Starting from the premise that both anti-consumption and materialism are prevalent concepts in developed economies, this study firstly empirically explores if anti-consumption attitudes and materialistic attitudes are opposite to each other. Secondly, it examines how consumers in developed countries, such as the United Kingdom, find a balance between these contradictory attitudes, and if this balance could be used to classify these consumers into unique and distinct segments. A theoretical framework is proposed based on the literature from anti-consumption, materialism, values, environmental consciousness, authenticity and wellbeing. Subsequently, correlations and regressions are conducted on survey data (N=288) from British consumers, to explore if values, environmental consciousness, authenticity and wellbeing have an inverse relationship with anti-consumption attitudes compared to materialistic attitudes. This is done to empirically assess whether the anti-consumption attitude is in fact opposite to materialistic attitude. Next, cluster analysis, using the two attitudes, was conducted on the data in order to explore if contemporary consumers hold different combinations of anti-consumption attitudes and materialistic attitudes and to see if these combinations could be used to classify consumers into a typology with different segments. Additionally, One-way ANOVA, post- hoc tests, discriminant analysis and chi2 tests were employed to rigorously validate this typology of consumers. Value orientations, environmental consciousness, wellbeing, authenticity, age and education are used as external variables for the validation of the typology. The thesis principally concludes the following: 1) anti-consumption and materialistic attitudes are opposite to each other as a) values that act as antecedents of anti-consumption attitude are opposite to values that act as antecedents of materialistic attitude,:b) environmental consciousness is a positive predictor of anti-consumption attitude and a negative predictor of materialistic attitude and, :c) the relationship of values, environmental consciousness, authenticity and wellbeing with anti-consumption attitude is opposite to that of materialistic attitude; 2) contemporary consumers can be classified into four unique segments in terms of the specific balance they acquire between their anti-consumption and materialistic attitudes. These segments are labelled as anti-consumers, materialistic consumers, dualistic consumers and disinterested consumers. The four groups in the typology exhibit different psychographic and demographic profiles according to the specific combination of anti-consumption and materialistic attitudes that they exhibit. The findings from this thesis provide empirical support to the notion that anti-consumption is opposite to materialism, thereby responding to the call for empirical research (Lee and Ahn, 2016). More importantly, the development and validation of a typology of contemporary consumers in this thesis brings new understanding of consumers in the 21st century, thus adding to the existing knowledge in consumer behaviour and marketing. Marketers can benefit from the findings of this study as they can develop strategies for each segment in order to cater to their specific needs. Policy-makers striving to attain sustainability can benefit from this knowledge as they can determine which values to promote so as to sway people to consume in a sustainable way.

This thesis investigates the internationalisation of Maltese small and medium-sized family businesses (SMFBs) engaged in more traditional economic activity. Despite family businesses dominating enterprise populations worldwide, and increasing policy awareness acknowledging their leading role in socio-economic development, research into the internationalisation of family businesses remains extremely limited. Addressing this gap, this study examines the internationalisation of these under-researched firms, investigating how their unique characteristics and circumstances impact and effect on internationalisation dynamics and processes. The overarching exploratory research question driving the central thrust of this study is: ‘What is the nature and extent of internationalisation among SMFBs in this context?’ In increasingly competitive globalised markets, understanding such dynamics is important at firm and national levels. Subsequently, given the established fundamental role of knowledge in internationalisation, this study seeks further understanding asking: ‘How do such SMFBs approach knowledge requirements associated with internationalisation, as proposed by the absorptive capacity (ACAP) approach?’ In adopting an ACAP approach, this research explores and examines how information and knowledge associated with internationalisation is acquired, assimilated and exploited. Given that hardly any research exists at the domain intersects which this thesis addresses, it synthesises and draws together research from the distinct fields of small firm internationalisation, family business, and emerging ACAP research. Seeking context-rich meanings, a qualitative, case-based approach involving eight SMFBs was adopted. Focus converged onto specific internationalisation events. First, in-depth analysis of the SMFBs’ outward internationalisation processes from first steps was undertaken – tracing SMFBs’ evolution, development and international activity over time. Secondly, adopting an ACAP approach and building on acquired insights guiding further investigation, an analytic framework was developed integrating internationalisation events with associated ACAP dynamics. The SMFBs’ internationalisation was found to be mainly influenced by the entrepreneur system, managers’ characteristics and volition, idiosyncratic circumstances and environmental dynamics. Contrasting with internationalisation process theories (IPT) traditionally attributed to this context, SMFBs were also observed internationalising from inception, or rapidly as ‘born again internationals’ at a mature stage. Despite size-related resource limitations, in instances owner-MDs creatively engaged in more committing modes and FDI – leapfrogging internationalisation stages. Such behaviour not being sufficiently explained or accommodated by IPT or INV perspectives, this thesis underlined importance in adopting more holistic approaches, integrating social and relational as well as resource perspectives in investigating complex phenomena associated with internationalisation. Novel in adopting an ACAP approach in this context, key findings converged on the crucial centrality of the founder / owner-MD and the vital role of social contacts and relationships in determining SMFB internationalisation and associated ACAP. A main contribution of this research inheres in its empirically derived insights and the development of a conceptual approach on these tacit core elements organically determining internationalisation, associated ACAP dynamics and capability in traditionally-oriented SMFBs. This departs from existing operationalisations which emphasise formal and structured knowledge processes within knowledge-intensive corporate environments – incompatible with this research’s context, notwithstanding ACAP’s universal relevance. Findings highlight the importance of delicately balancing management and family dynamics, a double-edged prime source of competitive advantage (or disadvantage) directly influencing both ACAP and internationalisation capability. This thesis concludes with a discussion of the implications for theory, management and policy.

