Developing countries are quite attractive destinations for foreign investments in various economic sectors.Whether an MNC can successfully enter these markets embodies the aptitude to understand the external macroeconomic and social environment of the host country. An MNC must adjust their competitive stance, decipher adequate market potential and uncover the relevant entry strategy to acquire operational success. We have built a framework surrounded by essential operational strategy. This concerns matching a firm's resources and capabilities to the opportunities that arise in the external environment. In most common literature, emphasis lies within identification of profit opportunities in the external environment of the firm. Imperative emphasis shifts from the interface between strategy and the external environment; towards the interface between strategy and the internal environment. In this context, the concentration of the organization's resources and capabilities is targeted to combat turbulent external environments and devise a secure foundation for long term strategy. To understand why the resource-based view has had a major impact on strategy assessment, a preceding glimpse for strategy formulation can be considered. Conventionally, firms have answered the question “who are our customers?” “What are their needs we're seeking to serve?” “Who are our Competitors?” “How can gain a competitive advantage?” Through answering these questions in conjunction with macroeconomic analysis are inevitable prerequisites for pinpointing the key success factors (KSF) for the individual market segments. The KSF are the factors within the company's market environment that determine its ability to prosper and survive exploiting its core resources.

This study examines the changing context and implications for evaluation practice of social program and service delivery devolved to small nonprofit and grassroots organizations. The setting is explored through a critical reflection-on-practice of over twenty years experience conducting evaluation. Using a multiple case study approach, the dissertation examines nine broad themes through two broad composite scenarios and twenty-five detailed vignettes that portray the challenges of working as a consultant with and for small nonprofit and grassroots organizations as they grapple with growing demands for accountability through evaluation. The multiple case study analysis is complemented by an analysis of case studies in two broad areas of literature; one on the impacts of devolution in the nonprofit sector, and the other examining recent trends in evaluation conducted in challenging settings, including community-based and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The five broad themes addressed through the case studies and literature on devolution are: 1) accountability, 2) capacity, 3) mandate drift, 4) competition, and 5) complexity. The four broad themes addressed through case studies and literature on evaluation are: 1) theory-based evaluation, 2) inclusiveness (participatory approaches), 3) the changing and multiple roles of evaluators, and 4) the use of dialogue, deliberative and democratic approaches in evaluation practice. The study contends that the ‘rough ground’ of nonprofit settings provides a useful lens for understanding broader challenges and trends in evaluation practice; that evaluators provide more than just technical skills and knowledge, but undertake important roles in linking communities, mediating among stakeholders, fostering dialogue and deliberation about programming, and mitigating some of the more egregious impacts of devolution experienced by nonprofit and grassroots organizations. By acknowledging and supporting the development of such roles and responsibilities, the profession and evaluators working in these settings can provide meaningful contributions to public discourse about the nature of accountability, the broad context of social programming, the complex capacity challenges being faced by nonprofit organizations, and the role of evaluation in exacerbating or potentially mitigating such effects.

What is e-leadership and how can it be framed in a distance context? How can work motivation be understood as a correlated theme? In prior leadership research and theory it has been taken for granted that leadership occurs in a face-to-face environment, so how to study leadership in a remote context? According to recent research, e-leadership defines this leader-member relation in this new arena, and a central focus of this research has been on communication. Communication is a central theme in the remote setting because it is the only interaction arena which allows leadership to be seen and understood. By conducting a case study in a multi media organization with distance working journalists as focus group this essay aims to bring a deeper understanding of how e-leadership works and how it effects work motivation. The field of media organizations is interesting to study as distance work is not an unusual working environment for journalists, and research has indicated that work motivation needs for these highly specified creative workers are somewhat differentiated from other, for example industrial workers, which implies that motivation theories urges an update. The data was collected by individual interviews which later were transcribed and categorized into emerging themes. The themes were then analyzed through the theoretical framework. The results from this case study implies that the distance working context includes several challenges and more responsibilities in a comparative to a physical environment where there are other service units. For example the social aspects of having meaningful social relationships to coworkers and leaders is a challenge in a context where there are few, if any physical meetings. The time pressure in the daily work makes the communication mostly work based, and there is little time over for small talk. The distance work environment also includes more responsibilities in terms of watering the flowers at the office, filling up the printer with paper and other responsibilities not strictly attached to the work assignments, but still a part of them.

