Although market efficiency is considered to be one of the foundations of modern finance theory and practice, several areas of research dealing with corporate lending markets are based upon the assumption of market inefficiency. The purpose of this study is to probe this issue with regard to three such research areas namely, (1) empirical failure prediction studies, (2) borrowing conditions of small firms and (3) theories of secured debt. In contrast to these studies, it was assumed that lending markets are efficient, in the sense that company specific characteristics are reflected in the conditions under which a firm can obtain borrowed funds and thus, the borrowing conditions cost of borrowed funds and proportion of secured debt were studied using different complementing research methods. With regard to failure prediction studies the results suggest that lenders recognize a firm in difficulties with considerable accuracy and within the time-framework used by failure prediction studies to demonstrate predictive abilities. Previous studies questioning the ex-ante value of failure prediction models and assuming market efficiency are thus supported. The sampling procedure of failure prediction studies was supported as far as industry effects are concerned but not with regard to size effects. Previously found differences in borrowing conditions of large and small firms were also found on a univariate basis here. However, within a multivariate framework no significant size-effect was found for the cost of borrowed funds. For the secured debt variable size effects were found after statistically controlling other influences, but this result could be explained by existing theoretical and empirical work. Three competing theoretical explanations of secured borrowing were examined and empirical evidence supported in general monitoring cost theories rather than theories based on asymmetric information (and thus market inefficiency) or redistribution effects. Overall, previously observed or implied inefficiency was not supported in most cases.

The main inquiry of this research is why some small firms fail while others survive and grow. In addressing this inquiry, four theories, human capital, social capital, organisation and business strategy, are chosen as the theoretical framework underpinning the study. Two main objectives of the study are (i) developing a survival/failure model (ii) developing a growth model. The investigation focus is on factors that are possibly associated with small firm performance. Traditionally, small firm performance studies use financial ratios as variables or indicators of performance. However, financial indicators may reflect only some perspectives of small firm performance. This is due to the nature of the small firm, which is very much influenced by its owner-manager and environment. Moreover, small firm financial data are not easily accessible, possibly owing to business confidentiality or lack of an appropriate documentation system for research purposes. In view of these situations, a combination of both financial and non-financial performance indicators are used to seek answers to the research questions. Performance is conceptualised into two dimensions, (i) survival/failure and (ii) growth. By using quantitative methods with a hypothetical deductive testing approach, two studies were conducted. Study I (N=320) used secondary data generated from the business plans of the survivors/failures for developing the survival/failure model. In Study II {N=312) survey data gathered through face-to-face interviews were used to develop a growth model. The results indicated that education, . management training, external consultation, experience, motivation and networking (proxies for human and social capital theories) were positively related to small firm survival and growth. Age, size and location of the small finns produced mixed influences on firm performance. Age was found to be negatively related to both survival and growth, while size was found to be positively related to firm survival and growth. Although the results showed that firnls located away from the city were likely to survive, they suggested that the opposite was true for growth-seeking firms, although this relationship was not significant. The produ'ct-market strategies deployed in small films were differentiation-focus, which were found to be highly significant to small firm survival and growth.

This thesis is concerned with the antecedents, evaluations and consequences of rural service quality in the business-to-consumer (B2C) service sector. The thesis examines rural service quality from three separate, but overlapping, perspectives. Thus, a multi-layer framework is created. Small firms depend upon repeat business for the majority of their income (Chaston and Mangles, 2002) and on positive word-of-mouth as their key source of new customers (Spence and Schmidpeter, 2003). Repeat business and referrals are examples of loyalty behaviours; therefore, it is important for small firm owner-managers to understand the drivers of customer loyalty. The study reveals the dimensions of rural consumer service quality evaluations and their relative impacts on loyalty behaviour and it develops an understanding of relationship capital in the rural SME service-sector. The research approach employs multi-method techniques in a qualitative research design to examine the perspectives of key informants, small business owner-managers and consumers in Dumfries and Galloway. The research employs semi-structured interviews with key informants and with a sample of SME owner-managers. The Critical Incident Technique (Flanagan, 1954) is used to explore the experiences and evaluations of rural service consumers. These different perspectives are contrasted to identify areas of agreement and differences and these are used to inform the conclusions and recommendations of the research for rural policy makers and for small firms. The study finds different apprehensions of the major challenges of rurality between key informants and small firm owner-managers and differences in service quality priorities between providers and consumers of rural services. The findings from the study are used to construct a conceptual understanding of service quality in a rural area; how rurality informs service quality, how service quality is understood by rural small firm owner-managers and how service quality is judged by rural service consumers.

Spreadsheets are the most widely used End User Computing (EUC) tool. Errors in spreadsheets are significant and well documented. There is anecdotal evidence that spreadsheets are used at strategic level. The conjunction of the extent of errors and spreadsheet use at a strategic level in organisations raises the risk exposure to organisations. There are two approaches towards this problem: ‘spreadsheet engineering’ or ‘business problem’. There is extensive research in finding spreadsheet engineering solutions to reduce the errors. This research instead followed a ‘business problem’ approach. The literature reviewed concerned various subject areas: general Risk Management, EUC and IT Risk Management. The conceptual framework developed suggested an approach to mitigate risks associated with spreadsheet use. The study followed a pragmatist research philosophy using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. This research investigated the significance and extent of spreadsheet problems using a Questionnaire survey conducted with Tuck Business School, USA, along with four secondary studies and a qualitative analysis of an e-discussion by an expert forum of EUSpRIG. This was followed by two qualitative case studies using semi-structured interviews. Resulting from the case studies, a model was developed for categorising spreadsheet use incorporating risk. The categories of use and approach to measure the risk were defined. This study concludes that spreadsheets are an integral part of the organisations and their strategic decision-making processes. Spreadsheets are a powerful tool and have been a victim of their own success. The answer is not to avoid spreadsheets but to use them more sensibly and carefully as one would do with any other powerful tool. There needs to be formalised control governing their use and development, based on their type of use and extent of risks associated. The model developed helps prioritise spreadsheets based on categories of use incorporating risk associated and suggested strategy for each category.

Recently, contemporary management accounting studies have focused on management accounting techniques or procedures initiated in the industrialized countries, and whether they can be effectively adopted· in developing countries. They have explored the factors (both impetus and impediment) that would affect the application of management accounting practices in developing countries? Several studies in different paris of th{ world have investigated the status of their national management accounting practices, such as the study of Chenhall and Smith (1998a) in Australia, Wijewardena and Zoysa (1999) in Japan. and Drury et al (1993) in the U.K. However, this area of research remains inconclusive and incomplete in relation to the literature of some developing countries such as Egypt. This research attempted to investigate two main questions, firstly; the in-firm internal contingent factors to the adoption of recent management accounting practices. secondly. the effect of adopting recent management accounting practices on the firms' performance. with an application solely on the Egyptian pharmaceutical firms. The main motivation for undertaking this research is to fill the gap in literature and provide some information that might benefit both academics and practitioners in this field. In addition, investors and future investors might get a clearer picture on the effect of the Egyptian economy's specific characteristics on the development of management accounting practices in manufacturing finns. A thorough review of the literature suggested a contingency perspective as an appropriate theoretical framework for this type of research (Fisher and Govindarajan, 1993; Fisher. 1995a: 1998: Donaldson. 1996: Ittner and Larcker, 200 I). Data were collected in this research by using interviews. Interviews were conducted in the 20 largest manufacturing pharmaceutical firms. The data were analyzed both statistically and qualitatively in order to explore the research questions.

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