Abstract not available

Despite the substantial amount of work undertaken on internationalization to-date, most has placed little emphasis on the temporal processes and dynamics of internationalization in shaping firm internationalization histories. This is reflected in several problem areas in theories and research regarding internationalization including accelerated internationalization, full and partial de-internationalization and use of multiple modes of entry at a point in time. This study addressed an important question: what factors and processes affect the way a firm???s pattern of internationalization changes over time? Although mainstream theories of internationalization and recent advances that link internationalization and entrepreneurship assume the importance of ???opportunity???, there is a paucity of research that that places ???opportunity??? as the core process in internationalization. By embracing time as a key dimension, this study reconceptualized internationalization as an entrepreneurial process: as the process of opportunity discovery, evaluation and exploitation in international markets. The research was undertaken in two phases. Phase 1 included a literature review covering the internationalization and entrepreneurship research streams. The discovery-evaluation-exploitation framework from entrepreneurship was used to identify relevant factors and explore eight case studies. By drawing on results from the exploratory research, an initial conceptual model and a set of propositions were developed. In Phase 2, fifteen case studies were theoretically sampled from a pool of small and medium enterprises from the knowledge and non-knowledge based industries in Australia. The data collection and analysis followed a process, event-driven approach to case study research involving the mapping of key sequences of events as well as within and cross case analysis. The results clarified the nature and pattern of opportunity discovery, evaluation and exploitation, and a number of factors that influence this process: the role of prior knowledge, network ties, serendipity, absorptive capacity, bricolage, the nature of uncertainty, feedback mechanisms and effectual versus causal reasoning. The findings also suggest the evolutionary process of firm development and internationalization and show that born globals may be a classification error. The results indicate that full and partial de-internationalization as well as the use of multiple modes of entry are influenced by the interconnectedness of opportunities across the founding, domestic and international context over time; the role of Knightian uncertainty which can push or pull the patterns in many directions and how firms rely on effectual reasoning. The results provide a better understanding of the basic mechanisms of internationalization. The academic contributions of this thesis include the extension of Jones and Coviello???s (2005) model and previous models by developing a dynamic, process model of internationalization that is capable of addressing the temporal and dynamic gaps in internationalization; the integration and reconciliation of extant theories of internationalization by understanding the role of mode of reasoning; and the establishment of ???opportunity-firm??? nexus as a suitable unit of analysis in internationalization and international entrepreneurship research. Finally, the managerial contributions include guidance for firms and entrepreneurs in terms of dealing with uncertainty and complexity in international markets using the appropriate mode of reasoning (i.e. effectual, non-predictive approach vs. causal, predictive approach) in the right context and circumstances.

Bibliography: leaves 94-98

In 1994, the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) implemented a new audit tool developed by the US Department of Defense (DOD) called "The Environmental Assessment and Management Guide" (TEAM Guide). The TEAM Guide uses an extensive menu of checklists to determine compliance. In November 1994, the USACE Portland District conducted a TEAM audit of the North Pacific Division Laboratory in Troutdale, Oregon. The results showed serious deficiencies in environmental management and compliance that ultimately contributed to closure of the facility. Opportunities to improve the TEAM Audit process were identified and included the following: 1. Ensure that each facility develops an Environmental Management Plan using either ISO 14001 or the Global Reporting Initiative Environmental Standards 2. Utilize professionally-trained and independent auditors to examine Environmental Management Plans prior to conducting additional TEAM Audits 3. Change TEAM Audit intervals from 5-years to 3-years to increase facility oversight and be in agreement with audit intervals used by other DOD agencies 4. Continue to document "Findings" by using severity levels, photographs, and suggested corrective actions in TEAM Audit reports 5. Report environmental management and compliance audit results directly to senior management and hold managers accountable for corrective actions 6. Involve labor representatives on audits; use them to develop appropriate corrective actions; communicate to all employees the program's value. / Graduation date: 2002

