Na atual conjuntura, a competitividade das empresas passou a ser condição sine qua non para a permanência no mercado. Ademais, a competitividade deixou de depender da empresa por si só e passou a ser resultado da competitividade de toda a cadeia de valor em que a empresa está inserida. Neste contexto, surge no Brasil o Programa Nacional de Encadeamento Produtivo que visa, dentre outros objetivos, desenvolver a cadeia de valor de empresas para aumentar a competitividade de pequenos, médios e grandes negócios. O Programa Nacional de Encadeamento Produtivo atua em cinco focos estratégicos, sendo um deles o foco em Rede de Aprendizagem. O foco Rede de Aprendizagem, por fortalecer as ligações e interações entre os membros de uma cadeia de valor, ajuda no desenvolvimento dos outros focos estratégicos do programa. Possui, assim, importância singular em todo o processo de encadeamento produtivo. Mesmo com tamanha importância, as redes ainda estão aquém do potencial de desenvolvimento que elas podem gerar. Deste modo, o trabalho teve como objetivo geral propor referências para auxiliar o desenvolvimento de redes organizacionais. Para tanto, realizou-se pesquisa qualitativa baseada em entrevistas em profundidade. As entrevistas foram realizadas em oito redes organizacionais. Com base nas boas práticas existentes, nas diferentes formas de atuação, na cultura de cooperação entre os membros das redes e no impacto efetivo que cada uma das redes visitadas produz nas empresas, foram propostas referências para nortear o desenvolvimento das redes de aprendizagem. Os principais resultados foram referências sobre estrutura de gestão, processos internos, funções dos membros, métricas de desenvolvimento, dentre outros norteadores de atuação. / Nowadays, the competitiveness of enterprises has become an indispensable condition for surviving in the market. Furthermore, competitiveness no longer depends on the company itself, but rather became a result of the competitiveness of the whole value chain. In this context, the National Program for Productive Linkage was established in Brazil. This program aims, among other objectives, at developing the value chain of companies in order to increase the competitiveness of small, medium and large businesses. The National Program for Productive Linkage act on five strategic foci, one of them being the focus on Learning Network. The Learning Network focus, by strengthening the connections and interactions among members of a chain value, enhances the development of the other strategic foci of the program and, thus, has a singular importance in the whole process of the productive linkage. Despite being so important, the networks are still below the potential for development that they can generate. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to propose references to support the development of entrepreneurial Learning Networks. To this end, a qualitative research was done, based on in-depth interviews. The interviews were conducted in eight organizational networks. Based on: (i) the existing good practices; (ii) the various ways of working; (iii) the cooperational culture among their members; and (iv) the effective impacts that Organizational Networks produce in the enterprises; references have been proposed to guide the development of Learning Network. The main results were references to management structure, internal processes, functions of members, development metrics, among other guides for better performance.

På bara ett par år har elektronisk handel potential att radikalt förändra de ekonomiska och sociala förhållanden i samhället. Internets snabba tillväxt kopplar samman individer och organisationer till ett stort globalt nätverk som representerar enorma möjligheter. Det talas om ett nätverkssamhälle och en nätverksekonomi. Elektronisk handel driver företag mot att bedriva affärer på ett fundamentalt nytt sätt. Behovet av att dela information i realtid ökar tillsammans med förändringarna i värdekedjan. Syftet med studien är att kartlägga elektronisk handel i allmänhet. Studien fokuseras på hur elektronisk handel används för att länka samman företag, stora som små, från råmaterial till konsumenten. Arbetet belyser hinder och krav i samband med elektronisk handel och det sätt de hanteras på. Företagen i undersökningen visar ingen tydlig strävan mot att uppnå en totalt integrerad värdekedja. Grundliga affärsprocesser flyttas mot Internet för att utnyttja nätverkets fördelar. Främst används EDI och online-tjänster som Internetbutiker för elektronisk handel.

The thesis titled Development of competitiveness of company deals with arrangements for a café in the city center leading to the strengthening of its competitiveness. First, it analyzes the internal and external environment and evaluates customer satisfaction questionnaire. The results of these analyzes are summarized in the SWOT analysis. Based on the information measures are proposed, which should contribute to increasing the competitiveness of the company.

