This dissertation seeks to relieve theoretical tension between organizational ambidexterity and network perspectives by developing a contingent model of firm-level exploration and exploitation. The central proposition of this model is firms need to both effectively explore and exploit to succeed but that inter-organizational network features supporting one of these activities are detrimental to the other. This model indicates firms can resolve this apparent paradox by configuring their networks contingent on the particular goals of these networks. In the context of technology commercialization, I hypothesize firms should benefit by configuring their inter-organizational networks to gather novel information when seeking to discover new technologies but gather redundant information when seeking to bring these new discoveries to market. I test these hypotheses with a unique panel data set of firms active in publishing, patenting, and commercializing technologies in the field of green chemistry. My empirical results largely support these hypothesized relationships.

Corporate social responsibility in global supply chains has become an increasingly salient issue for many organisations. In a response to this, the aim of this research is to consider the influence of strategic management, and in particular the role of business strategy, in shaping socially and environmentally responsible purchasing and supply management activities. In examining this theme, this research draws heavily upon recent conceptualisations of the relationship between strategic management and corporate social responsibility, and empirically assesses this relationship with a focus on such practices within the supply chain. Using a novel data collection approach to capture firms’ actual social and environmental supply management activities, these data draw on interviews with 178 UK-based firms and observations of 340 separate buyer-supplier relationships. Primary data were supplemented with secondary data to capture both industry and firm characteristics. This methodology minimises social desirability bias and common source bias. The findings suggest that responsible purchasing and supply management is strongly driven by business strategy in the business to consumer market. In contrast, in the business to business market such initiatives are largely influenced by firms’ financial resources and economic obligations. In both the business to consumer and business to business sector, however, business strategy and financial resources are contingent on the industry environment. Hence, the industry environment plays a significant, albeit indirect, role in shaping socially and environmentally responsible purchasing and supply management activities. This research offers one of the first insights into how strategic management, and in particular how business strategy, influences firms’ investments in socially and environmentally responsible purchasing and supply management initiatives. Through conceptual and empirical investigations this research highlights this relationship and notes the importance of integrating business strategy with general supplier practices, with a focus on the implementation of corporate social responsibility in individual buyer-supplier relationships.

Thesis (M.A. (Business administration)) University of Limpopo, 2008 / This research report is based on an integrated approach to strategy implementation in the Limpopo Department of Roads and Transport. The purpose of this research was to investigate which factors are key in the implementation of strategies and how can they be integrated to achieve the stated goals of the Limpopo Department of Roads and Transport. This report included both qualitative and quantitative research methods. The major finding of the study was that there are four key drivers of strategy implementation. These key drivers are management and leadership, organizational culture, organizational structure and organizational processes/systems. The integration of these key drivers is essential for the implementation of strategy, leading to improved service delivery to various stakeholders. The report concludes that in order to approach strategy implementation in an integrated manner, the following should take place: (1) managers who are responsible for strategy implementation should also be involved in strategy formulation processes; (2) organizational culture should be changed to create a conducive environment for the managers to be motivated; (3) leadership and management should guide the vision and mission; (4) organizational processes/systems should be coordinated and integrated for efficiency and effectiveness

This thesis explores knowledge transfer between firms in multinational organisations. The subject of knowledge transfer is undisputedly important because knowledge is the essence of competitive advantage. In addition, multinational organisations are believed to be more effective at facilitating inter-firm knowledge transfer. The theoretical framework of this thesis is based on four constructs of knowledge transfer: motivation to transfer knowledge; richness of communication channels; absorptive capacity and organisational context. The research uses both quantitative and qualitative methods to explore these constructs. The research confirms the positive relationship between these constructs. Importantly, it highlights three knowledge transfer levels namely: pooling; assimilation; application and integration of knowledge into the multinational organisation. The research shows that knowledge must move through each of these levels if the focus is knowledge creation, these levels not to be treated as isolated but in fact overlapping. The research also found that high levels of espoused motivation are not always supported by proactive knowledge transfer behaviours. It demonstrated that at a certain level of knowledge transfer encouragement becomes less important than other motivational factors. Importantly, the multinational needs to manage knowledge transfer. To do this, the nature of knowledge must be considered and there needs to be an understanding that ad hoc knowledge transfer patterns can inhibit knowledge being transferred to where it may be needed. The research highlights how important it is for multinational inter-firm knowledge transfer to begin with the individual and then move to the organisation. The individual needs to have the necessary attitudes and ability to understand the benefits. Also, they need to understand that knowledge is not transferred through acceptance alone, but needs to be implemented. This means the multinational must provide strategic direction and structure that facilitates the movement of knowledge across the multinational organisation. Knowledge transfer routines must be managed to allow knowledge to move to where it can create unique knowledge because it is this unique knowledge that can be a strategic benefit to the organisation.

