Despite it being a global phenomenon, there is no formal process to guide governments’ offer of incentives to industry. Specific to South Africa, the offer of incentives to the automotive industry to support its competitiveness has had mixed results. Industry trade deficit has consistently increased and investment in R&D has remained minimal. The purpose of the study was to develop a formal model to determine the effect of changes in the value and basis of the Productive Asset Allowance (PAA) incentive on industry competitiveness and on industry trade balance. An overview of the South African automotive industry, automotive policy and industry performance under the country’s Motor Industry Development Programme (MIDP) was done. This was followed by literature review on investment, investment incentives, R&D and competitiveness. Quantitative and qualitative data was collected through observer participation in the study situation and expert opinion interviews. A formal modelling process of the PAA based on the system dynamics modelling protocol followed. The PAA model had to be extended to incorporate the Import-Export Complementation (IEC) incentive structure because of the intertwined nature of the effect of PAA and IEC on industry dynamics. The study findings as per the specific study objectives were as follows: • The prospect of the PAA to support the competitiveness objective was dependent on the extent to which the incentive would motivate technological innovation in the automotive industry. • The often-assumed positive relationship between investment and investment incentives was not universal. Each case of industry incentive offer has to be judged on its own merit. • The PAA had a significant and positive effect on industry investment, but limited ability to support long-term industry competitiveness though R&D and innovative activities. • The IEC rather than the PAA incentive was the major contributor to the industry trade balance trend. • The PAA-IEC incentive model exhibited time-bound constraints. The model demonstrated saturation as benefits awarded to industry tended towards the domestic market size over time. • The PAA-IEC incentive model had no specific policy lever to direct investment into R&D and innovative activities. By this measure the model was not a strong policy framework for supporting long-term industry competitiveness. For the South African automotive industry, the study introduced and showed the usefulness of applying system dynamics modelling in understanding causes of unintended consequences of government incentives to the industry. For countries in which offer of incentives is part of the national industrial policy, the study provided scientific means through which the question of how to structure incentives can be objectively investigated as a means of improving policy decisions on such industry intervention. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Graduate School of Technology Management (GSTM) / unrestricted

This diploma thesis analyzes development of competitiveness of the Czech Republic. It uses various approaches of measuring competitiveness - from one-criteria approach to multicriterial one. It also includes the idea of competitiveness from the point of view of the EU and demography and its changes. Every chapter explains the given approach, its advantages and disadantages, position of the Czech Republic and a comparison with other countries, especially EU member countries as these are the biggest trading partner of Czechia.

Convergence, the resulting new business and emerging leadership, regulated environment and strategy, telecoms costs as barrier to entry, enablement of global market places. / The market environment of telecommunications in South Africa is such that currently there is only one provider of fixed-line services. This has contributed to much claims of prices of incumbent being too high. The government has licensed operators and service providers to compete with Telkom in an attempt to lower the costs of telecommunications in South Africa. The purpose of this research is to understand the relevance and nature of pricing policies, critically evaluate the management of pricing policies, research literature, theory and also the impact that these pricing policies have had on the business of Telkom. The research was conducted by analysing Telkom pricing related documents, financial statements and conducting interviews. The research found that the price-cap regulation has restricted flexibility in the pricing policies and that Telkom has adopted a short-term based approach to management of the pricing policies.

ABSTRACT Under conditions of pervasive change, the most difficult challenge facing the market leader is sustaining its leading position. The primary research problem statement relates to the construct of Disruptive Innovation that has the potential for new entrants to substantially alter the basis of competition and impact the business models of incumbents. Ultimately, how are shapers distinguished from adopters of Disruptive Innovation? A qualitative research methodology was selected given the nature of the research. The main findings from the analysis indicate that nontechnological attributes distinguishes shapers from adopters of Disruptive Innovation in the telecommunications sector of South Africa. However, Disruptive Innovation as a construct, is largely unknown, and does not adequately explain the changes in the landscape of the telecommunications sector of South Africa. The implications for the research results are that other factors or features, such as the role and impact of the State, have a role to play in explaining the features of the South African telecommunications sector.

