Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Development of new risk management approaches'

La maîtrise des risques est un enjeu majeur pour les entreprises. Loin d’être l’apanage des seules catastrophes naturelles, les perturbations des chaînes logistiques actuelles peuvent parfois être causées par des événements mineurs amplifiés par les failles d’organisations industrielles de plus en plus complexes. Nombreux sont les exemples de ces perturbations avec des conséquences économiques graves.La gestion des risques dans les chaines logistiques est un thème récent et les méthodes et outils actuels ne répondent pas encore totalement aux préoccupations des gestionnaires de ces chaînes logistiques. Une grande aide peut être apportée par la simulation des événements affectant les chaînes. Cependant malgré son efficacité pour couvrir la complexité de la chaîne, la simulation reste encore difficile à mettre en œuvre, notamment dans les phases de création et d’exploitation des modèles.Le but de cette thèse est de faciliter l’utilisation de la simulation pour l’analyse des risques dans les chaines logistiques. Ainsi, nous avons développé un référentiel de modélisation pour la simulation qui permet d’assurer une construction facile des modèles de la structure, du comportement et des risques inhérents aux chaines logistiques. Ce référentiel est bati sur un ensemble de metamodèles et de bibliothèques adaptés à la définition de chaînes logistiques et définis sur la base du référentiel SCOR. Ajouté à cela, nous avons proposé un guide de traduction permettant le passage d’un modèle conceptuel de chaîne logistique vers un modèle de simulation permettant de tester les scénarios de risque. Une bibliothèque de modules de simulation a été proposée pour accompagner ce passage. Une étude de cas a été menée pour tester et valider partiellement l’approche proposée
Controlling risks is an important issue for companies. Far from being only the prerogative of natural disasters, the disruptions of today's supply chains can sometimes be caused by minor events amplified by the flaws of increasingly complex industrial organizations, causing severe economic losses.Risk management in supply chains is a recent theme and the proposed solutions are not yet able to meet the needs of practitioners. One of the solutions to analyse risks is using simulation. But, despite its effectiveness to cover the complexity of the chain, it still presents a major weakness which is the difficulty of implementation.The aim of this thesis is to facilitate and to adapt the simulation for risk analysis of supply chains. Thus, we have developed a modeling framework for simulation which enables an easy construction of models of supply chain structure, behavior and if the associated risks. This is done through the proposition of a set of meta-models and libraries, defined on the basis of the SCOR reference model. In addition, we proposed a translation guide for the translation of the conceptual model of supply chains into a simulation model and enabling testing risk scenario. Additionaly, we developed a library of simulation modules.A case study was conducted and the results show the relevance of the proposed approach

Dissertation submitted to Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia of Universidade Nova de Lisboa for the achievement of Integrated Master´s degree in Industrial Management Engineering
Winners in today´s global changing environment, are those who continuously pursuit innovations in order to guarantee their sustainability. If in the presence of a certain environment many enterprises makes enormous mistakes, in an uncertain environment as the development of innovations, these mistakes will be multiplied. Moreover, since little effort has been made in developing empirical models, metrics and tools to manage risks in product development, this work aspires to satisfy the necessity of high-tech enterprises with a useful and pragmatic approach to manage the risks of their new product development (NPD) process. Besides it provides for enterprise´s innovation life cycle, a NPD risk management methodology with efficient techniques to manage risks in advance and during the development of new products, it will provide a new conceptualization of enterprises’ innovation and NPD process, for supporting future research in the innovation field. This master thesis will explore the innovation field, revealing that radical and incremental innovations are complementary during the innovation life cycle and accomplished through distinct process of developing new products. Through this new perspective, this work succeed in providing a NPD risk management model for both type of innovations aiming a universal best practice to identify, analyze, and manage risks in the NPD process.

Abstract. The world is moving at a very dynamic pace, and the unpredictability in the market environment is increasing rapidly. Hence the development of new products has become a challenge and has led to the failure of products in the market. To help overcome product failures, effective RM can play a vital role in the NPD process to reduce or manage risks proactively in the NPD process. Considering this aspect, studies also reveal that risks identified and managed at an ESNPD can help manage future risks efficiently down the NPD process. Furthermore, recent research concludes successful firms invest twice the money and time in the front-end activities before the development than unsuccessful firms. Hence this study seeks to investigate the current RM practices in PD industries and aims to provide necessary improvement proposals in this domain of research. Risk and RM were defined based on various external frameworks like the ISO 31000, PMI & PRINCE2 to provide the basis of RM in this study. Furthermore, RM frameworks relevant to NPD were also reviewed in the literature review. To support the RM frameworks, extensive research was conducted in investigating two more research domain areas that are: (1) Potential risks identified at an ESNPD and (2) Standard RI techniques available for better risk identification at an ESNPD. Furthermore, a current state analysis was conducted in 5 PD case companies with 4 being SME’s and one large scale enterprise to identify loopholes in the RM practices in the industry. In addition to this, venture capital investors were also interviewed to get a broader perspective on this study. The empirical results indicated that none of the companies utilises RM process frameworks and RI techniques in a structured manner to support their management of risks. The thesis concludes by discussing how to better RM in PD companies by proposing an integrated RM process framework model. The process framework was designed by considering the loopholes found from the empirical research that best fits the characteristic of the PD companies. This research study provides valuable basic information on the RM process frameworks at an ESNPD and RI techniques that support the RM frameworks, which can also help in terms of extensive research for the future in this area of study.

The investigation and modelling of aviation accident causation is dominated by linear models. Aviation is, however, a complex system and as such suffers from being artificially manipulated into non-complex models and methods. This thesis addresses this issue by developing a new approach to investigating aviation accident causation through information networks. These networks centralise communication and the flow of information as key indicators of a system‟s health and risk. The holistic approach focuses on the system itself rather than any individual event. The activity and communication of constituent elements, both human and non-human agents, within that system is identified and highlights areas of system failure. The model offers many potential developments and some key areas are studied in this research. Through the centralisation of barriers and information nodes the method can be applied to almost any situation. The application of Bayesian mathematics to historical data populations provides scope for studying error migration and barrier manipulation. The thesis also provides application of these predictions to a flight simulator study in an attempt of validation. Beyond this the thesis also discusses the applicability of the approach to industry. Through working with a legacy airline the methods discussed are used as the basis for a new and forward-thinking safety management system. This holistic approach focuses on the system environment, the activity that takes place within it, the strategies used to conduct this activity, the way in which the constituent parts of the system (both human and non-human) interact and the behaviour required. Each stage of this thesis identifies and expands upon the potential of the information network approach maintaining firm focus on the overall health of a system. It is contended that through the further development and application of this approach, understanding of aviation risk can be improved.

