As the landscape of UKHE undergoes yet another significant change, currently related to the funding of home students, the importance of a university’s international activities have been placed in a sharper focus. Although the direct economic impact of international student recruitment is of interest and importance, how institutions approach and organise themselves in relation to wider internationalisation is critical. This study has investigated in detail the internal barriers that exist to restrict or prevent that internationalisation process. A mixed methods approach, aligned with a realist ontology and pragmatist epistemology, has utilised a rigorous, sequential, three phase primary investigation. The earlier phases informing, although also allowing data to be transferred to other stages, the follow-on phases. An initial phase of content analysis of internationalisation strategies was utilised to identify the enablers to internationalisation and also to allow the formulation of a probability sampled questionnaire to staff involved with, and interested in, internationalisation. The phase two questionnaire results were then utilised to identify the barriers to internationalisation and to formulate detailed questions to be asked at a series of purposive sampled interviews, these interviews confirming the previously identified barriers. A series of internal barriers have been identified as follows; Resources; senior management support and leadership; staff interaction/engagement; use of a strategy and monitoring; complicated and over- bureaucratic procedures; internationally focused curriculum; internationalisation at home; staff and student mobility; communication and clarification. The degree of impact of these barriers will vary between institutions and suggestions have been made how to approach and deal with them. This study has therefore made a direct contribution to higher education practice but has also made a contribution to knowledge by utilising the sequential primary data gathering and closing the evident knowledge gap associated with the identification of the internal barriers to internationalisation of higher education in the UK.

This thesis explores individual gendered experiences of organisational elements impacting on knowledge creation processes of management consultants in an international management consultancy. There have been calls to gain further insights into knowledge creation by exploring the impact of social aspects such as work practices, participation and organisational conflict on knowing and learning processes. These calls have been addressed mainly by considering single aspects of the organisational context and their impact on knowledge creation processes or by considering a range of different aspects of the organisational context but neglecting their interrelationship. This current research explores management consultants’ experiences of various social aspects, which are understood as organisational elements, impacting on knowledge creation processes and the interrelationships between these aspects. According to the social-constructionist perspective on knowledge and learning, social interaction is integral to knowing and learning. Since gender is understood to impact on social interaction, in this thesis it is acknowledged that knowledge creation, which is inherent to knowing and learning processes, is influenced by gender. Previous research tended to neglect the impact of gender on individual experiences of knowledge creation processes. More recently, women’s inclusion and exclusion from knowledge creation processes in organisations has been explored through a theoretical analysis of a single organisational aspect, knowledge creation through networking. Drawing upon a social-constructionist perspective on knowing and learning and gender in organisations, this thesis contributes to theory in the area of knowledge creation and gender in organisations by placing special emphasis on the role of gender whilst exploring various key aspects of the organisational context impacting on individual experiences of knowledge creation processes. The theoretical potential of this research is developed through an exploratory case study of 15 men and women consultants working for the case study organisation. Through semi-structured interviews, accounts of individual gendered experiences of organisational elements impacting on knowledge creation processes were explored. Here, women, who have been neglected in previous research, received the same attention as men. New insights are offered by not only exploring women’s experiences and the potential differences between women’s and men’s experiences but also considering the differences within the women’s and men’s accounts. Following an autoethnographic approach this research also offers a view from the ‘inside’ by including the researcher’s own experiences as an insider management consultant, thus offering a further contribution. This thesis argues that career opportunities, individual acknowledgement within the organisational context, motivation and trustful relationships are key aspects impacting on knowledge creation experiences of women and men management consultants. These aspects are interlinked and impact on each other. The research offers career opportunities and individual acknowledgement as key influences to the field of knowledge creation. Further, it illustrates how individuals’ experiences of organisational elements that impact on knowledge creation processes in a knowledge-intensive organisation are gendered.

