Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Economic Management Sciences'

Submitted to the faculty of education in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Education in the Department of Social Science Education at the University of Zululand, 2019
This thesis explores “Factors Influencing Learner Performance in the Economic and Management Sciences in the iLembe District”. This study has used a mixed methodology, in Mandeni ward in KwaZulu-Natal. This district has four hundred and forty-two (442) schools. The district is divided into five (5) wards. One of those wards is Mandeni Ward, which has thirty-four (34) schools. The data analysing technique that was used is thematic analysis. The greatly publicised poor matric results in South Africa point to many systemic challenges in the education system. The system of education in South Africa requires teachers who are highly skilled to impart knowledge to learners. The historic curriculum paradigm shifts in the South African education system brought numerous changes. In the process of these curriculum changes, there is no evidence that suggests teachers’ involvement. For example, the introduction of Economic and Management Sciences (EMS) as a learning area brought about challenges to educators as EMS became a combination of three learning areas in one. The challenge of identifying a competent teacher in the three-layered EMS was exacerbated by the introduction of external examinations in grade seven, during the 2014 academic year. This research has attempted to investigate the factors that exist for teachers and heads of department with regards to EMS. In this study, a range of questioning statements that render relevant information about the factors that may influence performance in EMS have been employed. Through the use of interviews, qualitative data were collected from grade seven to nine teachers, as well as heads of department. Another set of data was generated using questionnaires given to the same participants. The final set of data was obtained using document analysis: where mark schedules for grade seven were analysed with the aim of investigating learner performance. This study found that EMS is being taught by unqualified EMS teachers due to the shortage of qualified EMS teachers (Modise, 2014). The absence of qualified teachers negatively impacts on the educational objectives of the EMS learning area. The study also discovered that the lack of exposure to commercial subjects in high school does dampen the confidence and the enthusiasm of the teacher and hamper their eagerness to stand in front of the learners to teach EMS. The insufficient time allocated for EMS and EMS workshops also negatively impacts on the objectives and outcomes for this subject. The lack of parental involvement in EMS related discussions also hampers the educational objectives of the EMS learning space. There are recommendations that suggest that there is a need to urgently revisit the manner in which EMS teachers are trained. The provision of EMS related resources has to be drastically improved if vi the stakeholders desire to witness identifiable and life-changing results. There is dire need to immediately review the EMS curriculum policy.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2012.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: One of the main features of the Economic and Management Sciences (EMS) learning area is that it prepares learners to participate in an economically complex society where social justice and a healthy environment are key concerns. Teachers are faced with an important learning outcome in the EMS curriculum, namely Sustainable Growth and Development, requiring them to equip learners with an understanding of sustainability and to encourage critical reflection on the related processes. This research aims to explore EMS teachers’ underlying conceptual understanding of sustainable development and to establish how these understandings relate to their teaching practices. The meaning of sustainable development has elicited multiple and contested reactions in the literature. Many authors are in agreement that development strategies should be consistent with the planet’s resources and linked to a balance between society, economy and the environment. However, increased production and consumption resulting from neoliberal economic policies and intensified global competition invariably disturb the earth’s ecosystem. On the one hand, increased economic activity has the advantage of resource development (capital, natural and human resources) that promotes economic growth. On the other hand, this growth occurs at the expense of resource exploitation which in turn leads to environmental degradation, the erosion of cultural identities, health risks and, in many instances, unsustainable lifestyles. There is a growing consensus that knowledge and a changed mindset are required for developing an enhanced focus towards a sustainable future. Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) provides the knowledge, skills, values and theories for promoting sustainable development. The research was conducted within a constructivist-interpretivist paradigm. A case study design strategy, as part of a qualitative research approach, was selected to best answer the research question. The data collection was done by means of the literature reviewed, in-depth interviews and subject-object interviews (written explanations). This was followed by the systematic categorisation and coding of the data by means of content analysis. The main finding of the study was that EMS teachers had a single focus with regard to sustainable development: their understanding predominantly related to the economic pillar of sustainable development. The interrelatedness of the economy, society and the environment to achieve sustainable development objectives was not subjected to much scrutiny. This research showed that there is a need for ESD to be integrated into the EMS discourse.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Een van die uitstaande kenmerke van die leerarea: Ekonomiese en Bestuurswetenskappe (EBW) is dat dit leerders voorberei vir deelname binne 'n ekonomies komplekse samelewing waar maatskaplike geregtigheid en ‘n gesonde omgewing ‘n kern-uitdaging vorm. Onderwysers word gekonfronteer met 'n belangrike leeruitkoms in die EBW-kurrikulum, naamlik Volhoubare Groei en Ontwikkeling, wat van hulle verwag om leerders toe te rus met 'n begrip van volhoubaarheid en om kritiese refleksie oor verwante prosesse te stimuleer. Hierdie navorsing het ten doel om die onderliggende konseptuele begrip van volhoubare ontwikkeling by EBW-onderwysers te verken en vas te stel hoe hierdie begrip betrekking het op hul onderrig praktyke. Die betekenis van volhoubare ontwikkeling het verskeie en omstrede reaksies in die literatuur ontlok. Baie outeurs stem saam dat die ontwikkeling van strategieë in ooreenstemming moet wees met die planeet se hulpbronne en gekoppel moet word aan 'n balans tussen die samelewing, die ekonomie en die omgewing. Verhoogde produksie en verbruik, as gevolg van die neoliberale ekonomiese beleid, versterk egter wêreldwye mededinging en versteur sodoende die aarde se ekosisteem. Enersyds het toenemende ekonomiese aktiwiteit die voordeel van hulpbronontwikkeling (kapitaal, natuurlike en menslike hulpbronne) wat ekonomiese groei bevorder. Andersyds vind hierdie groei plaas ten koste van hulpbronbenutting, wat weer lei tot die agteruitgang van die omgewing, die aftakeling van kulturele identiteit, gesondheidsrisiko's, en, in baie gevalle, nie-volhoubare lewenstyle. Daar is 'n groeiende konsensus dat kennis en 'n verandering in denkwyse nodig is om ‘n sterker fokus op 'n volhoubare toekoms te verseker. Opvoeding vir Volhoubare Ontwikkeling (OVO) verskaf die kennis, waardes en teorieë vir die vestiging van volhoubare ontwikkeling. Hierdie navorsing is onderneem binne 'n konstruktivisties-interpretivistiese paradigma. Om die beste antwoord op die navorsingsvraag te bied, is ‘n kwalitatiewe navorsingsbenadering gekies en ‘n gevallestudie-ontwerpstrategie gevolg. As deel van die data-insameling is die literatuur voortdurend verken en in-diepte onderhoude is gevoer, gevolg deur geskrewe verduidelikings. Hierna is die sistematiese kategorisering en kodering van die data deur middel van 'n inhoudsanalise gedoen. Die belangrikste bevinding van die studie was dat die EBW-onderwysers 'n enkele fokus gehad het ten opsigte van volhoubare ontwikkeling: hul begrip het hoofsaaklik betrekking gehad op die ekonomiese pilaar van volhoubare ontwikkeling. Daar was deurgaans 'n gebrek aan kritiese refleksie oor die interverwantskap tussen die ekonomie, die samelewing, die omgewing en die wyse waarop die doelwitte van volhoubare ontwikkeling bereik kan word. Hierdie navorsing het getoon dat daar 'n behoefte bestaan om OVO binne die EBWleerarea te integreer.

Little is known about the relative cost-effectiveness (CE) of different cardiac rehabilitation (CR) program designs and how CE is influenced by a patient's clinical and demographic characteristics. The aim of this study was to assess the 2-year incremental cost-utility of a distributed (12-month, 33-session) CR program to that of a standard (3-month, 33-session) CR program as assessed from the perspective of the cardiac health care system. 306 Patients (mean age = 58.4 years, SD+/-9.7) with CAD were randomized to either standard or distributed CR. Program delivery costs, cardiac health care use, QALYS were tracked over a two-year period. The standard CR intervention was found to be dominant, resulting in both a cost saving and larger gains in QALYs in the 2-years following initiation of CR. Important differences were noted in CE of CR across cardiac risk strata and diagnosis groups, suggesting patients may benefit from triage to available CR models.

Thesis (MTech (Education))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2009.
The thesis explores the role that the learning area, EMS, plays in preparing learners for Accounting in grade 10. EMS in grade 9 includes accounting related assessment standards upon which the grade 10 Accounting curriculum builds. The grade 10 Accounting curriculum is based on the assumption that learners have mastered the related content in grade 9. The effective implementation of EMS in grade 9 is therefore important for the teaching and learning of Accounting in grade 10. The main objective of the study was to determine to what extent the accounting related assessment standards were taught and to engage with the key factors that impact on the effective delivery of the accounting focus in EMS. A sample of five schools within a specific geographical area in the Western Cape was identified. The study used multiple data collection methods in order to increase the validity of the results, namely, a learner assessment, interviews and document analysis. The planning and assessment documents of EMS teachers as well as the assessment tasks of the EMS learners were analysed to ascertain how teachers planned to teach and assess the learning area, particularly the accounting focus within EMS. The conclusions were drawn against the policy-practice theoretical framework. The study revealed a gap between EMS policy and EMS practice. There was very limited exposure to the accounting related assessment standards in EMS. This could be attributed to a number of factors including teacher qualifications and training, lack of support, policy shortcomings, absent guidelines, etc. There was a disjuncture between what teachers believed and what they were translating into practice. Even though all the teachers enjoyed teaching Accounting and most of them believed in the importance of this discipline in preparing learners for the Further Education and Training Band and their personal lives, they were not teaching it effectively. Recommendations have been made in terms of the learning area policy, professional development and support for teachers and learners. Even though the study was limited to five schools in a particular geographical area, its findings may be applicable to many South African schools where EMS teachers face the same policy, teacher and learner challenges or shortcomings.