The purpose of this thesis is to provide taxonomy of risk management (RM) in new product development (NPD) research and, based on that, to develop a research agenda for this field of study. The review was based on a systematic review which not only concentrates peer reviewed journal papers but also conferences and a book chapter. A total of 58 academic sources have been retrieved published within the period of 1980-2012 and were classified into various purposeful themes. The review reveals that research on RM in NPD is mostly theoretical in nature and lacks empirical foundations. It also argues that while there has been written a lot on how risk should be managed in NPD process (prescriptive type), the other aspect of how risk is being managed (descriptive type) is not very well addressed. Based on this, various research gaps are identified from different developed themes. The review is limited in several ways. First, research cannot be regarded as complete or comprehensive literature review in the field of RM in NPD, although every effort has been made to include the articles relevant to review question. The themes selected for classification of articles could have been structured in many different ways. The research accomplishes an identified need for exhaustive classification of literature. It identifies discrepancies among theoretical and empirical knowledge and thus tries to bridge a gap between both types of knowledge.

Enterprise is often described as risk for reward, but it may be possible to reduce the risk while improving returns. According to SEDA, failure rates of SMMEs in South Africa range from 70 to 80 percent. The need for this study arose when it was found that most SMMEs did not have a formal system in place to mitigate their risks right from the outset in the feasibility study, the business plan design and the start–up of the business. This lack of mitigation controls could be a result of a lack of understanding of the enterprise risk management (ERM) methodology or an inappropriate ERM decision–making model to assist them in a way that would mitigate their risk and minimise financial losses. The ERM approach can anticipate unplanned occurrences and is a systematic way of foreseeing the future. Entrepreneurs and business owners take on risks to pursue new business objectives within their respective risk appetites. This study also evaluated several models of risk identification and the ERM methodology. In this study an ERM model, ISO 31000, was applied in a business case and a comparison was made between the risks identified in the business plan and the ERM approach.
Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2004.
"June 2004."
Includes bibliographical references.
This thesis consists of five related essays which explore new approaches to help design successful and profitable new products. The primary focus is the front end of the process where the product development team is seeking improved input from customers and improved ideas for developing products based on that input. Essay 1 examines whether carefully tailored ideation incentives can improve creative output. The influence of incentives on idea generation is studied using a formal model of the ideation process. A practical, web-based, asynchronous "ideation game" is developed, allowing the implementation and test of various incentive schemes. Using this system, an experiment is run, which demonstrates that incentives do have the capability to improve idea generation, confirms the prediction from the theoretical analysis, and provides additional insight on the mechanisms of ideation. Essay 2 proposes and tests new adaptive question design and estimation algorithms for partial-profile conjoint analysis. The methods are based on the identification and characterization of the set of parameters consistent with a respondent's answers . This feasible set is a polyhedron defined by equality constraints, each paired-comparison question yielding a new constraint. Polyhedral question design attempts to reduce the feasible set of parameters as rapidly as possible. Analytic Center estimation relies on the center of the feasible set. The proposed methods are evaluated relative to established benchmarks using simulations, as well as a field test with 330 respondents. Essay 3 introduces polyhedral methods choice-based conjoint analysis, and generalizes the concept of D-efficiency to individual adaptation. The performance of the methods is evaluated
(cont.) using simulations, and an empirical application to the design of executive education programs is described. Essay 4 generalizes the existing polyhedral methods for adaptive choice-based conjoint analysis by taking response error into account in the adaptive design and estimation of choice-based polyhedral questionnaires. The validity of the proposed approach is tested using simulations. Essay 5 studies the impact of Utility Balance on efficiency and bias. A new definition of efficiency (M-efficiency) is also introduced, which recognizes the necessity to match preference questions with the quantities used in the ultimate managerial decisions.
by Olivier Toubia.
Ph.D.

Biodiversity loss is an important issue for New Zealand: for the domestic environment, economy and society, but also for New Zealand as a member of the international community. Biodiversity offset banking is making an important contribution to addressing such issues in a number of countries around the world. Developing the ability to participate and take advantage of possible benefits requires comprehensively understanding both the fundamental principles and varying concepts, and supports the analysis necessary for New Zealand to progress towards offset banking. New Zealand can learn much from observing and investigating overseas models and use them as valuable templates. California and New South Wales provide examples of potential policies and frameworks (both economic and social) to establish and operate successful offset banking systems. Discussions of offset banking, both in theory and practice, frequently concern the potential failings of the system. These issues can be conceptualised as various forms of risk. Considering offset banking as sustainable development, this thesis addresses such risks to reflect the tripartite biological, financial and social framework of sustainable development. Biologically, risk is in the potential biodiversity outcomes are inadequate, unexpected or undesirable. Scientific uncertainty underlies this, both inherently and from the limits of current scientific disciplines. Through expanding scientific knowledge and experience, measures for reducing or accommodating the risk of uncertainty are emerging. Financial risk represents concerns that individual banks may lack the monetary support to achieve the specific biodiversity conservation required for the site. Also the system of interacting banks, bankers and traders may fail to produce financial outcomes that support effective and efficient biodiversity conservation over the breath of the scheme. Social risk lies in the potential that societies’ individuals conduct themselves in ways that conflict with achieving biodiversity conservation through malfeasance or negligence. Additionally, there is social risk that an offset banking system fails to respond appropriately to broader society and human, such as equity and intergenerational justice. Here, deliberating these risks is primary to appreciating how design elements and emergent properties minimize risks. Given comprehensive understanding, components of a system can be designed and allow informed policy, regulations and rules to offer successful risk mitigation. For this reason policy, rules and regulations observed within California and New South Wales helps to discuss this and establish guidance for New Zealand offset banking design to draw upon. Californian systems are achieving promising conservation and continued growth; New South Wales’ Biobanking scheme is robustly designed and in its early stages. Each contrasts in design and carries varying criticisms. California has been observed as potentially shortcoming biologically, whereas New South Wales Biobanking has been questioned based on the strength and character of its economic underpinnings. In addition to these considerations, New Zealand has significant societal perspectives to incorporate given current popular, socio-democratic conservation modus operandi. Identifying the three forms of risk present highlights the importance of allocating appropriate consideration and expertise to the biological, economic and social components of offset banking. Successful sustainable development, biodiversity conservation and risk mitigation may be achieved through designing mechanisms, regulations and governing policy for offset banking. New Zealand may therefore expand the success and application of current offsetting by taking guidance from examples and analysis presented here.

