Purpose – Understanding student value in the Higher Education Sector has traditionally been conceptualised and measured using cognitive indicators, such as the National Student Survey (NSS). This thesis aims to build on the body of literature of service excellence, and alternative market sensing methods, such as the role of images and emotions in determining a deeper level of value for consumers. To apply a market sensing method to understand student value in an ever increasing complex environment, thus enabling a framework to develop differentiation in marketing strategy and communications for a University Business School. Design/methodology/approach – The focus for this inductive study was a Business School in which both undergraduate and post graduate students (n=24) were interviewed at depth, using a photo elicitation methodology based on Zaltman’s Metaphor Elicitation Technique, (ZMET) to explore their relationship with the business school and their real value. The process consisted of the candidate choosing a number of images, in-depth interview and then constructing emotion/value maps to elicit thoughts and feelings of value and relationship with the business school with respect to their stage of the journey. Findings – Results from the study found a number of emerging themes that were more significant at different stages of the transformational student journey. The study found that students resonated with similar images at respective stages of their programmes, and that a deeper level of understanding of the students emotional factors relating to their relationship with both the Business School and University, thus finding that an emotion based methodology was a better predictor of understanding student value, than cognitive measures of satisfaction such as National Student Survey (NSS). The findings from the ZMET based methodology also enabled better differentiation for market strategy, emotion based marketing communication and identified areas of operational process that could be improved through the internal marketing towards the internal customer. Originality/Value – The thesis establishes the need to use emotional depth methodologies when understanding the customer, to create differentiation in market strategy and customer driven market communications. This is the first time a Zaltman based methodology has been used in the UK Higher Education sector, specifically understanding student value. The thesis also contributes knowledge by extending the ZMET methodology with the development of a “Deep Value Mining” (DVM) depth gauge for understanding quality of data obtained through research methodologies understanding customer value. The research also created Emotional Value Maps (EVM) as a construct tool, creating a further extension to the ZMET methodology, to help researchers understand the association between value and emotion on a customer journey enabling the understanding of what’s really important to the participants of the research subject.

To achieve and maintain a superior competitive position, firms must develop market sensing capability-the ability to sense events and trends in markets ahead of competitors (Day 1994a). According to Day, in firms with superior market sensing capability, "the processes for gathering, interpreting, and using market information are more systematic, thoughtful, and anticipatory than in other firms" [emphasis added]. Although Day asserted that market orientation captures the essence of a market sensing capability, researchers have suggested that market orientation, by itself, does not provide the requisite ability to develop competitive advantage because of its focus on detecting rather than anticipating market trends. While prior research, most notably pertaining to market orientation, has addressed the detection of current market trends, a gap in our knowledge remains regarding the ability to anticipate future market conditions. This research seeks to address this lacuna by exploring a firm's market foresight capability, defined as the organizational capability that allows the firm to anticipate emerging shifts in the market before they are evident to competitors. Organizations possessing superior market foresight capability derive a multitude of benefits from having greater insight into future market conditions. These benefits include the ability to determine which future market trends warrant further exploration and exploitation, the identification of critical resources that will be needed in the future, and-of primary interest in this dissertation-the ability to develop new products that meet customer needs in the future. This research seeks to better inform managers as to the organizational characteristics that enhance the firm's ability to anticipate future markets by developing and testing a model of the antecedents and new product outcomes of a firm's market foresight capability. The constructs selected as determinants of market foresight capability are supported by dynamic capability theory, which focuses on the organization's information processes, learning culture, and coordination/integration influences that elevate lower-level capabilities of individuals and teams to an organization-level or dynamic capability. The organizational information processes that are hypothesized to positively impact market foresight capability include active scanning, market experimentation, and lead user collaboration. The impact of information processes on market foresight capability is contingent on an organization's learning culture (future orientation and learning orientation) and interdepartmental connectedness, which influence the coordination and integration of information between organizational actors. A firm's potential for long-term competitive advantage lies in using the insights resulting from its market foresight capability to create advantageous resource configurations. To create valuable resource configurations, the firm with superior market foresight capability must capitalize on its ability to anticipate change through the development of new product and service offerings that better serve the needs of customers. It is hypothesized that superior market foresight capability results in heightened new product creativity, faster speed to market, and better market-entry timing. These new product outcomes of market foresight capability are further hypothesized to lead to superior new product financial performance. Of course, firms cannot realize the hypothesized new product benefits unless they are able to capitalize on market opportunities. Therefore, the relationships between market foresight capability and new product outcomes are hypothesized to be contingent on organizational inertia.

Various academic disciplines have attempted to explain the factors underpinning superior economic performance. Generally they neglect the realities of small states. The literature fails to clearly define a small state . Mainstream theories associate smallness with sub-optimality . Small states studies tend to be conditioned by a vulnerability complex. Yet, a good number of small states have an economic track record which is the envy of much larger states. This thesis adopts an interdisciplinary approach to investigate the theoretical explanations of superior economic performance, at both the state and firm level. Resource-advantage theory, which claims to be a general theory of competition, offers valuable insights in understanding the superior economic performance of small states. The field research follows Porter (1998) in studying the performance of particular industries to understand the competitiveness of nations. A qualitative, case study approach, involving both primary and secondary investigation, explores the performance of the pharmaceutical industry in Malta following the country s decision to join the EU. This work perceives a small state as an organisation with well-defined, but permeable, boundaries. This open system is characterised by both a lack of market power and a small population. Through the secondary field research a small number of higher-order resources, competencies and dynamic capabilities (RCDCs) are identified. The field research s findings affirm the relevance of these arch-RCDCs in creating competitive advantage for the pharmaceutical industry in Malta. It also elucidates the key role played by an external catalyst, foreign direct investment, to circumvent domestic limitations. The study finds that it is still relevant to study small states and that achieving a strategic fit between the resource base and international market opportunities is essential if small states are to enhance their market power and achieve a superior economic performance.

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