As a result of the rise in globalisation, international markets have become important for SMEs. However, the study of internationalisation decisions has been limited, and no coherent body of theory has materialised so far. Furthermore, previous research has produced contradictory results. To further develop the mostly non-generalisable outcomes, research is required that (1) specifically conceptualises and measures decision-making in the context of SME internationalisation, and (2) which examines the direct and moderating influence of the context, as well as (3) sheds light on several decision outcomes. This thesis tests an integrative model incorporating a range of decision antecedents and outcomes using data from 218 questionnaires completed by German and Australian SMEs and drawing from multiple theoretical perspectives. The present study makes several substantial and original contributions to knowledge: (1) a valid measurement tool for procedural rationality is developed, which satisfies the special requirements of internationalising SMEs. This study presents evidence (2) that perceived environmental uncertainty does not influence the degree of procedural rationality and that (3) procedural rationality is positively related to a firm’s growth rate, but not to its internationalisation performance. An integrated model is crucial to reaching a comprehensive understanding of decision-making in SME internationalisation.

Companies constantly hit rough patches. Unfortunately, not all firms manage to survive decade after decade. Some companies morph throughout the years and bear little resemblance to their original setup (Krakovsky, 2013). Johnson & Johnson began in the late 1880s by manufacturing commercial sterile surgical dressings, while Nokia was kicked off in 1865 as a riverside paper mill. The explanation for this longevity: organisational ambidexterity. The engagement in organisational ambidexterity has grown substantially over the past ten years as studies have found it promotes superior performance. This thesis examines the role of ambidexterity in promoting firm survival and performance through the 2008-2009 financial crisis. 11,290 U.S. firms, listed on the stock markets from 2006 through 2014, are used to form a longitudinal study. The first empirical chapter explores the research question, Did actually Corporate America experience a crisis in 2008 and 2009? The findings confirm that Corporate America did go through a crisis, based on the high bankruptcy rate, which underlines the importance of crisis survival knowledge and the value of this research. Then, the thesis identifies the influence of ambidexterity on the probability of firm survival during the Global Financial Crisis, through the research question, Why and how did some firms survive, while others did not? This thesis distinguishes the role of ambidexterity in relation to firm survival and performance. Survival and performance are not purely dependent on luck or the possession of slack resources. Hence, the knowledge and the ability to exploit and explore resources are essential for long-term survival and prosperity.

This study develops an integrated framework to improve understanding of network learning and value creation in global engineering services (GES). Network learning is the process that enhances firm performance through better knowledge and understanding. Prior research has developed GES network learning and value creation as a set of independent processes with customers, suppliers or intra-firm engineering units. Their practices have been fragmented, facilitating either inter- or intra-firm network learning and focusing on either GES efficiency or innovation. The absence of an integrated approach to network learning makes it difficult for researchers to understand, and for GES firms to manage. A more holistic understanding of GES network learning is urgently needed for firms to compete effectively in an ever-changing global market. This research develops the theory of integrated GES network learning and value creation through a multiple case study. It integrates existing insights from multiple streams of research, and builds on these to explore network learning within three GES firms. The empirical study reveals an integrated network learning process adopted across customers, suppliers and intra-firm engineering units which enhances GES efficiency, flexibility and innovation. It clarifies the interrelated knowledge acquisition and development processes and supporting boundary spanning mechanisms within network learning. These processes and mechanisms are integrated in a framework that offers a more holistic view of GES network learning. The framework contributes conceptually to the literature on network learning in GES and offers managerial implications for firms to facilitate integrated network learning for effective GES value creation.