Traditional grey infrastructure in New Orleans, Louisiana has become increasingly less efficient and adaptable to changing flood risks in the face of climate change and increasing development of flood-prone areas. City planners and decision-makers are beginning to use integrated flood risk management as a tool to increase community flood resiliency, however inequalities between communities’ representation still exist. The extent and methods of community participation within the decision-making of flood risk management requires more research. Thus, this study aims to examine methods of community participation within three city plans and to investigate if they are procedurally just for socially vulnerable populations. Based on existing research regarding city planning, this study will attempt to answer the following question: how are socially vulnerable populations being incorporated into the flood risk management decision-making of New Orleans’ city plans? Social vulnerability, in this context, is defined as the attributes of individuals or communities that create challenges in preparation for, protection from, and restoration from flood events.  In-depth content analyses of three New Orleans city plans involving flood risk mitigation were accomplished using coding an grouping related to the study’s research aim. This method was combined with conducting semi-structured interviews of key individuals involved in the analyzed city plans. This study shows the implications of incorporating socially vulnerable populations into community participation within flood risk planning in New Orleans. While it seems that there is an increased use and awareness of community participation methods within flood risk management planning in New Orleans, procedurally just methods and socially vulnerable populations’ engagement are lacking and left unassessed. Further research is needed to establish greater legitimacy of the importance for city government to prevent further marginalization of communities that are unequally engaging with flood risk planning.

At first glance, innovation and risk management seem like two opposing disciplines with diverse objectives. The former seeks to be flexible and encourages enhanced solutions and new ideas, while the latter can be seen as stifling such innovative thinking. Since there is a failure rate of as many as eight out of every ten products launched, it is perhaps necessary for organisations to consider applying more structured approaches to innovation, in order to better manage risks and to increase the chances of delivering improved goods and services. A risk management approach is well suited to address the challenge of failure, as it focuses not only on the negative impact of risks but also on the opportunities they present. It aligns these with the strategic objectives of the organisation to increase the chances of its success. The research objective of this study was to establish how to embed risk management within the innovation divisions of an organisation to ensure that more efficient products and services are delivered to customers. To achieve this end, action research was conducted in a large organisation operating in a high-technology environment that launches many diverse products and services and rapidly expanding service offerings to other industries. The study took four years to complete and delivered multiple interventions that successfully embedded risk management within the organisation, leading to changed behaviours and double-loop learning. Two main knowledge contributions are offered by the study. Firstly, a generic and empirically validated integrated Innovation and Risk Management Framework (IRMF) is developed and guides new product and service development by considering both best practices and risks. Secondly, a risk dashboard is designed as a design science artefact within the action research cycles, which consolidates all the knowledge that was generated during the study. This is ultimately a visual interface to support stage-gate decision making. Since the context of the study was broad, extensive and complicated, the use of mixed-method research complemented and expanded on the findings by providing another layer of support and validation. This thesis highlights the complexity of innovation and presents the need for an organising framework that will encourage innovation but is sufficiently flexible to cater for diverse needs and risks. The study delivers several other, valuable contributions regarding what, how and why incidents occur within the real-world context of new product and service development. Several generic artefacts, such as risk processes and maturity frameworks, are also developed, which can guide risk and new product and service development practitioners to deliver more efficient product and services. This study offers several novel approaches to evaluating risks and provides practical support and recommendations, addressing shortcomings of fragmented research in similar, but smaller-scale studies that have been conducted in information systems. It is the premise of this research that a much wider number of risks need to be managed as new products and services are developed, than was noted in previous studies. Effective risk management in new product and service development could lead to competitive advantage for organisations by increasing knowledge and facilitating sustainable, informed risk decision-making.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 1999.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 56-58).
by Thor Sewell.
S.M.

Diffuse Phosphor (P)-Austräge aus der Landwirtschaft tragen zur Gewässereutrophierung bei. Der Phosphorsättigungsgrad (DPS) ist ein etablierter Parameter, um das P-Austragsrisiko aus Böden zu erfassen. Ein bodentypunabhängiger Ansatz, der die Abschätzung des DPS durch eine einfache Standardmethode wasserlöslichen P (WSP) ermöglicht (WSP-DPS-Ansatz), wurde an europäischen Böden entwickelt. In der Dissertation wurde dieser Ansatz erstmalig: i) an tropischen Böden getestet und ii) dazu verwendet P-Austragsrisiken von Boden-P-Monitoringdaten und von landwirtschaftlichen Institutionen empfohlenen P-Gehalten abzuleiten. Neben dem DPS wurde der Einfluss der in Brasilien gängigen anorganischen Oberflächendüngung auf das Austragsrisiko mittels Laboranalysen und Feldstudien erfasst. Die Bodentypunabhängigkeit des WSP-DPS-Ansatzes wurde für Böden Brasiliens bestätigt. Infrarotspektroskopische Analysen lieferten eine Erklärung für relativ niedrige gelöste P-Konzentrationen im Oberflächenabfluss von Oxisols. Pedotransferfunktionen zwischen WSP und Methoden, die in Brasilien und Deutschland zur Abschätzung pflanzenverfügbaren P verwendet werden, ermöglichten die Berechnung von DPS-Werten aus Monitoringdaten. Erste DPS-Karten zeigten relative geringe Austragsrisiken für das Untersuchungsgebiet in Brasilien und hohe Risiken für Deutschland, die teilweise durch unterschiedliche empfohlene Boden-P-Gehalte erklärbar waren. Um mit einer einfachen und kosteneffizienten Methode sowohl die landwirtschaftliche Produktion als auch den Gewässerschutz zu berücksichtigen, wurden die Wasser- und CaCl2-Methode zur Abschätzung von pflanzenverfügbarem P mit dem WSP-DPS-Ansatz kombiniert. Dieser Ansatz könnte helfen die Herausforderungen zu lösen mit denen die Menschheit in den nächsten Jahrzehnten bezüglich P in der Landwirtschaft konfrontiert sein wird: Einer effizienten Nutzung der limitierten Ressource P und dem Schutz der Gewässer vor diffusen P-Einträgen.
Diffuse phosphorus (P) losses from agriculture contribute to the eutrophication of surface waters. The degree of P saturation (DPS) is an established parameter for assessing the risk of P loss from agricultural soils. A soil type-independent approach for estimating the DPS by a simple standard method of water-soluble phosphorus (WSP; the WSP-DPS approach) was developed on European soils. In the thesis, the WSP-DPS approach was for the first time: i) tested on tropical soils and ii) used to derive P loss risks from soil P monitoring data and from recommended soil P levels by agricultural institutions. In addition to DPS, laboratory analyses and field studies were combined to assess the risk of P loss associated with the superficial application of inorganic fertilizer, which is commonly used in Brazil. The soil type-independency of the WSP-DPS approach was confirmed for soils of Brazil. Infrared spectroscopic analyses provided an explanation for the relatively low dissolved P concentrations in the surface runoff of Oxisols. Pedotransfer functions were determined between WSP and methods used to estimate plant-available P in Brazil and Germany and allowed for the transformation of soil P monitoring data into DPS values. The first DPS maps revealed relatively low P loss risks for the investigation area in Brazil and high risks for Germany. This difference was partly explainable by the recommended soil P levels in the two countries. To consider both agricultural production and the protection of surface waters in soil P management with a simple and cost-effective method, the soil test methods of using water and CaCl2 to estimate plant-available P and the WSP-DPS approach were combined. This approach could help to solve the challenges humanity faces regarding P in agriculture in the coming decades: An efficient use of the limited resource P and the protection of surface waters from diffuse P losses.

