This thesis forms part of a PhD by Publication based on the research and scholarly work of Sheila Wright. It explores her contribution to the field of Competitive Intelligence & Insight Management (CI&IM) made through ten articles published between 2002 and 2010. The research projects that involved the collection of primary data were carried out within a qualitative research methodology using a semi-structured interview or case study method and typically adopting a pragmatic paradigm. Through this work, it has been possible to present a best-practice framework for CI&IM. Similarly, it has been possible to develop an operational framework for CI&IM, which identifies the inter-connectivity of the CI&IM tasks as well as the organisational influencing factors which can aid or hinder successful implementation. As well as engaging in a critical evaluation of current CI&IM practice the thesis indicates how the articles offer solutions which can aid the delivery of improved performance to practitioners as well as academics who teach and research the subject. The thesis also identifies the place of CI&IM in the business discipline and draws attention to the cross-boundary, inter-disciplinary nature of its reach. The development of bibliometric software and citation identification programmes has enabled the inclusion of a citation analysis for each article which also identifies the context within which that citation was made. This is presented as supporting evidence for the contribution to knowledge and value of the body of work. Through this mechanism it has also been possible, not only to identify the frequency with which the articles have been cited, but more importantly, the impact and contribution this has had on scholars who have subsequently used the output and frameworks as a basis for their own research.

This thesis is submitted for the award of PhD by publication. It comprises four interconnected, published research papers linked by a contextualising narrative. The publications are all peer-reviewed research articles published between 2012 and 2017 in relevant UK journals. I am the sole author of three of the papers and first author of one paper. My thesis considers how social workers make sense of complex and uncertain information in child welfare and protection social work. My first paper considers the how an understanding of human judgement and sense-making can influence social worker's capacity of child-focused thinking. My synthesis of the literature indicated that social workers' styles of judgement are strongly bounded or influenced by external factors such as complexity of information and time available to make decisions. It is this "bounded" model of rationality which I have employed to provide the theoretical and conceptual framework for this thesis. I have included two papers exploring data which I collected in a non-participatory ethnographic study of social workers' sense-making in a local authority children and families team. These papers represent a valuable contribution to current understandings of social work sense-making. This naturalistic study identified a number of key themes and processes in sense-making which are directly relevant to developing and maintaining best practice. The final paper was developed over the period of my PhD studies. The paper builds on existing research and develops theories of bounded rationality into a conceptual model which I have referred to as an "Ecology of Judgement" for child welfare and protection social work. By modelling the complex interplay between the mind of the social worker and the information environment in which they are operating the model has utility in practice development and research.

This thesis consists of three empirical studies. The first study, Rationales to Language-in-Education Policies in Postcolonial Africa: Towards a Holistic Approach, considers two issues. First, it explores the factors affecting the choice of an LiE policy in 35 African countries. The results show that the countries adopting a unilingual education system put different weights on the influential parameters than countries adopting a bilingual education system. Second, the study investigates how decision makers can ensure the optimal choice of language(s) of instruction by developing a non-cooperative game theoretic model with network externalities. The model shows that it is never optimal for two countries to become bilingual, or for the majority linguistic group to learn the language of the minority group, unless there is minimum cooperation to ensure an equitable redistribution of payoffs. The second study, The Role of Language in Learning Achievement: A Namibian Case Study, investigates the role played by home language and language proficiency on SACMEQ II mathematics scores of Namibian Grade-6 learners. HLM is used to partition the total variance in mathematics achievement into its within- and between-school components. Results show that although home language plays a limited role in explaining within- and between-school variations in mathematics achievement, language proficiency (proxied by reading scores) plays a significant role in the heterogeneity of results. Finally, the third study, Language Skills and Economic Returns, investigates the economic returns to language skills, assuming that language competencies constitute key components of human capital. It presents results from eight IALS countries. The study finds that in each country, skills in a second language are a significant factor that constrains wage opportunities positively.

