Thesis (MTech (Design))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2015. / Design as a field of practice is constantly evolving and has predominantly been used to stimulate and facilitate the humanisation of new technologies, so that they are usable and desirable for the capitalist economy (Boehnert, 2013, p. 14). With the evolution of the commercial and economic systems, the role of the designer now needs a shift so that it is able to facilitate new and appropriate interactions (Manzini, 2015, p. 180). This thesis explores what some of those interactions may look like and the role that design may be able to play in assisting them. Enabling society to be better equipped to communicate and collaborate with industry and academia, and vice versa, may be beneficial. The more society’s contributions can be heard, acknowledged and implemented, the better the economy may function. Increasing the transparency and understanding of these systems would potentially allow for less corruption and greater collaboration within and between them, possibly allowing for improved innovation. Once entrepreneurs are better equipped to integrate and take advantage of the institutional structures that are in place, this could drive economic development forward, and more informed and effective decisions might be implemented. Institutionally, through a better understanding of their resources and networks, such research could also lead to the implementation of better management and leadership strategies. This thesis focuses on the role of design as a catalyst for product development in the Western Cape. The concept of enabling innovative product ideas through design is analysed through an examination of three current case studies being developed in this region. To contextualise this a bit further, what is examined are the processes, developments and relationships, within and across the structures of the university, civil society and the design industry. This is explored to identify how each of these groups may support the design process, and where they may inhibit it. The primary objective is to provide a foundational road-map to enable innovative ideas from which citizen projects, universities and the design industry may benefit and continue to build upon. In this way, it may be possible to create a more synergetic relationship between universities, the design industry and civil society, or at least to make that relationship more transparent and mutually beneficial.

Thesis (MTech (Industrial Design))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2016. / The purpose of this Master’s Thesis is to explore the application of Design Thinking as a valuable resource to any organisation, in this studies case the business model. Furthermore, it seeks to describe how the concept of ‘Design Thinking’ is shaping business models in the context of industrial design. By developing a language for and a description of these intersections and interdisciplinary roles. Consensus regarding the concepts of Design Thinking and the business model still needs development since this emerging area has become more established. An applied contextual research approach inevitably paints a new picture using the concepts and will also develop a language to assist design education, researchers and entrepreneurs in the industrial design praxis. The competitive advantage of any business is now driven even more by the intersection between different fields and disciplines. At this intersection exists the opportunity to understand the relationship between Design Thinking (a methodology that is grounded in industrial design) and the business model (a global concept for the logic of business) to help decision makers develop more sustainable pathways for design entrepreneurship. This research also addresses aspects of the changing role of industrial design and devotes the findings to the creative industries in South Africa. The research was conducted using a qualitative methodology, taking an applied context case study approach. Data were gathered from industry experts and three core cases: Thingking (design-maker consultants), Research Unit (a leather and luxury apparel company) and Nomanini, (provider of mobile solutions in the electronic domain).

M.Com. (Information Technology Management) / Information and communication technology (ICT) project success is considered the Holy Grail within many organisations. Over the past decade organisations have begun to realise the increasing importance and the potential of exploiting ICT to gain competitive advantage in their particular realm. Organisations have consequently pushed for the implementation of robust ICT solutions not only to facilitate and augment crucial decision-making processes, but to improve overall organisational efficiency and effectiveness as well. These ICT solutions are deployed via ICT projects. However, extensive research has revealed that ICT projects are continuing to fail at a disturbing rate nationally as well as internationally. ICT projects therefore have an infamous reputation within organisations and the project management domain. This research focused on determining what drives ICT project success by systematically investigating how ICT project success is perceived and measured as well as the factors which influence it. The quantitative research paradigm was implemented through the use of a survey in the form of a structured questionnaire. Although this research was cross-sectional in nature, it employed an element of longitudinal analysis as the results were scrutinised and compared with previous research conducted within the same research area. ICT project team members were randomly sampled to acquire an objective view of ICT project success. Moreover, this research revolved around the philosophy that if the significance of each influencing factor is understood, it should be possible to predict whether an ICT project will succeed or fail. A predictive modelling approach was adopted. This predictive model presented within this dissertation was constructed using structural equation modelling (SEM). The predictive model indicated that ICT project success is predicted by means of stakeholder management, communication and methodology. The model also indicated that these three factors are interrelated and are dependent on one another. It was established that overall project success is dependent on project management success and project product success. This research employed a technique which is rarely used within the project management or ICT project management domain, viz. SEM. Two key recommendations emerged from this research. Firstly, this research suggests that it may be time to re-evaluate how ICT projects are measured as well as the influencing factors, as traditional approaches are yet to accommodate ICT projects in particular. Secondly, this research suggests that researchers should start to explore the underlying constructs of communication as this could assist in addressing a fundamental flaw not only in ICT project management, but project management in general.

