The following report provides an overview of the Engineering Doctorate portfolio entitled The Business Process Engineering of an Aerospace Aftermarket Supply Chain.' It is intended to set the context of the portfolio in the engineering business environment and identify the innovative achievements of the work. Three main themes underline the portfolio and are outlined here; the use of Supply Chain Management (SCM) in the aerospace industry, the barriers to SCM implementation, and the links between SCM and Business Process (Re)Engineering. These themes are used to explore the findings and conclusions of the portfolio. The text includes references back to the previous submissions in order to identify the relevant sections of the portfolio that support the Executive Summary. The report also includes the suggested reading order for the various submissions and details the contribution that the work has made, both academically and within the case study organisation.

The subject of this thesis is the emerging academic area of public relations (PR) (Hazleton and Botan, 1989: 13), which remains theoretically undeveloped and lacks empirical substantiation (Pasadeos et A, 1999). The phenomenon of PR activity incorporating -- all the people, institutions and activities that determine, constitute or result from PR work-- has exercised a growing influence upon society in general and the business world in particular (Cutlip, 1994; Ewen, 1996). The thesis seeks to contribute to the examination of a poorly researched phenomenon through a holistic approach by emphasising the importance of the whole and the interdependence of its parts. Given the limited understanding of public relations, it was assumed that a more substantial contribution could be achieved through a general preliminary understanding of the complex phenomenon, rather than by focusing on separate parts without the knowledge of which parts are the most important. Following a review of the relevant literature, a preliminary study was conducted through 15 exploratory interviews, and this led to the identification of core characteristics associated with PR activity. These informed the construction of the research instrument for the main survey, which explored three units of analysis: PR practitioner, PR consultancy and PR industry. The holistic approach was achieved by using three units of analysis, instead of one, thereby facilitating the study of the phenomenon from a variety of angles. The population under study consisted of PR practitioners managing external consultancies in England. A total of 297 valid questionnaires (representing a 29.7% response rate) were analysed through exploratory factor analysis (EFA) in order to examine the component structure of the data. Nine scales of measurement were tested through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), with maximum likelihood estimation using LISREL 8.3 (Joreskog et al, 1999). The final constructs revealed composite reliability and convergent and nomological validity, which verified unidimensionality (Bollen, 1989). Eleven significant correlations among the nine latent constructs were found and analysed. Finally, 16 follow-up interviews were undertaken in order to assess the external validity of the new constructs and to help interpret their correlations. The main academic contributions of the research are: the identification of dimensions of PR activity, the operationalisation of its constituent elements, and the preliminary understanding of their co-existence. Three dimensions of PR activity are identified: practitioner, consultancy and industry forces. A PR practitioner is someone who practises the occupation of public relations. A PR consultancy is a company that gives expert advice on the particular subject of PR in exchange for payment. The PR industry consists of all the people and activities involved in providing the particular service of PR, and its forces consist of all the structural elements of the PR industry that affect those people and activities. Nine constructs relating to the three dimensions are identified. At the practitioner dimension, the constructs are managerial PR and permanence in job. At the consultancy dimension, the constructs are strategic needs from clients, and size. At the industry forces dimension, the constructs are industry standard, trade body contribution, quality of PR graduates, importance of qualifications, and competition. Researchers are encouraged to incorporate this study's new valid and reliable measures, the new empirically-based findings, and research directions in the future investigation of PR. Further refinement of both conceptual and measurement issues is suggested. The findings have important implications for both PR theory and practice (consultants, professional associations, academics and the industry as a whole). Additional guidelines are provided to stimulate future discussion and reveal potentially fruitful streams of research in the field. The study contributes to practice by identifying some of the main contemporaneous challenges: for the PR industry forces, the evolution towards a semi-professionalising occupation; for the PR consultancy, the satisfaction of client corporations' strategic needs; for the individual practitioner, the acquisition of new skills motivated by an ongoing evolution of PR from a tactical function to a strategic function. It is suggested that this natural transition period can be quickened in proportion to the ability of individual practitioners to unite and act as a unified community in order to achieve advances in public relations.

