Abstract Due to the reduction of market, intense price-competition, and all continual rises of direct costs, the domestic chemical industry is encountering a tough transformation period in recent years. Hence, the competitive strategies of pursuing low cost and high efficiency are both the crucial tasks for traditional chemical manufactures to be deal with. Facing the challenge from China Mainland and India s¡¦ advantages of the lower labor cost and abundant natural resources, domestic chemical industry must improve their intrinsic technology to cross phase highly added-value products of sophisticated chemical manufactures. Continued from the preceding key issues, only by figuring out a unique route, ¡§blue oceans¡¨, from the bloody Red Seas, the survivor could avoid losing the battle and being eliminated permanently by their competitors or violent environment. The strategy adopted by most domestic enterprises is keeping cost down, including the sources of lands, factory facilities, labor, water, electricity, raw materials, and the strategy is integrated with the viewpoints of scale economic. Under the strategy, the enterprises still can¡¦t achieve their definite triumph in competitive circumstances, and nevertheless, it enhances the inherent advantages barely. Taking the steps toward the sophisticated tactics is necessary in order to consolidate the advantage of the original products. Furthermore, the adopted distinctive strategies of market, brand and channel is one of the major issues to success. This research referred to the essential literatures related to my main theme, and I adopted the case study to be the research mode, a foundation prepared for the CEO as the advanced recommendations. Through the process of analysis the chemical industry , target market analysis, SWOT analysis and value chain analysis, we achieve the distinction between two different operation modes. Further the research is expected to provide the domestic chemical enterprises for references while phase off the new pattern. Key words: Competitive advantage, Value chain, Business strategy, Cross-Phase

Since the late 20th century, transformation of the general environment has generated unprecedented challenges for symphony orchestras in Europe and America, such as audience development, fundraising, technology innovation, and market competition. Now, transplanted by the Western symphony orchestras, the symphony orchestras in Taiwan also face the most important task to deal with, and that is how to subsist. At the moment, professional symphony orchestras in Taiwan are mainly publicly-owned. The subject of this study will hence probe into the organizational legitimacy, organization positioning, and business strategy of publicly-owned symphony orchestras through analyzing both their external and internal environments as well as the results of in-depth interviews. On one hand, this study will provide an overview of the development of publicly-owned orchestras in Taiwan. On the other hand, it will offer new ways of thinking to orchestra managers and policy makers.

The inspection (verification) or Certification firm is to utilize professional specialist, technology and equipment, standing on an independent¡Aimpartial and objective position to conduct inspection, testing and assessment on the quantity/quality of commodity, performance of machinery and components, and implementation of the established quality system, then provide the supplier/buyer and stakeholder with certificate or report for fulfilling the contractual obligation or commitment made in the trade transaction activities. The inspection and certification are playing the role of pioneer in the process of technological development, and they are also one of the necessary pusher for business and industrial enterprises to achieve the target of enhancing product quality¡A obtaining international accreditation and increasing international competence. In the current society of free trade and free economy, the inspection or certification firms, along with the consumers¡¦ awareness and the drastic competitions among inspection or certification industries, facing the daily increasing competition and consumers¡¦ demanding, should make research of how to adopt an appropriate competitive strategy, to look for the market niche, to enhance service quality, to understand customers¡¦ real needs and customers¡¦ satisfactions so as to broaden service scopes and customer groups for the purpose of accomplishing the objective of building the firm to last forever. - iii - This study is to explain the characters, current status and outlook of the inspection or certification industry, and to analyze the development history, performance and achievement of SGS Group in Taiwan - the world leader of verification, testing and certification organization. By employing the industry analysis method addressed by Porter and the SWOT analysis for Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threat, we discussed the effect of ¡§five forces¡¨ on SGS Taiwan¡¦s business strategy, the correlation of service quality and customers¡¦ satisfaction, and currently its implementation of the managing tools of Balanced Scorecard and ISO 9001 quality management system. In summary, we have derived the Key success factors for the inspection or certification industry, and submitted suggestions of strengthening business model and management strategy for other inspection or certification firms as reference and benchmark enabling them to provide best and integrated services for the business and industrial enterprises in Taiwan who are pursuing quality. Key words:Inspection, Verification, Certification, Business Strategy, Service Quality, Customers Satisfaction.

