This thesis is an attempt to contribute to the understanding of the research and development process at the level of the firm. The existing economic evidence on research and development lacks thorough understanding of the nature of the inventive process, even though the volume sponsored by the National Bureau of Economic Research, "The Rate and Direction of Inventive Activity", points to the strikingly micro-character of R and D activity. The thesis has several major objectives:- First, to review the existing economic evidence on research and development and to point to any firm conclusions from the evidence. Second, to describe the nature of research and development in the firm, the characteristics of the inventive process and the decision process in R and D and the nature of uncertainty inherent in R and D activity. Third, to accumulate retrospective evidence on the efficiency of research and development in the firm. Fourth, to try and build operationally useful models to help R and D management cope with the sequential,groping and uncertain nature of R and D activity. These models stress the use of concepts from statistical decision theory and capital budgeting and are based on the decision process analysis work carried out in the firms. Fifth, to evaluate the usefulness and relevance of the rational theories of statistical decision theory in aiding the solution of the R and D decision under uncertainty. The thesis is divided into five parts which present results under each of the five above headings. Throughout the emphasis is on econometric and decision analysis work and parts (ii) to (v) are based on empirical evidence obtained from a case study sample of firms in the electronics industry in Scoreland. The final section discusses the usefulness of the research work and suggests further model-building approaches. Decision theory is found to be more useful on a conceptual- rather than on a practical level because of the uncertain character of R and D activity.

Companies have long sought to integrate existing Information Systems (IS) in order to support existing and potentially new business processes spread throughout their “territories” and possibly to collaborating organizations. A variety of designs can be used to this end, ranging from rigid point-to-point electronic data interchange (EDI) interactions to “Web auctions”. By updating older technologies, such as “Internet-enabling” EDI-based systems, companies can make their IT systems available to internal or external customers; but the resulting systems have not proven to be flexible enough to meet business demands. A more flexible, standardized architecture is required to better support the connection of various applications and the sharing of data. Service- Oriented Architecture (SOA) is one such architecture. It unifies (“orchestrates”) business processes by structuring large applications as an ad-hoc collection of smaller modules called “Services”. These applications can be used by different groups of people both inside and outside the company, and new applications built from a mix of services (located in a global repository) exhibit greater agility and uniformity. Thus, SOA is a design framework for realizing rapid and low-cost system development and improving total system quality. SOA uses the Web Services standards and technologies and is rapidly becoming a standard approach for enterprise information systems integration. SOA adoption by enterprises has been identified as one of the highest business priorities by a recent Gartner study (Gartner 2007) and enterprises increasingly recognize the requirement for an increased “Service-orientation” and relevant comprehensive frameworks, which will not only help them position themselves and evaluate their SOA initiatives, but also guide them in achieving higher levels of SOA maturity. This in turn, will help enterprises acquire (and retain) competitive advantage over other players in the market who are not (using SOA and thus they are not) so flexibly adjusting themselves to address new business requirements. This paper proposes a new SOA Maturity Model (MM) using a Delphi-variant technique and this constitutes one of its distinguishing features because none of the relevant existing works utilized Delphi. Moreover, the fact that the proposed SOA MM supports inter-enterprise setups makes it even more distinct. The newly proposed SOA MM is then used to help the participating organizations position themselves in respect to SOA (current status), guide them to achieve higher levels of SOA maturity, and anticipate their SOA maturity in five years’ time. Furthermore, the “local” or “global” nature of the proposed SOA MM is investigated. This is checked firstly against selected expert panel participants and secondly against local business practitioners.

Background: In order to make better use of information in the Emergency Departments (ED) various information systems have been developed. However, there are a number of factors that may influence the use of these systems. As there has been little research on the use of information technology (IT) in the ED, this research aims to investigate users' perceptions of Emergency Department Information Systems (EDIS) to determine various factors that may influence users' attitudes towards, and the use of, IT in this department. Methodology: This research consisted of two studies. In the first study, a qualitative approach was applied. Data were collected using in-depth semi-structured interviews, and framework analysis was used to analyse data. A quantitative approach was adopted for the second study, and questionnaires were distributed in three EDs in England. Finally, between-methods triangulation was used to show how the results of the qualitative and quantitative studies confirmed and completed one another. Findings: The results of the qualitative study showed that several factors could influence users' attitudes towards using IT in the ED and subsequent IT utilisation. These factors included the characteristics of users, their tasks, systems, the environment in which they worked, and the impact of technology. The quantitative study showed that the most important factors were the perceived individual impact of technology, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, subjective norm, and users' computer experience. These factors contributed to approximately 50% of variance in the users' attitudes. Conclusion: A number of factors should be considered to improve users' attitudes towards using IT in the ED. The perceived individual impact of technology is the most important factor in determining user attitude towards using IT. ED staff are more likely to view IT systems positively and use the systems properly, if they can see direct benefits arising from their use.

No description available.

This thesis examines the nature of the ascribed responsibilities of corporations in the petroleum industry with a focus on Shell and its stakeholders in Nigeria. It proposes and enacts an empirical approach to exploring the concept via an 'ethnographic' prism through respondents' representational accounts based on a field work interviews and observations. It seeks to demonstrate that rich empirical data on the perceptions of stakeholders can offer fresh insights into the issue. This is significant bearing in mind that most of the literature on CSR is largely based on limited descriptive and extensive prescriptive theoretical expositions.;The thesis argues that making philosophical representational claims is not the exclusive domain of academic theorists and philosophers. Ordinary people also make philosophical representational claims in their day-to-day utterance. The thesis captures this using theories of representation deployed in action in analyzing the ascribed responsibilities of corporations within the realm of the debate between and among Shell and its numerous stakeholders in Nigeria.;It uses refining as a central metaphor in demonstrating that all representational claims that portray any version of any account are a result of refining through a process of blocking, summarizing, simplifying, and deleting claims and counter claims. Most importantly, the thesis offers a mouthpiece to the different categories of stakeholders, not on a judgmental basis as to who is right or wrong, but as an array of rich voices each articulating its own version based on its orientation, circumstances and motives. The thesis concludes that responsibility is a contested concept that can best be interpreted in many different ways, without necessarily privileging one view or voice over the others.