This thesis examines the determinants of student demand for higher education (HE) in Jordan with special attention devoted to the role of expected rates of return (ERRs) to HE. In the context of economic theory, mainly Human Capital Theory (HCT), earnings expectations lie at the heart of students' post-secondary education decisions. Therefore, the study is primarily based on final-year secondary school students' HE decisions and starting earnings expectations. The starting earnings expectations are critically analysed and used to construct short-cut ERRs to HE. Also, comparisons between expected starting earnings and actual public sector starting wage rates are carried out. The findings lend support to the economic explanations of demand and, in particular, the HCT predictions. Through applying logistic models, the study finds that ERRs influence students' post-secondary education decisions to enrol in HE positively. Students from low-income and large families are found to be less likely to consider continuing into HE. Consistent with the empirical literature, student academic ability is also reported to impact positively the likelihood to consider enrolment. Other variables such as parents' level of education and student's area of residence are proved not to be significantly associated with demand. Consumption value of education is greatly perceived, however, among both groups of the participants (i.e. those intending to undertake HE and those not). This indicates a weak prediction role of consumption motives in student demand for HE. Overall, the analysis also indicates a strong role of education in determining students' starting earnings expectations. Furthermore, the calculated ERRs show females to expect higher return from HE than males, a pattern matching with the most recent Jordanian study of rates of return (RORs) to education (Talafeh, 2003). However, students appear to be overoptimistic regarding starting earnings for both secondary education and HE. In this regard, the analysis suggests that students do not base their starting earnings expectations on the current actual wage rates, a finding to consider in future RORs and ERRs and their link with demand for HE studies in the context of Jordan. devoting more resources towards poor students, particularly those characterised with high-academic ability. Making students better-informed about HE and labour market return and conditions may also enhance the efficiency of individual decisions on HE and contribute to alleviating the mismatch between HE and the labour market in the country.

Purpose: This study aims to achieve two objectives. First, to explore the main concerns of corporate governance stakeholders in Nigeria, focusing on three broad fields of institutionalisation: political, social and economic. Second, to examine the coverage accorded to the main institutional influences in the primary code of corporate governance in Nigeria. Design/methodology/approach: Employing an intrepretivist research philosophy, the study adopts a qualitative research strategy. Data was collected using semi-structured, face-to-face interviews from three groups of stakeholders (executives, regulators and corporate governance consultants). Their responses and views were analysed using a qualitative content analysis (QCA) technique. Findings: In highlighting the main institutional elements driving corporate governance in Nigeria, this study revealed that individuals wield the power to influence existing institutions in developing countries. This contradicts the position in developed economies where the robustness of institutional frameworks acts as a constraint on the behaviour of economic agents. This thesis also show that the recognition accorded to the main institutional frames in the primary code of corporate governance is inadequate. Based on these findings, a bottom-up approach to corporate governance is proposed where the concerns of economic agents are prioritised, as a strategy for building sustainable institutional frameworks. Originality/value: The study reinforced the need to re-examine the basis of agency and institutional theories in the context of developing economies. The study also made a case for the re-evaluation of the significance of executives in agency theory literature regarding developing economies, relying on the level of economic sophistication and the general lack of knowledge by shareholders with respect to their rights. This observation will enrich the scholarship on agency and institutional theories as this study draws attention to alternative strategies for understanding agency (human institutionalism) and institutional (bottom-up approach) theories.

This is an investigation into the scope for applying continuous improvement (CI) to the process of new product development (NPD). The thesis makes two main contributions to knowledge. Firstly, it brings together the fields of continuous improvement of processes and NPD, which both have their own literature and research activity but have hitherto remained somewhat separated from each other. Secondly, it develops and tests an analytical model to support the implementation of CI within NPD.

Environmental impact reduction (EIR) in Product Development processes, can involve numerous elements and activities. In relation to business objectives, the strategic review and integration of environmental impact reduction should be considered a best practice development opportunity and a contribution towards longer term sustainability. It should be recognised that environmental impact reduction requirements are often complex and challenging for businesses to implement, especially for those companies lacking the knowledge and internal resources to address these activities. This has been found to be the case particularly with Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) where flexibility towards new approaches can be strategically more problematic, due to the limitations of available capital and resource. After a combination of literature review, industrial collaboration and data collection from within the manufacturing logistics systems of packaging for SME products, an opportunity was identified to develop a contemporary framework to integrate key critical environmental impact reductive activities, within adjoining New Product Development (NPD) activity. Engaging key activities of environmental impact reduction seamlessly into standardised NPD though a visual mapping process, can promote changes in current behaviour towards best practice development opportunities concerning environmental impact reduction. The contribution to new knowledge from this programme of research has been the development of an investigative framework for visually mapping the product development processes which provides manufacturing SMEs with an approach to capturing „visual snapshots‟ of their current engagement within environmental impact reductive activities. This visual mapping process addresses a range of company sizes and organisational behaviours to provide specific feedback and inform best practices for more sustainable NPD.

