Entrepreneurship is considered as a critical factor for the development of transition economies and currently attracts a growing body of research. Following a qualitative case-study research strategy, this paper is occupied with the emergence of Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, as a location of high-tech entrepreneurship in the country. While the legacy of the socialist past is part of Sofia reality, the entrepreneurs in the capital appear to make considerable efforts to overcome these barriers. Applying a social capital perspective I articulate the link between entrepreneurship growth and entrepreneurs’ social context. Internationalization from early stage of start-up development is perceived as the main growth path, which requires the entrepreneurs to accumulate new social relations. Adopting a process oriented analysis, I observe the shift in the social capital content and how start-ups can benefit from their pre-existing and emerging social relations. I contend that the acquisition of social capital by studied entrepreneurs has a specific added value for the studied companies as in this process they are required to adopt new norms and practices that are distinctive from those generally observed domestically. This process, however, poses certain concerns for start-ups’ survival prospects due to its high costs.

This qualitative descriptive case study investigates four Chinese international students’ use of online resources for academic writing in a western Canadian university. This study has direct implications for English as a Foreign Language/English as a Second Language writing instruction as well as international students’ use of university library. Methodological triangulation was used to collect data. This included a semi-structured interview, a computer-based writing task, and a think-aloud activity. Data was coded and analyzed within cases and re-analyzed across the four cases. The salient themes that emerged from this analysis include: indispensable role of online resources in academic writing; a solution to language problems; ability of evaluation; a solution to plagiarism; influences of search habits; concerns about graduate students; and the importance of professors. Four major findings of the study include: important uses of online resources for solving language problems; students’ search skills in online databases; students’ use of the UVic library; and the importance of professors’ instruction. These findings will be helpful for educators to consider as they work to integrate online resources for international students’ writing instruction; and for academic libraries to consider as they offer services to assist EFL/ESL learners. / Graduate / 2017-12-05 / 0727 / 0399 / 0515 / ketien0421@gmail.com

The purpose of this case study is to determine if there are any under- or overrepresented industries in CRM case studies. CRM stands for customer relationship management and can be applied as a system to help the sales manager in an industry to control the activities and their customers. CRM enable long-term relationships with customer and to retaining key customer. The top findings in this case study is that the hotel industry is by far the leader of CRM case studies and therefore the overrepresented industry. The underrepresented industries when it comes to amount of CRM case studies is the digital content industry, retailing industry, pharmaceutical industry and the telecommunication industry. The conclusion in this case study is that all the service industries are dependent on the CRM-systems and therefore a lot of case studies have been composed about the subject. Another conclusion is that that CRM-systems cannot be ignored by any industries since the economy is customer orientated.

From the perspective of a system developer, this study presents an in-depth analysis of the CiRM implementation process in Malaysian local government. The study was motivated by the lack of studies examining the CiRM implementation process initiatives in the local government sector. Furthermore, the performance of the Malaysian Government in this initiative has been subjected to various criticisms, i.e., not properly servicing its public. This raises the question as to what has happened during the period of the CiRM implementation process in Malaysia. As there has been a demand for local governments to invest more in CiRM projects, the need for existing and potential system developers in the Malaysian government to have an implementation framework that could guide their effort in implementing the system has become more vital. This study combines the case study research and grounded theory approaches. Twenty in-depth face-to-face interviews were conducted with system developers from ten local governments (i.e., five interviews from four pilot-cases and fifteen interviews from six primary-cases). The analyses of these data were divided in three main phases. The first phase involved a within and cross-case analyses of the pilot cases. The second and third phases involved a within and cross-case of the primary cases. These analyses enabled a set of determinants on CiRM implementation in the Malaysia local governments to be developed. The determinants were established by fitting their characteristics to the lifecycle of the CiRM system implementation process. Some of the determinants were found to be common to the existing literature while others were found to be enhancing the existing knowledge in CiRM implementation process. These determinants were then developed to shape a theoretical framework for the CiRM implementation process in the local Malaysian governments. This framework not only describes the main determinants in the implementation process, but also the forces and activities that lie within it.

