The subject matter of this thesis is the modelling and analysis of serial supply chain (SC) behaviour in an uncertain environment. Main sources of uncertainty inherent in a serial SC and its environment have been identified, including customer demand, external supplier reliability, supply along the chain and lead times. A new approach to modelling and treating these uncertainties based on fuzzy sets theory has been proposed. It has been shown that the application of fuzzy sets is useful in cases where there is lack of available data about SC parameters, lack of certainty in data or when data does not exist. A new original approach to SC analysis has been developed and implemented using C++ programming language. In this approach, two types of models have been combined: (1) SC fuzzy, analytical models and (2) SC simulation models. The new SC fuzzy analytical models have been developed which treat different SC uncertainties simultaneously. In these models, order-up-to levels for all inventories along an SC are determined in such a way as to minimise total possible inventory costs over a given time. Two SC control strategies which take into consideration different uncertainties and reflect different levels of SC integration have been proposed and built into the SC fuzzy models, including: (1) fully decentralised control, and (2) a new developed strategy of partially coordinated control. The aim of the new SC simulation models developed is to evaluate SC performance achieved by applying order-up-to levels and replenishment quantities recommended by the fuzzy models. The SC fuzzy and simulation models, working in a coordinated manner, have been used to gain further insight into SC dynamic behaviour and its performance in an uncertain environment, and to enhance decision making on SC control parameters in the presence of uncertainty. The application of the developed SC tool in the various analyses has been demonstrated, including: (1) quantification and comparison of SC performance under different control strategies, such as decentralised and partially coordinated control, (2) quantification of the effects of changing uncertainty in SC data (e. g., customer demand) on SC behaviour and its, performance, (3) analysis of the effects of uncertainty in external supplier reliability and investigation of the ways of making an SC less vulnerable to this uncertainty, and (4) application of two new procedures for one-site and multi-site compensation which have been developed to compensate for the negative effects of uncertainty in external supply.

This study is, above all, about the men and women whose labour form the basis of Nigeria's economy and social stability: the petroleum workers. Those we will come across here, work in perhaps the most important single enterprise in Nigeria; the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. The study itself was inspired by (i) an attempt to understand what work and work relations mean for these people, and (ii) by my dissatisfaction with the conventional wisdom in Industrial Relations analysis; which in the past years has inspired the regulation of the working lives of these petroleum workers as much as any group of employees in Nigeria. The study is on the NNPC, with special attention to the NNPC Refinery at Warri. The work itself is divided into three main parts; Part I, which is the Introductory section, is further divided in four chapters. Chapter 1 explores the main conceptual issues of this study, explains the research methods and examines some methodological issues that derive from the fieldwork. In Chapter 2, the labour process literature is reviewed, and this forms the analytical basis for the discussions in Parts II and III, while Chapters 3 and 4 provide the background information on Nigeria and NNPC respectively. Part U examines, under four chapters, the nature of work and processes of shopfloor relations in NNPC generally, with particular emphasis on the Refinery. Chapters 5 and 6 examine the nature of work and the internal labour market, while Chapters 7 and 8 look at the specific forms of relations on the shopfloor and their implications for shopfloor struggles. In Part III, I focus on unionism in the industry and the processes of interest mediation within the NNPC. The study takes conceptual issues with the main contributions to the Labour Process debate and argues for a more studied and coherent re-assesment of Braverman's work, by recognizing its theoretical and methodological objectives. The study concludes with a re-exposition of the main conceptual issues; first by emphasizing that it is only within the framework of a rigorous conceptual redefinition of production relations that we can overcome the limitations of conventional Industrial Relations discourse. Second, and central to this, is a re-conceptualized method of theory, which enables us to understand the socio-cultural peculiarities of each national or regional context, and overcome the limited vision of liberal-pluralist industrial relations ideology. In this sense, the study places strong emphasis on Marx's method of abstraction, both as a method of different levels of abstraction, and of one-sided abstraction. The Refinery, where the bulk of the field research was done, is located in the riverine belt of southern Nigeria. Although often referred to as Warri Refinery, the plant is situated in the Ethiope local government area of Bendel State, outside Warri (see Map A). This complication is a result of the settlement pattern in this area of southern Nigeria; Warri, for instance, is surrounded by tiny pockets of settlements, each with distinct lineage/clan history and traditional political autonomy. Two of such settlements are Jeddo and Ekpan villages which share the north-western borders with Warri, but in a separate local government area. It is on the territories of these two villages that the Refinery is located, although I will continue to refer to the plant as Warri Refinery.

