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This thesis describes an investigation by the author into the spares operation of compare BroomWade Ltd. Whilst the complete system, including the warehousing and distribution functions, was investigated, the thesis concentrates on the provisioning aspect of the spares supply problem. Analysis of the historical data showed the presence of significant fluctuations in all the measures of system performance. Two Industrial Dynamics simulation models were developed to study this phenomena. The models showed that any fluctuation in end customer demand would be amplified as it passed through the distributor and warehouse stock control systems. The evidence from the historical data available supported this view of the system's operation. The models were utilised to determine which parts of the total system could be expected to exert a critical influence on its performance. The lead time parameters of the supply sector were found to be critical and further study showed that the manner in which the lead time changed with work in progress levels was also an important factor. The problem therefore resolved into the design of a spares manufacturing system. Which exhibited the appropriate dynamic performance characteristics. The gross level of entity presentation, inherent in the Industrial Dynamics methodology, was found to limit the value of these models in the development of detail design proposals. Accordingly, an interacting job shop simulation package was developed to allow detailed evaluation of organisational factors on the performance characteristics of a manufacturing system. The package was used to develop a design for a pilot spares production unit. The need for a manufacturing system to perform successfully under conditions of fluctuating demand is not limited to the spares field. Thus, although the spares exercise provides an example of the approach, the concepts and techniques developed can be considered to have broad application throughout batch manufacturing industry.

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This thesis looks at the construction of a strategic plan within a British university (Unico). After a change in leadership, the well-known strategic planning sequence was adopted to set directions according to Unico’s three Missions, followed by the development of respective goals and measures. The evolving strategic content coincided with the development of Unico’s strategic plan. I was able to follow Unico’s planning efforts over 10 months, from first planning meeting to completion of its strategic plan. The main data source provided non-participant observation (n = 25) and ten versions of Unico’s strategic plan. Additionally, seventy-six interviews were held with participants at various points. In order to examine the strategic plan’s construction, I reconceptualised strategic planning as a communicative process consisting of oral talk and written text. Through this interplay strategic planning activities come in to being. Such reconceptualisation provided a conceptual framework to study the in situ interactions without neglecting contextual characteristics embedding the communicative process. Strategic plans are currently seen as promoting inflexibility and reinforcing the institutional nature of formal strategic planning. Adopting dialogism, as advocated by Bakhtin and Ricoeur, this research provides novel insights into the dialogic of strategy talk and strategy text, such as a strategic plan. Findings illustrated that a strategic plan production cycle provided a meaning making platform for its participants. Through recurrently amending the plan, its content became increasingly specific while at the same time reflecting agreed terminology. This thesis offers an alternative view on strategic planning, elaborates on the strategy-as-practice perspective, focusing on the under-explored area of individuals’ interactions at the micro level, and elaborates on the dialogic of text and agency/conversation, distinguishing between talk and text.

Industrial development has had a major role in creating the situation where bio-diverse materials and services essential for sustaining business are under threat. A key contributory factor to biodiversity decline comes from the cumulative impacts of extended supply chain business operations. In order to contribute to stopping this decline, the industrial world needs to form a better understanding of the way it utilizes the business and biodiversity agenda in its wider operations. This thesis investigates the perceptions and attitudes to biodiversity from government, society and a wide cross-section of industry. The research includes the extent of corporate attention to and use of environmental business tools and guidelines in reporting on biodiversity issues. A case study of three companies from different industrial sectors is undertaken to observe procurement and related environmental management of their supply chains. The use of accredited and non-accredited environmental management systems (EMS) are analysed as frameworks for introducing biodiversity aspects into supply chain management. The outcome is a methodology, which can be used either as a bespoke in-house biodiversity management system or within an accredited ISO 14001 EMS, for incorporating the assessment and management of the potential risks and opportunities involving environmental impacts on biodiversity of supply chain companies.

Technological innovation has been widely studied: however surprisingly little is known about the experience of managing the process. Most reports tend to be generalistic and/or prescriptive whereas it is argued that multiple sources of variation in the process limit the value of these. A description of the innovation process is given together with a presentation of what is knovrn from existing studies. Gaps identified in this area suggest that a variety of organisational influences are important and an attempt is made to identify some of these at individual, group and organisational level. A simple system model of the innovation management process is developed. Further investigation of the influence of these factors was made possible through an extended on-site case study. Methodology for this based upon participant observation coupled wth a wide and flexible range of techniques is described. Evidence is presented about many aspects of the innovation process from a number of different levels and perspectives: the attempt is to demonstrate the extent to which variation due to contingent influences takes place. It is argued that problems identified all relate to the issue of integration. This theme is also developed from an analytical viewoint and it is suggested that organisational response to increases in complexity in the external environment will be to match them with internal complexity. Differentiation of this kind will require extensive and flexible integration, especially in those inherently uncertain areas associated with innovation. Whilst traditionally a function of management, it is argued that integration needs have increased to the point where a new specialism is required. The concept of integration specialist is developed from this analysis and attempts at simple integrative change during the research are described. Finally a strategy for integration - or rather for building in integrative capability - ln the organisation studied is described.

