Master-Arbeit Univ. St. Gallen, 2006.

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Organisational Learning has been conceptualised and measured in various ways. The two studies reported in this thesis sought to take a new, bespoke approach to Organisational Learning in a global air transport company undergoing substantial organisational and strategic change. The research sought to develop a bespoke competency framework of Organisational Learning and apply it within the organisation to investigate employees' perceptions of the Organisational Learning climate. The research applied both qualitative and qualitative methods: semi-structured interviews and a 68-item self-completion questionnaire survey. Factor Analysis yielded a clear, conceptually sound six-factor solution. Organisational Learning climate perceptions were compared across occupational, departmental and geographical subgroups. The results indicated that there were no statistically significant occupational or geographical differences in perceptions of the Organisational Learning climate although some departmental differences were observed. The relationaship between perceived Organisational Learning climate and organisational commitment was explored and a clear link between them was found.

Organisational Learning has been conceptualised and measured in various ways. The two studies reported in this thesis sought to take a new, bespoke approach to Organisational Learning in a global air transport company undergoing substantial organisational and strategic change. The research sought to develop a bespoke competency framework of Organisational Learning and apply it within the organisation to investigate employees' perceptions of the Organisational Learning climate. The research applied both qualitative and qualitative methods: semi-structured interviews and a 68-item self-completion questionnaire survey. Factor Analysis yielded a clear, conceptually sound six-factor solution. Organisational Learning climate perceptions were compared across occupational, departmental and geographical subgroups. The results indicated that there were no statistically significant occupational or geographical differences in perceptions of the Organisational Learning climate although some departmental differences were observed. The relationaship between perceived Organisational Learning climate and organisational commitment was explored and a clear link between them was found.

This thesis examines the liberalisation of the European Community's civil aviation industry and attempts to measure how effective this process has been in achieving its goal of increased competition and greater efficiency. Using the experience in the United States following deregulation of domestic air transport services as a template, the study employs Easton's model of political analysis and Porter's model of competitive forces as a framework for empirical research. This research was carried out with a representative sample of EC airlines, of their suppliers and customers, of providers of substitute services and of the industry's regulators. The results of the research were validated by personal interviews with leading stakeholders in the industry. The main Conclusions drawn from the research are that: i. liberalisation of the European Community air transport market has resulted in an influx of new entrants, an increase in the number of routes operated and a wider availability of discounted fares; ii. to the extent that competition has nevertheless been less fierce than anticipated, this is because the aims of liberalisation have been frustrated by a resistance to change on the part of certain Member States and by the European Commission's inability to prevent further grants of State aid to loss-making flag carriers. Inadequate infrastructure has also acted as a brake on competition; iii. customer choice is strongly influenced by frequency of service and by price. Those airlines which have set out to gain market share and which have pursued low price strategies have benefited most from liberalisation; iv. airlines benefit from selling to a large number of buyers and from having a wide choice of suppliers; V. the only threat of substitution to air travel within the European Community is from the High Speed Train and then only over comparatively short distances.

Organisational Learning has been conceptualised and measured in various ways. The two studies reported in this thesis sought to take a new, bespoke approach to Organisational Learning in a global air transport company undergoing substantial organisational and strategic change. The research sought to develop a bespoke competency framework of Organisational Learning and apply it within the organisation to investigate employees' perceptions of the Organisational Learning climate. The research applied both qualitative and qualitative methods: semi-structured interviews and a 68-item self-completion questionnaire survey. Factor Analysis yielded a clear, conceptually sound six-factor solution. Organisational Learning climate perceptions were compared across occupational, departmental and geographical subgroups. The results indicated that there were no statistically significant occupational or geographical differences in perceptions of the Organisational Learning climate although some departmental differences were observed. The relationaship between perceived Organisational Learning climate and organisational commitment was explored and a clear link between them was found.