This thesis considers how the reader can become a management guru. To this end, it examines the history of management ideas in the period 1890-1990, and identifies those which have achieved widespread popularity. A management idea is the generic term used to refer to any research finding, theory, concept, framework or prescription that maintains currency within the world of management and management education and training. The thesis accounts for the popularity of these ideas. It argues that four sets of factors contribute to the establishment of the popularity of a management idea. First, the idea has to be timely, that is, in tune with social, economic and political concerns of the period. Second, it has to achieve a high level of visibility in order to gain managers' awareness of its existence. Third, it should address the relatively stable and enduring set of managerial needs. Fourth, the idea should, in its content and design, be perceived by the managers as capable of fulfilling those needs. Five literature reviews were carried out. The first identified the six most popular management idea "families". The second was a historical review of the social, economic and political factors which formed the historical milieus from which these idea families evolved. The third literature review uncovered twelve recurring features of these popular management ideas. The fourth examined managers' needs for such ideas, and the fifth examined how management ideas were marketed by companies and consultants. These literature reviews produced a set of hypotheses, some of which were tested in the empirical part of the study. These related primarily to the link between management needs and the characteristics of the ideas themselves. Both business school academics' and managers' reactions to different management ideas were assessed from a phenomenological perspective. This utilised self-completed questionnaires and the analysis of interview transcripts. The research conclusions are that the popularity of a management idea can both be predicted and planned for by enterprising and aspiring management gurus, be they business school faculty or management consultants. The application of the principles described in this thesis should secure for them, both fame and fortune.

The present research pursues two main interrelated objectives: one the one hand, to derive a unified definition of the concept of supply chain resilience (SCRes) from which a quantitative holistic measure of SCRes that appraises both dynamic and inherent resilience can be developed; on the other, to evaluate the theoretical effectiveness—due to the use of simulated experimental data—of a buffering strategy founded on the use of on-hand inventory buffers or short-term manufacturing capacity to build up SCRes. In this sense, the review of the literature uncovered not only flaws in the existing approaches to measure SCRes, but also opposing standpoints on the theoretical effectiveness of using a buffering strategy to inhibit the frequency/impact of SC disruptions. From the literature it is also unclear in which cases or under what circumstances the unit of analysis for this research should adopt a buffering strategy as mentioned. The unit of analysis selected for these purposes is a real-world military food supply chain (MFSC) operating in a risky environment that provides subsistence items to a medium-size military force (< 280,000 troop members). The research methods to address the two research objectives proposed are, first, a robust model based on discrete simulation; and second, an open-ended questionnaire administered to the staff of the MFSC. The first method—simulation—provides the data required to test the nine ex-ante hypotheses, while the second method—questionnaire—complements the previous ones by increasing their usefulness and empirical validity. The simulation experiment performed consists of subjecting the MFSC under analysis to the stepwise occurrence of three categories of risk—operational risks or R1r; natural disasters and intentional attacks or R2r; and black-swan events or R3—while on-hand inventory buffers or short-term manufacturing capacity—the buffering strategy—are gradually increased following an efficient experimental design. To test the nine hypotheses of the research, it was necessary to apply an approach based on data mining techniques— mining causal association rules—and non-parametric methods—the Kruskal-Wallis rank sum and Binomial distribution tests, and the Wilcoxon rank sum test with continuity correction. In this way, based on a novel perspective related to the application of the concept of tail autotomy effect (TAE) to obtain a measure of SCRes (ReT), the evaluation of the output data of the simulation model indicates that: (1) ceteris paribus, increases in the frequency of occurrence of seven of the nine risk events considered reduce ReT in the MFSC with 99% confidence; (2) increases in on-hand inventory buffers positively moderate the relationship between the frequency of occurrence of risks and ReT, with 99% confidence, regardless of the category of risk—R1r, R2r, or R3—affecting the MFSC; (3) increases in short-term manufacturing capacity positively moderate the relationship between the frequency of occurrence of risks and ReT, with 95% confidence for the categories of risk R1r and R3, and with 99% confidence for R2r; and (4) from the open-ended questionnaire, the staff of the MFSC shows a marked preference for the use of on-hand inventory buffers over short-term manufacturing capacity to avoid the occurrence of disruptions. Despite the theoretical implications of these findings, the assumptions of the simulation model, the non-inclusion of the cost factor, and the utilization of a single MFSC may limit to a certain extent their generalization to other scenarios or unit of analysis. To ameliorate these deficiencies, the construction of the simulation model incorporates nine types of risk, the evaluation of ninety configurations of the MFSC—simulation runs, and the consideration of a lengthy horizon of analysis of up to twenty years, allowing other military-SCs or even commercial-SCs can take advantage of the implications of the results of this research. Thus, from a practical point of view, this research provides (military) logisticians with clear guidelines for making decisions on when and how to use on-hand inventory buffers or short-term manufacturing capacity to create resilience or to inhibit the occurrence of disruptions caused by categories of risk R1r, R2r, and R3. From a theoretical standpoint, this research makes an original contribution to the body of knowledge in SC management by providing a novel conceptual framework mainly applicable to MFSCs, which includes the analysis of three categories of risk; a holistic measure of SCRes (ReT) including dynamic and inherent resilience; and the analysis of the application of a buffering strategy based on on-hand inventory buffers and short-term manufacturing capacity. In doing so, the findings of the research provide sufficient criteria for resolving the controversy concerning the theoretical effectiveness of the aforementioned strategy to create resilience and/or to inhibit the occurrence of disruptions in SCs.