This study considers e-commerce adoption by SMEs in developing countries and, in particular, SMEs in Indonesia. It not only explores the extent of e-commerce adoption by SMEs in Indonesia and the determinant factors of e-commerce adoption but also the post-adoption benefits of e-commerce. It adds to the extant literature by considering both ‘downstream’ and ‘upstream’ factors within the context of developing countries. Many existing studies only consider upstream or downstream issues and in the context of developed countries. The focus is not on business organizations in general but SMEs in particular. The significance of this study is due to the limited current studies regarding e-commerce adoption in SMEs that were conducted developing countries. Eleven factors were identified as the determinant factors of e-commerce adoption and fifteen post adoption (upstream) benefits were identified. A combination of questionnaires and semistructured interviews were used in the data collection. Three hundred and one questionnaires provided quantitative data which was analysed by using regression analysis and ANOVA. The twenty-two, semi-structured interviews provided qualitative data about the reasons why these SMEs adopted e-commerce and the actual benefits realised by them, and all of that gave useful support to the questionnaire results. Data collection was in late 2013 / early 2014. This study found that six factors, namely perceived benefits, technology readiness, external support, manager/owners innovativeness, manager/owners IT experience and manager/owners IT ability, have a positive and significant correlation with e-commerce adoption. Then, extending market reach; increased sales; improved external communication; improved company image; improved speed of processing; and increased employee productivity were found as the top six e-commerce benefits perceived by the Indonesian SMEs. In addition to this, the adoption of e-commerce has a positive and significance impact on SMEs market performance and communication performance. The findings have implications for the Indonesian government, IT vendors and the SME owners. The low level of e-commerce adoption by Indonesian SMEs certainly has an implication for the Indonesian government. The results of this study could help them to increase further, and better target, effective programmers to encourage the adoption of ecommerce by Indonesian SMEs. For IT vendors, this condition would be an opportunity for them in promoting their products and services. In order to increase their success, they should also consider the determinant factors of e-commerce adoption. Many SME owners want to raise their level of adoption so that they can excel in competition This thesis makes a contribution to theory and practice by providing for Indonesian SMEs in particular, and SMEs in developing countries in general, a holistic picture of e-commerce adoption; the extent of e-commerce adoption; and, the determinant factors leading to adoption and the post adoption benefits.

