This thesis documents a study of the dimensions of export market orientation associated with export performance. In particular, the research objective is to examine empirically the development and support of a corporate export market orientation and its successful implementation in Turkish clothing companies, as evidenced by successful export performance, and to investigate variations in export performance which may be related to export market orientation. In summary, this research aimed to explore the nature of market orientation in an international context by using empirical data from a sample of companies to examine some hypotheses regarding market orientation as applied to export operations in Turkish clothing industry. This aim was fulfilled by reliably and validly measuring the key constructs of export market orientation and finding statistically significant relationships between dependent and independent variables. The results of this thesis draw conclusions from an empirical investigation showing that the proposed relationship between export market orientation and export performance does exist, and in the case of Turkish clothing exporters, improving an export market orientation level is a significant contributor to the company's export performance. In order to explore the relationship between export market orientation and export performance, a two phase research design was adopted and conducted in the Turkish clothing industry. The sample for both stages were drawn from a listing of the member companies of the Turkish Textile and Apparel Exporters Association. This listing by the Association is complete and accurate because of the control which obligates exporters to register all their export actions. First, an exploratory phase was conducted in order to gain a clearer understanding of key issues. The stage 1 study was based on 103 responses received from a sample frame of 156 companies representing a 66 0/0 response rate. The primary objective of the first stage research was to develop a profile of the characteristics of the industry. Data generation was achieved through mail questionnaires and respondents were top managers of the selected companies. Second, the Cadogan, Diamantopoulos, and de Mortanges (1997) construct was used to test the hypothesis. The stage 2 study was based on 163 responses received from a sample frame of 384 companies representing a 43.47 % response rate. Data generation was achieved through mail questionnaires and respondents were again top managers of the selected companies. Results were analysed using the SPSS statistical analysis computer package. The findings, based on a sample of Turkish clothing exporters, show that the instrument developed by Cadogan, Diamantopoulos, and de Mortanges (1997) is reliable and exhibits content and convergent validity. Regression analysis found a significant effect of the level of export market orientation on dimensions of export performance. The positive relationship between export market orientation and dimensions of export performance indicated that a high level of export market orientation leads to a higher level of export performance and a low level of export market orientation produce a lower level of export performance. The research hypotheses are supported by the results of the study. The multidimensional operationalisation of export market orientation allowed the testing of the relationship between the dimensions of export market orientation with dimensions of export performance. Generally, there is a strong relationship between the dimensions of export market orientation and dimensions of export performance.

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

This study has examined the relationship between corporate governance structures and the performance of a sample of companies listed on the Malaysian Stock Exchange in the post-Asian financial crisis period beginning 2001 and ending in 2003. The sample was selected to provide matched-pairs of government linked companies (GLCs) and non-government linked companies (NGLCs), as it was anticipated that these groups would have different governance structures and that these differences might impinge on the association being studied. The empirical results indicate that there were eight statistically significant differences between the corporate governance structures of GLCs and NGLCs, thus supporting the contention that it would be useful to examine the association between corporate governance structures and performance for these two distinct groups separately. Accordingly, univariate and multivariate tests were performed on three samples: (i) GLCs; (ii) NGLCs and (iii) a combination of these referred to as All Companies. The multivariate tests were performed both on the dataset collected from published sources and this data transformed using the Van Der Waerden approach. Although tests for conformity suggested no significant statistical problems with the original data-set for multivariate analysis, it was hoped that the transformation would provide better models for explaining the relationship between corporate governance variables and performance. The multivariate analyses on both the standard and transformed data-set found no empirical evidence of a consistent relationship between corporate governance structures and performance measured by return on assets and return on equity in GLCs, NGLCs or the combined sample over the period. Statistically significant relationships were found across the groupings and for different performance measures but were not sustained across all years. The implications for corporate governance research of these inconsistent results across different measures of performance and different samples across the three year period is that empirical research may reach conclusions based on statistically significant results at a point in time that are only relevant for this historic context and may not persist. The results also indicate that, despite the eight differences in governance structures of GLCs and NGLCs, the observed differences in the performance could not be explained by their governance structures. This finding supports the view that these structures provide appropriate monitoring on company’s management rather than improving performance. These findings are consistent with the ambivalent position on the relationship between performance and corporate governance variables observed by the literature which exhibits conflicting arguments about the direction of relationships and empirical results that are extremely variable. This study also found that the relatively poor performance of GLCs in Malaysia which has been associated with government influence on the board structures such as the appointment of a bumiputra as director (BUM), a senior government officer as director (SGO) and a politician as director (POL) were basically unfounded because these variables have no statistically significant adverse impact on performance.