The ability to implement strategies successfully is important to any organisation. Despite the importance of the implementation process within strategic management, this is an area of study often overshadowed by a focus on the strategy formulation process. This thesis concentrates on the strategy implementation process, investigating barriers to strategy implementation. A research framework called the Organisational Minefield was developed to represent the importance of the implementation process to organisations. In contrary to most studies available in strategic management, this research included participants from all levels of the organisation.To identify barriers to strategy implementation, a case study of Air New Zealand was conducted. This involved focussed interviews with 28 participants from the Network and Revenue Management Department of Air New Zealand. Other sources of data such as research articles and secondary company data sources were also used.The findings revealed that: participants from different levels of the organisation have unique perceptions of the implementation process; implementation variables could become roadblocks that undermine the implementation process; these barriers can be overcome if managers are perceptive to the organisation's current situation; and the Organisational Minefield framework presented verified the significance of the role of barriers in the implementation process. The findings add two additional barriers to implementation, namely leadership and power. It was also discovered that the participants acknowledged that these two barriers will impede or enhance the success of Air New Zealand. This was backed by the level of commitment and loyalty shown by the participants, which brought Air New Zealand one step closer to unravelling the mysteries of the implementation process.

<p>Denna hermeneutiska studie är utförd på uppdrag av Gävle Hamn. Gävle kommun som ägare av Gävle Hamn via Gävle Stadshus har som målsättning att hamnen skall bli regionens logistiknav. De investeras i både infrastruktur och maskinpark, för att kunna expandera och göra det möjligt för hamnen att bli den tillväxtmotor i regionen som ägaren hoppas på.</p><p>Expansionen av Gävle hamn och dess verksamhet skall på sikt leda till att fler företag etablerar sig i Gävle hamn och i dess närliggande område. Det i sin tur kommer att medföra fler arbetstillfällen, kommuninvånare och företagsetableringar. Gävle kommuns tillväxtprogram har som målsättning att bli fem procent bättre år 2007 i förhållande till år 2004.</p><p>Faktorer som internationalisering av ekonomin med ökad globalisering av marknader, snabb teknologisk utveckling, ökad miljöhänsyn och en ständig strävan efter hållbar utvecklig, medför att många företag möter en ökad konkurrens, samtidigt som privatiseringar, avregleringar och minskade resursramar ställer hårdare ekonomiska krav på offentliga verksamheter. Stora förändringar av styrningen både av privata och offentliga verksamheter har genomförts, kostnadseffektivitet och hushållning av befintliga resurser är ett måste.</p><p>För Gävle hamn medför detta att man står inför en expansion och effektivisering av verksamheten för att kunna möta framtidens krav från en global marknad och inte minst från ägaren. För att kunna svara på frågan vilka effektiviseringar, styrande system och dokument internt i organisationen som behöver upprättas, krävs en nulägesanalys, vad som finns och en teoretisk referensram vad som bör finnas.</p><p>Nulägesanalysen grundar sig på tio kvalitativa forskningsintervjuer, som visar att Gävle hamn behöver standardisera och formalisera verksamheten, för att utnyttja sina resurser på ett bra sätt. Nulägesanalysen ger en helhetsbild av organisationen, vilket möjliggör att man kan identifiera de områden som fordrar extra uppmärksamhet i ett inledande skede. Ur analysen framkom fyra problemområden där åtgärder behövs.