This thesis consists of five related essays which explore new approaches to help design successful and profitable new products. The primary focus is the front end of the process where the product development team is seeking improved input from customers and improved ideas for developing products...

For a rapidly developing country, South Africa has relatively very low levels of entrepreneurship. This thesis will investigate the reasons for the anemic number of new ventures and, most specifically, tries to address one of the biggest obstacles South African entrepreneurs face: limited access...

In this thesis, I develop a business plan for a frozen food company (Chiwate) that will operate in Morocco. Until very recently, the frozen food product-line in Morocco was very restricted. However, recent demographic and legal changes are very likely to result in huge changes in the industry in...

Essay One: Explaining the Start and Fizzle of Organizational Change: Co-evolving Process and Content The theme that sustaining efforts to change is difficult appears in many guises throughout the organizations. The tendency for change processes to run out of energy and momentum is widely...

Essay One The Impact of Shortages on Push-Pull Production Systems This paper explores the impact of endogenous customer demand on supply chain instability. It investigates how a semiconductor manufacturer's hybrid push-pull production system responds to customer demand, when inventory...

The recent surge in the globalization of markets in various industries has brought global brands to the attention of consumers worldwide. Just as information connects consumers across geographical borders in seconds, globalization is a common stream among many industries, which leads consumers...

Technology transitions require the formation of a self-sustaining market through alignment of consumers' interests, producers' capabilities, infrastructure development, and regulations. In this research I develop a broad behavioral dynamic model of the prospective transition to alternative fuel...