The topic of executive compensation has recently emerged as a legitimate field for academic study. The rapid growth in publications has almost been matched by the well-publicised growth in CEO remuneration. From the time of the first utility privatisation in the UK, right up to current day, the topic of board room pay has rarely been out of the news headlines or the academic journals. This thesis makes several new contributions to the executive compensation literature, primarily by providing an in depth analysis of the executive option holdings of directors in the UK. Data on this aspect of executive compensation has until recently been unavailable and as such this thesis represents the first work in the UK to fully incorporate this element of remuneration for a large sample of companies. Executive options have become an increasingly significant component in executive compensation, yet their valuation and the incentive effects they create are relatively poorly understood. This thesis attempts to undo these shortcomings by providing a thorough analysis of the determinants and consequences of the level of option information disclosure. Furthermore, it develops the rational for granting executive options and describes the creation and distribution of the pay for performance sensitivities created by holdings of executive options. Finally, it deals with valuation issues that are particular to executive options.

This study investigates the occupations of 16-30 year old British Chinese. It is intended as a contribution to the general literature on the Chinese in Britain, and to the literature on occupational choice/entry into work in which there have been no studies in Britain on this ethnic group. The aims of this research are two-fold: first, to establish the location of young Chinese adults in the British labour market; and second, to establish why they are positioned at their current level in the occupational structure. This involved the testing of the hypothesis that a bimodal distribution exists with young Chinese adults situated at the top (in the professions) and the bottom sections (in the service sector, specifically the Chinese catering industry) in the British labour market. Structural and cultural effects on the occupational attainments of these Chinese were examined through the exploration of the influences of family background, the role of education, and the impact of racism and discrimination. The method of data collection was by postal questionnaire, which was distributed using a snowballing technique within a social network. The primary data was analysed in conjunction with secondary data (Labour Force Survey). The initial hypothesis of a bimodal distribution was corroborated by the primary data. The secondary data was much less clear, although the underlying trend of the greater propensity of the Chinese to enter the professions or the catering industry (compared to white British, West Indian, and Asian young adults) was demonstrated. With regard to the three main variables explored, it was concluded: (1) that class effects were less significant than cultural effects as mediated through the family in influencing the occupational attainments of the young Chinese adults; (2) that the traditional cultural values and attitudes of the Chinese towards education were responsible for their (high) levels of educational attainment which the Chinese used to gain access into the professions; (3) but that the propensity of these Chinese to enter the professions and ancilliary positions in the wider labour market or conversely to enter the Chinese catering trade was the result of a strategy adopted by the Chinese to deal with the (real or perceived) structural constraints of racism and discrimination in the British labour market.

This research formulates the concept of a Computer-Based Informated Environment (CBIE) as an emergent anthropocentric form of work organisation; this is a computerised office environment which informates and empowers lower level employees. The study attempts to enhance our knowledge over the nature of CBIEs. It hypothesizes that with the current interest in IT-enabled empowerment there are more opportunities for the development of CBIEs. A missing element on studies in informated and empowered workplaces is employees' interpretation of these forms of work organisation. A review of the literature on information technology (IT) in organisations supports the view that there is a need for further research on the meaning of technological and organisational changes. This study attempts to cover this gap while also making a contribution in the field of anthropocentric uses of IT in office environments. A structurational framework is developed to uncover the process and context of change and the linkages between the two. Considering the research topic, the case study approach was adopted. Three service-oriented organisations participated in the research. All three had within the last few years introduced the system ImagePlus which is promoted for its potential to empower employees. There have been two important findings about the nature of CBIEs. Firstly, it is found that the process and context of CBIEs should not be treated as mutually independent but as inextricably linked. Secondly, it is identified that CBIEs could occur without being anthropocentric-oriented. Informated employees are not necessarily truly empowered. When the 'empowerment' approach is diffused via IT, it is likely to be in forms that align more with managerial and organisational interests than those of employees. Using structuration theory, the complex dynamics of the use of IT in organisations become evident. The study argues that the 'determinism' and 'choice' perspectives need to be linked for each has a vital role to play in enhancing our understanding of the use of IT in organisations.