This thesis deals with financial analysis and benchmarking for construction company Pozemní stavby Jihlava, spol. s.r.o. The first part summarizes the theoretical basis of benchmarking. In the next part –practical part contains an analysis of the current situation of the company and other construction companies, are included financial analysis, Porter's value chain and SWOT analysis. Based on the observed data are proposing measures and to imporivng and specific recommendations for evaluating enterprise.

Magister Philosophiae - MPhil / This study explored value-chain governance in the Tugela Ferry Irrigation Scheme in KwaZulu-Natal, and presents data on input markets, vegetable production and output markets. Rural poverty is a major problem in post-apartheid South Africa, and smallholder agriculture has been identified by the Economic Development Department as a key component of its New Growth Path framework. Some scholars argue that since water is a scarce resource, irrigation farming should form a key focus of pro-poor land redistribution policy. The 1994 democratic dispensation saw the dismantling of the agricultural homeland parastatals which managed these schemes, causing them to collapse or near collapse. Yet they may have the potential to reduce rural poverty. While markets are key for viable production of fresh produce, some scholars assert that globally, input suppliers, food processors and supermarkets dominate the agro-food industry resulting in negative outcomes for smallholder producers. In South Africa, four major supermarkets (which together claim 55% of retail market share) were in the past located mainly in cities, but the trend now is that they are moving to small towns and townships. There are documented cases where pro-poor governance of fresh produce value chains has resulted in positive outcomes in South Africa. The re-governing markets concept which postulates that a multi-stakeholder approach to making the governance of agricultural value chains pro-poor, is offered as a solution to reducing poverty. This thesis argues that the incorporation of smallholder farmers into modern markets remains ineffective in dealing with poverty because it includes only a few smallholder farmers and those included face exclusion when they are exposed to harsh market conditions.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / This dissertation focuses on strategic partnership initiatives or ‘inclusive business model’ arrangements initiated between land restitution beneficiaries and private sector interests. It explores to what extent the introduction of strategic partnerships since 2005 reflects a dominant underlying land reform policy narrative premised on the superiority of large-scale commercial farming that contradicts other policy statements emphasizing support for small-scale farming. The effects of a hegemonic notion of “viability” – framed in terms of the large-scale commercial farm model - on partnership initiatives in the large Moletele claim in the Hoedspruit area of Limpopo Province is the primary concern of the study. I adopt a political economy perspective to examine both processes and the range of outcomes of the commercial partnerships established on Moletele land. Informed by this perspective, I explore the strategies pursued by, and the alliances formed between differently positioned actors that are engaged in contestations and negotiations over access to resources within these partnerships, which I conceptualize as “arenas of struggle”. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected and analysed (mixed method approach), by means of a small sample of claimant households and in relation to joint ventures established between claimants and different private sector partners

The purpose of this study is to investigate how a financial literacy interface model could contribute towards the comprehensibility of financial information to decision makers in organisations. The way individuals and institutions use the concept of financial literacy suggests that different people attach different meanings to this construct. In order to establish a conceptual model for financial literacy, this study endeavours to formulate what financial literacy entails as well as decision makers’ expectations of financial information. The increase in the volume and complexity of financial information often outstrips the abilities of users to understand and interpret it for decision-making purposes. A financial literacy interface provides an opportunity window for decision makers in organisations to break through their fears and concerns in using financial figures and language. Users of financial information differ vastly with regard to their level of financial capability and sophistication, and preparers of financial information should take cognisance of the fact. The study revealed that financial literacy is a complex phenomenon and that the term encompasses more than the individual terms “financial” and “literacy”. It further endeavoured to develop a financial literacy interface model as a coordinating interface between financial information and decision makers. / Thesis (DCom)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Financial Management / unrestricted