The management literature has claimed that the complexity of business contexts has made firms confront hypercompetitive( D'Aveni, 1994) or high-velocity environments (Brown and Eisenhardt, 1997). Behind such claims lies a new interest in the dynamics of adaptation and in particular in a firm's flexibility as a way of adjusting under conditions of uncertainty (Volberda, 1999). This study takes up the challenge of exploring the dynamics of organisational adaptation under the conditions of environmental volatility that characterised Argentina over the period 1989-1999. The empirical focus of the thesis is the study of the determinants of organisational flexibility in four family-owned companies: two flexible and two less flexible from the edible oil industry (i. e., a deregulated industry) and pharmaceutical industry (i. e., an industry in the process of deregulation). By means of an innovative analysis (which includes longitudinal analysis, coding analysis, statistical analysis and the use of original display charts) we were able to show what determines whether an organisation is flexible. The findings of our case study were interrogated and interpreted by developing theoretical ideas from three areas of literature between which historically there has been no interface. These are the literatures on organisational flexibility, organisational innovativeness and institutional embeddedness. In our empirical results we identified five determinants of organisational flexibility as a set of organisational and managerial capabilities that enabled some firms to adapt quickly in a highly competitive environment (i. e., heterogeneity of the dominant coalition, centralisation and formalisation of decision-making, low macroculture embeddedness, environmental scanning, and a strong organisational identity). The study also sheds light on the process of transformation and adaptation of family firms - an area that has not yet been the subject of extensive empirical inquiry (Aronoff and Ward, 1997).

This dissertation is a contribution to the study of manufacturing subcontracting, with particular reference to the European Automotive industrial sector. It takes as its central theme, the structure of supply chains - the way in which value addition is split amongst members of the chain. The thesis addresses a central question: What factors determine optimum structure and practice in modem-day industrial supply chains? This devolves into a number of derivative questions to which various parts of the study are addressed. With reference to 24 case study supply chains the investigation first tests whether existing theory can fully explain the changing structures. From the results of these tests a new model is postulated and then further work is carried out to validate the model. It was found that the concentration in existing theory on primarily dyadic relationships meant that when taken alone, current theory was insufficient to explain the changes in supply chain structure in the European automotive industry in the mid to late 1990s. It is felt that the work is novel in that it addresses the whole supply chain, and demonstrates the clear link between the physical structure and other determining success factors. Two methods for recording and systematically comparing both the structure and management practices in supply chains were developed - termed 'Fixed Reference Benchmark' and 'Hierarchical Structure Mapping'. These two models were tested, and used in the comparison of 24 European automotive supply chains. The results of this analysis showed the dominant factors that most heavily influenced the structure of supply chains in the European Automotive Industry to be: Criticality of component (which in turn affects the acceptability of risk), the level, and pace of development of technology for the component or system of the supply chain (which is strongly linked to bargaining power), the desire to reduce the complexity of logistics (which is also linked to acceptability of risk), the desire to reduce the cost of demand fluctuations, and the capital intensity of the production process. It is felt that this study of supply chain structures is valuable in its contribution to new knowledge on three levels. At a theoretical level, it analyses the current theory, exposing gaps and anomalies. At an empirical level it presents contemporary data that in some parts simply substantiates and in others adds to the current theory. On a practical level it aims to present a picture which is of use to practitioners making decisions on the future of individual supply chains.

Current theories of marketing channel structure have stressed product and industry characteristics. We develop a theoretical framework which emphasizes the importance of the markets for each of the functions required by the distribution channel. This framework was used in an extensive and in depth case study for 23 companies in 6 industries in Venezuela. Imperfections in the market for loans, lack of specialized markets for certain channel functions, spatial monopolies enjoyed by retailers and agency problems were identified as crucial elements affecting vertical integration and control in distribution channels.

