This study develops and tests several hypotheses regarding the influence and the reliability of a range of variables related to the firm-specific interest of multinational corporations. This thesis presents an examination of foreign direct investment behaviour of the Triad countries’ firms from the firm-specific factors point of view using a large panel data covering 1985-2011. Adopting a firm-specific approach to FDI behaviour, it provides a two-stage analyses to find out (1) the probability of firm characteristics’ and firm specific factors’ affecting firms’ FDI decisions and (2) these factors’ role in determining the amount of FDI to be undertaken. Overall, empirical findings show support for the firm specific assets’ significant role in FDI behaviour.

Good economic governance is considered to be one of the key drivers of both inward FDI and economic growth. In spite of this wide belief, empirical estimates focusing on South and East Asia Pacific countries are less than conclusive. The aim of this thesis is to summarise the empirical findings of existing studies on the effect of governance on FDI, FDI on growth and governance on growth for South and East Asia & Pacific regions using systematic literature review and meta-regression analysis. Findings of first meta-regression analysis based on 771 estimates from 48 empirical studies suggest that, except for corruption all measures of governance have an important effect on FDI. While on one hand political stability, government effectiveness and regulation are positively related to FDI, on the other hand rule of law is negatively related to FDI. As expected, aggregate governance has positive effect FDI. Results of second meta-regression analysis applied to 633 estimates from 37 empirical studies indicate that FDI shows growth enhancing effect in the region as a whole. While FDI showed growth enhancing effects in the case of all estimates, estimates controlling for endogeneity and South East Asia, I did not have sufficient observations in the case of South Asia and East Asia to reach firm conclusions. The findings of third meta-regression analysis using 554 estimates from 29 studies suggest that except for corruption, other measures of governance such as law and aggregate governance have positive effect on growth. Surprisingly, in case of voice and accountability, research literature has failed to provide evidence of genuine effect of it on growth. In addition to the above, this thesis highlights that effect size and statistical significance of the reported estimates depends on study, real world, author and journal related aspects. The results of these three studies have important policy implications.

This study investigates the impact of 293 public to private buyouts in the UK manufacturing industry during the period 1997-2007 on firms’ technical efficiency using a probabilistically matched buyout dataset. I use data envelopment and stochastic frontier analysis techniques to empirically measure production efficiency, which differs from most previous studies where the impact of financial performance or the movement in a company’s share price is tested. For the sample used and period investigated, no evidence is found that companies involved in public to private buyout ownership changes operate more efficiently than a control sample of PLCs not involved in buyouts. This finding is consistent with the hypothesis that managers of PLCs have learned how to operate their companies in a similar way to those owned by private equity.

This study is an attempt to fill the lacuna left by the lack of detailed research into the use, by French Trotskyist trade union militants, of the agitational tactic known as the united front. I analyse the manner in which the tactic has been used, evaluate its success or otherwise and assess whether it continues to be of relevance for Trotskyists in the present day. I make use of a range of sources, including archived primary materials and documented memoirs of participants, contemporary media reports, academic research and interviews with Trotskyist activists. An examination of the theory and development of the united front is undertaken, followed by an evaluation of its practical implementation, through consideration of a number of case studies from different periods in the twentieth century. These are, firstly, the short-lived Hotchkiss strike committee, established during the 1936 Popular Front period. Secondly, I evaluate two examples from the immediate post-war period, the Caudron factory workers’ council between 1944 and 1948, and the strike committee established during the Renault factory strike of 1947. Thirdly, I consider the united fronts, in the form of workers’ coordinations, during the period between 1986 and 1995. I draw out and highlight common features between the united fronts, and assess whether or not the tactic made an effective contribution to the winning of industrial disputes by workers and whether, in the process, it enabled Trotskyist activists to generate a receptive audience for their wider political and social ideas. Finally, I consider whether the building of united fronts continues to be a realistic, relevant, practical tactic for Trotskyists in the French trade unions, and one which assists them to effectively pursue their stated longer-term goal of a revolutionary transformation of society.