The Arizona Groundwater Management Act (GMA) restricts the quantity of groundwater which farmers may use annually. The act also requires that a withdrawal fee be paid for each acre-foot of groundwater used. The impact of these policies on agricultural income and groundwater use in the Phoenix Active Management Area is estimated. A linear programming model is used to simulate the typical farm's response to GMA policy over the period from 1990 to 2025. The impacts of two possible revisions of GMA policy are also considered. One simulation estimates the impacts resulting from the elimination of urban conservation programs. A second scenario considers elimination of agricultural conservation measures. Results indicate that the GMA agricultural conservation program will generate only small changes in income and groundwater use.

Submitted to the Faculty of Education in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master’s in Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instructional Studies at the University of Zululand, 2018.
This study sets out to investigate the teaching of Economic and Management Sciences (EMS) as a subject in the context of curriculum change. The main aim of this study is to identify the challenges teachers face in teaching EMS, determine the suitable teaching strategies to be used to teach EMS and explore the effect of curriculum change in teaching EMS in schools at Umhlathuze Circuit. This study is located within the interpretivist-positivist paradigm and falls within mixed method research approaches. The research instruments used were questionnaires administered to EMS teachers, interviews, learner activities and teacher portfolios. The results show that EMS teachers are facing challenges with regards to the integrated teaching of Accounting, Business Studies and Economics. The results of the study reveal that EMS teachers are still teaching more of Business Studies and Economics while sacrificing the Accounting content. The time allocated to teach EMS is not enough which causes teachers to focus on curriculum coverage rather than ensuring that learners master the content taught. The shortage of textbooks and calculators was also identified as a major challenge in many schools. Many EMS teachers are either trained for at least a combination of two disciplines in EMS. Even the Heads of department are not fully equipped in all three disciplines within the EMS. It is recommended that time allocation for EMS be reviewed. There is a need for sufficient resources in schools to ensure effective teaching and learning. EMS teachers should be able to teach all three disciplines within the EMS effectively. There is also a need for teacher training and development. Teachers should use a variety of teaching strategies and should adapt their teaching practice as a result of curriculum change. Accounting within the EMS should be a stand-alone subject.

Submitted to the Faculty of Education in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master’s in Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instructional Studies at the University of Zululand, 2018.
This study sets out to investigate the teaching of Economic and Management Sciences (EMS) as a subject in the context of curriculum change. The main aim of this study is to identify the challenges teachers face in teaching EMS, determine the suitable teaching strategies to be used to teach EMS and explore the effect of curriculum change in teaching EMS in schools at Umhlathuze Circuit. This study is located within the interpretivist-positivist paradigm and falls within mixed method research approaches. The research instruments used were questionnaires administered to EMS teachers, interviews, learner activities and teacher portfolios. The results show that EMS teachers are facing challenges with regards to the integrated teaching of Accounting, Business Studies and Economics. The results of the study reveal that EMS teachers are still teaching more of Business Studies and Economics while sacrificing the Accounting content. The time allocated to teach EMS is not enough which causes teachers to focus on curriculum coverage rather than ensuring that learners master the content taught. The shortage of textbooks and calculators was also identified as a major challenge in many schools. Many EMS teachers are either trained for at least a combination of two disciplines in EMS. Even the Heads of department are not fully equipped in all three disciplines within the EMS. It is recommended that time allocation for EMS be reviewed. There is a need for sufficient resources in schools to ensure effective teaching and learning. EMS teachers should be able to teach all three disciplines within the EMS effectively. There is also a need for teacher training and development. Teachers should use a variety of teaching strategies and should adapt their teaching practice as a result of curriculum change. Accounting within the EMS should be a stand-alone subject.

The problem addressed in the study was that Georgia's economic development leadership faced obstacles that challenged the state's growth in attracting new business and developing existing business. The purpose of this case study was to explore the obstacles encountered by a specific agency to attract businesses to generate economic growth. Accessing obstacles that hinder leaders to promote the state of Georgia growth is pertinent, including exploring where the system may be constrained. The theory of constraints guided this study to investigate what obstacles state leaders face in economic development. An embedded case study was conducted using purposeful sampling to select 11 participants for interviews, including managers, directors, and a deputy commissioner from a state agency in Atlanta with significant experience in attracting and maintaining businesses for growth. Inductive coding using Attride-Stirling, Braun and Clark's 6-step approach resulted in 4 themes. Themes that emerged as findings were: low quality education, time delays deterred corporations to locate to Georgia, perception of limited public transportation and affiliated crime, and infrastructure and accessibility dilemmas. The implications for positive social change included needed improvements to education, elimination of traffic barriers, expansion of public transportation, and development of infrastructure to benefit and enhance a better life for Georgia residents.

This dissertation examines the factors that will affect nursing home quality of care using several national data sources on market regulation, county demographic characteristics, market structural and the characteristics of different types of long-term care providers in 2010.

The first study examines how nine different measures of nursing home care quality respond to the greater levels of local market competition from these alternative providers of long-term care, as well as other nursing homes. Findings reveal that faced with greater competition from assisted living facilities, nursing homes are left to care for more disabled, less healthy patients. Although the nursing home's staff-to-bed ratios rise in response, other measures of care quality decline, such as more process- and outcome-based measures. Competition from home health agencies likewise has mixed effects on nursing home care quality, and competition from other nursing homes in a market tends to decrease care quality. These finding suggest that care quality in nursing homes may continue to erode as the market for alternative, community-based long-term care services expands.

The second study examines the Medicare regulation effects on nursing home quality controlling for the whole long-term care market competition structure. In many local markets nursing homes now compete with assisted living facilities for residents, yet most previous studies of the effects of Medicaid nursing home reimbursement policies on care quality have analyzed nursing homes in isolation, ignoring the presence of nearby competitor firms, and how state regulation of assisted living facilities might also affect care quality in nursing homes. This study uses a richer model specification that accounts for a much broader range of state long-term care regulations as well as the structure of a nursing home's local market. Findings reveal that a higher Medicaid reimbursement rate leads to significant improvements in nine different aspects of nursing home quality, while state certificate-of-need programs for nursing homes lead to a decline in several (but not all) dimensions of it. A large presence of assisted living beds in a local market also tends to reduce nursing home quality, and state regulations regarding assisted living facilities indirectly affect nursing home care quality by altering the nature of local market competition. Overall, these results suggest that state laws related to all long-term care providers, not just nursing homes, are important determinants of nursing home care quality.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) described Nigeria's road networks as one of the poorest and deadliest transportation infrastructural systems in the world. Data from the UNDP and the World Bank (WB) show that Nigeria has suffered transportation infrastructure deficits; these data also illustrate Nigeria as one of the lowest indices in economic development in the last decade. This qualitative case study addressed the impact of a lack of investment in transportation infrastructure in the form of road networks on Nigeria's economic development. The purpose of the study was to understand the relationship between the investment in road networks and economic development in Nigeria. The theoretical framework comprised Solow's economic growth theory and Frischmann's transportation infrastructure theory. Data were collected through personal interviews with a purposeful sample of 20 Nigerians including previous and current public and private sector transportation-linked individuals directly involved in investment, management, and policy administration. Interview data were compiled and organized using qualitative software for content analysis. Recurring responses were identified and patterns and trends documented from the data. Findings revealed corruption in awarding roads contracts, lack of contracts monitoring, and inefficient governance hindering economic development in Nigeria. This study supports positive social change by informing decision-makers that by investing in network of roads, that time to project completion and financial savings may promote economic development, thus improving the standard of living of Nigerians.

The Mara River in East Africa is currently experiencing poor water quality and increased fluctuations in seasonal flow. This study investigated technically effective and economically viable Best Management Practices for adoption in the Mara River Basin of Kenya that can stop further water resources degradation. A survey of 155 farmers was conducted in the upper catchment of the Kenyan side of the river basin. Farmers provided their assessment of BMPs that would best suit their farm in terms of water quality improvement, economic feasibility, and technicalsuitability. Cost data on different practices from farmers and published literature was collected. The results indicated that erosion control structures and runoff management practices were most suitable for adoption. The study estimated the total area that would be improved to restore water quality and reduce further water resources degradation. Farmers were found to incur losses from adopting new practices and would therefore require monetary support.

Since 1865 California has practiced underground water storage through artificial recharge; however, in many parts of the state these efforts have been insufficient to meet its growing water demands, particularly for irrigated agriculture. During dry periods, vast agricultural areas depend upon groundwater for irrigation. In these areas, groundwater banking (GB) should be an essential strategy of their water management operations. GB is the practice of using surface water for percolation or injection into aquifers for later recovery. One variation of GB currently being studied in California is the use of agricultural lands for this practice (Ag-GB). Economic implications of Ag-GB need to be analyzed to inform water agencies and farmers interested in implementing this practice. This study proposes a conceptual model for determining the economic feasibility of Ag-GB at the irrigation district level. The Orland-Artois Water District (OAWD) in Glenn County is considered as the case study, and alfalfa as the test crop due to its tolerance to flooding and low use of pesticides and fertilizers which could leach into the aquifer. The proposed model consists of four components. The first component, the agricultural water demand calculator, calculates agricultural water demands based on historic land use, monthly reference evapotranspiration (ETo), monthly average precipitation, and average crop coefficient (Kc) values for the region. The second component, the aquifer mass balance model, is a one-bucket mass balance model that quantifies inflows and outflows to the simplified aquifer. The third component, the agronomic model, estimates costs and benefits of Ag-GB in terms of energy savings from pumping and crop production. The fourth component, the economic feasibility output, evaluates costs and benefits are evaluated to determine economic feasibility. The period of analysis is from 1993 through 2013.

Two policies (A and B) for implementation of Ag-GB are proposed and tested. Policy A proposes that all growers in OAWD pay for the implementation of the Ag-GB program. Policy B proposes that alfalfa growers using their lands for Ag-GB (Ag-GB alfalfa growers) are exempted from paying for Ag-GB implementation and the rest of the growers (non Ag-GB growers) pay for it. The economic analysis suggests that Policy A brings more costs than benefits to the Ag-GB alfalfa growers and hence is rejected as feasible. Policy B seems to bring more benefits than costs to all growers in OAWD and therefore it has potential to be economically feasible under the assumptions and limitations of the model.