The economic analysis of conflict in Britain has previously concentrated on examining aggregate strike frequency. The thesis recognises the limitations of this approach and argues for the investigation of a broader definition of conflict and at a more disaggregated level. While weakly encompassing previous theoretical work, the principal objective is to establish the patterns and trends pertaining to wider set of measures of conflict in post-war Britain. The empirical investigation of these disaggregated dimensions of conflict and their inter-relationships appears to have previously received only very limited attention. Following a critique of the extant theoretical and empirical literature, the first substantive chapter examines the traditional aggregate- econometric models of strike frequency. These are shown to be unsatisfactory in a number of ways. The chapter then turns to the central issue of the procyclicality of strikes. It is shown that while the total number of strikes is only very loosely related to the cycle, strikes arising over the level of remuneration bear a much closer correspondence with the level of economic activity and this finding accords with many of the theoretical models that have been proposed for strike. activity. The chapter concludes with an examination of a cyclical-political model of strikes within which the impact of the recent reforms in labour legislation is also investigated. One of the central arguments of the thesis is that the emphasis on strike frequency is inappropriate. This is most clearly illustrated by the fact that while strike frequency fell by almost one quarter between 1980 and 1984, the incidence of strikes at the establishment level actually increased by 45%. An examination of the determinants of the incidence of conflict activity forms the basis of the second substantive chapter of the thesis. As a subsidiary theme, the complementary nature of strike and non-strike action is also explored. The next chapter investigates the ceteris paribus differences in strike probabilities between the public and private sectors. While the levels of strike incidence and frequency appear to be much higher in the public sector, much of the divergence is found to be a consequence of differences in the characteristics of the two sectors. Additionally, when weighted by employment and/or union coverage, strike frequency is found to be lower in the public sector and, moreover, each of these strikes tends to be shorter and involve fewer workers. The final substantive chapter looks at the impact of strikes on industry output and efficiency. The structure of the model is novel in that a production frontier is estimated without having recourse to an explicit functional form for the inefficiency component. This is due to the availability of a panel of data in which the fixed effects can be viewed as capturing both the inefficiency term as well as the industry fixed effect. A second stage estimation is then used to identify each industry's level of efficiency. While strikes do not appear to reduce output in aggregate, there is some evidence to suggest that those industries which incur a large number of short strikes do have their output significantly disrupted. This loss of output also serves to make these industries less efficient in general. Thus a major conclusion is that a disaggregated approach is necessary in order that the multi-dimensional nature of conflict and the sectoral diversity in the incidence of industrial action can be investigated in a satisfactory manner. Any new theories of conflict will need to encompass the empirical findings of the thesis.

The focus of this thesis is the level of demand for youth labour. By re-applying the aims and methodology of a study carried out in the late 1970s and early 1980s and comparing the findings, changes to the structure and functioning of the youth labour market can be identified. These changes are then assessed in the context of evolving education and training policies and, in particular, against the background of significant increases which have occurred in young people's rates of participation in post-compulsory education. The findings are based on a survey of sixty companies from a range of industrial sectors and size bands in two contrasting local labour markets: Leicester and Sunderland. The overwhelming majority of interviews were conducted face-to-face, using a structured interviewing approach. In addition, representatives of local TECs, Careers Services and Training Providers were interviewed. The findings point to the fact that, although there has been a reduction in the number of job opportunities, there still exists a demand for youth labour which may, in some areas, exceed the supply of young people choosing to enter the labour market at the age of sixteen. Importantly, many employers in the sample had little understanding of new vocational qualifications, namely GNVQs, and tended to rely on Year 11 attainment levels and non-academic criteria in the selection process. Finally, the thesis explores the dissonance which, it is argued, has been created by education and training policies which have generated competition for young people from employers and education and training providers, and suggests that such policies may be failing to achieve the twin aims of enhancing the qualification attainments of young people and addressing the future skill needs of the country. It also highlights the need for further research to determine employers' requirements for youth labour.

The persistence of high unemployment has placed increasing stress on the role of active labour market policies. They have been seen as the main policy tool in moving individuals from income support to employment. This thesis attempts to evaluate the effectiveness of active labour market policy in fulfilling the difficult task given to it. This is done by empirically exploring the impact of active labour market programmes on the overall level of open unemployment, participants' repeat unemployment incidence and their subsequent employment record. By this means, the thesis examines the achievement of both macroeconomic and individual goals given to active labour market policy. The main finding running through all chapters, and consequently through different estimation methods, samples and aggregation levels, is that active labour market policy improves the employment performance of the economy but it can help only so far as it goes. The beneficial effect remains far too limited to bring down the current high levels of unemployment or to wipe out the gap in labour market possibilities prevailing between advantaged and disadvantaged individuals. This is not to say that active labour market policy would not be useful in conjunction with other policies affecting unemployment, but without any support its effects will remain modest.

