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La présente thèse vise à combler un manque de connaissances lié à la compréhension de la relation de dépendance entre les pratiques de ressources humaines (RH) et la performance des entreprises. Nous vérifierons si le fait d'organiser les pratiques de RH de façon cohérente vis-à-vis elles-mêmes (configurational perspective) et vis-à-vis la stratégie de l'entreprise (contingency perspective) produit un effet significatif sur la performance selon le cycle de vie des produits/services de l'entreprise. Contrairement à nos attentes, les résultats démontrent que les entreprises ayant des produits/services en phase de croissance possèdent des pratiques plus cohérentes comparativement aux autres entreprises, et que, plus la cohésion de leurs pratiques de RH est forte, plus leur performance organisationnelle augmente. Comme nouvelle piste de recherche, nous proposons un modèle théorique qui présente le concept de souplesse organisationnelle en tant qu'élément pouvant prédire le degré de cohésion des pratiques de GRH et influer sur la performance organisationnelle.

Different approaches to corporate responsibility can be identified throughout the business ethics and corporate responsibility literature. Stakeholder theory, one of these approaches, has emerged in recent years as the most prominent. This approach calls for a shift from the supremacy of economic interests of stockholders and attempts to derive alternatives for corporate governance that include and balance the interests of all those affected by corporate conduct. This thesis consists of a review of relevant literature to identify three major contributions stakeholder theory brings to the CR debate: (1) it implicitly introduces the organic model into the CR debate and thereby forces a fundamental change in the way corporations are conceived within ethics frameworks; (2) in recognition of the expanding ethical sphere of corporations, it extends corporate responsibility beyond economic performance, the owners of the corporation, expertise, and the law and government regulations; and (3) it provides a foundation for identifying what responsibilities corporations do have.

This research intends to inform policy discussion on the subject of Aerospace and Defence sector procurement strategies at Industry Canada (IC). Specifically, this research explores procurement strategies in terms of a real option pricing model that move toward a novel use of Industrial and Regional Benefits (IRB) policies in promoting sector-specific, innovation-driven growth. It is further hypothesized that IRB obligations can be better tailored to encourage value adding activities within prime contractors' supply chains (typically small and medium enterprises in this sector). This research focusses on the novel development of a decision support tool using a theory of option pricing for derivatives whose returns fluctuate according to a power law distribution. This tool is shown to provide guidance to assist in adequately rewarding prime contractors who invest in innovative activities while fulfilling their IRB obligations.

The present study proposes a conceptual framework for investigation of how various dimensions of proximity (i.e. geographical, cognitive, organizational) and management interventions influence knowledge transfer and innovation in technology M&A This research objective is achieved through a qualitative multiple case study, which included three M&A cases involving technology-based companies. Evidence supports the links between various dimensions of proximity and knowledge transfer, and subsequently, between knowledge transfer and innovation. The study also confirms the importance of management interventions, especially in retaining key employees to preserve and transfer knowledge. The study contributes to the literature by illuminating the relationship between various dimensions of proximity and M&A knowledge transfer, which so far has not been well researched and established by prior studies, and by providing a new perspective to view cognitive proximity. In addition, it provides directions for managerial practices to select M&A partners and to manage post-M&A knowledge transfer.

Negoplan is a domain-independent decision support system which can be customised for different application domains. Negoplan enables the representation, simulation and support of sequential, context-dependent decision-making problems that involve the interaction between two participants and their decision environment. This thesis presents extensions that increase the expressiveness of Negoplan's constructs. They enable Negoplan to represent decision-making problems that involve more than two participants. This enlarges substantially the class of Negoplan's applications. The usefulness of the extensions is demonstrated on a managerial decision-making application that involves more than two participants. This Negoplan application concerns self-training of a Business Administration student to test his managerial decision-making skills in an environment in which Negoplan represents two other autonomously behaving participants. The application also demonstrates the suitability of customised Negoplan as an automated training tool.

The purpose of the study was to determine the effectiveness of the Oman Football Association (OFA) in selected dimensions, namely, complexity, formalization, centralization, activities to ensure resources, work flow activities, and control activities, identification activities, and homeostatic activities. The study used a document analysis to gather qualitative data, and a survey to collect constituent perceptions on these dimensions. Four constituent groups were identified: administrators, official referees, national team athletes, and coaches. Their perceptions were assessed by a nine point scale ranging from $-$4 to +4. Fifty-eight participants responded to a survey questionnaire. A Kruskal Wallis non parametric test was carried out to test differences between constituent's perceptions in the five dimensions. From the overall perceptions all dimensions were perceived to be contributing to organizational effectiveness. The only significant difference was found between administrators, and referees and coaches in the control dimension. This finding supported the statement problem examined in the current study, and indicated that there is need for a valid evaluation process for programs and personnel within the organization. The constituent's comments to the open-ended questions revealed some important issues, the employee involvement in decision making, the recruitment of professional administrators, and the influence of the General Organization of Sport and Youth activities (GOSYA) in OFA's activities.