This thesis analyses and quantifies the environmental impacts of trade liberalisation and economic growth. The history and development of the GATT/WTO's treatment of the environment is considered, together with the environmental implications of trade liberalisation in general. The thesis then considers the relationship between economic growth and the environment, particularly since economic growth is often claimed to be an environmentally damaging feature of trade liberalisation. The manner in which economists have treated the relationship between economic growth and the environment is examined and the relationship is then subjected to an empirical investigation. The thesis estimates the reduced form relationship between per capita GDP and a wide range of environmental indicators, using cross-country panel data sets and improves on the traditional methodology for estimating environmental Kuznets curves (EKCs). Results suggest that meaningful EKCs exist only for local air pollutants whilst indicators with a more global, or indirect, impact either increase monotonically with income, or else have predicted turning points at high per capita income levels with large standard errors - unless they have been subjected to a multilateral policy initiative. Two other findings are also made; that concentrations of local pollutants in urban areas peak at a lower per capita income level than total emissions per capita; and that transport generated local air pollutants peak at a higher per capita income level than total emissions per capita. The thesis also estimates the impact of the Uruguay Round of trade negotiations on a wide range of environmental indicators. The impact is estimated in terms of the composition effect and combined scale and technique effects associated with the Uruguay Round. Results suggest that in the developing and transition regions most indicators will increase as a result of the Uruguay Round, whilst in the developed regions three local air pollutants will fall and all others increase. Finally, policy implications are discussed.

This research has focused on the development of techniques for the collection, analysis and presentation of large movement and behavioural data sets. The research has followed three strands: the investigation of pedestrian flow networks in the central business district, the relationship of pedestrian flow and retail turnover, and the study of movement and behaviour of customers in-stores. This thesis reports on the development of a self contained time-lapse camera system. The cameras were used to record flow conditions and people in both the city centre and in-store environments. For each person seen in the films a number of demographic and behavioural variables were extracted. These were then used as the data base for computer modelling systems. The investigation of the potential development of a turnover interface was necessary to test whether the variables extracted from the film were of any predictive value. It was found that it was possible to segregate the shopping from the non-shopping population on the basis of the data collected. Two movement models were developed. The first, an Origin- Destination model called WONKA, was based on the network estimation procedures used in vehicular modelling. WONKA was applied in both environments for the prediction of paths through the studied network. PRETTY, a customer simulation and animation program, recreated the recorded data and allowed the user to select data sets according to any combination of the recorded variables. Subsequently a probable path module was added to PRETTY as it became apparent that the tight theoretical basis of WONKA was not suited to the free layouts of many stores.

The aim of this research was first to identify the differences in the perceptions of stress among French and British managers. A second aim was to examine the levels of stress and the role of job demand, support, relationships at work and coping on well-being. Lastly, it was to evaluate the effects of coping resources on well-being. Interviews indicated that differences exist in the understanding of stress. British managers attributed causes of stress more to workload and deadlines, decision latitude and lack of information. French managers viewed relationships at work as a primary cause of stress, followed by incidents and organisational culture. Unclear job role was a similar and important source of stress in both samples. There was no evidence that French managers were more stressed than the British or that they viewed stress as an 'individual issue' as found in previous research. Regression analyses performed on a matching sample of managers (N=156), revealed that job demand had main effects on well-being and intention to quit the organisation in both national samples. However, as already suggested through the interviews, relationships at work turned out to be predictors of intention to quit the company only for the French managers. The UK managers in the repertory grid exercise more often mentioned the term coping in relation to stress than did the French managers. Only in the UK sample, were coping strategies correlated with well-being. While problem-oriented coping strategies correlated positively with well-being, emotion-focused strategies correlated negatively with well-being, confirming previous findings in studies on coping. A longitudinal test of the relationship between job demand and well-being and the moderating effects of coping resources among a French sample (N=150) indicated that some coping resources improved after a training intervention but had no direct or interactive effects on well-being. Only job demand was a significant predictor of well-being. Limitations of the study and implications for further cross-cultural research are discussed.