At the time of this study (2009) the role of the nurse practitioner (NP) was new to the province of British Columbia (BC). The provincial government gave the responsibility for implementing the role to health authorities. Managers of health authorities, many of whom were unfamiliar with the role, were responsible for identifying the need for the NP role, determining how the NP would function, and gaining team members’ acceptance for the new role. The purpose of the study was to explain the process of NP role implementation as it was occurring and to identify factors that could enhance the implementation process. An explanatory, single case study with embedded units of analysis was used. Three primary health care (PHC) settings in one health authority in BC were purposively selected. Data sources included semi-structured interviews with participants (n=16) and key documents. Propositions and a conceptual framework developed from the review of the literature guided the study. Key components of the framework were the concepts of intention, involvement and acceptance. The results demonstrate the complexity of implementing the NP role in settings unfamiliar with it. The findings suggest that early in the implementation process and after the NP was hired, team members needed to clarify intentions for the role and they looked to senior health authority managers for assistance. Acceptance of the NP was facilitated by team members’ prior knowledge of either the role or the individual NP. Community health care providers needed to be involved in the implementation process and their acceptance developed as they gained knowledge and understanding of the role. Although relatively new in their roles, NPs were enacting, to some degree, all competencies of the role, as defined by College of Registered Nurses of BC. The findings suggest that the interconnectedness of the concepts of intention, involvement and acceptance influences the implementation process and how the NP is able to function in the setting. Without any one of the three concepts not only is implementation difficult, but it is also challenging for the NP to fulfill role expectations. Implications for research, policy, practice and education are discussed. / case study research

One of the challenges faced by the United Nations in addressing global environmental issues is to find politically agreeable strategies that promote action at the national level. One approach is to designate observances, such as the 2010 International Year of Biodiversity (IYB). While the UN has used these international designations for several years, the results achieved from them are rarely examined, particularly at the national level. This research asked: How has the International Year of Biodiversity been used to initiate actions that protect biodiversity in Canada? It developed a case study, based on data collected from a documentation review, semi-structured interviews, and collaborative dialogues designed to further explore preliminary findings. Data were analysed qualitatively. Results converged around six findings, primarily around the Year's use as a communications tool. Ten recommendations aim to guide future uses of international designations in Canada as a tool to address global environmental issues.

For some time, youth worldwide have faced high levels of unemployment, up to twice as high as adults in Canada (Quintini, Martin, & Martin, 2007). In an environment proliferated with economic recovery initiatives responding to the global economic downturn that began in 2008 (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2010), navigation towards employment for youth is complex and dynamic. Many rural communities were damaged by the global economic downturn, particularly in eastern Ontario (Jinha, 2009). The value of career education in supporting youth with transition from school-to-work is widely supported (Bell & O’Reilly, 2008). To my knowledge, a teacher’s perspective on teaching compulsory career studies within times of significant economic challenge has remained unexplored. Using two strands of data collection, document analysis was used to describe policies and strategies that comprised the Canadian and Ontario governments’ responses to the global economic downturn and the provincial policy on career education. I undertook interviews with a career studies teacher to document her knowledge of Canadian and Ontario governments’ responses, and how and from where she gained this knowledge. The teacher’s perceptions of challenges faced by career studies students’ when seeking employment, and of what this knowledge contributed to her teaching practice were also reported. The documents revealed that Canadian and Ontario governments’ had responded to the global economic downturn with similar policies and strategies, influenced by future economic security. The Ministry of Education curriculum documents included economy which was linked with the students’ learning and to the expectations of the curriculum. The teacher had limited knowledge of federal and provincial policies and strategies, although she saw connections to the career studies curriculum. The teacher supported her career studies practice through experience gained in a combined role as a teacher of cooperative education and business subjects, and the experience of colleagues. I concluded that the teaching of career studies was influenced by the teacher’s other teaching subjects, and career studies teachers’ need access to appropriate, current resources to meet curriculum expectations. Expanding the program to full-credit status might allow teachers greater flexibility to tailor the career studies program to meet individual students’ needs. / Thesis (Master, Education) -- Queen's University, 2011-09-27 11:37:15.56

No description available.

