This thesis examines the relationships between performance, evolution and network governance of international joint ventures from a dynamic perspective. This is accomplished with a two-stage examination of case studies on the China-New Zealand joint ventures in China, involving two case studies in the first stage and one case study in the second stage. The exploratory and narrative research aims to aid theory building in the area of assessment and determination for IJV performance. In an investigation of the case IJVs between the Chinese and New Zealand firms, the study results in the development of three conceptual models of IJV performance and network relationships, namely, the Static Goal Model, the Goal Succession Model, and the Goal Emergence Model. These conceptual models adopt goal attainment as the criterion for assessing UV performance, and address goal attainment from a dynamic perspective by using a network approach. The theoretical models are illustrated and supported by the empirical evidence from the longitudinal case studies. The conceptual models differ from existing models of IJV performance in a number of important aspects, and thus contribute to theory relating to IJV performance in the following ways. These models integrate the concepts from the three research areas of performance, governance structure and dynamic evolution into a conceptual framework addressing IJV performance. Two types (organisational and interpersonal) of IJV network relationships are identified, and complex multiple tiers of network relationships in each type and their influence on JV performance and evolution are discussed. The study highlights the influence of network relationships and their evolution on IJV performance by arguing that IJV performance hinges on whether a trend of institutionalising the mechanism of trust building and conflict resolution and of balancing the network relationships within the IJV arrangement emerges from the process of IJV dynamic evolution. This research was solely undertaken by the author for the purpose of a thesis submitted in fulfilling the requirements for the degree of Ph. D at the University of Auckland.

The validity of three key Business Excellence (BE) models used in the Asia Pacific—the Australian Business Excellence Framework (Australia), the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence (New Zealand) and the Singapore Quality Award Criteria (Singapore)—was examined from a conceptual as well as a predictive standpoint. Unlike in many past studies, in this study the validity of the measurement criteria stipulated in BE models have been directly assessed. The conceptual validity of the three BE models was studied through a generic theoretical model using the partial least squares-based structural equation modelling (PLSBSEM) method. Apart from measurement validity, the strengths of the hypothesised causal relationships between the constructs of the BE models and their practical implementations were also examined under conceptual validity. The predictive validity of the three BE models was examined through linear predictive models involving enablers—being measures in BE models that cover what organisations actually do in order to achieve business outcomes—as predictors and business outcomes as responses. Alongside predictive validity, the reasonableness of the stipulated weights of the enablers was also examined. Other empirical and pragmatic inquiries covered in this study included: (a) a study of the effect of “industry attractiveness” on financial and market performance, and (b) a study of the relationship between BE constructs and “national cultural dimensions”. Results revealed that although the three BE models fulfilled the basic requirements of measurement validity, against more stringent criteria such as those used in psychometrics, they showed low levels of validity. The possible reasons for this were examined and the ways of overcoming the shortcoming were suggested. The generic theoretical model was found to be statistically significant across all three settings: Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. As regards predictive validity, it was observed that enablers appear to be good predictors of business outcomes (thus establishing predictive validity) although there was scope for improvement of the existing weighting scheme of the enablers. This study is important because many organisations in the region use BE models with the expectation of improving their performance in key results areas and hence there is a need to demonstrate that the BE models are based on sound concepts.

Benchmarking is a well established and respected mechanism that contributes to organisational improvement. Its epistemology demonstrates it to be theoretically underdetermined with literature focusing on pragmatism and praxis. Benchmarking's critics hold it to be a-theoretical; failing to provide its practitioners with a reliable basis for distinguishing between effective and ineffective efforts. The purpose of this thesis is to review Benchmarking's epistemology and identify the necessary or sufficient methodological elements contributing to its effectiveness and to establish them within an acceptable theoretical framework. A causal approach is applied to the objectives of organisational benchmarking's current definitions and implementation frameworks. The resulting theoretical framework is then validated against current exemplary benchmarking praxis to explain its effectiveness and satisfy historical criticisms. Central to the approach is the application of supervenience and entailment relationships between benchmarking parties within the umbrella of Peircean Causation to determine the feasibility of a benchmarking proposition. Benchmarking's a priori effectiveness (sufficiency) can be established from an organisational axiom and five logical conditions. This research establishes a new encompassing definition of benchmarking reduces its typology to a single consistent form and establishes an Effective Benchmarking Process that explains current practices and addresses historical criticisms. These logical conditions also explain the effectiveness of empirical frameworks such as the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and ISO 9000. A theoretical foundation for benchmarking provides a platform for extending the theory of organisational improvement. It also has significant potential to enhance organisational sustainability by reducing wasted effort. This research focuses on the causal linkages between benchmarking and organisational sustainability. The research establishes a new definition of benchmarking, specifies necessary and sufficient conditions for its application and frames practitioner efforts within an Effective Benchmarking Process (EBP).