M.Com. (Business Management) / South Africa is being confronted with escalating unemployment rates. Entrepreneurship is regarded as a probable solution to this problem due to the entrepreneur's ability to create jobs, adapt successfully to changing circumstances and mostly being labour intensive. The main question is though how to assure substantial growth in the amount of entrepreneurs in South Africa. The aim of this study is to contribute to the solution of the above problem by emphasising the training and development of entrepreneurs in creative skills and abilities. The training and development of potential, as well as established entrepreneurs, will contribute to the enhancement of increasing numbers of entrepreneurs and established entrepreneur's success. Why the training and development of creativity? Certain common personality traits of creative people and successful entrepreneurs were compared. It was then concluded that creative ability plays an important role in the establishment as well as functioning of the established entrepreneur. To assure that entrepreneurs are trained and developed successfully in creativity, it must start at a very young age. The training and development in creativity are very subtle at pre-primary and primary school levels. At secondary school training and development of entrepreneurs should become more important and must be integrated into business related subjects. Most tertiary institutions have entrepreneurship courses or entrepreneurship integrated into a subject-related course.

M.Comm. (Business Management) / Corporate Entrepreneurship is often described as a process that goes on inside an existing organisation and which may lead to new business ventures, the development of new products, services, or processes, and the renewal of strategies and competitive postures. As such, it can be seen as the sum of an organisation’s innovation, venturing, and renewal efforts. Corporate Entrepreneurship can be regarded as the innovation of products, services and processes and the formation of new business enterprises are crucially important to every industry and economy. Innovation and new business development can be initiated by independent individuals or by existing enterprises. The latter is referred to as Corporate Entrepreneurship, which is ever more considered as a valuable instrument for rejuvenating and revitalising existing companies. It is brought into practice as a tool for business development, revenue growth, and profitability enhancement and for pioneering the development of new products, services and processes. With change today being consistently continuous, unpredictable and in some cases abrupt, failure to anticipate change can and in most cases will result in organisational stagnation. Corporate Entrepreneurship is a tool that allows organisations to revitalise and rejuvenate a competitive advantage and simultaneously create new value for customers through innovation, business development, and renewal. New value creation is only possible through high levels of entrepreneurial activity. Imperial Automotive Dealerships division is a leading motor retail division within the Imperial Automotive group, providing customers with a range of integrated motor vehicle usage solutions. The South African operations represent passenger, light, medium and heavy commercial brands and include, motor vehicle finance, insurance and related products and services. The purpose of this dissertation is to assess the climate of Corporate Entrepreneurship within the Imperial Automotive Dealerships division. This was achieved by means of a literature study and a measurement of thirteen constructs related to an entrepreneurial climate. The empirical evidence indicates that there are significant statistical differences that exist between employees in management roles who are appointed to the different departments within the Dealerships division of Imperial Automotive. The results of the study revealed that the perceptions of Corporate Entrepreneurship are differed among employees who are customer facing, that is, the Dealer Principals and Sales Managers to those employees in a management position who are more operational or financially orientated, such as the Departmental Managers. The empirical study affords Imperial Automotive Dealerships division the opportunity to recognise the results and recommendations and encourage a better entrepreneurial climate. A clear and committed focus on Corporate Entrepreneurship within the Imperial Automotive Dealerships division will result in a sustainable creation of value for all stakeholders which remain central to the automotive business units’ activities.

