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1
Sylvester, Ray. "Can a popular music artist be justifiably regarded as a brand?" Thesis, Bucks New University, 2018. http://bucks.collections.crest.ac.uk/17533/.
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The study examined whether a popular music artist can be considered as a brand, and whether the interpretation of this brand helps understand how popular music artists exploit the consumer-driven market demand and value to bolster their music artist identity. Past studies on people brands or personal branding had notably considered entrepreneurs, artists, celebrities, CEOs, visual artists and female music artists. However, there is no conceptual and theoretical framework informed by specific research into popular music artists as a brand. The main aim of this study is to fill this gap and in so doing make an original contribution to knowledge. The study adopted a biographical research approach within an interpretive ethnographic research methodology. It employed thick description of qualitative textual narrative, providing a thorough and rigorous insight into the existing career of Craig David, a popular UK music artist, spanning four decades. The study, based on biographical research, integrated the brand management constructs of brand identity, brand value and brand community. These constructs are seen as relevant and pertinent in understanding people's brands and the way popular music artists exploit market demand for their creative proposition of value. A major finding, which emerged from the study, was a conceptual framework identifying popular music artists as possessing a brand identity, emanating from their physical, private and professional identities. These identities cumulatively form the popular music artist's persona, which possesses brand value, which an artist projects, to form a relationship with the publics. This enables the individual artist to derive a portfolio of revenue or return directly proportional to the reputation assigned by their publics. The findings of the study make an original contribution to the literature on people branding or personal branding. The thesis discusses the implications for the practice of brand management and identifies the study's limitations; it also points to a number of areas for further research.
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Hinson, Tyler. "From affect to value : towards a Deleuzian approach to creative production and control in late capitalism." Thesis, University of Essex, 2018. http://repository.essex.ac.uk/22060/.
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This dissertation is an attempt to map out the production process of graphic design within contemporary circuits of capitalist production. I will argue that understanding the production process of design today is assisted by Deleuze and Guattari’s understandings of capitalism as both a deterritorializing and reterritorializing force. I will argue that the generative power for graphic design is drawn from a level that Deleuze and Guattari describe as the body without organs, which is affective in composition. As affect, this raw material for design is a generative, non-conscious, non-representative, and unstructured milieu associated with what Deleuze and Guattari refer to as the virtual. On the other hand, I will argue that design labor also mobilizes a more structured and hierarchical level of discipline and control against these novel proliferations. This second level is associated with what Deleuze and Guattari call the plane of organization or actual plane of existence. I will ultimately locate this latter controlling side of capital within what Marx (1976) associated with the labor process of design labor. I will argue that the labor process of design is a technique that reterritorializes, manipulates, channels and ultimately de-radicalizes the creative affective energy that designers drawn from the body without organs. Once design work is understood in this way, I argue that we can then recognize the occupation as a strategic point through which capital both expropriates value from affective flows, while simultaneously serving as disciplinary mechanism to control the possibilities for subjective becomings.
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Li, Tianchen. "Entrepreneurship and environments : start-ups, growth aspirations, and exit." Thesis, University of Essex, 2018. http://repository.essex.ac.uk/21337/.
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At the start of the twentieth century, Schumpeter (1908; 1912) postulated the basis for a potential revolution in economics by arguing that the entrepreneur acts as the underlying force of economic growth. Despite Schumpeter’s contribution, the central role of entrepreneurship has only been systematically recognised in the literature in the past few years (Santarelli & Vivarelli, 2007). Santarelli and Vivarelli (2007) contended that the most common way to measure entrepreneurship was to focus on entrepreneurial start-up rates. Shane (2009) suggested that achieving job creation and economic growth from entrepreneurship is not a numbers game and entrepreneurship policy should encourage the formation of high quality, high growth companies. Furthermore, DeTienne (2010) stated that the entrepreneurial process does not end with the creation of a new business, but instead with entrepreneurial exit. Considering the crucial role of entrepreneurship, this thesis will look at these issues through three independent but interrelated studies: The first study introduces and assesses a set of measures of the quality of government that has both theoretical and empirical importance. The results confirm that the quality of government demonstrates varying moderating effects on the relationship between institutions and entrepreneurial start-ups. Drawing on the theory of planned behaviour and the entrepreneurial ecosystem approach, the second study looks at entrepreneurs’ growth aspirations in China. The results suggest that there is a positive relationship between attitude and growth aspirations and that people who perceive a greater sense of control over the outcomes of their actions are more likely to possess growth aspirations. The results also confirm the positive moderating effects of entrepreneurial ecosystems on the relationship between individual motivational aspects and growth aspirations. The third study first assesses how individual cognitive aspects can contribute to distinctions in exit motives. Second, by adopting resource dependence theory, and institutional theory, this study argues that environmental dynamism and institutional ambiguity exert direct and indirect effects on entrepreneurial exit patterns in China.
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Fischbacher, Moira Catherine. "Purchasing in markets and networks : the relationship between general practitioners and National Health Service Trusts." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 1999. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/5131/.