Within the modern and globally connected business landscape, the information assets of organizations are constantly under attack. As a consequence, protection of these assets is a major challenge. The complexities and vulnerabilities of information systems (ISs) and the increasing risks of failure combined with a growing number of security incidents, prompts these entities to seek guidance from information security management standards. The International Organization of Standardization (ISO) Information Security Management System (ISMS) standard specifies the requirements for establishing, operating, monitoring, and improving an information security management system within the context of an organization's overall business risks. Importantly, this standard is designed to ensure the selection of adequate information security controls for the protection of an organization's information assets and is the only auditable international standard for information security management. The adoption of, and certification against the ISO ISMS standard is a complex process which impacts many different security aspects of organizations and requires significant investments in information security. Although many benefits are associated with the adoption of an information security management standard, organizations are increasingly employing economic measures to evaluate and justify their information security investments. With the growing emphasis on the importance of understanding the economic aspects of information security, this study investigated the economic value of the ISO ISMS standard adoption and certification. The principles of the efficient market hypothesis and the event study methodology were employed to establish whether organizations realized economic gains from obtaining certification against the ISO ISMS standard. The results of this research showed that capital markets did not react to the ISO ISMS certification announcements. Furthermore, the capital market reaction to information security breaches was not different between ISO ISMS certified and non-certified firms. It was concluded that the ISO ISMS certification did not create economic value for the certified firms

Globalization, specialization, and intensification have transformed the global food system, generating material flows and impacts that span multiple scales and levels, presenting novel governance challenges. Many argue for a transition toward a sustainable food system, although the scope and specific goals are fiercely contested. Theory and method is needed to evaluate competing normative claims and build legitimacy. In this dissertation Vermont serves as a case study to investigate how environmental and economic flows impact regional governance, focusing on efforts to manage agricultural phosphorus to achieve water quality goals. A material flow account is developed to estimate phosphorus flows embedded in commodities flowing in and out of Vermont’s agricultural system from 1925-2012. The results indicate a net imbalance of phosphorus flows for the entire period, leading to the accumulation of legacy phosphorus in soils that constitutes a long-term threat to water quality. Agricultural intensification and land cover change during this period led to increased phosphorus use efficiency, livestock density, and dependency on imported feed, the largest source of phosphorus entering Vermont since the 1980s. The evidence of persistent imbalance calls into question the effectiveness of current nonpoint source pollution policy. A critical investigation of nutrient management planning policy reveals several shortcomings: pasture is frequently excluded; many phosphorus flows that cross the farm-gate are not captured; critical information on soil phosphorus levels and runoff risk is not collected in a manner that facilitates regional governance. The integration of nutrient management plans and mass-balances is proposed as an alternative approach that can increase accountability, encourage efficiency, and facilitate management and governance, albeit within constraints imposed by Vermont’s position in a globalized market for agricultural commodities. The empirical and policy analysis is complemented by a theoretical investigation that starts from the observation that a sustainability transition inevitably entails tradeoffs amongst competing normative goals. Navigating these tradeoffs is complicated by mismatch between the reach of governance institutions and the spatial and temporal dimensions of the challenges they face. This investigation contributes to understanding how legitimacy and consensus are constructed in the context of competing normative claims and multi-level governance. It considers deliberative democracy as a means for evaluating normative claims and arriving at a shared, legitimate basis for social action. An instrumental perspective on deliberation is contrasted with a deeper notion that sees deliberation as constitutive of sustainability at a local-to-global level. A conclusion grounds this analysis by drawing out the ways in which deliberation can inform Vermont’s efforts to govern its agriculture, water quality, and economic development, sowing the seeds for a sustainability transition.

This study was prompted by recent changes in higher education funding policies that have been introduced to encourage greater economic and social impact from investments in academic research. Historically certain elements of the social sciences, particularly business and management, have been criticised for their lack of practical utility outside the realm of the university system (See, for example; Beyer, 1982; Starkey and Tempest, 2009; Mintzberg, 2004). The research is based upon the premise that the current attempts to reverse this trend with modifications to the UK’s ‘Research Excellence Framework’ (REF) may be using too blunt an instrument to change the habits of a community long established in an environment that is not geared to the needs of a practitioner audience. The study draws on literature to identify the components of ‘impactful’ research and considers the extent to which they exist, or otherwise, within a sample of three UK business schools. The purpose of the investigation was to determine the effect of existing policy and practice on academics’ actions with respect to research style, practitioner engagement and dissemination choices. In doing so it sought to identify if current strategies enable impact or pose an operational and motivational constraint. The study finds that business schools are unlikely to deliver their part in the government’s ambitions for economic growth from the impact agenda so long as academics are so heavily incentivised to produce the theoretical and conceptual research preferred by the leading journals in their field. The report concludes that these aspirations require fundamental change and offers a number of strategic options for this purpose. These include modifications to the funding mechanisms of academic research, changes to the REF and a re-evaluation of the criteria that define ‘high quality’ research. The report also raises questions over the role of business and management studies within the university system.

This thesis focuses on local water institutions and practical management arrangements in North West Thailand through the lens of governance in order to begin to establish how the transition to more sustainable water management might be undertaken. Adaptive governance is advanced as a potent means of delivering more sustainable management by providing the flexibility and adaptability to respond to abrupt environmental change, while enhancing participatory and learning opportunities for stakeholders. Insights from the literature on socio-spatial relations are employed to compliment the use of governance concepts by providing insight into the territorial organization of water supply and delivery within the study area, specifically the all-important role of space and socio-spatial relations on day-to-day water management. Data collection methods comprised: (i) 192 face-to-face in-depth semi-structured interviews with key actors; (ii) 20 questionnaires distributed to actors from Joint Management Committee for Irrigation (JMC); (iii) four group discussions with actors from a state-led irrigation project; and (iv) 20 remote interviews with four administrator groups. The analysis identifies the importance of ‘middle ground’ organization as a strategic policy goal to encourage more sustainable water management, set against the pragmatic reality of escalating future demand for water from multiple users at different levels and scales.

Flood polders are part of the flood risk management strategy for many lowland rivers. They are used for the controlled storage of flood water so as to lower peak discharges of large floods. Consequently, the flood hazard in adjacent and downstream river reaches is decreased in the case of flood polder utilisation. Flood polders are usually dry storage reservoirs that are typically characterised by agricultural activities or other land use of low economic and ecological vulnerability. The objective of this thesis is to analyse hydraulic, environmental and economic impacts of the utilisation of flood polders in order to draw conclusions for their management. For this purpose, hydrodynamic and water quality modelling as well as an economic vulnerability assessment are employed in two study areas on the Middle Elbe River in Germany. One study area is an existing flood polder system on the tributary Havel, which was put into operation during the Elbe flood in summer 2002. The second study area is a planned flood polder, which is currently in the early planning stages. Furthermore, numerical models of different spatial dimensionality, ranging from zero- to two-dimensional, are applied in order to evaluate their suitability for hydrodynamic and water quality simulations of flood polders in regard to performance and modelling effort. The thesis concludes with overall recommendations on the management of flood polders, including operational schemes and land use. In view of future changes in flood frequency and further increasing values of private and public assets in flood-prone areas, flood polders may be effective and flexible technical flood protection measures that contribute to a successful flood risk management for large lowland rivers.
Flutpolder werden zum gezielten Rückhalt von Wasser eingesetzt, um Spitzenabflüsse von großen Hochwassern zu senken. Dadurch wird im Falle des Flutpoldereinsatzes die Hochwassergefährdung für flussab gelegene Flussabschnitte verringert. Flutpolder sind meist trockene Staubecken, die typischerweise durch landwirtschaftliche Nutzung gekennzeichnet sind. Ziel der Dissertation ist die Analyse von hydraulischen, ökologischen und ökonomischen Auswirkungen des Einsatzes von Flutpoldern, um daraus Schlussfolgerungen für ihre Bewirtschaftung zu ziehen. Dazu werden numerische Modelle zur Simulation der Hydrodynamik und Wassergüte sowie ein landwirtschaftliches Schadenmodell gemeinsam in einem integrativen Ansatz eingesetzt. Ein Untersuchungsgebiet ist ein existierendes Flutpoldersystem am Nebenfluss Havel, welches während der Elbeflut im Sommer 2002 zum Einsatz kam. Das zweite Untersuchungsgebiet ist ein geplanter Flutpolder, welcher sich bisher noch in einem frühen Planungsstadium befindet. Darüber hinaus werden numerische Modelle verschiedener räumlicher Dimensionalität von null- bis zwei-dimensional angewandt, um ihre Eignung für hydrodynamische und Wassergütesimulationen von Flutpoldern hinsichtlich der Leistungsfähigkeit und des Modellierungsaufwands zu bewerten. Die Dissertation schließt mit übergreifenden Empfehlungen zur Bewirtschaftung von Flutpoldern einschließlich Kontrollstrategien und Landnutzung ab. Im Hinblick auf zukünftige Änderungen in der Auftretenshäufigkeit von Hochwassern und weiterhin ansteigenden Werten von privatem und öffentlichem Vermögen in überflutungsgefährdeten Gebieten stellen Flutpolder ein effektive und flexible Maßnahmen des technischen Hochwasserschutzes dar, welche zu einem erfolgreichen Hochwasserrisikomanagement großer Tieflandflüsse beitragen.

This thesis examines the effects of intragroup social network relations on group performance. Building on prior studies, it views social network topology along structural, relational and cognitive dimensions. Where previous research used a self-reporting questionnaire to gauge these dimensions, this research uses Social Network Analysis (SNA) software to measure e-mail communication logs between group members. The study was conducted in a national travel agency and focused on the social networks of 187 offices, each a subsidiary of the national travel agency. Each office group was tasked similarly and represented a unit of analysis. An analysis of more than 7 million emails was undertaken to generate social network measures for the firm wide network. Subgraphs representing the intraoffice social networks were then generated for each of the 187 travel offices in the greater firm-wide network. NodeXL® software was used to generate group measures representing the dimensions of each office’s social network topology. As in prior studies, Centrality, Structural Holes, and Tie Strength (all social network concepts) were used to measure and compare the dimensions of the intragroup social networks. This study contributes by helping to differentiate the concepts of social capital and social network. This research finds the use of email logs to generate SNA more efficient but as effective as prior survey techniques. The study also extends prior work by dynamically examining the tie formation amongst recently hired employees. The study confirms existing views of a curvilinear relationship between social network relations and firm performance. This study finds social network topology a valuable predictor of group performance.

