This thesis is concerned with the assessment of human factors relevant to the selection of AMT (Advanced Manufacturing Technologies). Human factors such as employee morale, labour flexibility and workers skills should be evaluated during the pre-installation planning, since they greatly influence the implementation outcome. For newly industrialised countries, in particular, incorporating human factors into the selection seems paramount. These economies are in the critical early stages of AMT adoption. Selection practices are often incompatible with the complexity of these technologies. Moreover, low rates of secondary education, scarcity of technicians, and problems with workforce flexibility reinforce the importance of assessing human factors before the actual technology installation. Although some methods have been proposed to evaluate intangible aspects such as the human factors, the lack of a structured approach to identify and quantify these items still constitutes a major obstacle. Furthermore, this approach should be easy to use and establish a common measure for the comparison of options. It should involve key stakeholders and seek consensus on the decision. Aiming to address this gap, the research was undertaken in three phases: theory building, refinement and testing. A preliminary framework was devised from the review of literature, interviews with experts, and a pilot case study. A process was developed to operationalise the framework. The approach was applied using action research in nine case studies in Brazil: a pilot case study in the theory building phase, four cases for refinement, and four firms constituted the final testing. Three main categories of human factors were proposed: labour flexibility, individual capabilities, and employee relations. Grouping these items was crucial to create a definition for these factors and facilitate their identification.Taguchi's Loss Function was used as evaluation method for the human factors and available AMT. The strategies developed for identification and evaluation represented an important theoretical contribution. The in-company applications corresponded to the main practical contribution of the research. Very positive feedback was obtained on the appropriateness of the approach to address identification and quantification issues.

This thesis will discuss how fragmented UK firms are and how they have changed between 1997-2008. We examine possible explanations for fragmentation and try to capture the effects of fragmentation on employment and labour productivity. We consider an organisational and a spatial dimension of fragmentation for the manufacturing and the tradable service sector. The data used comes from the Business Structure Database - a firm and plant level database which captures 99 percent of UK economic activity.

The thesis examines the nature of third-party intervention in industrial disputes, from the perspective of bargaining and negotiation. It challenges the common view of the third-party as encouraging a conciliatory approach to the dispute. Experimental simulation provides evidence that a silent third-party affects the nature of agreements reached by negotiators, in this case favouring management. The third-party was regarded as an evaluative presence, encouraging greater intransigence and emphasising the inter-party dispute, at the cost of a more cooperative, personally-oriented approach. An observational field study of third-party intervention in public and private sector disputes examines the functions and process of industrial arbitration, through the British Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service, for relatively inexperienced and experienced participants. Arbitration is traditionally regarded as a semi-judicial, evaluative process, which is distinct from negotiation. It is argued that this public image is necessary, in order to maintain the credibility of arbitration as a method of dispute resolution, but that the actual process is best understood in terms of the social context of collective bargaining. The process of arbitration is compared and contrasted with the processes of problem-solving and negotiation and two different models of negotiation (‘concession convergence’ and ‘formula-detail’) are used to explain the different roles adopted by the arbitrator or board in simpler and more complex disputes respectively. A descriptive account of a group of ad hoc arbitrations highlights the effects on inexperienced participants of the evaluative image of arbitration and reaffirms the distinction, identified in the public sector disputes, between simpler and more complex cases, requiring different styles of chairmanship.

The drug discovery and development subsector lies at the heart of the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry. However, previous studies have not distinguished this subsector from the industry as a whole. Little detailed analysis has looked at the fIrms that discover and develop new therapies. From a perspective of the Sectoral Systems of Innovation, this thesis aims to address this important gap in knowledge by looking at the structure, clustering, knowledge production and networking in the drug discovery and development subsector, and to stress the relevant policy implications. This study intends to objectively examine the best available indicators for the knowledge produced by this subsector and industry dynamics, therefore a broad design of methodology was chosen. Data was collected from government databases, scientific databases, commercial databases, industry associations and companies' websites, concerning the subsector's structure, clustering and concentration, research and development (R&D) investments, product pipelines, scientific publications and citations, patent publications, and alliance agreements. This study indicates that the drug discovery and development subsector was geographically clustered. The finding further reveals this subsector's hierarchical structure and divergence in strategy development. This thesis also suggests that the focuses of knowledge production in this subsector were changed when partners changed. Moreover, in arguing that this subsector featured massive knowledge production and expanding collaboration with other actors of the innovation systems, the analysis questioned the notion that domestic industry would benefit much from the successful knowledge production of this subsector, because much of the knowledge produced by this sector was going abroad through commercial licensing, and through mergers and acquisitions (M&As). The data of this study also indicated that the strategies of companies are co-evolved with its position within the networking and industry structure.

