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.

The problem addressed is: How can an appropriate redevelopment option for an urban brownfield site be determined? A systems-based approach, Brownfield REMIT/RESPONSE (BRR), to assess the impact of brownfield redevelopment on the surrounding urban area has been developed. This utilises REMIT/RESPONSE combined with urban theory to develop a dynamic model of the generic impact of brownfield redevelopment that when combined with site-specific information can be used to identify and compare the impact of different redevelopment options. The development of a roadmap of the brownfield redevelopment process identified when decisions about the redevelopment option of a brownfield site were likely to be taken and was used to produce a list factors relating to the brownfield site and the surrounding urban area that could affect this decision. A review of the National Garden Festivals identified that the most important factor in delivering an appropriate redevelopment option where a site is initially redeveloped for a temporary event is the planning component of the characterisation, planning and design stage of the brownfield redevelopment process. An assessment of urban models determined that it was not possible to predict the impact of brownfield redevelopment on urban area as a means of comparing alternative redevelopment options. Therefore, it was necessary to develop a new tool to compare alternative redevelopment options. The developed tool, BRR, provides a means to assess the redevelopment options of brownfield sites in an integrated and systematic manner that considers the social, economic and environmental aspects of the redevelopment. To demonstrate that BRR could be applied to assess brownfield redevelopment it was applied to develop a systematic objective-based model of the redevelopment of the Radford site. By analysing the effects of policy identified within the model it was identified that, at the Radford site, there was no policy requirement to assess the sustainability of the redevelopment option chosen and that conflicting policies delayed the redevelopment of the site. BRR was applied to assess the proposed redevelopment options at three sites. At the first two sites, a single option was assessed to determine if it was appropriate. At the Shaw and Marvin site it was shown that the redevelopment option was appropriate and at the Willoughby Garages site it was shown that whilst the redevelopment option was not inappropriate, it was likely that a more beneficial option could be identified. At the third site, Basford gasworks three redevelopment options were compared and it was determined that industrial and commercial units were the most appropriate of three options.

In this dissertation, we empirically investigate the relationship between trade openness and economic growth across countries over the period 1960-2000. The main contribution of this dissertation is that we handle the model un-certainty problem by employing model averaging techniques, instead of estimating and reporting a number of cross-country growth regressions. Differently from many previous cross-country growth studies, our findings do not support the proposition that openness has a direct robust relationship with long run economic growth. However, we conclude that economic institutions and macroeconomic uncertainties relating to inflation and government consumption are key factors in explaining economic growth in the long run.

The widespread assumption that human capital development through education and training will improve the economic capabilities of people is the basis throughout the industrialized world for various support programs to assist the unemployed to "adjust to the labour market" by returning to work, and contribute to the prosperity of the region. Substantial investment of public funding is made in anticipation of fulfilling those expectations. Such was the case in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador in the early 1990s when, after the closure of the northern cod fishery and the subsequent displacement of about 30,000 workers, several government income and adjustment support programs were initiated. This research project relied upon a case study approach to develop an understanding of the complex social phenomena associated with assisting the workers to adjust and evoking economic renewal in Newfoundland. The research went beyond the standard statistical economic indicators, based on the notion that human capital development happens to individuals in the context of their lives in their home communities. Gaining an understanding of the "actual changes" that had occurred in people's lives by recording their perceptions and stories was a significant feature in the project design. Documentation, key informant interviews and focus groups were the instruments used. Statistical evidence revealed that the province is a region of sporadic growth, persistently high unemployment, high part-time and seasonal employment, increasing transfer dependency, and declining population size, but with potential for economic turn-around. The perceptions of the research participants added much detail to that image and, perhaps more importantly, added further enlightenment as to what is required to enhance that potential and successfully move employment beyond the traditional economic mainstay of their communities, the cod fishery. The strongest theme which emerged in people's estimation of the renewal events required was the need for "an integrated approach" to development support. Both the literature reviewed and the research findings indicate that the relationship between human capital development and economic renewal is not simple cause and effect, but a far more complex, multi-faceted and synergistic relationship--that education and training can make an effective contribution to economic renewal of a region struggling with a depressed economy, but only as a component of an integrated package of strategic interventions. This thesis identifies potential elements in that package and proposes an accountability framework for evaluating its impact as a contribution to informed planning and decision making in both social and economic development in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Supply chains today continue to have shorter life-cycle products as a result of high rates of innovation. The increasing number of electronic retailing and catalogue sales fulfil the requirement of home shopping. More liberal return policies have been introduced to protect customers' buying rights and at the same time generate more sales. A growing number of environmental regulations are created which involve a wide range of products. All of these circumstances contribute to the reverse flow of products which require manufacturing organisations to strategically manage and deal with the return flows. Reverse supply chains or reverse logistics have attracted the attention of many academics and practitioners and one of the important field studies in this area is of Supply Chain Management. To contribute to the field, this research is purposely carried out to study the performance measurement in reverse supply chains. Reverse logistics networks may be classified into several categories depending on the source of the reverse flow. This research will focus on customer and distribution return flows. The research is significant because there is a gap in the literature and it could help to give companies guidance in managing their reverse supply chains better. Case studies on five companies which include manufacturers and retailers in the UK provide empirical evidence for their practice of performance measurement in reverse supply chains. The research investigates the selection of strategic objectives for reverse supply chains and the impact of product returns' characteristics and the choice of product returns disposition channels. Learning from the performance measurement in a reverse supply chain, the research proposes a three-level performance measurement framework model for reverse and closed-loop supply chains. This framework model provides the decision makers with a formal and systematic approach to select strategic objectives and towards the use of meaningful performance attributes and performance metrics. Subsequently, it offers a practical approach to the decision maker to perform and manage the reverse supply chain more effectively.