Thailand has been one of the emerging markets in Asia in recent decades. The pattern of consumers has dramatically changed due to the arrival of various modern retail trade formats. Thai consumers have been shifting from traditional retail formats to modern retail formats and frequently do ‘outshopping’, particularly from rural areas to town centres. This has led to the decline of rural retailers. To improve this situation, the concept of developing retailers in market towns has been adopted. However, it is unclear what form (i.e. store format) this takes and on which factors (store image attributes and customer characteristics) the role depends. This thesis examines the effect of store image attributes and customer characteristics on retail agglomeration format choice for a regular grocery outshopping trip. The conceptual framework is constructed following the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) model. The concept of store image is applied as the stimulus, and the customer characteristics are proxy variables representing the organism, which lead to the choice decision as the response. The discrete choice model is applied using the mixed logit modelling approach. The choice set includes (1) a traditional agglomeration retail format (TAF), (2) a modern agglomeration retail format (MAF) and (3) a non-agglomeration retail format (NAF). The unit of analysis is a household in a regional city that does grocery shopping regularly. The stratified random sampling divided the population into an urban area and a rural area. Then, a random sample was drawn within each stratum by a simple random sampling − a store format. A systematic random sampling was applied by intercepting each household representative in order to maintain randomness. The chosen area is Nakhon Ratchasima province which is one of the regional cities in north-eastern Thailand. It consists of 2,600,000 people (around 830,000 households) and about 75% of the total population live in a rural area. The total sample consists of 1,521 households. The choice experiment is adopted by a computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI) survey. The parameters are estimated using the simulated maximum likelihood approach. The models are built, and then marginal effects are used to examine the effects of store image attributes and customer characteristics to the retail agglomeration format choice. Reliability and validity are tested. The results from the chosen model reveal that increases in seven store image attributes: product quality, customer service, price, travel time, atmosphere, accessibility, and range of products, affect the probability to shop at TAF and MAF with the same degree, while in store attributes have less effect on the probability to shop at NAF. The product quality, customer service level, and price are the most important attributes affecting the retail agglomeration format choice, following by atmosphere, accessibility, and range of products, respectively. The results indicate that consumers in rural areas are likely to shop at TAF and NAF than consumers in urban areas. Older rather than younger customers tend to shop at NAF. Finally, the higher income households have more opportunity to shop at MAF than the lower income households. This study employs the theory of cumulative attraction as theoretical lens of the study. However, this study contributes to the theory by examining further dimensions. The first contribution is to the theory of cumulative attraction by considering a location dimension. It investigates the role of retail agglomeration formats in market towns. The second dimension contributes to retail management by focusing on retail management style as traditional and modern retail formats. Another contribution of this study is the taxonomy of retail agglomeration formats. It indicates how retailers are planned and constructed, to what extent they are managed and marketed, and what their management styles are. This classification system can categorise existing retail formats, e.g. weekend markets, periodic markets, night markets, tourist attraction retail sites, and exhibition retail outlets which cannot be classified by the previous studies. The application of this taxonomy is applied as retail agglomeration formats in this study.

