Miles and Snow proposed their theory about organisation strategy, structure and process in 1978. The key point of their theory is the adaptation cycle of an enterprise among entrepreneurship domain, engineering domain and administration domain. They propose three successful strategy types: Defender, Prospector and Analyser, which can successfully adapt to changes in the environment in their own way. Since the theory first appeared in the 1970s, it has been applied and examined in strategy, organisational theory, human resource management, operations management, marketing and accounting, but has not been rigorously applied to nmodern manufacturing. This research aims to test and develop Miles and snow's engineering solutions of Defender, Prospector and Analyser in the adaptive cycle model. A series of propositions and hypotheses have been generated based on the EE (Entreneurship - Engineering) and the EA (Engineering - Administration) models that created in this research, which are based on the literature review of manufacturing technologies, strategic theories and Miles and Snow typology. AMTs (Advanced Manufacturing Technologies) are chosen to test the EE and EA models, as well as original Miles and Snow's engineering solution. Both quantitative and qualitative methods have been applied in this research in order to validate these propositions and hypotheses. The research has generated a number of successful outcomes relating to its aim and objectives: Firstly, the Miles and Snow model is extended into an area that was not only under represented in the original exposition, but also has changed dramatically since their framework was derived. Secondly, the research places manufacturing strategy issues into a well-validated organisational model, thereby reducing the implicit passivity of many manufacturing strategy prescriptions. These two contributions will enable further contributions of value to both theorists and practicioners. Implementation difficulties associated with organisational obstacles can be assessed in terms of organisational solutions and these might be contrasted with technical solutions prevalent in the literature. Further research can be explored in the following areas based on the validation of the EE and the EA models: in other technologies, other industries, and other countries.

The purpose of this study is to address the knowledge gap regarding competitor study practices in small enterprises, to develop new theory, and to present 'best competitor study practices'. It uses a cross-sectional qualitative multi-case study methodology to study these practices of 7 small Dutch business-to-business enterprises. The study reveals that the SE's life cycle stage development is not related to the development of competitor study activities. The pace and intensity of these activities is dictated by the external environment's competitive intensity. SE owner-managers play leading roles and are fully involved in this competitor study. Other SE managers are only partially involved in operational study. SE owner-managers with Business Administration educations use more data sources than those without this discipline. The research uses strong, stable and weak relative competitive market positions to categorize the 7 SEs, and discovers relationships between SE competitor study activities and these positions. SEs with strong positions place a low importance on competitors, and they do not cooperate with them. These SEs study new technology, and they are neutral or negative about the usefulness of competitor study. Their subjects are strategic, and they use the highest number of sources, personal sources, external sources, and external direct data sources. SEs with weak positions place a high importance on competitors and cooperate with them. They focus on tactical competitor subjects, and they are positive about its usefulness. These SEs use the lowest number of sources, personal sources, external sources, and external direct data sources. They are also responsible for most of the discovered unethical and illegal data collection practices. SEs with strong or stable relative market positions improve their market positions with developed absorptive capacities, whereas SEs with weak relative market positions do not. The implication of these outcomes is that they establish the new theory regarding SE competitor study. The main limitations of this cross-sectional study are the use of only a selected, non-random small number of Dutch business-to-business small enterprises in a small geographical region and in various industry sectors. The study's implication for practice are 3 'best practice' competitor study recommendations sets relative to the 3 SE relative competitive market position categories. Finally, the study presents recommendations to the Dutch government how to it could improve the law against illegal data collection and how it could communicate this law to Dutch SMEs.

