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The research establishes a preliminary characterisation of the learning of small business owner-managers in the context of their business networks. It does this grounded in data derived from the extant general literature on learning, the specific literatures of general managerial learning and the learning of small business people. Critical observation and the results of a pilot study augment this data. The preliminary characterisation is then further refined by reference to five established business networks located in the Midlands of England. The methodology employed follows a triangulation strategy of positivist and phenomenological components. It utilises the potentials of Social Network Analysis (SNA) and Discourse Analysis (DA) to these ends. 136 small business owner-managers, located within their respective networks,, responded to a prepared SNA questionnaire and to in-depth interviews. The SNA data collected is subjected to Social Network Analysis to identify measures of actor centrality, degree, closeness and betweennirss. - This is performed across five relations measuring communication, connections, advice, importance and learning. Positional analysis and multi-dimensional scaling are then used to confirm four groups within each network, which is consistent with the preliminary characterisation. Discourse Analysis emphasises language as a basic form of interaction within networks. From the record of in-depth interviews, and vocabularies related to the learning of ownermanagers, 39 discoursive texts are identified and analysed. These texts also reveal four groups of actors within each network. From this evidence, which corroborates the results of SNA, it is possible to label these groups as Learning Facilitators/ Learners, Learners, Floaters and Traders. Together with SNA evidence, DA also allows the learning characteristics of each group to be -described. The research has several implications for the theory of learning in this context. For the first time, it establishes from empirical evidence the forms and degrees of learning occurring within such business networks. It has importance for the learning of ownermanagers themselves, educators/ trainers and also policy makers. Based on the research findings learning action plans for each of these stakeholder groups are suggested

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This thesis has been divided into two volumes: volume I contains the main body of the thesis ( chapters 1-10) and volume II contains appendices. Volume I can he divided into two parts. The first emphasises that: 1- uniformity is in general better than diversity and this may be done by offering a general examination of the concept of uniformity in the accounting literature and arguing, especially for a developing country situation, that the other approach, i.e. the U.K. and U.S.A. accounting system, is significantly irrelavent. 2- Uniformity has been applied in different environments, thUS, the environmental factors of uniformity in three countries ( i.e. West Germany, France and the Soviet Union) are discussed in order to show that uniformity has been applied in different economic and political atmospheres. The second part examines a developing country's attempt ( i.e. Iraq) to apply uniformity. It is argued, that although uniformity in Iraq has certain favourable environmental factors (e.g. central planning) there are [ major weaknesses in the uniform accounting system especially in the area of cost control system which is of paramount importance for satisfying macro and micro requirements in a centrally planned economy, and that unless fundamental changes are made to this area of accounting within the uniform accounting system the whole advantages of uniformity at the micro and macro levels will not be materialised.

This thesis addresses construction contractor performance for high-rise insitu concrete building forms. The principal aim of the research was to evaluate and compare the performance of contractors in three European countries; and from such evaluation develop best practice model(s) to engender improved construction contractor production performance. Initial investigations confirmed that in the evaluation of contractor performance, the common approach is to measure the extent to which the three 'superlative' client objectives (time, cost and quality) are satisfied. Due to the lack of a clear uniform evaluation standard in defining construction quality, this research focused on two of these performance aspects, namely, time and cost. A tri-country survey of contractors' planning engineers (implementing a novel methodology for generating comparable contractor performance data), revealed a consistent performance ranking. In the context of construction time and (labour) cost performance, French contractors were most effective, followed by German and then UK firms. An appraisal of performance-impacting construction methods and practices revealed disparity between the solutions preferred by contractors of the three countries. Analysis of variance and correlation tests identified significant contractor performance factors, from which two principal best practice models were developed, namely, a cost minimisation model and a construction time optimisation model. 'European', UK, French and German versions of these models were produced from corresponding contractor performance data. Ultimately, the generic concepts developed and best practice recommendations of the two principal models were validated two-dimensionally incorporating internal and external validation methodologies. The opinion of experts in France, Germany and the UK concurred, thus confirming the reliability and robustness of the two models proffered. Contractors seeking to improve their production performance may wish to consider the generic concepts and construction 'best practices' identified in the two models. Clients may observe the performance implications when selecting contractors.

