Study of the critical factors for TQM implementation throughout the years, and longitudinal analysis of secondary quality winners of prestigious awards such as the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA), is important. The longitudinal analysis in this research will enable verification that there are generic critical factors (CFs) for TQM implementation and generic critical areas of measurement (CAM) that if implemented fully and successfully will deliver excellence. Also, it will enable verification that these generic CFs help to ensure sustainable performance and this could help in answering how excellent organisations sustain their performance constantly. By studying what excellent organisations measure and what they place emphasis on throughout the year, the study will document measurements that have been used to sustain excellence and will consider empirically how these have led to tangible results over a period of twenty years; the study will examine MBNQA winners from 1988 until 2008. Finally, an excellence maturity assessment tool 'assessment software' was developed as result of examining winning case studies over a long period of time, lists of critical factors of implementation (CFI) and critical areas of measurement (CAM) were extracted and used accompanied by the EFQM Excellence Model, and Zairi's two model 'Index of Excellence' and 'Ladder of Excellence'. This formed the basis of the assessment tool developed; companies through this will be able to understand their level of excellence implementation and their position compared to world class organisations.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:26:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Luciana Garcia Sobral.pdf: 3252050 bytes, checksum: 47c963ace331b8a086f4c776c4cc2daa (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-08-06 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The capabilities development, as a combination of resources and competencies, have been studied to understand the competitiveness of companies. Accordingly, this study sought to verify the influence of capabilities in the relation between strategy and operational performance of the Brazilian automotive industries. The theory presented is based in authors of Supply Chain Management, operations strategy and dynamic capabilities such as Teece and Pisano (2003), Christopher (2003), Barney (1991), Ferdows e DeMeyer (1990) e Morash (2001). This research was performed in two phases: The first phase, consisted of a qualitative exploratory study, which main s objective was to deepen the understanding of the Brazilian automotive chain, as well as to identify the competitive priorities as an element of fit between second tier suppliers, first tier suppliers and OEMs, in the dyadic context. Data was collected using in-depth interviews with five companies that were in the automotive sector. Data was analyzed using content analysis, and it was verified that there were three common competitive priorities among those companies: cost, reliability and flexibility. These competitive priorities were then translated into strategies, capabilities and performance, concentrating the focus on the automotive suppliers. The second phase of this research consisted of verifying the influence of capabilities in the relation between strategy and performance. This phase consisted of a quantitative exploratory research, that included a sample of 48 automotive suppliers, whose respondents were managers of the operations, supply chain and procurement areas. The data was treated using multivariate statistics, and revealed that capabilities in general have a mediation effect in the relation between strategy and performance. It was concluded that Braziian s automotive suppliers have their biggest focus in capabilities related to processes (combination of resources and competencies) to influence performance. / O desenvolvimento de capabilidades como uma combinação da utilização dos recursos e competências, tem sido objeto de estudos para compreender a competitividade das empresas. Nesse sentido, este estudo, buscou verificar a influência das capabilidades operacionais na relação entre estratégia e desempenho operacional das empresas da indústria automotiva. Fundamentada, do ponto de vista teórico, em autores da gestão da cadeia de suprimentos, operações, estratégias e capabilidades dinâmicas, como Teece e Pisano (2003), Christopher (2003), Barney (1991), Ferdows e DeMeyer (1990) e Morash (2001), realizou-se um trabalho de pesquisa composto de duas etapas principais. A primeira, de natureza exploratória do tipo qualitativo, teve como objetivo aprofundar o entendimento da cadeia automotiva, bem como identificar as prioridades competitivas como elemento de alinhamento (ou direcionador) entre fornecedores, empresa foco e clientes, em contexto de cadeia de suprimentos diádicos. Foram coletados dados, por meio de entrevistas em profundidade junto a cinco empresas representativas da cadeia automotiva. Estes foram tratados pela técnica de análise de conteúdo, revelando três prioridades competitivas comuns: custo, confiabilidade e flexibilidade. As prioridades identificadas foram desdobradas em estratégias, capabilidades e desempenho, concentradas nas empresas foco (no caso, empresas de autopeças). Assim, seguiu-se para a segunda etapa com o objetivo de verificar, na empresa foco, a influência da capabilidade na relação entre estratégia e desempenho. A pesquisa de natureza exploratória do tipo quantitativo utilizou-se de uma amostra de 48 empresas de autopeças automotivas, coletada junto aos gestores de operações, cadeia de suprimentos e logística. Os dados coletados, tratados pela estatística multivariada, revelaram que a capabilidade tem um papel mediador na relação entre estratégia e desempenho. Deste resultado pode-se concluir que as empresas de autopeças focam em capabilidades relacionadas a processos (combinação de recursos e competências) para influenciar o seu desempenho.