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The GP purchasing role is considered in the light of two market policy objectives which are explored within the broader context of the nature of the purchase-provider relationship in terms of both its content and process. The two policy objectives, outlined in the Government's White Paper "Working for Patients" (Department of Health 1989), are that GPs would stimulate: (1) improved efficiencies in secondary care services; and (2) a transfer of resources from secondary to primary care. The study adopts a qualitative approach, gaining insight into purchasing relationships by way of interviews and non-participant observation, and by interpreting the data both inductively and deductively. Economic and social theories, in particular transactions cost theory and network theory, are used as a framework for the fieldwork and to inform the analysis and discussion. This thesis argues that GPs have fulfilled the two original market policy objectives of stimulating secondary care efficiencies and resource transfer from secondary to primary care. The means by which they have achieved this, however, is not via neoclassical contracts negotiated in a competitive market context, as market proponents envisaged, but through economically efficient, relational contracts within ideologically/culturally and socially embedded networks, for which the market policy has been a catalyst. These networks have developed at an inter-GP practice and at a purchase provider level, and are characterised by knowledge creation, innovation, learning, service (re)design, partnering and the pursuit of economic and social goals, in particular the enhancement of professional autonomy. The study affirms the need for a socio-economic perspective in organisational studies, and suggests directions for theory development and future research which can follow from this study and which will further understanding and analysis of network relations and of the NHS context in particular.
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Al-Taee, May Laith. "The role of social networking tools in facilitating knowledge management and sharing processes at the UAE municipalities : opportunities and challenges." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2014. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/5095/.
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This thesis contributes to knowledge-based view literature by proposing a novel approach to the integration of two key perspectives in knowledge management: the objectivist and practice-based perspectives. This integration can provide the basis for the adoption and use of information and communication technology (ICT) tools for the sharing and integration of knowledge. This integrative approach is aligned with the knowledge-based view of the firm and can provide valuable opportunities for the transfer of knowledge. The objectivist perspective has thus met with limited success due to the inherent difficulty in codifying knowledge, particularly as it relates to strategies for the effective transfer of knowledge within organisations. On the other hand, the practice-based perspective continues to develop but has not yet reached a maturity level to justify its use on a large scale. Neither one of these two perspectives alone is able to deal with the challenges of transferring and integrating knowledge. The recent knowledge management literature has emphasised the importance of interactive knowledge management technologies, which have manifested themselves in the form of social networking tools in bringing the human side into the knowledge management equation. It is argued that such technologies have distinct features that encourage knowledge sharing, social interaction, and user participation. Yet, very little is known on the benefits, challenges and the factors leading to its successful implementation within organisations.
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Ibrahim, Dzurizah. "An analysis of work and non-work patterns in Malaysian public sector workplaces : a multi-level approach." Thesis, Cardiff University, 2013. http://orca.cf.ac.uk/49611/.
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This research examines the relationship between the work and non-work lives of Malaysian public sector employees. The study sought to analyse how the interface between work and non-work life is influenced by both organisational contexts as well as the broader social and cultural context of Malaysia. As the research in the context have been under-investigated and the research subject usually adopts a single-level of analysis, therefore, this study is based on a multi-level analysis examining the interaction between the macro level (role of the State), meso level (the role of the organisations), with micro level influences (such as the individual‟s religious and cultural values) and how, in turn, these factors affect the ways in which employees organise their work and non-work lives. The research is conducted in three organisations and includes 71 in-depth interviews. Each organisation chosen reflected different workforce compositions in terms of gender, ethnicity, age and religious backgrounds. A multi-level perspective demonstrates how structural factors are significant when examining how actors are either enabled or constrained in their ability to manage the relationship between work and non-work. The findings of this study demonstrate that the State, organisations (through their different working practices, working hours and organisational cultures), religious and cultural values as well as the range of familial, communal and institutional supports influence how employees organise their work and non-working lives. Within the Malaysian context, religious and cultural values emphasise the dual commitment of work and non-work lives for employees. Thus, the study highlights how this context affects management‟s decisions and employees‟ expectations and experiences. This study also found that work/non-work life approaches vary at the meso level because of different organisational contexts. Finally, the nature of the relationship between work and non-work varies according to the strategies which workers adopt. Variations of work/non-work integration identified among workers in the study demonstrates that some achieve partial to full integration, whereas others either experience conflictual relations between work and home, or develop strategies to segment work and non-work. Thus, the study identified different degrees of satisfaction and dis-satisfaction with the relationship between work and non-work. Hence, work/non-work integration can be best viewed as a continuum. A multi-level examination of macro-, meso- and micro levels can provide critical learning points for policy makers and employers aware of the need to find culturally appropriate ways to enhance work/non-work integration as well as to alleviate the harmful effects of work/non-work conflict.
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Eggins, Timothy William. "An exploration of process variability and its management : a case study of four star hotels." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2013. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/4590/.
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This thesis suggests how service operations that experience arrival time and process duration variability can configure resources and design processes so that a throughput time appropriate for customers is maintained. It does this by exploring four star hotel operations, an under-researched area and uses observation, an under-used research method, to identify causes and reasons for variable throughput time. Several theories are brought together in a unique way to categorise and analyse the findings. The conclusion is that four star hotels can focus on reducing variability arising from their actions but that customer variability generally needs to be accommodated. Customer variability is accommodated by using flexible capacity in the form of labour, space and equipment. Service encounters are shortened to allow employees to process customers more rapidly when demand is high. Physical space to contain customers is provided to allow them to exercise choice as to the length of time that they spend on activities. Labour is flexible and cross-trained; moving labour to satisfy demands of customers present is a key operational aim in hospitality. This is supported by ensuring that sufficient equipment and materials are provided to meet the needs of customers. Future research could be conducted to investigate approaches to influencing customer variability while maintaining perceived satisfaction with service. The findings reveal useful insights for operations that experience variable arrival and processing rates. People are the greatest source and least controllable source of variability. It also confirms the utility of some key operations and service management theories.