This dissertation is about supply chain management. Some authors have used the term to describe a strategic, inter-organisation issue, others authors to discuss an alternative organisational form to vertical integration. Much of the operations management literature uses the phrase to describe the planning and control of materials flow internally within a company or externally between companies. This work develops a definition of supply chain management. The empirical research tests hypotheses relating to gaps in customers' and suppliers' perceptions of requirements and performance in supply chains, against a set of performance dimensions. The hypotheses are tested in four automotive aftermarket supply chains, two of which are in Spain and two in the UK. All four chains have similar structures and include a manufacturer, an area distributor, a local distributor and ten installers, or garages. Qualitative and quantitative analysis show significant :differences between different types of gaps in perceptions; suppliers in the chains do not recognise the 'degree of customer dissatisfaction in existence. A positive correlation is shown to exist between the amount of misperception in the chains about performance and the amount of customer dissatisfaction. It is also shown this customers are more dissatisfied with some performance dimensions than others. In these supply chains, customer dissatisfaction and misperception of performance both significantly increase upstream i.e, downstream customers are more satisfied and there is less misperception in downstream relationships about performance levels. This effect is compared to the industrial dynamics "Forrester Effect". The work develops the concept of supply chain management into a broader, holistic concept of interorganisation operations management. It contributes to operations management by (i) developing the concept of supply chain management (ii) improving knowledge about relationships in supply chains (iii) identifying the significant role of performance (iv) improving knowledge about the implication of position in a supply chain (v) integrating related literatures, notably service management, purchasing, industrial dynamics and logistics.

The purpose of this study is to examine the corporate governance, of firms quoted on the stock market. An important contribution of the thesis is the derivation of the conceptual framework for analysing corporate governance which places conduct at the centre of the understanding of corporate governance. I propose a conceptual framework by extending the concept of incomplete contracts to include expost observability/verifiability of the contracts between shareholders and managers. Strategic co-operation between shareholders and managers is only feasible in the procedural justice mode. Deliberation between the contracting parties is identified as the centre piece of corporate governance. Managerial decision behaviour is shown to be endogenous to the corporate governance framework. A number of empirical issues emerge from the conceptual framework. We examine two of these using panel data techniques and data on 218 manufacturing firms and the complete list of 44 authorised financial institutions observed over a six year period, 1987-88 to 1994-95. I examine whether there is a case for deliberation in a corporate governance framework given that the procedural justice mode is the only basis of strategic co-operation. The second issue that was evaluated relates to the implications of the adoption of a dominant strategy by shareholders given that the UK corporate governance framework places a primary reliance on the market for corporate control. My evidence shows that firm-specific factors are important in control changes as measured by top management turnover. Thus the crucial recommendation of the procedural justice based corporate governance framework, that deliberation will have to be an integral component of the corporate governance framework, has been validated by the empirical analysis. In the absence of strategic co-operation based on procedural justice mode the conceptual framework proposed envisages the adoption of dominant strategy by shareholders. The consequence of this will be an emphasis on power relations in the top management team in a bid to minimise their human capital risk. There will be ambiguity in the control changes as reflected by top management turnover. I also find evidence that demonstrates the role of power in control changes. Control changes as reflected by turnover of all directors and executive directors, in all the estimates, are found to be consistently related to CEO changes. Financial performance indicators are consistently inversely related to directors turnover in the manufacturing sector but their impact on directors as reflected by elasticity measures are very low. The effect of financial performance on the likelihood of CEO change is not sgnificant for all the measures used in the study. Thus the evidence shows that there is little accountability in the processes of corporate governance as reflected in the top management turnover. The conceptual framework proposed is not in conflict with the principal and agents framework. The empirical results have also been used to evaluate the significance of individual variables and compare and contrast with the findings of the existing literature on top management turnover. Analysis of the regulatory arrangement for authorised financial institutions has shown that the central banks act as the centrepiece of the control structure in the financial services sector. The role of the central banks in terms of corporate governance, however, has been to replace the conventional governance goal of shareholder wealth maximisation with concerns for depositors security and the stability of the financial system. There are very few studies on the functioning of corporate governance mechanisms in banks. Researchers are also increasingly interested in how corporate governance mechanisms in general, vary in different legal and regulatory environments. The study of the manufacturing and financial services sectors of the same country provides valuable evidence for this comparison of corporate governance under differing legal and regulatory arrangements.