This dissertation reports the results of case studies on innovation and new product development in eight Scottish food companies and a subsequent triangulation survey of 85 innovative Scottish companies. The case studies are carried out using qualitative research methods and a realistic inductive research strategy. It is found that the case study companies use an informal and cross-functional innovation process, which is independent of the age of enterprise. It is also discovered that these companies develop new products, often luxuriant variants of their existing products, which are mainly indulgences rather than healthy foods and are sold mostly to large retailers. Use of production methods that are amenable to quick changes in final products and networking with customers, suppliers, other food companies and Scottish Enterprise is also observed. Creative people with high innovative proclivity, who often travel to new locations in search of product ideas, drive the process. The case study companies are high-variety-low-volume businesses, possess good understanding of customer needs and circumstances and are able to achieve a good fit between needs of the market and their own resources. Not facing financial constraints, these companies are able to attract and retain talent, needed to develop new products. Continuously learning from their NPD endeavours, they sell their products without any major advertising or marketing effort. The subsequent triangulation survey of 85 innovative Scottish companies, from food as well as non-food sectors, confirms most of the above-mentioned findings. Contrary to the case study results however, the survey discovers that innovative Scottish companies face financial constraints while developing new products, do not sell most of their new products to large retailers or undertake travel to new locations in search of product ideas. The main contributions to knowledge by this research include crystallisation of the new product development practices in Scotland, highlighting difference in product innovation between various sub-groups of enterprises, a new conceptual construct within which all notions and definitions of innovation can be accommodated and identification of a basic flaw in the present innovation policy in Scotland.

Research and Development engineering is at the corner stone of humanity’s evolution. It is perceived to be a systematic creative process which ultimately improves the living standard of a society through the creation of new applications and products. The commercial paradigm that governs project selection, resource allocation and market penetration prevails when the focus shifts from pure research to applied research. Furthermore, the road to success through commercialisation is difficult for most inventors, especially in a vast and isolated country such as Australia which is located a long way from wealthy and developed economies. While market leading products are considered unique, the actual process to achieve these products is essentially the same; progressing from an idea, through development to an outcome (if successful). Unfortunately, statistics indicate that only 3% of ‘ideas’ are significantly successful, 4% are moderately successful, and the remainder ‘evaporate’ in that form (Michael Quinn, Chairman, Innovation Capital Associates Pty Ltd). This study demonstrates and analyses two techniques developed by the author which reduce uncertainty in the engineering design and development phase of new product development and therefore increase the probability of a successful outcome. This study expands the existing knowledge of the engineering design and development stage in the new product development process and is couched in the identification of practical methods, which have been successfully used to develop new products by Australian Small Medium Enterprise (SME) Excel Technology Group Pty Ltd (ETG). Process theory is the term most commonly used to describe scientific study that identifies occurrences that result from a specified input state to an output state, thus detailing the process used to achieve an outcome. The thesis identifies relevant material and analyses recognised and established engineering processes utilised in developing new products. The literature identified that case studies are a particularly useful method for supporting problem-solving processes in settings where there are no clear answers or where problems are unstructured, as in New Product Development (NPD). This study describes, defines, and demonstrates the process of new product development within the context of historical product development and a ‘live’ case study associated with an Australian Government START grant awarded to Excel Technology Group in 2004 to assist in the development of an image-based vehicle detection product. This study proposes two techniques which reduce uncertainty and thereby improve the probability of a successful outcome. The first technique provides a predicted project development path or forward engineering plan which transforms the initial ‘fuzzy idea’ into a potential and achievable outcome. This process qualifies the ‘fuzzy idea’ as a potential, rationale or tangible outcome which is within the capability of the organisation. Additionally, this process proposes that a tangible or rationale idea can be deconstructed in reverse engineering process in order to create a forward engineering development plan. A detailed structured forward engineering plan reduces the uncertainty associated with new product development unknowns and therefore contributes to a successful outcome. This is described as the RETRO technique. The study recognises however that this claim requires qualification and proposes a second technique. The second technique proposes that a two dimensional spatial representation which has productivity and consumed resources as its axes, provides an effective means to qualify progress and expediently identify variation from the predicted plan. This spatial representation technique allows a quick response which in itself has a prediction attribute associated with directing the project back onto its predicted path. This process involves a coterminous comparison between the predicted development path and the evolving actual project development path. A consequence of this process is verification of progress or the application of informed, timely and quantified corrective action. This process also identifies the degree of success achieved in the engineering design and development phase of new product development where success is defined as achieving a predicted outcome. This spatial representation technique is referred to as NPD Mapping. The study demonstrates that these are useful techniques which aid SMEs in achieving successful new product outcomes because the technique are easily administered, measure and represent relevant development process related elements and functions, and enable expedient quantified responsive action when the evolving path varies from the predicted path. These techniques go beyond time line representations as represented in GANTT charts and PERT analysis, and represent the base variables of consumed resource and productivity/technical achievement in a manner that facilitates higher level interpretation of time, effort, degree of difficulty, and product complexity in order to facilitate informed decision making. This study presents, describes, analyses and demonstrates an SME focused engineering development technique, developed by the author, that produces a successful new product outcome which begins with a ‘fuzzy idea’ in the mind of the inventor and concludes with a successful new product outcome that is delivered on time and within budget. Further research on a wider range of SME organisations undertaking new product development is recommended.