For established manufacturing nations, increased competitive pressure has been the way of life since the late 1970s. For the most part however, production decision making in manufacturing industry has not changed to meet these new challenges. It usually takes a subordinate strategic role to the marketing and finance functions with the consequence that it accepts a reactive role in the corporate debate. The outcome is that strategic initiatives and developments are predominantly based on corporate marketing-decisions at the "front end" with manufacturing being forced to react at the "back end" of the debate. Since manufacturing managers come late into these discussions, it is difficult for them to successfully influence corporate decisions. All too often, the result is the formulation and later development of strategies which manufacturing is unable to successfully support. That is not to say that this happens for want of trying - strong is the work ethic in the manufacturing culture. However, if the basic link between the manufacturing processes and infrastructure (ie manufacturing strategy) and the market is not strategically sound, then the business will suffer. There are many reasons why manufacturing is typically reactive in the strategic debate. One important factor is the lack of appropriate concepts and language with which to explain or contribute to corporate decisions. This research has been undertaken to help redress this deficiency. The work began in the early 1980s. Upto that time, both the professional and academic contributions to the field of manufacturing strategy principally concerned statements which highlighted the problem and alerted manufacturing industry as a whole to its size and potential. However, there were in addition some important early pointers as to ways of overcoming the inadequacy of production's contribution to strategy formulation as well as some alternative approaches which firms needed to consider as ways of improving their overall performance. The inability of the production executive to contribute appropriate functional inputs provided the stimulus to undertake this work and to endeavour to build on initial insights as a way of taking forward the subject area of manufacturing strategy. The core of this thesis concerns these developments. Reported here are three contributions to this field of study all of which have been tested in different firms and are increasingly being used by academics, consultants and businesses as a way of helping to gain essential insights into what is a complex problem. The three facets are: • Typically, corporate strategies are composites of functional statements which are inadequately debated one with another in order to understand and test the coherence of the approaches proposed. The result is that the opportunity to fashion corporate strategies supported by all the functions within a business is not adequately pursued. In addition, the necessity to develop corporate strategy in this way and the advantages which ensue have gone unrecognised • The reactive role of manufacturing results in a lack of strategic direction within this function. As a result, typical developments and investments tend to take the form of operational responses undertaken without strategic context. One outcome of the research is a methodology which provides a way in which a business can develop a manufacturing strategy which links manufacturing developments and investments to the needs of its agreed markets. Two applications of this are provided in Chapter 4 • It is most important for an industrial company to recognise that it is attempting to support the inherently changing nature of its markets with manufacturing investments the characteristics of which are fixed in nature and will not change without further investments and developments. Product profiling is a methodology for enabling companies to assess the current level of match between its markets and manufacturing and to recognise the extent to which decisions will effect this in the future. Examples of its application illustrating different sources of mismatch are given in Chapter 5

The last decade has seen dramatic changes in the environment facing the fishing industries of Western Europe. This study looks at Britain and France and compares the response of government and industry to those changes between 1975 and 1983. It argues in the opening chapter that that response can be best understood in terms of the nature of the general relations which link state and society in the two countries. Thus France can be characterised as a state-led society, which has generated protectionist forms of economic policy and a 'dirigiste' style of policy making, where the institutions of the state seek actively to determine the way in which an economic sector develops. By contrast, Britain can be seen as a society-led state, in which a liberal conception of economic policy has been matched by a more consensual style of policy-making, where the agents within a sector are left to develop their own individual responses to change. Chapters two to four consider in turn the impact of political and economic change upon the structure of the two industries, the transformation of the international framework of negotiation within which the two governments dealt with the issue and the development of the institutional links between government and the fishing interest. The chapters that follow (five to eight) are organised around four perspectives on the relations between an interest group and government. These are entitled interventionist, mediatory, direct-action and self-help and each stresses a different aspect of the behaviour of state institutions and a societal interest. In all four chapters, the available evidence is assessed in terms of what we might expect that behaviour to be, given the extent of the change that overtook the industry and the political and economic character of the two countries. The final chapter reviews the distinction between a state-led society and a society-led state and suggests two conclusions: firstly, that the pattern of relations between industry and government retained its distinctive shape in the two countries, despite severe pressures and secondly, that any judgement of the relative success of the two states and their respective industries in developing a response to change depends on one's appreciation of the merits of two contrasting political and economic philosophies.