Changing characteristics of work and careers have resulted in a shift in perceptions of the potential value of entrepreneurial activity. In parallel there has emerged an appreciation of the non-economic impact of entrepreneurship on those who enact it. However, there still remains a limited understanding of the consequences of choosing to be an entrepreneur, and what that choice means in terms of that individual’s life and work. The potential for the young as a group to engage with entrepreneurship as a ‘career option’ is high, therefore the central research objective of this study was to learn what meaning young New Zealand entrepreneurs attach to ‘being in business’. The study was grounded in an inductive, interpretive research design, underpinned by the tenets of constructivism. Phenomenologically focussed, in-depth interviews were used to gather data from ten young New Zealand entrepreneurs. These interviews were semi-structured and emphasised language, meaning, and narrative. The resulting data were analysed using elements of a constructivist grounded theory approach. A key finding was that the nature of the relationship between the entrepreneurs and their firms was a strong attachment grounded in emotion. The intertwining of the life of the business with the life of the young entrepreneur was viewed positively, and frequently involved personal transformation. Businesses were more than mechanisms for achieving monetary wealth. The relationship between the young entrepreneurs and their work was also intense. Balance of work and life was not an issue, nor did they seek to differentiate between the two spheres. They were content to have the two blended in a manner of their choosing. Consistent with this was their drive for personal authenticity and adherence to strong ethical imperatives. Being an entrepreneur was less about career (and even less about a job) and more about fulfilling needs of a higher order. Almost all the participants strongly identified as entrepreneurs. They felt it was the identity most consistent with their values, attitudes, and aspirations. They accepted that in some instances the label small-firm owner manager was accurate in terms of the scale of their operations, but rejected its appropriateness on any other grounds.

Free-to-air television news is an accessible and popular means through which audiences can gain knowledge and understanding about the world. Therefore, the nature of the news provided has important implications for the opportunities audiences have to become informed about events and issues, and to use this knowledge to participate in social decision-making. The structure and content of news bulletins reflect the decisions made by broadcasters about the topics that are considered to be important, and which sources should have the opportunity to be represented. Thus, the goal of this research was to compare the structure and content of the news provided by New Zealand’s national free-to-air news programmes; ONE News (TVNZ), 3 News (TV3), Prime News (Prime Television), and Te K ea (M ori Television). A content analysis of one constructed week of the four news programmes was undertaken, focusing on four general areas of interest. First, the profile of the news bulletins was examined (i.e., the proportion of the bulletin allocated to different segments of the news, the duration of main news stories, the origin of production of main news stories, the proportion of New Zealand and international news, and the topics included in the news). Second, the research investigated the identity of the types of sources selected by the broadcasters for inclusion in locally produced main news stories. Third, the frequency and duration of élite and non-élite source speech was examined. Finally, the extent to which journalists speak on camera in news stories was also investigated. The study showed that the four programmes generally conformed to the ‘standard profile’ of modern television news bulletins; the programmes included considerable amounts of non-news content and the news topics often reflected entertainment values, rather than focusing on serious issues. A further significant characteristic of the bulletins was that élite sources were more likely to be included in news stories on all programmes and generally had greater opportunities to speak. However, in many respects it appears that Te K ea provides an alternative news bulletin compared to the other three channels, by focusing on a wider range of news topics, including more non-élite sources in stories, and giving all sources considerably more time to share their views. Te K ea seems to broadcast a news programme that makes a compromise between the entertainment values which are entrenched in contemporary television news, and the broader M ori Television mandate to inform and educate the public. This contrasts with the more homogenous (in terms of the characteristics examined in this research) news programmes offered by the ONE News, 3 News, and Prime News. This study concludes that the nationally available free-to-air news programmes currently broadcast on New Zealand television fulfil the traditional news functions of informing and educating the public in only a very narrow sense. The deregulated news environment is poised to undergo further transformation with an anticipated increase in convergence among news media and the emergence of more television news providers. The challenge within this commercial environment is for ONE News, 3 News, Prime News, and Te K ea to deliver on their stated commitments to provide information and promote debate on the important issues of the day.

