The cause(s) of increased wage inequality in developed nations in recent decades is a contentious issue in international economics. In the UK, the ratio of non-manual to manual wages increased by 24.4 percent between 1979 and 1999. Over the same interval, there has been an increase in the relative supply of skilled workers. This suggests that the increase in the relative wage of skilled labour has been driven by a large increase in relative demand for this type of labour. Two candidates commonly cited as the catalyst behind the demand shift are increased trade between developed countries and unskilled-labour-abundant developing nations, and technical change favouring skilled labour. This thesis contributes to the debate by evaluating the effects of trade and technology on UK wages using a computable general equilibrium framework. Modelling is aided by identifying a larger number of labour types than is the norm and estimating changes in the stocks of four different capital assets over the period of interest. The results, although sensitive to key parameter values, single out technical change as the cause of increased wage dispersion in the UK, but also raise the possibility that trade has had a significant adverse effect on the relative wage of a narrowly defined group of workers at the bottom end of the skill distribution.

Diffuse nitrate (N) loss from agriculture is degrading surface and groundwater quality throughout Europe, leaving waterbodies at risk of not reaching targets set by the Water Framework Directive (WFD). Although a wide range of mitigation methods to reduce diffuse N loss have been identified, their appropriateness and effectiveness is not fully understood, especially at the catchment scale where a wide range of environmental and agricultural conditions exist. Suitable assessment methods are required to quantify the impact of mitigation and provide confirmation of their effectiveness. This study aimed to investigate the applicability of measurement and nutrient budgets for the evaluation of mitigation effectiveness at the field, farm and catchment scale; nutrient budgets represent an alternative approach where long transit times delay observable responses to mitigation in measurement. Investigations focused on two catchments in SW England, Milborne St Andrew (MSA) and Empool / Eagle Lodge (EMEL). Soil surface budgets were calculated for a total of 84 fields and farmgate surpluses / efficiency for 34 farms between 2005 and 2008. Soil mineral nitrogen (SMN) and porous pot (PP) sampling was undertaken in 115 and 57 fields respectively, and groundwater / stream water monitored at 171 sites. Sampling was carried out in 2007 and 2008, and a range of mitigation methods adopted on farm in 2008. Comparing results before and after mitigation, measurement approaches displayed contradictory responses – SMN significantly decreased, PP leached load and concentration significantly increased, and groundwater responses varied between sites. Results suggest an overriding sensitivity to environmental condition and the need for longer timescales especially at the catchment scale. Nutrient budgets at the field and farm scale tended to return lower surpluses post mitigation with 79% / 77% farms improving their farmgate surplus / efficiency. However only in EMEL were improvements in field or farm scale surpluses significant, a result of modest mitigation induced change and sensitivity to economic and environmental drivers. Comparing measurement and budget approaches, budgets were more responsive to changes in nutrient management in the short term and offered higher levels of farmer accountability. However long term measurements are required to provide confirmation that improvements in nutrient budgets transpire in water quality. As such a combined approach is suggested. With direct links to economic benefits likely to aid farmer engagement, and providing more complete representations of mitigation response and feedback, the use of farm scale budgets / efficiency over field scale budgets is advocated.

This thesis examines the operationalisation of stakeholder engagement process in sustainable waste management setting. The study aims to establish role of stakeholder power in the prioritisation process and add to empirical understanding of the way engagement affect accountability, which evaluates both the `process', and the `outcome' of engagement. This research is based on a three mini cases of local government authorities, which involve in-depth interviews, observations and document analysis. A broader insights of the engagement process from several stakeholder groups, namely the residents, NGOs, councillors and private waste contractors, are considered and compared with managerial views, and several aspects of stakeholder engagement practices are analysed, including the mechanisms used as well as the challenges faced by the LGAs in engaging. In addition, the intentions behind engagement undertakings are analysed and evaluation of the effectiveness of stakeholder engagement practices are made. Drawing on stakeholder theory, the role of power is explored as a stakeholder attribute in determining salience and in the engagement process. Insights from the interviewees are analysed in relation to the extent of participation and perceived level of power held which are then used to map the extent of their involvement on the ladder of engagement. The findings indicate that power does play an important role in the engagement process. Managers also give greater consideration to those demonstrating certain extent of power i.e. the private waste contractor and councillors. It has also been proved that managers' perceptions of the levels of power held by stakeholders play a significant role in establishing their priorities and deciding between competing interests. The use of stakeholder engagement as a mechanism for accountability has led to the recognition of a deficiency underlying the many processes of engagement. The study also has identified an additional feature of accountability, namely the interactive nature of engagement, which is unrecognised in other established measures of accountability.

