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This dissertation draws on empirical research in the print media to consider the impact of commercialisation on the content ferried in community newspapers. The central argument of market driven theories (Badalsty, 1992; Howley, 2005; Bagdikian, 2004) is that the negative effects of commercial interests and dependency on advertisers can be felt on the news pages. In light of what Gillmor (2004:4) refers to as “corporatisation of journalism” this research explores the various issues and themes discussed in four Johannesburg-based community newspapers, namely, Alex News, Diepkloof Urban News, Rosebank-Killarney Gazette and Fourways Review. The research employs both Qualitative and Quantitative Content Analysis research methods to determine the nature of the publications’ content. The findings of this research indicate that at least two thirds of the content ferried in conglomerate-owned community newspapers has a market-driven slant – meaning that they do not carry high proportions of substantive content. Howley (2005:140) argues that news has become a commercial product that is “shaped, packaged and marketed with a constant eye for profits. Newspapers are businesses dedicated to presenting information within the parameters of profitability”. The desire to please advertisers means that newspapers shun controversial issues, politics and debates for fear of alienating readers. He adds that this aversion is a kind of self-censorship that guarantees that political ideas of public interest do not reach the community and the net result of commercialisation make newspapers content banal. A newspaper operating in a market-driven environment does not, in the words of McManus’ (1994:218), serve the primary purpose of news, which is to explain how the environment is working so that the citizens can make good decisions, particularly civic decisions. The findings of this research have shown that in their current state, conglomerate-owned community newspapers fall short of this journalistic ideal.

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The future complexity of strategic issues in international structural change was demonstrated by UK and SA ports. This arose from the likely extent of structural constraints and the effects of stakeholder power. From a review of emerging Advanced Systems Theory a new Boundary -spanning perspective of strategy was developed, that led to the specification of conceptual circumstances of potential outcomes of change. Since existing systems methodologies could not accommodate future power relationships, a new methodology and data collection technique was developed. The circumstances were developed into multiple scenarios which were judged by international decision-makers. These judgements were subjected to quantitative and qualitative analysis from a Strategic Choice Perspective. The outcome was a Boundary -spanning 'Long-term Strategic Service Industry' model which proposed the outlines of the future strategy and organisational structure that ought to be adopted to meet 'public interest' constraints. A dual subject and methodological contribution was made.

Aflatoxin contamination of crops is frequent in warm regions across the globe, including large areas in sub-Saharan Africa. Crop contamination with these dangerous toxins transcends health, food security, and trade sectors. It cuts across the value chain, affecting farmers, traders, markets, and finally consumers. Diverse fungi within Aspergillus section Flavi contaminate crops with aflatoxins. Within these Aspergillus communities, several genotypes are not capable of producing aflatoxins (atoxigenic). Carefully selected atoxigenic genotypes in biological control (biocontrol) formulations efficiently reduce aflatoxin contamination of crops when applied prior to flowering in the field. This safe and environmentally friendly, effective technology was pioneered in the US, where well over a million acres of susceptible crops are treated annually. The technology has been improved for use in sub-Saharan Africa, where efforts are under way to develop biocontrol products, under the trade name Aflasafe, for 11 African nations. The number of participating nations is expected to increase. In parallel, state of the art technology has been developed for large-scale inexpensive manufacture of Aflasafe products under the conditions present in many African nations. Results to date indicate that all Aflasafe products, registered and under experimental use, reduce aflatoxin concentrations in treated crops by > 80% in comparison to untreated crops in both field and storage conditions. Benefits of aflatoxin biocontrol technologies are discussed along with potential challenges, including climate change, likely to be faced during the scaling-up of Aflasafe products. Lastly, we respond to several apprehensions expressed in the literature about the use of atoxigenic genotypes in biocontrol formulations. These responses relate to the following apprehensions: sorghum as carrier, distribution costs, aflatoxin-conscious markets, efficacy during drought, post-harvest benefits, risk of allergies and/or aspergillosis, influence of Aflasafe on other mycotoxins and on soil microenvironment, dynamics of Aspergillus genotypes, and recombination between atoxigenic and toxigenic genotypes in natural conditions.

