Background: In a world that is becoming more knowledge-based and where it gets harder to find value-adding employees, employer branding could be used as a way to attract and retain employees, which later can create competitive advantage. Research Question: In order to experience competitive advantage, how do SMEs use the strategies and tools of employer branding as a way to attract and retain value-adding employees? Purpose: The purpose with this study was to explore how employer branding is used by SMEs as a way to experience competitive advantage. Method: A qualitative research method with six case studies of SMEs located in different industries was adopted. Primary data was based on semi-structured interviews with respondents at the different SMEs. Theoretical framework: With the basis of the RBV, theories about this and the human capital as a resource as well as a competitive advantage, is presented. This continues with theories about the employer brand, attractive attributes about employers, employer branding strategies, and what the outcomes of employer branding is.  Findings and Conclusions: SMEs do not use the strategies and tools of employer branding in the generic way. Instead, much communication is carried out first when the recruitment process starts, with the aim to find employees who could deliver competitive advantage through their fit with the organization. Once onboard, different benefits are provided in order to retain them. Involvement and engagement are the most prominent ones, due to SMEs ability to offer cross-functional management.

Introduction     Knowledge has come to be an increasingly important factor for both individuals in the labor market and companies in competition. When a person leaves an organization the knowledge often follows, and a knowledge gap is created. When knowledge is shared within an organization, the individual’s knowledge is available for all members of the organization. Knowledge can thus be converted from human capital to structural capital. Increased demand in the construction industry has enlarged the need for broader and deeper knowledge of the individuals. Thus the question of knowledge sharing is raised. Purpose           The overall purpose of this report is to provide a systematic and documented image of the knowledge sharing process within the project organization of Skanska by investigating how the company uses strategies, procedures, and systems to manage knowledge from projects to minimize the risk that employees' skills will be lost to the organization. Method            The study is a qualitative research where the empirical material has been collected through a case study. The execution was based on a total of five interviews with respondents within different positions. Conclusion      Although Skanska partially converts human capital into structural capital, the study indicates that the company’s documented explicit knowledge is rather available as support and guidance to the daily work. Instead, the company builds their competitive advantage in several cases by human capital that is created and spread through socialization. / Inledning         Kunskap har kommit till att bli en allt viktigare faktor för såväl individers ställning på arbetsmarknaden som företags konkurrenskraft. När en personer lämnar en organisation följer kunskapen ofta med individen, detta medför att ett kunskapsgap skapas. När kunskap delas blir individens kunskap tillgänglig för organisationens medlemmar. Kunskapen kan således omvandlas från humankapital till strukturkapital. En ökad efterfråga inom byggbranschen ökar behovet av bredare- och djupare kunskap hos individerna och således aktualiseras frågan om kunskapsdelning. Syfte              Det övergripande syftet med denna rapport är att ge en systematiserad och dokumenterad bild av Skanskas arbete med kunskapsdelning i sin projektorganisation. Detta skall göras genom att kartlägga hur Skanska med strategier, rutiner och system hanterar kunskap från projekt för att minimera risken att kunskapen hos medarbetarna ska gå förlorad för organisationen. Metod              Studien är en kvalitativ forskning där det empiriska materialet har samlats genom en fallstudie. Genomförandet byggde på intervjuer med totalt fem respondenter med olika organisatoriska roller inom Skanska. Slutsats            Även om Skanska till viss del omvandlar humankapital till strukturkapital indikerar studiens resultat på att företagets dokumenterade uttalade kunskap mer finns som stöd och riktlinjer för det dagliga arbetet. Istället bygger företaget i flera fall sina konkurrensfördelar på humankapital som skapas och sprids genom socialisering.