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Furukawa, Chitose. "Functional multinational team leadership and team effectiveness from a dynamic capability perspective." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2011. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/1386/.
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Multinational teams (MNTs) have traditionally consisted of members from different nationalities, and such teams have attempted to capitalise on the diversity of the members to create innovative solutions. Currently, dynamic capabilities, by which is meant the ability to integrate, coordinate and upgrade capabilities to respond to environmental changes and dynamic demands, have been urged on multinational companies. However, very limited attention has been paid to how functional MNT leaders utilise team capabilities, including the diversity of the members, to enhance team effectiveness in organisational processes. To address that research gap, this study investigates functional MNT leadership skills aligned with dynamic capabilities and McGrath’s Input–Process–Output (IPO) model. First, it explores organisational processes and roles of functional MNT leaders from a perspective of dynamic capabilities. Second, it examines the mediation effect of functional MNT leadership skills by testing the proposed IPO model, and investigates similarities and differences between functional MNTs in two locations, Japan and Germany. The findings show that the right combination of functional MNT leadership skills – intra-team and extra-team relational skills, communication skills, setting clear goals, managing differences of national cultures, and technical competences – is required depending on the type of functional MNT and the location.
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Dunnion, Marie. "The masked employee and false performance : detecting unethical behaviour and investigating its effects on work relationships." Thesis, University of Worcester, 2014. http://eprints.worc.ac.uk/5104/.
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This thesis was undertaken to investigate a specific type of unethical behaviour in the workplace within the context of the United Kingdom (UK) public sector. The main research aim was to develop an understanding of how to detect false performers. Parnell and Singer (2001) proposed the construct of False Performance (FP) when developing the Organisational Charlatan Scale (OCS) to measure organisational charlatanism (OC). According to their definition, false performers are those individuals who seek to improve their perceived performance at the expense of their actual performance. This type of employee deliberately portrays themselves as being better able to perform in a job role than they know themselves to be capable of. In the current study, the phenomenon of FP was explored in two phases using a sequential, mixed methods approach. The present research sought to address the gaps in the literature by extending previous quantitative efforts and carrying out the first qualitative study in this area. In the first qualitative phase, eight focus groups (n=51) were conducted, and grounded theory was used to analyse the data and generate theory. Management and Non-Management were questioned about their perceptions and experiences of FP, especially relating to the job interview and the performance appraisal interview. The intention was not to identify false performers in the focus groups, but rather to extract themes and patterns of FP behaviour. Results identified five categories common to both Management and Non-Management: Perceptions of FP in the Workplace; FP in the Interview; Does Trust Really Matter to the False Performer?; The Effect of FP on Co-Worker Morale; and Tackling FP in the Workplace. In the second phase, the qualitative results were used to inform the quantitative study. The focus group data helped to generate items for the development of a new measure of FP i.e. the False Performance Questionnaire (FPQ). To achieve the objective of producing a reliable new instrument, the FPQ was systematically developed in six stages, concluding with two phases of questionnaire administration. Using an item analytic and factor analytic approach, the FPQ was distributed in two phases (stages 5 and 6) in order to refine the item set. In stage 5, a 53-item version of the FPQ was tested on a sample of 129 employees in three public sector organisations. In stage 6, the FPQ was further refined and a 21-item FPQ was administered to a sample of 219 employees in four public sector organisations. Following exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, a final 16-item solution with two subscales was found to have good reliability (α=0.76). In contrast, the nine-item OCS was found to demonstrate relatively low reliability (α=0.55). These findings indicate that the current study has generated a more robust and reliable measure of FP, thus achieving the overall objective of developing a new measure of FP i.e. the 16-item FPQ. As regression analyses revealed a significant but negative beta for job performance as a predictor of FP (β=-.159, p<0.05), this indicates that the lower the job performance, the higher the score on the FPQ, thus suggesting that employees rating highly in FP are likely to be substituting FP for job performance. Whilst FP was negatively and significantly correlated with job performance, no significant correlation was found between the Impression Management (IM) scale and the job performance scale. This suggests that whilst an IM score reveals little about actual job performance, a score on the FPQ could help predict future job performance. The thesis concludes by considering the future applications and practical implications of this research, which include: a) An increased understanding of how to detect FP in the workplace; b) Better selection processes; c) Fairer performance evaluation processes; and d) A more ethical work environment characterised by improved trust among co-workers.
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Wise, Sean Evan. "The impact of intragroup social network topology on group performance : understanding intra-organizational knowledge transfer through a social capital framework." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2013. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/3793/.
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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.
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Bayley, Kenneth Stephen. "Overcoming barriers to post-qualifying social work education and training : the candidate speaks." Thesis, University of Southampton, 2009. https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/66057/.