This study addresses creativity and innovation literatures and explores the necessity for creativity in the implementation of service innovations in the English National Health Service. In doing so, it examines whether the standard definition of creativity (Stein 1953; Runco and Jaeger, 2012) is sufficient to explain the workplace creative practices associated with the implementation of a service innovation through the replication of best practice. Based on a qualitative research design, and using a critical realist approach (Bhaskar, 1975/2008, 1998), this research unearths a rich seam of empirical data through observations and semi-structured interviews in an English National Health Service primary care organisation, known as a NHS Clinical Commissioning Group (NHS CCG). Although human creativity is an essential ingredient of any successful innovation, characterised by individuals and teams having ‘good ideas’ (Amabile et al, 1996), creativity has a crucial role in the development of new services (Zeng, Proctor and Salvendy, 2009). However, it is noted that there have been relatively few recent empirical studies of creativity in service innovation (Giannopoulou, Gryszkiewicz and Barlatier, 2014), and in particular in the public sector. Thus models of organisational innovation remain virtually unchanged over the last three decades (Anderson, Potočnik and Zhou, 2014), and have not attempted to account for creativity and service innovation in the English NHS. The thesis makes a number of contributions to creativity and innovation literatures. It also provides some understanding of creativity and service innovation in a public sector health service context. First, the study provides empirical evidence for human creativity when new services are introduced through the replication of workplace practice from another geographical location or organisation. This means that the current understandings of creativity, which are focused on creativity as a teleological outcome, driving the production of novelty, for example a creative product, need to be modified to account for novelty in a new context. Accordingly, a definition of creativity which accounts for contextual novelty is presented. Second, the research study also contributes to existing knowledge by illuminating the creative practices of workers tasked with implementing service innovations. Hitherto, creativity research has focused attention on the importance of creativity in the earlier ideation stage of the innovation process (for example, West, 2002a). The empirical evidence presented in this thesis demonstrates that creative practices are also necessary at the back end of the service innovation process, and may be driven by human reflexivity, rather than more formal organisational structures, such as ideation workshops. Third, there is a contribution to both creativity and service innovation literatures. These literatures are influenced by stage-gate models of innovation, with an ideation stage followed by an implementation stage. This research study suggests that future approaches to service innovation should embrace the innovation process as a whole social process rather than be separated into discrete segments. A final contribution relates directly to the context of the research study. The English NHS is one of the world’s largest employers, with strategic guidance provided by the Department of Health, and operational training and developmental needs met by NHS England. However, this top-down approach has not stifled the capacity of its workforce to problematise issues arising during the implementation of service innovations, even though there is a lack of purposeful guidance on how to do this. Instead, with the support of the local clinical and managerial leadership, front-line staff are able to address difficulties requiring creativity as they arose, drawing, primarily, on their reflexivity. Further, while the workforce is being creative, it is not associating their practices with creativity. Consequently, people lack a discourse of creativity, which would otherwise make further calls on their reflexivity, and positively impact on their productivity.

This study introduces the occupational dimension into the study of strategy-making, with particular reference to Higher Education in the UK. The concepts of occupation and self- and social identity are deployed to explore the relational dynamics amongst the occupational groupings in higher education in the context of the increasing marketisation of the sector. The personal identity work of the university employees is analysed contributing to the study of the occupational aspect of self-identities of the members of the three higher education occupational groupings: academics, manager-academics and non-academics. The concept of ‘occupational connectivity’ is introduced and developed to reveal the tensions amongst the occupational groupings and to explore the nature of these tensions in relation to the student experience initiative in a university context. University practices of strategy-making associated with the organisational approaches aimed to respond to the student experience initiative are seen as arenas where the occupational interests are acted and negotiated. A framework of four occupation strategies, representing a nexus between the levels of uncertainty and the ease of the access to economic and social opportunities, is developed. This is proposed as a useful conceptual development in the study of work and occupations due to its potential for revealing the strategies of occupational groupings in any given organisational setting. Note on redaction: Copy lacks acknowledgements only.

