This master’s research investigates how Nordic cleantech firms exploit opportunities in emerging markets. Emerging markets showcase significant opportunities for provision of sustainable cleantech solutions, which can be exploited by cleantech firms to enhance their commercial viability. Opportunity exploitation studies in emerging market contexts have been largely understudied in international entrepreneurship. This qualitative research utilized semi-structured interviews, a multi case study design involving three Nordic cleantech firms, and thematic data analysis to collect detailed information on Nordic cleantech opportunity exploitation activities and stages. Analyzing the findings using a conceptual framework based on the opportunity exploitation theory, we discover that Nordic cleantech firms exploit opportunities in emerging markets in three phases namely, exploitation pre-operationalization phase, exploitation operationalization phase and exploitation post-operationalization phase. Exploitation pre-operationalization stages involve making evaluation of the opportunity, assessing stakeholders, and developing a project management plan for the exploitation operationalization; the exploitation operationalization phase covers the market entry modes, and describes activities and strategies deployed by cleantech firms to commence commercial activities within the market; and the exploitation post-operationalization phase describe steps taken to increase the firms’ knowledge and leverage such experiential knowledge for further opportunity exploitation. The research findings showed a variance from the theoretical opportunity exploitation propositions for new technology intensive firms including cleantech firms. The insights generated from this research have implications for the decision making of managers of Nordic cleantech firms looking to exploit international opportunities within emerging markets and theoretical implications for making further opportunity exploration studies considering the emerging market context.

A goal-opportunity model of acculturation, according to which sojourner’s goals align with the opportunities of the host culture (goal-opportunity cultural fit), can evaluate adaptation to a new sociocultural environment as functional, predictable, and meaningful. Although this new model of person-culture alignment builds on a previous construct of cultural fit (Ward & Chang, 1997), it aims to redefine the construct. Determining the right components of the person-culture alignment as the core of adaptation is nonetheless challenging, as there are different constructs that can be considered. Previous adaptation models have promoted person-culture alignment either as the mitigation of the sociocultural gap (cultural gap) between the native and host cultures (Church, 1982), or as the match (cultural fit) between specific personality traits (e.g., openness) and host culture norms (Ward & Chang, 1997). However, those models disregard valuable cognitive factors, such as autonomy, problem-solving ability, decision-making skills, achievement need, goal setting, motivation, participation, and effort. This thesis introduces goal-opportunity cultural fit as a contextual measurement of cultural adaptation in international students, as a group of sojourners with high achievement needs. Using exploratory analysis to refine a newly developed measurement instrument˗˗the Cultural Fit Questionnaire˗˗the current study attempts to show that this new person-culture alignment can be measured, predicted, and interpreted. It is expected that this proposed model of acculturation based on reinterpreting cultural fit as a goal-opportunity alignment will offer a better understanding of cultural adaptation in goal-driven sojourners with a need for achievement and autonomy, such as it is the case with international students. / Graduate

Internationale Migranten werden häufiger selbständig und gründen Unternehmen als Menschen ohne interkulturelle Erfahrung. Aktuelle Theorien legen nahe, dass ihre unternehmerische Aktivität durch spezielle Ressourcen und institutionelle Arrangements ausgelöst wird, die es attraktiver machen unternehmerische Chancen zu nützen, als Beschäftigung am Arbeitsmarkt zu suchen. Im Gegensatz dazu beschreibt diese Dissertation eine neue Perspektive auf das Phänomen. Sie entwickelt die Hypothese, dass interkulturelle Erfahrungen die Fähigkeit erhöhen, unternehmerische Chancen zu erkennen, indem sie Zugang zu neuem Wissen schaffen und kreatives Denken unterstützen. Die Ergebnisse einer Querschnittstudie (n=444) und eines longitudinalen natürlichen Experimentes (n=243) bestätigen die genannte und weitere Hypothesen und zeigen, dass interkulturelle Erfahrung, kulturelle Distanz, Wissen über neue Produkte und Dienstleistungen und divergentes Denken die Fähigkeit beeinflussen, unternehmerische Chancen wahrzunehmen. Die Ergebnisse bieten Implikationen für Forschung, Politik und Praxis in den Bereichen Entrepreneurship, Bildung und Migration. (author's abstract)

I conducted two studies to explore cultural differences between Chinese and European Canadians in considering opportunity cost while making purchase decisions. In Study 1, participants (121 Euro-Canadians and 119 Chinese) read a scenario in which they would decide whether to buy a single product (e.g., a backpack) or not. Participants were randomly assigned to either a condition in which opportunity cost information was made salient or a control condition in which opportunity cost was not mentioned. I found that participants in the opportunity cost salient condition displayed a higher level of opportunity cost consideration than did participants in the control condition. When individual differences in the habit of considering opportunity cost and spending habits were controlled for, Chinese participants’ purchase decisions revealed a higher degree of opportunity cost consideration than those of European Canadians. Chinese were also more likely to mention opportunity cost thoughts than did European Canadians while making the decision. In Study 2, participants chose one of two laptops to buy (one was cheaper but had less memory than the other). The results demonstrated that Chinese living in Canada displayed a higher degree of opportunity cost consideration by opting more often for the cheaper laptop, than did European Canadians. However, the culture main effect was confounded by cultural differences in family income. Study 2 also replicated the results of Study 1 that Chinese were also more likely to mention opportunity cost thoughts than European Canadians while making the decision. Although inconclusive, these results suggest that opportunity cost consideration varies, at least to some extent, across cultures. Implications of the current research for consumer behavior and directions for future research are discussed. / Thesis (Master, Psychology) -- Queen's University, 2013-08-01 15:22:09.816

Education is considered the single most important factor in determining the economic and social well-being of a state. This statement aptly applies to the State of Georgia which ranks very low among other states in the nation in overall educational financing. Though education is a state responsibility in Georgia, there is a considerable measure of local control. Local financial contribution toward education in the state is met mainly through the property tax which differs markedly among the school districts/systems. This difference reflects in the amount of money available to the schools for educational purposes. An analytical study of randomly selected school districts in Georgia reveals that the wealthy districts spend more on education, levy less property tax, and can afford to support their schools on money derived from their tax base with or without state supplemental funding. The study further shows that disparities in wealth among school districts· create problems for equalizing educational opportunities and makes recommendations aimed at meliorating the situation.

