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Partnering has been the most commonly used term to describe collaboration between a buyer and its direct supplier. The automotive industry has been the basis for the development of most studies on the subject. Despite the many studies on partnering, some people share the view that largely missing from the literature is a clear definition of this concept and of how it operates within dyadic (i.e. between a buyer and its direct suppliers), network and firm contexts. This is found to be particularly important if automotive companies geographically spread in the globe are to be properly managed. The purpose of the research presented in this thesis was to explore inter-firm collaboration and partnering between a subsidiary of a motor vehicle manufacturer and its direct suppliers, taking into account the ownership ties of firms, such as those of multinational corporations (MNCs). The objective was to generate new knowledge on how inter-firm collaboration and partnering operate and on the factors that influence the business relationships that are established between the referred companies. The researcher followed a single case study research strategy in order to develop a new and empirically grounded understanding, while favouring contextualisation and complexity. The researcher adopted a triangulated research design in which quantitative and qualitative data were gathered in two stages, through a self-administered mailed questionnaire and in-depth interviews, respectively. The findings suggest that: (a) relationships can be characterised by several dimensions, (i.e. commitment, trust, win-win, long-term orientation, co-ordination, joint problem solving, flexibility, mutual dependence) each of which is a mix of collaborative and non-collaborative elements; (b) a diversified scenario of relationships can be explained by the different combinations of several contextual factors (i.e. organisational, relational, spatial and network); the importance of each needs to be weighted and hierarchised; (c) the network affects both to enable and constrain the freedom of action at the level of the customer supplier dyad; and (d) partnering is contingent on the position, role and influence at different points in the network. The research argues that relationship management can be enhanced through the application of analytical tools to the assessment of business relationships. New frameworks for analysis are presented as significant contributions to knowledge, among a series of theoretical, methodological and empirical contributions. The researcher suggests directions for research which will further enhance the understanding of inter-firm collaboration and partnering and business relationships within a multinational network context.

The topic of international skilled labour mobility has received growing attention within the field of population geography and other disciplines. This interest reflects the large growth of international skilled labour mobility, especially during the 1980s. Attention of prior research has focused on the migratory movement of managers and professionals as they radiate across the globe, recording and representing the dispersal of international investment and the overseas expansion of producers of goods and services. The research examines Scotland's participation in the international exchange of skilled labour. The research undertaken addresses the varying theoretical, conceptual and methodological approaches of prior research on international skilled labour mobility in geography, as well as in other disciplines, such as management studies and occupational psychology. In doing so, the interplay between work and non-work spheres in shaping Scottish international skilled labour mobility is highlighted, as is the differing temporal and spatial focus of existing studies. The author's research thus investigates both the economic and social contexts of Scottish international skilled labour mobility, these contexts being characterised at macro, meso and micro level. In addition, the research adopts a broader definition of skilled labour movements than prior research, and so the study discusses the place of short term business travel as well as longer term migratory movements and the relationship between them. In illustrating the economic context of Scottish international skilled labour mobility, the research outlines macro level changes in the Scottish economy and the role of foreign direct investment as a source and channel of Scottish skill exchange. In turn, the specific institutional characteristics of activities generating these labour flows are examined and related to the occupational status of mobile persons.

This research is concerned with understanding how organizational performance can be improved through effective knowledge transfer. In particular, the researcher is interested in organizational performance as it relates to those organizations that rely on core horizontal business processes, such as those found within a supply chain. Many organizations develop knowledge strategies to try and utilise existing knowledge within their organizations. However, this process tends to be developed from a top-down perspective, and deployed on an organization-wide basis. It is the researcher’s contention that this is not a suitable approach for developing an effective knowledge strategy for supply chain / complex organizations. It is the researcher’s belief that in order to develop and define a suitable method for knowledge strategy development and implementation, how knowledge and information are created and shared along core business processes must first be understood. To do this it is important to identify the barriers that impact knowledge transfer across an organization, and more specifically, along core business processes. By mapping a core IBM supply chain process, and identifying the employee work groups associated with the process (through social network analysis), the researcher was able to identify and assess knowledge transfer barriers, and how they impact along the IBM order flow process. Through a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods the researcher developed an emergent theory concerning how organizations should approach the identification and management of knowledge transfer barriers.