Iraq has a stock of buildings, particularly dwellings, many of which are neither physically fit nor capable of meeting the economic and social needs of today. Many people, particularly in the cities, live in overcrowded and insanitary conditions. Many dwellings are badly located and mixed with derelict land. Population is expected to grow and even without any rise in standards, this would greatly increase the need for building and works of all kinds. At the macro level the main cause of the housing problem must be attributed to the process of migration and urbanization, which have contributed to the creation of slums and squatter settlements. At the policy level, the existing machinery of planning is scarcely adequate. Housing has conventionally received only scant attention in national development plans and this central neglect is mirrored by a similar failure at the municipal level. At the micro level, with which this study has primarily been concerned, it must be emphasised that housing is not simply an economic commodity but has deep social and political as well as environmental implications. The increasing gap between incomes and housing costs has to be contained and this can only be done by operating on a number of fronts simultaneously. The purpose of this study is to examine the housing sector in Iraq with special reference to the city of Baghdad-from the point of view that housing is not only a shelter which provides protection from the elements but a synthesis in which social, economic, physical and political forces interact. The study also develops an argument that housing density is not simply another planning index to be used with others in the formulation of town plans but a crucial variable which once fixed will have far reaching effects not only to the inhabitants of the housing areas but also to the social, economic and physical environment of the urban structure as a whole. The study adopts two related approaches. The first approach is a general survey of the causes and effects of housing problems and the interrelationships of housing aspects. Then, having identified particular topics of concern, the study examines some of these, such as housing needs, standards, housing inputs, i. e. land, finance building materials, labour and the construction industry, housing densities and costs relationships, in some detail. The study stresses the need to establish principles and processes of comprehensive analysis stems from the importance of housing as a community problem area, since housing is a major land use and its form reflects and influences, in a critical way, the pattern of urban experience and activity. Throughout, the aim has not been to produce a model or concrete figures so much as to analyse present trends and suggest some likely future developments in the hope that, with modification and. improvement, this study could act as a basis for further detailed study of the housing sector and assist in the formulation of long - term housing programme.

The purpose of the research conducted is to investigate the effects of local managers' education and training on corporate culture in foreign companies in the People's Republic of China. In order to realise the purpose, the project sets up three corresponding aims. First, an examination of corporate values and the corresponding cross-cultural issues in Western companies in a Chinese context is given. Second, a prescription of various adaptation forms of these companies is provided. Finally, the effects of the training on the corporate culture are evaluated and presented. The study employs a qualitative methodology for the exploration. Foreign companies covering the main fields of business activities in China were selected with an emphasis on the two countries: the United Kingdom and the United States. Thirty participants from those sample companies were interviewed face-to-face with semi-structured questions. The fieldwork was carried out mainly in Shanghai, which is the biggest city and an economic zone in China. At the same time, documentation was used as a complementary method in terms of providing relevant information. Data were also collected from two Asian foreign enterprises in China for benchmark. Final results in light of the research purpose and aims indicate that a foreign company in China, which is internationally accepted, is likely to apply a corporate culture that accommodates both similarities and differences between the local culture and the original culture of the foreign parent company. Such a corporate culture is not judged by its form, for it is neither a typical culture of a Western organisation nor typical one of a Chinese enterprise. It allows the corporation to keep international standards and simultaneously be capable of cultivating local managers to accept it emotionally. In this sense, local managers' education and training need to be perceived as a cultural process and delivered in a flexible way. The effects of the training upon the corporate culture are identified.

This thesis draws on the insights of economics, political economy and political science to study the MacSharry reforms of the CAP enacted in May 1992. It has two objectives. First, to understand the MacSharry reforms in terms of why they happened, when they did and in the form that they did. Second, to develop a more general framework for the interpretation of CAP reforms. The thesis is in two parts. In the first, the public choice paradigm of decision-making systems is introduced as an alternative to neo-classical agricultural economics. It is employed to generate three frameworks of CAP reforms; the interest groups, the prominent players and the institutions. The evidence from the histories of previous reforms of the CAP provides the bias that the institutions framework is the most insightful for understanding the reform process. The second part of the thesis is a case study of the MacSharry reforms. It is constructed from primary and secondary sources. Seventeen in-depth, individual interviews with key participants in, or observers of, the reform process were conducted. These are complimented by an extensive survey of the general news commentary on, the academic analysis of, and specialist agri-business views of the reforms. The institutions framework drawn from part one of the thesis is used to interpret this evidence to achieve objective one of the thesis. The central claim with regard to the second objective is that previous attempts at understanding the CAP reform process and its outcome have tended to underestimate the importance of the institutional structure of decision-making.