Study of the critical factors for TQM implementation throughout the years, and longitudinal analysis of secondary quality winners of prestigious awards such as the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA), is important. The longitudinal analysis in this research will enable verification that there are generic critical factors (CFs) for TQM implementation and generic critical areas of measurement (CAM) that if implemented fully and successfully will deliver excellence. Also, it will enable verification that these generic CFs help to ensure sustainable performance and this could help in answering how excellent organisations sustain their performance constantly. By studying what excellent organisations measure and what they place emphasis on throughout the year, the study will document measurements that have been used to sustain excellence and will consider empirically how these have led to tangible results over a period of twenty years; the study will examine MBNQA winners from 1988 until 2008. Finally, an excellence maturity assessment tool ¿assessment software¿ was developed as result of examining winning case studies over a long period of time, lists of critical factors of implementation (CFI) and critical areas of measurement (CAM) were extracted and used accompanied by the EFQM Excellence Model, and Zairi¿s two model ¿Index of Excellence¿ and ¿Ladder of Excellence¿. This formed the basis of the assessment tool developed; companies through this will be able to understand their level of excellence implementation and their position compared to world class organisations. / Government of Saudi Arabia represented by the Ministry of Higher Education

紐伯瑞獎為創設於1922年的美國兒童文學獎，每年頒發給最傑出的美國兒童圖書的文字作者。創設至今，培育出無數傑出作家及優秀作品。不唯為全美兒童文學獎項的權威，也是全世界相關領域的師法對象。本研究採取書目計量法，探索1922年到2015年美國紐伯瑞獎作者背景、作品體裁與題材分佈，並透過台灣NBINet及中國CALIS蒐集中譯本書目，以瞭解作品中譯本出版狀況。研究結果歸納如下，一、作者背景：(1)作者有279名，美國與紐約州出生者最多，女性是男性的2倍，平均壽命78.3歲；(2)集中在30到59歲首度獲獎；(3) 1次得獎者最多，Meindert DeJong及Laura Ingalls Wilder創下最高得獎次數5次。二、作品體裁與題材：(1)體裁最多的是小說、傳記、短篇；(2)題材最多的是歷史、現實、冒險。三、作品中譯本：(1)54%的作品有中譯本，最早的中譯本是1925年上海商務印書館《人類的故事》，由沈性仁譯自《The Story of Mankind》；(2)最多中譯出版社及譯者翻譯出版的是《The Story of Mankind》，中譯書名種類最多的是《The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle》；(3)作品的中譯出版社、中譯譯者、中譯書名三種數量高度相關；(4)中譯本與英文本平均出版時間間隔，繁體是17.95年、簡體是27.83年；(5)繁體中譯出版社有72家，主要出版社是智茂、東方。簡體中譯出版社有108家，主要出版社是新蕾、中國少年兒童、河北教育；(6)譯者有438組，主要譯者是趙永芬、鄒嘉容、趙映雪；(7)中譯出版社最青睞小說體裁，不青睞知識文藝及傳說體裁；(8)中譯出版社最青睞動物及現實題材，較不青睞神祇題材。 / The Newbery Award was named for eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. Based on bibliometrics, this study explores the genres, subjects and author’s backgrounds of Newbery winners and honor books from 1922 to 2015. The study also collects bibliographic records retrieved mainly from NBINet and CALIS databases for the purpose of investigating overall publishing status of their Chinese translations. The results are summarized as follows. First,with regards to the authors’ backgrounds, it is observed that: (1)Among the 279 authors, those born in USA comprise the largest number. New York is the most common birthplace for these USA born authors. Moreover, female authors account for twice the number of male authors. Furthermore, the average life expectancy for the authors is 78.3 years; (2)The majority of these authors received the award between 30 and 59 years of age; (3)Most of the authors were awarded only once. Meindert DeJong and Laura Ingalls Wilder, having been awarded 5 times, hold the record for the most Newberys won. Second, with regards to the distribution of the genres and themes of these works, it is observed that: (1)In terms of genre, the majority of the works fall under fiction and nonfiction novels, biography and short story; (2)The subject of these works mostly center around history, realism and adventure. Third, regarding the publishing status of these works’ Chinese translations, it is observed that: (1)Chinese translations are available for 54 percent of the works. The first Chinese translation was “Ren Lei De Gu Shi” published by Shanghai Commercial Press in 1925, which was translated from "The Story of Mankind" by Shen Xing-Ren; (2)The works with the largest number of Chinese publishing houses, Chinese translators and Chinese titles are "The Story of Mankind", “The Story of Mankind" and "The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle" respectively; (3)The numbers of Chinese publishing houses, translators and Chinese titles of a book are highly correlated; (4)In terms of the average time interval between the publication of English original works and Chinese translations, it took an average of 17.95 years for a Traditional Chinese translation to be published, while a Simplified Chinese translation usually took 27.83 years; (5)The number of Traditional Chinese publishers is 72, with the major publishers being Wisdom World Publishing and Eastern Publishing Co.. The number of Simplified Chinese publishers is 108; major publishers include New Buds Publishing House, China Children Publishing House and Hebei Education Press; (6)There are 437 group of translators, among which ZhaoYong-Fen, Zou Jia-Rong and Zhao Ying-Xue are the main translators; (7)From the standpoint of genre, Chinese publishing houses prefer to publish translations for fiction and nonfiction novels, while nonfiction depiction of facts and works based on folk legends are less favored; from the perspective of subjects, Chinese publishing houses favor realism and works with animal-related, whereas works based on mythologies receive least attention from publishers.