Change is a potentially emotional event as people anticipate or experience its outcomes and processes. Managers and researchers often ignore the emotional aspects of organisational change, yet it is precisely these aspects that can promote acceptance of change or resistance to it. The focus of the research is on the many factors that contribute to cognitive, affective and behavioural responses to organisational change. A model of individual responses evolved from the literature review and helped guide the research questions. It indicates that responses to change depend on factors in four categories: those in the change itself (outcomes, scale, temporal issues and justice); those in the employee (their emotional intelligence, disposition, previous experience of change, and change and stress outside the workplace); those in the employee’s perceptions of the leaders/managers/agents (their leadership ability, emotional intelligence and trustworthiness); and those in the employee’s perception of the organisation (its culture and change context). Two main research approaches underpinned the thesis. Firstly, cognitive appraisal theory takes the position that emotion derives from cognition as people contemplate the importance of events (such as organisational change) to their wellbeing and consider how they will cope. Secondly, social constructionism was used as a theoretical platform because it combines the individual experience of emotions during change with the social forces that help shape them. Twenty-four interviews were conducted in Auckland, New Zealand. The participants were from a variety of industries, organisations, hierarchical levels, change roles, functional departments and ethnic, gender and age groups. They reported on many different types of change, small and large, with many focussing on some element of organisational restructuring. The study showed that people played different roles in change events - as leaders, managers, agents and recipients - and at times took on a combination of these roles, which did not always depend on hierarchy. The roles they played to some extent influenced their responses. Findings show that all 13 factors in the model produced some responses, but not in all participants. The most prevalent of these, and those that often provoke emotions of the greatest intensity, were personal outcomes and the fairness of change. Two additional factors surfaced, control over the change and support from colleagues and people outside the organisation, and the model was revised to include them. The study confirmed that organisational change is indeed an emotional event, and that these emotions arise from a host of factors that have individual, social and wider contextual origins.

The micro-enterprise (MCE) represents by far the largest category of businesses in most industrialised economies but until now it has not been recognised as an important participant in the foreign market. Much has been written about how larger firms internationalise through the gradual acquisition of knowledge and resources, although there is a paucity of literature on how the MCE exploits international markets often despite the absence of such acquisitions. This thesis proposes that building a portfolio of relationships is critical in facilitating both market entry and subsequent outcomes. A more detailed investigation of this process helps reveal precisely how MCE internationalisation is largely a function of its specific relationship building efforts.Employing a multiple case study approach, in-depth interviews were held with founders and directors from seven MCE's, purposely selected from three main centres of commercial activity in New Zealand. Interview participants were encouraged to provide detailed longitudinal retrospections of their firm's internationalisation journey, with a particular emphasis on precisely how resource constraints were overcome during this process. All interviews were recorded and transcribed, and together with other confirmatory data sources, these formed the canon of evidence used for ongoing analysis and interpretation. The whole research process was an iterative one with observations made from earlier cases being challenged and refined through the consideration of data from subsequent cases.Several key findings emerged from this study. Firstly, internationalisation is of considerable significance to the MCE in that it expands product and market opportunities, improves operational competencies, and provides an outlet for the achievement of both financial and relational goals. Secondly, key relationships developed during this process include internal, manufacturer/supplier, distributor, support, EPO, and end-user types. Thirdly, MCE's gravitate towards adopting either a social exchange (characterised by trust, commitment and social norms) or transaction cost analysis (characterised by contractual mechanisms) approach to developing these relationship types. Critical to this finding though and previously unobserved in the literature, is that within the context of a social exchange or transaction cost analysis approach, governance (bilateral or unilateral/market) may be observed as a separate construct. Finally, the MCE adopting a social exchange approach overall achieves more robust international outcomes particularly in respect to increased cost efficiencies and new market opportunities.Although no statistical inferences can be drawn from the findings of this study, some important generalisations to theory can be made in respect to the manner in which small firm internationalisation is currently modelled. It is suggested that this research has begun to address the issue by proposing that the quality of relationships is central to the success of the smallest of internationalising concerns. Specifically, sequential knowledge, network, and resource based views, need to better incorporate the moderating role that the relational paradigm has on international progress. To this end it has been demonstrated that the precise underpinnings of the relationship can have a determining effect on both the rate and cost of international progress. Furthermore, managers may also benefit from these findings by improving both their relationship filtering and nurturing processes.

