The aim of the thesis is to explore the effects of Inter-Organisational (Information) Systems (IOSs) on business relationships and competition in business markets from a managerial perspective. Previous research in this area is fragmented across many different subject areas, the main ones being information systems, marketing, strategy, economics and organisational behaviour. The research problem is developed from previous work on electronic markets and hierarchies and on theory from the general management literature. The principal research method used is detailed case analysis, and data were collected from a ran e of organisations in different industries. The data collection strategy was to obtain theoretically diverse data with respect to the theoretical constructs chosen. In addition to the case research, a novel research method for collecting management data directly from the Information Systems of organisations and markets is proposed. This research method was applied in the treasury department of a global manufacturing organisation and the structure of its global market network was analysed using matrix algebra and visualisation techniques. Four models are proposed concerning IOSs and competition in business markets:- (i) A taxonomy of IOSs is described based on the theoretical constructs which defines IOSs with reference to their managerial and technical components. (ii) The forms of association model is proposed which details different mechanisms for logistics management in the vertical supply chain and predicts the emergence of hierarchical structures rather than electronic markets. (iii) A model of cooperative supply chain management centred around shared Information Systems is developed which predicts that competition between supply chains is becoming more important than competition between individual organisations because of cooperative behaviour between separate organisations within supply chains. (iv) A mathematical analysis of a global market network is presented which illustrates the utility of a novel research method for measuring and analysing the structure of massive market networks. The mathematical results and visualisation of a global market network show that it is extremely sparsely connected and that the dominant structures are relatively simple organisation-sets, and distinct three stage supply chains. These results confirm the predictions of the detailed case research concerning the emergence of hierarchical structures in business markets. The implications of the research findings are discussed with reference to the structure of market networks and competition in business markets. Future research in this subject area L is outlined and specific problems and theoretical approaches are described which will provide a better understanding of this complex and important subject.

This dissertation deals with the internationalisation strategies, organisational and environmental contexts as well as performances in specific foreign markets of Greek manufacturing SMEs. Greece has a small and advancing economy, and the international operations of its small manufacturing firms present significant practical interest to business and government officials. Besides, this topic bears considerable academic value, since gaps in the literature exist upon which a study on this issue can provide insight. 4- The thesis has embraced a holistic framework, which applies concepts from studies of strategic management to the SME internationalisation theme. The strategic choice theory lies behind the internationalisation strategies set, the resource-based and inertial views behind the organisational context sets, and the environmental determinism approach behind the host and domestic environmental context sets. The application of such notions, which are commonly encountered in strategic management, to this area constitutes the principal contribution of the dissertation to academic theory. The conceptual framework of this thesis is integrated in a pre-specified model, which is made up of seventeen constructs belonging to the four sets mentioned above. Each of the constructs is presumed to individually affect firm performance in the foreign country. Initially, in this project, secondary research was undertaken and the theoretical background was advanced. Based on a conceptual model, the hypotheses were then formulated and tested with the aid of empirical observations. Hence, this approach adopts a deductive research method closely associated with empiricism. Overall, after conducting 114 personal interviews through a fully structured questionnaire, data for 165 internationalisation ventures was collected. Results by reliability, exploratory factor and correlation analyses, which were employed to evaluate the scales of the study's constructs, demonstrate that the construct validity (and reliability) of the dissertation's variables is satisfactory. Regression examinations reveal that all four sets of independent variables exert influence on performance in foreign markets. Variables of the organisational context exhibit significant influence on foreign sales ratio of the country and perceived satisfaction. This finding stresses the role of SME managers, who should develop their internal organisational resources, and especially, management systems in internationalisation and resource availability for internationalisation. Besides, businesses have to acquire as much experience in the host country as possible. The statistically significant impact of all environmental variables (apart from unfamiliarity with the foreign market) is notable and of key importance, particularly to government practitioners. State officials can work towards shaping favourable environmental circumstances in both domestic and host nations to aid SMEs in their internationalisation ventures. Finally, investigations of differences show that ventures in developed countries present higher foreign sales ratios than ventures in less developed countries, and ventures by Salonikian firms present higher foreign sales ratios than ventures by Athenian firms.