A common characteristic of the theoretical developments within the field of social media marketing is that activities to which consumers devote themselves in social media settings shift power from firms to consumers. Extant literature has therefore analysed the practices of consumers within social media and their potential implications for marketing. The current state of social media, however, suggests that these settings are undergoing a process of transformation. Although social media were initially characterised as non-commercial in nature, firms have started to manage interactions within these digital landscapes. From initially being characterised by its social base, this development implies that social media have become increasingly commercialised. The aim of this dissertation is to expand the literature on social media by describing the process through which they evolve from their initially social character to a commercial utility. More specifically, it seeks to develop a conceptual framework that captures the role of marketing processes that lead to the commercialisation of these spheres. This is done mainly through a netnographic study of the Swedish fashion blogosphere in order to explain how and why consumers and professionals interact, organise, create and appropriate commercial values in the fashion blogosphere. Drawing on theory of spheres, this dissertation proposes a sphereological understanding of social media that expands the role of marketing. It is suggested that social media may be understood as a collection of micro-spheres that, together, comprise a densely connected foam of spatiality and place. In these spheres, consumers, together with commercial actors, take part in practices that become increasingly commercial. In that sense, marketing takes the roles of navigating social media in search of symbolic meanings of value, and of affecting, negotiating and redefining atmospheres of places in the social media landscape. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense the following paper was unpublished and had the status as follows. Paper 2: Accepted.</p>

Cette thèse se compose de trois articles autonomes, dont chacun correspond à un chapitre. Le premier chapitre, écrit conjointement avec Estelle Malavolti, étudie la conception optimale du contrat de réduction des retards signé entre un ANSP et une compagnie aérienne monopoliste. Dans la conception du contrat, nous considérons principalement le problème d’antisélection. En outre, nous effectuons une analyse comparatif-statique pour étudier les effets de la norme de sécurité et de la fréquence de vol sur les contrats optimaux. A la fin, nous utilisons des exemples numériques pour étudier le cas où un ANSP maximisant son bien-être doit utiliser des fonds publics pour fournir le service. Le deuxième chapitre étudie le double rôle des retards de congestion et de la différenciation horizontale des produits dans le choix du réseau aérien. Je trouve que, premièrement, en raison de l’inclusion des retards de congestion, la compagnie aérienne peut choisir le réseau point à point lorsque la désutilité des services avec une escale, engendrée par le temps supplémentaire du voyage, est relativement faible. Deuxièmement, sans tenir compte des investissements fixes de la compagnie aérienne dans le développement d’un aéroport de hub, le réseau 2-hub dominera les trois autres structures de réseau aussi longtemps que cela sera possible, car il implique la différenciation horizontale des produits sur plus de marchés que les trois autres structures de réseau. Le troisième chapitre, écrit conjointement avec Wanjun Yao et Shigeyuki Hamori, trouve empiriquement que l’efficacité de l’allocation des terres plus élevée améliore la productivité des terres moyenne de 29,1% et la plus grande taille de la ferme opérationnelle moyenne réduit la productivité des terres moyenne de 9,2%, ce qui implique que la commercialisation des terres agricoles en Chine améliore finalement la productivité des terres moyenne de 19,9%. / This thesis consists of three self-contained papers, each of which corresponds to one chapter. The first chapter, jointly written with Estelle Malavolti, studies the optimal design of delay reduction contract signed between an ANSP and a monopoly airline. In the contract design, we mainly consider the adverse selection problem. Moreover, we conduct comparative-static analysis to study the effects of safety standard and flight frequency on optimal contracts. Besides, we use numerical examples to study when a welfare-maximizing ANSP has to use public funds to provide the service. The second chapter investigates the dual roles of congestion delays and horizontal product differentiation in airline network choice. I find that, first, because of the inclusion of congestion delays, the airline may choose the point-to-point network even when the extra travel time disutility of one-stop services is relatively low. Second, without considering the airline's fixed investments of developing a hub airport, the 2-hub network will dominate the three other network structures as long as it is feasible, as it involves the horizontal product differentiation in more markets than the three other network structures. The third chapter, jointly written with Wanjun Yao and Shigeyuki Hamori, empirically finds that the higher land allocation efficiency improves the average land productivity by 29.1% and the larger average operational farm size reduces the average land productivity by 9.2%, implying that the agricultural land marketization in China finally improves the average land productivity by 19.9%.