La gestion de projets complexes nécessite d’orchestrer la coopération de centaines de personnes provenant de diverses entreprises, professions et compétences, de travailler sur des milliers d'activités, livrables, objectifs, actions, décisions et risques. En outre, ces nombreux éléments du projet sont de plus en plus interconnectés, et aucune décision ou action n’est indépendante. Cette complexité croissante est l'un des plus grands défis de la gestion de projet et l'une des causes de l'échec du projet en termes de dépassements de coûts et des retards. Par exemple, dans l'industrie automobile, l'augmentation de l'orientation du marché et de la complexité croissante des véhicules a changé la structure de gestion des projets de développement de nouveaux véhicules à partir d'une structure hiérarchique à une structure en réseau, y compris le constructeur, mais aussi de nombreux fournisseurs. Les dépendances entre les éléments du projet augmentent les risques, car les problèmes dans un élément peuvent se propager à d'autres éléments qui en dépendent directement ou indirectement. La complexité génère un certain nombre de phénomènes, positifs ou négatifs, isolés ou en chaînes, locaux ou globaux, qui vont plus ou moins interférer avec la convergence du projet vers ses objectifs.L'objectif de la thèse est donc de réduire les risques associés à la complexité des projets véhicules en augmentant la compréhension de cette complexité et de la coordination des acteurs du projet. Pour ce faire, une première question de recherche est de prioriser les actions pour atténuer les risques liés à la complexité. Puis, une seconde question de recherche est de proposer un moyen d'organiser et de coordonner les acteurs afin de faire face efficacement avec les phénomènes liés à la complexité identifiés précédemment.La première question sera abordée par la modélisation de complexité du projet en analysant les phénomènes liés à la complexité dans le projet, à deux niveaux. Tout d'abord, une modélisation descriptive de haut niveau basée facteur est proposé. Elle permet de mesurer et de prioriser les zones de projet où la complexité peut avoir le plus d'impact. Deuxièmement, une modélisation de bas niveau basée sur les graphes est proposée. Elle permet de modéliser plus finement les éléments du projet et leurs interdépendances. Des contributions ont été faites sur le processus complet de modélisation, y compris l'automatisation de certaines étapes de collecte de données, afin d'augmenter les performances et la diminution de l'effort et le risque d'erreur. Ces deux modèles peuvent être utilisés en conséquence; une première mesure de haut niveau peut permettre de se concentrer sur certains aspects du projet, où la modélisation de bas niveau sera appliquée, avec un gain global d'efficacité et d'impact. Basé sur ces modèles, certaines contributions sont faites pour anticiper le comportement potentiel du projet. Des analyses topologiques et de propagation sont proposées pour détecter et hiérarchiser les éléments essentiels et les interdépendances critiques, tout en élargissant le sens du mot polysémique "critique".La deuxième question de recherche sera traitée en introduisant une méthodologie de « Clustering » pour proposer des groupes d'acteurs dans les projets de développement de nouveaux produits, en particulier pour les acteurs impliqués dans de nombreuses interdépendances liées aux livrables à différentes phases du cycle de vie du projet. Cela permet d'accroître la coordination entre les acteurs interdépendants qui ne sont pas toujours formellement reliés par la structure hiérarchique de l'organisation du projet. Cela permet à l'organisation du projet d’être effectivement plus proche de la structure en « réseau » qu’elle devrait avoir. L'application industrielle aux projets de développement de nouveaux véhicules a montré des résultats prometteurs pour les contributions aux deux questions de recherche
The management of complex projects requires orchestrating the cooperation of hundreds of individuals from various companies, professions and backgrounds, working on thousands of activities, deliverables, and risks. As well, these numerous project elements are more and more interconnected, and no decision or action is independent. This growing complexity is one of the greatest challenges of project management and one of the causes for project failure in terms of cost overruns and time delays. For instance, in the automotive industry, increasing market orientation and growing complexity of automotive product has changed the management structure of the vehicle development projects from a hierarchical to a networked structure, including the manufacturer but also numerous suppliers. Dependencies between project elements increase risks, since problems in one element may propagate to other directly or indirectly dependent elements. Complexity generates a number of phenomena, positive or negative, isolated or in chains, local or global, that will more or less interfere with the convergence of the project towards its goals. The thesis aim is thus to reduce the risks associated with the complexity of the vehicle development projects by increasing the understanding of this complexity and the coordination of project actors. To do so, a first research question is to prioritize actions to mitigate complexity-related risks. Then, a second research question is to propose a way to organize and coordinate actors in order to cope efficiently with the previously identified complexity-related phenomena.The first question will be addressed by modeling project complexity and by analyzing complexity-related phenomena within the project, at two levels. First, a high-level factor-based descriptive modeling is proposed. It permits to measure and prioritize project areas where complexity may have the most impact. Second, a low-level graph-based modeling is proposed, based on the finer modeling of project elements and interdependencies. Contributions have been made on the complete modeling process, including the automation of some data-gathering steps, in order to increase performance and decrease effort and error risk. These two models can be used consequently; a first high-level measure can permit to focus on some areas of the project, where the low-level modeling will be applied, with a gain of global efficiency and impact. Based on these models, some contributions are made to anticipate potential behavior of the project. Topological and propagation analyses are proposed to detect and prioritize critical elements and critical interdependencies, while enlarging the sense of the polysemous word “critical."The second research question will be addressed by introducing a clustering methodology to propose groups of actors in new product development projects, especially for the actors involved in many deliverable-related interdependencies in different phases of the project life cycle. This permits to increase coordination between interdependent actors who are not always formally connected via the hierarchical structure of the project organization. This allows the project organization to be actually closer to what a networked structure should be. The automotive-based industrial application has shown promising results for the contributions to both research questions. Finally, the proposed methodology is discussed in terms of genericity and seems to be applicable to a wide set of complex projects for decision support

Ce travail de thèse a pour thème le co-développement de nouveau produit avec les fournisseurs.Nous proposons une méthode d’analyse des dysfonctionnements liés à ce type de conceptiondite « collaborative » qui permet d’en améliorer la pratique. Ce travail s’appuie sur des études decas réalisées au sein de l’entreprise Somfy, des interviews menées au sein de 10 entreprises etune étude quantitative menée avec l’Université de Twente. A partir de la littérature et des étudesde cas, nous proposons une liste des dysfonctionnements puis une classification de ces derniersen 5 classes selon le cycle de vie de la collaboration client/fournisseur. Puis, une analysequantitative d’impact des dysfonctionnements sur la performance projet via une enquête estproposée pour généraliser les résultats des études de cas. Le résultat final de cette thèse est unoutil d’analyse de risques en co-développement avec les fournisseurs développé avecl’entreprise Somfy et inspiré de la démarche AMDEC. Cet outil permet, en début de projet de codéveloppement,d’identifier les dysfonctionnements potentiels les plus critiques de façon àmettre en place un plan d’action adapté
This thesis is focused on collaborative development of new products with suppliers. A method toanalyze failures linked to this type of development is proposed and enables to improve thispractice. This work is based on case studies carried out at Somfy Company, on interviews carriedout with 10 companies and on a quantitative study carried out with the University of Twente.From a literature review and our case studies, a list of failures is proposed followed by a failuresclassification in 5 classes following the customer/supplier collaboration lifecycle. Then, aquantitative impact analysis of the failures on the project performance via a survey is proposedto generalize the case studies’ results. The final result of this thesis is a risk analysis tool appliedto collaborative development with suppliers developed with Somfy and inspired by the FMEAapproach. This tool enables, at the beginning of a collaborative development project, to identifythe most critical potential failures in order to set up an adapted action plan