This thesis focuses on the implications of New Public Management and Modernization reform policies in the National Probation Service. In an attempt to understand how National Probation Service employees .make sense of those reforms, actors' organizational context, their organizational identity and roles have been explored. The study takes interpretivist, qualitative approach. It is based on ethnographic data, collected over a one-year period in an English regional probation service (RPA). In the course of the fieldwork, forty. five employees were interviewed. Data were also collected through participant observation, and analysis of formal documents. Empiric,al and theoretical contributions emerge from this thesis. The former relate to control, organizational identity, and role issues in the probation service, while the latter relate to resistance.

The main objective of this thesis is to analyse output flexibility and innovation in industrial districts by framing the central ideas of the industrial district literature within a rigorous neo-classical theoretical framework without losing sight of the intangible factors characterising industrial districts. A more formalised analysis of the dynamics of flexibility and innovation in industrial districts will enable a generalisation of the main findings to clusters of firms that have some key features in common with industrial district, namely district-type clusters. One of the main results of the model and of the empirical analysis is that in the case where firms need to be flexible to respond to demand changes, then firms prefer to be less vertically integrated and alternatively to be part of dis-integrated production system. The other important result, in support of the model, comes from the empirical study which shows that there is a strong link between networking along the supply chain (between suppliers and buyers) and innovation.

This dissertation investigates the topics of affect and its relationship with cognition, areas of growing interest for management research. Despite the significant scholarly attention on affective and cognitive constructs, processes, and dynamics shaping organizational life, several questions on their interplay remain unanswered. This work employs exploratory analyses and provides original contributions to fill some of these crucial research gaps. Chapter 1 argues the urgency of a review work on the relationship between affect and cognition. By highlighting the existence of a parcelled body of literature, this chapter proposes its systematic integration in key topical areas. Moreover, it defines a novel conceptual model that incorporates interdisciplinary insights into a unifying framework, offering fresh avenues for organizational research. Chapter 2 researches on the dyadic level of analysis and focuses on interpersonal trust, a key organizational construct characterized by affective and cognitive aspects. The study explores how these two forms of trust interplay in hierarchical relationships, a puzzle limiting current knowledge on their roles in workplace dynamics. This qualitative research, conducted among knowledge-intensive workers, explains that varying levels of cognitive and affective trust interact in both concordant and discordant ways, defining four distinct relationship types. These findings offer theory for advancing both the literature on affect and cognition, and that on trust. Chapter 3 holds methodological value and claims that organizational studies can benefit from employing neuroscience techniques. By focusing on insights from affective research, it analyses technical and functional characteristics and limits of neuroscience methods, and argues that their integration in management scholarship could move its theory and practice forward. These chapters altogether develop knowledge on the topics of affect and its relationship with cognition, offer original contributions by challenging and extending current theoretical and methodological frameworks, and pinpoint relevant implications for hierarchical relationships, knowledge-intensive work, and overall management scholarship and practice.

The Study is in four parts. The first part provides a background to the original research through a short twentieth century history of management and synopses of the work of selected earlier writers and researchers. The second part provides the results of a new empirical study of managerial work in Great Britain in the early nineteen-nineties. This study follows the lead of earlier researchers such as Carlson, Stewart and Mintzberg and invstigates managerial work using three methodologies. A quantitative study through a questionnaire survey is complemented by a smaller diary study and thirty face to face interviews with a range of managers from widely differing organisations and jobs. A statistical analysis of the data provides a very detailed review of how managers spend their time, requirements for effective performance, how performance is measured, major changes which have affected them, and the skills and knowledge used. Analysis of the diary data provides a very detailed profile of managerial work. Factor analysis is used to identify a new managerial typology; and using data from the various elements of the study a series of detailed managerial models, identifying both similarities and differences, is provided for an average manager, a general manager, five types of functional manager and five hierarchical levels of manager. Using information from the interview case studies, together with the statistical analysis, the management of human resouces, or "getting things done through other people", is addressed and a range of abilities, skills and knowledge required for effective people management identified. This section, particularly, contributes to the field of knowledge and provides guidance for the development of management education and training. Part three provides a comparison of the present study with earlier researches and shows that whilst the fundamental nature of managerial work changes relatively. little, the environment within which it takes place is constantly changing. Recent changes identified include greater customer orientation and demands for quality, new legislation, "de-layering" and the very rapid development of new technologies within both offices and factories. The evidence suggests that the work of managers is becoming continually more demanding and increasingly difficult. Part four provides a range of very detailed appendices in support of the main text.