Cheung, Suk Man. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 189-206). / Abstracts in English and Chinese ; appendix in Chinese. / ACKNOELDGEMENTS --- p.i / ABSTRACT --- p.iii / 論文摘要 --- p.vi / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.viii / LIST OF TABLES --- p.xi / LIST OF FIGURES --- p.xiii / Chapter CHAPTER 1 --- INTRODUCTION / Chapter 1.1 --- Research Problem --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- Research Objectives --- p.4 / Chapter 1.3 --- Significance of Research --- p.5 / Chapter 1.4 --- Thesis Outline --- p.6 / Chapter CHAPTER 2 --- APPLYING THE CONCEPT OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN LAND-USE PLANNING / Chapter 2.1 --- Concept of Sustainable Development --- p.8 / Chapter 2.2 --- Good Governance for Sustainable Development --- p.11 / Chapter 2.3 --- Sustainable Land-use Planning --- p.13 / Chapter 2.4 --- Important Aspects of Sustainable Land-use Planning --- p.14 / Chapter 2.5 --- Significance of Sustainability Assessment and Public Participation --- p.20 / Chapter 2.6 --- Conclusion --- p.23 / Chapter CHAPTER 3 --- SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND LAND-USE PLANNING IN HONG KONG / Chapter 3.1 --- Sustainable Development in Hong Kong --- p.24 / Chapter 3.2 --- Land-use Planning System in Hong Kong --- p.30 / Chapter 3.3 --- Sustainability Assessment in Land-use Planning System --- p.36 / Chapter 3.4 --- Public Participation in Land-use Planning System --- p.36 / Chapter 3.5 --- Conclusion --- p.38 / Chapter CHAPTER 4 --- BACKGROUND OF STUDIED CASES / Chapter 4.1 --- Choices of Case Studies --- p.39 / Chapter 4.2 --- General Background --- p.41 / Chapter 4.3 --- Questionnaires Surveys --- p.42 / Chapter 4.4 --- Residents' and Visitors' Perceptions and Visions of Pat Heung Kam Tin and Kai Tak area --- p.48 / Chapter 4.5 --- Summary --- p.63 / Chapter CHAPTER 5 --- KEY ISSUES AND SUSTAINABILITY IDICATORS FOR SUSTAINABLE LAND-USE PLANNING / Chapter 5.1 --- Designing Sustainable Cities: Key Issues and Sustainability Indicators --- p.65 / Chapter 5.2 --- Key issues and Sustainability Indicators for Pat Heung Kam Tin and Kai Tak area --- p.71 / Chapter 5.3 --- Further Discussion on Sustainability Indicators --- p.89 / Chapter 5.4 --- Opportunities and Challenges --- p.93 / Chapter 5.5 --- Summary --- p.98 / Chapter CHAPTER 6 --- PULBIC PARTICIPATION FOR SUSTAINABLE LAND-USE PLANNING / Chapter 6.1 --- Review of Public Participation --- p.101 / Chapter 6.2 --- Participatory Planning Processes of Pat Heung Kam Tin and Kai Tak area --- p.113 / Chapter 6.3 --- Questionnaires Design and Surveys on Participatory Planning Processes --- p.118 / Chapter 6.4 --- Quality of Public Involvement Activities of Pat Heung Kam Tin and Kai Tak --- p.120 / Chapter 6.5 --- Factors Affecting Participation of Public Engagement Activities --- p.134 / Chapter 6.6 --- Opportunities and Challenges --- p.142 / Chapter 6.7 --- Summary --- p.153 / Chapter CHAPTER 7 --- CONCLUSION / Chapter 7.1 --- Summary --- p.155 / Chapter 7.2 --- Implication of Study --- p.158 / Chapter 7.3 --- Limitations of Current Study --- p.164 / Chapter 7.4 --- Directions for Future Research --- p.166 / APPENDIX 1 Residents' and visitors' questionnaires for Pat Heung Kam Tin --- p.167 / APPENDIX 2 Residents' and visitors' questionnaires for Kai Tak area (Non-participants' questionnaire attached) --- p.177 / APPENDIX 3 Participants' questionnaire for Pat Heung Kam Tin and Kai Tak area --- p.183 / REFERENCES --- p.189