This thesis sets out to provide a systematic study of stakeholder partnership building of BP in Colombia and Hoechst in Germany in the context of social risk management. Each company built an NGO and a community partnership that became an integral part of firms' strategy. In examining and evaluating the two companies and the four stakeholder partnerships, the leading research question of how firms build stakeholder partnerships is answered. The present study seeks to identify the characteristics of stakeholder partnership building, as well as to isolate the similarities and differences of this process. Additionally, it is an attempt to define the features of the firms' social risk navigation as context of this research project. The thesis is divided into four parts. The first part introduces the research phenomenon, reviews conceptual foundations, and elaborates methodological issues. The case studies of BP and Hoechst are subdivided into internal processes of social integration and reintegration with regard to the two companies, and external processes of partnership building with regard to the four stakeholder partnerships that are chronologically presented in part two. Part three conceptualises stakeholder partnership building in terms of navigating social risk and partnership alchemy. Finally, part four comprises the research synopsis and reflection. Business and society, stakeholder theory, and strategic relationships are the theoretical areas that contributed to the framework for analysing partnership building. Two longitudinal in-depth case studies provide qualitative data for the processual analysis. The empirical data are categorised, aggregated and compared, in order to extract research findings. The contribution of this research is the extension of behavioural stakeholder theory. It develops is a stakeholder partnership building theory that comprises three parts. First, the 4-Ps of stakeholder partnership building are identified. Second, variables are isolated that describe these elements of partnership alchemy. Finally, four patterns of stakeholder partnership building are identified. As a result, the research presents four propositions for partnership building. Based on the analysis of firms' navigation of social risk, a fifth proposition distinguishes between firm-specific and partnership-specific partnership building. The empirical data provides a contribution to knowledge in its own right by providing detailed insight into the practice of social risk management through stakeholder partnership building.

This dissertation presents the results of using a multidisciplinary "business policy" approach to examine the competitive situation of UK vehicle component manufacturers. With the cooperation of the companies involved in six product sectors, detailed studies have been made comparing the strategies and performances of UK competitors over several years, as well as those of selected competitors in Japan, Germany and the USA. The UK vehicle component industry has undergone an unprecedented decline in performance. The causes of this decline are many. External factors outside the control of the companies concerned include the declining competitiveness of UK based vehicle manufacturers and the exceptionally unfavourable UK business environment including the pressure on real wages. But the decline in competitiveness of UK vehicle component manufacturers is not solely due to these factors outside their own control. Just as important is the lack of strategic management capability at the top management level of the companies themselves. Before the recession many of the companies failed to see the changes that were occurring in the pattern of competition and that their competitive position was slipping. Few recognised that competition was becoming more European or even more global. Even fewer were able to effectively analyse the situation, select a viable long term strategy and pursue it with commitment. Such a strategy required a choice of the part of the market in which to compete as well as how to compete particularly as far as longer term production strategy (productivity, quality, flexible manufacturing systems etc) was concerned. The recession only added to this problem and obscured the underlying cause. Many companies were forced to retrench but still have not recognised the longer term strategic issues which must be addressed if the long term decline is to be reversed.

This dissertation presents the findings of a study of the effectiveness of the human resource planning in a large corporation working within the limitations of an underdeveloped country - Venezuela. Because the economy of Venezuela is heavily dependant on its oil industry the company PetrOleos de Venezuela S.A. was chosen for the detailed study. It was found that the system in use in the period 1980-81 was defective in that it did not address the serious medium and long term issues of manpower supply in a country seriously short of the skills needed. There was a lack of linkage between human resource planning and the corporation's long term objectives. Too much emphasis was being placed on quantitative, and too little on qualitative approaches to the problem. A new approach was developed to complement the existing shorter term quantitative approach. This involved a direct and active interaction with corporate planning. Within this framework a qualitative method of human resource planning was proposed and implemented. This method was approved by the Board and introduced within the Industrial Security function of the company in 1982. It has proved Its usefulness in defining the type of personnel required by the organization in the distant future. Since then the method has been adopted in two affiliates of the company and it is planned to introduce the method in a third affiliate in 1985.