The key aim of this research is to evaluate the impact of policy level interventions for the management of psychosocial risks in Europe. This research is exploratory in nature and seeks to clarify the policy framework in relation to psychosocial risk management, identify key policy stakeholders, examine their perceptions and clarify their role in the policy making process. The research also evaluates the impact of selected policies by analysing their implementation and impact on action at the national and enterprise levels. A combination of qualitative and quantitative methodologies was employed. Three qualitative and two quantitative studies were conducted and sought to: a. identify all stakeholders relevant to psychosocial risk management, b. analyse the role of key stakeholders in the policy development process as well as drivers and barriers for the development and implementation for such policies for psychosocial risk management, c. investigate the effectiveness and needs related to EU and national regulations governing health and safety and psychosocial risk management at the workplace, d. explore stakeholders’ views on the impact of policy interventions and priorities for action at the policy level, and e. analyse the translation of policy into practice at the enterprise level, by assessing the impact of policies on enterprise action (specifically on the implementation of procedures and measures to manage psychosocial risk management), and by identifying the key drivers, barriers and needs of European enterprises in relation to psychosocial risk management. Overall, the findings of this work recognise many challenges in relation to policy evaluation for psychosocial risk management. However, unless the impact of these policies is evaluated using predefined and appropriate evaluation methodologies and criteria, the basis on which further policies can be developed will not be clear. The research also highlighted that despite the increased awareness of issues relating to psychosocial risks in Europe, there are several differences in perceptions amongst stakeholders and lack of prioritisation of these issues at the policy level that may seriously hinder practice. In this context, the role of researchers and academics is important. Evaluation of policies must therefore ideally be carried out on a tripartite plus basis and should not be within the remit of governmental agencies alone.

This thesis is a study of deinstitutionalisation seeking to understand the evolvement of deinstitutionalisation process via the lens of sensemaking. It does so by conducting an in-depth qualitative, case study-based empirical study of the processual nature of deinstitutionalisation and the significance of organisational sensemaking during the deinstitutionalisation process. An interdisciplinary approach is adopted drawing insights from various literatures including institutional theory, sensemaking and social psychology. The need for greater understanding of the deinstitutionalisation phenomenon, especially its process is acknowledged after relevant literatures are reviewed. The potential of using microanalysis in examining the deinstitutionalisation process is demonstrated. The sensemaking perspective is thus used to facilitate this processual research. The findings emerged from this thesis have important implications for the theoretical development of institutional changes, sensemaking and especially deinstitutionalisation. First of all, the model and evidence sheds some light on the nature and development of the deinstitutionalisation process. Secondly, the analytic capacity of the institutional theory especially its descriptive and predictive contents are tested in the context of evolving institutions. The relative strengths of regulative, cognitive and normative influences in non-conventional cultural and institutional contexts extend our knowledge of institutional change and effects. Using sensemaking perspective, the findings also demonstrate the role and power of resistance during institutional processes and explain the possibility of multiple paces and outcomes within a single deinstitutionalisation process. As for sensemaking, crisis sensemaking will be examined in a new context: disaster-struck but not life threatening. In practical terms, this study is carried out in an organisational context therefore it has relevant managerial implications. Knowledge gathered here should offer useful insights for businesses, especially managers.

An increasing number of countries have shifted, or are shifting, towards the knowledge-based economy. For these countries, including Malaysia, the quality of knowledge workers is extremely important in determining the pace and success of such transition. Thus, training is often carried out to improve the skills of knowledge workers at the workplace. But despite its importance, research on knowledge worker training is extremely limited. This study seeks to partially fill this gap in the literature by investigating three aspects of knowledge worker training in Malaysia. Using an online survey, data is collected from a sample of companies and knowledge workers in MSC Malaysia. In the first part of the study, the role of foreign ownership on the provision of, and participation in training in MSC Malaysia, is examined. Here the questions of whether or not there are any differences between the quantity and quality of training provided by local and foreign MSC-status companies and whether or not there are any differences in training participation between knowledge workers working at both entities are investigated. After establishing that some variations in training do exist between local and foreign companies in MSC Malaysia, the second part of the study examines in more detail the determinants of training among companies in MSC Malaysia. It particularly investigates the factors that affect the occurrence and magnitude of training by MSC-status companies as a whole To complement these findings, the final part of the study investigates the impact of training on the knowledge workers’ earnings, productivity and career advancement. Due to the nature of the data set, however, the issue of endogeneity of training and selectivity bias are not addressed in the analyses of wage effects of training while productivity is measured subjectively via the knowledge workers’ perceptions of the effect on ability to perform job tasks. The third analysis on career advancement is further divided into the impacts of training on the knowledge workers’ likelihood of receiving a promotion and searching for a new job.

Firm entry and exit has been shown to strongly influence productivity growth. Productivity has been identified as the key driver of long-run economic growth. This thesis strives to understand the causes of entry and exit and the role played by globalisation in this process of creative destruction.

