof, on selected rural municipalities. Research was done to determine the current state of technology and the associated financial impact on these municipalities. Although it is not possible to generalize, it is evident from this research study that an underlying problem is the lack of proper ground level management. Design science research was used to add value in the form of a capability maturity model for rural municipalities. Such a model can be used to score a municipality in terms of its capability maturity at national level. When applied correctly, this model can be used as a management tool. By the implementation of certain management strategies based on technical principles, the impact of an electrical energy metering management system was also illustrated by this research study. This research study also covers the applied method and results as implemented by several municipalities within the Republic of South Africa. / Thesis (MIng (Electrical and Electronic Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013