Thesis (Ed.M)--Boston University

The question of how mining companies compete is a not a new question. The study looked at the elements of corporate strategy in general but also with specific emphasis to the mining business, the elements of mineral resources management (MRM), and how the business of mining is assisted by such work. The research tapped into the experiences of people at the forefront of MRM work, through a qualitative study of their opinions on the research questions, to contribute to formulation of improved ways of application of MRM as a source of strategic advantage anchored of RBV aligned theory of strategy The research sort to understand whether MRM application over the years has led to strategic competitive advantages for mining companies in South Africa, specifically the following;1.) What are the most important elements of MRM? and 2.) How is MRM used to obtain strategic competitive advantage in the mining business in South Africa? A proposal was made of the key areas of MRM and which elements of it offer strategic advantage to mining business. Copyright / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Intelligence is not a new concept and dates back to over 5000 years of Chinese history. The concept of competitive intelligence is, however, still an evolving field and consists of three main streams, i.e. military intelligence, national security and political science and business intelligence. The modern-day business interpretation of competitive intelligence has been changed and refined by various researchers, but the essence of these interpretations is the same and lies in the ethical gathering and interpretation of information to drive innovation and inform strategic decision-making. If successful, this assists companies in gaining a competitive advantage. The consulting engineering industry is experiencing major disruptions, such as rapid advancement in technology, the global economic downturn and changes in the traditional business arena. To combat these disruptions and gain long-lasting competitive advantage and growth, competitive intelligence must not only be embedded in the culture of a company, but also form the cornerstone of innovation and inform strategic business decisions. The aim of this study was to determine how competitive intelligence is implemented in an anonymous multinational consulting engineering company. To establish this aim, the nature of competitive intelligence was firstly investigated by defining the competitive intelligence process, identifying the influencers and attributes of useful information, studying the need for and challenges of competitive intelligence implementation and exploring some of the competitive intelligence tools/techniques. Secondly, the need for establishing a competitive intelligence culture was examined by explaining the concept of corporate culture and exploring the ways to foster a competitive intelligence culture and community. The challenges relating to the implementation of competitive intelligence across borders were also examined. Thirdly, the relationship between competitive intelligence and innovation and competitive intelligence and business strategy were studied. Lastly, the types of information gathered, stored and distributed within the company as part of competitive intelligence activities and its importance to employees were investigated. The research method of the study was a survey, the results of which were combined in 11 conclusive findings: • The existing information function of the company is not used as part of competitive intelligence activities • The business strategy is client-centric and the company views information on clients as most important • The company relies heavily on people as sources of information • War gaming is not seen as an important competitive intelligence tool, even though the industry is experiencing numerous disruptions • The company has a weak knowledge-sharing culture, resulting in a silo effect complicated by the multinational nature of the company • There is a need for a more formalised process, information repository/system and/or tools that will support information-sharing within the company • There is insufficient awareness, support and use of intelligence by the senior and top management of the company to drive a knowledge-sharing culture and support competitive intelligence efforts • The company views competitive intelligence as essential for gaining a competitive advantage, but is average when it comes to responding to changes in the business environment • The company believes competitive intelligence has a positive influence on decision-making and strategies are updated regularly based on intelligence received • Innovation is viewed as essential to the survival of the company and current initiatives to cultivate innovation should be expanded • The multinational nature of the company significantly increases the need for a more disciplined focus on competitive intelligence. Based on the findings, it was established that competitive intelligence is applied with relative success in some areas of the company, but that a more formalised approach will be beneficial. In conclusion, several actions the company could consider were recommended to enhance its current competitive intelligence activities. / Intelligence is not a new concept and dates back to over 5000 years of Chinese history. The concept of competitive intelligence is, however, still an evolving field and consists of three main streams, i.e. military intelligence, national security and political science and business intelligence. The modern-day business interpretation of competitive intelligence has been changed and refined by various researchers, but the essence of these interpretations is the same and lies in the ethical gathering and interpretation of information to drive innovation and inform strategic decision-making. If successful, this assists companies in gaining a competitive advantage. The consulting engineering industry is experiencing major disruptions, such as rapid advancement in technology, the global economic downturn and changes in the traditional business arena. To combat these disruptions and gain long-lasting competitive advantage and growth, competitive intelligence must not only be embedded in the culture of a company, but also form the cornerstone of innovation and inform strategic business decisions. The aim of this study was to determine how competitive intelligence is implemented in an anonymous multinational consulting engineering company. To establish this aim, the nature of competitive intelligence was firstly investigated by defining the competitive intelligence process, identifying the influencers and attributes of useful information, studying the need for and challenges of competitive intelligence implementation and exploring some of the competitive intelligence tools/techniques. Secondly, the need for establishing a competitive intelligence culture was examined by explaining the concept of corporate culture and exploring the ways to foster a competitive intelligence culture and community. The challenges relating to the implementation of competitive intelligence across borders were also examined. Thirdly, the relationship between competitive intelligence and innovation and competitive intelligence and business strategy were studied. Lastly, the types of information gathered, stored and distributed within the company as part of competitive intelligence activities and its importance to employees were investigated. The research method of the study was a survey, the results of which were combined in 11 conclusive findings: • The existing information function of the company is not used as part of competitive intelligence activities • The business strategy is client-centric and the company views information on clients as most important • The company relies heavily on people as sources of information • War gaming is not seen as an important competitive intelligence tool, even though the industry is experiencing numerous disruptions • The company has a weak knowledge-sharing culture, resulting in a silo effect complicated by the multinational nature of the company • There is a need for a more formalised process, information repository/system and/or tools that will support information-sharing within the company • There is insufficient awareness, support and use of intelligence by the senior and top management of the company to drive a knowledge-sharing culture and support competitive intelligence efforts • The company views competitive intelligence as essential for gaining a competitive advantage, but is average when it comes to responding to changes in the business environment • The company believes competitive intelligence has a positive influence on decision-making and strategies are updated regularly based on intelligence received • Innovation is viewed as essential to the survival of the company and current initiatives to cultivate innovation should be expanded • The multinational nature of the company significantly increases the need for a more disciplined focus on competitive intelligence. Based on the findings, it was established that competitive intelligence is applied with relative success in some areas of the company, but that a more formalised approach will be beneficial. In conclusion, several actions the company could consider were recommended to enhance its current competitive intelligence activities. / Dissertation (MIS) --University of Pretoria, 2016. / Information Science / MIS / Restricted