Outdoor recreation is a robust pillar of local, state, and national economies as well as a critical component of residents’ quality of life. Recognition of the economic power of the outdoor industry, fused with the growing desire for greater outdoor recreation opportunities, has inspired more than 11 states to establish state offices of outdoor recreation. The organizational structure and mission of each office is tailored to each state, varying from temporary task forces, councils, and commissions to more permanent offices or advisory positions. These offices, though embedded within various sectors of state government, often coordinate across or blend the functions of economic development, tourism, and land management, ultimately providing innovative opportunities for collaboration. While the state offices universally seek to develop the outdoor recreation economy, that economy fundamentally relies on access to natural landscapes, the vast majority of which are managed by the federal land management agencies in the Department of Interior and the Department of Agriculture. The purpose of this study is to explore how these state offices have evolved and now operate, including their formation, goals and programs, internal organization and resources, and external partnerships. Through comprehensive interviews with each office’s leadership, our research provides a baseline understanding of the role of these new offices and addresses their partnerships at the local, state, and federal levels. I discuss challenges each office has faced, best practices, and recommendations for future collaboration. The findings of this research will better inform the National Park Service and other federal land management agencies on opportunities to support shared recreation and conservation goals. Together, the newly created state offices of outdoor recreation and the stewards of their public lands can promote and enhance the economic, social, and environmental benefits of outdoor recreation.

Global demand of fish for consumption in developing nations is expected to continue to rise in the near future, putting pressure on stocks that are already overexploited. In the territorial waters of Panama there is a constant struggle between commercial vessels with high yield, subsistence fishermen trying to feed a remote village, and ecosystem services struggling to sustain themselves. These services are the direct and indirect benefits received by the population in the form of food, raw materials, nutrient cycling, and disaster regulation. They are being degraded by illegal and unregulated fishing, bottom trawlers raking the benthos and destroying coral reefs, longlines responsible for thousands of sea turtle and bird deaths, and purse seines that decrease species biodiversity in fish stock. While the government has passed laws to reduce the environmental impact the industrial fisheries have, they lack effective enforcement. An alternative approach is to place monetary values on ecosystem services to show the monetary value of previously unrepresented natural capital. Application of this method to fisheries management can educate policy makers on the economic losses to expect if overfishing of the seas continues and provide the economic imperative to lessen impacts on oceanic ecosystems. Through comparative analysis it is shown that the market value of all fish catch in Panamanian waters is less than that which is provided by the ecosystem services in the area. Open ocean and coral reef ecosystem services provide a combined $103 billion per year while the highest grossing fish catch in Panamanian waters managed to net $356 million in 2004. There is an economic and political imperative to protect and promote sustainability of not only the fish stock, but all ecosystem services in the ocean.
M.A.
Masters
Political Science
Sciences
Political Science; Environmental Politics

This correlation research study was used to investigate the impact of the Dodd-Frank legislation on the U.S. bank industry. The economic crisis of 2007-2009 had a global and significant financial impact, some of which still reverberates. In the United States, the reaction was The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which took effect July 21, 2010. This act has recently been the subject of academic research and remains debated in congress, with discussion focused on its repeal. The publicly available, secondary data set from banks' quarterly filed regulatory reporting provided the data used in this study. Every FDIC insured bank in the United States was included in the study. The research question for the study examined the unintended consequences of Dodd-Frank legislation as posited by the theories of Bexley (2014) and Barth, Prabha, and Swagel (2012) that Dodd-Frank was a regulatory overreaction and could have a long-term impact on a substantial number of financial institutions. From 2007 through 2013, the number of banks declined by over 1,753 institutions; a 19.82% decline. The structure of the research presumed that banks that relied heavily on consumer fees for depository services would be negatively impacted by rule changes and regulation regarding such fees. There were two research questions. The first focused on the role of the new rules in the decline of the number of banks. The second explored the role of the legislation in the financial performance of banks. Regression results resulted in not being able to reject the null hypotheses. The implication of the study for social change is that policy makers who understand these relationships may construct better regulation to mitigate unfair and deceptive consumer fees for banking services.

The purpose of this study was to identify and analyze the needs of the third year Management students of the Faculty of Economic and Administrative Sciences at BaSkent University with regard to the English-Turkish Translation Course through the perceptions of the students
course instructors including the course designer
graduates who took the course
subject-area instructors of the Department of Management
and the professionals practicing in different fields of management and business administration. Based on the findings of the study, recommendations were extended to the course designer and the instructors who teach the course for the improvement of the course. The data collection instruments used for the study were a Needs Analysis Questionnaire administered to fifty-three students and structured interviews conducted with the six course instructors, sixteen departmental instructors, ten graduates and ten professionals. The reliability of the questionnaire was measured by using Cronbach Alpha test and all the instruments were pilot-tested. Both qualitative and quantitative data were gathered which were analyzed using descriptive statistics (percentages and frequencies). The study brought into light the fact that translation particularly from English into Turkish was perceived to be a very important skill primarily in students&rsquo
departmental studies most of which they do in Turkish and for which they do most of their field-specific readings in English, which renders transfer from the foreign language into the native language indispensable. Perceptions of the participants also revealed that the translation course, in addition to improving the translation skill, raised competence in the foreign language, primarily in terms of enhancing knowledge of vocabulary, reading comprehension skill and writing skill. One of the major strengths of the translation course was found out to be the total relevance of the content of its translation materials to the students&rsquo
area of study. Preferences of the course instructors and the students were generally in line with the requirements of the target situations and the suggestions of the literature. Based on the findings, recommendations were extended to the course designer and the instructors. The most important ones included were extending the duration of the course from one semester to two semesters
shifting from sentence-level to paragraph-level and text-level translations
more emphasis on communicative rather than faithful translation
incorporation of authentic materials such as texts from magazines and newspapers and texts used in professional life into the course materials in addition to the texts extracted from field-specific course books and resources already used in the course for translation.

Même s’il existe une production de ressources pédagogiques s’appuyant sur des exemples pris en Guadeloupe ou dans son environnement, l’enseignement des sciences économiques et de gestion ne nous semble pas y avoir été considéré comme objet d’étude, alors qu’il interroge des composantes fondamentales du contexte de ce territoire comme la situation socio-économique et l’environnement réglementaire. Cette étude porte sur le fonctionnement de certains Brevets de Technicien Supérieur en Guadeloupe (BTS), diplôme professionnel français se préparant en deux ans après le baccalauréat, dont les programmes et critères d’évaluation sont nationaux. Les lauréats sont supposés pouvoir s’insérer immédiatement dans le monde professionnel, en particulier dans leur environnement géographique local et sont préparés à cette insertion par des stages en entreprises. Nous nous intéressons à la tension pouvant résulter d’une définition nationale du diplôme, le plus souvent en référence à des réalités de l’hexagone et le contexte local d’enseignement et d’insertion professionnelle, éloigné sur les plans sociaux-économiques et règlementaires. De manière plus précise, nous questionnons en premier lieu les conceptions de professeurs de ces BTS au regard de cette tension : existe-elle pour eux ? Comment la prenne-t-elle éventuellement en compte dans leur action pédagogique ? Ce questionnement a permis de préparer le second volet de notre étude, auprès d’étudiants de BTS. En effet, la question de l’insertion professionnelle ressort comme importante dans les propos des professeurs. Nous avons donc voulu savoir comment, au fil des stages – moments privilégiés de modification des représentations sociales des étudiants – leur projet professionnel s’affinait. Avant de réaliser ces enquêtes, nous avons dressé un paysage de la place du BTS en Guadeloupe et choisi de concentrer notre travail sur deux BTS, assistant de manager et tourisme, le premier possédant des prescrits faisant que peu référence à l’environnement du déroulement de la formation à l’opposé du second. Nous souhaitions ainsi pouvoir établir une comparaison basée sur ce que nous avons appelé l’ancrage contextuel d’une formation. La première enquête a été réalisée auprès de professeurs en économie-gestion des deux BTS retenus sous forme d’entretiens semi-directifs. Notre objectif était donc d’appréhender leurs conceptions et leurs pratiques déclarées quant à la contextualisation didactique. Les professeurs, faisant état d’effets de contexte occasionnés par la tension susmentionnée, déclarent en tenir compte dans leurs enseignements des sciences économiques et de gestion, en contextualisant leurs pratiques. Cependant, ces contextualisations restent limitées, les professeurs se sentant contraints par le cadre national du diplôme. Par exemple, en BTS tourisme, les décalages entre le contexte local et celui de l’hexagone peuvent provenir d’une mutation moins accomplie en Guadeloupe (au moment de l’enquête) vers la « tourismatique » (informatique appliquée au tourisme). En BTS assistant de manager, ces décalages peuvent résider dans les spécificités du contexte économique et fiscal comme par exemple, les régimes différents de TVA ou l’existence de l’octroi de mer en Guadeloupe : les professeurs hésitent à enseigner les règles en vigueur en Guadeloupe, de peur de pénaliser leurs étudiants lors des examens définis nationalement. Cette enquête a donc révélé l’existence de paradoxes, entre les visées professionnalisantes des BTS et les prescrits (référentiels, examens…) définis nationalement, et donc (partiellement) inadaptés aux divers contextes d’exercice des métiers. En ce qui concerne les étudiants, une enquête longitudinale par questionnaires a été menée auprès d’une cohorte de chacun des BTS retenus, sur la durée de la formation
Even if there is a production of educational resources based on examples in Guadeloupe or its environment, the teaching of the economics sciences and management was not considered as an object of scientific study, though it questions fundamental components of the context of this territory like the socioeconomic situation and the regulatory environment. This study concerns the functioning of some French BTS (Brevet de Technicien Supérieur / Advanced Technician Certificate), a professional diploma prepared in two years after the “baccalaureat”, with national programs and evaluation criteria. The successful candidates are supposed to be immediately employable, especially in their local geographical environment, and are prepared for that by professional training sessions in companies. We are interested in a paradox which can be the result of the national definition of the diploma, in reference to the French mainland realities and the local contexts of teaching and of professional integration, far from the socio-economic and regulatory plans. Firstly, we wonder about the point of view of the teachers of those “BTS” about this paradox: does it exist for them? How is it taken into account in their educational action? These questions allowed us to prepare the second part of this study, among students of BTS. Indeed teachers think that the occupational integration is important. We wanted to know how, during and after professional training sessions– privileged moments for modification of the social representations of the student – their professional project became refined. Before doing these inquiries, we drew up a landscape of the place of the BTS in Guadeloupe and chose to focus our study on two BTS, namely assistant manager [deputy manger] and tourism. The first with programs with few references to the environment of the training, contrary to the second. We wanted to ensure a comparison on what we called the anchoring contextual of a training. In the first survey, we conducted semi-structured interview with Guadeloupean teachers of the two BTS mentioned previously. Our objective was to grasp their conceptions and their practices declared about the contextualization of didactics. The teachers, mentioned context effects, by the paradox mentioned previously and declare to take it account in their teachings of the economics sciences and management by contextualizating their practices. However, these contextualizations remain limited, the teachers feeling forced by the national frame of the diploma. For example, in BTS tourism, the gaps between the local context and the French mainland can result from a transformation less accomplished in Guadeloupe (at the time of the survey) towards the “tourismatique” (computing applied to tourism). In BTS assistant manager, these gaps may stay in the specificities of the economic and fiscal context as for example, the different sets of VAT or the existence of the duck dues in Guadeloupe: these adaptations remain limited by fear of disadvantaging the students for the national exam. This demonstrates paradoxes between the professionalizing aim of the BTS and its programs (exams), and thus (partially) unsuitable for the different contexts of the jobs background