This study aims to investigate the disclosure of non-financial information by UK companies in the absence of regulatory and statutory requirements. The study focuses on answering two key questions: (1) whether UK companies disclose non-fiiiancial information to legitimise their corporate behaviours to their stakeholder groups, and (2) whether UK companies disclose nonfinancial information to meet the information requirements of their stakeholder groups. To start this study, traditional theories and concepts used in the accounting literature are reviewed. The researcher takes the view that among the existing theories and concepts, legitimacy and stakeholder theories provide the best explanationf or the disclosure of non-financial information by UK companies. While the arguments presented by the proponents of the legitimacy theory is used to explain how companies may disclose information to present themselves as having the same norms and values as those of the society, the arguments in support of the stakeholder rheory are used to highlight the existence of different stakeholder groups and how companies attach different importance to them. The author takes the view that if companies disclose non-financial information to their stakeholder groups, they should do so regardless of their corporate characteristics. To explore the reasons for the disclosure of non-financial information further, the quality of the disclosed non-financial information is heeded by considering two characteristics of 'Social and Ethical Accounting, Auditing and Reporting' (SEAAR), namely stakeholder identification and stakeholder dialogue. It is argued that if companies disclose information to meet the requirements of their stakeholder groups, they are expected to: (1) identify their stakeholder groups, and (2) hold dialogue with them. Before startingt he empirical investigation, methodological isues that are believed to be relevant to this research project are discussed wherein non-financial information categories are divided into two groups of governance and non-govemance. While governance in formation encompasses information categories on corporate managerial structures, non-governance information categories are on non-managerial aspects of companies and can be related to both external and internal matters. Having decided on the non-financial information categories, the level of non-financial information disclosed by the Top 100 UK companies is measured for 1985,1990 and 1995. The findings show that the level of information disclosureh ad increasedin terms of both governance and non-governance in formation categories from 1985 to 1995. The thesis proceeds by probing the two key questions. The question of whether companies disclose non-financial information to legitimise their behaviours is investigated by choosing a number of corporatec haracteristics and examining if either of these characteristicsis associated with the level of non-financial information disclosed by UK companies. The observation of association between any of the corporate characteristics and the level of non-financial information disclosure is used to demonstrate how companies divulge information to legitimise those aspects of behaviours that are closely linked to their characteristics. The question of whether companies report non-financial information to meet the information requirements of their stakeholders' groups is probed using questionnaire surveys. The questionnairews ere sent out to companies and two stakeholder groups, namely investors and employees. The responsesre ceived from the three groups castlight on stakeholder identification and the state of stakeholder dialogue. According to the findings of this study, a number of corporate characteristics were associated with the disclosure of non-financial information illustrating that UK companies disclosed information to legitimise their behaviours to their stakeholder groups in the absence of any regulatory and statutory requirements. This was particularly the case for non-governancein formation. The findings also suggest that UK companies attached more importance to their investors than to their employees and they met the information requirements of their investors despite holding a relatively higher level of dialogue with their employees.