This thesis is concerned with understanding the factors responsible for the vast differences in per capita income levels and growth rates evident across countries. As part of this inquiry, it examines the role played by international trade both singly and in combination with geography, institutions and foreign R&D. One line of inquiry revisits the contentious issue of the relationship between trade openness and growth. It examines this issue from two standpoints. First, the sensitivity of the openness-growth nexus to alternative measures of TFP growth is considered. This approach departs from previous research on this subject which has focused mainly on the right hand side variables, namely the measures of openness and other growth determinants. Drawing on the current competing arguments over the performance of homogeneous versus heterogeneous estimators, three alternative sets of TFP growth estimates were generated; one for the each of the extremes of heterogeneity and homogeneity and an intermediate measure. Despite being highly correlated amongst themselves and with alternative TFP estimates generated by other researchers, we find some of the measures used to proxy trade openness are sensitive to the measurement of TFP growth. Moreover, this sensitivity extends to other dimensions such as whether one performs cross-section or panel estimations and whether one assumes the openness indicators to be exogenous or endogenous. Our preference however, is for panel estimations with the alternative proxies for trade openness entered simultaneously instead of sequentially. Second, the nature of the openness-growth relationship is examined by searching for contingent relationships between these two variables, linked to geography and institutional quality. Of the alternative methods employed for capturing contingent effects, we argue that the endogenous threshold model of Hansen (2000), best captures these effects. Using this methodology, we find evidence in support of contingent relationships between trade openness and natural barriers (institutional quality). More specifically, we find that there exists threshold level(s) of natural barriers and institutional quality above and below which the contribution to TFP growth from openness differs. However, support for the latter finding is weaker than that for the former. A separate line of inquiry simultaneously examines the role of trade in the diffusion of foreign technology (embodied in capital goods) and its effect on technical efficiency levels. Using the methodology of stochastic frontier analysis which allows for such a dual consideration, we find evidence that trade and trade policy openness have contributed positively to both technology diffusion and raising efficiency levels in developing countries. Additionally, coinciding with improvements in the policy environment and trade liberalisation there is evidence of convergence in efficiency levels amongst developing countries.

This thesis concerns the gathering, interpretation and use of information pertaining to work-related violence as a risk to the health and safety of staff. It considers incident reporting systems in particular, and describes work carried out to extend the usefulness of such a system operating within the licensed retail trade. Information obtained from the system falls into two categories. First, information about the reporting system itself includes the benefits and limitations of incident reporting as a diagnostic tool for the occurrence of violence, and the use of complementary methods to enhance its effectiveness; the design of a report form that elicits more detail than is required by national reporting; the evolution of a flexible and easily expandable coding scheme; and the usefulness of innovative pathway and survival techniques in the treatment of the violent incident as a developing situation. Second, information about violent incidents within licensed premises concerns characteristics of reported incidents; the dynamic nature of incidents; common pathways through violent incidents; the relation of the outcomes of incidents to other features; the timing of incidents; and the perceived seriousness of the reported incidents. Key findings include the role of every-day situations and ordinary objects used as weapons; the pivotal importance of intervention by staff, particularly in challenging customer misbehaviour; a system memory effect that increases the likelihood of a further incident occurring during the days and weeks following a reported incident at the same premises; and the variety of features that contribute to the seriousness rating given to an incident by the members of staff involved. The methods and findings have implications for academic research, for the organisational management of work-related violence and for the day-to-day management of licensed premises. Primarily, they can be used in devising strategies to reduce the risks to staff.

This is essentially a field experimental, psychological study of the response of a group of car salesmen to a change in their incentive payment scheme. It is suggested that the ethos of the Human Relations movement has inhibited research for a number of years and that the concepts of this movement investigated by Whitehead (1938), Roethlisberger & Dickson ,(1964), Maslow (1943), Herzberg (1968) and Deci (1971) and propounded by McGregor (1961), Argyris (1962) and 'Mayo (1975) are not supported by the evidence while research does establish that pay can, and does, enhance performance in the work place. This hypothesis is investigated in a group of car salesmen - firstly by establishing a personality profile suitable to the characteristics of the job (which are described) and then by changing the payment system of a small group of salesmen, so that they are able, and can expect to, optimise their income for a period of six months by selling more vehicles and by increasing the amount of the profit in each unit sold. At the end of the experimental period it was found that the number of units sold by the experimental group was significantly higher than performance in a previous period and greater than the control groups. However, the profit per unit appears to have decreased. It is also found that high self-esteem and an internal locus of control are related to sales performance. While it is not possible to ascribe causality for any changes to the experimental manipulation with any degree of certainty, there are indications that the opportunity to optimise income did influence the salesmens performance.

