There is intensive research in knowledge management study for the private sector in Western countries. However, less research has been done for the public sector, and none has been done in the Chinese public sector. The motivation is that knowledge management issues in the public sector are much neglected in the Chinese public sector. Moreover, compared with knowledge management in the private sector, knowledge management in the public sector has received much less attention. This thesis investigates issues and difficulties and important factors in the process and the implementation of knowledge management for Chinese public organizations and to help them have a better understanding of the process of the knowledge management by developing a framework that is applicable to the Chinese public sector. To address issues and difficulties in the Chinese public sector, this study explored how knowledge management can be applied to the Chinese public organization context. This involves complicated social processes such as social relationships both in and outside the organization. This research takes a social constructionist paradigm, trying to understand and interpret the Chinese public managers' unique experiences, perceived values and embedded Chinese culture that can have great impact on the application of knowledge management to the Chinese public organization. In line with this philosophical stance, Forty three Customs officers in China Customs, mainly at middle or lower level of management, were involved in qualitative interview, with data analyzed through content analysis. The research findings indicate that China Customs has been engaging knowledge management activities all the time although there is no explicit mentioning of the term `knowledge management' and staff has insufficient perception and awareness of the concept of knowledge management. Its management style is strongly influenced by Chinese political system and the Chinese traditions. Therefore, to effectively manage knowledge, it is necessary to change the mindset of leaders and gain their support financially and morally in fostering a learning and knowledge sharing culture, developing a knowledge management strategy, training and rewarding people, and building an infrastructure for information technology. The study is an in-depth analysis of one large government organization's practice of knowledge management, which has not been studied before. Contributively, this study offers understanding of applying knowledge management to the Chinese public context. By drawing upon experience of Chinese public managers, it extends knowledge management theories and offers a contribution to practice grounded in the Chinese context. Significantly, this thesis develops a framework , consisting five activities of knowledge process and six identified important factors through literature review and interviews, by integrating factors into the whole knowledge management process, providing practical guidance for the Chinese public managers to inform how knowledge will be managed in the Chinese public sector.

Immigrant entrepreneurship is an important feature of the economy. With the growing numbers of visible ethnic minority communities, their presence in the labour market is of increasing importance in contemporary society. The Chinese are an under- researched group as documented by various authors and publications (Parker, 1994; Pang and Lau, 1998). The dissertation aims to address this failing. The Chinese are often associated with heavy concentration in the catering trade, in the form of restaurants and takeaways. The reason for this continued dominance is an interesting issue to explore. This thesis investigates the Chinese in Newcastle upon Tyne and their experiences, mainly within the catering trade, which offers both employment and self-employment opportunities. As will be revealed, this form of labour market participation can lead to social exclusion but at the same time, the creation of a stronger community. One possible element in the decision to enter self-employment is the existence of racial discrimination in the labour market. However, occupational choice is a more complex issue than simply an outcome of discrimination. The two principal research questions that guide this study are: 'Is self-employment a choice or a necessity?' and 'Does discrimination play a role in occupational choice?' An original and unique framework for analysis has been adopted based on prior knowledge held by the researcher by living the experiences as a member of the Chinese ethnic group. This stock of knowledge or indeed 'social capital' formed the basis for ideas and questions used in each of the three stages of research: self- completion questionnaires, semi-structured follow-up interviews and a focus group session. The implementation of these stages has been conducted in order to gain an understanding of the issues surrounding the two main research questions and to provide an insight into the experiences of the Chinese. However, due to the nature of voluntary responses in the chosen methodology, the research does not aim to generalise the Chinese community, as it remains a small-scale qualitative study.