Innovation is a key socio-economic motivator (Laforet, 2012; Kurz, 2012). Recent studies have revealed the global innovative potential of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) (Wymenga et al.; 2012, Muller, 2015). Contemporary studies suggest that, despite the role played by innovation in enabling SMEs to survive and thrive, they have been hindered by inadequate, in particular, physical resources, such as funds and technology (Laforet and Tann, 2006; Laforet, 2009). Lusch and Vargo (2008) argue that Service Dominant Logic (SDL) provides a new means of looking at value, one which emphasises that it is co-created by users and providers. Within this logic, attention focuses on service innovation, on the assumption that conventional definitions of innovation, which derive from product/ technical perspectives, do not fully explain the phenomena, particularly in SMEs (Droege et al., 2009; den Hertog et al., 2010). Service innovation is believed to result, in the main, from non-technological sources (Drejer, 2004; Carlborg et al., 2014). Lusch and Vargo (2008) stress that SDL focuses on knowledge as an essential ingredient for value co-creation, in contrast to Good-Dominant Logic (GDL), which emphasises physical or operand resources. They further argue that service innovation is a process, from which new products, services, and technologies are generated, rather than an output in the case of GDL (Mele et al., 2014; Lusch and Nambisan, 2015). Knowledge exchange as a process of value co-creation is therefore essential for service innovation. SMEs should be well placed to exploit the potential of service innovation as they are: close to their customers; have flatter structures; more effective internal communication; and possess a more positive attitude to risk-taking (Laforet, 2012). Further development of theories and definitions relating to service innovation have been called for (Droege et al., 2009), however, progress to date has been limited (Droege et al., 2009; Carlborg et al., 2014; Valtakoski and Järvi, 2016). This thesis, by adopting and contextualising as a framework the six-dimensional (6-D) model of service innovation (den Hertog et al., 2010), examines service innovation in SMEs from a knowledge perspective. This research is contextualised by an initiative, Creating Cultures of Innovation (CCoI), a Scottish Government sponsored project conducted by the Glasgow School of Art (GSA). This initiative was intended to enhance the performance of SMEs by design-led interventions, releasing the creativity of SMEs by engaging key stakeholders in collaborative knowledge exchange. A qualitative multiple case-study explores the extent to which intervention triggers both knowledge exchange and innovation. Results of this research contribute to the literature by enriching our understanding of service innovation from a knowledge perspective (Droege et al., 2009; Valtakoski and Järvi, 2016; Witell et al., 2016); by contextualising and exploring the 6-D model of service innovation in traditional SMEs (den Hertog et al., 2010); by understanding the interactions with the key stakeholders in the service ecosystem of an organisation (Carlborg et al., 2014; Mele et al., 2014; Lusch & Nambisan, 2015); and, by providing empirical evidence for the development of SDL in a context of non-knowledge intensive SMEs (Lusch & Nambisan, 2015). Practically, this research also provides a service innovation lens through which the CCoI initiative may be evaluated. From an operational perspective, the research suggests a means, design thinking interventions, by which traditional SMEs exploit service innovation. Lastly, the results provide an insight for policy makers wishing to enhance the innovative performance of Scottish SMEs.

Ernst R. Berndt and German Botero. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thomas W. Malone, Kevin Crowston. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 37-45). / Research supported by Digital Equipment Corporation. Research supported by the National Science Foundation. IRI-8805798 IRI-8903034 Research supported by the MIT International Financial Services Research Center. Research supported by General Motors/Electronic Data Systems.

Jintae Lee, Thomas W. Malone. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 34-36). / Supported by Digital Equipment Corp., the National Science Foundation, Wang Laboratories, Inc., Xerox Corporation, General Motors and Bankers Trust Company.