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In this practitioner based inquiry I have taken the findings of previous studies and explored in greater depth the reasons why some qualified registered social workers are reluctant to undertake further post-qualifying study. This timely research coincided with the introduction of a new General Social Care Council (GSCC) post-qualifying framework aimed at increasing the number of social workers and their employers engaging in continuing professional development (CPD). Currently the GSCC estimated that between 10-12% of social workers have achieved a post-qualifying award (GSCC, 2006). To assist the readers understanding of the nature of post-qualifying social work education and training a review of contemporary literature and policy guidance introduces this research study. Using primarily qualitative methodologies I gathered data from three distinct sample groups of registered social workers currently undertaking post-qualifying training or recently completed their PQ awards at a number of south coast Universities. I adopted a three-stage structured approach, using questionnaire, interviews and focus groups as data gathering tools. My analysis and interpretation focussed on giving voice to respondents 'lived' experience and to provide authentic evidence for presentation to representatives of higher education, employers and training bodies involved in the planning, design and delivery of the new PQ framework. A comparison of other social welfare professions was used to benchmark CPD polices and requirements across social work, nursing and teaching. My findings demonstrated correspondence with a previous much larger research study funded by Skills for Care at the Centre for Health and Social Care research, Sheffield Hallam University. This research contributes to the continuing debate on the promotion of post-qualifying social work education and training and makes recommendations on possible tried and tested success factors, human resource strategies and the need for leadership from national bodies.
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Zhang, Shiming. "Managing in conflict : how actors collaborate in marketing green chemistry." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2016. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/7167/.
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The purpose of this research is to investigate business relationships, by drawing on conflict theories from organization studies and taking a mid-range research perspective to further develop these into industrial marketing research. IMP researchers have examined conflict as a threat to established business relationships and commercial exchanges, drawing on theories and concepts developed in organization studies. I adopt the behavioural approach from organisation studies, and contracts with particularly the socio-psychological approaches relating to the affective emotions of small groups. I find that there is much in common between the definitions of conflict developed by March (1999) and the theories of Jehn and Mannix (2001) on the combination of affective and cognitive ways of undertaking activities in conflicts, as conflict as experienced, emotional, aligned with material entities. These approaches have had a great influence but have not been fully considered in business-to-business research. This thesis aims to investigate how actors manage, and manage in, conflicts, and how their relationships dynamics work within networks. I develop conflict research by drawing on the IMP and Market Studies approaches, which address the pervasive conditions of business activity, encompassing the relationships and resources experienced by actors as events which trigger emotions. The overall research method chosen for this research is the case study. I identify five cases of relationships from the oil and gas industry’s service sector and examine conflict, its emotional dimensions and actors’ activities in conflicts within these cases in three empirical study chapters. Study 1 examines conflict of interest and resources and conflict as experienced by actors. Study 2 examines conflict from the emotional perspective by investigating a series of events and event-triggered emotions across the five cases of relationships. Study 3 focuses on adaptive activities undertaken in conditions of pervasive conflict, which produce incremental innovation. I propose an explanation of how actors manage, and manage in, conflict given that they tend to value and maintain relationships beyond individual episodes of exchange. Conflicts are investigated in relationships from a network perspective, showing that actors experienced these while adapting to changes in their business setting (regulation, technology or/and cost), modifying their roles in that network. By identifying conflict with the organizing forms of relationships and networks, the research shows how actors handle conflict by pursuing and combining a number of strategies, distributing the conflict across an enlarged network. By investigating the emotional dimension of conflicts, I find that affective emotion effects relationships and relationship dynamics. Actors transform and resource emotions with material entities, and in this process markets are shaped. Adaptations are part of the normal activities; actors, driven by medium term Chemical Management Service (CMS) contracts and cost pressures, undertake incremental innovation. An incremental innovation model is designed to illustrate the process of incremental innovation that operates for the ‘green chemical’ industry, and guides actors to contain costs through managing portfolios and resources, forecasting and innovation agenda, and reducing uncertainties in networks.
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Ganna, Mona Atef Abdelkhalek. "Global production networks and management controls : an empire perspective." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2017. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/8296/.
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This thesis is a study of the role of management control practices in global production networks (GPNs). The research is informed by a case study of an Egyptian garment factory that acts as a supplier for a French retailer of sports clothes. This thesis is inspired by its empirics. In Egypt, most of the exporting factories in the garment industry work as suppliers to foreign retailers or branders. This supplier-customer relationship is founded on the mutual transfer of knowledge from the customer. This is manifested in their requirements in terms of the product specification, quality and time of delivery. However, these are not the only requirements. In order for the factory to be selected as a supplier to the foreign retailers, the factory undergoes a detailed process of auditing in which the customer practices their negotiating power in asking for specific changes in the factory in terms of the factory’s structuring practices, human rights practices, quality control procedures, as well as management control practices. The management control requirements include cost reduction strategies, performance measurements, and reward systems for workers. The factory’s management collaborate with the customer’s team in order to apply these changes. The customer depends on visual information tags that are hung all over the factory, and electronic reports, as well as the physical attendance and observation of their team members as communication mediators through which they diffuse the required knowledge throughout the factory and view the factory’s operations. Techniques such as expanding the workers’ skills, self- and peer controls and group rewards are gradually taking place on the shop floor in order to meet the requirements of the customer. The relationship between the supplier and the customer is theorized within the framework of what is called global production networks or ‘GPNs’. GPNs are argued to be the geographic consequence of the movement from a modern to a postmodern economy. A postmodern economy is an informational economy in which advanced capitalist countries have decentralized the production processes to subordinate countries. Drawing from the theoretical framework developed by Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri in 2000 in Empire and extended by the work of Gilles Deleuze in 1992 in Postscript on the Societies of Control, this thesis argues that GPNs are used as one of the postmodern economic mechanisms that are facilitating the transformation of forms of power from discipline to control. As a response to this transformation, new forms of management controls are emerging in the factories of subordinate countries (i.e. the suppliers). The findings of this study show the importance of developing the technology used in both the production of goods and the communication of information within and out of the boundaries of the factory. This technology will support the development of the factory along the production network as well as improving the visibility of the factory’s operations to achieve instant and continuous control.