Humankapital har ökat i betydelse då allt fler företag har blivit så kallade kunskapsföretag, vilka inriktar sig på att skapa värde genom att endast erbjuda personalens kunskap, kompetens och erfarenhet. Humankapitalet menar forskare, är en tillgång för företaget och borde därför också redovisas som en sådan, precis som företagets andra tillgångar. Dock får inte humankapital i dagens läge tas upp som en tillgång i den finansiella rapporten. Det redovisas därför ofta frivilligt av företagen i hållbarhetsredovisningar. Kunskapsföretagen borde enligt forskare vara de som redovisar absolut mest information om sitt humankapital, då det är företags viktigaste tillgång. Forskare menar också att företagens storlek är en faktor som påverkar hur mycket humankapital som redovisas. Är detta verkligheten? Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka om det finns några skillnader i hur kunskapsföretag och industriföretag redovisar sitt humankapital i sin årsredovisning samt om företagets storlek påverkar mängden humankapital som återfinns i företagens årsredovisningar. Metoden som används var en kvalitativ dokumentundersökning. I empiri och analys kapitlet finns företagssammanfattningar och vad Scoreboarden gav för resultat. Resultatet redovisas utefter Scoreboardens olika kategorier: anställda, anställdas utbildning, anställdas välmående och motivation, övrig kvalitativ information, styrelse och ledning. Resultatet analyseras också utefter kategori för att underlätta överskådligheten och analysen. Vi delar sedan upp Scoreboarden i två övergripande kategorier: ”Anställda” och ”Ledande befattningshavare”. En analys görs av dessa övergripande kategorier. ”Anställda” består av kategorierna: anställda, anställdas utbildning, anställdas välmående och motivation samt övrig kvalitativ information. ”Ledande befattningshavare” består av: styrelse och ledning. Sist analyseras skillnaden mellan företagens totala redovisning av humankapital. Slutsatser som kan dras utifrån undersökningen är att det finns en skillnad mellan kunskapsföretag och industriföretag om vi bryter ner informationen. Kunskapsföretagen redovisar mer information om ”Anställda”, medan industriföretagen redovisar mer om ”Ledande befattningshavare”. Studeras den totala bilden är skillnaderna mindre. Dock finner vi att industriföretagens redovisning av humankapital påverkas av företagets storlek, medan kunskapsföretaget inte uppvisar en sådan trend. / Human capital has become increasingly important as more companies have become so called knowledge-based enterprises, which focuses on creating value by offering their staff knowledge, skills and experience. The human capital is, according to scientists, an asset to the company and should therefore be recognized as such, just like the company's other assets. However, human capital cannot be recognized as an asset in the financial report. Firms therefore often report this information voluntarily in sustainability reports. According to researchers, the knowledge companies should be the one that presents the most information regarding its human capital, since it is such a company's most important asset. Researchers also believe that corporate size is a factor that affects how much human capital is reported. Is this reality? The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether there are any differences in how knowledge- and industry enterprises reports its human capital in its annual report, and if the company's size affects the amount of human capital that can be found in corporate annual reports. The method used was a qualitative document examination. In the empirical evidence and analysis chapter, the reader can find company summaries and the results the scoreboard gave us. The results are reported according to the Scoreboards different categories: employees, employee training, employee well-being and motivation, other qualitative information, the board and management. The results are also analyzed by category to facilitate transparency and the analysis. We then divided the scoreboard into two overall categories: "Employees" and "Senior Management". An analysis is made of these overall categories. "Employee" is composed of the categories: employees, employee training, employee well-being and motivation and other qualitative information. "Senior management" consists of: Board and management. Finally, the difference between a company's overall human capital reporting is analyzed. The conclusions that can be drawn from the survey are that there is a difference between knowledge- and industry enterprises when they are broken down by categories. Knowledge Enterprises presents more information about "Employees", while industrial companies report more about "Senior Management". Looking at the total picture, the differences are minor; however, we find that the industrial firms' reporting of human capital is influenced by firm size, while the knowledge company does not exhibit such a trend.