The competiveness within the global market has forced large manufacturing companies to reorganize their global operations. To act proficiently abroad is therefore no longer a choice but an important prerequisite. In global production networks, there are different plant roles that serve different purposes. One of the important roles within these networks is the core plant role. There are limited amount of the researches done regarding the core plant role. There is also a lack of consistency regarding the definition of the core plant role. It is also evident that there is a knowledge gap regarding the managerial aspects of this plant role both in the academia and in the industry. Managing a core plant requires certain capabilities. It is important to target this knowledge gap since global manufacturing is becoming a common norm for large enterprises and the importance of the core plant role is getting more evident. There is also a lack of understanding towards the challenges that a core plant must deal with both within the organization and globally towards the other plants within the manufacturing network. To address this knowledge gap further, two research questions were created ―What key capabilities are required in order to manage the core plant role?” (RQ1) and ―What are the main challenges in managing the core plant role?” (RQ2). Case study was chosen as the research method for this study since it is the most appropriate method when investigating a phenomenon in its own context. Interviews were the main research technique used to collect data. 18 semi-structured interviews were conducted in eight different cases. A literature review was conducted and was the foundation for the interview guide used in the interviews and for the data analysis. The results show that various capabilities are important for the management of the core plant role. Proximity to R&D and knowledge were the most emphasized factors. For the main challenges in terms of managing a core plant, the communication, cooperation and coordination where the most challenging aspects. Based upon finding, two frameworks have been proposed a concluding generalization and contribution of this research study. The study provides a generalization based upon data that has been collected from companies from different industries. These findings are a contribution towards both the large enterprises operating globally and the academia.

Legitimacy is a central concept within organization studies and it is widely accepted that being granted legitimacy is crucial for organizations in today’s society. Legitimacy is known to be based on rationality which during the course of research development has come to include not only technical aspects, but also socially constructed factors affected by stakeholder’s personal values. Moreover, it is known that there are multiple dimensions of legitimacy and that organizations are evaluated based on method of operation, output and goals, and vision. These can be judged differently by stakeholders in the same field, arriving at possibly contradictive legitimacy judgements regarding the same organization. However, we are not familiar with if the context in which an organization operates affects the legitimacy judgement made by its stakeholders. This thesis therefore aimed to study how the context an organization operates in can affect the legitimacy judgement with a comparative case study. The study shows that the operational context in itself can be a factor in the evaluation of the organization. It also indicates that different contexts can cause different and contradictive legitimacy judgements among the stakeholders even though the operational task and output is essentially the same.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Jessica Canfield / Landscape architecture is embarking on a new design frontier, one where its practitioners are increasingly being asked by clients to design using credible evidence and to ensure design performance. As design disciplines follow in the footsteps of other evidence-based practices, like medicine and engineering, landscape architecture is poised to become a more scholarly profession – a profession of evidence-based landscape architecture. Evidence-based landscape architecture was first coined and defined in 2011 by Brown and Corry as “the deliberate and explicit use of scholarly evidence in making decisions about the use and shaping of land” (Brown and Corry 2011, 328). Current literature explains the benefits of practicing evidence-based design (EBD). These include ensuring design performance, justifying client investment, quantifying the value of design, systematically managing complex projects, marketing the firm to clients, attracting the most innovative designers to the firm, and adding to the knowledge base of the landscape architecture field. However, little is known about how landscape architecture firms are engaging evidence-based design in daily practice. This thesis examines how four leading landscape architecture firms (Design Workshop, Mithun, Sasaki Associates, and OLIN) have developed unique EBD approaches to integrate, apply, and propagate evidence-based design in professional practice. In order to study and analyze the four firms’ EBD approaches, individual comprehensive case studies were conducted. Qualitative data was collected through: focused interviews with directors and leaders of evidence-based design at each firm; casual observations made during office visits; and, a review of firm literature. A case study framework for EBD approaches in professional practice was developed based on discussion topics that consistently emerged from the interviews. The framework was used to organize, analyze, and present the findings into four major themes. A cross-case analysis was conducted to compare the development, implementation, and effects of EBD approaches at each firm. Findings reveal that each firm has developed an EBD approach to meet the need for engaging complex problems and meeting increasing client expectations for performance. While each firm’s EBD approach is unique, similarities and characteristics emerged between the case studies. The most consistent factors identified across cases include: having academic founders of the firm; the implementation of EBD- or research-specific roles and responsibilities; the creation of tools to organize and understand data; cultivating design cultures to support the EBD approach vision; the communication and transparency of relationships with clients and consultants; and, the reporting of findings for the advancement of the profession. Although any landscape architecture firm is likely to employ at least one of these concepts, the developed integration, application, and propagation of a majority of these concepts is what makes these firms unique and successful in applying EBD in professional practice. It was also found that the design processes themselves vary dramatically across the firms. EBD in practice is therefore not prescriptive and does not always look the same. The findings and case study framework developed in the study are useful primarily for landscape architecture firms looking to develop, integrate, apply, and propagate their own EBD approach.