The present thesis, motivated by controversies in the literature, investigates a series of empirical issues relating to mergers and acquisitions activity in the UK. More specifically, it seeks answers to the following questions: do mergers come in waves, and is there a significant relationship between the aggregate mergers and acquisitions activity, the business cycle and the stock market, both at aggregate and industrial level? Are the stock market mis-valuation and the market timing ability of manager among the driving forces behind merger waves? The focal point is the UK corporate control market over the last twenty years (1985-2005). The main results emerging from the empirical analysis indicate that there exist three distinctly different types of behaviour (regimes) in the series of mergers and acquisitions numbers, both at aggregate and industrial level. Moreover, the contemporaneous relationship between the mergers and acquisitions activity in the UK with the Stock Market and the aggregate economic activity (Business Cycle), is found to be significant, at aggregate level. Finally, consistent evidence which suggests that stock market mis-valuation and the market timing ability of manager is more likely to drive the corporate control market is provided.

This research seeks to provide a robust framework for dynamic capability building processes in the steel industry. These specific multifaceted routines represent the single-case main unit of analysis for the study. The existing body of knowledge within the Dynamic Capabilities View (DCV) assumes risk minimisation via establishment of extensive monitoring activities of external changes in combination with capability optimisation through renewal efforts. Using multiple sources of evidence such as semi-structured interviews with Russian senior managers based in the international steel sector and internal management reports, these main DCV principles were challenged and modified through particular industry application. Within the steel sector both dynamisms and complexity of the exercise mainly derive from internal factors rather than external changes. Furthermore, a key finding was identification of practical obstacles to dynamic capability building associated with the rather negative role of industry-specific path dependencies, questioning the appropriateness of focus on renewal aspects as emphasised in more traditional literature. The major contribution of the thesis is the development of a tentative framework for fluctuation control of resource value, impact of exogenous dynamics in combination with determination of contemporary valid time frames for future forecast. The presented framework outlines stumbling blocks to and major phases of routine development activities. Awareness of these factors may increase timely and full exploitation of available resource material and guide managerial establishment of respective capability practices. Additionally, the suggested process emphasises a clear distinction between quasi-static and dynamic elements within the overall building exercise. A further contribution concerns the role of mergers and acquisition (M&A) for the DCV. Affected by the requirement of rapid decision making and strategic responses to continuous flux, the importance of M&A for the process needs to be regarded as relatively low — mainly due to decreased flexibility and the long term integration approaches required for implementation of this particular method of external growth. The study concludes that, logically, the purpose of dynamic capabilities is not aimed at generation of competitive advantage but rather assistance with organisational survival within certain contexts.

This PHD by Published Work comprises single and jointly authored papers published between 2002 and 2008. These have sought to defend, apply and extend the work of moral philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre in the context of organisation theory and management studies (OT/MS). The specific contributions they have made are to provide the field of OT/MS with: 1. a thorough review of Maclntyre's thought on organisations and the literature that has used his thinking (publications 1,2,3,8) 2. defences of Maclntyre's position against misinterpretation in the literature (publications 2,3) 3. a rationale for and examples of empirical work that can be conducted within a Maclntyrean framework (publications 4,5,6) 4. an heuristic device through which to structure future work using a MacIntyrean framework (publication 7) An Introduction outlines the extant treatment of Macintyre's work within OT/MS in 2002 and identifies the contribution that the papers make within this context. The publications are considered in three broadly defined sections — defences of Maclntyre's work against misinterpretation, empirical applications of his 'goods — virtues — practices — institutions' framework and theoretical extensions to his work. The papers in these sections are briefly appraised in overviews of each. A Conclusion evaluates the contributions made by these papers and outlines their implications for the development of work in the future.