Service failure is an unfortunate reality in service encounters. Although much literature suggests that the consequences of service failure include low customer satisfaction and customer loyalty, and another stream of research concerns service recovery, research on customers’ aggressive behaviour as the consequence of service failure – a cause of severe problems for service organizations, customers and employees – remains under researched. To understand this important process and the factors that influence the process, the first objective for the current research is to understand the antecedents of customer aggressive behaviours. When a service fails, customers tend to engage in an appraisal process, as described in appraisal theory, to assess what caused the poor service. Specifically, the cognitive appraisal process can lead to some negative emotions, namely anger. The results of this research suggest that via attribution of blame, perceived injustice and severity evaluation, these appraisals elicit customer anger, and this anger increases the possibility of aggressive behaviour. Therefore, this thesis suggests that anger partially mediates the relationship between appraisals and aggressive behaviour. The second research objective concerns the appraisal process, specifically the role of consumer skepticism. Typical applications of cognitive appraisal theory have been limited to situations in which customers make causal inferences based on the information presented. However, the route of appraisal would be influenced when customers are skeptical towards company claims and information provided by companies. The research findings suggest that the relationship between customers’ appraisals (blame, perceived justice and severity evaluation) and anger level is stronger when customers are more skeptical about company claims. Hence, consumer skepticism acts as a moderator on the appraisal process and anger. The third research objective concerns the moderating factors influencing the relationship between anger and aggressive behaviour. Even if consumers have strong anger after appraising the service failure, not all consumers will engage in aggressive behaviours. Thus, current understanding of the key causal links between anger and aggressive behaviour is insufficient. This research assesses the eliciting factors influencing the anger—aggressive behaviour relationship, namely, group empowerment, loss of face, emotional contagion and consumer expertise. In order to fulfil the research objectives, this research adopts a mixed research method using a qualitative critical incident technique method (CIT) and a quantitative survey method. Through the adoption of CIT method in interviewing 30 participants, this research explores the triggers for customers’ aggressive behaviour. The interview results suggested two groups as triggers for customers’ aggressive behaviour. Group empowerment as a new measurement was developed in the interview stage. The research framework was then empirically tested with a sample of 399 respondents to examine the effects of these factors on customers’ aggressive behaviours. The survey results suggested that most of hypotheses were supported with an exception of educational level which was rejected, namely: (1) anger mediated the relationship between appraisal components and aggressive behaviour; (2) higher consumer skepticism strengthened the relationships of blame attribution—anger, perceived injustice—anger and service failure severity—anger; (3) the moderating effects of group empowerment, loss of face, emotional contagion and consumer expertise strengthened the anger—aggressive behaviour link; (4) educational level weakens while frequency strengthen the relationship between customer anger and aggressive behaviour; and (5) aggressiveness directly influences customers’ aggressive behaviour and unpleasant servicescape relates to customers’ aggressive behaviour. This thesis contributes to the service marketing literature on customers’ aggressive behaviours in threefold. First, this research used cognitive appraisal theory as a theoretical framework to examine customers’ aggressive behaviour, contributing to our understanding of the mediating factor for eliciting aggressive behaviour. Second, this research also contributes to the effect of skepticism on customers’ appraisal processes. Third, this research furthers our understanding of the factors leading from anger to aggressive behaviour by examining the moderating effects, namely, group empowerment, loss of face, emotional contagion and consumer expertise. Apart from the theoretical contribution, this research also yields a number of managerial implications for service operators. Primarily, this study assists service organizations in understanding how customers appraise service failure, and thus how responding to customer needs can alleviate customers’ anger and aggressive behaviours. Additionally, to further reduce customers’ anger and aggressive behaviours, service companies should inhibit the development of skepticism by adopting appropriate marketing communication strategies to enhance the credibility of their claims. Finally, service companies should enhance their service failure management skills.

Maintaining or increasing R&D efficiency and productivity is a constant challenge for R&D-driven businesses, and companies in these sectors often explore strategies seen be effective in related sectors, for example the adoption of ‘open’ innovation by the pharmaceutical sector, based on its observed success in the information technology sector as reported by Chesbrough. The papers in this thesis address two gaps in the research literature: (1) the relative lack of established quantitative measures of the performance of open or other innovation strategies, and (2) the continuing challenge of assessing the effectiveness or otherwise of the OI paradigm outside its original high-tech industry focus. The pharmaceutical industry has been claimed as one of the pioneering industries where the principle of OI has been applied. In view of the limitations of prior research on R&D efficiency and OI in this industry, the question of whether OI is the best or only prescription for innovation in the pharmaceutical industry remains a strategic one. The first paper in the sequence identifies and explores systematic measures of innovation by investigating the adaptation and application of DEA as a candidate technique for analysing the R&D efficiency performance, using data on China’s high-tech industry sectors. The second paper explores how such ‘indices of innovation’ could be used to measure performance in terms of changes in R&D efficiency over time, in a case study of Procter and Gamble, a company widely recognised as an early adopter of OI. The third paper builds on the first two, using DEA and MI as ‘indices of innovation’ to measure whether adopting OI is leading to increased R&D efficiency in the pharmaceutical sector. Taken together, these papers explore (a) the feasibility if DEA and MI as new quantitative econometric ‘indices of innovation’, (b) their correlation with a known case of open innovation, and (c) to test the hypothesis that open innovation is increasing R&D efficiency in the pharmaceutical industry.