The overall aim of this study is to provide insights into the process of entrepreneurial opportunity evaluation, as it is really exercised by successful entrepreneurs. First part addresses the theoretical background of the problem and provides a comprehensive overview of the existing literature. Six propositions for the construct of entrepreneurial opportunity evaluation theory are designed. Second part focuses on empirical testing and analysing of the six propositions. The research is based on personal interviews with 31 highly-experienced entrepreneurs in the Czech Republic. Practical suggestions are provided for academics, and 10 main recommendations are presented for the entrepreneurs.

Thesis advisor: Diana Pullin / A number of scholars are examining factors hindering student performance. Scholars suggest that understanding these factors is critical knowledge for leaders to cultivate as they work to address elements within their school or district that need to change if student learning is to improve. What is often overlooked in the literature is how educators understand the achievement gap and the impact this understanding has on the learning environment. Exploring how district- and school-level leaders understand disparities in student performance and how these understandings then influence the work of leadership may offer insight into factors hindering student performance. The study was conducted in a small, diverse urban district designated by the state as low performing based on state indicators. Many scholars have explored interactions among leaders as a factor hindering student performance. These researchers indicate the significance of the role that interactions between district- and school-level leaders play in school improvement efforts. Although this is a central focus area in the literature, there is limited scholarship on how those interactions specifically impact leaders' understanding of barriers to students' opportunity to learn. Therefore, analyzing these relations may result in an increased awareness of their impact on the learning environment. This single case study uses document reviews and interview data to analyze leader relations and practice. Findings reveal interactions among leaders resulted in an understanding of barriers in the learning environment; lack of trust hindered some relations but despite this, all leaders engaged in tasks intended to enhance student learning. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

Thesis advisor: Diana C. Pullin / As district- and school-level leaders face increasing pressure from federal, state, and local accountability mandates there has been increased dependence on using and analyzing student data to help improve student performance. While the reporting of disaggregated data by student subgroup confirms that achievement gaps exist, it does not provide district- and school-level leaders with the diagnostic data needed to identify key factors inhibiting student performance. Identifying and understanding factors hindering student performance is critical knowledge for leaders to cultivate as they work to address elements within their school or district that may need to change if student learning is to improve. This research study examined specific ways district- and school-level leaders go about challenging and helping their community to face the problem of student performance disparities, as well as specific aspects of the situation that may be contributing to the community's collective capacity, to address student performance disparities. Without proper district-level leadership, effectively addressing operational conditions that may lead to disparities in student learning is unlikely. Yet, little is known about which structures and routines district- and school-level leaders perceive to be important when analyzing student data. This single case study presents the results of an examination of student data analysis structures and routines within a small diverse urban Massachusetts district designated by the state as low-performing based on state indicators. In order to further understand structures and routines, interview and document data were reviewed. Four primary findings identified the district leadership's response to educational inequities: (1) a mandate for using data war-rooms and student data walls; (2) a traveling cabinet to ensure uniform review of student data across the schools in the district; (3) a mandate for individual school improvement plans; and (4) the use of school-based instructional coaches. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

I hypothesize and find that the variation in corporate tax avoidance is jointly determined by firms’ incentive and opportunities to avoid taxes. Specifically, the positive relation between financial constraints (my proxy for an incentive to avoid taxes) and tax avoidance is significantly stronger for firms with high tax planning opportunities (TPO), where TPO is the distance between a firm’s actual and predicted ETRs. I further show that firms with TPOs based on high permanent (temporary) book-tax differences exhibit more permanent (temporary) book-tax differences under financial constraints. From a risk perspective, I find no evidence that financially constrained firms with low TPO exhibit more tax risk but some evidence that those with high TPO do so. In general, the findings in this paper provide evidence consistent with an incentive-opportunity interaction story to help explain differences in corporate tax avoidance.

Equal opportunity offices have been described as agencies of organisational change, and the term ‘cultural change’ has been used to describe aspects of equal opportunity work.Universities are sites of organisational cultures where equal opportunity officers have worked in Australia for the past decade. In this time there have been significant changes to higher education, in terms of the size of the university sector in Australia, and also in terms of funding, governance and management. These changes in universities provided the context for questions about the roles of equal opportunity officers in universities, and how they may have changed. This research investigated the practice of equal opportunity officers in universities by using a grounded theory approach to generate understandings about how this group of university staff may have impacted on university cultures. The study develops links between theories of culture and organisational change that was situated in the practices of equal opportunity officers.The research identified a central conceptual category that was described as ‘picking the pitch’, as the main theme in the work of equal opportunity officers in identifying issues and gaining support for a cultural change agenda. All of the preliminary themes that were identified, and the interactions, the observations and the analysis of culture were prerequisites for ‘picking the pitch’.The thesis uses the research for further reflection and integration of the goals of equal opportunity, and the means that were available to equal opportunity officers to achieve these goals. The interactions of power and influence, and some of the limitations on equal opportunity officers are discussed.In the thesis the usefulness of the concept of culture to equal opportunity officers is examined, along with the underpinning theories about the mind of humanity that contributed to their approach to their task.Finally, the thesis discusses the impact of the research for equal opportunity officers, and for the universities in which they worked.