This thesis addresses both the discourse and dynamics of workplace sexual harassment and bullying, and on this basis develops an analysis of the relationship between these discourses, a topic which has hitherto been unexamined. My analysis builds upon a review of literature on workplace sexual harassment and bullying from 1979 to 1997. The emergence of the workplace bullying discourse in UK trade union publications, the media and self-help texts is traced. Empirical data based on interviews is used to explore three themes: (i) the characters of the workplace sexual harassment and bullying discourses; (ii) men's and women's experiences of workplace bullying and sexual harassment; and (iii) how both the workplace bullying and sexual harassment of men and women is underpinned by gender prejudice. My main data source is sixty men's and women's accounts of cross-sex or same-sex workplace bullying and/or sexual harassment in professional/managerial and subordinate jobs, produced in fifty qualitative, in-depth interviews and ten questionnaires. I show that many women embrace the workplace sexual harassment discourse to condemn unwanted male sexual conduct and many workers deploy the workplace bullying discourse to problematise a range of experiences previously understood as parts of the social relations of work. My data reveals that workplace bullying is often a campaign in which allegations of poor work performance are used to encourage an unwanted employee to resign and/or to set him or her up for dismissal. I demonstrate that the workplace sexual harassment and bullying of men and women is gendered: men are sexually harassed when they fail to conform to ideals of hegemonic masculinity and men and women are bullied by line managers because they do not appear to conform to normatively defined gender roles. My argument is that while men's and women's experiences of workplace bullying and sexual harassment might be conceptualised together as examples of 'abuse of power', the specificities of workplace sexual harassment and bullying must remain visible. As such, I propose conceptualising men's and women's experiences of workplace bullying and sexual harassment as a continuum to highlight the similarities and differences between these experiences.

There is a striking difference between the large number of theoretical papers on firm organization and the lack of quantitative empirical evidence. If on the one side economists are increasingly concerned with organization of firms, on the other side organization still remains an ambiguous concept, hardly analyzed empirically. In this thesis I develop a new empirical methodology based upon business history (see Chapter 1) and previous theoretical work which allows me to describe (some aspects of) the organization of firms in quantitative terms. This approach is instrumental to analyzing the hierarchical structure and the allocation of decision-making activities in a sample composed of 438 Italian metalworking plants. I also study the dynamics of firm organization in the 1980s and 1990s. The results of Chapter 2 show that the (static) choice of the organizational form crucially relies upon the "loss of control phenomenon". They also illustrate that the dynamics of hierarchical structure follows an inertial process, characterized by incremental adjustments. Lastly, both the organization and, more interestingly, its evolution differ from one category of plant to another depending crucially on plant size. Moreover, I test (some of) the predictions of economic theory on the size of the management hierarchy (Chapter 3), the allocation of real and formal authority (Chapter 4), and structural inertia (Chapter 6) through the estimates of econometric models (i. e., multinomial logit, ordered logit, and survival). The findings of Chapter 3 show that the plant size, the characteristics (i. e., vintage and extent of use) of the production and communication technology in use, the plant's ownership status (i. e., State versus private ownership, and differences in the nationality of firms to which plants belong) are key in explaining the complexity of a plant's management hierarchy. In addition, in accordance with theoretical work, the findings of Chapter 4 show that the size of a plant's organization, the characteristics of the production and communication technologies in use, the urgency of decisions, and the presence of monetary incentive schemes aligning plant manager's objectives with those of the firm as a whole figure prominently in explaining whether authority is delegated to the plant manager or not. The structural and organizational characteristics of a plant's parent firm do also play a role, with the likelihood of decentralization of decision-making increasing with parent firm's size and decreasing with the adoption by the parent firm of a M-form type of organization. Lastly, the nature of the decision turns out to affect the allocation of formal authority, with decisions concerning the labor force being more frequently delegated to plant managers than those related to investments in capital equipment. On the contrary, it does not influence the allocation of real authority when the formal right to decide remains with the corporate superior. Finally in Chapter 61 find that both influence activities and technology adoptions are key in explaining the evolution of business organizations. Influence activities tend to inhibit organizational change causing structural inertia, whilst the technology adoptions increase the likelihood of changing the structure of the management hierarchy.