The purpose of this study was to describe the level to which a target work culture based on core organizational values was shared in one lumber manufacturing plant. The organization under study perceived that their culture was a source of competitive advantage and was key to their success in safety, product quality, and labor-relations. The organization had actively managed their culture through operations management and human resource policies. The study addressed three research questions (1) to what extent were the core values of the organization shared, (2) were there any inconsistent values, and (3) did organizational members perceive their culture as helping or hurting their plant's performance outcomes. The study found eight of the nine values were shared across the organization. The values of safety and customer satisfaction were strongly shared. The value of environmental stewardship was not apparent in the organization. The organization perceived that its culture helped the mill success in key performance outcomes by promoting teamwork, participation, and communication. For the values of communication, involvement, trust, and respect there were perceptions of inconsistency between the target culture's definition of the value and its actual practice. The study provides support that culture may have an influence on organizational effectiveness. / Graduation date: 2002

Two companion pieces, a video documentary and written analysis, provide the text for this exploration of how women's life stories and the mother-daughter narrative are preserved through the transmission of inherited objects. The video documentary reveals the lives of six diverse women who each discuss the politics of receiving and passing on family heirlooms, and inevitably share the stories their artifacts represent, recalling details of their own lives and of their female ancestors. The written analysis, focused in the three key areas of Stories, Objects and Inheritance, is inclusive of research in reminiscence, oral history, storytelling by women of color, the mother-daughter bond, consumer behavior and exchange, ethnography, anthropology of gift-giving, and personal narrative by and about women. This project is informed from a feminist worldview, drawing on socialist feminism's connection of capitalism and material access to patriarchal domination of women. The research reflects the power of the stories. Women's personal narratives mirror the realities of their daily lives and exhibit a rich diversity of experience and culture. Further, as women's reminiscence and storytelling become and active part of a more inclusive historical archive, women of color's narrative and interpretive voices are also validated. The power of objects is revealed as they are passed through generational channel, gaining invaluable status and acting as an emblem of the spiritual nature of a kin group. Finally, the power of inheriting an inalienable possession is divulged, not just for one woman but also for her entire family system. When a woman inherits an object, she embodies a symbolic status ascribed to her simply by being a woman: keeper of the kin, guardian of the artifact, and guide in preserving and passing on the rituals and stories of women who came before. Inalienable possessions are bundled with personal biographies. Holding the artifact and ensuring the "rules" of transmission (such as passing it along gender lines or passing it on during a particular celebration or life transition) becomes more critical than preventing the object from breaking or landing in the wrong hands. Inheritance of an object is one sacred step in the family journey. The stories recounted by six women in this research are not the stories of all women, but speak to the politics and privileges of holding inalienable possessions that have been present for women for generations. Their stories and the supporting research move this niche of women's experiences from cupboards, basements, cedar chests and journals to the archives of a truer American history. / Graduation date: 2004 / 1 videocassette (100 min.), available at the OSU Circulation Desk.

This study was conducted to investigate the student-to-student interactions that take place in an online community college course, and how the interactions impact an online learning community. The literature review revealed three related themes: (a) the impact of the teaching/learning environment on student interaction, (b) barriers in the online environment, and (c) peer collaboration in the online environment. The case was selected using four selection criteria: (a) the class was offered completely online (b) the instructor was experienced teaching online classes, (c) computer technology was not the primary content of the course, and (d) the level of interaction was sufficient to investigate student interaction. Data were collected from public transcripts including bulletin board forum postings, email, group papers, and interviews. Six of the 16 students enrolled in the class and the instructor were interviewed. In this case, the environment impacted the way students interacted, collaborated, and socialized with peers. It changed the way participants existed within the learning community and impacted how students interpreted meaning and perceived time. The study generated findings with implications for community college instructors and participants of online learning communities. The online environment may impact: (1) how conflict is handled, (2) the quality of discussion among peers, (3) student involvement with peers, (4) the formation of cohesive groups, (5) a student's ability to interpret the meaning of comments made by others, (6) a student's expectations of the time needed to complete tasks and respond to others, and (7) the ability to design a flexible structure that encourages students to explore outside their comfort zone. Additional research is warranted. It is recommended that future studies be conducted to investigate how conflict, time, and collaboration impact an online learning community. / Graduation date: 2002