The purpose of this study was to analyse personnel expenditure of the Directorate Veterinary Service in the North West Province and how it impacted on service delivery. Literature on personnel expenditure and its influence on service delivery, particularly in the field of Veterinary Services is still in its infancy. Financial condition was referred as a tool to evaluate trends and patterns in how personnel budgets increases over a period of time as a fraction of the total budget affected the ability of the directorate to deliver services to the citizens of the province. Financial condition uses a percentage change to analyse changes in the budget over time for the Directorate. Budget reports (2000-2002) collected from the Provincial Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Environment was analysed in terms of a split between personnel and operational. This analysis was then used to elucidate patterns over time for the Directorate as a whole, which were then compared between the regions (using cost centers) to determine any bias in terms of resource allocation. The percentage change was also done per standard budget item used in the Province. From the study it is evident that there was deterioration in financial condition for the financial year 200112001. This deterioration in financial condition is shown by a drop in budget but also in terms of a bias towards personnel. This phenomenon was however reversed in the following year of 2002/2003. This study has identified a negative correlation between personnel budget and other expenditure needs for the Directorate Veterinary Services that had negative consequences for service delivery. To this extent it recommends a regular monitoring process to be put in place and the use of public partnerships where practical as a solution to rising personnel costs. / (M.B.A.) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2004

This paper develops a model in which it is possible to evaluate alternatives of higher education financing. The alternative systems under discussion are: total fecing, graduates' taxes and uniform taxes (this can be associated to the scheme presently used in the Argentina to finance the universities). Assessment of the alternatives is performed over welfare, based on the indicators of poverty, equality, and the average levels of utility and wealth. Likewise, the functions of welfare presented by Bentham, Rawls, Atkinson, Sen and Kakwani are also considered. The most remarkable results are obtained through the simulation of an economy under two scenarios. In that way, the system of graduates' taxation is found to be better for welfare; whereas the system of uniform taxation only can be justified as it maximizes the number of students.

Do men and women receive different pay-offs, in terms of wage, from cognitive skills in the Swedish labor market? To answer this, the classical Mincer equation is expanded with a variable for cognitive skills (literacy and numeracy) and an interaction term between being a male and cognitive skills to be able to distinguish the actual difference in pay-off. I use data from OECD’s PIAAC survey of adult skills, which provides a unique opportunity to examine gender pay-off differences concerning cognitive skills. The results show that men have a larger pay-off than women once occupation is sufficiently controlled for

There is a growing call for more skilled workers-especially in the scarce skills of science, engineering and technology (SET). The current educational system is failing to address these issues, learners are being ill-prepared to cope with the demands of a society that has moved on; and learners are being prepared for a society that no longer exists in practice. In order to address this problem, this thesis calls for a greater emphasis on issues of digital inclusion, integration of whole communities, understanding of the dynamics of integrating ICTs into the classroom, exploring opportunities for the expansion of rapid-prototyping at school level and the promotion of digital literacy. Though this is not a definitive list, the researcher has developed working solutions to each of these issues, as presented in five journal articles. Investigations were conducted in the Tshwane area with male and female learners in both primary and secondary schools. The selection of the learners from both advantaged and disadvantaged institutions was left to the teachers. Design research was the main methodology adopted for this research. The investigations started in 200'1 and the bulk of the work was concluded between 2007-2010. Greater emphasis is placed on a qualitative approach with limited quantitative analysis. The findings of this research indicate the need to extend the scope of the investigation and to massify the different interventions. The pedagogical shift has been away from information transfer, towards using information communication technologies to promote creativity and innovation in a stimulating constructivist environment This has led to an opportunity to track learner involvement in SET events over their school careers and to identify talented individuals. In addition, the findings indicate that there is little difference between learners from advantaged and disadvantaged communities. Added to this is the development of a solution to address the digital divide through the creation of virtual interactive classrooms which can digitally include learners from geographically separated classrooms in remote communities. The strategic importance of ICTs, creativity and innovation are key components of a Human Capital Development strategy, especially at a time when there is a growing shortage of scarce skills in key areas. Post Grade 12 interventions are short term solutions that are not sustainable. This thesis calls for the establishment of a SET pipeline from grassroots level, in order to grow the feeder stock for a national system of innovation as a long-term investment in the future. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Education))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.