No description available.

The South African banking industry is well regulated and oligopolistic by nature. The financial sector in South Africa is of a world class standard, comparing favourably to that of developed countries i.e. United States of America and Great Britian, and developing economies such as the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries. The South African financial sector possesses the critical elements to exhibit good growth and sustainable profitabiblity. Capitec Bank Limited revolutionised the banking industry by providing a simplified and cost effective banking solution targeting the masses i.e. the "unbanked" population of South Africa. The company pursued a disruptive innovation strategy by targeting the lower income earning segment of the market i.e. individuals who are employed but do not have bank account. Capite's strategic approach and business model were designed around innovation and technology, exploiting a previously untapped market that no other competitor targeted. This approach has resulted in the bank's phenomenal growth over the past decade and most notably has seen Capitec's return on equity (ROE) increase from 12 percent to 26 percent and advances to costomers increase from R116 million to 16 billion. This has set precedent which the big four banks, namely ABSA, First National Bank, Standard Bank and Nedbank, could not match. Contributing to Capitec's success and the basis on which its business model is built are four pillars: accessibilty, simplicity, affordability and personalised service. These pillars have created a compatitive advantage resulting in the bid four banks playing catch up. A strategic analysis of Capitec bank was conducted in order to assess the feasibility of expansion by the bank into Africa. The conclusion of the study indicated that it was indeed a viable option for Capitec to expand its footprint across borders into Africa through mergers with banks exhibiting a similar business model, for example Equity Bank based in Kenya.

This study examined the effects of Participative Safety (PS) and Support for Innovation (SI) on team creativity. It has been proposed that PS helps develop teamwork processes where members feel comfortable expressing and exchanging their ideas freely and SI makes a team perceive that creativity is valued. The study hypothesized that groups trained on PS score higher on creativity, feel less anxiety, have more cohesiveness, and have higher satisfaction than groups without PS training. The study also hypothesized that groups in the SI condition score higher on originality than groups in the non-SI condition. These climate conditions were created by providing a 15-minute PS training and a chance for participants to win monetary rewards. Student participants (N=123) were formed into 41 groups to write a proposal to a given problem. The proposals were analyzed by 5 graduate students. Correlational analyses revealed significant relationships between participative safety, cohesiveness, and satisfaction. However, results indicated the manipulations were ineffective and did not support all the hypotheses.

The theory of self-leadership is gaining credibility and support in the era of globalisation and knowledge workers. As with many leadership theories, culture has been proposed to have a major impact on leadership processes. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent that self-leadership is correlated with national culture dimensions. Self-leadership was measured through the Revised Self-Leadership Questionnaire developed by Houghton and Neck (2002). The cultural values were measured through the use of Hofstede’s Value Survey Module 94 (VSM94). Hypotheses were formed regarding relationships between national culture background and Self-leadership practice. Pearson r, Chi-square test with cross tabulation and multiple regression were used to determine the associations. The results from the statistical tests showed associations between national culture values and self-leadership dimensions. PDI and UAI showed a positive relationship with visualising successful performance but a negative relationship with self-talk both aspects of constructive thought pattern strategies. MAS had a positive relationship with self-talk while negatively correlated to visualising successful performance. IDV had positive relationships with behaviour-focussed strategies, natural reward strategies and constructive thought pattern strategies. Long-term orientation had a strong negative relationship with behaviour-focussed and natural reward strategies and a very weak negative association with behaviour focussed strategies. / Graduate School of Business Leadership / M.B.L.