Mestrado em Gestão e Estratégia Industrial
O processo de desenvolvimento de novos produtos é complexo, e exige recursos e competências que, frequentemente as organizações não dispõem. Deste modo, as organizações desenvolvem redes colaborativas, que fomentam essa partilha. No entanto, e tal como em todos os projetos, é necessário alocar recursos, definir a cronologia, o orçamento e também, analisar os riscos a que a organização e o projeto, estão expostos. A análise e gestão de risco, recorre de um modo geral a métodos tradicionais, os quais, e na sua maioria, não é tido em conta a subjetividade inerente a perceção do gestor responsável na análise, bem como a influência do projeto e as suas componentes nos diferentes domínios da organização. Recorrendo à metodologia de estudo de caso, pretende-se desenvolver uma metodologia de risco, que incorpore os aspetos acima descritos, associada ao desenvolvimento de novos produtos em Inovação Aberta, e no contexto de uma Virtual Enterprise. A abordagem desenvolvida, será suportada em métodos de inteligência artificial (Lógica Fuzzy), e a sua robustez será analisada através da sua aplicação a uma rede colaborativa, criada com o propósito de desenvolver um veículo elétrico Plug-in. A partir do modelo desenvolvido, procura-se identificar e avaliar os níveis de risco envolvidos no processo de desenvolvimento de novos produtos, com o intuito de reduzir a incerteza e a ambiguidade inerente à análise de risco, por parte de um gestor bem como, estudar a influência do risco associado a cada componente, sobre o desenvolvimento do produto, e em particular sobre cada domínio da organização.
New product development process is complex and requires resources and skills that Organizations frequently don't have. In this way, Organizations develop collaborative networks, as is the case of a Virtual Enterprise (VE), with the aim to foster this sharing. However, as in all projects, it's necessary to allocate human (and non-human) resources, define the project chronology, the budget and, also analyze the risks that the Organization and the project itself are exposed. Analyses and Risk management generally rely on traditional methods most of which don't take into account, the subjectivity of the manager's perception and, the influence of the project and its components in the different areas or domains of the Organizations. By using the case study methodology, with this dissertation, it's intended to develop a risk methodology, which incorporates the aspects above described, associated on new product development in Open Innovation, in a Virtual Enterprise (VE) context. The methodology developed it will be supported by an Artificial Intelligence model, (Fuzzy Logic), to implement in a collaborative network of 11 Industries and 3 Research and Development centers, in order to create a highly autonomy electric plug-in vehicle. Based on the already developed method, it's attempted to identify and evaluate the risks involved in new product development process in order to reduce the uncertainty and inherent ambiguity in risk analysis by a manager, as well as, to study the influence of risk associated with each component on product development, and in particular on each area of the organization.
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Breakthrough innovations are vital for the global economy and even our survival as a species. They appear as creative leaps and insights without obvious connection to existing knowledge and are extremely valuable to organisations, giving them significant competitive advantage. Historiometric and psychopathological evidence shows that breakthrough innovations are often associated with individuals and affective dysfunction; yet innovation today is widely held to be an organisational phenomenon operationalised though a model of creativity based on positive affective experiences and group activities which may be particularly unsuited to innovative thinkers. Research upon which the current paradigm for creativity and innovation are based is detached from real world outcomes and has been challenged as to its validity. Little data exists outside of experiments or indirect observation of naturally occurring affective experiences and the mood-creativity-innovation link has yet to be proven; we still know very little about how breakthrough innovations occur. This unique study addresses this significant gap in innovation research with a two-year longitudinal case study of a breakthrough innovation being developed for a multi-national Fast-Moving Consumer Goods company. It followed the journey of a lone innovator and attempts to answer the research question: “Can a fear of failure lead to breakthrough innovation?” The innovation space was investigated from three perspectives: technology, organisation and innovator, to build a picture of the highly immersive and emotionally charged experience of innovating. Many new insights were gained, and with extensive support from literature, new tools for the management of technology and the interface between innovators and organisations were developed, along with ground-breaking research into the mood-creativity innovation link. These are delivered through a series of four journal papers. The key finding from this research has been the discovery of the innovation-wave, a phenomenon which for the first time provides evidence for the mood-creativity-innovation link; intimately connecting real-world creative efficacy with emotion and specifically a ‘fear of failure’. From this finding a new theory and psycho-cognitive model for a distinct form of creativity called innovative thinking, driven by negative affect (mood) and specifically suited to achieving a breakthrough innovation through overcoming apparently insoluble problems, was posited and a hypothesis proposed and tested using a sophisticated innovation simulation developed especially for this purpose. Evidence from the case study and later experiment provide support for the research question and the lone innovator. This study makes a unique contribution to our understanding of creativity and innovation which could have a significant impact on how both are researched, taught and managed in the future. Being able to understand and possibly manipulate the innovation-wave, if proven correct, could be vitally important for maximising the potential for creating breakthrough innovations to the benefit of us all.