The occurrence of organic contaminants in the drinking water value chain (from source to tap) is a growing concern for the Drinking Water industry and its consumers given the high risk these contaminants can cause to the general public. These adverse health effects include such as endocrine disruption, toxicity teratogenicity, mutagenicity and carcinogenicity. Some of these organic contaminants are included in national and international drinking water quality guidelines or standards. However, although there are similarities in the list of organic contaminants used by each organization or country, the organic contaminants are never the same given the local conditions. There are also noticeable differences in the concentration limits set as targets or criteria for organic contaminants for public health protection via the use of drinking water. A further question requiring the response from drinking water regulators was whether the standards listed in the international literature would be applicable in other countries like South Africa. Complicating this decision is the fact that the South African National Drinking Water Standard (SANS 241) does not adequately address this component of drinking water quality management. The current standard only provides for dissolved organic carbon (DOC), total trihalomethanes (TTHMs) and phenols. However, the standard contains a statement which specifies that if there is a known organic contaminant, that may pose a health threat, it should be included in the monitoring programme and evaluated against World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. To safeguard Drinking Water industry customers, it was deemed necessary to investigate this matter and establish a tool to assist with the identification of a list of organic contaminants to be monitored in the drinking water value chain. To achieve this a specific procedure/protocol needed to be developed, hence the aim of this study which was to develop a generic protocol for the selection and prioritization of organic contaminants for monitoring in the drinking water value chain (from source to tap). To achieve this, a critical evaluation and synthesis of the available literature on the approaches for the selection and prioritization of organic variables of priority to the drinking water industry was undertaken as a first step. From the literature review it was evident that there are currently many selection and prioritization approaches which are characterized mainly by the purpose for which the exercise has been conducted for. Approaches that prioritize chemicals according to their importance as environmental contaminants have been developed by government agencies and private industries such as the Health Canada’s Canadian Environmental Protection Agency (CEPA), the United Kingdom’s Institute for Environmental Health (IEH), the European Community’s Oslo and Paris (OSPAR) convention exercise for the protection of the Northeast Atlantic marine environment and the European Union (EU)’s combined monitoring based and modelling based priority setting scheme (EU-COMMPs). A few approaches such as ones published by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), address the needs of the Drinking Water industry and there is no generic approach to the selection, prioritization and monitoring of organic contaminants in the drinking water value chain. From the review of selection and prioritization approaches, a generic model was developed. The model consists of three main steps, the compilation of a “pool of organic contaminants, the selection of relevant parameters and criteria to screen organic contaminants and finally the application of criteria to select priority organic contaminants. It was however realized that these steps were not enough if the protocol to be develop will serve its purpose. Selection and prioritization approaches are typically intended to be fairly simple and quick methods for determining the health and environmental hazards posed by the use and release of chemical substances into different environmental systems. This was taken into account during the development of the current protocol. Understanding that a protocol is a predefined written procedural method in the design and implementation of tasks and that these protocols are written whenever it is desirable to standardize a method or procedure to ensure successful reproducibility in a similar set up, a generic protocol was developed based on the model. The protocol developed in this study, operates as a multidisciplinary contaminants management and proactive protocol, thus exchanges toxicological, water quality, agricultural, chemical and public health information. The protocol uses previous or readily available information as a point of departure. It seeks to address the challenge facing the water industry in managing the current and emerging organic contaminants that are relevant to public health protection via the use of drinking water. Once the protocol was developed, it was validated in a prototype drinking water value chain. The exercise comprised of testing each step of the protocol from the selection of the “pool of organic contaminants (Step I) to recommending the final priority list of organic contaminants (Step VII). The implementation was successfully conducted in the Rand Water drinking water value chain. Emphasis of expert judgment was made as each step was validated and the opinion of key stakeholders used to shape the process. During Step III of the protocol, an intensive literature review was conducted to determine organic contaminants that have been identified in ground and surface water systems across the world. As a result of this review, major groups of organic contaminants that have been found to occur in source water resources across the world were identified. The identified groups of organic contaminants include, pesticides, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, per and polyfluoroorganic compounds, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, alkanes and alkenes, C10-C13 Chloroalkanes, pharmaceuticals and personal care products [PPCPs], surfactants, benzotriazoles, cyanotoxins and Carbon-based engineered nanoparticles. The risk profile of the identified organic contaminants was established using the persistence, bio-accumulation and toxicity criteria and the development of water quality monographs as an information dissemination tool. A conceptual framework for the implementation of the protocol by water utilities and relevant institutions has been developed from the experiences learnt during the validation exercise and a priority list of organic contaminants for the monitoring in the drinking water value chain to be used by Rand Water and other water utilities was identified. Some of the organic contaminants on this are currently being analyzed for in The Rand Water’s routine organic monitoring programme. During the validation exercise, the following were noted, <ul> <li>During the identification of the “pool of organic contaminants” from the consulted information sources such as the WHO guidelines for drinking water quality, Health Canada drinking water quality guidelines, the USEPA drinking water quality standards, the New Zealand drinking water quality standards, USEPA IRIS database, the PAN-UK list of registered pesticides for South Africa, the IARC list for recognized carcinogens and the Department of Agriculture pesticides manuals duplications were observed. </li> <li>The time allocated could not allow for the development of water quality monographs for all organic contaminants of concern but for a few selected contaminants whose information was inadequate to allow for decision-making. </li> <li>The determination of concentration levels of organic contaminants in fish, sediment and water samples could have been limited by the failure of current analytical instruments to go down to lower levels at which they occur in the drinking water value chain. <l/i> <li>Only two events could be planned, during the wet season (high flow) and dry season (low flow) based on time and budget constraints. </li> <li>Although various experts were consulted and invited to attend workshops in order to validate the process, the attendance could not be extended to all nine provinces given the time and budget constraints. <br></li></ul> Based on the above, recommendations were made for the dissemination and use of the products emanating from this study. For example, it is recommended that the current protocol be made available to water utilities and the process of revising the current priority list be repeated every 5 years. Further research should be conducted to obtain full coverage of organic contaminants impacting on source water quality in all ground water and surface water systems used as sources for drinking water production. Another major recommendation is the investigation of potential analytical methods that current chromatographic methods with high resolution mass spectrometry to ensure that organic contaminants can be detected at the ng/l to pg/l using a single enrichment method in order to make sure that those organic contaminants that occur at very low concentration in environmental samples can be detected. For example, the realisation that compounds such as synthetic organic polymer residues, emerging disinfectant by-products, detergent metabolites, chlorinated benzenes, alkyl phenol, polyethoxylates, their metabolites and cyanotoxins are continuously discharged into the environment via wastewater and industrial effluent discharges which increases their concentration in aquatic environment and concomitantly their potential to exert adverse health effects in water used as source for the production of drinking water necessitates that each of these groups be added to the current monitoring programme. The current water quality monographs can be used for the benefit of the Drinking Water industry. It is also recommended that a training manual on the production and use of water quality monographs is produced to facilitate their dissemination. CD-ROMs on the water quality monographs can be produced and distributed with the manual. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / School of Health Systems and Public Health (SHSPH) / PhD / Unrestricted