In the rapidly changing global scenario, it became increasingly clear that new thinking was required to make businesses competitive given the challenges of liberalised trade regimes, free flow of capital and knowledge. The prodigious marriage of computers, communications and technology provided lot more options to the consumers, competitors, employees, suppliers and providers of money alike. Customers and Consumers have become more demanding, not only in terms of product quality or costs but also innovations and detect free services. The Author, anticipating the change, advised the Chairman of the Aditya Birla Group, (with sales and assets in excess of 6 billion US dollars and having manufacturing sites in India, Thailand, Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Egypt and Canada), to focus on lifting the standards of Manufacturing in all his Units. The Author joined the Group in late 1996 as The President of World Class Manufacturing, a Corporate Function, as a direct reporter to the Chairman Some companies in the Group, which are making good profits, perceived themselves as World Class since they had obtained ISO Certification, and a few other Awards. Yet others were pursuing customers with their own definition of quality, costs and delivery. And some were pursuing improvement programs under external consultant's guidance. The business went on as usual, except more explanation of how competition was increasing, and generic statements like "ve are doing all we can to deal with the situation which should improve soon" It was in the above context that Author thought of trying holistic approach for Good Governance at all levels, at all locations, involving all employees and all activities with focus on Manufacturing since best of marketing efforts would be in vain if not backed up by a World Class product with right cost and delivery. Anticipating the future needs, Author wanted everyone to focus on Innovations and Intellectual Capital and highest levels of Productivity from the six Ms [we call it. Men or Women (People), Material, Machines, Methods, Measurement and Markets]. After studying current literature and case studies on the subject and interacting with his former employers in Europe, America, Africa and Asia, and his potential customers (the 67 Plants in 1997) Author devised a Model that was futuristic, holistic, simple to be understood as the 'Art of Managing the Workplace', small or big. This was supported by a detailed Road Map and Methodology for Implementation of the Revolution for Excellence in the Group. A set of unique actions that would change the Mindset and Inspire the troops were developed and applied. Each of the 67 Plants have developed and deployed its own actions for percolating the philosophy, concept, tools and technique for the Deployment, Assessment and Review for becoming a world class manufacturer (WCM) The results are most satisfying as, the Model, its Road Map and Methodology with actions for Sustaining the Momentum has led to significant improvements in Products, Processes, Mindset and Culture of the People; they have attained higher knowledge level in their work, become extremely customer focused and have sent positive signals to all the stakeholders about their ability to protect the future, enhancing the competitiveness of their business, and therefore the Nation, and thereby protect the future of the next generation of employees, investors as well as other stakeholders. The tangible savings (over a period of approximately 5 years) in both Indian rupees and UK Pounds Sterling are summarized here under. On an average there are savings of about 9.5 millions UK £ per year. The turnover of the group is about 5500 millions UK (E). The savings thus comes equivalent to about 0.2 % of the Group's turnover which is a substantial amount creating a big impact on bottom line.

This research study is descriptive, normative and empirical in scope. The main purpose of the study, reported in this thesis, is to empirically investigate the "adequacy" of mandatory information disclosure practices of public companies listed on an anglophone African stock exchange classified as an emerging equity stock market by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and to assess the "stringency" of the disclosure regulatory regime of that market. The study also investigates the characteristics of the relationship between some selected corporate attributes and mandatory disclosure. The corporate attributes examined are: company size, audit quality, ownership structure of equity shares, industry-type, company age, multinational corporation affiliation, profitability, and liquidity. A sample of 49 non-financial companies listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) as of 31 December 1994 formed the basis of the conclusions reported in this thesis. To measure the "adequacy" of mandatory disclosure in the annual reports and accounts of these companies, a disclosure measuring instrument was constructed consisting of information items required by companies law, financial accounting standards, and listing rules of the ZSE. Applying the measuring instrument against the annual reports and accounts of the sampled companies, their mandatory disclosure scores were obtained, and were used with other data specific to each sample company to test the relational hypotheses. To investigate the adequacy of mandatory disclosure practices of the sample companies, a descriptive statistical analysis was undertaken. The results of this analysis suggest that the amount of mandated information disclosed in the annual reports and accounts of these companies is inadequate for the information needs of users of annual reports and accounts in Zimbabwe. There were several instances where none of the sample companies disclosed the required information items. In another respect, the stringency of the disclosure regulatory regime of the stock exchange was empirically assessed with both a Paired sample t test and Wilcoxon signed-rank test. The results of these tests indicate that the disclosure regulatory regime of the stock market is less stringent. Although it has an elaborate monitoring and enforcement mechanisms, it failed to secure full compliance with its disclosure requirements in practice as there were several instances of non-compliance. To ascertain the nature and the strength of the relationship between the corporate attributes and mandatory disclosure, both correlation and multivariate regression analyses were undertaken. The results of the correlation analysis showed that only company age has a significant positive relationship with the extent of mandatory disclosure. In contrast, a robust regression analysis indicated that company size, ownership structure, company age, multinational corporation affiliation, and profitability are positively significantly associated with the extent of mandatory disclosure in Zimbabwe. Thus, of the eight corporate attributes, only company size, ownership structure, company age, multinational corporation affiliation, and profitability "best" explained mandatory disclosure behaviour of the sample companies. On the whole, the results of this study provide support to the general view and prior studies that disclosure practices of emerging equity stock market listed companies are inadequate due to weak monitoring and enforcement of disclosure requirements. It is recommended in this study that the disclosure regulatory regime should be made stringent to minimise non-compliance with requirements by increasing the number of annual reports and accounts of public listed companies that is reviewed annually under the existing monitoring and enforcement mechanisms. This will ensure that each listed company is subject to the review process, at least, once in every three years.