Weedy red rice is conspecific weed of rice, identified as a threat to global rice production. As weedy rice is more tolerant to stresses than cultivated rice and has wide genetic and morphological variation we hypothesized that weedy rice has high herbicide tolerance and weed suppressive potential. Herbicide tolerance and weed suppressive potential of 54 weedy rice accessions were evaluated and the traits were associated with molecular markers. Accessions B2, B20 and S11 showed high tolerance to glyphosate and B49, B51 and S59 had high tolerance to flumioxazin. All the accessions were controlled 100% with 1311g a.i/ha (1.5x) rate of glufosinate. Accession B2 inhibited the growth of barnyardgrass and amazon sprangletop by more than 50% indicating its high weed suppressive potential. Nei’s gene diversity and Shannon’s information index among the weedy rice accessions were found to be 0.45 and 0.66 respectively indicating high genetic diversity among weedy rice accessions.

The extremely shrinking demand of domestic market on PS resin has been resulted by the relocation of sub-manufacturing lines to overseas and the threat of substitutes. Thereof, the export becomes the main life pulse for PS resin industry. However, in the recent years, both China and oil supply countries in Middle East have aggressively made the development in petrochemical industry ,our export has been confronted strong competitiveness accordingly. On top, the vacillated policy on resin restriction and the getting stricter environmental protection law from government have become the obstacles for PS resin industry to make further development and have increased the manufacturing cost. Facing this high competitiveness and various obstacles, manufacturers have to increase their competitiveness in their business strategy , or they could be eliminated from the competition. This thesis is based on the methodology of ¡§qualitative research¡¨ by referring to the national and international related documentation and the analysis of the entire environment and the external environment of industry in order to seek the opportunity and threat for the industry. Besides, through the internal analysis, the advantages and disadvantages have been understood. In addition, base on the practice of business strategy, the possible solutions; references and proposals to increase the competitiveness have been listed for manufacturers of traditional industry to make their business plan. The summary per our study to increase competitiveness for business strategy can be covered by the following: 1. To make differential products to seek new customers in different category. 2. To well control the cost of raw material to seek the opportunity profit. 3. To setup alliance strategy to improve the weakness of business. 4. To develop targeted market to build up new sales channel. 5. To adjust and develop the production line for alternative use to create more profitable products¡¦ production. 6. To make cooperation forum for R&D to develope value added products