Thesis (PhD(Agric))--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The energy paradigm shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources is driven, among others, by a growing sustainability awareness, necessitating more sophisticated measurements in terms of a wider range of criteria. Technical efficiency, financial profitability, environmental friendliness and social acceptance are some of the factors determining the sustainability of renewable energy systems. The resulting complexity and conflicting decision criteria, however, constitute major barriers to processing the information and decision-making based on the information. Seeking to implement local bioenergy systems, policymakers of the Cape Winelands District Municipality (CWDM), South Africa, are confronted with such a problem. Following a case study approach, this study illustrates how life-cycle assessment (LCA), multi-period budgeting (MPB) and geographic information systems (GIS) can aid the decision-making process by providing financial-economic, socio-economic and environmental friendliness performance data in a structured and transparent manner, allowing for a comparison of the magnitude of each considered criterion along the life-cycle. However, as the environmental impacts cannot readily be expressed in monetary terms on a cardinal scale, these considerations are given less attention or are omitted completely in a market economy. By measuring the various considerations on an ordinal scale and by attaching weights to them using the multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) approach, this study, illustrates how to internalise externalities as typical market failures, aiding policymakers of the CWDM to choose the most sustainable bioenergy system. Following the LCA approach, 37 lignocellulosic bioenergy systems, encompassing different combinations of type of harvesting and primary transport, type of pretreatment (comminution, drying, and fast pyrolysis) and location thereof (roadside or landing of the central conversion plant), type of secondary transport from the roadside to the central conversion plant, and type of biomass upgrading and conversion into electricity, were assessed against five financial-economic viability criteria, three socio-economic potential criteria and five environmental impact criteria. The quantitative performance data were then, as part of the MCDA process, translated into a standardised ‘common language’ of relative performance. An expert group attached weights to the considered criteria using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP). The ‘financial-economic viability’ main criterion received a weight of almost 60%, ‘socio-economic potential’, nearly 25% and ‘lowest environmental impact’, the remainder of around 16%. Taking the prerequisite of financial-economic viability into consideration, the preferred option across all areas of the CWDM (despite various levels of productivity) comprises a feller-buncher for harvesting, a forwarder for primary transportation, mobile comminution at the roadside, secondary transport in truck-container-trailer combinations and an integrated gasification system for the conversion into electricity. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die energie paradigma verandering van fossielbrandstowwe na hernubare energiebronne word gedryf deur ‘n groeiende klem op volhoubaarheid, wat ook meer gesofistikeerde meting in terme van ‘n wyer verskeidenheid maatstawwe vereis. Tegniese doeltreffendheid, finansiële winsgewendheid, omgewingsvriendelikheid en sosiale aanvaarbaarheid is sommige van die faktore wat die volhoubaarheid van hernubare energie stelsels bepaal. Die verskeidenheid oorwegings bring egter kompleksiteit en konflik mee by die verwerking van inligting en die besluitneming wat daarop berus. Beleidmakers van die Kaapse Wynland Distriksmunisipaliteit wat ten doel het om plaaslik bio-energie stelsels te implementeer, word met hierdie probleem gekonfronteer. Hierdie ondersoek illustreer aan die hand van ‘n gevallestudie benadering hoe lewensiklus analise, multiperiode begroting en geografiese inligtingstelsels besluitneming kan ondersteun deur die voorsiening van finansieel-ekonomiese, sosio-ekonomiese (indiensneming) en omgewingsvriendelikheid prestasie data op ‘n gestruktureerde en deursigtige wyse. Dit maak die vergelyking van die waardes van al die kriteria by elke fase van die lewensiklus moontlik. Aangesien die omgewingseffekte nie geredelik in monetêre terme op ‘n kardinale skaal gemeet kan word nie, kry hulle binne die markekonomie minder aandag of word selfs buite rekening gelaat. Deur hierdie verskeidenheid kriteria op ‘n ordinale skaal te meet en gewigte met behulp van multikriteria besluitneming