Conference proceeding from the Living the Future 6 Conference, April 5-8, 2006, University of Arizona Libraries, Tucson, AZ. / In this presentation I will review the theories of business strategy developed by Clayton Christensen and his colleagues in his three books - the Innovator’s Dilemma, Innovator’s Solution, and Seeing What’s Next. I will apply this work to academic libraries and scholarly communication and will show that academic libraries are likely to be disrupted by new technologies and their application by competing organizations. I will then show that libraries also have the potential to drive, and benefit from, disruptive change especially in the scholarly communication value chain. The result should provide guidance to academic librarians in establishing strategies, organizational structures, and values that will position academic libraries in the scholarly information and learning value chains in ways that will assure their relevance to our various clienteles. The result should provide attendees with a basic understanding of the most important of Christensen’s theories and how they can provide insights into the current state of academic libraries and help to chart the future. This work will build on my article, (Lewis, David W. "The Innovator’s Dilemma: Disruptive Change and Academic Libraries." Library Administration and Management 18(2):68-74 April 2004. Available at: http://idea.iupui.edu/dspace/handle/1805/173), but will advance and develop it in significant ways.

The purpose of this thesis is to further examine the market dynamics of M&As in the cleantech and renewable energy industry. This study analyzes the abnormal returns of 273 announced and 54 completed buyout acquisitions that took place between 1997 and 2014. The event study method is used to test if cleantech deals experience higher returns than traditional energy and mining deals, if deal completions display similar effects as deal announcements (which is the unique contribution of this thesis) and if homogenous deals experience higher abnormal returns than heterogeneous deals. The outcomes are that the traditional energy and mining sector outperforms the cleantech sectors in homogenous deals. That deal completions effect follows the announcements effect for 11 out of 15 groups and that homogenous deals outperform heterogeneous deals.

This thesis explores knowledge transfer between firms in multinational organisations. The subject of knowledge transfer is undisputedly important because knowledge is the essence of competitive advantage. In addition, multinational organisations are believed to be more effective at facilitating inter-firm knowledge transfer. The theoretical framework of this thesis is based on four constructs of knowledge transfer: motivation to transfer knowledge; richness of communication channels; absorptive capacity and organisational context. The research uses both quantitative and qualitative methods to explore these constructs. The research confirms the positive relationship between these constructs. Importantly, it highlights three knowledge transfer levels namely: pooling; assimilation; application and integration of knowledge into the multinational organisation. The research shows that knowledge must move through each of these levels if the focus is knowledge creation, these levels not to be treated as isolated but in fact overlapping. The research also found that high levels of espoused motivation are not always supported by proactive knowledge transfer behaviours. It demonstrated that at a certain level of knowledge transfer encouragement becomes less important than other motivational factors. Importantly, the multinational needs to manage knowledge transfer. To do this, the nature of knowledge must be considered and there needs to be an understanding that ad hoc knowledge transfer patterns can inhibit knowledge being transferred to where it may be needed. The research highlights how important it is for multinational inter-firm knowledge transfer to begin with the individual and then move to the organisation. The individual needs to have the necessary attitudes and ability to understand the benefits. Also, they need to understand that knowledge is not transferred through acceptance alone, but needs to be implemented. This means the multinational must provide strategic direction and structure that facilitates the movement of knowledge across the multinational organisation. Knowledge transfer routines must be managed to allow knowledge to move to where it can create unique knowledge because it is this unique knowledge that can be a strategic benefit to the organisation.

