<p> This study analyzed activism that leads to a merger or acquisition (M&amp;A) of a firm to see its benefits for the shareholders at the target firm as well as its acquirer. It used over thirty years of data to understand the impact of the activists&rsquo; demands of strategic significance for the firms. It examined the premium fetched at acquisition announcement, bid counts and cash versus stock offers to see the benefits of activism to the target firm and its shareholders. It checked the performance reflected in the premium fetched to compare activists based on their overall experience, industry specialization and ownership stake. Most importantly, it analyzed the long-term post-acquisition performance of firms for cases that involved the activists versus others. It noted that the involvement of activists led to above 30% premium for the target firms benefitting its shareholders, as compared to about 15-20% for the non-activism related M&amp;A. It also observed a 30% increase in the post-acquisition performance of the acquirer or the merged firm up to five years after the effective date of the M&amp;A transaction for an activism related M&amp;A, as compared to others. The results provide strong evidence that activism leads to positive value creation for the shareholders of a target firm at the time of acquisition. It challenged the popular perception that activists are near-term focused investors and corporate raiders. It found that activists bring lasting gains to the acquirer and its shareholders. The strategic changes brought in by the activist continue to influence the performance of the target and its acquirer for the long-term. It concluded that activists help discipline a target firm in the short as well as the long terms. Investor activism can steer M&amp;A to successful outcomes for the target and the acquirer. It also observed the positive spillover effects of activism on comparable firms in the M&amp;A context.</p>

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The Internet has made it possible for large amounts of data to be made available to users in a variety of areas. This has to lead to users being inundated with lots of information, making it difficult for them to locate data that would be of use to them. One domain that has not been immune to this problem is that of remote sensing. Remotely sensed data is available in abundance and can potentially be of use to many users. But it is difficult for users from different application domains to locate appropriate datasets and process them. Current search tools such as search engines are not adequate for remotely sensed data as most searches using these tools yield an inordinately large number of web sites, each of which has to be explored individually by the user and then the results manually collated. Besides, traditional search techniques are not embedded with the knowledge about the remote sensing domain. The goal of this research is to find out how users with varying backgrounds and levels of expertise can retrieve and access resources over the Internet. This dissertation describes a virtual enterprise model of intelligent agents that deals with the complexities of locating and retrieving remotely sensed data over the Internet. The methodology followed in this research includes (i) agent modeling, (ii) building agent cooperation techniques that would enable agents to understand terminology used at different sites and communicate with each other, (iii) optimizing communication flows between various agents, (iv) validating the model, and (v) verifying the prototype. The important contributions of this research include among others an agent model generalizable to problem domains other than remote sensing, a formally defined ontology (a collection of terms and relationships between those terms) for the remote sensing domain, and a prototype system that implements the model and the ontology.

This research has attempted to make a contribution to the development of knowledge within the domain of Internal Corporate Venturing (ICV) with specific reference to the factors that are likely to affect a successful or failed outcome for such ventures. Extant literature was examined for existing models that could explain ICV practice in large organisations. The author was unable to find a model that could be utilised or modified for the purposes of the present study. Consequently a theoretically grounded research model was developed which posits that 'Organisational', 'Strategic' and 'Operational' are higher order dimensions that affect ICV outcome. The study employed rigorous methodologies to (a) operationalise the factors that comprise each of the three dimensions and, (b) test a number of research hypotheses through a selfcompletion questionnaire. Sufficient data were collected from a random sample of the top UK based companies and the principal analytical tool utilised was Partial Least Squares (PLS). Overall, the research is considered to have made the following contributions: Methodological Contributions Given the lack of published operationalisations, this research has developed and validated a series of scales to measure the specific factors that have been hypothesised to form the three higher order dimensions. The proposed higher order structure of the 'Organisational', 'Strategic' and 'Operational' dimensions was confirmed. However, 'Funding' was found to represent a discreet construct rather than being a factor of the 'Strategic' dimension. Theoretical Contributions Looking at the research model, of the hypothesised determinants only the 'Organisational' dimension and the 'Funding' construct have been found to significantly affect ICV outcome. A competing model was also tested that, instead of higher order structures, allowed direct pathways between the constructs of the three dimensions and ICV outcome. The results indicate that 'Autonomous behaviour', 'Funding' and 'Resource availability' were significant determinants of ICV outcome. Managerial Guidelines/Contributions On the strength of the results obtained a set of managerial guidelines are proposed that are designed to encourage autonomous behaviour within the ICV, ensure the allocation of sufficient resources and funds that will enable the ICV to function in a way that will ultimately ensure a positive outcome.