No description available.

No description available.

Despite a quarter of a century of policy aimed at improving quality, public sector organisations still attract criticism. Frequently, continuous improvement is cited as being integral to, or the prerequisite for, many quality initiatives and it has been described as the ultimate test of a world-class organisation. The main purpose of this research is to establish the current level of maturity of continuous improvement across the public sector and explore how that level has been reached in order to develop recommendations to help public sector organisations further embed continuous improvement. The secondary aims of the research are to establish any differences between the sectors (fire, police, health and local government) or geographical areas (Scotland, England, Ireland, Wales). The variation could be the result of different legislation or different sectoral cultures. The research methodology employs a mixed method approach using self-completion questionnaires and case stUdies. The survey of 1174 organisations achieved a 16% response rate representing organisations throughout the UK across all four sectors. Four case studies were compiled, one from each part of the public sector studied, using predominantly document analysis, interviews and focus groups to gather the data, with participant observation being employed in one instance. The research findings reveal disparity within sectors, rather between sectors, suggesting that differences in levels of CI maturity between organisations appear to be a function of organisational strategy rather than sectoral policy initiatives. Scrutiny has had a major impact on ensuring systems are in place, but the determination of senior managers appears to be the biggest driver in embedding continuous improvement. A range of tools, techniques, and approaches have been used within each sector, despite common legislative pressures. This research has contributed to knowledge in a number of ways both theoretical and empirical. Most previous research has looked at particular parts of the public sector, whereas this research study compares continuous improvement across four different areas of the UK public sector. Further, while there have been studies of CI in local government and NHS, the police service and particularly the fire service have been neglected. The secondary research provides a comprehensive review of the literature which can be used both to inform and as a benchmark for future research. During the research a three stage maturity model of continuous improvement was developed based on an adaptation of Bessant et ai's (2001) model. It is proposed that this model can be used as a diagnostic tool or for training. This is a key contribution to academia and public sector management, which combines theory building with practical application

Historically knowledge management models/maps have only been developed for use at a company level with examples being intranet sites. However there is very little information available relating to the use of these types of resources at an industry level. The aim of the study was to develop and test a knowledge management model on an industry scale. The model was designed and applied to the glass recycling industry due to its importance to local and national government with regards to the sustainability agenda. The industry is also dynamic and constantly changing due to a plethora of new legislation and recycling targets and was therefore selected to provide a comprehensive challenge to map the key influences and dynamics of the industry within the model and test its relevance/usefulness to the industry. In order to undertake the work an extensive literature survey was undertaken to investigate the glass recycling industry as well as the field of knowledge management/mapping. The knowledge management model developed uses both Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Word documents interlinked with a series ofhyperlinks to help navigate between pages and was designed to work in a similar fashion to a website. The model is structured with a top level road map followed by a series oflayers (knowledge maps) underneath, which provide varying levels of information depending on the user's needs. This work has succeeded in developing a knowledge management model for mapping knowledge on an industry level rather than simply at an organisation level. The example of the glass recycling industry, due to its fluid and dynamic nature, has demonstrated that this type of tool can help identify where knowledge can be resourced and how it can be managed in complex fluid industries. This work was undertaken to further develop the knowledge and understanding of knowledge management and mapping at an industry level.

Information System (IS) success continues to be an important theme in IS research. However, the majority of IS success studies have adopted a very narrow and deterministic approach. A number have adopted a form of factoring approach such as model based on Critical Success Factors (CSFs) which is an instance of positivism paradigm research despite the fact that their findings fail, to some extent, to reflect the dynamic reality and complexity of the implementation and success of IS projects. The work reported here is a qualitative study of IS success and failure in the context of the implementation of a series of Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP) projects dating from 1992 to 2005 by a Saudi Arabian private organisation. It focuses on understanding the perceptions of IS success of two major groups of internal stakeholders: end users and project team members. Accordingly, 57 semi-structured interviews were conducted and most were audio recorded. Data were analysed using the Grounded Theory Method (GTM) underpinned by Pettigrew's ideas of contextualisim and the use of NVivo software. This research makes a contribution to the interpretive literature on IS success, as it shows the competence of interpretive research in reflecting the reality of the implementation process. Therefore, it is an empirical confirmation of the findings of authors who criticise the deterministic positivist tradition of the factoring approach and its competency to reflect the reality. Additionally, it emphasises the importance of the work of Pettigrew that has been mainly developed based on contextualisim for investigating organisational change. Moreover, it contributes to the literature on ERP systems by demonstrating the dynamic and complex nature of their implementation activities and context. Therefore, it gives emphasis to the importance of continual inclusion of the implementation context in the exploration process. The importance of the inclusion of different stakeholders' views and time of evaluation in IS evaluation is also stressed. Finally, it contributes to the literature on IT in developing countries, particularly in wealthy ones as it highlights a lack of expertise in implementing ERP systems, despite the availability of the required financial resources. Accordingly, it exposes the role of the absence of strict management accountability during ERP projects, particularly in regard to continuous management support.