The ability to implement strategies successfully is important to any organisation. Despite the importance of the implementation process within strategic management, this is an area of study often overshadowed by a focus on the strategy formulation process. This thesis concentrates on the strategy implementation process, investigating barriers to strategy implementation. A research framework called the Organisational Minefield was developed to represent the importance of the implementation process to organisations. In contrary to most studies available in strategic management, this research included participants from all levels of the organisation.To identify barriers to strategy implementation, a case study of Air New Zealand was conducted. This involved focussed interviews with 28 participants from the Network and Revenue Management Department of Air New Zealand. Other sources of data such as research articles and secondary company data sources were also used.The findings revealed that: participants from different levels of the organisation have unique perceptions of the implementation process; implementation variables could become roadblocks that undermine the implementation process; these barriers can be overcome if managers are perceptive to the organisation's current situation; and the Organisational Minefield framework presented verified the significance of the role of barriers in the implementation process. The findings add two additional barriers to implementation, namely leadership and power. It was also discovered that the participants acknowledged that these two barriers will impede or enhance the success of Air New Zealand. This was backed by the level of commitment and loyalty shown by the participants, which brought Air New Zealand one step closer to unravelling the mysteries of the implementation process.

Many companies use mergers to achieve their growth goals or target technology position. To realise synergies that justify the merger transaction, an integration of the merged companies is often necessary. Such integartion takes place across company business areas (such as finance or sales) and across the layers of management consideration, which are strategy, human resources, organisation, processes, and information technology. In merger integration techniques, there is a significant gap regarding the management of operational level issues. Yet, especially for the finance business area, an integration of processes and information technology is of high importance and often required swiftly after the merger. The author therefore presents an approach designed for managing the operational level merger in the finance business area. To close the gap in considering operational level issues, the author has developed a model for integraring finance processes and information technology of merging companies. For such model development, literature resources have been used along with merger experiences of the author, and interviews with merger experts. Validation of the developed model has been conducted by using in-depth case studies for showing the effects of applying the model. Further validation interviews have been conducted to support the generality of the approach. Accommodating the significant increase of task complexity during mergers compared to normal business operation, the presented approach focuses on managing interdependencies instead of project detail. Features of this approach comprise: An organisational proposal to settinmg up merger programme management; An interdependency model, vertically interconnecting the finance business area with strategic and organisational merger decisions, and horizontally interconnecting the finance business area with other business areas. It could be shown that the presented model improves merger integration quality by reducing complexity of merger management. The model is most applicable for larger companies, and can be used in any merger phase.

A large number of studies suggest that the content of strategy becomes more multifaceted and elaborate and characterised by progressive development over time. Recently, a growing number of researchers argue that strategy can become simple, stable and inert over time. This study investigates how changes of sociocognitive processes at individual, group and organisational levels influence organisational processes and strategic decisions. It adopts configurational approach to strategy development and its concepts (configurations, transformations, archetypes) as a framework. Thus, the purpose is to provide a characterisation of strategy development by analysing the integration of four key research dimensions (social, cognitive, organisational performance and contextual) into one coherent theoretical structure - the model of organisational archetypes. This four-dimensional model is developed from the analysis of fifty one Ukrainian organisations using quantitative and qualitative research methods (questionnaire, interview and group interview) according to the logical structure of configurational research (modelling the sociocognitive basis, modelling the "fit between research dimensions and modelling configurations and archetypes). Following on from this, the model of organisational archetypes is validated in four other organisations through the development of a test of organisational internal creative environment in order to identify their configurations (current conditions) and archetypes (strategic perspectives). The procedure of this test includes the following sequence of actions: identifying sociocognitive characteristics of organisational members and the organisational internal creative environment, identifying periods of transformation and configuration in the process of organisational development, researching characteristics of the business-environment, and identifying appropriate organisational archetypes. The model of organisational archetypes developed in this thesis allows the identification of current and prospective organisational conditions and making relevant strategic decisions that reflect and anticipate changes in organisational internal and external environments. Thus, changes in the organisational internal creative environment (sociocognitive characteristics of organisational members) reflect changes in the business-environment and organisational performance and transform the characteristics of strategic decisions from multifaceted and elaborate to simple and inert and vice versa.