Exploring the leadership of New Zealand’s diverse cultural groups is of great importance in providing effective leadership. New Zealand’s population is diverse and rapidly changing (Statistics New Zealand, 2004b), resulting in leader-follower relationships increasingly being enacted in the cross-cultural context. As research suggests, cultural variations of leadership exist (Brodbeck et al., 2000; House, Hanges, Javidan, Dorfman, & Gupta, 2004), and inappropriate leadership could stifle the leadership process (Lord & Maher, 1993), it may be especially important to recognise cultural difference in leadership. Well-respected leadership theorists suggest that leadership behaviour is both culturally similar and different (Brodbeck et al., 2000; House et al., 2004), with distinct prototypes of leadership existing in each culture. Followers will only be influenced by leaders’ behaviour which they recognise from that prototype (Lord & Maher, 1993). To be effective, leaders’ behaviour must match followers’ culturally contingent leadership expectation (Popper & Druyan, 2001). New Zealand research supports this theory, confirming the existence of culturally unique leadership behaviour domestically (Ah Chong & Thomas, 1997; Love, 1991a). If the leadership expectations of New Zealand’s diverse cultural groups are not recognised, the result will be ineffective leadership for significant groups. This study investigates perceptions of outstanding Maori and Pakeha leaders by culturally similar followers. In doing so, it examines the unique Maori and Pakeha leadership prototypes, exploring their similarities and differences. In addition, it considers ways in which this course of research could impact on effective leadership in New Zealand. A multi-method approach was taken by this study in exploring perceived Maori and Pakeha leadership. The GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness) survey was employed as this study’s quantitative component. The GLOBE is currently cross-cultural leadership’s fore-running research programme, investigating culture’s impact on leadership processes in 62 cultures, with the aim of developing a truly cross-cultural leadership theory. Close iwi consultation with Te Atiawa and Maori academics was employed as this study’s qualitative component. This study’s findings suggest similarities and differences in how Maori and Pakeha followers perceived the outstanding leadership behaviour of culturally similar leaders. Broadly, they suggest that outstanding Maori leaders were perceived as exhibiting a greater degree of humane-orientated and self-protective behaviour. In some instances, outstanding Maori leaders were also perceived as exhibiting a greater degree of charismatic/value-based and team-orientated behaviour, although in some cases this was perceived as similar for outstanding Maori and Pakeha leaders. Participative and autonomous leadership behaviour was perceived as making a similar contribution to outstanding Maori and Pakeha leadership. This study’s findings support previous research which suggests culturally unique leadership prototypes. It offers insight into Maori leadership (as perceived by Maori followers) and provides a rough sketch-map of homogeneous and heterogeneous aspects of Maori and Pakeha leaders’ perceived behaviour.

Despite the widespread use of project risk management, the results of such efforts are often underwhelming. Do project risk management practices somehow miss the point? To explore this idea I use a critical management studies framework to study project risk management. The approach prescribed in the Project Management Institute's Project Management Body of Knowledge is compared to the very different approach of a professional project manager. A theorised analysis of the difference between these approaches finds that they employ the logic of different knowledge-constitutive interests thereby making them suitable for different purposes. The study concludes with a discussion of how the results of this analysis can be presented to practitioners in a way consistent with the emancipatory agenda of critical management studies.

The purpose of this study was to examine and compare the food-related messages that are presented to children on New Zealand and Japanese television. A sample of 25 programmes, including advertisements broadcast on New Zealand's main free-to-air network stations and a sample of 22 programmes, including advertisements broadcast on Japan's network stations were the basis of this study. Food-related messages, content and portrayed eating behaviours were analysed. The main finding of this study suggest that the advertising content of children's programmes contain a large proportion of food advertising, largely for foods high in fat and sugar. The children's programming environments in both New Zealand and Japan also contain a large proportion of food imagery, which does include a variety of healthy foods such as meat, rice, bread, fruit and vegetables. Of more concern is that whilst Japanese children are mainly watching children's programmes, in New Zealand, children are exposed to numerous unhealthy food related imagery during programmes of which they are heavy viewers, although they are not the target audience, i.e. peak viewing periods, typically 6pm -10:30pm daily. Furthermore the unhealthy eating imagery during peak viewing periods may be contributing towards shaping children's nutrition practices. It is recommended that marketers and policy makers consider these issues in regard to the claims that advertising is a contributing factor to obesity. Due to the high incidence of eating behaviours occurring during programme content it is recommended that an advertising ban during children's programmes in New Zealand and Japan would be inconsistent, ineffective and unjustifiable.