This thesis seeks to investigate key drivers of the agricultural land market in a country undergoing economic structural transformation. The Ricardian land price model is extended to reflect different scenarios with regards to flexibility of land supply and competition for alternative uses for land. In addition, the study examined various non-market influences on price: (i) state intervention to determine and stabilise land supply for competing uses; (ii) transaction costs in land exchange and utilisation, and (iii) imperfect market competition arising from excess surplus situations and differences in buyer and seller characteristics. Their impacts on the agricultural land market are described via an estimation of a hedonic price model using parcel-level data (n = 2222) taken from a period of 7 years for four states in the Central West coast of Peninsular Malaysia. The data covers agricultural land with and without strong development potential. The latter comprise of land with continued oil palm, rice, rubber cultivation potentials. An additional category is vacant or idled agricultural land with relative small development potential. Results show that estimated coefficients of all land attributes in the model (road frontage, proximity to urban centres, population growth, land restrictions and year of sale) are significant. However their individual implicit value differs across different land categories. The spatial econometrics exercise was inconclusive in identifying the type and degree of spatial bias present in the data. The effect of economic transformation and expectations in the economy is further examined via a moving correlation analysis using hedonic price indexes constructed from a longer set of sales data (15 years). Price of farmland with clear development potential appears to correlate positively with value and volatility of development rent (which is proxied by the stock market property index), while price of farmland with pure agricultural potential is correlated with value and volatility of agricultural rent (proxied by the stock market plantation index).

Agency theory suggests that problems will arise when there is a separation of ownership and control in firms. According to the literature, the main agency problem under a diffused ownership structure is likely to be the conflict of interests between managers and shareholders, whereas the central agency problem under a concentrated ownership structure is probably the exploitation of minority shareholders' interests by controlling shareholders. In the case of Chinese enterprises, such problems are even more complicated, as the government acts as both the regulator and player in the markets. This thesis utilises data from Chinese stock markets to address some important issues in the corporate governance literature. Firstly, it empirically examines the relationship between ownership structure and corporate performance in Chinese publicly listed companies (PLCs), with the heterogeneity amongst state ownership types being carefully explored. In contrast with previous research, I found that state ownership does not necessarily lead to inferior corporate performance, and some state owners can perform equally as well as their private competitors. Secondly, this thesis thoroughly investigates the issue of corporate cash holdings of Chinese PLCs, which enhances our understanding of firms' cash holding behaviour in the context of the largest transition economy. The empirical analysis not only reveals the determinants of corporate cash holdings of PLCs, but also I confirms the existence of the target cash holding level in China. Moreover, the exploitation of firms' dynamic adjustment mechanisms towards target levels is also included in the analysis. Finally, it seeks to redress the gap in the literature on top executive turnover in the Chinese context. The executive turnover-performance relationship is explicitly modelled in the analysis, and a variety of reasons why CEOs exit their posts are also dearly identified. Empirical findings confirm a negative relationship between corporate performance and CEO turnover. Also, empirical analysis suggests that regardless of the ownership types, there is no systematic difference in the CEO performance-turnover sensitivity among PLCs. Meanwhile, there is evidence showing that PLCs tend to report some 'face-saving' reasons instead of disclosing true reasons for turnovers, in order to protect their departing CEOs.

The dissertation aims to explore the supply and demand side determinant of child labour at macro, meso and micro level. At macro level it explores the effect of globalization (defined as openness to trade and inflow of foreign direct investment) and credit market imperfections on child labour. At meso level it explores the effect of labour market conditions on child labour. As the above two levels of analysis are mainly concerned with the demand for child labour, the micro level analysis explores the supply side determinant of child labour. At micro level this dissertation explores the effect of intrahousehold distribution of power on child related outcome. Specifically it explores the effect of mother’s decision making power on her child’s labour and schooling. The macro level analysis is based on cross country regression framework while meso and micro level analysis is based on the data from Pakistan. At macro level, this dissertation points out that trade openness and FDI inflow raise the standard of living in an economy thereby reducing child labour incidence. As the channel through which trade could affect child labour is by increasing income of the poor, credit market imperfection shows insignificant effect. At meso level, this dissertation points out that high adult wages in an area increase demand for child labour while presence of adult unemployed proportion in an area reduces demand for child labour. However, presence of unemployed adult in a house increases supply of child labour. Exports, on one hand, reduce supply of child labour by affecting the income of poor at macro level while on the other hand at meso level, subcontracting of production process to small informal sector increases demand for child labour. The informal sector being unprotected by law employs a high proportion of child labour. At micro level mother’s decision making power significantly decreases child labour supply and increases child schooling. The effect is significant in case of girls but not in case of boys. This study also shows that whether children work for generating income or as family helpers, mothers are equally concerned for their welfare. Their decision making power significantly reduces labour among children.