The study aim was to determine effects of the EC bioethanol blend mandate policy and its potential interaction with the EPA policies on EU/ACP countries. The research analysis focussed on welfare outcomes, changes in trade balance and output of bioethanol crops commodities due to these policies. Emphasis of our analysis was placed on sugar given the economic importance of this commodity to many ACP member states. Absence of an EU bioethanol partial equilbrium model means we had to design one from certain assumptions. One of the assumptions was that subsidies support EU bioethanol production such that just enough is produced to meet the 5.75% and 10% EC blend mandate requirements. For this reason, EU bioethanol production did not affect transport fuel demand and prices. Using the GTAP model, the study has found that the EC bioethanol blend mandate policy increases bioethanol crops commodities prices resulting in global welfare loss that is highest in the EU region. However, the EC bioethanol blend mandate policy also increases bioethanol crops commodities production in ACP countries and promote ACP export of these commodities to the EU. The EU is able to produce all bioethanol requirements from local sugar beet production. Increasing the amount of sugar beet in bioethanol production minimizes the effect on global food prices and offers greatest benefits to ACP countries through promotion of their sugar industries. Trade liberalising EPA policies result in welfare gain for regions engaged in them. However, the EC bioethanol blend mandate policy’s interaction with the EPA policies result in welfare loss, which is again highest in the EU. Combination of the EC bioethanol blend mandate/EPA policies also promotes ACP bioethanol crops production and export. Overall, the study has contributed to our understanding of biofuel policies and their potential global effects on food markets especially in ACP countries.

The aim of this study is to explore the phenomenon of the legitimacy crisis. This is a variant of organizational crises which, although increasingly common and managerially relevant, is still under-explored. A legitimacy crisis signals a problematic relationship between the focal organization and its socio-institutional environment which calls for repairing of meaning. Having considered this, the study has developed a theoretical framework that integrates the sensemaking and institutional perspectives to investigate this phenomenon. To operationalize this theoretical framework, I have conducted a single longitudinal case study featuring Nike in the 1990s' sweatshop controversy, using a narrative approach and documenting the narrative unfolding of the crisis as the unit of analysis. An extensive collection of publicly accessible archival data constituted the bulk of the data base. By means of this framework, the research provides rounded understanding of the causes of legitimacy crises, their unfolding patterns, and organizations' responses to them. Moreover, this theoretical integration also contributes to narrowing the gap between the sensemaking and institutional theories. The findings highlight that rational myths serve as sensegiving mechanisms for social actors, and that their effects penetrate the interplay between frameworks and meanings in sensemaking processes, as well as operating throughout the process of organizational restructuring in the context of a legitimacy crisis. Moreover, this study identifies that improving the efficiency of sensemaking, and thereby improving meaning management, is the key to resolving a legitimacy crisis. This should be achieved through the modification and elaboration of interpretation frameworks. In particular, this study highlights the effects of organizational structuring in facilitating both internal and external communication during a legitimacy crisis, thereby contributing to the improved management of the unfolding crisis and to resolution of the crisis.

It is now widely recognized that supply chains, not individual organisations, are responsible for the success or failure of businesses. This has necessitated close coordination among supply chain partners. In the past few decades, in an attempt to improve the overall efficiency of the supply chain, many companies have engaged in collaboration with other supply chain members. Consequently, several supply chain management initiatives such as Vendor Managed Inventory, Efficient Consumer Response, Continuous Replenishment and Accurate Response have been proposed in the literature to improve the flow of materials as well as information among supply chain partners. In this line, Collaborative Planning Forecasting and Replenishment (CPFR) is a relatively new initiative that combines the intelligence of multiple trading partners in planning and fulfilment of customer demand by linking sales and marketing best practices. The role of CPFR has been widely studied in the US retail industry, but it has not been researched much in the UK and also in Asian countries. Hence, this research focuses on the adoption of CPFR in the UK and India. Levels of collaboration and information sharing differ to a great extent across the supply chains based on the needs of individual businesses. Accordingly, the importance of CPFR varies in different supply chains. The study reported in this research explores the operations of CPFR and highlights the corresponding benefits in different firms using case studies of Indian (4 cases) and British (2 cases) companies operating in Make-To-Stock (MTS) and Make-To-Order (MTO) environments. In this research, information exchange among collaborating partners is analysed with a focus on its role in demand forecasting and timely replenishment. In order to identify potential benefits of CPFR, this research has adopted a four stage approach. In the first stage, interviews with top and middle managers in the case companies helped to develop a clear understanding of the collaborative arrangements in each company. In stage two, a conceptual model called the Reference Demand Model (RDM) was developed. RDM is a specific model representing the dependency of demand projection on information from different supply chain members involved in supply chain processes. When fully developed, the RDM will serve as a decision tool for the companies involved in collaboration to decide on the level of collaboration and the type of information exchange in order to improve supply chain planning and forecasting. Further, to explore how demand information collected through RDM can help improve forecasts accuracy, a quantitative approach is employed in the next two stages. Therefore, stages 3 and 4 were studied only for the cases with detailed sales data. In stage 3, structural equation models were developed to establish the underlying relationships among demand factors that were identified using RDM. In stage 4, regression forecast models of sales were developed using the demand factors identified through RDM. The forecast models showed an improved accuracy and thus this research suggested the case company (Soft Drink Co.) to use the demand information (identified from RDM) in the demand forecasts. The results strongly support CPFR in a MTS environment with promotional sales, and exchanging the detailed sales information from downstream to upstream supply chain members may improve the accuracy of demand forecasts. Information exchange is also required to ensure timely replenishment for MTS products. However, in a MTO environment, there is less need for collaboration with downstream supply chain partners for the purpose of short term demand forecasting.