This study focuses on two aspects of business-to-business relationships, relationshop quality and relationship value. Crosby et al. (1990) suggest that the quality of the relationship determines the probability of continued exchange between buyer and seller. Following Crosby et al.'s (1990) ground-breaking relationship quality study some important dimensional issue remain. The dominant conceptualisation of relationship quality defines it as a higher-order construct consisting of either outcome or process dimensions. The outcome dimensions of relationship qualoty have been examined extensively in the literature, whilst the process dimensions have received limited attention. The literature indentifies the need for a better understanding of how relationship quality is developed in business-to-business exchange. Therefore a vital first step for the current study is the development of a process conceptualisation of relationship quality. For the past three decades, the customer value literature has focused on the value a customer receives from the exchange of products and services. However, over the past decade researchers have begun to examine the value a customer derives from the exchange relationship itself. These studies of relationship value have focused on the tangible aspects of value such as the economic and functional benefits of a supplier relationship. The current study examines not only the tangible benefits of a supplier relationship but also the relationship's intangible benefits such as the social, emotional and knowledge benefits. Adopting a process approach to the quality of relationship between buyer and seller, the current study conceptualises Relationship Quality (RQ) as a higher-order structure consisting of a behavioural RQ and a cognitive RQ dimension. Relationship value is also conceptualised as a high-order construct consisting of a relationship benefit and a relationship sacrifice dimensions. From these conceptualisations a research and two competing models are developed and the interrelationship between constructs relationship quality, relationship value, relationship satisfaction and long-term orientation is tested. Data were collected by means of self-completion questionnaires among buyers in the UK electrical and electronic industries and analysis was conducted using the structural equation modelling techique PLS. The findings suggest that relationship quality is a determinate of relationship value and both have a direct and indirect effect on relationship satisfaction and long-term orientation. Through the improved conceptualisations of relationship quality and relationship value and the development and testing of theoretically grounded research and competing models, the current study provides and original contribution to scholarly literature. In addition, a contribution has been made to business practice, through the advancement of normative managerial guidelines to aid decision-making when managing long-term customer relationships.

In seeking to establish and maintain a quality relationship and optimise performance, partners in long-term inter-organisational partnerships must choose which of the available governance strategies and control strategies to use in managing their partnership. Despite literature reporting that governance and control strategy mechanism choices will affect partnership performance this literature is silent about the relationship between these strategies and the impact of their mechanism choices on the quality of their relationship. To address these shortcomings, this study examined the use of governance and control strategies in bilateral long-term inter-organisational partnerships. Two conceptual models were developed and operationalised. Measurement items were mainly borrowed from existing research and contextualised and adapted from this study. One new scale (financial performance) was developed based on expert comments in the exploratory research phase. Prior to issue of the self-completion questionnaire, telephone contact was made to identify those with direct partnership management responsibility in the public and private sectors. On identification the nature of the study was explained and confirmation of a willingness to participate sought. Only those who agreed to participate were sent the questionnaire. Local Authority Private Finance Initiative projects were used as the research setting and this produced a sample size of 211. Of the 113 people who agreed to participate, 64 completed and returned a questionnaire. The overall return rate was 29% with 29% of the public sector and 29% of the private sector participants responding. Partial Least Squares (PLS) was used to test the high level research and lower level operational model structures and hypothesised casual pathways. Despite both the research and operational models demonstrated r[sup]2 and Goodness of Fit results. Both model results were tested for reliability and validity with all constructs meeting widely accepted physchometric benchmarks. The findings from both models are reported and debated. As with all studies, there are a number of limitations. These include possible limits to the genralisability given the very specific type of partnership from which the data is drawn. In carrying out a cross-sectional study the benefits associated with a longitudinal study have been forsaken and it would be very helpful to understand if the passage of time impacts on governance and control strategy choices. Similarly, the absence of control variables means it is not possible to understand whether more experienced partnership mangers employ a different approach to their less experienced counterparts in the management of their partnerships. The findings provide an original contribution to academia through an evaluation of the role of governance strategy, control strategy and relationship quality in the management of long-term inter-organisational partnerships. These confirm that integrated governance strategy is a significant determinant for integrated control strategy and that integrated givernance and integrated control strategy are both significant determinants for relationship quality. Relationship quality has been found to link governance and control strategy to performance, confirming its mediating role in maximising performance outcomes. The major contribution to business practice is the development of normative guidelines that support informed decisions about how the partnership should be managed to optimise performance. Specifically the guidelines promote that governance strategy, control strategy and relationship quality should be treated as three interdependent elements of an integrated partnership management framework. This implies that those exploring new partnerships and those in existing partnerships should design their governance and control strategies to capitalise on those mechanisms that act in a complementary and reinforcing manner to strengthen the quality of their relationship and in turn optimise performance.