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Anderton, Dane. "Firm ecologies : life science and video game industries in Liverpool." Thesis, University of Liverpool, 2014. http://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/2009228/.
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This research examines the life science and video games industries in Liverpool. Previous research on agglomerations and cities tends to focus on epicentres or high concentration places such as Silicon Valley or global cities such as London and Tokyo, neglecting the northern post-industrial cities such as Liverpool, Leeds or Newcastle. Equally, many studies tend to focus in on one particular industry, whereas this research examines two key knowledge economy sectors in one place. Petilis (2012) argues that the cluster literature has become overemphasised and lacks analytical ability in the investigation of smaller firms and highly diverse concentrations of activity. An alternative ecological perspective is used in this thesis, which is considered more reflexive and flexible to the composition of the agglomerations seen outside the epicentres of the global economy. Using the heterarchical approach, as outlined by Grabher (2001), this research investigates the emergence and organisation of Liverpool’s life science and video game industries. It reveals the changing composition of the industries in Liverpool and how firms are connected into wider production networks beyond Liverpool. Finally, the research analyses how the two industries are situated in the anatomy of the city. The key findings are generated from a mixed methodology utilizing qualitative semi-structure interviews with owner-managers, industry informants and supporting institutions. Secondary quantitative data has been used gathered from annual reports, company websites, industry association and office for national statistics. Firstly, it is argued that the two industries emerged in Liverpool under different conditions and are on different trajectories, conditioned by local events and global mechanisms in the wider industry. Such trajectories have aided the rise or the fall of various structures and institutions within the city of Liverpool. This has resulted in a life science industry that resembles an institutionally thick anatomy and a video games industry that resembles an institutionally thin anatomy. Secondly, key findings regarding the organisation and connections beyond Liverpool highlight the fact that both industries show a lack of internal connectivity within the ecology and depend significantly on their external connections for inputs in production. For the life sciences this is exacerbated with the high level of product diversity between firms decreasing the likelihood of potential internal connectivity in production or joint resource utilization between firms. Thus firms rely on their external connections for finance and resources in order to further the production of their products through licensing and merger and acquisition agreements. Thirdly, the video games industry has gained greater autonomy over production analogues to that of the industry norm. For the life sciences, the rigidity in the generic business model is reinforced by the high levels of regulation and intellectual property protections and reduces the ability of some smaller firms to complete a product. Overall, we see two key knowledge economy sectors emerging with changing degrees of functionality as a result of global changes in the industry and the development of institutional infrastructures around these two sectors.
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Lahiri, Dhruba. "Identifying 'high performing' entrepreneurial oriented microenterprises : an empirical framework." Thesis, University of Liverpool, 2015. http://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/2038719/.
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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.
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Alismail, Saham. "Female employment in hotels in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates : barriers, enablers and experiences of work." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2016. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/6789/.
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The purpose of this study was to explore barriers to work, enablers for work and work experiences of women employed in the hotel sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The research contrasts experiences between participants, to explore the similarities and differences between them. A particular aim of the study was an investigation of the issues for women, particularly those with caring responsibilities, in finding and maintaining employment, and any policies/practices that support them. The study collected primary data through a survey, and in-depth interviews that were conducted during fieldwork in KSA and UAE. The study sampled 385 female employees working in various roles in hotels, and 45 subsequently participated in one-to-one, and small group interviews. The sample group included citizens of each country, Arab and non-Arab expatriates, with and without caring responsibilities for children or adults. The analysis of the survey and interviews found that women with caring responsibilities were more likely than women without those responsibilities to report conflicts between professional and personal responsibilities. A further finding was that women, and KSA participants in particular, were positive about flexible employment practices, perceiving them as a way to ease employment constraints. Regardless of country or nationality, women with children were found to suffer an earnings penalty. An additional insight was that KSA citizens claimed to have better prospects for career progression than expatriates although the former were less satisfied in their work. A number of barriers to employment and causes of job (dis)satisfaction were identified and these were found to vary, dependent on the country. There were also differences between the working experiences of national and expatriate women.
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Hu, Qing. "A critique of the consultant-client relationship in Chinese SME's Lean improvement projects." Thesis, Cardiff University, 2014. http://orca.cf.ac.uk/71189/.
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This thesis critiques the consultant-client relationship in Chinese SMEs’ lean improvement projects. SMEs, which are crucial to China’s economy, encounter many challenges during their development. Management practices, such as lean, have been developed to improve organisational performance. In their application to SMEs, resource constraints mean that business assistance from external agencies, such as management consultants, is required. Drawing on multiple theoretical lenses, including organisational learning, institutional theory and contingency theory, a research framework is established. This framework is employed to identify three research themes: organisations’ abandonment of existing practices; organisations’ learning of lean practices; and the consultant - SME client relationship during lean improvement projects. As well as the established consultants’ role, “consultants as external advisors”, a new role, “consultants in residence”, is identified. These two roles are studied through the three research themes. This thesis employs a multiple-case study approach. Consultancy-involved lean projects undertaken in five Chinese SMEs are investigated using data collection methods of semi-structured interviews, direct observation and documentation. Both within- and cross-case analyses are applied. The main contributions of this thesis are fourfold. First, it sets out the changing nature of the consultant - SME client relationship throughout the projects by comparing and contrasting the consultants’ and clients’ perspectives. Second, a framework which defines the impact of SME structural characteristics on the consultant-client relationship is developed. Thirdly, two organisational learning frameworks in relation to the two consultants’ roles are established. Furthermore, the approach employed to deinstitutionalise organisations’ existing practices is compared between the two consultants’ roles. In the conclusion, the implications of this research for academia, practitioners and policy makers are discussed. A checklist which can aid SME managers in employing consultancy services is proposed and areas for future research are identified.