La maîtrise des risques est un enjeu majeur pour les entreprises. Loin d’être l’apanage des seules catastrophes naturelles, les perturbations des chaînes logistiques actuelles peuvent parfois être causées par des événements mineurs amplifiés par les failles d’organisations industrielles de plus en plus complexes. Nombreux sont les exemples de ces perturbations avec des conséquences économiques graves.La gestion des risques dans les chaines logistiques est un thème récent et les méthodes et outils actuels ne répondent pas encore totalement aux préoccupations des gestionnaires de ces chaînes logistiques. Une grande aide peut être apportée par la simulation des événements affectant les chaînes. Cependant malgré son efficacité pour couvrir la complexité de la chaîne, la simulation reste encore difficile à mettre en œuvre, notamment dans les phases de création et d’exploitation des modèles.Le but de cette thèse est de faciliter l’utilisation de la simulation pour l’analyse des risques dans les chaines logistiques. Ainsi, nous avons développé un référentiel de modélisation pour la simulation qui permet d’assurer une construction facile des modèles de la structure, du comportement et des risques inhérents aux chaines logistiques. Ce référentiel est bati sur un ensemble de metamodèles et de bibliothèques adaptés à la définition de chaînes logistiques et définis sur la base du référentiel SCOR. Ajouté à cela, nous avons proposé un guide de traduction permettant le passage d’un modèle conceptuel de chaîne logistique vers un modèle de simulation permettant de tester les scénarios de risque. Une bibliothèque de modules de simulation a été proposée pour accompagner ce passage. Une étude de cas a été menée pour tester et valider partiellement l’approche proposée
Controlling risks is an important issue for companies. Far from being only the prerogative of natural disasters, the disruptions of today's supply chains can sometimes be caused by minor events amplified by the flaws of increasingly complex industrial organizations, causing severe economic losses.Risk management in supply chains is a recent theme and the proposed solutions are not yet able to meet the needs of practitioners. One of the solutions to analyse risks is using simulation. But, despite its effectiveness to cover the complexity of the chain, it still presents a major weakness which is the difficulty of implementation.The aim of this thesis is to facilitate and to adapt the simulation for risk analysis of supply chains. Thus, we have developed a modeling framework for simulation which enables an easy construction of models of supply chain structure, behavior and if the associated risks. This is done through the proposition of a set of meta-models and libraries, defined on the basis of the SCOR reference model. In addition, we proposed a translation guide for the translation of the conceptual model of supply chains into a simulation model and enabling testing risk scenario. Additionaly, we developed a library of simulation modules.A case study was conducted and the results show the relevance of the proposed approach

碩士
輔仁大學
金融研究所
87
The rapid growth of credit market and the development of the related financial instruments make the market participants have to face the more complicated types of credit risk. The original measurement tools, organizations'' credit culture and risk framework were suffered serious challenges. So, many financial institutions and financial service companies begin their researches oo credit risk measurement approaches. There are three major leaders: J.P.Morgan''s CreditMetrics ；KMV''s EDF and Credit Suisse Financial Product''s Credit Risk＋. All of them are structured in a portfolio base, and for some reasons: (1) concentration risk measurement; (2) Risk-based limit setting; (3) Rational investment decisions and risk-mitigating actions; (4) Risk-based economic and regulatory capital allocation; (5) Responding to market innovation. Financial Institutions have to face the impact that organizations'' credit culture will be changed by the new types of credit risk. Only a credit culture with respondsiveness and clarity can make the organization survive in the fast changing financial environment. Besides, banks have to prepare sufficient capital according to the assets with credit risk to meet BIS'' requirement on capital adequacy so as to cover the unexpected loss. Sample simulation can help us to understand the credit risk measurement and management. A more matured credit market and the construction on related databases are helpful to our development on credit risk measurement approaches.

碩士
國立中興大學
科技管理研究所
95
High technological threshold, long product development time and large invested capital are crucial characteristics in pharmaceutical industry. New drug development has to pass three important phases: preclinical trial, clinical trial and regulatory evaluation. Although new drug development is full of uncertainty and risks, it is an important profit source for a pharmaceutical company. Currently new drug development project is lack of a risk management model to monitor risk proactively. The objective of this research is based on relevant risk management studies to develop a new risk management framework to monitor the risk proactively during drug development. This framework is composed of four parts including (1) Risk identification: This research uses the balanced scorecard (BSC) and quality function deployment (QFD) to identify performance indicators in different drug development projects (2) Risk assessment & analysis: A performance risk model is proposed to assess the quantitative value, and then prioritizes the risks in different levels (3) Risk response planning: After analyzing the quantitative value, the framework applies the results in risk response planning and (4) Risk monitoring and control: Before risk events take place, proactive mechanism must be taken action to explore each cause of risk to avoid serious outcomes. The contributions are as follows. No researches have integrated the balanced scorecard and quality function deployment to identify different risk items for drug development projects. In addition, the proposed performance risk model quantifies risks that allow project managers to proactively monitor risks. This enables to detect potential problems earlier, and to increase the success rate of the drug development project.

碩士
國立臺灣科技大學
資訊管理系
104
Electronic information industry has always been a highly competitive category in the international market. Under the massive promotion by the government towards the high-tech industry, Taiwan began to have close cooperation with the world’s largest information technology companies since the 1980s. Because Taiwan is densely populated and the SMEs are densely concentrated, it’s formed a complete industrial chain, and thus accumulated strengths in manufacturing hardware and won a place in today's IT industry. However, Taiwan's industrial advantages have been affected by industrial relocation and threatened by cheaper manufacturing cost competitiveness. Therefore in order to make the upgrading and transformation of Taiwan's industry successful, we must be more aggressive in the development of new products, new services development and management capabilities. The development of a suitable operating condition for the enterprise itself and optimizing new product development management methods to reduce the potential impact of new product development projects and avoid re-inventing the wheel can make more efficient use of resources. It can optimize whole process, from the development to the timing of market launch for cost and quality control, making the new product development and the launch smoothly. It is the most important task to strengthen an enterprise. Therefore it’s necessary to establish an early judgment of risk control mechanism and method in a systematic way. The method includes proactive risk management and model controlling in the entire new product development process in order to help implement the new product development project successfully. This thesis/research provides a management model which can identify risks that may occur during the development of a new product in advance. Furthermore, it measures risks and planning ways to deal with them instantly and supervises every stage. Within this model the project manager can use the project resources more effectively and execute the project more smoothly.

博士
國立雲林科技大學
資訊管理系博士班
99
The emphasis of this research is to discuss the risk management using mind decision making model when developing the new assistive device for elders. The Delphi Method would be the research approach when interviewing professionals to gain the key risk factors for a new product development. Based upon that, the key risk factor mind map suiting the features of organizations could be established. This step could help staffs to operate procedures smoothly while implementing the projects, applying the relation and importance of all factors, which were analyzed through the Decision Making Trial and the Evaluation Laboratory. By using the Analytic Hierarchy process to classify the key factors into a simple hierarchical structure according to their relevant levels. Through this method, problems would be hierarchical, numerical, and structural. The paired comparison matrix would be hired to know the weight and the priority of key level factors for providing decision-maker information. The comprehensive evaluation could also be made in the end through making information quantitative. This evaluation would establish the key risk factors and management system of developing assistive devices for elders, and help to analysis the general states and advantages of the product to be developed. Considering these factors and evaluation results, the practical strategies and plans could be proposed. By applying the result in this research, elevating the proficiency in risk control of product development industry is expected, which would create the company’s competitiveness.