Over the years, scholarly interest in the role of business models to unlock the value of latent technology has increased. It is argued that the commercialisation of new technology requires business models that respond to a myriad of challenges and market needs. However, limited attention has been paid to understand how early-stage business models are developed to commercialise new university technology. Specifically, there are limited studies scrutinising the early-stage business models developed by University Spin-Offs (USOs), despite the fact that these are breeding grounds for new technology with commercial potential. Therefore, this thesis examines how USOs develop early-stage business models to commercialise new technology for the cleantech industry. To achieve this, an in-depth case study of four cleantech USOs at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom was performed. Sixty interviews with multiple stakeholders were conducted, and effectual logic and the concept of opportunity creation were adopted to inform the investigation. The findings, presented in a conceptual framework, suggest that USOs develop early-stage business models through three interlocking mechanisms. First, value is created through flow-field control, which is achieved by taking active control over a firm's resources and capabilities. Second, value is captured through pragmatic kinesis, defined as being sensible when moving towards profit. Third, value network is managed through deliberate temperament, which is used to align stakeholders' expectations. Along with these findings, the thesis also advances COPE principles (i.e. take control, create opportunities, forge partnerships and embrace contingencies) as parameters for the development of early-stage business models. The empirical evidence offers a critical logical shift in our understanding of early-stage business models development for commercialising university technology in the cleantech industry. The conceptual framework responds to scholarly inquiries to improve the theoretical grounding and construct clarity of business models. The thesis also informs policymakers about the pitfalls and opportunities associated with new technology commercialisation in the cleantech industry, where uncertainties are ubiquitous.

The core of this thesis comprises three previous published reports ‐ Profiling the Profession: a survey of archaeological jobs in the UK (Aitchison 1999), Archaeology Labour Market Intelligence: Profiling the Profession 200203 (Aitchison & Edwards 2003) and Archaeology Labour Market Intelligence: Profiling the Profession 200708 (Aitchison & Edwards 2008). These volumes are the only comprehensive reviews of the labour market within the archaeological sector in the UK, examining who works in all sectors of archaeology, what qualifications they hold, how they are rewarded and how they are trained. These three surveys have established a corpus of time-series datasets which demonstrate how archaeological practice and employment have evolved in the UK over the decade to 2008 and the onset of the global economic crisis in that year. The thesis contextualises these data‐rich reports with a historical and analytical account of how employment in archaeology grew from the late nineteenth century until 1990, and then examines the drivers of demand for services that lead to archaeological employment in the United Kingdom over the 20 years from 1990‐2010, and how this demand was met. Until 1990, archaeology was primarily a state‐provided or state‐sponsored activity. The sector's funding base transformed in the 1990s to become primarily reliant on private sector monies and the effects upon employment within the sector have been of the sectoral reaction to adopt an enterprise‐focussed model for delivery have been considerable. The number of people employed in archaeology grew very rapidly over this period (by approximately 4.5% per annum), with the expansion of applied, commercial archaeology representing the majority of this growth. These individuals are very highly academically qualified, but not very well rewarded financially. In order to fully explore the central issues, historical patterns and precedents are examined, focussing on particular strands of activity in detail, using case studies of organisations and particular archaeological projects.

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