The changed economic environment in China, since 1978, has encouraged more and more individuals to start new businesses. Many are necessariiy small or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Until recently, research of the SME-sector in China nas been limited. It is now an active area. This thesis examines the role of entrepreneurship, in China's IT-software SMEs, in effecting technology transfer from local universities. An initial conceptual framework was generated to guide the investigation, based mainly on literature derived from western economies. The empirical phase of this exploratory study utilized a multi-strategy (mixed quantitative-qualitative) approach, using both secondary and primary data. The secondary data were used to depict the industrial background of the chosen sector, as it had developed. The primary data were collected via: a questionnaire among IT-software SMEs in two major clusters around Beijing and Shanghai and follow-up interviews with questionnaire respondents. There were three main findings as follow: Chinese software SMEs tended to be reluctant to adopt new technologies from local universities; there was a perceived knowledge gap between the parties. Those entrepreneurs, who did undertake such technology transfer, felt the process was badly impeded by lack of available finance, and expressed fears about poor protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) in China. The majority of the sampled SMEs acted opportunistically, taking advantage of government schemes to earn rapid returns mainly using extant technologies. In addition to these findings, and their more detailed elaboration, another significant contribution of the thesis is the development of a revised conceptual framework. This can act as a guide to future research, by whomever, on the role of entrepreneurship in the Chinese IT-software sector.

The aims of this study are to develop, justify and test a conceptual framework related to information and knowledge use by managers. This is currently a critical management area partly due to the extent of external change which has reduced the ability to rely on experience but also because of the increasing interest in evidence informed management which includes an emphasis on the effective use of information and knowledge resources. The literature review integrates the information and knowledge use literature from librarianship/information science and management with that of information and knowledge production and evidence informed management into one conceptual framework. The fieldwork has involved an exploratory testing of the elements of this conceptual framework by investigating: (a) what is the context of information and knowledge need including what situations provoke the explicit use of information and knowledge resources and what resources have been produced relating to these decision areas; (b) what are the intervening variables that affect information and knowledge seeking and use; (c) what are the information and knowledge seeking behaviours of managers; and (d) how is information and knowledge processed and used in the context of adoption of an evidence informed management approach. The research methodology consists of semi structured interviews with 28 managers from 3 National Health Service (NHS) trusts designed to test the conceptual framework but also enable participants identify other relevant issues. In addition to identifying general management issues related to use of information and knowledge resources, the study investigates use in relation to two contemporary strategic decision making areas: education and training and performance management. This study makes a particular contribution by identifying those decision making areas tending to lead to use of information and knowledge resources in a health context. It finds the most extensive use is of practice related resources and adds to the limited research on information literacy in a management situation. In addition, the study adds to the relatively few empirical studies associated with evidence informed management. It confirms evidence informed management as the appropriate label and determines the breadth of information and knowledge resources is relevant to this approach. Finally, the study makes recommendations to enhance NHS management practice in a number of areas. These include strengthening academic research; strengthening availability of practice related information and knowledge; developing skills and/or support for managers related to information and knowledge use; developing the production of systematic reviews; and improving organisational arrangements associated with information and knowledge resources. Also included is a dissemination strategy and identification of areas for future research.

Despite the high interest and the surge of research on knowledge transfer in the past decade, it is surprising that most of the existing studies have not presented a framework that could provide a satisfactory explanation for how knowledge is transferred from one unit or one organisation to another and how it is remained within the recipient unit or the recipient organisation. Such unclear and vaguely explained concepts and frameworks for knowledge transfer have become a major limitation of the research in this area. In order to fill the knowledge gap, this study aims to build a more comprehensive knowledge transfer framework that covers the key concepts of both knowledge transfer and learning, including the related social mechanisms and cognitive factors generally involved in the dynamic process of knowledge transfer. It particularly explores how knowledge transfer actually occurs in the real-life international joint ventures and investigates factors affecting the transfer process, in a hope that the findings would offer the creation of new concepts and essential guidance on knowledge transfer that can be generalised to other cases where the same phenomenon exists. This research employs a qualitative methodological approach to enrich the developed theoretical framework for knowledge transfer. A multiple-case study methodology, with a replication procedure, is used since it can provide both in- depth insights and compelling evidence. The cases selected include two Cambodian-based IJVs with the same Thai parent. Both cases are operating in the healthcare business, which is considered one of the most knowledge-intensive industries. The data for this study is collected through multiple methods of data collection, including in-depth interviews, documentation; and direct observation. The main findings of this study show general support for the developed framework and proposed propositions. They suggest that foreign parent's knowledge is transferred to the IJVs through the interaction between the sources and the recipients of knowledge. In addition, such transferred knowledge is shared in the organizational through a prolonged social interaction between direct recipients and other organisational members and is eventually institutionalised in the organisation if the organisational members continuously utilise the transferred knowledge. Moreover, the findings also reveal that the characteristics of knowledge, actors, and context can have an effect on the different phases of knowledge transfer.