Thesis (MComm)--Stellenbosch University, 2002. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In light of the rising recognition that strategic management, especially in uncertain fastchanging environments, needs to be robust beyond time and space, this study has the objective to re-conceptualize the term "organizational fitness". Due to the preliminary and isolated nature of existing organizational fitness models, the decision was made to incorporate the considerable knowledge base of "dynamic capabilities" and "complexity thinking". The critical criteria for choosing these strategic management approaches were seen in their appreciation of change as a natural principle of life within the larger context of this currently fast evolving world. The study aims at establishing a sound understanding of the reference point, i.e. organizational fitness, as well as its hypothetical conceptual means, i.e. dynamic capabilities and complexity thinking. Furthermore, the relational aspects of these concepts were elaborated and converged into a synthesis of what could emerge to become a comprehensive and persistent approach towards organizational fitness and strategic management per se. In respect to the complexity of the chosen concepts, a sequential method of incorporation was adopted. In reviewing and analyzing existing literature on organizational fitness, a possible definition and a general anatomy for organizational fitness could be established. Subsequently, the components and rationale of dynamic capabilities were critically delineated. The insights derived were then inserted in a preliminary fitness model. Hereafter, complexity thinking was investigated and related to the dynamic capabilities framework. Motivated by the complementary nature of these concepts, two emerging techniques of complexity thinking were delineated, viz. the co-evolutionary space and fitness landscapes, with the aim of deepening as well as extending the earlier preliminary concept. This logical yet theoretical and normature study presents clear pointers concerning strategic enterprise robustness with which organizational fitness could be approached in the specific realm of this conceptual frame. In respect of its hypothetical and preliminary nature, the conclusions reached should be seen in their proper perspective. Moreover, further basic and applied research is seen as crucial to substantiate the conclusions and recommendations of this study. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In lig van die toenemende besef dat strategiese bestuur, veral in toestande van vinnige verandering, dinamies en robuust moet wees onbegrens deur die konsepte van tyd en spasie, het hierdie studie die doelstelling om die begrip van organisatoriese fiksheid te herkonseptualiseer. Op grond van die voorlopige en geïsoleerde aard van huidige organisatoriese fiksheidsmodelle, is besluit om die nuwer strategiese bestuursbenaderinge van 'dinamiese vermoëns' en 'kompleksiteitsdenke' in die omvang van die studie te inkorporeer. Die kriteria vir die keuse van insluiting van die voorgenoemde strategiese benaderinge was hul toenemende potensiaal as onderliggende teorieë vir die verduideliking van verandering in die konteks van die toenemend snelle veranderende wereld. Die studie beoog om 'n deeglik-gefundeerde basis en vertrekpunt daar te stel, d.w.s. dinamiese vermoëns beskou as deel van kompleksiteitsdenke. Die interaktiewe en verhoudingsaspekte van die twee konsepte is intensief ontleed en 'n konvergensie is nagestreef ten einde 'n sintese van benadering daar te stel, wat die konsep van organisatoriese fiksheid en gepaardgaande strategiese bestuursimplikasies aandui. In die uitvoering van die ondersoek van kompleksiteitsteorie is 'n sekwensiële wyse van ondersoek gekies. Omvattende ontleding van bestaande internasionale literatuur het 'n voorlopige definisie en anatomiese dimensies van die konsep van organisatoriese fiksheid opgelewer. Daarna is die komponente en rasionaal van dinamiese vermoëns krities ontleed. Die resulterende insigte is voorts in die konsep van organisatoriese fiksheid geïnkorporeer. 'n Verdere stap was ontleding en relevansie-passing van kompleksiteitsdenke in verband tot dinamiese vermoëns. Twee ontluikende tegnieke van kompleksiteitsdenke is afgebaken, naamlik ko-evoluerende spasie en fiksheidslandskappe, met die doeI om die voorlopige konsep van organisatoriese fiksheid te verdiep en te verbreed. Hierdie logiese, teoretiese en normatiewe studie voorsien duidelike aanduidinge t.o.v. strategiese ondernemings-robuustheid, waarmee die konsep van organisatoriese fiksheid toepaslik benader kan word. In die lig van die hipotetiese en voorlopige aard van die studie, moet die gevolgtrekkings van die studie in sy begrensde konteks beskou word. Verder basiese en toegepaste navorsing word as noodsaaklik geag ten einde die gevolgtrekkings en aanbevelings van die studie te substansieer.