In the US, the roaded landscape has had serious ecological effects. We studied wildlife-vehicle collisions occurring on the 248 state routes in Utah from 1992 to 2002. We tracked trends and patterns in deer-vehicle collisions, evaluated all routes for frequency of deer kills, and identified "hotspots" ( segments of road with high concentrations of collisions per mile). We found pronounced patterns: e.g., 61.15% of all collisions occurred on only 10 routes. We studied the effects of posted speed limit and annual average daily traffic flow and found that no relationship existed between traffic volume and/or posted speed limit and the number of wildlife-vehicle collisions that occurred. We put the economic costs associated with wildlife vehicle collisions into a public safety perspective and confirmed that associated costs, damage, injuries, and loss of resources are significant aspects ofDVCs that require attention and justify mitigation.

Stormwater Management (SWM) or Best management practices (BMPs) treat the stormwater runoff that carries pollutants. Pollutants in the waters and in the stormwater, negatively impact the environment, the ecology, and natural resources. Stormwater Control Measures (SCM) are used in different projects to improve water quality and quantity. This thesis aims to understand the connection between SWMs, the economy, and environmental sustainability. This thesis evaluates the cost-effectiveness of SWMs in Mediterranean climates. The research aims to guide the next project managers to choose better SWMs based on cost-effectiveness, socio-economic, and environmental implications. Various studies suggest that the terms SWM, SWM, and SCM are used interchangeably. The research methodology uses a mix of qualitative and quantitative data analysis The research was conducted in Los Angeles at the request of UCLA. Therefore, it focused on water quality improvement projects in Los Angeles. The costs for the projects, areas, and whatSWMs are used will be acquired through data gathering and personal communication with experts. This thesis compares several projects which include different SWMs. It calculates the cost-effectiveness with two different methods, firstly, the cost per drainage area, and secondly, the cost per pollutant removed. Data is gathered from the city of LA and other secondary data sources to calculate the cost-effectiveness. The calculation results showed that the Glenoaksproject and the Machado lake project were the most cost-effective. Glenoaks utilizes infiltration wells and grass swales, and the Machado lake is a large wetland. Based upon these facts, generally, wetlands and grass swales can be recommended for Mediterranean climates. The expensive total costs of SWMs or their inability to remove pollutants can strongly affect the cost-effectiveness of some projects, and produce a negative impact on the economy. Quantitative assessment of study investigates cost-effectiveness of SWMs and for highlighting its economic impact. For qualitative assessment thematic analysis of 14 sample studies related to stormwater management (SWM) was carried out. Findings reveal that 78% of sample studies reflect the themes associated with the positive economic impact of SWMs. Additionally, the sample studies confirm a 76% positive impact of SWMs on the environment and ecology of the region. Further research with better data and more accurate calculations are needed. It would be beneficial if other factors such as recreation and unquantifiable factors such as the aesthetic improvements and community benefits were incorporated into or considered together with the cost-effectiveness for future projects.

Since 2010, 2,000 U. S. leaders spent {dollar}150 billion on return on investment (ROI) training, yet questions still exist on how to measure the benefits of organizational change. The purpose of this embedded single-case study was to explore how business leaders could use ROI to characterize the benefit of intervention strategies for organizational change. Stakeholder theory and Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory formed the conceptual framework for this study. A purposive sample of 20 civilian personnel managers located at a medical facility for veterans in central Texas participated in semistructured interviews. The 5 primary themes that emerged using thematic analysis were (a) training, (b) leadership, (c) communication, (d) recognition, and (e) consistency. Implications for positive social change include the possibility of organizational leaders applying these findings to develop better intervention strategies. Such interventions could improve processes for stakeholders and create an open dialogue with business leaders within the government sector.

In the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2008, economies and governments across the world have progressively recognised the importance of 'technology' and 'entrepreneurship' as the driving forces for creation of economic value and wealth. In the context of microenterprises, firm level characteristics like the ability to absorb ‘technology’ (i.e. Absorptive Capacity) and to act ‘entrepreneurially’ (namely, Entrepreneurial Orientation) have become important measurements. This research presents a methodology that integrates the Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) and Absorptive Capacity (ACAP) constructs to explain the performance of microenterprises and identify high performers. The performance of microenterprises has been measured in terms of their potential to create value or wealth. This research validates that a ‘forward looking’ measure of performance that measures the ‘potential value or wealth’ is more suitable than the conventional measure, which uses historical data. It also establishes that the EO and ACAP constructs can be successfully integrated to explain a large part of this value or wealth creating potential. This study covers 165 UK based microenterprises spread across different sectors and industries. Seventy (70) of these microenterprises have been labelled as ‘Entrepreneurial Oriented (EO)’ type enterprises as distinct and separate from the 95 Small Business Owners (SBO) types. The demarcation between the EO and SBO type has been justified and subsequently validated in this research. The results show that it is possible to demarcate between the EO and SBO type enterprises before their respective internal attributes (EO or SBO) are measured. This is particularly important since the two types of enterprises have different antecedents that drive their performance. As in previous studies, this research found Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) to be a uni-dimensional concept. On the other hand, Absorptive Capacity (ACAP), applying the original definition of Cohen & Levinthal (1991) was found to comprise of three components. The predictive model used in this study based on Principal Component analysis (PCA) and Ordinal Regression was able to successfully identify a majority (81.81%) of the high performers. More importantly, none of the low and only one of the medium performers was wrongly identified as high performers. The development of a methodology to predict potentially high value-creating microenterprises has important ramifications for policymaking and economic development both in developed economies like the United Kingdom as well as peripheral and developing economies.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2005.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study is an investigation into the four year implementation period of WebCT as web-based learning support and content management system, within the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences in order to: • Identify the critical success factors related to the success of the implemented system. • Review the relevance of these critical success factors by means of literature study, along with reference to case studies of similar WebCT implementations. • Review the initiatives undertaken by both the university and the faculty in order to adhere to the identified critical success factors. • To test, by means of a faculty questionnaire, whether these critical success factors have in fact been met. • To make recommendations for the way fonward based on the literature review, the faculty review and the results obtained from the faculty questionnaire. Reviewing e-Iearning derives various definitions and understandings of the concept of e-Iearning within the modem e-Iearning environment and expands into the basic activities of e-Iearning as practised within traditional universities to establish an understanding of e-Ieaming application of e-Iearning within the University of Stellenbosch. A further investigation reveals how the leaming and content management system (WebCT) was implemented at the University of Stellenbosch as supportive e-Iearning systern as supported by various advantages and subjected to several criticisms. The following eight critical success factors were identified for the faculty: • All staff and students have access to the necessary stable 24/7 IT infrastructure and support. • All stakeholders have a shared vision of the system's objectives. • Top management is strongly committed to the idea of e-Iearning. • Performance evaluation of implemented system. • Establishing a minimum online presence as launch pad. • The Faculty buying into/taking ownership of the new system. • Establishing lecturer's competency, benefits and e-Iearning integration. • WebCT management becomes part of the normal business activities. From the review into the relevance of the eight critical success factors, as identified above, along with the faculty investigation of how these factors were managed and the results obtained from the faculty survey, it can be concluded that there is room for further improvement and that specific prioritised and classified management recommendations relating to the future management of WebCT as learning support system within the faculty can be made. Specific recommendations are made to promote faculty development through strategy formulation that addresses a prioritised list of recommendations, including the following: • The inclusion and recognition of e-Iearning development and administration in normal workload. • Lecture's development through technical competency development, the developing awareness of benefits of e-Iearning and developing the awareness and competency of e-Iearning integration. • Setting and maintaining a standard of minimum presence. • Providing additional lecturer support. • System evaluation. • Establishing a reward system for e-Iearning initiatives. • Strategy review. • E-Iearning research. These recommendations aim to drive the faculty development in line with the university's e-Iearning's vision and the university's e-Iearning main objective of: "elearning becoming a strategic asset".
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie is 'n ondersoek na die vierjaar-implementering van WebCT as webgebaseerde leerondersteunings- en inhoudbestuurstelsel, binne die Fakulteit van Ekonomiese en Bestuurswetenskappe met doel om: • Die kritiese suksesfaktore t.o.v. die geimplementeerde stelsel te identifiseer. • Die relevantheid van hierdie suksesfaktore te ondersoek deur middel van literatuurstudie, tesame met verwysing na gevallestudies van soortegelyke WebCT implementerings. • 'n Oorsig te verskaf oor die bestuursinisiatiewe wat deur die universiteit en die fakulteit onderneem is om te voldoen aan die kritiese suksesfaktore soos geidentifiseer. • Om deur middel van 'n fakulteitsvraelys te toets of die fakulteit aan hierdie kritiese sukses faktore voldoen het. • Om aanbevelings aan die hand van die literatuurstudie, die fakulteit se inisiatiewe en die resultate van die fakulteitsvraelys, aanbevelings te maak vir die pad vorentoe. Uit die literatuurstudie spruit daar verskeie definisies en verklarings vir die konsep van e-leer binne die moderne e-Ieer omgewing. Hierdie basiese definisies lei na 'n oorsig van die basiese e-Ieer aktiwiteite soos beoefen in tradisionele universiteite om ten einde 'n basiese agtergrond daar te stel van die toepassing van e-Ieer by die Universiteit van Stellenbosch. 'n Verdere ondersoek wys hoe die leer- en inhoudsbestuurstelsel (WebCT) geimplementeer was in die Universiteit van Stellenbosch om as ondersteundende e-Ieer stelsel te funksioneer aan die hand van die voordele en kritieke gekoppel aan die gebruik van soortegelyke stelsels. Die volgende agt kritiese suksesfaktore is vir die fakulteit geidentifiseer: • Alle personeel en studente het 24/7 toegang tot die vereiste infrastruktuur en ondersteunding. • Alle belanghebbendes het 'n verenigde visie van die stelsel se doelwitte. • Topvlakbestuur is sterk toegewyd tot die e-Ieer konsep. • Prestasie-evaluasie van die geimplementeerde stelsel. • Die daarstel van 'n minimum aan-Iyn teenwoordigheid as vertrekpunt. • Dosente (gebruikers) se inkoop/eienaarskap in die nuwe stelsel. • Die daarstel van dosente se bevoegdheid, voordele en e-Ieer integrasie. • Bestuur van WebCT word gevestig as deel van normale besigheidsaktiwiteite. Vanuit die oorsig van die relevantheid van elk van die agt kritiese suksesfaktore, soos hierbo ge'fdentifiseer, tesame met die ondersoek t.o.v. hoe die faktore bestuur is binne die fakulteit en die resultate wat vanaf die vraelys verkry is, kan daar tot gevolgtrekking gekom word dat daar ruimte vir verdere verbetering bestaan. Om hierdie ruimte vir verbetering te vul en die toekomstige bestuur van WebCT as e-Ieer ondersteunende stelsel aan te spreek, kan spesifieke, prioriteitsgekoppelde en geklassifiseerde aanbevelings t.o.v. die toekomstige bestuur van e-Ieer gemaak word. Spesifieke aanbevelings is gemaak om die fakulteit se ontwikkeling d.m.v. strategieformulering wat 'n Iys van geprioritiseerde aanbevelings aanspreek, te bevorder. Die aanbevelings stuil die volgende in: • Die insluiting en erkenning van e-Ieer ontwikkeling en administrasie in die normale werklas. • Dosente-ontwikkeling d.m.v. tegniese vaardigheidsontwikkeling, ontwikkeling van bewustheid van voordele van e-Ieer en die ontwikkeling van bewustheid en vaardigheid t.o.v. e-Ieer integrasie. • Die daarstel en onderhoud van 'n minimum teenwoordigheid. • Verskaffing van addisionele dosente-ondersteuning. • Stelsel-evaluasie. • Die daarstel van 'n erkenning- en vergoedingstelsel vir e-Ieer inisiatiewe. • Strategie hersiening. • E-Ieer navorsing. Hierdie aanbevelings poog om die fakulteit te dryf in Iyn met die universiteit se e-Ieer visie en die hoofdoelwit van e-Ieer aan die universiteit: "dat e-Ieer 'n strategiese bate moet word."