This thesis applies the spatial mismatch hypothesis to the Glasgow conurbation in Britain. It also develops an innovative methodology which addresses some of the methodological concerns associated with much previous work and allows three different types of spatial barrier to employment to be examined - commuting, residential mobility and job search / recruitment. Specifically, this thesis looks at firms which have relocated within the Glasgow conurbation. The number of employees who leave their job or move house because their employer relocates is examined in order to assess to what extent commuting and residential mobility are barriers to employment within metropolitan areas. Recruitment patterns to the firm's new sites are analysed in order to assess the extent of job search and recruitment as spatial barriers to employment. The results show that those without access to a car and those in lower-paid and lower-skilled jobs are least able to commute to the new sites, and are the least able to move house closer to work, and so consequently are more likely to leave their job. Those in higher paid and more secure jobs are more likely to move house closer to work. People recruited at the new sites tend to live much closer to the firms than the remaining original workforce, which suggests that across space, job search and recruitment processes, as well as social networks and other neighbourhood effects, may be greater barriers to employment than commuting. The theoretical and policy implications of these findings are discussed. It is argued that skills and spatial mismatches reinforce each other, and that this interaction needs to be incorporated into explanations of the relative importance of each. The proximity of jobs to neighbourhoods within metropolitan areas needs to be considered in understanding the level of unemployment in small areas.

New information and communication technologies bring the enticing potential to improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and transparency of government administration and services. One theorised outcome of egovernment that has received little empirical attention is its ability to build citizens’ trust in government. This thesis contributes to this knowledge through a comparative study of the impacts of two Chilean e-services on citizens’ trust in the institutions of democratic government. This research traces the causal processes from the influence of the e-services on the trustworthiness of public sector institutions to how, for whom, and in what circumstances the e-services directly affect citizens’ trust in those institutions. The research approach draws from social realist assumptions and, in particular, the ontology offered by critical realism. This approach allows for the development of a novel e-government and institutional trust framework that integrates a wide range of trust theories from political science, sociology, psychology, and information systems. Extending the framework, the thesis proposes fifteen middle-range causal hypotheses that link e-services to institutional trustworthiness and citizens’ trust in those institutions. These hypotheses are then empirically grounded in casespecific hypotheses which are subsequently tested and refined through both a within-case analysis and cross-case comparison. Within limits, this study provides insight into the potentials and limits of e-government to improve the trustworthiness of the public sector. Furthermore, by adopting a street-level epistemological perspective of citizens’ interpretations and explanations of e-service interactions, the thesis contributes to the micro-level understanding of the interactions of eservices and citizens’ trust in public sector institutions. A central finding is the importance of self-interested concerns and direct user benefits in shaping perceptions and interpretations of the citizen-e-service interaction. The findings also provide empirical insight into the theoretical and practical importance of discerning between theories of how to build trustworthy institutions and trust in those institutions.