碩士
元智大學
工業工程與管理學系
98
The development of new products, from market investigation and evaluation, conceptual design of the products, manufacturing to the final sale service, is full of potential risks in the whole life cycle. Such as defective design, resource deficiency, schedule delay or flaws of the products. If instant remedial action is not taken, these problems could attribute to loss or even failure of the development procedure. Thus, building up a defined mechanism of risk management will prevent the errors or failure from the process with minimum of effort and resources expenditure, and distinguish itself in this competitive market. Risk management is a systemic operation management to identify the potential risks, to prevent the problems before they arise and to mitigate the cumulative impacts. This study applies Process Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (PFMEA) to determine the potential risks and the effects, Using it to development of the new products of TFT-LCD PANEL, and establish a mechanism of scenario-based risk management applicable for manufacturing process. By implementing this method, we provide with an adequacy of correction action for future improvement and ultimately assist the development of the products. Result of the study is intended for the reference of development of new products in the same industry.

碩士
元智大學
工業工程與管理學系
104
In the global market competition, new products for enterprises represent new business opportunities, new markets, how to seize the business opportunities in new markets, speed of development and stability of the product is the key to success. Market research contained in the product development process, design evaluation, manufacture and test for the ultimate goal of a big bang, how to shorten the duration and reduce development costs, so that the new competitive products in the market, the focus of the present research project. New product development process by introducing integrated risk management, prior to the design and manufacture determined to explore all of the possible risk of failure, carry out preventive work in advance to find out the cause of failure and early prevention measures to improve product reliability, and high failure to integrate risk factors included regular follow to ensure that the risks under control, reduce development risk of failure, improve product stability. A case studies of C Company.

A gestão de projectos surge como consequência directa da inovação de processos, produtos ou serviços e permite exactamente concretizar o ciclo da inovação. Neste projecto de mestrado, através da apresentação do caso de estudo – o projecto e construção da nova fábrica de papel do grupo Portucel Soporcel localizada em Setúbal - o maior investimento privado realizado em Portugal nos últimos 5 anos, o autor analisa a dicotomia entre a inovação e a estruturação das actividades de gestão de projecto, condicionadas pela gestão do orçamento, do planeamento e dos riscos associados. Neste modelo, o ciclo de desenvolvimento de novos produtos é dividido em 2 fases principais: a primeira associada ao papel importante das redes de conhecimento e ao estudo, desenvolvimento e teste de conceitos enquanto que a segunda está associada às questões contratuais, à organização e à implementação. São analisadas as diferentes fases correspondentes aos estudos de viabilidade e de engenharia, à preparação de contratos, à engenharia de detalhe, à implementação e testes preparatórios para arranque da nova instalação e ao fecho do projecto. São enumeradas receitas importantes para a forma como uma organização industrial se deve posicionar face à concorrência, em particular no que diz respeito a uma estratégia de inovação, como deve articular a equipa de gestão de um projecto de investimento com a restante estrutura da empresa, e como deve aprender com os novos projectos.
Project Management appears as a direct consequence of innovation of processes, products or services and allows the organizations to materialize the innovation cycle. In this thesis, by using a case study – the design and construction of the grupo Portucel Soporcel new paper mill, located in Setúbal – which is the major private single investment made in Portugal in the last 5 years, the author analyses the dichotomy between innovation and project management structured and disciplined activities, normally driven by the budget, the schedule and the associated risks. In this model, the new product development cycle is divided in 2 main phases: the 1st is deeply associated to the knowledge networks and to the study, development and test of new concepts, whereas the 2nd is associated to contracts, the organization of teams and to the implementation. The different main Project phases are analyzed, notably the feasibility studies, the pre-engineering, the contract preparation, the detail engineering and implementation, the Commissioning, the startup of the new mill and the closing of the project. Important recipes are listed to make clear how a industrial company should be facing the competitors, namely through a innovation strategy, how the project team should relate and cooperate with the line organization and finally how the project team and the organization should learn with new projects.

Research into unit management in prisons was necessitated by a need to change the way in which South Africa deals with prisoners. The lack of respect for human dignity, poor control in prisons before and after demilitarisation and the need to reduce crime in South Africa are some of the reasons why the study became important. Topics addressed include the role of architecture in corrections, direct supervision to enhance active custody, renewed emphasis on individuals by means of case management and decentralised delivery of development and treatment programmes. Apart from the aspects mentioned above, the philosophy of unit management is spelled out. Imprisonment in countries such as Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, South Africa and the United States of America is discussed against the background of the unit management philosophy. During any process of incarceration, documentation forms an integral part of the process. In this study, the researcher discussed those documents that could play an important role in unit management. The importance of unit management in prisons cannot be overemphasised. The investigation contributes largely to scientific knowledge in that the importance of sentence planning for each individual within the Criminal Justice System is emphasised. Individual case plans, active involvement from both the inmate and the correctional official and the positive role of prison design are aspects that should form part of all new generation prison systems.
Penology
D.Litt. et Phil. (Penology)

The introduction of PPPs in infrastructure provision has changed the way in which governments around the world now view infrastructure provision. However, the introduction of PPPs to deliver the needed infrastructure has benefited only a few companies. Most of these companies are the big construction firms that possess technological know-how and those that have the financial ability to execute large infrastructure projects. Although SMEs are important for employment creation, inequality and poverty reduction, the participation of SMEs in these PPP projects is very low. This is because PPP models in developing countries are based on those used in developed economies, and such models ignore the socio-economic problems facing developing countries. Therefore, this study argues that PPP projects in developing countries present an opportunity for growing the SME sectors in developing countries. It challenges the viewpoint of seeing infrastructure backlogs only as providing opportunities to big private sector companies and argues that infrastructure backlogs can be used by governments to reduce the triple challenges of unemployment, poverty and inequality by linking SMEs to PPP projects. The traditional PPP model that is being applied by many developing countries does not fully encourage the participation of SMEs in PPP projects, as most of the projects executed through this model are bundled into big projects that SMEs cannot execute due to a lack of technological know-how and weak balance sheets. The study therefore suggests different ways in which the participation of SMEs in PPP projects could be improved based on the results of the survey conducted for this study. The study then proposes an “innovative conceptual PPP model for sustainable SME development” that takes into account the needs for developing countries to create jobs, reduce poverty and inequality. It also takes into account all challenges for SMEs identified through the review of literature and the study survey.
Economics
D. Litt. et Phil. (Economics)