The Portfolio and accompanying Commentary explore the dynamics of the labour process in manufacturing industry. This is done by means of a series of case studies from the UK and the US exploring the evolving workplace relations from the late 1970s to the present day. Management -employee relations are explored in terms of a triangulation, the three corners of which are, management, unions and employees. The major questions revolve around the conditions, limits and possibilities of labour- management co-operation. Whilst employing Labour Process theory, the work addresses some of its limitations. It attempts to present an analysis which is more sensitive both to situational and historical factors, as well as to qualify some of its theoretical limitations. These include its overly deterministic nature and the tendency to portray aspects of the employment relationship in terms of false dichotomies. The concept of "dualism" is thus central to the analysis, and the concepts of "dual commitment" and "incorporation" are also employed in order to help explain the inter-relationships between management, union and employees. The longitudinal perspective also allows examination of the extent to which the agendas of "Thatcherism" have led to the demise of collectivism, changed attitudes towards management, created new expectations of the union, and hence implications for the strategies of the latter. The work has implications for union and management policies, particularly with respect to their mutual engagement in the context of the UK acceding to the Social Chapter, and the potential for "social partnership".

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Business-wide integration is a key strategic objective for survival in a global market place. The objective of the work presented in this thesis was to conduct a detailed study of business integration methods with a view to identifying development areas and developing the necessary methods, procedures and tools to address these gaps. Following a literature review the following development needs were identified: - -A Reference Model - An Audit Method -A Methodology The latter part of this thesis presents, in detail, the Reference Model, the Audit Method and the Methodology which' has been developed to fulfil the gaps identified. The Reference Model identifies six performance areas and criteria which an organisation would need to fulfil to achieve business-wide integration. The Methodology provides necessary framework, tools and techniques to achieve the performance criteria specified within the Reference Model. The Methodology consists of six main phases which ensures that the business vision, objectives and strategy are deployed through various functions down to operational processes. This is achieved through the use of an integrated set of performance measures. The Audit Method provides a set of procedures to measure an organisations performance against the criteria identified within the Reference Model. It is also used to measure the effectiveness of the methodology towards the achievement of the Reference Model. The application of the Methodology is illustrated through three different case studies. All three case studies, through the Audit Method, demonstrate that the application of the Methodology has resulted in considerable and measurable improvements in the levels of integration. Throughout the thesis emphasis has been placed on the research methods employed. The thesis concludes with a review of the work done and the research methods employed.

This thesis is focused on the internationalisation of innovative capability, not R&D and patenting capabilities or on production capabilities alone. The broad research questions are: 1) to examine whether internationalisation of innovative activity has spread to firms in the Malaysian electronics industry. Conventional literature states that it has not occurred, as countries like Malaysia are not technologically advanced and do not have the conditions in terms of skills and internal capabilities for this to occur. 2) If there is evidence to the contrary, how long did this take? 3) How has it occurred, what learning mechanisms have assisted this process? 4) If there is such evidence, what factors contributed to it? In this thesis, the internationalisation of innovative capabilities is measured by the technological capability levels and speeds at which they have been built by firms. To operationalise key concepts, the thesis has developed 1) a comprehensive classification to measure capabilities of firms in the electronics industry, 2) learning rates using the historical timeline of firms, 3) a new typology for understanding knowledge flows and learning links between firms. The analysis of 53 firms (26 TNC subsidiaries and 27 local firms) show that the internationalisation of innovative capabilities has occurred to some extent. 85% of firms conducted at least intermediate innovative activities and took an average of 11 years to do so. Only two conducted research-basedin novations and took more than 20 years to do so. Similar proportion of firms conducted advanced and research-based product and process innovations. Contributory factors include 1) time and the agglomeration of learning which reduced learning rates of later entrants, and 2) the cumulating interaction of diffusion of knowledge and people flows from TNCs primarily through subsidiaryparent and supplier-customer links, and independent learning.