The main motivation of this thesis is to contribute to the literature on the macroeconomic effects of foreign aid flows. It consists of four empirical papers, investigating the two main channels through which aid flows impact the recipient economy: (i) the fiscal sector, and (ii) the real exchange rate. The first paper is concerned with the impact of aid on government expenditure, domestic revenues and borrowing. It uses a traditional fiscal response framework with annual data for Ethiopia. The second paper also focuses on the fiscal sector but uses a recently compiled quarterly fiscal dataset and the cointegrated vector autoregression methodology. The main result arising from both papers is the strong correlation between aid inflows and domestic borrowing, possibly as a strategy to smooth unpredictable and volatile aid inflows. Aid is positively correlated with government expenditures, but there is little evidence of tax displacement. There is also evidence of aid heterogeneity, as grants and loans induce different effects. The third paper assesses the impact of foreign aid on the Ethiopian real exchange rate, which is a common measure of external competitiveness. It uses a quarterly macroeconomic dataset and applies two distinct methodologies: (i) single-equation cointegration models, and (ii) an unobserved components model. The results do not provide support for the ‘Dutch disease' hypothesis. The fourth paper investigates the extent to which foreign aid is ‘absorbed' and ‘spent'. The empirical analysis uses a panel of 25 African low-income countries and applies recently developed panel cointegration techniques. The findings suggest that aid is fully spent while absorption is higher than previously estimated.

Changes are afoot in the nonprofit sector of the economy (James, 2003). Nonprofit leaders are adopting entrepreneurial business models to sustain or expand the scope of their mission work. This change is part of a counter-hegemonic shift toward a new economic paradigm in which blended business models create both social and financial value (Sabeti, 2009; Sahakian & Dunand, 2013). The current study explored how nonprofit leaders understand the shift toward a more enterprising and entrepreneurial nonprofit sector. Qualitative methods, along with a grounded theory framework were used to elicit leaders' perspectives on the emergence of social enterprise in nonprofits and the characteristics of successful nonprofit social enterprise. Findings include five themes of social enterprise understanding that offer structure for further research and professional discourse on the subject, including: 1) Social enterprise as a necessary and inevitable evolution of the nonprofit organization; 2) Social enterprise as a means of achieving a social mission; 3) Social enterprise as a true blending of business and social impact models; 4) Social enterprise as a business principle applied to a social mission context; and 5) Social enterprise as a market-driven approach to financial and social value creation. A secondary analysis points to the emergence of a social enterprise synergy effect in which the social and financial value generated by nonprofit social enterprises yield a third effect that is greater than the sum of the individual parts. The implications of these findings are limited to nonprofit social enterprises, but contribute to our understanding of this nascent field.

Field studies examined the strategies of mowing, herbicide, fertility, and all combinations on tall ironweed populations, weed biomass, pasture yield, grazing, economics, and forage quality at three Kentucky locations. Mowing was performed in July 2008 and 2009, herbicide applied in August 2008, and fertilizer applied in September 2008 and 2009 at all locations. Weed populations were measured in 2008, 2009, and 2010, and forage and weed biomass collected in May or June of 2009 and 2010. Herbicide treatments reduced weed biomass at all locations, and reduced tall ironweed stems by 64% or greater in 2009 at all locations. Weed biomass did not differ when comparing all treatments with and without mowing or treatments with or without fertilizer. Forage grass biomass produced was greatest with herbicide plus fertilizer and with the combination of mowing plus herbicide plus fertilizer at all locations in both years. Two years of grazing did not reduce weed populations. Grazing did reduce forage grass and clover biomass at one location, and weed biomass at two locations. Two locations had positive economic returns based on herbicide treatment for weed control and forge yield. Herbicide treatments reduced crude protein at one location and in-vitro true digestibility at two locations.

För att upprätthålla en ekonomisk hållbarhet inom ett företag krävs ett ansvarsfullt företagande inom organisationer, vilket skapar behov av ett systematiskt arbetssätt med ekonomiska styrmedel. Olika styrmedel kan vara relevanta för olika syften, varför valet och användandet av dem är kritiskt att studera. Studien undersöker därför genom en komparativ fallstudie vilka faktorer som påverkar valet och användandet av styrmedel i småföretag i Sverige. Undersökningen resulterar i ett antal faktorer som enligt fallföretagen påverkar hur besluten om styrmedel tas. Dessa faktorer ligger som grund för den modell som skapats. Modellen visar att informationsbehovet hos ledaren är det som påverkar hur valet och användandet sker samt att behovet förändras beroende på företagets och omvärldens karaktär tillsammans med ledarens bakgrund.
Maintaining economic sustainability within a company requires a responsible business organization that creates the need for a systematic approach to economic instruments. Different instruments may be relevant for different purposes and therefor the choice and use of them is critical to study. The study examines, through a comparative case study which factors influence the choice and use of economic instruments in small businesses in Sweden. The survey results in a number of factors that, in the studied companies affects how decisions on financial instruments are made. These factors form the basis of the model created. The model shows that the informational needs of the leader is what influences how the selection and use takes place, and that need is changing depending on the company and the external characteristics along with the background of the leaders.

This thesis introduces a new methodological approach to provide a framework for environmental health and socioeconomic perception that critically assesses the management of treated wastewater (TWW) reuse practice and options. The methodology combines Multi-Criteria decision Making (MCDM) and Rapid Impact Assessment Matrix (RIAM). The approach uses expert opinion to assess TWW reuse options and converts the qualitative subjective evaluation of experts into quantitative objective and numeric output. The methodology includes the use of a Driver Force, Pressure, State, Impact and Response (DPSIR) framework to analyse the current situation in a specific case study (Kuwait). The research identified the best available TWW reuse options for Kuwait and determined the essential environmental health and socioeconomic criteria affected by the practice of selected TWW reuse options. The latter include recreational and agricultural irrigation, firefighting and industrial and ruses, oil depressurization and groundwater recharge. Options where the public had direct contact with TWW, such as showering, cooking and drinking were rejected. Environmental health criteria were found to be the most significant criteria associated with TWW reuse practice and options, but given current heavy subsidies of wastewater treatment, distribution and transportation, the economic burden was also significant. Further research in this area is recommended to enable a reduction of pressures on freshwater resources through TWW reuse practice and this should be included within a wider context of integrated water management (IWM).