Studies have shown that computers have a positive impact on productivity, but the reality remains that the productivity figures have not yet changed. This aforementioned irregularity is referred to as the “productivity paradox”. The question of how productivity is measured is complicated when, for example, a company connects all their computers onto a network or installs an information system to keep record of customer information or even supplier information, for there are no input and output ratios that can be measured. In these cases, productivity is not so evident, and some might argue that it does not exist. Companies always look for the competitive advantage and it is therefore important to show whether investing in information technology does in effect give them a greater return on investment. The question of why it is important for information technology to increase productivity is answered by looking at what all companies seek, which is sustainable growth. This can be measured by the accounting return on investment, economic value added (EVA), and growth in sales or assets. The goal of this study is to determine the impact the information technology productivity paradox has on the heavy metal engineering industries, whether it be good or bad. Information technology has expanded to such an extent that more people are starting to rely on information technology in order to do their work and communicate with one another. This is what makes this study so important, especially from an organisation's perspective, as the organisation is spending more money on expanding its information systems. One of the aspects to be covered in this study is the evolution pertaining to the history of information technology and how it has improved over the years. It also looks at the laws of information technology like Moore's Law which explains that the transistors on a chip would roughly double every two years, and Gilder's Law that explains in total communication a system triples every twelve months. Within this study the knowledge expansion and how human knowledge had to expand in order to keep up with the ever escalating information technology is covered. When looking at the future and the rate at which knowledge increases people tend to assume that the current rate of progress will continue in future periods. This, however, when looking at the rate at which technology progresses, is evident that the progress is not constant. The research topic for this study is the information technology productivity paradox. This term suggests that there is no correlation between a company’s investment in information systems and its business performance measured in terms of productivity. This phenomenon was shown to exist within this study. Open source systems are covered, which is a method of developing software that harnesses the power of distributed peer review and transparency of process. Open source systems have the following advantages like easing of licensing restrictions; cross–platform simplicity; possibility to run modules on any operating system; low cost due to no licensing fees; modification of system is possible; and disadvantages like lack of necessary expertise to do modifications; less user–friendly, support is not always available; security might be a problem. In this way open source systems will affect productivity in information technology due to the less user–friendly interface. Some of these open source systems might take longer to do the task than it would on the commercial software. Implementation of the open source system might take longer than that of a commercial system as there might be a lack of support for the system. Another topic covered within this study is the development of human capital, which is a necessity for employees in an organisation in order to enhance both knowledge and skills within an organisation. This is, however, a double bladed sword as even though the combined knowledge and skills of an organisation are expanded, it takes time which inevitably leads to productivity loss. Finally this study investigates social networking, which is defined as the application of websites that support the maintenance of personal relationships, the discovery of potential relationships and should aim in the conversion of potential ties into weak and strong ties. List of key terms: Information technology, productivity paradox, social networking, competitive advantage, knowledge expansion, development of human capital. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