aan hulle toe te ken, toon hierdie ondersoek hoe om eksternaliteite as tipiese markmislukkings te internaliseer om beleidmakers van die Kaapse Wynland Distriksmunisipaliteit in staat te stel om die mees volhoubare bio-energie stelsel te kies. Met behulp van lewensiklus analise is 37 lignosellulose bio-energie stelsels geïdentifiseer as verskillende kombinasies van oes van die bome, primêre vervoer van houtstompe, vooraf verwerking (verspaandering, droging, vinnige pirolise), die ligging van hierdie aktiwiteite (langs ‘n plantasie of by ‘n sentrale omsettingsaanleg), tipe sekondêre vervoer van houtspaanders vanaf die plantasie na die sentrale omsettingsaanleg en tipe biomassa opgradering en omsetting van die houtspaanders na elektrisiteit. Die verskillende stelsels is gemeet aan die hand van vyf finansieel-ekonomiese kriteria, drie indiensneming potensiaal kriteria en vyf omgewingsimpak kriteria. Die kwantitatiewe metings is deur middel van multikriteria besluitneming omgeskakel na ’n gestandaardiseerde “gemeenskaplike taal” van relatiewe prestasie. Lede van ‘n ekspertgroep het gewigte is aan die onderskeie kriteria met behulp van die analitiese hierargie proses toegeken. Aan die finansieel-ekonomiese lewensvatbaarheid hoof kriterium is ‘n gewig van by die 60% toegeken, aan die indiensnemingspotensiaal bykans 25% en aan omgewingsvriendelikheid sowat 16%. Die voorkeur kombinasie vir al die areas van die Kaapse Wynland Distriksmunisipaliteit sluit in ‘n saag-bondelaar vir die oesproses, ‘n plantasie-vragmotor vir primêre vervoer, mobiele verspaandering langs die plantasie, ‘n vragmotor-skeepshouer-treiler kombinasies vir die sekondêre vervoer van houtspaanders en ‘n geïntegreerde vergassingstelsel vir die omsetting van houtspaanders na elektrisiteit.

La première décennie du XXIème siècle a été particulièrement marquée par le renforcement de la présence de la République populaire de Chine (RPC) en Afrique. En effet, Pékin est devenu un important partenaire du continent dans différents domaines de coopération (économique, commercial, militaire, culturel…). C’est ainsi que l’objet de cette recherche porte essentiellement sur la dimension militaire de la présence chinoise. Celle-ci reste encore peu étudiée contrairement à celle des Etats-Unis, de la France et de l’URSS autrefois. L’étude qui convoque la pensée stratégique chinoise et les théories de relations internationales, tente de cerner les enjeux, les contours et les évolutions de la dimension militaire chinoise dans un contexte de bouleversements et de rivalités stratégiques (1960-2010). Aussi, l’étude s’intéresse aux différents choix stratégiques opérés. Cet effort de compréhension ne porte pas que sur la seule Chine, l’Afrique y est aussi pleinement prise en compte. La réflexion se prolonge avec l’analyse décisionnelle de la politique étrangère de défense, grâce notamment à une approche que nous avons qualifiée d’hybride, une combinaison du modèle rationnel et de l’approche bureaucratique de la décision. Ainsi, dans le cas chinois et africain, la décision en politique étrangère n’est pas le seul fait du Président, bien qu’il en soit un acteur prééminent. De nombreux acteurs participent à son élaboration; ceux-ci disposent de réelles capacités de l’infléchir dans un sens ou dans l’autre. / The reinforcement of China presence in Africa particularly constitutes a remarkable event during the first decade of the twenty-first century. As the matter of fact, China has become an important partner in various domains of cooperation such as trade, military, culture…This is hereby the reason why this study is essentially based on the military dimension of China presence. This aspect is barely analyzed in comparison with those of the USA, France, and the USSR in the past. The study deals with the Chinese strategic Policy and the theories of international relations. It intends to decipher what is at stake, the ins and outs of the Chinese military Policy in a context where upheavals and strategic conflicts are pregnant (1960-2010). Moreover, the study will analyze different strategic choices that have been taken so far. This effort of analysis will not only concern China, but Africa will be fully taken into account as well. The reflection will stretch onto the analysis of decisions inherent to the foreign Policy, notably thanks to an approach that can be qualified as a ‘hybrid approach’, that is, a combination of a rational pattern and the bureaucratic approach of decision. Then, in the Chinese and African cases, the decision in foreign policy is not only the prerogative of the president, although he allegedly seems to be a pre-eminent actor. A lot of actors partake in the foreign Policy elaboration; these ones have real capacities to curb it either way.