In rural Punjab of Pakistan, women from small farm families have a huge role to play in realizing the potential that the country has in livestock sector to flourish. The study presents the current socio-economic condition of women livestock raisers, the extent and nature of their participation in livestock management activities, the impact of women's participation on their families' welfare, and the factors affecting their participation in livestock management activities. The type and size of the family, respondent's age, distant location of the village from the city, and the overall developmental status of the district had their impact on different aspects of rural women's status. At each of the three geographical levels, women respondent's participation level in livestock management activities was multiple of that of their husbands' level. Cultural norms, gendered division of labor, availability of family labor, and the physical condition of the participant were found more operative in determining the nature and level of participation of the family labor in livestock management activities. Participation of the family labor, various aspects of women's status, livestock related factors, and economic factors were the main causes identified as the factors affecting women's participation in livestock management activities. Improving women's role in livestock management and production is essential in improving overall family's health, education, income, and food security. The results signify the need for geographical targeting and the importance of using a gendered approach in the agricultural development programs.

The Western and Central Pacific Ocean (WCPO) is home to the largest tuna fishery stock in the world. However, Pacific Island members of the Western and Central Pacific Tuna Commission (WCPTC) argue that their share of the economic rent from the tuna catches taken out of the Pacific region is very small, being on average only about 6% of the total net benefit, when compared to the share earned by Distant Water Fishing Nations (DWFNs). Kiribati is one of the Pacific Island Countries (PICs), which relies heavily on its fishery for its economic development and sustainability. Kiribati earns 40% - 50 % of its government revenue from fisheries access fees paid by DWFNs for tuna caught in the the Kiribati EEZ. The Government of Kiribati (GoK) believes that Kiribati could get greater benefit if they develop their own domestic tuna fishery. This study uses Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) and SWOT Analysis to investigate whether domestication of the tuna fishery is the right move for Kiribati or not. The CBA reported in this thesis adapted a model developed by Campbell (2004) to investigate and evaluate fisheries policy in Papua New Guinea (PNG). However the model in this thesis is reflective of the situation and case of Kiribati. In analyzing the different options identified in this study, the CBA indicated negative (-) NPV(s) for the medium-sized vessel option and positive (+) NPV(s) for the large-sized vessel option. The SWOT analysis however, complemented the CBA by further investigating the tuna domestication options in the economic, social and business and business environment of Kiribati. The SWOT analysis indicated that the existing situation and business conditions in Kiribati appears to favor the small to medium sized vessel options which are less risky than the large purse seine vessel option.

Cette thèse constitue un outil permettant d'établir, développer et améliorer la coopération entre les partenaires russes et occidentaux, ainsi que d'aider les représentants des secteurs privé et public occidentaux (sociétés privées et organisations internationales) à développer leurs activités en Russie. Son objectif est de montrer le rôle de la mentalité nationale (dans notre cas, la mentalité russe) dans le développement de ces relations. La thèse constitue une étude théorique et pratique, où nous avons utilisé l'approche multidisciplinaire du concept de mentalité; nous avons recouru aux disciplines comme histoire, sciences politiques, sociales et économiques, psychologie et management interculturel.

Clinical laboratory test results are integral to patient management. Important aspects of laboratory tests’ contributions are the use of the test information and the role they have in facilitating efficient and effective use of healthcare resources. Methods of measuring those contributions were examined using quantitative HCV RNA test results (HCV VL) in therapeutic management decisions as a model. Test precision is important in those decisions; therefore, the clinical use was evaluated by studying the impact that knowledge of inherent assay imprecision had on clinicians’ decisions. A survey describing a simulated patient at a decision point for HCV triple-combination therapy management was sent to 1491 hepatology clinicians. Participants saw HCV RNA results at five different levels and were asked to choose to: continue therapy, discontinue therapy, or repeat the test. Test results were presented both with and without the 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Three of the VLs had CIs that overlapped the therapeutic decision level. Participants saw both sets of results in random order. Demographics and practice preferences were also surveyed. One-hundred-thirty-eight responses were received. Adherence to clinical guidelines was demonstrated in self-reported behaviors and in most decisions. However, participants chose to repeat the test up to 37% of the time. The impact of the knowledge of assay imprecision did not have a statistically significant effect on clinicians’ decisions. To determine economic value, an analytic decision-tree model was developed. Transition probabilities, costs, and Quality of Life values were derived from published literature. Survey respondents’ decisions were used as model inputs. Across all HCV VL levels, the calculated test value was approximately $2600, with up to $17,000 in treatment-related cost savings per patient at higher HCV VLs. The test value prevailed regardless of the presence or absence of CIs, and despite repeat testing. The calculated value in cost savings/patient was up to 100 times the investment for HCV VL testing. Laboratory tests are investments in efficient uses of healthcare resources. Proper interpretation and use of their information is integral to that value. This type of analysis can inform institutional decisions and higher level policy discussions.

Stakeholders’ perceptions of social, environmental, and economic concerns in the Rookery Bay Estuary were examined through this research. The purpose of this study was to discover the shared value and common resolution responses for the people of the Rookery Bay area that can extend to other local environmental management scenarios. Using Stakeholder Theory, Rational Choice Theory, Symbolic Interactionism, and Systems Theory as theoretical foundation, the following research questions were considered: RQ1) What are the points of shared value of community stakeholders facing environmental management issues? RQ2) How do the perspectives of the community stakeholders toward the social, environmental, and economic issues relate to their local environmental decision-making? RQ3) What are the attitudes and behaviors toward water? Participants identified the importance of water and the natural environment on the community. Additionally, participants were aware of the social, economic, and environmental issues and noted tension between stakeholders; however, they have a limited understanding of the concept of shared value. This research illustrates the benefit of weaving concepts from various fields together to strengthen the conflict studies field.The findings and recommendations in this research offer an outline that provides a path from dispute to common value generation that leads through creating shared meanings, a shared understanding, a shared story, to shared value that is stable over time.

Les travaux présentés contribuent à un des enjeux majeurs de l'Entreprise Etendue liée au domaine de la production d'énergie électrique. L'objectif est de maintenir en dynamique la qualité des services rendus par les processus de production. Ces travaux ont ainsi pour objet, en se référant au cadre de modélisation d'Entreprise GERAM, de proposer une méthodologie réutilisable pour l'automatisation intégrée des centrales hydroélectriques. Ces dernières étant structurellement des systèmes stables, cette méthodologie est basée sur une approche orientée processus et aboutit au développement de modèles pérennes et réutilisables. Le point central de cette méthodologie consiste en la définition d'un modèle de référence ICMMS (Intelligent Control-Maintenance-technical Management Systems) formalisant la connaissance générique, de niveau terrain, applicable à l'automatisation de toute centrale hydroélectrique. La mise en œuvre de ce modèle de référence conduit à la proposition d'une architecture HSAS (Hybrid Smart Automation System) qui intègre en un tout cohérent sur les points de vue Contrôle, Maintenance et Gestion Technique, les différents composants d'automatisation distribués, supportés par des actionneurs, capteurs, ou contrôleurs conventionnels de niveau terrain. Par rapport à cette architecture, les concepts innovants de "Surveillance Conditionnelle" pour l'îlot Maintenance et d' "Atténuation de Perturbations" pour l'îlot Contrôle sont définis et étudiés afin d'être intégrés au système ICMMS. De plus, nous proposons, pour la Gestion Technique, des concepts, critères et outils pour l'évaluation de performances des HGUs (Hydroelectric Generating Units). Cette contribution est basée sur la définition d'un système d'évaluation des performances économiques utilisant des descripteurs quantitatifs mesurant l'état d'efficacité, le niveau de gestion de l'exploitation et l'état de maintenance de ces unités. Une nouvelle stratégie en lien avec la maintenance, intitulée EBM (Economic performance Based Maintenance), est ainsi formalisée. L'ensemble de nos propositions est validée sur une étude de cas.

This study took place in northern Tanzania in Babati district. Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) are establishments that endorse conservation of the wildlife and the environment, development and sustainable land-use in the rural areas. The aim of the organization is to provide local communities with economic benefits and including them in the projects of wildlife and habitat conservation (Kicheleri et al., 2018). However, it is unclear if the aim of the organizations has worked that well in the field. The aim of this study is to analyze some of the local attitudes, of the villages Minjingu, Vilima Vitatu and Kakoi, towards Burunge Wildlife Management Area. This study will also analyze how the membership with WMA has changed the living conditions for the inhabitants in the three villages, by conducting semi-structured interviews on villagers, a WMA secretary and the district council officer. Results indicate that the most common perception villagers have about WMA is that the household income has decreased, and the destruction on land and crops by wildlife has increased. The villagers are unhappy about how WMA handles different situations. Due to this, the majority of the respondents from all three studied villages stated they would like to end the membership with WMA.

Patch clearcutting can be put to effective use for landowners with relatively small stands of timber. This project was designed to determine how clearcut opening size and mid-rotation crop tree release affects the value and volume of sawtimber at the end of rotation. In 1960 patch clearcuts were established in three different diameters, 50ft (.05ac), 150ft (.41ac), and 250ft (1.13ac). Current stand data (2011) was collected to determine trees per acre, basal area, average tree diameter, volume, and value. These data were input into a growth simulator to determine future trees per acre, basal area, average tree diameter, volume, and value with a crop tree release treatment and a control to 2061. The 50ft openings yielded little merchantable volume at mid-rotation and were primarily composed by shade tolerant species. In the 150ft and 250ft openings, there was better species diversity and an increase in sawtimber volume and value. Using openings of 150ft or greater, landowners can regenerate commercially important species and manage their forests to produce valued timber and maintain aesthetics.