There is a growing call for more skilled workers-especially in the scarce skills of science, engineering and technology (SET). The current educational system is failing to address these issues, learners are being ill-prepared to cope with the demands of a society that has moved on; and learners are being prepared for a society that no longer exists in practice. In order to address this problem, this thesis calls for a greater emphasis on issues of digital inclusion, integration of whole communities, understanding of the dynamics of integrating ICTs into the classroom, exploring opportunities for the expansion of rapid-prototyping at school level and the promotion of digital literacy. Though this is not a definitive list, the researcher has developed working solutions to each of these issues, as presented in five journal articles. Investigations were conducted in the Tshwane area with male and female learners in both primary and secondary schools. The selection of the learners from both advantaged and disadvantaged institutions was left to the teachers. Design research was the main methodology adopted for this research. The investigations started in 200'1 and the bulk of the work was concluded between 2007-2010. Greater emphasis is placed on a qualitative approach with limited quantitative analysis. The findings of this research indicate the need to extend the scope of the investigation and to massify the different interventions. The pedagogical shift has been away from information transfer, towards using information communication technologies to promote creativity and innovation in a stimulating constructivist environment This has led to an opportunity to track learner involvement in SET events over their school careers and to identify talented individuals. In addition, the findings indicate that there is little difference between learners from advantaged and disadvantaged communities. Added to this is the development of a solution to address the digital divide through the creation of virtual interactive classrooms which can digitally include learners from geographically separated classrooms in remote communities. The strategic importance of ICTs, creativity and innovation are key components of a Human Capital Development strategy, especially at a time when there is a growing shortage of scarce skills in key areas. Post Grade 12 interventions are short term solutions that are not sustainable. This thesis calls for the establishment of a SET pipeline from grassroots level, in order to grow the feeder stock for a national system of innovation as a long-term investment in the future. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Education))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.

Studies have shown that computers have a positive impact on productivity, but the reality remains that the productivity figures have not yet changed. This aforementioned irregularity is referred to as the “productivity paradox”. The question of how productivity is measured is complicated when, for example, a company connects all their computers onto a network or installs an information system to keep record of customer information or even supplier information, for there are no input and output ratios that can be measured. In these cases, productivity is not so evident, and some might argue that it does not exist. Companies always look for the competitive advantage and it is therefore important to show whether investing in information technology does in effect give them a greater return on investment. The question of why it is important for information technology to increase productivity is answered by looking at what all companies seek, which is sustainable growth. This can be measured by the accounting return on investment, economic value added (EVA), and growth in sales or assets. The goal of this study is to determine the impact the information technology productivity paradox has on the heavy metal engineering industries, whether it be good or bad. Information technology has expanded to such an extent that more people are starting to rely on information technology in order to do their work and communicate with one another. This is what makes this study so important, especially from an organisation's perspective, as the organisation is spending more money on expanding its information systems. One of the aspects to be covered in this study is the evolution pertaining to the history of information technology and how it has improved over the years. It also looks at the laws of information technology like Moore's Law which explains that the transistors on a chip would roughly double every two years, and Gilder's Law that explains in total communication a system triples every twelve months. Within this study the knowledge expansion and how human knowledge had to expand in order to keep up with the ever escalating information technology is covered. When looking at the future and the rate at which knowledge increases people tend to assume that the current rate of progress will continue in future periods. This, however, when looking at the rate at which technology progresses, is evident that the progress is not constant. The research topic for this study is the information technology productivity paradox. This term suggests that there is no correlation between a company’s investment in information systems and its business performance measured in terms of productivity. This phenomenon was shown to exist within this study. Open source systems are covered, which is a method of developing software that harnesses the power of distributed peer review and transparency of process. Open source systems have the following advantages like easing of licensing restrictions; cross–platform simplicity; possibility to run modules on any operating system; low cost due to no licensing fees; modification of system is possible; and disadvantages like lack of necessary expertise to do modifications; less user–friendly, support is not always available; security might be a problem. In this way open source systems will affect productivity in information technology due to the less user–friendly interface. Some of these open source systems might take longer to do the task than it would on the commercial software. Implementation of the open source system might take longer than that of a commercial system as there might be a lack of support for the system. Another topic covered within this study is the development of human capital, which is a necessity for employees in an organisation in order to enhance both knowledge and skills within an organisation. This is, however, a double bladed sword as even though the combined knowledge and skills of an organisation are expanded, it takes time which inevitably leads to productivity loss. Finally this study investigates social networking, which is defined as the application of websites that support the maintenance of personal relationships, the discovery of potential relationships and should aim in the conversion of potential ties into weak and strong ties. List of key terms: Information technology, productivity paradox, social networking, competitive advantage, knowledge expansion, development of human capital. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.