Archivists have made considerable efforts in recent decades to address the challenge of making archival records more useful. They have attracted new researchers by using various methods: from launching books and exhibits, handing out brochures, and sending press releases, to hosting lectures and, more recently in the digital age, launching websites and blogs, digitizing records, and posting archival records on websites like Flickr. However, these methods amount to a scattered approach that seeks out a variety of new users -- often in the wider society -- while the majority of potential users, often connected to an archives’ own sponsoring institution, still too rarely take advantage of the archives at their doorstep. These people may have never used an archives and likely think they do not need to do so. This thesis addresses the issue of how, in effect, to create users of archives among this group by a more direct approach to them than the typically scattered and more general one. The study of such efforts by archives is the study of archival public programming. Although current public programming efforts at university archives do bring in new users from the campus community, a more targeted approach might address this concern by attracting far more of them. Particularly on university campuses most students, faculty, support staff, retired professors, and administration do not make use of and may even be unaware of the campus archives. Archives on university campuses are repeatedly challenged to prove their usefulness in order to warrant continued funding from campus administration. I argue that this thesis offers university archivists (and other archivists) a tool with which to work to raise statistics of new users in order to satisfy university administrative metrics for sustainability. This thesis will test this approach through a case study of eleven University of Manitoba Faculty of Arts professors who have not used archives much or at all. Academics are often looking for new sources for their research. By understanding the usefulness of archives to their work, they may discover a vast new source of information in a variety of local, national, and foreign repositories and become more comfortable in navigating archives. The thesis will also discuss any weaknesses discovered in the testing of the approach and suggest improvements. In addition, it will discuss how such an approach might be phased in to archival work at a university archives such as the University of Manitoba's Archives & Special Collections as a feature of day-to-day work, rather than a one-time exercise.

Network relationships play a significant role in the provision of servitized offerings. To date, little empirical research has been conducted to investigate the link between servitization and inter-organisational relationships. The objective of this doctoral thesis is to explore the implications of servitization on a manufacturer’s network. Particular emphasis is placed on the impact on the network structure and relationship attributes. An exploratory in-depth case study was conducted within the truck manufacturing industry using a multi-organisational perspective. An abductive research approach was adopted which was underlined by pragmatism. As part of this approach, 43 interviews were conducted in a total of 11 companies. The findings of the study suggest that managers need to be aware of the different customer needs, related offerings and resultant implications on the network structure and relationships. To this end, the findings show that as the offerings move towards advanced servitized offerings the network becomes more complex in terms of its structure and relationships. The research contributes to the literature by providing a more nuanced description of what actually occurs in a network when a manufacturer provides servitized offerings in conjunction with other product-based offerings. In particular, it identifies the relationship attributes that need to be managed in order to drive the right behaviour for the provision of each of these offerings. Moreover, it is the first known study to uncover triadic as well as tetradic network structures in a servitization context. Equally important, it provides a framework that captures the interplay between the different offerings and the resultant network structure and relationship attributes. In all of these capacities, this research is one of the first known studies to uncover some of the complexities surrounding the way in which inter-organisational relationships are enacted in a servitization context.

This work is meant to contribute to the research of adaptation studies by focusing on a special case: the transformation of a fictional diary into a movie. In order to sustain the form of the literary source the adaptation to movie requires certain strategies. Först of all, the diary genre is characterized by a one-dimensional narration. Second, diaries only supply a few written dialogues, hence this "void" has to be compensated and filled by media specific measures. Third, the investigated diary is a story of individualization and emancipation of a single woman. Therefore not only the lack of dialogues but also the lack of actors composes a challenge to the work of adaptation. The main task is thus to analyze the literary source and the movie and identify the specific strategies that make the transformation of a fictional diary to a movie possible.