Text in English / In order to address the paucity of knowledge in regard to the psychological and physiological processes associated with lifelong weight loss (>20 years), this study adopts a qualitative approach informed by phenomenology to explore the experience of lifelong weight loss and maintenance of women who participated in the ITAND Programme. The research questions guiding the exploration of the current research are: (i) Which strategies from the ITAND Programme do women perceive as assisting with initial weight loss? (ii) What are the processes mediating lifelong weight loss? (iii) What strategies and skills mediate the maintenance of lifelong weight loss? (iv) What feelings or beliefs motivate women to continue attempts to lose weight after experiencing multiple failures on diets? and (v) Which psychological, cognitive and behavioural processes are identified as mediating lifelong weight loss? Eight overweight and obese women were invited to write their narratives and engage in interviews in regard to exploring their relationships with food, their bodies and their weight, after a period of more than 20 years following their participation in an integrative, transactional analysis, anti-diet programme (the ITAND Programme). Narratives were used to explore their beliefs about constructs, processes and strategies mediating long-term weight loss maintenance. The participants’ narratives and interviews were analysed through applying narrative analysis and interpretive phenomenological analysis. In addition to a non-diet paradigm, four processes definingweight loss maintenance were identified, including the adult learning process of transformative learning, the psychological process of transactional analysis, the physiological process of intuitive eating and the cognitive-behavioural processes relating to weight loss maintenance. This study contributes an integrative, transactional analysis, non-diet treatment model (ITAND model) which is enabled by the processes of transformative learning, intuitive eating and cognitive-behaviour modification to the successful long- term treatment of overweight and obesity. This model may be applied in whole or in part in a primary health care or community context. The findings of this study may be used to inform future research into the development and implementation of non-diet weight loss maintenance interventions in the treatment of overweight andobesity. / Psychology / D.Litt. et Phil. (Psychology)

Application of supply chain management is still relatively recent practice, but it's importance is growing over time. Today, in the era of customer centricity, in order to become competitive firms shouldn't avoid collaboration with it's supply chain partners. Purpose of my thesis was to find out how supply chain management can contribute to building relationship with customers, who are the basis of any existing company. First part summarizes knowledge about supply chain, compeptitive strategies, customers, types of supply chains and customer relationship management. Particular part is dedicated to customer service and how supply chain management can contribute to it's improving. It describes also what meaning has customer service for future competitiveness. In second part, I presented the case of Zappos.com. E-retailer, which aligning entire functional strategies and whole supply chain to common strategic purpose managed to build excellent relationship with it's customers.

Football violence was a rare phenomenon in France until the nineteen eighties. Harsh economic times coupled with the challenges of unemployment brought a different type of fanatic to football stadia. To vent their frustration about the economic difficulties of their time, some fans found an easy scapegoat: the increasing number of African immigrants in France. These fans, known as hooligans, have become organized and can be found supporting most major French football clubs, disrupting what once was a relatively tranquil national pastime. This thesis traces their development in France, looks at what they borrowed from Italian and English fan groups, and suggests how their organization is now uniquely French.