Doctoral Research

Business Strategy plays a major role in most companies, particularly in developed and mature countries. Studies show that a formal strategy can contribute to organizational effectiveness and competitive advantage. In the last few years, the United Kingdom has faced a protracted and slow growth, political uncertainty and inefficiencies due to poor management. As a result, similar mature markets have seen productivity and efficiency surpass that of the UK. Between 2017 and 2019, the UK economy lost 185 billion GBP per year due to poor management and resulting ill health. The UK also fell 14% behind similar countries in the G7 on productivity (Francke, 2017). The economic environment does not favour businesses with little or no strategic direction.

South African youth are facing an employment crisis. The deficient national education system and lack of skills development are two of the major issues which are contributing to a high youth unemployment rate. The at-risk teenager communities are predominantly living in poverty amidst various other social ills. The positive impact that entrepreneurship may have on communities is significant, hence the suggestion that entrepreneurial intervention at an early age can enhance the socio-economic empowerment of teenagers.

Organizations are continuously faced with various challenges. One particular problem is related to the retirement or brain drain of some of their essential human resources resulting in the loss of critical knowledge. Knowledge is regarded as one of the principal sources of innovation for organizations to remain competitive and create sustainable progress. Essential steps for the organization to augment their knowledge base is knowledge integration, knowledge preservation and knowledge utilization.

It is a pleasure for Monarch to announce that a recent research paper by MBA Candidate Jenny Tran entitled: “Achieving Blue Ocean Strategy by Operations Management” has been accepted for publication in the Proceedings of the Decision Sciences Institute 50th Annual Conference for 2019 at New Orleans in November. Ms. Tran researched her paper under the watchful direction of Dr. Barin Nag, Professor of Operations Management at Monarch. We wish Ms. Tran the very best in presenting her paper and we are proud of her accomplishment.