This thesis explores the innovation survival issue. As role players in an increasinglyglobal marketplace, businesses acknowledge that regular and constant innovation isthe key to remaining competitive. In other words, in order to be successful, businessesare compelled to operate and produce...

ENGLISH SUMMARY: The research documents the development of a conceptual framework, the improbable circumstances strategic (ICS) framework, which guides organisations in the preparation for improbable circumstances.Four fields include: strategic management, innovation, systems thinking and...

South Africa has an uneven distribution of economic wealth. The political history of recentdecades is the main reason for this phenomenon and has led to a situation where vastnumbers of citizens did not receive the necessary training and development to embark onself-employment or to be employed...

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The crucial role of innovation in creating sustainable competitive advantage is widely recognised in industry today. Likewise, the importance of having the required information accessible to the right employees at the right time is well-appreciated. More specifically, the...

This thesis reports on a research project conducted at Stellenbosch University, focusing on the field ofinformation management, and contributing to the development of an approach for structuring information insuch a manner that context becomes apparent, which on its part assists persons (and...

This study intends to develop a decision support tool for new business developmentunits in South African consultancies. These consultancies endeavour to out‐license theirtechnology assets.The enterprise engineering model is examined and the rules and boundaries of theCartesian space is used to...

This paper discusses an industrial project in which the objective was to develop a classification method for associating key characteristics of supplier/customer relationships with supplier evaluation focus groups and core supplier capabilities. A neural network model was developed to supplement...

A method is proposed for decomposing the decision making process based on risk factors in product development (e.g., redesign risk, schedule risk). The IDEF3 methodology is used to capture the macro-decision structure of the design process. Decision sets are identified based on logical...

The reduction of setup time has a significant impact on shortening manufacturing cycle time. In this paper, characteristics of setup activities are investigated, and models for sequencing setup activities are discussed. Sequencing setup activities can be modeled as a project scheduling problem....

A newly introduced product or service becomes an innovation after it has been proven in the market. No one likes the fact that market failures of products and services are much more common than commercial successes. A data-driven approach to innovation is proposed. It is a natural extension of...