In this study a Multisectoral Intertemporal Optimization model is posited and used to study the optimal development path for Sri Lanka (under certain conditions and assumptions) so as to attempt to identify the binding constraints for the country's development. Experiments are carried out on the model to examine the relative importance of domestic savings and foreign exchange and also to highlight the distributional implications of economic development along the optimal path. In addition an attempt is made to examine the use of formal techniques for planning the sectoral and temporal allocation of resources for development through an investigation of the feasibility of Sri Lanka's Public Investment Programme 1980-1984. Economy-wide development planning models of an optimization nature have mostly been concerned with the optimization of a single objective such as consumption or income. However, development planning can better be considered as a problem of decision making with multiple objectives. Yet, no attempt has been made to analyse the multiple objective situation formally, except for a few analytical models of dual economy which took the distributional objective into account. In this respect, the present study represents an improvement over the existing models. First, considering only the two objectives of consumption and its distribution, a social welfare function is specified and used as the objective function of the optimization model, and second, recent developments in Multiple Objective Decision methods are employed to resolve the problem imposed by the multiplicity of objectives. The results of the experiments shed reasonable doubt on the feasibility of the Public Investment Programme 1980-1984. It is shown that the importance of additional domestic savings is limited as the economic development of Sri Lanka is highly constrained by the lack of foreign exchange. It also is shown that on an optimal path of development, objectives of economic growth and distribution are not conflicting; development along an optimal path does not change the relative income shares of the rich and the poor substantially. It is suggested that fiscal measures can be used to improve the income share of the poor and pointed out that such measures do not conflict with economic growth.

This is a study of workplace organization amongst local authority manual workers. The first part of the work reviews research into workplace organization and, in stressing the rather narrow focus of such research, notes the relative absence of empirical data on newly-formed steward organizations in the public and private service sectors. A discussion of local authority industrial relations indicates that this sphere provides both an opportunity to increase the stock of knowledge on these newer organizations and a chance to analyse the structure and development of organization in a very different employment context. An analytical framework is developed which seeks to accommodate the distinctive features of the local authority employment context. The bulk of the study is then devoted to the application of this framework to four different local authorities. An attempt is made to distinguish variations in organizations both within the authorities, according to occupation, and between authorities, according to the unity or fragmentation displayed across the whole of the manual workforce. The explanation of the variations revolves around the constraints placed upon union and management behaviour by the structure of different types of local authority. Three structural features are seen to have a particularly powerful influence upon workplace organizations: functions performed, geographical size and urban-rural balance. While these features do not preclude a degree of independent union and management action, they set important limits to such action and enable fundamental distinctions to be made in the character of workplace organization between different types of authority. This analysis of workplace organization amongst local authority manual workers provides a basis for the development of a model of work­place organization founded upon completely different assumptions to the previously dominant 'engineering paradigm'. It is suggested that this new model may help in an understanding of workplace organization developing in industries sharing similar conditions of work with local government. Even in radically different industries, the model prompts recognition of the need to focus upon the occupational composition and geographical disposition of a workforce in analysis of workplace organization.

Through participant observation, structured and informal interviews, supported by documentary evidence and a questionnaire, this study examines the branch level activities of one small, urban local association of the NAS/UWT. After considering the growth and develop­ment of the national association, it looks at the growth of the local organization and its present structure. It argues that school representatives are in an ambiguous position in which they are subject to a variety of different expectations which they are not trained to fulfil and that the work of the association focuses on three key officers, the president, the treasurer and the secretary. Their roles are examined in some detail and so is the local executive committee, the meetings of which are the main arena in which the business of the local association is transacted. The secretary emerges as the central figure in the local organization although much that he does is circum­scribed by the activities of the LEA to which he has to respond on > behalf of the local NAS/UWT. This study argues that the secretary and the other officers have to justify their actions to the membership. They do this through a language of legitimation which contains four elements, professionalism, individualism, collectivism and accommodation. The members can accept or reject those justifications depending on whether or not they are thought to be appropriate in a specific context. It is through this negotiation of justifications between officers and members that control and influence are exercised within the organization. The conclusion is drawn that the nature of trade union activity in general, and of trade union government in particular, can be better understood through the observations of how control and influence are negotiated than through debates about the nature of structural arrangements for trans­ferring power within trade unions.