This dissertation is "A Collective Case Study of Veterans Inside an Arts and Crafts Room and Their Perceptions Regarding Empowerment." This research examined to what degree art making, and in what ways a community of learning contributed to veterans' self-worth and empowerment through their creative activities and interactions inside an arts and crafts room at the VA hospital in Dallas, Texas. Furthermore, an essential reason for this study is to examine veterans in the arts and crafts environment to explore whether their experiences were important, meaningful, and empowering, and especially important in this regard are the interactions among veterans. Empowerment in this context is defined as gaining self-esteem and motivation within oneself. This includes becoming more confident and positive, as well as gaining the ability to learn about one's own identity. It also described how the interactions between the participants are shaped by the social contexts within which they come together. Using post-modern feminist theory, narrative inquiry and care theory, this dissertation describes the ways that the processes and products of creative activity bring empowerment through dialogue and personal stories while using the component of caring during teaching and learning.

The aim of the thesis is to examine how everyday social interactions and relations in a school class in years 8-9 are experienced by pupils and teachers and how they can be understood and improved. The research design is an action research approach and is carried out as a case study involving four teachers and 24 pupils. Four issues are formulated and the teachers and the researcher together suggest how certain problems might be solved, which in turn directs the action process over the period of three school terms. Analytical concepts are used to map and understand pupils’ everyday social relations in terms of peer groups, positions and norms. Eriksson’s (2001) sociological theory on bullying is used to analyze and explain the complexity of a case of bullying. Defined dominating norms that appear to guide the pupils’ social interactions are: (1) You should make room for yourself, be visible and heard, (2) you should have many friends and (3) you should look down on those who study. The everyday social relations are affected by the pupils’ positioning and by the groupings that are formed in the class. Crystalized groups that emerge in the study are: (1) those who make a lot of noise and take up a lot of room, (2) those who study, (3) pupils who are frequently absent, (4) those who feel uncomfortable and (5) those who are outside (a marginalized group). In addition to these findings, three dominating norms among the teachers emerge. These norms guide and affect how the teachers act and think when victimized pupils and their situations are discussed. Teachers’ dominating norms seem to prevail in situations where some pupils are victimized by other pupils in the class. This in turn could contribute to various kinds of moral disengagement on the part of the teachers when dealing with victimizing acts among pupils. From the perspective of the victimized pupils, such a way of acting could be understood as teachers, in their role as “security guarantors”, are unable to prevent the powerlessness of victimized pupils.

Email stress: what are its causes? how is it measured? can it be solved? The literature review revealed that, despite the term being well used and recognised, discussions surrounding the root cause of email stress had reached little consensus and the concept was not well understood. By its very nature, email stress theory had fallen victim to the academic debate between psychological vs. physiological interpretations of stress which, as a result of either choice, limited more progressive research. Likewise an array of email management strategies had been identified however, whilst some generated quick successes, they appeared to suffer longevity issues and were not maintained a few months after implementation in the workplace. The purpose of this research was to determine whether email communication causes employees psychological and physiological stress and investigate the impact of email management strategies in the workplace. A pragmatic philosophy placed the research problem as central and valued the differences between paradigms to promote a mixed-method approach to research. The decision to pair both case studies and action research methods ensured a framework for presenting results and an actionable solution was achieved. In direct response to the research aims an original email stress measuring methodology was devised that combined various data collection tools to measure and investigate email stress. This research design was applied and evaluated 'email free time' and email filing. Results of the study showed an increased stress response to occur during email use, i.e. caused employees' increased blood pressure, heart rate, cortisol and perceived stress, and a number of adverse effects such as managing staff via email, social detachment, blame and cover-your-back culture were identified. Findings revealed 'email free time' was not a desirable strategy to manage email stress and related stressors, whereas email filing was found more beneficial to workers well-being. Consolidation of the data gathered from the literature review and research findings were used to develop an initial conceptualisation of email stress in the form of two models, i.e. explanatory and action. A focus group was conducted to validate the proposed models and a further investigation at the ? was carried out to critique the use of an email training intervention. The results showed some improvements to employees' behaviour after the training, e.g. improved writing style, email checked on fewer occasions each day and fewer sufferers of email addiction. The initial models devised, alongside the latter findings, were synthesised to create a single integrative multidimensional model of email stress and management strategies. The model made an original contribution to knowledge in terms of theory, i.e. to conceptualise email stress, and practice, i.e. to offer practical solutions to the email worker.