Employing data from the football betting market, we explore the impact of institutional structure on price-setting in speculative markets and the extent to which the biases induced by such factors might cause prices to deviate from fundamental values. In Chapter 1, we review the literature on football betting markets with regards to the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) and find that despite sporadic evidence of pricing anomalies, more consistent and persistent evidence of exploitable betting opportunities is required for the EMH to be rejected. In Chapter 2, we investigate the favourite-longshot bias in the bookmaker market and find that the bias is persistent over a long period of time and related to the parity of the league. A traditional price-setting bookmaker is willing to pay a premium to stimulate overall bettor demand in a competitive market, by setting generous odds on favourites to attract customers. In leagues with more parity among teams, the apparent bias is reduced as the market requires less intervention on the part of the bookmaker. Heterogeneity in bookmaker operations and price-setting is the focus of Chapter 3. We categorize bookmakers as either position-takers or book-balancers. Position-takers operate a high-margin, low-turnover business model, rarely adjust their odds, and actively eschew informed traders. Book-balancers frequently change their prices, and operate under the alternative, high-turnover, low-margin strategy. Sophisticated traders are not restricted at book-balancing bookmakers, and as such, odds movements at position-takers lag converge in the direction of the odds at book-balancers. We conclude that the sophisticated traders aid the price discovery process at the book-balancing bookmakers, which leads the market to efficiency. Finally, in Chapter 4 we examine instances of significant dispersion between the two types of bookmakers and show that the generation of positive returns is theoretically possible. However, closer investigation of these finding reveals that market-makers’ odds are efficient predictors of event outcomes and therefore, the opportunity to generate profit is provided by biases in position-takers’ pricing. Such biases could either be intentional for the purpose of attracting customers or the result of such bookmakers’ odds lagging behind in reflecting upcoming information. In all cases, such bookmakers are very likely to pose restrictions successful traders and therefore, the exploitation of the documented anomaly is probably infeasible.

No description available.

The relationship between stock market volatility and the business cycle is macrofinancial as it links the fields of financial markets and macro-economics. This relationship links to theories of rational expectations/efficient market hypotheses and asset pricing theory. This thesis investigates the long run relationship between stock market volatility and business cycles by means of linear and non linear bivariate and multivariate causality tests. Moreover, it investigates the impact of the recent global financial crisis on the stock market volatility (SMV) and business cycles (BC) relationship. The contributions of this research to the literature include: a) analyzing the non-linear causal relationship between stock market volatility and the business cycle; b) exploring the cross-country causality between these variables; and c) looking at the impact of the financial crisis on the said relationship. To the best of our knowledge this is the first time that any of these three aspects of the relationship between stock market volatility and the business cycle have been studied. The countries investigated are the US, the UK, Canada, and Japan (among the developed countries) and Brazil, Malaysia and Turkey (from the developing countries). Monthly data from January 1990 to December 2011 are applied in the empirical investigation. Stock market volatilities are estimated using the GARCH model, and industrial production indices are used for the business cycles. Bivariate non-linear causality tests are conducted by means of the Diks and Panchenko (2006) and Hiemstra and Jones (1994) methods. Non-linear multivariate tests are conducted by means of the Bai et al. (2010) method. Multivariate tests investigate the cross-country spill-over between two countries, with the US as the main country. The results indicate that a non-linear causal relationship does exist between stock market volatility (SMV) and business cycles (BC). There is strong evidence to suggest that the SMV-BC relationship is not limited to within country only, as we find significant cross-country causal relationships. Both linear and non-linear bivariate causality tests indicate evidence of a stronger causality between variables when the financial crisis is taken into consideration. Also, both the linear and non-linear multivariate tests indicate that the US has a greater impact on the SMV and BC of developed countries than developing countries. And this impact has further increased during the recent financial crisis. The findings from this research have implications not only for investors and portfolio managers, but also for economists and policy makers. In addition, the research results signal that in countries such as the UK, inclusion of the US stock market as a business cycle indicator, in addition to the UK’s own stock market, may be beneficial in identifying the turning points of the UK’s business cycle, and vice versa.