Towards the end of the 1990s, and in response to increasing global condemnation, the mining industry adopted sustainable development (SD) principles and standards through corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. This approach not only proposed a dramatic change in the operating practices of large mining houses, but also suggested a grand vision for the industry as a long term catalyser of local economic growth. This research now investigates the effect that mining enterprises which operate under these principles have on sub-national economic development. In doing so, it undertakes multiple case-study analysis, focussing on a single firm, Rio Tinto, and covers three of its subsidiary companies at various stages of development. Consistent with claims by mining advocates, this work confirms the frequently striking importance that large mines have for sub-national economies. However, this investigation disagrees with the emphasis typically attributed to each stream of benefits and brings attention back to the use that mining cash flows are put to. More generally, the study argues that the potential for large mining firms to trigger endogenous growth has been underestimated. On the one hand, these enterprises can contribute distinctly to local capital accumulation; on the other, under certain circumstances, they can also help sustain increases in local productivity endogenously. Indeed; while local preconditions will determine socioeconomic outcomes to a significant degree, mining companies can play a critical part in economic planning and the building of innovative institutions, which could, in turn, help increase the underlying local rate of technological absorption, human capital and overall capacity for economic governance. This entails a drastic (and controversial) change from the role previously assumed by companies. Yet, this study also concludes that, in some other cases, SD has promoted unattainable economic expectations. In these cases, minimising the local impact of mining would be a more advisable economic strategy.

Since the end of the 1990s, Berlin’s housing has been described by a transformation from state- to market-led provision, creating more socially and spatially segregated neighbourhoods. The underlying processes exacerbating and reproducing these inequalities have however rarely been addressed. This thesis investigates the question how the transformation of Berlin’s mode of housing provision generated particular forms of social and spatial inequalities. It begins from a state-focused approach to regulation theory and the related debate on the contemporary form of urban governance of the entrepreneurial city. The thesis identifies three transformation processes of Berlin’s mode of housing provision, which are informed by critical realist housing research. First, the privatisation of state-owned housing and the entrance of institutional investors; second, the reformation of the remaining state-owned housing companies and their adaptation to the government’s social and economic demands; and third, the abandonment of supplyside subsidies for the construction and renovation of housing. The analysis of these three processes exposes how regulation, production, and consumption mechanisms play out under particular spatial and temporal circumstances, creating social and spatial inequalities. A particular emphasis lies on the production mechanisms defined through the diverging strategies of different institutional investors and state-owned housing companies. The thesis concludes with a reflection upon the benefits of a critical realist methodology for analysing state restructuring. It is argued that only through the application of a critical realist methodology, the strengths of the regulation theory’s conceptualisation of state transformation can fully be deployed. The thesis therefore goes beyond an affirmation of a more entrepreneurial mode of housing provision in Berlin, deploying a critical realist approach to reveal the underlying mechanisms of the particular mode of housing provision and its uneven consequences.

The academic debate about European cooperation on immigration has focused on big treaty negotiations, presented an undifferentiated picture of the subfields of immigration, and has only recently begun to make use of the abundant literature on national immigration policies. As a macrostructure, this study uses a bureaucratic politics framework to understand the preference formation of national governments on liberalising economic migration policies. This allows unpacking the process of preference formation and linking it to a number of causal factors, which, by influencing the cost and benefits distribution of the relevant actors – intra-ministerial actors, employer associations, trade unions, and other sub-state actors – shape the position of the government. The influence of the causal factors is underpinned by different theories derived from the literatures on Europeanisation, immigration policy-making, and foreign policy. Germany is used as a longitudinal case study with four cases within it, as it has undergone a U-turn in a way no other relevant Member State has, from a keen supporter of EU involvement to being highly sceptical with regard to economic migration policies at the EU level. The empirical data is based on 43 open-ended interviews, archival research and newspaper analysis. The bureaucratic politics framework supplanted with the theoretical strands of domestic politics and foreign policy concerns provides a number of themes that can explain why and under what conditions a Member State supports liberalising economic migration policies at the EU level from 1957 until the Treaty of Lisbon. The thesis argues that if the European policy measure applies to a particular group of sending countries and the domestic salience of immigration is low, sending countries can lobby Member State governments to support EU-level liberalisation of immigration policies. The misfit between the existing national regulations for economic migration and European-level policies cannot be significant as otherwise the economic and political adaptation costs for actors involved are too high. A heated national debate on immigration is negatively related to governmental support for such measures as the political costs of support skyrocket. Conversely, if the decision-making process happens bureaucratically, this helps to attain governmental support as the political costs of doing so are kept minimal.