The purpose of this descriptive case study analysis was to provide portraits of the heuristics students used and difficulties they encountered solving conditional probability problems prior to and after two-week instruction on sample space, probability, and conditional probability. Further analysis consisted of evaluating the data in relation to a previously designed Conditional Probability Framework for assessing students levels of thinking developed by Tarr and Jones (1997). Five volunteer participants from a contemporary college mathematics course participated in pre-and post-interviews of a Probability Knowledge Inventory. The Inventory consisted of seven tasks on sample space, probability, and conditional probability. The semi-structured interviews provided participants' explanations on the development of their solutions to the seven tasks. Among the five participants, rationalizing, finding the odds, computing the percentages, and stating the ratio of a problem were the preferred heuristics used to solve the problems on the Probability Knowledge Inventory. After the two-week instruction, two of the four participants who did not previously use computation of probability to solve the problem changed their use of heuristics. The difficulties the students encountered prior to instruction included understanding the problem; recognizing the original sample space and when it changes; lacking probability vocabulary knowledge; comparing probability after the sample space changed; understanding the difference between probability and odds; and interchanging ratio, odds, and percentages-sometimes incorrectly-to justify their solution. After the two-week instruction, the students' difficulties diminished. Some improvements included a greater ability to understand the question of interest, to recognize the change in the sample space after a conditioning event, to use probability terminology consistently, and to compare probability after the sample space has changed. Comparisons to the Probability Framework revealed that four of the five participants exemplified Level 3 thinking-being aware of the role that quantities play in forming conditional probability judgements. One participant exemplified a Level 4 thinking-being aware of the composition of the sample space, recognizing its importance in determining conditional probability and assigning numerical probabilities spontaneously and with explanation. / Graduation date: 2001

Roundabouts have become an alternative for traditional intersections due to the safer operational performance. Previous research has provided crash modification factors (CMFs) as a criterion based on before-after studies as to evaluate the safety performance of roundabouts. One drawback of assessment based on crash modification factors, however, is that a before-after study includes too many variations at a time that it only provides a general idea of the safety performance for roundabouts. Since the industrial world is interested in the safety outcome of converting traditional intersections to roundabouts, safety performance functions (SPFs) will provide more specific details on estimating crashes than that of crash modification factors. This thesis will adopt a similar methodology that has been used in the current Highway Safety Manual (HSM) to develop safety performance functions for roundabouts based on Oregon data. The outcome of this thesis will help the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) to evaluate existing roundabouts in the State of Oregon. Furthermore, this thesis will function as an additional case study from Oregon to contribute to the national effort of evaluating the safety performance of roundabouts. / Graduation date: 2013

This study explored change implementation communication from a multifaceted (more than one at any particular time) change perspective. It examined how employees make sense of and respond to the organizational coordination of multifaceted change efforts. The case of a merger provides the backdrop for which to understand the multiplicity and complexity of organizational change (both planned and unplanned) and how the communicative organizational response to these overlapping and subsequent changes both complement and compete with the initially introduced change. This project was organized into two studies. The first explored the messages stakeholders recall receiving from implementers about multifaceted change. The second tested the relationships between change messages and specific individual and organizational change outcomes. Thematic analysis revealed that implementers used four different change messages. Statistical analysis revealed that multifaceted change messages create higher levels of change satisfaction, message quality, change liking, and organizational trust. Moreover, messages including information about the multiplicity (or magnitude) produced the least degree of perceived deception, the greatest degree of coping efficacy, and higher degrees of organizational competency appraisals. / text