</p><p>Målformulering och strategi, den övergripande framtidsplanen behöver brytas ner till kortsiktiga mål som kan förmedlas och förankras hos medarbetarna.</p><p>Marknadsplan behöver upprättas för att få ett samlat grepp på marknadsföringen och en kortsiktig respektive långsiktig strategi och målsättning.</p><p>Ekonomi- och lönesystem, Gävle hamn behöver ett användarvänligt verktyg som underlättar och skapar kontroll på ekonomin.</p><p>Miljöcertifiering är en viktig fråga speciellt när debatten om miljön och växthuseffekterna blir allt intensivare.</p><p>Studien visar att teorin ofta beskriver den bästa av världar, som inte alltid speglar verkligheten. Den terminologi som är allmänt vedertagen i böckernas värld saknar många gånger en förankring i den dagliga verksamheten.</p> / <p>This hermeneutic study is performed on request by Gävle harbour. The owner of Gävle harbour is Gävle community by Gävle Stadshus and the goal is to create a logistic centre in the district of Gästrikland/Dalarna. To enable the district to be growing and increasing environment, large investments have been put into infrastructure and machinery.</p><p>The expansion of Gävle port and its business should in the future lead to that more companies will settle down in the port area and surroundings. That will increase the work opportunities, inhabitants and companies within the community. The goal of Gävle communities’ growth programme is to increase and be five percent better than the year 2004 within 2007.</p><p>Facts like internationalisation of the economies and increased globalisation of markets, fast technology development, increased act on environmental issues and strive against tenable development. Many companies meet an increased competition, at the same time privatisation, deregulation and decreased recourse frames gives hash financial demands on the public businesses. Large changes in controlling both private and public businesses have been performed, cost efficiency and housekeeping of existing resources is obligated.</p><p>Gävle port stands in front of an expansion and effectiveness of the business to be able to meet the demands of the future from a global market and the regional owner. To be able to answer the question what kind of effectiveness, ruling system and documents internal in the organization that should be maintained and established, there demands a present situation analyse. To receive the information what the company have and compare to the theories what they should have.</p><p>The present situation analyse is built on ten qualitative interviews and shows that Gävle port have to standardise and formalise the business to be able to use their resources on a cost efficient way. To get the overall picture of the organisation the present situations analyse shows the areas that needs extra attention in the beginning. Four problem areas can be identified during the analyse that needs to be dealt with.</p><p>Goal setting and strategy, the vision framtidsplan 2010 must be braked down in short and long term goals that can be mediated to the personnel.</p><p>Market plan must be created to enable to have strategy and short term and long term goals for the marketing actions.</p><p>Economy and salary system, Gävle harbour needs user friendly systems that can be helpful and gives control over the financial development.</p><p>Environmental certification is an important issue now when the debate about environment and global heating is very intensive.</p><p>The study shows that the theories often describe the best of worlds, but the reality usually shows a different side. Terminology used in theory books many times does not cooperate with the daily business and many times gives half the context.</p>