Generally risk is seen as an abstract concept which is difficult to measure. In this thesis, we consider quantification in the broader sense by measuring risk in the context of large projects. By improved risk measurement, it may be possible to identify and control risks in such a way that the project is completed successfully in spite of the risks. This thesis considers the trade-offs that may be made in project risk management, specifically time, cost and quality. The main objective is to provide a model which addresses the real problems and questions that project managers encounter, such as: • If I can afford only minimal resources, how much quality is it possible to achieve? • What resources do I need in order to achieve the highest quality possible? • If I have limited resources and I want the highest quality, how much functionality do I need to lose? We propose the use of a causal risk framework that is an improvement on the traditional modelling approaches, such as the risk register approach, and therefore contributes to better decision making. The approach is based on Bayesian Networks (BNs). BNs provide a framework for causal modelling and offer a potential solution to some of the classical modelling problems. Researchers have recently attempted to build BN models that incorporate relationships between time, cost, quality, functionality and various process variables. This thesis analyses such BN models and as part of a new validation study identifies their strengths and weaknesses. BNs have shown considerable promise in addressing the aforementioned problems, but previous BN models have not directly solved the trade-off problem. Major weaknesses are that they do not allow sensible risk event measurement and they do not allow full trade-off analysis. The main hypothesis is that it is possible to build BN models that overcome these limitations without compromising their basic philosophy.

There has been considerable research on the performance gains attributable to international trade and foreign direct investment in recent years. However, the empirical ndings are still unclear, in part because of di erent studies adopting di erent methodologies. The rst aim of this thesis is to contribute to the international economics and international business literature by conducting a meta-analysis of research that studies the causal relationship between exporting and rm productivity and of research that examines the relationship between multinationality and rm performance. In particular, the results indicate the impact of exporting upon productivity is higher in developing than developed countries, an important result from the point of views of the economic analysis of globalization and economic policy in general. Existing studies on multinationality and rm performance have not considered that multinational rms may di er with respect to their location choices of overseas investment. This is an important aspect given that there are substantial di erences across developed and developing countries locations. My research lls this gap by drawing on data covering a very large number of multinational rms from 46 countries. Speci cally, I examine whether heterogeneous investments abroad, in developed and developing countries, have signi cantly di erent e ects on rm performance. The results indicate that multinational rms with more FDI presences in developing countries have signi cantly higher performance than developed countries. China has been undergoing a period of high economic growth and this is likely 4 to be due, in part, to the massive levels of international trade. The third issue covered in my dissertation concerns whether there is any export premium and/or learning by exporting. I conduct my analysis using data for more than 3,000 Chinese rms over the period 2000-2005. Overall, I nd the existence of export premium, and once the rm has entered there is additional productivity growth in post-entry period.

This study examines the variance in methodologies employed by executives and Procurement professionals to engage management consultancy services. The exclusion of Procurement from specific categories of consultancy expenditure is then viewed in the context of its aspirations to be a strategic function. The conclusion drawn is that such aspirations are flawed. Literature in the areas of services marketing, consultancy, value choice, and sourcing are examined. It is noted that the services and consultancy literature refers to the subjective approach of the individual to assess value. In addition, literature that stresses the role of individual contingency in value choices concludes that individuals will not necessarily refer to price when making such assessments. In contrast, the sourcing literature adopts objective organisational approaches to value. This dissonance is reflected in the research data which concludes that senior executives procuring strategy consultancy or ‘coaching’ services tend to use subjective value constructs to make selection decisions. This situation is problematic for procurement professionals who refer almost exclusively to objective value constructs that are specifically designed to produce benefits at an organisational level. This situation makes unlikely the full integration of procurement at a strategic level within the organisation. The choice of a subjective approach to the research using ideographic methodology produced rich and complex data. Semi-structured interviews with senior executives and an extended observation of a consultancy engagement were used. Access of this nature would normally be problematic due to the time constraints under which executives work and the sensitivity of the material. A rare opportunity, however, was presented by the status of the researcher as employee and this was exploited to gain privileged insights into executive behaviour.

Biomimetics has traditionally meant the study of the structure and function of biological systems as models for the design and engineering of materials and machines. Some stunning results showing how biomimetics has been put into practice include Velcro, the Millennium Dome in London and the Millennium Bridge in spanning the River Tyne in Newcastle. Business biomimetics is a new term developed as part of this thesis and is proposed as an emerging field within biomimetics. It is distinct from the current use of biomimetics in that it demonstrates a strategic use in the business environment. This thesis examines how biomimetics can be used to aid business and tests whether businesses can improve their fitness for the future by applying the principles of biomimetics to the development of business strategy. Research groups at the University of Bath were used as the basis of testing this hypothesis, fitness for the future. Results were measured by comparing conventional management models with newly developed business biomimetic models. Analysis of the results demonstrated evidence to support the hypothesis that business biomimetics had a positive effect on the future fitness for the groups as measured by increases in values for esteem and the generation of intellectual capital. These are nationally recognised measures for the success of research groups. Further evidence was gathered from a number of case studies that span a range of industries and disciplines. These case studies show that results are encouraging and the ideas generated by the business biomimetic models demonstrate a richer set of ideas that inspire the managers involved. One case follows the business from previous failure through the development of business biomimetically inspired ideas, implementation and into measureable results. Subsequent improvements include increased revenue, reduced costs, improved supply chain efficiency, better customer relationships and a clearer understanding of the cross functional integration value. The delivery of a business biomimetic approach was facilitated by my invention of the Infinity Context Free Process that provided a framework to translate business problems into biological research areas and then the formulation of implementable business projects. A glimpse into the future for business biomimetics is provided in Chapter 9 that presents examples of the application of business biomimetics and shares the embryonic first steps by businesses to use nature as a guiding principle in sustainability, corporate social responsibility, growth and leadership development. The use of business biomimetics opens up the 3.8 billion years worth of nature‘s expertise and provides a new way for business leaders to innovate. The thesis concludes that when coupled with conventional management approaches, it further provides a way to design and manage businesses that are fit for now and for the future.