1,720,960 research outputs found
Contribution of knowledge management practices in generating a corporate culture of innovation
Get PDFOrganisations in all spheres of industries are facing constant change and need to be innovative to carve out a competitive market share. Knowledge is universally recognised as the organisation’s most valuable asset and strategic resource. The competitive business environment is impelling organisations to utilise and strengthen their knowledge capital in order to manage these changes.
The relationship between knowledge management and innovation is not well understood and there is a need to explicitly examine this relationship explicitly. The objective of this study is to focus on the internal environment of listed companies in South Africa and determine to what extent knowledge management practices can contribute to an organisational culture of innovation and whether or not these practices are antecedents to innovative behaviour by knowledge workers
Senior members in these companies were contacted by email and requested to access a questionnaire that was available via a Web address and complete the questionnaire. All completed questionnaires were analysed, using Item analysis, multiple regression and discriminant analysis.
Results show that knowledge management practices: the organisation's science and technology human capital profile and the organisation is flexible and opportunistic are important predictors of innovativeness in organisations that are perceived to have an organisational culture of innovation.M.B.L.Graduate School of Business Leadershi
Value of enterprise risk management in the South Africa business environment
Get PDFThe research question and phenomenon that is addressed by this research study is:
“What is the perceived importance and level of acceptance of ERM in the South
African business environment, and what is the perceived value of ERM in South
African organisations?”
The definition of ERM utilised throughout this research study is: “Enterprise Risk
Management is a process, effected by an entity’s board of directors, management
and other personnel, applied in strategy setting and across the enterprise, designed
to identify potential events that may affect the entity, and manage risk to be within its
risk appetite, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the achievement of
business objectives”. (Committee of Sponsoring Organisations of the Treadway
Commission – COSO, 2004: 4)
Enterprise Risk Management is perceived by many as being a necessity, but a
burden to business caused by increased investor confidence requirements, such as
adherence to King II, Basel II, JSE listing requirements, and the Public Finance
Management Act in South Africa, and Sarbanes Oxley requirements placed on
organisations listed in the USA, resulting primarily from recent international
corporate failures. This causes ERM to be implemented for compliance reasons
without obtaining the true value that ERM provides.
The main research problem is therefore to firstly identify the extent of acceptance
and implementation of ERM in organisations in the South African business
environment, secondly identify the reasons why organisations implement ERM in
these organisations, and thirdly identify factors that describe the perceived value that
ERM provides to these organisations.M.B.L.Graduate School for Business Leadershi
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
Consumer behaviour with respect to domestic water in Mauritius including a model
Get PDFLiterature survey shows that with, a few exceptions, the consumer behaviour of domestic water consumers has not been a common area of research. This explains the scarcity of information in this specific field. This scarcity was noted in the region and very much so in the context of Mauritius. And yet, such information is very much relevant for the management of the water sector, for the improvement of the service, for policy makers, for personal and social development and for achieving consumer satisfaction. This research brings about information that would contribute in its own way to these areas. The object of this thesis is to study the consumer behaviour in respect of domestic water consumers in Mauritius, to develop new theories and to build a consumer behaviour model.
The thesis, at its outset, gives the background of the research. It contains the description of the water supply situation in Mauritius, its production, its distribution and its management. The brief on the people of Mauritius helps to put in the right context the pluricultural nature of the Mauritian society which is important for the understanding of the consumer behaviour of Mauritians.
The literature survey, inter-alia, gives the historical development of consumer behaviour, its relevance to marketing, and its study as a discipline in its own right. The very scarcity of theories and models of consumer behaviour of domestic water consumers cannot be overlooked. The literature survey, therefore, covers some of the theories and models specifically on commodities. These models along with the literature review serve as theoretical foundation for the present research
The models of consumer behaviour which have been literature reviewed have further enabled to construct an integrated model of consumer behaviour which serves as a framework for the discussion and analysis of the new model which is developed during the course of this research.
The research is one mainly of general interest and can be classified as an exploratory research with a substantial contribution of descriptive research. The research has necessitated the collection of primary data. For this purpose, the objective approach was adopted and a consumer survey was carried out with the use of a direct structured questionnaire. The survey has been supplemented by discussions of focus groups. The analysis of the consumer survey is followed by the testing of the hypotheses, the development of theories and discussions on results obtained. The building of a new model of consumer behaviour based on the findings of the research is then undertaken and discussed.
The thesis covers a wide spectrum from the need of a domestic water connection, consumption of domestic water, post-consumption behaviour to the illegal use of water in Mauritius. The thesis winds up with conclusions and recommendations.
The specific topic of this thesis is a rare one. This research is but a step in the furtherance of knowledge. It stands as an original regional contribution to the science of management and to its development.DBLGraduate School of Business Leadershi
Exploring the strategising practices of middle managers - a case study at a South African university
Get PDFThis study set out to explore the strategising practices of middle managers and thereby expand the body of knowledge in terms of middle management practices in strategising in general, and makes an original contribution at the frontiers of middle management practices in a university context in South Africa. Although some research has been done on middle managers and strategy, a knowledge gap still exists, especially regarding strategising in emerging economies, such as South Africa. More specifically, the actions of middle managers at universities are open for exploration. Universities are increasingly exposed to new challenges in a competitive environment due to declining state funding, changing student demographics, new technological developments and increased market pressures. The sustainability of universities is also threatened by changes inside the universities, such as the drive for corporatisation and a changing internal focus. The way universities respond to and pre-empt dealing with these challenges will influence the sustainability and competitiveness of the university and subsequently the nations it serves. However, very little is known about the university managers who are powerful in terms of the administrative systems and decision processes. In order to understand strategy work
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and to know what enables or constrains it, it is necessary to look at middle managers at universities. This research puts forward three main arguments: firstly, strategy is dispersed throughout the entire organisation and includes middle managers’ strategising activities. Secondly, a need exists for practically relevant research founded in the organisational realities. Thirdly, universities present a relevant context within which to study strategising practices. An exploratory qualitative case study was followed to answer the research questions. Findings indicate that university middle managers, who operate within a machine bureaucracy, create systems within systems in order to cope with the organisational demands. Middle managers are mostly responsible for strategy implementation and the support role of university managers is prominent. Findings also indicate that the strategy loses its meaning and in an environment where the strategy textual artefacts and talk are abundant. In such an environment compliance takes precedence over buy-in. Finally, this study identified the enablers of and constraints on the strategy work of university middle managers. This research confirmed that strategy and strategising are human actions and confirmed that knowledge of what people do in relation to the strategies of organisations is required.D. Com. (Business Management)Economic
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