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ABSTRACT Under conditions of pervasive change, the most difficult challenge facing the market leader is sustaining its leading position. The primary research problem statement relates to the construct of Disruptive Innovation that has the potential for new entrants to substantially alter the basis of competition and impact the business models of incumbents. Ultimately, how are shapers distinguished from adopters of Disruptive Innovation? A qualitative research methodology was selected given the nature of the research. The main findings from the analysis indicate that nontechnological attributes distinguishes shapers from adopters of Disruptive Innovation in the telecommunications sector of South Africa. However, Disruptive Innovation as a construct, is largely unknown, and does not adequately explain the changes in the landscape of the telecommunications sector of South Africa. The implications for the research results are that other factors or features, such as the role and impact of the State, have a role to play in explaining the features of the South African telecommunications sector.

My objective is to deepen and thicken public and private policy debate about the competitiveness of nations in a global knowledgebased economy. To do so I first demonstrate the inadequacies of the Standard Model of economics, the last ideology standing after the Market-Marx Wars. Second, I develop a methodology (Trans-Disciplinary Induction) to acquire knowledge about knowledge. In the process of surveying the event horizons of seventeen sub-disciplines of thought, I redefine ideology as the search for commensurable sets or systems of ideas shared across knowledge domains and practices. Third, I create a definitional avalanche about knowledge as a noun, verb, form and content in etymology, psychology, epistemology & pedagogy, law and economics. In the process I demonstrate that personal & tacit and codified & tooled knowledge are the staple commodities of the global knowledge-based economy. Fourth, I establish the origins and nature of the Nation-State, the shifting sands of sovereignty on which it stands and the complimentary roles it plays as curator, facilitator, patron, architect and engineer of the national knowledge-base. Fifth, I examine the competitiveness of nations with respect to a production function in which all inputs, outputs and coefficients are defined in terms of knowledge. In the process, I demonstrated that competitiveness, as Darwinian win/lose against rivals, is inadequate because it does not account for the mutualism of symbionts and environmental change, i.e., coevolution and coconstruction. Accordingly, I propose fitness as a more appropriate criterion for the competitiveness of nations in a global knowledge-based economy. Finally, I consider the comparative advantage of nations given their initial and differing national knowledge endowments.

My objective is to deepen and thicken public and private policy debate about the competitiveness of nations in a global knowledgebased economy. To do so I first demonstrate the inadequacies of the Standard Model of economics, the last ideology standing after the Market-Marx Wars. Second, I develop a methodology (Trans-Disciplinary Induction) to acquire knowledge about knowledge. In the process of surveying the event horizons of seventeen sub-disciplines of thought, I redefine ideology as the search for commensurable sets or systems of ideas shared across knowledge domains and practices. Third, I create a definitional avalanche about knowledge as a noun, verb, form and content in etymology, psychology, epistemology & pedagogy, law and economics. In the process I demonstrate that personal & tacit and codified & tooled knowledge are the staple commodities of the global knowledge-based economy. Fourth, I establish the origins and nature of the Nation-State, the shifting sands of sovereignty on which it stands and the complimentary roles it plays as curator, facilitator, patron, architect and engineer of the national knowledge-base. Fifth, I examine the competitiveness of nations with respect to a production function in which all inputs, outputs and coefficients are defined in terms of knowledge. In the process, I demonstrated that competitiveness, as Darwinian win/lose against rivals, is inadequate because it does not account for the mutualism of symbionts and environmental change, i.e., coevolution and coconstruction. Accordingly, I propose fitness as a more appropriate criterion for the competitiveness of nations in a global knowledge-based economy. Finally, I consider the comparative advantage of nations given their initial and differing national knowledge endowments.