Thesis (M.S.)--Naval Postgraduate School, 1979. / "AD A081058." Typescript. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (PH.D.) -- Syracuse University, 2004. / "Publication number AAT 3149050."

Thesis (PH.D.) -- Syracuse University, 2004. / "Publication number AAT 3160389."

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Drexel University, 2009. / Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 192-209).

The thesis aims at contributing to clarify broad conjectures on growth, such as, (i) the extent to which growth constitutes an imperative for the firm, and (ii) what leads some firms to enjoy continuing growth and a continued existence, while others, after experiencing continuing growth, end up contracting and decaying. As a result, the thesis seeks to develop a deeper understanding of the mechanisms fostering and precluding growth, while also identifying challenges and opportunities in managing growth. / The thesis comprises four interrelated essays: (i) Chandler on the growth of the firm---this essay scrutinizes The Visible Hand (Chandler, 1977) seeking to answer the question "What is Chandler's theory on how and why did the modern business enterprise (MBE) appear and grow?" Four processes are identified---MBE formation, MBE development, industry formation, industry development. Their analysis within a process-oriented view (Mohr, 1982) discloses chains of necessary conditions in growth-related processes. Moreover, two growth-related dilemmas are advanced and the firm-industry co-evolution is explored. (ii) Identifying the building blocks of growth dynamics---this essay addresses the question "Which are the basic processes of change that form the dynamics of growth?" Drawing on Mario Bunge's philosophy (1973--1989; 1979), a framework of qualitatively different modes of change is derived. The framework allows the identification of elementary units of the growth dynamics. These comprise the following types: quantitative, qualitative (dialectical), goal-directed, interactional, causal, structural, random. In addition, complex units of growth dynamics made up of combinations of elementary units are also advanced: evolutionary motor of firm growth, co-evolutionary motor of growth relating firm and industry, and different instances of continuing growth motors. (iii) Describing growth trajectories of firms---the question "How can growth trajectories be represented?" is addressed in this essay. An indicator of size, which automatically adjusts for inflationary and deflationary changes in currency value is proposed. This indicator enables the drawing of growth trajectories of firms in the economy over long periods of time. (iv) Growth trajectories of General Electric and Westinghouse: a comparative study---this essay addresses the question "Why do some firms experience continuing growth and continued existence while others decay and disappear?" The growth trajectories of

Reviewing literature of product diversification in the large emerging economy China, this paper finds that prior studies related to the effect of product diversification on firm performance (PD-P, hereafter) in China have not yet paid sufficient attention to two important aspects. First, just as national institutions among countries are heterogeneous, sub-national institutions in China also vary greatly. Assuming homogeneous sub-national institutions in the large emerging economy China is at odds with reality. Studying whether PD-P in China will be contingent on sub-national institutional development will help to shed lights on PD-P in China and other emerging economies. Second, in China, state ownership is an important institutional context for individual firms. Prior research has not yet investigated state ownership of individual firms in studying PD-P in China. It would be of theoretical significance to examine whether state-owned enterprises can better take advantage of sub-national institutional development to improve firm performance than non-state-owned enterprises. Considering variation in sub-national institutions within a large emerging economy, this paper also extends the approach of using an institution-based view of business strategy to shed further lights on PD-P. Reviewing extensive literature of product diversification, this paper finds that there has been lack of consensus on PD-P. An institution-based view of business strategy is useful to reconcile divergent findings on PD-P by considering institutional environments in which firms adopt product diversification. Relatively consistent findings are that product diversification has a positive effect on firm performance in emerging economies and has a negative effect on firm performance in developed economies. This paper goes further to explore the influence of sub-national institutions on PD-P in emerging economies. This paper uses a sample of 37,856 observations of 124 insurance firms in 31 provinces of China over the period from 2005 to 2014. It finds that in China, product diversification of a firm in a region has a positive effect on firm performance in that region, but this positive effect holds true only in regions with a high instead of low level of sub-national institutional development. Furthermore, the positive moderating effect of sub-national institutional development on PD-P is context-specific and stronger for firms with a high level of state ownership.

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When the Labour Government won the election in 1997, one of the biggest challenges they faced was restructuring the public sector. This forced the new Government to move the public sector away from managerialism to become a more collaborative organisation, with greater employee engagement (Senior, 2008). This was when the work of developing new ways of partnership working was started in the NHS (Munro, 2002; Farnham et al., 2003).In order to assist the restructuring of the public sector, the Government introduced change in response to human capital needs, this included the implementation of the Agenda for Change Programme which was the biggest alteration to the pay structure of NHS staff in 50 years. Agenda for Change covered over one million NHS employed staff (with the exception of doctors, dentists and some senior management positions), and aimed to offer fairer pay based on new job evaluation, and to move towards harmonised conditions of service for NHS staff, to build links between career and pay progressions (DoH, 2004a). A partnership approach was seen as being a critical success factor in implementing this change. This thesis focuses on partnership working through the implementation of Agenda for Change in the NHS. It aimed to explore the perceptions of different levels of participants of Agenda for Change Implementation Teams in relation to organisational change and partnership working. Four research questions were considered to address the above aim: 1). What were the perceptions of the Organisational Change which occurred within the NHS? 2). What key aspects of Partnership Working were employed in the NHS to address Organisational Change prior to the implementation of Agenda for Change? 3). What were the key constituents of Partnership Working that facilitated Agenda for Change and how were they developed by its implementation? 4). What were the incentives and challenges in implementing Agenda for Change? As a phenomenological study, this research intended to interpret people's perceptions and experience of partnership working and Agenda for Change. Some 18 individual interviews were conducted with selected members of the implementation teams across three Health Boards in Scotland. Particular attention was given to the organisational change context, Agenda for Change, and partnership working in the Scottish context. This research confirms the perceived view that there has been a period of continuous planned change within the NHS and these changes have transformed the culture of the organisation to become more business focused. Agenda for Change, was perceived, in the main, through the whole organisation, as a positive one offering an easier and fairer pay system allowing workforce flexibility. However there were indications that partnership working does not go on at all levels and where it is present it places a great strain on staff and resources which in the main, is in decline. The Agenda for Change structure has distinguished characteristics of organisational development. Unions and employees had much influence through the change process since partnership working existed at three levels: strategic, functioning, and workplace. However, findings suggest that despite the well maintain partnership at the strategic and functioning level, a partnership arrangement cannot be fully supported at workplace level. Workplace manager's faced pressure from the Government's targets and deadlines, as well as financial budget cuts; which were some of the challenges of encouraging partnership working at workplace level.