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Miroshnik, Victoria. "Transmission of organisational culture from HQs to overseas subsidiaries in Japanese MNC : a methodological framework." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2011. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/2789/.
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This thesis unites the issues derived from the research on the relationship between culture and performance, where commitment is regarded as its vital index, in the domain of international business (IB). Despite its importance the concept of transmission of culture has not been examined quantitatively, regardless of qualitative studies proving that organizational culture has significant influence on a firm’s overall performance, and particularly on commitment. In addressing the above gaps, the present thesis develops a resource-based framework that examines whether organizational culture can be regarded as a strategic resource of a multinational company (MNC), what are the factors composing two concepts such as ‘organizational culture’ and ‘organizational commitment’ and whether there is a relationship between these concepts at three levels: a) HQs level in the home country, Japan, b) individual subsidiary level, located in the host country, Thailand, which is culturally very similar to the home country, and c) individual subsidiary level, located in the host country, India, which is culturally very distant to the home country. This theoretical framework essentially integrates theoretical perspectives on HQs-subsidiary relationship and transmission of culture in the multinational company in Asia under the Resource-Based View (RBV). This constitutes an innovative approach both in MNC-related literatures and literatures on culture and commitment. This study adopts positivism as a philosophical approach and uses the extensive review and analysis of literature to build a theory and three studies to test the theory. The methodology of quantitative research employs the three-stage research design; thus, triangulation, a research technique, is used to enhance the rigor of the research findings. Quantitative data analysis involved hypotheses testing using Correlation Analysis, Covariance Analysis, Factor Analysis, Discriminant Analysis, Multiple Regression Analysis and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) research techniques. Major contributions to theory include the development of a research methodology which provides robust conceptualization and measurement of the culture-commitment link and transmission of the culture of the HQs of multinational companies to their subsidiary operations in Asia under the Resource-Based View (RBV) theoretical framework for the analysis of multinational companies in the era of globalization. The results of this research may lead to the conclusion that (a) culture can be regarded as a valuable strategic resource of a company based on the fact of the existence of a strong relationship between culture and commitment, where commitment is considered to be one of the indices of performance, and (b) the transmission of culture in the form of a successful transfer of its major value-components from HQs to subsidiaries indeed takes place. This enables the creation of commitment of the employees in subsidiaries similar to that in HQs, which in turn provides the company with unique and valuable resources that should be regarded as the sources of competitive advantage of this Japanese MNC.
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Moore, Bruce. "Competing perspectives on the governance role of boards of English housing associations and attitudes to board payment." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2017. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/7232/.
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This thesis uses Q methodology and an abductive approach to discover competing conceptualisations of how housing associations should be governed and attitudes to board payment. It identifies five sets of perspectives characterised as: 1. Business Focused and Corporately Responsible 2. Socially Focused and Stakeholder Accountable 3. Regulator Focused and Professionally Responsible 4. Leadership Focused and Governance Rigour 5. Pragmatically Focused and Non-Prescriptive The results confirm the hybrid nature of housing associations and that their governance is complex, multi-faceted so does not converge on one uniform consensus view. Power and payment emerge as two particular issues of contention, but at a more fundamental level the differences relate to conceptions of the role of the board exists to fulfil. The characteristics of housing association governance are not only analysed at a sector level, but are also explored on a case basis for two housing associations to demonstrate the potential of Q methodology as a means of board assessment. The thesis also considers the significance that the particular context, conditions and circumstances may have from a personal perspective. The thesis concludes that increased recognition should be given to exposing and exploring differences of perspective and ensuring there is clarity about purpose and approach.
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Valenzuela, Francisco. "Public Servant identity at work in Chilean State bureaucracy : a Lacanian interpretation." Thesis, University of Essex, 2016. http://repository.essex.ac.uk/17349/.
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This thesis inquires over the process through which public servants construct an identity during the organisation of bureaucratic work. Using a qualitative approach, this process is observed empirically in the case of the Chilean State, where the implementation of neoliberal policies is commanded by policy-makers. In particular, drawing from a Lacanian theoretical framework, this study analyses the inconsistent fashion in which identification unfolds discursively. On the one hand, public servant subjectivity is viewed as articulating and enacting cohesive self-meanings during the conscious coordination with bureaucratic objects. On the other hand, however, the experience of public servants during the articulation of their identity is seen as driven unconsciously towards achieving excessive amounts of embodied, affective satisfaction or what Lacan calls jouissance. Overall, from this standpoint, the construction of identity within the bureaucratic realm is appreciated as a paradoxical and un-determined project, featuring interrupted yet sustained narrations of self and/or distorted yet committed narratives on workplace reality. The main finding of this study is that public servants develop a strong affective attachment to bureaucratic labour while attributing contradictory and inconsistent meanings to their own professional self and to the experience of ‘translating’ policy into bureaucratic work. In short, public servants enjoy their commitment to policy-commanded-bureaucracy, even though and precisely because they cannot articulate why consistently. In some instances experience is narrated as promising in its effectivity yet fragile and hindered, while in others it narrated as self-developing yet at the same time wearing and insufficiently effective. The main contribution of this study is to introduce a gendered, critical understanding of the ethos and vocation sustaining subjectivation and work within public sector bureaucracy, one that needs but at the same time subverts assumptions about the primacy of rational reflexivity in subjective self-experience and about the hegemonization of State administration by neoliberal, entrepreneurial discourses or ‘governmentalities’.