Work-family interference (WFI) is becoming one of the principal hazards to occupational health, family satisfaction, well-being and job satisfaction in the 21st century, especially among women professionals. With obvious increases in female participation within the upper echelons of the labour force both in the developed and developing world (Wirth, 2000); the need to effectively combine work and family roles has become quite a critical issue in occupational and organisational psychology, as well as family studies. Thus identifying and assessing the nature and amount of work-family interference experienced by women professionals and the damage it causes to women’s well-being, organisational productivity, family cohesion and job satisfaction are therefore important questions for applied psychology. So too is the identification of whatever might attenuate or exacerbate the scale of WFI or its negative impact. Such fundamental knowledge has a vital role in informing action and intervention to improve the occupational, as well as family health of women professionals especially in emerging economies like Ghana. This thesis is built around three separate studies conducted among Ghanaian professional and their spouses, using face-to-face interviews, open-ended questionnaires and structured questionnaires. A number of research questions and hypotheses have been addressed in this research. Findings showed that women generally experience work-related stress and work family interference. However receipt of quality supervisor support moderates their experience of work-related stress whiles quality spouse and child support attenuates their experience of work-family interference. Additionally, work-family interference only affected women’s feeling of worn out and tense, but not family satisfaction or job satisfaction. Finally the findings of this research have highlighted the need of using mixed methods in organisational research in developing countries especially where published studies are lacking locally.

The rise of the internet coupled with advancements in computing technology has contributed to the increasing popularity of virtual team working. Virtual teams rely heavily upon the use of mediated communication as face-to-face interaction is limited. Many off-the-shelf collaborative technologies with multiple features are widely accessible in the market to support virtual collaboration. These technologies are being adopted to support uni- and multi-modal interaction in various workplace settings. However the influence of these technologies is often domain specific and is dependent on the type of tasks and teams, thus selecting the most appropriate tool to support a specific collaborative task is difficult. This thesis investigated the use and influence of communication modality when used to accompany shared workspaces in virtual collaboration, particularly in the design and engineering domain. Empirical studies were conducted in laboratory and field settings to evaluate the effects of modality and shared workspaces on collaboration. Novel and off-the-shelf technologies were examined at different development stages (i.e. from user requirements elicitation, to prototype evaluation, to workplace implementation and evaluation of off-the-shelf technologies). The focus of these studies was to compare audio, audio-visual, text-only and text with additional audio communication within the context of shared workspaces. The purpose was to identify whether these modalities have different effects when used in synergy with shared workspaces for collaboration on spatial and non-spatial tasks. The first series of studies investigated how these modalities were adopted in the workplace individually and/or to supplement other tools in collaborative work. Findings from these studies contributed to the understanding of how modalities are selected to support different aspects of various collaborative tasks. A field study was conducted to evaluate the implementation of an ‘always-on’ audio-visual feed to provide shared visual information in the workplace suggested that providing shared visual information for remote users could help maintain team awareness. The results suggested that a careful consideration is required to ensure that the context of use, technical constraints and the quality of the audio-visual feed satisfied the end user needs. Finally, to further extend this understanding, laboratory studies were conducted to compare these modalities. The findings suggested that audio-only compared to audio-visual had no influence on collaboration, while text-only communication required no additional audio to support a virtual design task, given that a shared workspace or screen sharing is provided in both settings. Shared workspaces reduce the necessity for virtual team members to verbalise lexically complex information, thus allowing users to concentrate on the core activities of collaborative tasks.