This present thesis aims to contribute to a better understand about how to use value innovation to get competitive advantages and get leading position in the market.   This theoretical approach is supported by an empirical case study about IKEA in Nanjing, China. This case is based on a qualitative research method of in-depth interviews with the local customers, co-workers and managers. The outcome is IKEA uses a unique strategy execution in Nanjing, and it fits Nanjing’s market very well.   The competitive strategy of IKEA is based on its vision of “create better everyday life for many people”, combined with the value-based service culture, and use value innovation to create more value for both customers and company. This present thesis will show its unique strategy operation way together with value creation, which leads IKEA successful apply its Blue Ocean strategy in a foreign country and gets leading position in the market.   So far we have the opinion that IKEA has been successful in Nanjing by implementing a Blue Ocean strategy, which is crucially supported by good value innovation for both customers and company. It is quite a good example of successful Blue Ocean strategy operator in globally.

Aim: This study deals with two research questions: RQ1: What competitive advantages does DHL gain from external and internal factors? RQ2: What competitive disadvantage does DHL have? And what DHL can learn from analyzing competitive disadvantage? Method: primary data for this research has been mainly collected through interviews. Moreover, the official reports are used as secondary data to present the empirical situation of DHL. Conclusion: By concerning the external and internal factors of DHL, the SWOT analysis is conducted. The strength of DHL is customer satisfaction, green programme etc; weakness is price, liability insurance etc; opportunities are cooperation development, innovation etc; and threats are tough competitors. The strength and opportunities are regarded as DHL’ competitive advantages, while the weakness and threats are DHL’s competitive disadvantage that need to be fixed. Further study & Implication: In this thesis there is no information to indicate if DHL has any unmet needs, but it must be there. If DHL can enhance itself by providing unmet needs to customer, there is no doubt DHL would be more competitive in the 3PL industry. It is interesting to investigate more work on DHL unmet needs. This study contributes to the companies which plan to develop their competition from inside to outside in the market, especially in 3PL industry. This thesis gives authors deep insights into company success factors and suggestions for dealing with the problems which company may encounter.

From the historical point of view the development of micro-car is always short-lived, the size is smaller than the UK's Micro Car Mini is memorable, but in the subsequent market performance was weak, Fiat 500 and BMW Isetta is the best example. But as environmental awareness, social structure, economic and energy and other issues, making micro cars by the world's attention again.It can be seen in the future will be increasingly fierce market competition, the depot itself must find a core competitive advantage to succeed in such a competitive environment while maintaining a competitive edge. This study was to explore the competition of imports of micro cars, the use of narrative inquiry in qualitative research and depth interviews, by the German group Daimler smart micro-car brand distributor in Taiwan , from the north, central, and southern The three regional sales director to narrate its brand image, product quality, marketing, publicity, business model. Results through data analysis, economic and practical, unique shape is the industry and consumers that the mini cars must have two key factors, the most important thing is unique, micro-car brand and the product must emit a unique image and personality, and then select the product differentiation strategy marketing promotion, and in addition to brand image and product quality, the organizers of the service behavior of consumers is also very important, especially in Taiwan has been slow to enter the service industry-based economy, how to make consumers feel the caring services, thereby causing and increase consumer interest and willingness to buy, and ultimately look forward to the conclusions of this study for the industry in the development of micro-car market in Taiwan.

This study employs the method of linear regression to examine the competition behavior of TV console industry in the North America market and affection of the TV console developer¡¦s action on the competitors¡¦ sales volume share in the same month. The data only include the hardware and software sales volume of the main competitors-PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii in this generation and their action after publicly announcing. Main findings of research show that price reduction, console improving and releasing big titles have influence upon the sales volume of opponents. The influence of price reduction action is related to the position of TV console: PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 have a similar position and their action will affect each other, but the console of different position ¡V Wii not be affected. The action of console improving and releasing big titles apparently shows that TV console in similar position have more influence on each other.

This study discusses competitive interaction between smartphone manufacturers by the view of dynamic competitive. Focusing on 20 brands which have entered Taiwan smartphone market, this study collected the time of innovation behavior (technical innovation, appearance innovation and marking innovation) from Internet and smartphone magazine. There are five variables in this thesis which include firm country, firm diversity, firm outsourcing, firm age and firm size, and to the three innovation behaviors, (technical innovation, appearance innovation and marking innovation), this study proposes fifteen hypothesizes. In order to explore the relationship between firm characteristics and competitive responding speed. Using the Cox proportional hazard model in survival analysis, this study shows the result that the manufacturers respond faster while they have lower diversity and large scale.