1. The context: The European patent system has been affected by substantial changes over the past three decades, which have raised vigorous debates at different levels. The main objective of the present dissertation is to contribute to these debates through an exploratory analysis of different changes in patenting practices – in particular the way applications are drafted and filed to patent offices –, their drivers, association with the value of patents, and potential impact on the patent system. The coming essays are therefore empirical in their essence, but are inspired by economic motivations and concerns. Their originality is threefold: it resides in the novelty of the main questions discussed, the comprehensive database specifically built to address them, and the range of statistical methods used for this purpose. The main argument throughout these pages is that patenting practices have significantly evolved in the past decades and that these developments have affected the patent system and could compromise its ability to fulfil its economic purpose. The economic objective of patents is to encourage innovation and its diffusion through the public disclosure of the inventions made. But their exploitation in the knowledge economy has assumed so many different forms that inventors have supposedly developed new patenting and filing strategies to deal with these market conditions or reap the maximum benefits from their patents. The present thesis aims at better understanding the dimensions, determinants, and some potential consequences of these developing practices.

2. The evolution: Chapter 2 presents a detailed descriptive analysis of the evolution in the size of patent applications filed to the European Patent Office (EPO). In this chapter, we propose two measures of patent voluminosity and identify the main patterns in their evolution. Based on a dataset with about 2 million documents filed at the EPO, the results show that the average voluminosity of patent applications – measured in terms of the number of pages and claims contained in each document – has doubled over the past 25 years. Nevertheless, this evolution varies widely across countries, technologies and filing procedures chosen by the applicant. This increasing voluminosity of filings has a strong impact on the workload of the EPO, which justifies the need for regulatory and policy actions.

3. The drivers: The evolution in patent voluminosity observed in chapter 2 calls for a multivariate analysis of its determinants. Chapter 3 therefore proposes and tests 4 different hypotheses that may contribute to explaining the observed inflation in size: the influence of national laws and practices and their diffusion to other countries with the progressive globalization of patenting procedures, the complexification of research activities and inventions, the emergence of new sectors with less established norms and vocabularies, and the construction of patent portfolios. The econometric results first reveal that the four hypotheses are significantly associated with longer documents and are therefore empirically supported. It appears however that the first hypothesis – the diffusion of national drafting practices through international patenting procedures – is the strongest contributor of all, resulting in a progressive harmonization of drafting styles toward American standards, which are longer by nature. The portfolio construction hypothesis seems a less important driver but nevertheless highlights substantial changes in patenting practices. These results raise two questions: Do these evolving patenting practices indicate more valuable patents? Do they induce any embarrassment for the patent system?

4. Measuring patent value: If the former of these two questions is to be addressed, measures are needed to identify higher value patents. Chapter 4 therefore proposes a review of the state of the art on patent value indicators and analyses several issues in their measurement and interpretation. Five classes of indicators proposed in the literature may be obtained directly from patent databases: the number of countries in which each patent is enforced, the number of years during which each patent has been renewed, the grant decision taken, the number of citations received from subsequent patents, and whether it has been opposed by a third party before the EPO. Because the former two measures are closely connected (the geographical scope of protection and length of maintenance can hardly be observed independently), they have been subjected to closer scrutiny in the first section of chapter 4, which shows that these two dimensions have experienced opposite evolutions. A composite measure – the Scope-Year Index – reveals that the overall trend is oriented downwards, which may suggest a substantial decline in the average value of patents. The second section of chapter 4 returns to the five initial classes of measures and underlines their main patterns. It appears that most of them witness the well-known properties of patent value: a severe skewness and large country and technology variations. A closer look at their relationships, however, reveals a high degree of orthogonality between them and opposite trends in their evolution, suggesting that they actually capture different dimensions of a patent’s value and therefore do not always pinpoint the same patents as being the most valuable. This result strongly discourages the reliance on one of the available indicators only and opens some avenue for the creation of one potential composite index of value based upon the five indicators to maximize the chances of capturing all potentially valuable patents in a large database. The proposed index reflects the intensity of the signal provided by all 5 constituting indicators on the potential value of each patent. Its declining trend reflects a rarefaction of this signal on average, leading to different plausible interpretations.

5. The links with patent value: Based upon the six indicators of value proposed in chapter 4 (the five classical ones plus the composite), the question of the association between filing strategies and the value of patents may be analysed. This question is empirically addressed in chapter 5, which focuses on all EPO patents filed between 1990 and 1995. The first section presents a comprehensive review of the existing evidence on the determinants of patent value. The numerous contributions in the field differ widely along three dimensions (the indicator of value chosen as dependent variable, the sampling methodology, and the set of variables tested as determinants), which have translated into many ambiguities across the literature. Section 2 proposes measures to identify different dimensions of filing strategies, which are essentially twofold: they relate to the routes followed by patent filings toward the EPO (PCT, accelerated processing), and to their form (excess claims, share of claims lost in examination), and construction (by assembly or disassembly, divisional). These measures are then included into an econometric model based upon the framework provided by the literature. The proposed model, which integrates the set of filing strategy variables along with some of the classical determinants, is regressed on the six available indicators separately over the full sample. In addition, the sensitivity of the available results to the indicator and the sampling methodology is assessed through 18 geographic and 14 industrial clustered regressions and about 30 regressions over random samples for each indicator. The estimates are then compared across countries, industries and indicators. These results first reveal that filing strategies are indicative of more valuable patents and provide the most stable determinants of all. And third, the results do confirm some classical determinants in their positive association with patent value, but highlight a high degree of sensitivity of most of them to the indicator or the sample chosen for the analysis, requiring much care in generalizing such empirical results.

6. The links with patent length: Chapter 6 focuses on one particular dimension of patent value: the length of patents. To do so, the censored nature of the dependent variable (the time elapsed between the filing of a patent application and its ultimate fall into the public domain) dictates the recourse to a survival time model as proposed by Cox (1972). The analysis is original in three main respects. First of all, despite the fact that renewal data have been exploited for about two decades to obtain estimates of patent value (Pakes and Schankerman, 1984), this chapter provides – to the best of our knowledge – the first comprehensive analysis of the determinants of patent length. Second, whereas most of the empirical literature in the field focuses on granted patents and investigates their maintenance, the analysis reported here includes all patent applications. This comprehensive approach is dictated by the provisional rights provided by pending applications to their holders and by the legal uncertainty these represent for competitors. And third, the model integrates a wide set of explanatory variables, starting with the filing strategy variables proposed in chapter 5. The main results are threefold: first, they clearly show that patent rights have significantly increased in length over the past decades despite a small apparent decline in the average grant rate, but largely due to the expansion of the examination process. Second, they indicate that most filing strategies induce considerable delays in the examination process, possibly to the benefit of the patentee, but most certainly to the expense of legal uncertainty on the markets. And third, they confirm that more valuable patents (more cited or covering a larger geographical scope) take more time to process, and live longer, whereas more complex applications are associated with longer decision lags, but also with lower grant and renewal rates.

7. Conclusions: The potential economic consequences and some policy implications of the findings from the dissertation are discussed in chapter 7. The evolution of patenting practices analysed in these works has some direct consequences for the stakeholders of the patent system. For the EPO, they generate a considerable increase in workload, resulting in growing backlogs and processing lags. For innovative firms, this phenomenon translates into an undesired increase in legal uncertainty, for it complicates the assessment of the limits to each party’s rights and hence of the freedom to operate on a market, which is precisely what the so-called ‘patent trolls’ and ‘submariners’ may be looking for. Although empirical evidence is lacking, some fear that this may result in underinvestment in research, development or commercialization activities (e.g. Hall and Harhoff, 2004). In addition, legal uncertainty is synonymous with an increased risk of litigation, which may hamper the development of SMEs and reduce the level of entrepreneurship. Finally, for society, we are left with a contrasted picture, which is hard to interpret. The European patent system wishes to maintain high quality standards to reduce business uncertainty around granted patents, but it is overloaded with the volume of applications filed, resulting in growing backglogs which translate into legal uncertainty surrounding pending applications. The filing strategies that contribute to this situation might reflect a legitimate need for more time and flexibility in filing more valuable patents, but they could also easily turn into real abuses of the system, allowing some patentees to obtain and artificially maintain provisional rights conferred by pending applications on inventions that might not meet the patentability requirements. Distinguishing between these two cases goes beyond the scope of the present dissertation, but should they be found abusive, they should be fought for they consume resources and generate uncertainty. And if legitimate, then they should be understood and the system adapted accordingly (e.g. by adjusting fees to discourage some strategies, raising the inventive step, fine-tuning the statutory term in certain technologies, providing more legal tools for patent examiners to reject unpatentable applications, etc.) so as to better serve the need of inventors for legal protection in a more efficient way, and to adapt the patent system to the challenges it is or will be facing.
Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion
info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Over 700,000 adverse drug events (ADEs) result in emergency hospital visits annually, and many of these ADEs are preventable through the use of health information technology in hospitals. However, only 12.6% of U.S. hospitals have developed the capacity to adopt closed-loop electronic medical records (EMR). Organizational complexity may be a major factor influencing hospitals' adoption of closed-loop EMR. This quantitative study explored how organizational complexity influenced hospitals' adoption of closed-loop EMR. Diffusion of innovation theory was the foundation for this study. Logistic regression was used to establish possible relationships between organizational complexity and hospitals' adoption of EMR for closed-loop medication therapy management. Secondary data from Health Information and Management Systems Society were examined to explore the relationship between organization complexity and hospitals' adoption of EMR for closed-loop medication therapy. The research questions explored whether vendor selection strategy, structural complexity, and management structure influence hospitals' adoption of EMR for closed-loop medication therapy management. The results indicated that all three variables, vendor selection strategy, structural complexity, and management structure, are statistically significant predictors of hospitals' adoption of EMR for closed-loop medication therapy management. Results from this study may promote positive social change by enhancing hospitals' adoption of EMR for closed-loop medication therapy management, which may therefore help improve the quality, efficiency, and safety of health care delivery in U.S. hospitals.