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Gilmour, Alison Julia. "Examining the 'hard-boiled bunch' : work culture and industrial relations at the Linwood car plant, c.1963-1981." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2010. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/1830/.
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This thesis investigates the nature of work culture and industrial relations at the Linwood car plant during the period 1963-1981. In Part One, Chapter One provides an overview of the historical debate over the use of oral testimony as well as introducing the methodology employed within the oral history project encompassed within the thesis. Chapter Two provides an analysis of the nature of work at the Linwood car plant and the ways in which this impacted on behaviour and attitudes in the workplace. This is further developed in Chapter Three where the focus is on organisational mischief, and consideration is given to the nature, consequences and explanations for this behaviour. The analysis developed in Part One, focuses on the dominant explanations for problematic industrial relations based on the notion of a ‘clash of work cultures’ due to an absence of intrinsic rewards in automated assembly-line work. Within the thesis such dominant narratives are not entirely supported by the Linwood sample, as a wide variety of attitudes towards work are exhibited, leading the thesis to question the validity of the categories of intrinsic and extrinsic reward. In Part Two of the thesis there is a shift in focus as the analysis concentrates on structures of authority at Linwood and the impact on industrial relations. Chapter Four gives consideration to the influence of historical contingency on management decision-making. Part of the 1976 government rescue package was a Planning Agreement incorporating employee participation in management decision-making that articulated with the Labour government’s manifesto commitment to industrial democracy. Yet throughout the different phases of ownership, interactions between management and workers at the Linwood plant explored in this thesis reveal a dichotomy between the rhetoric and reality of industrial democracy and worker participation. The final chapter of the thesis offers an exploration of shop floor industrial politics, and causes of strikes, to highlight the narratives of tension underpinning interactions at Linwood. The thesis provides a nuanced approach, highlighting variety of experience and importantly a complex interplay of interests shaping work culture and the nature of industrial relations in the car plant.
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Manalsuren, Saranzaya. "An ethnographic investigation into Mongolian management in the context of cultural and institutional changes." Thesis, University of Essex, 2017. http://repository.essex.ac.uk/19949/.
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This thesis investigates the understanding and practices of contemporary Mongolian management since the 1990s. In particular, it focusses on the shared experiences of local managing practitioners in Mongolia by exploring the conceptions of a manager, management, and managerial roles from the participants’ perspective and the contextual influencing factors on their understanding. Since the 1990s Mongolia has undergone a series of cultural and institutional changes in relation to its political, economic and societal development. The country has fluctuated between having the fastest growing economy and the world’s worst performing currency. Mongolia itself has become the land of opportunity for many by attracting foreign direct investment, however, the knowledge of local management practice is as yet little understood as there have been no academic or empirical studies conducted in English before. Therefore, this research aims to build an understanding of the concept of management in Mongolia by examining the narratives of thirty five local managers in relation to their experiences during and after the socialist period. Moreover, it investigates the contextual influencing factors from practitioners’ perspectives with an ethnographic approach. This qualitative study draws on interviews with three groups of local managers in Mongolia, who are described as socialist-era, transitional-era and non-native managing practitioners. There are some similarities and differences amongst these identified groups, but each was distinguishable by their formal training, work ethic and management approach. Furthermore, this research found that the intertwining contextual factors of a nomadic cultural heritage, socialist legacy, and the pressures of the current economic and societal changes and political interference influence management thinking in equal measure in contemporary Mongolia. The importance of this study lies in its theoretical and empirical contributions. By evaluating the relationship between classical management literature and indigenous management concepts with a focus on the varieties of contextual factors, this study attempts to provide an original insight into non-Western management practices. It aims to extend the current theories of crossvergence, indigenous management studies, and understand the nature of managerial work in a cross-cultural context. By carrying out the first academic study to examine Mongolian management perspectives in English, it contributes empirically to global management knowledge, and to the local business community.
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Almahmoud, Nouha. "Time as transition : experiences of time, culture and immigration amongst Syrian women in the UK." Thesis, University of Essex, 2016. http://repository.essex.ac.uk/16982/.
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This study contributes to the current literature on time, gender, migration, culture and identity by bringing insights into how time is perceived and experienced by Syrian women who are settled and working in the UK. It is a topic that is little known in the extant literature, and that differs in its dynamics form the western literature. The notion of time has been widely debated but with little reference to its impact on the perceptions and individual experiences of migrant women, who engage with culturally different time structures and different time schedules. The spatial experiences of those women represented by their mobility across cultural boundaries seem to be affecting how migrant women perceive and organise time. Throughout the study, the Heideggerian interpretive phenomenological perspective has been adopted to make sense of and interpret the meanings and experiences provided by the participants of this study. This has been selected to allow space for considering and acknowledging the impact of the personal experience and prior knowledge of both the researcher and the researched subjects. Perceptions of time and time experiences have been found to be much diversified across personal, social and cultural contexts which are marked by spatial or geographical boundaries. Also, time structures and time schedules have been institutionally gendered across the cultures of both countries: Syria and the UK, but with varying degrees. Empirically, this study can help work organisations and agencies interested in working with migrant people to understand the diversity of perceptions and experiences of migrant female workers in the UK to enable them offering the care and services tailored to the needs of those migrants. In doing so, this research is hoped to improve the quality of work and social contributions of migrant women in the UK. Methodologically, this phenomenological inquiry contributes to the field of empirical and socio-political knowledge as well as the understanding of moral, aesthetic, and personal welfare debated in the migration literature. It contributes to the understanding of human experiences in relation to the notion of time, in isolation of any concern to predicting or prescribing any theory.