Denna hermeneutiska studie är utförd på uppdrag av Gävle Hamn. Gävle kommun som ägare av Gävle Hamn via Gävle Stadshus har som målsättning att hamnen skall bli regionens logistiknav. De investeras i både infrastruktur och maskinpark, för att kunna expandera och göra det möjligt för hamnen att bli den tillväxtmotor i regionen som ägaren hoppas på. Expansionen av Gävle hamn och dess verksamhet skall på sikt leda till att fler företag etablerar sig i Gävle hamn och i dess närliggande område. Det i sin tur kommer att medföra fler arbetstillfällen, kommuninvånare och företagsetableringar. Gävle kommuns tillväxtprogram har som målsättning att bli fem procent bättre år 2007 i förhållande till år 2004. Faktorer som internationalisering av ekonomin med ökad globalisering av marknader, snabb teknologisk utveckling, ökad miljöhänsyn och en ständig strävan efter hållbar utvecklig, medför att många företag möter en ökad konkurrens, samtidigt som privatiseringar, avregleringar och minskade resursramar ställer hårdare ekonomiska krav på offentliga verksamheter. Stora förändringar av styrningen både av privata och offentliga verksamheter har genomförts, kostnadseffektivitet och hushållning av befintliga resurser är ett måste. För Gävle hamn medför detta att man står inför en expansion och effektivisering av verksamheten för att kunna möta framtidens krav från en global marknad och inte minst från ägaren. För att kunna svara på frågan vilka effektiviseringar, styrande system och dokument internt i organisationen som behöver upprättas, krävs en nulägesanalys, vad som finns och en teoretisk referensram vad som bör finnas. Nulägesanalysen grundar sig på tio kvalitativa forskningsintervjuer, som visar att Gävle hamn behöver standardisera och formalisera verksamheten, för att utnyttja sina resurser på ett bra sätt. Nulägesanalysen ger en helhetsbild av organisationen, vilket möjliggör att man kan identifiera de områden som fordrar extra uppmärksamhet i ett inledande skede. Ur analysen framkom fyra problemområden där åtgärder behövs. Målformulering och strategi, den övergripande framtidsplanen behöver brytas ner till kortsiktiga mål som kan förmedlas och förankras hos medarbetarna. Marknadsplan behöver upprättas för att få ett samlat grepp på marknadsföringen och en kortsiktig respektive långsiktig strategi och målsättning. Ekonomi- och lönesystem, Gävle hamn behöver ett användarvänligt verktyg som underlättar och skapar kontroll på ekonomin. Miljöcertifiering är en viktig fråga speciellt när debatten om miljön och växthuseffekterna blir allt intensivare. Studien visar att teorin ofta beskriver den bästa av världar, som inte alltid speglar verkligheten. Den terminologi som är allmänt vedertagen i böckernas värld saknar många gånger en förankring i den dagliga verksamheten. / This hermeneutic study is performed on request by Gävle harbour. The owner of Gävle harbour is Gävle community by Gävle Stadshus and the goal is to create a logistic centre in the district of Gästrikland/Dalarna. To enable the district to be growing and increasing environment, large investments have been put into infrastructure and machinery. The expansion of Gävle port and its business should in the future lead to that more companies will settle down in the port area and surroundings. That will increase the work opportunities, inhabitants and companies within the community. The goal of Gävle communities’ growth programme is to increase and be five percent better than the year 2004 within 2007. Facts like internationalisation of the economies and increased globalisation of markets, fast technology development, increased act on environmental issues and strive against tenable development. Many companies meet an increased competition, at the same time privatisation, deregulation and decreased recourse frames gives hash financial demands on the public businesses. Large changes in controlling both private and public businesses have been performed, cost efficiency and housekeeping of existing resources is obligated. Gävle port stands in front of an expansion and effectiveness of the business to be able to meet the demands of the future from a global market and the regional owner. To be able to answer the question what kind of effectiveness, ruling system and documents internal in the organization that should be maintained and established, there demands a present situation analyse. To receive the information what the company have and compare to the theories what they should have. The present situation analyse is built on ten qualitative interviews and shows that Gävle port have to standardise and formalise the business to be able to use their resources on a cost efficient way. To get the overall picture of the organisation the present situations analyse shows the areas that needs extra attention in the beginning. Four problem areas can be identified during the analyse that needs to be dealt with. Goal setting and strategy, the vision framtidsplan 2010 must be braked down in short and long term goals that can be mediated to the personnel. Market plan must be created to enable to have strategy and short term and long term goals for the marketing actions. Economy and salary system, Gävle harbour needs user friendly systems that can be helpful and gives control over the financial development. Environmental certification is an important issue now when the debate about environment and global heating is very intensive. The study shows that the theories often describe the best of worlds, but the reality usually shows a different side. Terminology used in theory books many times does not cooperate with the daily business and many times gives half the context.