For many years now, information systems planning (ISP) has been one of the major concerns of IS Managers. Despite the wealth of research in the ISP area, particularly over the last decade, there is little sign that IS Managers are having greater success with their ISP activity than they did previously. From an analysis of the existing literature, feedback was identified as a neglected area of ISP research but one with the potential of providing a reason as to why ISP is still judged to be only partially successful within organisations. The focus of this thesis is on the extent to which feedback exists and what relationship it has with ISP success. Two types of feedback were investigated, feedback on the ISP system and feedback on the IS plan, the former addressing the activity itself while the latter is concerned with feedback on the contents of the plan. These were both conceptualised in terms of three main components (activities): monitoring, reviewing and updating. In addition, the research identifies ISP system characteristics related to ISP success, providing the foundations of a system-oriented evaluation tool upon which organisations can build their own tailor made diagnostic tool. Finally, the research looks at contextual factors related to feedback as a basis for future contingency-based research. Case study and survey research were used to answer the four main research questions: (1) To what extent does feedback exist within organisations?; (2) Is feedback related to ISP success?; (3) What ISP system characteristics are related to ISP success? (4) What contextual factors are related to feedback? Case study research was used to test the validity of the research instrument within the public sector context, while survey research was used to gather data from a variety of organisations concerning their ISP practices. Two self-administered mail questionnaires (one for the IS Planner, the other for non-IS participants of the ISP activity) were used to survey 145 individuals from 90 organisations. The results of the survey indicated that neither ISP system nor IS plan feedback were prevalent in organisations: only 19% and 38% of organisations exhibited all three components of feedback, respectively. There was also evidence to suggest that organisations exhibiting more feedback exhibited more ISP success and that informal feedback, on average, was more common than formal. These results suggest a possible reason as to why IS Managers arestill struggling to make their ISP successful. In the main, organisations seem ill-equipped to monitor, review and update their ISP activity. As a consequence they may also find it difficult to assess and take on board recommendations made by previous ISP research studies, thus providing a potential reason as to why ISP problems that were identified over a decade ago still exist today.

This thesis explores the antecedents and consequences of collaboration between sales and marketing. The results suggest that collaborative sales and marketing functions have benefits for the organisation in terms of improved business performance. In addition, improvements in collaboration between sales and marketing will positively affect marketing orientation and leading to superior marketing quality. The research began with an exploration of the interface between sales and marketing through the available literature. The existing research conceptualises the relationship between sales and marketing and highlights the benefits of interfunctional collaborative behaviour. Therefore, a study was designed to not only identify the antecedents of collaboration between sales and marketing so that the relationship between sales and marketing can be assessed and improved to the benefit of the organisation, but also to establish that business performance can be directly influenced by improvements in collaboration between sales and marketing. The research was undertaken through a mixed methodology, utilising exploratory case studies, a large-scale quantitative survey and confirmatory interviews. The data analysis involved four distinct analytical methods: within-case analysis, crosscase analysis, statistical analysis and confirmatory interviews. The large-scale survey was undertaken through a questionnaire that was sent to the Managing Directors/Chief Executives of large, UK-based organisations operating in the business-to-business arena. Through the findings from the survey five antecedents to collaboration between sales and marketing were identified - management attitudes towards co-ordination, conflict of interests, communications, market intelligence and organisational learning - and a revised conceptual framework was developed. The correlation and multiple regression analysis confirmed the weighting of each of the independent variables upon collaboration between sales and marketing and established a number of other relationships between the variables. The second part of the research focused on the consequences of improved collaboration between sales and marketing. It was found through the survey that collaboration between sales and marketing may have a positive effect upon business performance. The research also established that marketing orientation was not an antecedent to collaboration between sales and marketing, but that collaboration between sales and marketing may have a positive influence on marketing orientation. In addition, it was established that collaboration between sales and marketing has a positive effect on business performance. This research identifies some of the antecedents of collaboration between sales and marketing and clarifies the benefits of collaboration between sales and marketing to the organisation.