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Innovation is crucial for firms’ growth and competitiveness. Yet, because knowledge is a public good, firms may underinvest in innovation activities to avoid freeriding and opportunistic behaviour. Besides market failures, another cause of underinvestment in innovation is associated with the concept of systems failures, advanced in the literature on systems of innovation. Potential adverse effects of market and systems failures provide scope for government intervention designed to foster investment in innovation and bring about innovation activities at the socially optimal level. This thesis investigates the effectiveness of innovation policy for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by exploring whether public support has an "additionality" effect on their innovation activities. First, we investigate the impact of public support on innovation output (output additionality) in traditional manufacturing industries. Second, we focus on the effect of innovation support programmes on innovative behaviour, particularly on networking and cooperation for innovation among Spanish SMEs (behavioural additionality). Finally, we assess both output and behavioural additionality among European SMEs.

Humanitarian disasters are expected to increase 5-fold over the next 50 years. In 2010 a total of 385 separate disasters killed over 297,000 people worldwide, affected more than 217 million others and caused US$ 123.9 billion of economic damages. It is suggested that the scale of resource dedicated to logistics provision in response to disasters accounts for upwards of 80% of the total budget, hence humanitarian logistics both as a practice and a research topic is very much in the spotlight. Consequently, this research addresses what is argued to be the under-representation of humanitarian logistics in the literature and the associated lack of empirical research focussed on the management of the supply chain. Collaborative working has been promoted as a Silver Bullet in many areas of Supply Chain Management and is contended to be a mechanism to prevent organisations optimising solely their own results rather than integrating their goals and activities with others to benefit overall end user value. Collaborative techniques inherent within commercial supply chains have not been observed in the humanitarian relief chain. This study investigates why this is the case, as this lack of collaboration is reported to lead to inefficiency; which at worst results in increased humanitarian suffering and additional loss of life. Hence, the findings reveal ways to advance collaborative working within the humanitarian relief supply chain. Criticism is levelled at the predominance of quantitative methodologies in current research within humanitarian logistics. This study addresses this gap as well as the calls for more cross-organisational case studies within the field, by adopting a multi-case, qualitative approach based on the triangulation of data gathered during a series of in-depth interviews and focus groups across 4 separate humanitarian relief organisations. Data interpretation is through content analysis to identify specific patterns and themes. The research concerns itself with the response immediately following the onset of a disaster. This limited scope helps to address issues surrounding the generalisability of a purely qualitative approach whilst also maintaining control over data volume; however, there are still ample opportunities for significant theoretical and practical contribution. The findings identify specific barriers to collaborative working within the sector; in particular, themes and patterns within management and control, understanding and training, relationships, and military involvement have surfaced. Outcomes also have implications for commercial supply chain managers who are increasingly faced with challenges that no longer obey the traditional rules of forecast driven certainty and predictability, and are therefore, expected to adopt the more event driven, agile and flexible approaches that are already a reality for their humanitarian sector counterparts. The study concludes with the development of a conceptual generic model of the humanitarian supply chain that includes a number of significant issues which, if addressed will improve collaboration and thereby benefit overall efficiency and effectiveness to the general betterment of future relief provision.

The thesis examines life within large Danish companies affected by the global financial downturn. It does so from phenomenological-relational perspectives, as a counterpoint to the traditional, mechanical (Cartesian) ways of viewing structures, problems and processes leading to resolutions. In particular, the thesis dwells on the differences between “aboutness” and “withness” as criteria for judging how people behave in such companies, particularly at times when a CEO suddenly announces major and rapid change. The thesis attempts to shape some of the contours of a relational landscape - with different understandings of life and living. In that respect, it looks beyond models, tools and recipes as the only ways of evolving as companies move towards future survival.