ABSTRACT All companies want to make profits and will be globalized, but how do they get it? Human resource management must be the key point. Corporate cultures and business strategies try to catch changing environment. How do they affect human resource systems especial in staffing strategies and organization performances? We have 106 effective samples from 1.Taiwan¡¦s 5000 Top manufacture corporations surveyed by CHINA CREDIT INFORMATION SERVICE, LTD. in 2002. 2. Association of Taichung Human Resource Managers. The effective recover rate was 19.2% and then used the SPSS & LISREL software to analyze our questionnaire. The main conclusions of our research are¡G 1.The different corporate culture firms can be classified four types by the two dimensions of flexibility and external focus. Each of the four types has significant deviation. 2.The different business strategy firms can be classified four types by the two dimensions of innovation and market range. Each of the four types has significant deviation. 3.The corporate cultures and business strategies affect organization performances through the staffing strategies

Traditionally human resource functions are performed in house, but recently the subject on outsourcing human resources is becoming more and more popular. According to an article published in 2004 by the INC. 500 magazine, 18 human resource service providers were chosen to be the most fast growing corporation in the US, in the mean time the Fortune 500 and Forbes 500 corporations listings both had human resource business process outsourcing firms listed inside. This research focuses on successful human resource service providers in Taiwan, the main objective will be finding out what current environment are they facing and what kinds of corporate resources do they possess to cope with their business operational needs. Using these findings as the basis, we employ the Transaction Cost Theory to do further analyze in their competitive and strategy model. Further more, by applying these strategies what economical profit can the service provider bring to there customers. In this research, we use a case study approach and employ the in-depth interview technique which includes five global human resource service provider¡¦s Taiwan branch as are research sample. Moreover, by using domestic and international references as auxiliaries, we can draw out the business model of the human resource service providers. The inference of this thesis is that corporate resources and brand can decrease the transaction cost triggered by outsourcing activities, and by decreasing transaction cost the service providers can establish trusting and cooperative relationships more successfully. When trusting relationships are in place, service providers can deliver more added value and economic profits based on their originally service content. Last but not least, by absorbing the feedback from satisfied customers, human resource service providers can accumulate solid professional knowledge and increase brand value.

Abstract The development of engineering business enterprises in Taiwan began around 1960 to meet the demands of economic development. In the early days, the majority were judicial organizations with government involvement, their growth were slow and small in operation scale. It is only in recent years that few engineering enterprises became capable of handling complete facility turnkey projects, and be able to participate in larger projects internationally. The so-called ¡§engineering enterprises¡¨ in the early days were a blend of engineering consultants and constructors. The services provided by both entities are oriented toward public works. The engineering consultants would be responsible for engineering planning, design, supervision and tender administration. The constructors would be responsible for supply of materials and construction works. This research is a case study of the business strategy of a turnkey engineering enterprise in Taiwan. The subject enterprise is the only full engineering, procurement and construction service turnkey enterprise domestically. Relevant literatures, both locally and abroad, were reviewed and discussed, and, senior management of the subject enterprise interviewed. The industry in which the subject enterprise operates and its competitiveness were analyzed. Research findings were collated and discussed. Eight conclusive points and eight recommendations were tabled for the subject enterprise. This report provides a reference for domestic turnkey engineering enterprises in drafting their business strategy. Eight conclusive points were raised: (1) success comes from seizing internal and external environmental opportunities, more importantly is to have core competitive strength, (2) a superior business culture nurtures superior staff, (3) growth is derived from a long term loyal relationship with clients and subcontractors, (4) adopt key diversification strategies with high probabilities of success, (5) oligopoly of domestic market and competition in the international market, (6) participation of renowned international enterprises in the domestic market will enhance the competitive advantage, (7) attaining accreditation of ISO management system facilitates entering the international engineering market, and (8) the next five years are great opportunities for the subject enterprise to grow domestically and internationally. Eight recommendations were made to the subject enterprise: (1) acquisition of upstream product processes and patents, (2) adopt a product concentration strategy in the international market, (3) adopt a ward-off strategy in the domestic market, abandon the medium and small competitors, (4) development of new products and branch into new discipline, (5) elevate working level and expand operations, (6) expand international market, promote international exposure, (7) focus more on product R&D and quality, and (8) adopt a water reservoir management method. Two suggestions for future research: (1) comparative study of business strategy of internationally renowned engineering enterprises, and (2) risk management of turnkey projects.