The importance of a form of international accounting standard has been well documented over the past twenty years. In the area of research the predominant focus has been on the measurement of the degree of harmonisation between countries. This research, whilst qualitative in nature, has, in the main, relied on a quantitative assessment of accounting practices in the countries being reviewed. In doing this, reliance has been placed on surveys, questionnaires and reviews of financial statements. Each has its own set of problems. This is all illustrated and highlighted in the literature survey where argument and counter argument is evident over twenty years. In all this, little has been done to review the foundation from which the data is extracted and it is argued that the very aspect of a qualitative work has been ignored completely in favour of the more high profile quantitative research. The research sets out to investigate whether, in point of fact, there is a need to undertake a more searching and detailed examination of accounting practices in each country before any attempt is made of a measurement study or a classification study. Clearly the answer is that this must be done as only in so doing can the playing field be levelled and can the very basis for measurement or classification be fully understood in advance. It was necessary to undertake a full sampling of groups of companies in the three member states and to draw the smaller sample from those final lists. This was to prevent any aspect of bias being present and to ensure that only random sampling was undertaken in the final selection. The initial response to requests for financial statements and the subséquent follow ups resulted in a staggering response of 77% over the three member states and from thèse a sample equivalent to approximately 20% was drawn for further analysis. It is to be hoped that with further funding and additional resources, further investigation can be conducted into the remainder of the sample which would be brought up-to-date. The results of the research indicate positively that the qualitative work must be undertaken first and foremost and that any quantitative work can only be of value if cognisance is taken of the many diverse problems that can, and do arise in accounting practice. These problems are detailed in the research and while not claiming to be exhaustive, they nevertheless provide an imposing array of the multitude of problems that do arise in undertaking either a measurement study or a classification between countries. This work fills an important gap in the literature and examines an area not covered by previous research. It highlights the underlying problems of quantitative work and while not attempting to underrate that work, it nevertheless suggests that research of a qualitative nature should not be ignored or undervalued. The thesis consists of nine chapters together with a number of appendices. The chapters are designed to underpin the base of knowledge of the five accounting practices dealt with in the thesis and to explain the workings of the important bodies who nave played a vital role in accounting harmonisation. Even as the concluding words are written the European Commission is moving ahead with their plan for a more harmonised Europe. They are joined by the International Accounting Standards Committee who are moving ahead in their plan for a worldwide set of accounting standards. Chapter 1 introduces the study while Chapter 2 explains why this area of research was undertaken. Chapter 3 examines the literature dealing with both measurement and classification studies. The investigation of the three member states naturally requires an understanding of the workings of the European Union and this is dealt with in Chapter 4 while Chapters 5 and 6 examine the Directives issued and the diversity of accounting practice within the three member states. This is accompanied by a more in-depth discussion on the five accounting practices, which are the subject matter of the work. Chapter 7 takes a deeper look into the accounting practices of France, Germany and the United Kingdom before moving on to Chapter 8 which examines the five topics of deferred taxation, foreign currency translation, goodwill, leases and pensions. This chapter analyses the sample groups of listed companies so as to determine if the original hypothesis was in fact correct. The chapter concludes with a number of lessons to be learnt from each of the five topics. Chapter 9 analyses these lessons and draws a conclusion which is well illustrated by a list of problems that have been deduced from this work.