The overall aim of the research is to empirically explore the dynamics of strong and weak ties within entrepreneurial networks during periods when the entrepreneurs face tipping points, and to show how network interaction can affect the subsequent performance of small businesses. The literature review shows that many studies have explored the mix of strong and weak ties in small businesses, linking them to stages of business development. More recent literature, however, has conceptualised firm growth through the notion of tipping points that must be successfully tackled in order to continue along a development path. While the importance of network ties has been well documented in relation to growth stages, only limited work has been done to investigate the contribution that strong and weak ties make as a firm faces specific tipping points. This research therefore aims to answer the following research objectives: 1) To investigate the configuration of network ties in the entrepreneurial ventures of Malaysian Bumiputera (Indigenous) SME entrepreneurs; 2) To explore the change and development of network ties in relation to the tipping points faced by these entrepreneurs. This qualitative research uses a multiple case study approach involving eight small firms in the southern region of Malaysia. The data collection methods include analysis of secondary documentation and in-depth interviews with the entrepreneurs, using critical incident interview technique. The data has been analysed using NVIVO software and has employed Miles and Huberman (1994) flows of analysis activity. The triangulation of data was carried out by interviewing individuals who were seen as strong or weak ties within the network, and who were identified through interviews with the entrepreneurs. The major findings of the study are illustrated below. Six themes were explored when characterising the configurations of entrepreneurial network ties: personal network, business network, professional network, reputation network, competition network and community network. In addition, the discovery of the existence of a dormant tie associated with the reputation network has provided support for the argument centred on the multiplicity of entrepreneurial network ties in small businesses. Newly emerging findings show that human capital and attitudes are significant for entrepreneurs when deciding the strength of their relationships. Findings suggest that network changes occur not only due to staged life cycle processes of business, but due to also when entrepreneurs face tipping points. Finally, this research provides theoretical and methodological contributions as well as offering implications for entrepreneurs, government agencies and policy-makers.

For any organisation to survive, it needs to be able to change. Due to problems that most governments are facing such as inefficiency, some governments have sought for corporatisation of state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Corporatisation means ‘efforts to make SOEs operate as if they were private firms facing a competitive market or if monopolies, efficient regulation’ (Shirley, 1999, p. 115). This is often conducted prior to privatisation. In contrast to the large quantity of literature concerning privatisation, little has been written on corporatisation. This research aims to fill this gap. One of the keys to organisational change is leadership. This study also aims to explore the behaviour of leaders in managing change. It seeks both to observe the approaches to change that leaders adopt, and to investigate what the corporatisation process involves, using activity theory as a theoretical lens. This research is based on a case study: the corporatisation process of Jabatan Telekom Brunei (JTB, which later became TelBru), a telecommunication organisation in one of the South-East Asian region, Brunei Darussalam. The official corporatisation of JTB took place in 2006. This research was conducted for four consecutive years, from 2009 until 2012. The findings are based on semi-structured interviews (eighty-eight interviews were conducted) supplemented with questionnaire and a substantial amount of documents related to the corporatisation, and are analysed using Miles and Huberman’s (1994) approach. The study identifies three distinct time periods: i) before the formation of TelBru; ii) the formation of TelBru (2002); iii) during the corporatisation period (2002-2006). Seven significant activities were found, all of which are described using the triangle Activity Model. The results of this research also provide empirical evidence that both top-down and bottom-up change approaches were adopted and overall, it was a slow change process characterised with both ‘snail’ (slow) and ‘rushing' (fast) change. Additionally, seven leadership behaviours have emerged from this research: Tasking, Supporter, Change Communicator, People Person, Change Preparator, Old McDonald, and Problem Maker. This study’s contributions to the research field, and other implications the findings may have, are also discussed.