O mercado de baixa renda tem se tornado cada vez mais relevantes para todos os setores empresariais. Estima-se que em 2010 as classes C e D serão responsáveis por mais da metade do consumo do mercado interno brasileiro. Empresas de transporte aéreo brasileiras de passageiros, que historicamente se caracterizaram por prestar serviço voltado para as classes de maior renda, passaram a desenvolver estratégias para atrair o público de baixa renda para viajar de avião, partindo de estratégias concebidas em outras indústrias e adaptando às particularidades do setor aéreo. O presente trabalho identificou as estratégias de empresas aéreas brasileiras para atender o mercado de baixa renda. Devido ao fato do mercado de baixa renda para o transporte aéreo ser ainda embrionário, as estratégias se concentra ainda no composto mercadológico, como produto, preço, canal de distribuição, comunicação e serviço. Práticas adotadas pelo varejo para atrair e reter o consumidor de baixa renda, como a loja de vizinhança, porta a porta, meios de financiamento alternativos ao cartão de crédito tem sido testadas e adotadas pelas empresas aéreas analisadas, complementando as práticas usuais do mercado. Essa pesquisa avaliou ainda os principais fatores indutores e restritivos à inserção da baixa renda no setor de transporte aéreo. A maior preocupação das empresas aéreas analisadas nesse estudo é com a infra-estrutura aeroportuária, que pode se tornar limitador da expansão do setor aéreo no Brasil. Já as operadoras de turismo são percebidas pelas empresas aéreas como agente indutor à inserção da população de baixa renda, em especial pela venda de pacotes de turismo. Finalmente, essa pesquisa avaliou, ainda que de maneira sucinta as estratégias de negócio adotadas pelas empresas aéreas, e identificou um modelo de baixo custo brasileira. Trata-se de um modelo híbrido entre as estratégias de diferenciação e baixo custo. As empresas analisadas procuram simultaneamente oferecer serviços para clientes corporativos e estimular novos mercados, sobretudo o mercado de baixa renda. De acordo com Porter (1985), esse tipo de estratégia poderia ser classificado como meio-termo, visto que a empresa não adota nenhuma das estratégias genéricas. Porém, o histórico dessas empresas permite avaliar que essas empresas iniciaram sua operação com modelo mais próximo à estratégia de baixo custo, e tiveram que evoluir ou reformular completamente esse modelo de acordo com as características do mercado brasileiro. / The Bottom of Pyramid has become increasingly relevant market to all business sectors. It is estimated that in 2010 social classes C and D will account for over half the consumption of the Brazilian domestic market. Brazilian airlines, who have historically been characterized by providing service for the high income classes, began to develop strategies to attract lowincome public to travel by plane, using strategies developed in other industries and adapting to the particularities of the airline industry. This research has identified strategies for Brazilian airlines to reach the Bottom of Pyramid market. As this segment is still limit, strategies still focus on the marketing mix, such as product, price, distribution channel, communication and service. Practices adopted by retailers to attract and retain low-income consumers, as the neighborhood store, door to door, alternative financing to credit card have been tested and adopted by the airlines studied, complementing the usual practices of the market. This research also evaluated the main factors that affect the introduction of Bottom of Pyramid in the airline industry. The major concern of airlines examined in this study is with the airport infrastructure, which can limit the expansion of the airline industry in Brazil. Tour operators are already perceived by the airlines as a promoter for this process. Finally, this research evaluated the business strategies adopted by airlines, and identified a Brazilian low-cost model. The model is a hybrid between the strategies of differentiation and low cost. The analyzed airlines are seeking to offer services to both corporate customers and stimulate new markets, particularly the Bottom of Pyramid. According to Porter (1985), this strategy could be classified as stuck in the middle, because the company does not adopt any of the generic strategies. However, the history of these companies can assess that these companies started their operation with model closer to the strategy of low cost, and they had to evolve or completely redesign this model according to the characteristics of the Brazilian market