International air transport is a commercial business by nature but carries a political significance. It has been regulated under the Chicago regime which requires the sovereignty governments to negotiate and determine how airlines engage in the transnational operations regardless of the market demand. Policy makers will have to take into account all factors, whether at international, domestic, institutional and individual levels, in determining to what extent the market should be liberalised so as to protect their national interest, optimise the opportunities for their industry and society as a whole, while at the same time promote competition and facilitate international trade. Despite the vast research that has been done on the liberalisation of international air transport as well as China‘s aviation policy and its industry, little is known about the considerations of Chinese government when formulating its international air transport policy, e.g. what are the variables that have influenced the country‘s policy making process that leads to the policy per se. The focus of the existing literature fails to treat China‘s international air transport policy as a subject matter for an objective and comprehensive analysis, but rather takes the policy itself as an external stimulus that drives the radical changes of the industry. Consequently, China‘s policymaking process with respect to international air transport remains a black box and its international behaviour is considered unpredictable. Applying the Micro-Macro Linkage Approach to three case studies, i.e. China-the US, China-the Netherlands and China-the UK markets, this research analyses China‘s liberalisation policy with respect to international air transport. By examining the data gathered through qualitative methods such as historical files and record, observations, and interviews with those who have participated in the process of policymaking and have been personally involved in bilateral air services negotiations, this research aims at identifying the factors that have had an impact on the country‘s policymaking process, establishing whether these factors are evolving over the years and determining how they are interacting with each other in leading to the policy outcome, hence, shedding light on the country‘s international trade policymaking and its international behaviour. The research has revealed that China‘s international air transport policymaking is both a top-down and bottom-up process with industry regulator being the primary initiator, formulator and administrator of the industry-specific liberalisation policy. Its decision making process has become more transparent, plural, open for and subject to both external and internal influences at all levels. International environment including international conventions, laws and regulations have formed a framework within which the country has to operate to develop its overall national policy. Bilateral political and economic relationship has played a pivotal role in shaping the country‘s policy on that specific country-pair market. Domestic considerations such as national interest, benefits to the society, industry and consumers as a whole are the fundamental concerns in determining the policy scope, i.e. to what extent the market should be liberalised and the pace of such liberalisation. Stakeholders are increasingly proactive in its involvement in the policymaking process in an attempt to influence the policy makers to their own optimal benefits. Institutions and personal characteristics do shape individual policy makers‘ mindset and perceptions but only to the extent of affecting the negotiation outcome on the bilateral country-pair markets. These factors have been evolving over the years and are time- and circumstance-constrained, namely, some factors may function at one occasion at a certain time but not necessarily at another. This research is a meaningful endeavour in attempting to understand China‘s policymaking process with respect to international air transport as an international trade in services, which has just received growing interest in both academia and industry practitioners in recent years. It will contribute to the knowledge of the study of China and the study of international air transport at large.

This paper begins with looking at air travel and its history in the world and in our country. It also includes the factors influencing air transport to regional development. The main part is focused on the analysis of regional air transport in the Czech Republic. Airports are described by regions, including the evaluation of their significance. The five largest airports in our country are analyzed in detail, including their history, air connections and the potential development. The aim of this paper is to clarify the impact of aviation on regional development in the Czech Republic. The question is if there are any effects and in the case that yes, to which factors and how big is the influence. Recommendations for the future how best and most effective way to combine air travel with its surroundings will be formulated based on the collected data and findings.

The increasing scale of, and demand for, civil air transport has necessitated ever greater numbers of passengers and staff travelling to and from airports. At airports worldwide, private vehicles represent the vast majority of these surface access journeys and this has led to severe problems of traffic congestion and raised levels of air pollution. Consequently, UK and international airports are re-evaluating their approach to surface access mode choice and considering how to reduce the reliance on private vehicles. Despite improvements in public transport links at some airports, in the UK it is currently estimated that around 65% of surface access trips at large airports are undertaken in private cars, with this figure being as high as 99% at smaller regional or secondary airports. The problems associated with high private vehicle use are likely to become even more acute in the future given the forecasted growth in demand for UK air travel. Surface access is a complex airport management issue as decision makers must balance the often competing requirements and demands of different user groups with the wider commercial and environmental goals of the airport. Passengers pose a particular problem due to the large number of trips generated, and the wide range of factors affecting their travel. Passengers are also important because they represent the airport s primary customers. The aim of the thesis is to examine passenger surface access travel behaviour in order to make recommendations for reducing private vehicle use. The research adopts a social psychological approach, employing two theories of attitude-behaviour relations, the Norm-Activation Theory and the Theory of Planned Behaviour, in order to identify groups of passengers with the potential to reduce their private vehicle use. Research methods employed to fulfil the aim include interviews with surface access managers at UK airports and a questionnaire survey of passengers at Manchester Airport, an international airport in the North-West of England. It is found that passenger mode choice decisions are motivated primarily by considerations of self-interest, as posited in the Theory of Planned Behaviour, rather than normative or moral elements, as proposed by the Norm-Activation Theory. As well as attitudes, passengers are also found to vary considerably in terms of their specific personal, situational and spatial characteristics. For example, passengers using public transport are likely to be travelling alone from areas further from the airport and flying without checked-in luggage. Using this combined attitudinal, situational and spatial information, eight distinct passenger groups are then identified. Two of these groups, described as the Public Transport Advocates and the Pessimistic Lift Seekers, are found to have the greatest potential to reduce their private vehicle use. Overall, it is important that strategies targeted at reducing private vehicle use and encouraging public transport use address both the physical and perceived barriers preventing behavioural change. Furthermore, while airport managers tend to favour implementing so called soft incentive measures for encouraging modal shift as opposed to more draconian measures, in the future it is likely that decision makers will increasingly need to find ways of implementing the latter in a fashion that is both effective and acceptable to airport users.

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