No description available.

No description available.

This thesis investigates the moral permissibility of military privatization. My analysis focuses on two distinct concepts: the authorization of war and the supply of war. Entities that authorize war decide that military force will be used and by whom; entities that supply war then execute the various tasks that have been authorized for performance. Part I argues that private actors may not justifiably authorize war. The reason is that, in so doing, they would impose considerable risks on individuals who lack a say in authorization—particularly fellow countrymen who may suffer from retaliatory military action—and we ought not to impose considerable risks on individuals who lack such a say. Public actors have a right, and indeed a duty, to prevent private actors from authorizing military force. Moreover, public actors have a further duty to authorize military force when their constituents are threatened. Part II then seeks to show that public actors who authorize military force may rely upon private contractors to an extent in military supply. Public actors may not rely upon private contractors to exercise command. The reason is that commanders must be able to punish their subordinates in intrusive ways (e.g. imprisonment) to ensure the prosecution of just wars. Such intrusive forms of punishment should only be dispensed by public actors. In addition, public actors may not rely upon private contractors to serve above commanders on the chain of command. Such high-ranking military officers exercise substantial political power over civilian decisions of military authorization and supply; moreover, these officers make weighty decisions in battle that substantially affect the well-being of others. Public actors, however, should be permitted to rely upon private contractors to serve below military commanders on the chain of command in rank-and-file military roles so long as these contractors are properly constrained and regulated.

The specific purpose of this study will be: (1) to find what factors determine the amount of pay that executives in twenty-five Texas companies receive, and how personal factors are ranked in setting their salaries; (2) to determine present and proposed utilization of formal job evaluation methods among the twenty-five Texas companies in setting executive salaries; (3) to find which methods of remuneration are used for executives of different levels in the twenty-five Texas companies; (4) to determine who has the final responsibility for the administration of executive salaries in the twenty-five Texas companies; and (5) to determine the means used in appraising executive merit or worth in determining salary adjustments while an individual remains in the same position.

The purpose of the study is to develop a project health check model to evaluate the status of projects within the coal mining industry. The model will be based on the Buttrick (2000) project health check model as described in his book “The Interactive Project Workout”. The model assesses the current “health” or status of a project. It looks at the full project environment and uses a set of question results in an assessment of the overall risk associated with the project. The model evaluates seven key project success factors which include: 1. Project Plan 5. Expertise 2. Resources 6. Clear Specification 3. Ownership 7. Top Level Support 4. Justifiable Case The model fulfils two roles: • As a checklist, and • As a tool to indicate where a project manager’s efforts should be directed. This study will give an overview of the coal mining industry and the way projects are being evaluated and prioritised. The Buttrick (2000) project health check model will be assessed and adapted to evaluate projects within the coal mining industry. The “new / adapted” model will be applied to the Douglas / Middelburg Optimisation (DMO) to evaluate the health status of the project which is currently at the end of definition (feasibility) stage within BHP Billiton Energy Coal South Africa. The results obtained from the new health check model showed that the DMO project was in a healthy state with a project health check score of 47.33. It could 4 thus be concluded that the DMO project is ready to move in to the execution phase of the BHP Billiton capital investment process. The results obtained from the project team member participants were split into management perception and team members’ perception. The overall health of the DMO project between the two parties gave similar results with the team members score of 43.76 being slightly lower than the management health score of 45.42. The only major difference was observed on the “Communication” project evaluation criteria where the management perspective on the communication effectiveness was higher than that of the project team members.

Research report to the SBL, Unisa, Midrand. / The research project aimed to establish whether corporate governance is important to investors from a value perspective. The implications and recommendations for further research were provided.