<p> This study examined the relationship between leadership style and past military rank, and how these might impact an organization&rsquo;s innovation climate. The sample consisted of (a) retired U.S. Army senior officers currently employed as executive-level supervisors in the high-technology engineering defense industry and (b) those working under such supervisors. Two leadership styles investigated in this study are transactional and transformational, the former defined by incentive structures based on pay and promotion according to performance, and the latter defined by charisma, inspiration, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration. Although these are not mutually exclusive styles, they are conceptually distinct operating modes. The former emphasizes hierarchy, while the latter emphasizes egalitarian relations. The hypothesis was that leaders with military background might habitually operate in transactional style, characteristic of hierarchical organizations where functionality benefits from conformity and lack of dissent as fundamental elements that enhance a high level of coordination. Conversely, research suggests that for-profit engineering-related businesses should benefit from innovation-enhancing characteristics linked with transformational leadership. </p><p> Quantitative data was gathered through self-report Likert-scale measures accessed online: the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) with subscales as independent variables and the Workplace Innovation Scale&rsquo;s innovation climate subscale as a dependent variable. Rank as an independent variable was defined by dividing supervisor-group respondents into two comparison groups, an upper and lower tier. Supervisors and subordinates reported on their own or their supervisor&rsquo;s leadership style, respectively, and innovation climate. The study aimed primarily to detect correlations between (a) MLQ scores and innovation climate and (b) past rank of supervisors and innovation climate.</p>

This study uses the concepts of distributive justice and procedural justice to examine Saudi Arabian civil service employees' determinants of fairness in their performance appraisal system. A survey of 400 civil service employees in different public sector agencies in two major cities of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh and Jeddah, was conducted. Seven hypotheses were proposed and tested. The composite dependent variable was the "Perceived satisfaction and fairness of the performance appraisal system." Data were collected by means of a questionnaire. Multiple regressions and T-tests analyses were used to analyze the gathered data. The study found that perceptions of fairness among Saudi civil service employees an their performance appraisal system were strongly related to four procedural justice factors: (1) feedback received from the performance evaluation process helped to identify strengths and weaknesses of employees' performance, (2) the extent to which performance appraisal was used for setting goals for future performance, (3) participation in goal setting, and (4) whether the performance appraisal was used for determining training needs. These findings provide strong support for procedural justice theories. Moreover, this study found that cultural values may not be a significant factor in explaining Saudi civil service employees' reaction to their performance appraisal system. Finally, findings of this study have important implications for multinational companies and their consultants.

Research examined what decision makers do when, after screening out unacceptable options in preparation for making a choice from among the acceptable survivors, they find that all of the survivors have become unavailable. Subjects were presented options in the form of rooms to rent and required to screen them to prepare a 'short list' from which a choice could be made. They also rated the importance of the room's characteristics. Then they were told that the rooms on the short list all had been rented, and that no new rooms had become available so they would have to create a new short list from among the previously rejected rooms. Then they re-screened the rejected options and re-rated the importance of the characteristics of the rooms. It was found that nearly 90% of the subjects would prefer to begin again with new options rather than re-screen rejected options. It also was found that when forced to re-screen rejected options, subjects reduced their ratings of the importance of the options' characteristics.

<p>As organizations face increased challenges associated with globalization, developing the next leadership generation is an opportunity to create competitive advantage. Within the context of globalization, two key challenges stand for these organizations. The first challenge is the increase in cultural diversity. Cultural diversity has changed the landscape of international and domestic organizations resulting in a new global workforce with complex and dynamic challenges. The second major challenge associated with globalization is increased complexities imposed on leadership to lead strategic initiatives for organizations. This research brought these two key challenges together by examining the relationship of cultural intelligence (CQ) and key project manager competencies. A quantitative, correlational study was conducted to determine if relationships exist between CQ dimensions (cognitive, metacognitive, behavioral, and motivational) and key project manager competencies (communicating, leading, managing, cognitive ability, effectiveness, and professionalism). The sample participants were organizational leaders consisting of project managers associated with the Project Management Institute (PMI). The findings indicated a statistically significant relationship exists between CQ dimensions and project manager personal competencies. The results indicated a weak strength in Pearson&rsquo;s correlation coefficient implicating further research should be performed. Additionally, the findings indicated a statistically significant difference when comparing the CQ scores competency scores of project managers between those who had experience in multicultural workplace environments and those who did not. The results of this study are significant for global leaders as cultural diversity and demand for leadership competencies increases due to new globalization. A recommendation, based on these findings is organizations should develop cultural intelligence focused training and leadership competency development initiatives that support increased project success. Finally, it is recommended that further research be explored supporting development of leadership in diverse organizations. </p><p> Keywords: cultural intelligence theory, leadership competency theory, project manager competencies </p>