This thesis analyzes the supply and value added chains beween Germany and the Czech Republic. Further, the effects of foreign direct investment on the respective economies are discussed. The thesis also investigates the impact of FDI on the automotive industry and the companies within. To illustrate the topic, the case study of the acquisition of Škoda by the Volkswagen Group is presented.

Title: The future of Real estate lies in the Internet of Things Date: 2018-05-22 Grade: Bachelor Thesis Authors: Fabian Henningsson &amp; Harley Ljungdahl Supervisor: Navid Ghannad Purpose: Understand how IoT can create value when implemented within real estate companies Frame of reference: In this part we will present our frame of reference. Our key concepts when gathering this secondary data was IoT, Value creation. These key concepts formed how our model for Value Creation in IoT for real estate companies would look like. Method: In this chapter we have described the method we used to collect our primary data. We have also presented a discussion about why we have chosen the methods we have used and what relevance they have for our survey. Finally, we present the reliability and validity of our sources and research. Empiric: We have interviewed three companies active on the Swedish real estate market. How they use and how they look at the use of IoT technology in an enterprise perspective. Analysis: We have made both a within and cross case analysis on the empirical findings and this has resulted in our model explaining the primary value drivers of IoT in real estate companies. Conclusion: With the help of our primary value drivers in our model and innovation, it´s suggested that the real estate companies can create value with the help of IoT solutions. Keywords: IoT, IoT and real estate, Smart cities, value creation, IT and value creation, IoT value creation and value chain model. Examiner: Thomas Helgesson