The aim of this research was to investigate how the continual low success rate of IS projects could be improved through an evaluation of success and failure factors. A literature review revealed a comprehensive but uncoordinated history of research into the identification of the critical factors. This proved to be inconclusive, but did indicate that project management contributed more to the failures than the technology. A model for expressing the complexity of IS project environments is proposed to aid project teams with their strategy. Also, the criteria for measuring success of both project managemenat nd IS projects has been extended. Although many disciplines had considered trust as a success factor, this was missing within the domain of project management. To examine the effect of trust in an IS project environment a game termed Project Paradox was designed and run. A lack of trust was found to be compounded by conflicting objectives inherent within IS projects. It is recommended that the issues relating to trust should be considered and managed as an integral part of a risk analysis. To enable this to be realised in practice a framework for a Trust Audit is proposed. The thesis concludes with a number of research initiatives aimed at improving the success rate of IS projects.

Building procurement involves many different parties and resources. It is very common that requires project participants involved to work within budget, on time and according to quality prescribed as well as they must work safely. Sadly, safety aspects have been insufficient and lacking in many construction projects around the globe. However, as time progresses, safety is now becoming the fundamental measure of project performance. Hence, this research is an exploratory and explanatory investigation of how to enhance the implementation of construction safety practice throughout procurement process. As we speak, improvement of safety in construction is not only treated as technical aspects, but also as an organisational and managerial aspect as well. Firstly, the premise of this research is to show that client leadership and commitment as well as project team integration within the whole procurement process will influence safety practice in the construction industry. Secondly, the context of this research is drawn on the underlying theories of building procurement and construction safety. Therefore, thirdly, the primary objective of this research is to study how the procurement process acts as a potential tool to enhance safety practice in the construction industry. A framework developed for this research was based on procurement systems and accident causation theories as well as the process protocol. The current theories of accident causation suggest that improved safety in construction must start since in the beginning of project procurement process while integrating client and project participants toward synergy to mitigate any factors undermining safety in downstream production level. A case study strategy in two different countries, the UK and Malaysia, was selected as this provided justification of how procurement and people involved practising safety. The case study objects were undertaken by design and built and traditional procurement method. Different level of safety maturity is the justification of the countries selected. It was also intended to investigate lessons learned from the UK safety practice that can be used to improve the Malaysian construction industry. Multiple sources of information, data and evidence from 2 of the UK cases and 2 of the Malaysian cases were investigated through semi-structured interviews and questionnaire surveys. In this research, three propositions were explored. The first is that improved procurement process, the client leadership for better safety policy in the procurement process and team integration throughout project procurement process can enhance health and safety practice. The findings are presented as data comparisons and analytical generalisations, from both intra case and cross case analyses as well as questionnaires. The main results show that procurement process with better client leadership and commitment as well as stronger project team integration can enhance safety practice in the construction industry. This research suggests that improving safety in construction is not only in the hand of construction companies but also any other project participants right from beginning of project procurement throughout project implementation. It is also suggested that Malaysia may take more attempts to persuade clients and client's project team to deal with safety issues seriously long before construction project commencing on site.

This research examines in detail the ability (logic) of organisations to adopt commodity work business processes. Four case studies taken from within one major UK retailer, Boots The Chemists, examines how a single work business process, that of call centres, has been developed in each of four different internal business ventures by studying the process, decision, and alignment logic applied in each case. The research approach adopts qualitative and interpretative analysis that includes longitudinal case studies. This multiple case study approach has an embedded design incorporating the components of work business processes as subunits to enhance insight. Data was collected predominantly from interviews supported by archive material, documents, and direct observation. Overlapping cross case, and within case analysis was undertaken, using Activity Records, Strategic Choice Analysis, and concepts supported by Actor Network Theory. While it might be expected that broadly similar processes located in the same overall business context would adopt similar solutions in terms of commoditisation, governance, and resourcing (architecture), the research found that in the four cases four quite different approaches were taken. It is concluded that while the core processes were the same across the cases, (i) the detail of the process, (ii) the variation in the contexts, (iii) the logic of the decision process as they evolved, and (iv) the view of the actors involved (as to whether each element could be treated as a commodity) combined together to lead to quite different approaches in each case. Moreover as time progressed and experience was gained and the situation evolved, actors changed their views (alignment) resulting in changes to the business process. There appeared to be little transfer of knowledge across different parts of the organisation.