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Anikin, Vasiliy. "Skills training and development : Russia in comparative perspective." Thesis, University of Essex, 2018. http://repository.essex.ac.uk/21789/.
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The acquisition and maintenance of human capital are considered key drivers of productivity and economic growth. However, recent literature shows that in the case of Russia, this relationship is not obvious, which raises a question concerning the nature of human capital accumulation, despite the significant expansion of tertiary education in this country. The existing literature, much of it relying on a theory of market imperfections, tends to explain low incidences of training by the lack of employer incentives to invest in the human capital of their employees. This dissertation adds to this view confirming the negative role of ‘bad’ jobs and social origins in obstructing employees from skills development in BRIC-like countries. Skills training in Russia is constrained by stratifying occupational forces comprising jobs with low requirements to skills development, which conserves the working population in generic labour. This reveals the phenomenon of skills polarisation ‘at the bottom’ in a late-industrial country, thus, contributing to the growing critique of the knowledge society theory. For those few workers who occupy ‘good’ jobs, skills training is strongly linked to personal-specific traits, such as qualifications and computer and language skills; and this is common in both Russia and India. However, in contrast to Russia, India is still forming their knowledge society. This is confirmed by the statistically significant impact of socio-demographic origins (e.g. age, household size, marital status, and religion) on the incidence of training, which reveals a crucial role of ascription in human capital acquisition in contemporary India. The present thesis contributes to the growing literature on structural prerequisites for successful advancement and the contradictory development of the BRIC countries.
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Hart, James M. "Change in policing systems : a systems perspective of the processes and management of change in police organisations." Thesis, City University London, 1995. http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/7704/.
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Neighbourhood Policing (N.P.) was first described and presented in two undergraduate theses at the City University, London. An experimental system was designed to test the N.P. propositions and implementation of evaluated trials followed at selected London and Surrey police divisions between 1982 and 1986. From this origin, the Metropolitan and Surrey Police organisations developed their present geographical policing systems. The duration of the change process exceeded ten years from specification to widespread and effective implementation of the N.P. principles. The period of change is argued to be associated with the process and management of change in police organisations, rather than features of the N.P. project itself. It is argued that design of the N.P. system was an appropriate and practical derivation of an accurate systems analysis of the policing 'problem situation'. Change in police organisations is the focus of this research, using the N.P. project as an empirical study. A systems based, multidisciplinary approach is adopted to review the N.P. project and evaluations, as well as to analyse the nature of organisational change in the context of policing systems. Chapter One introduces the subject and specifies the research objectives. Chapters Two and Three describe details of the policing environment, the N.P. concepts, the elements of the policing system and the N.P. systems evaluation concept. Chapter Four reviews the project evaluation material and advances a critical analysis of the findings. Chapters Five, Six and Seven analyse the process of change within policing systems, examining both organisational issues and human characteristics. Heuristic models of the processes, dynamics and complexity of change are proposed. Chapter eight concludes that the systems approach, the systems analysis and the systemic design of N.P. are all appropriate to contemporary policing. The implementation processes and the subsequent evaluations of N.P. are argued to have made less than adequate contributions to the successful achievement of major organisational change. The research concludes by advancing a number of principles for change management in police organisations.
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Hebel, Maria. "Exploring the impact of human value systems on performance measurement." Thesis, City, University of London, 1998. http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/20125/.
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This thesis explores how performance measurement in organisations is effected by the human value systems of those concerned with measurement. Its origins lie in the observation that despite many efforts to devise useful measures of performance, problems continued to exist. It was subsequently hypothesised that problems are generic rather than job specific. This led to research in four very different organisations and the consequent exploration of human values theory in a systemic context. For the purpose of this thesis performance measurement is taken to be any form of assessment of organisation or individual accomplishment. Such measures may stand alone, be combined with others or checked against a pre-set standard When combined they are often referred to as performance indicators or league tables. Values are beliefs about what seems right and important; they are not necessarily virtues. People, families, societal and work organisations all possess value systems. Values are inculcated early in the life of both humans and organisations and are reinforced over time and experience. Both individuals and groups typically hold more than one value, usually they have combinations that form value systems. Human values theory is linked to systems science by investigating the behaviour of groups of values. It is argued that value systems have the emergent properties of attitudes and behaviours. These are essentially a response to other values and value systems. This emergence is likely to be unpredictable when faced with unfamiliar, cogent or inflexible norms. Consequently it is not only important to be clear about the value systems embodied in performance measurement but also those rated highly by those being measured This thesis concludes that performance measurement needs to be more closely matched to the values of the people being measured if it is to be successful. It is argued that singling out individual values is not the most useful way of applying values theory as changes occur swiftly and subconsciously in human activity systems. Instead it is proposed that statements representing world-views give a better picture of the environment into which performance measurement might be introduced. A selection of such value statements are suggested here but it is stressed that these need to be adapted to the organisation concerned in order to be most useful. These can be used to assess priorities but should at all times be considered in combination with other values so that emergence is not ignored.