Market entry strategies of international franchising firms have been extensively researched. However, most of the studies focus on the cases of developed countries rather than developing countries. Since China adopted the open policy in 1978, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has grown rapidly and played an increasingly important role in contributing to the 9 percent of economic growth in the last two decades in China. Franchising, as an important entry method, has been adopted by many foreign investors to expand their business in China. Although the Chinese franchising market is still in its infancy, it creates tremendous opportunities for international franchisors. This thesis attempts to determine the factors associated with the international franchising firms' entry modes choices when these international franchisors enter the Chinese market and to find the relationships between these factors and decision of entry mode choice. To achieve these objectives, the positivist has been chosen as the philosophical stance for this research. Consisting with this research paradigm, a structured survey was undertaken as the main research method underlying quantitative research methodology. After a pilot study, 400 questionnaires were conducted by sampling international franchisors in China in the main research. Based on the five developed hypotheses, the determinants of franchising entry mode choice have been tested by using a logit model. The findings of this research reveal five important factors which dramatically influence international franchisors' entry mode choices in the Chinese markets. They are: culture and geographic distance, market operation experience, risk spreading, franchising system development stage and mature of the franchising system. Firstly, this study indicates that the less the cultural and geographic distance between the host and home country, the more likely the international franchising firms is to adopt direct franchising entry mode into Chinese market. Secondly, the richer experience the international franchisor, the more likely the firms is to adopt direct franchising entry mode into China. Thirdly, the higher the rate of the expansion of the franchising system, the more likely the firms is to adopt direct franchising entry mode in China. Fourthly, the more mature the international franchising system, the more likely the firms is to adopt direct franchising entry mode in China. Finally, the more consideration of risk spreading, the more likely the firms is to adopt direct franchising entry mode in China. This study offers a number of distinctive contributions from both academic and practical perspectives. Theoretically, this study has advanced the current literature of international franchising by examining cases in the emerging market of China and added more insights to the mainstream of franchising theories. Most importantly, it provides a guide to assist practitioners deciding their franchising entry modes effectively and offers valuable suggestions for policy makers in their foreign policy development regarding international franchisors' business operations in China. Significantly, this study provides timely information for academics and practitioners concerning the current status of international franchisors' business in the Chinese market.

In the Thailand market, many business practices and social life are closely interlinked through a complex network of social networks and relations, especially Small and Medium enterprises (SMEs) where the business owner hold the decision-making role and has the authority to control the company, deals with others based not just on cost- benefit economic considerations alone but also intertwined with social relationships, personal and business contacts. With the ever-changing market conditions and high competitive nature of Small and Medium enterprises (SMEs) in Thailand, where there is approximately 2.28 million SMEs in year 2006 or comprising of 99.4 percent of enterprise in Thailand (Office of Small and Medium Enterprise Promotion OSMEP, 2006), this number is increasing every each year, resulting in a highly competitive business environment. Thus, this results in the need for a more elaborate and active network management and connection which play an important role in the promotion of the competitive advantage of the firm. The knowledge of network and the competitive advantage it brings is well recognised in the literature of business network. To a certain extent, the business networking in Thailand market, as with most other countries in Asia-Pacific region where there exist a Chinese-influenced society, is influenced from a Chinese business network called 'Guanxi', but major questions have not been addressed by the literatures about the nature and the parallel to the Chinese form of 'Guanxi', its effectiveness, practice and operations for gaining competitive advantage in specific business segments of the Thailand market. The original perspective of the research aimed to extend the knowledge in the area of 'Guanxi' and business network for practical contribution to the particular instance of SMEs in Thailand context. This perspective generated on adopting the key principles of Guanxi knowledge into local practice of Thai SMEs for gaining business competitive advantage, and achieved by identifying, examining and developing the framework for particular SMEs business in Thailand. The author's research methodological approach focuses on examining the existing 'Guanxi' framework of the process of 'Guanxi' development (initiating, building and using of 'Guanxi') and the `Guanxi' building framework of Trust (Xin) and Feeling (Qing), as a starting point to further extend its implication in the context of the particular SME in Thailand. The author employed the 'Interactionism' perspective as a philosophical stance for the research with the research strategy of 'case study research'.

The use of knowledge between organisations in alliance networks has been the critical source of collectively creating and sustaining core competences. The awareness of the possible dynamic factors that influence, support, and outline the sharing of knowledge between organisations is necessary for the management of knowledge. This study explores the issues of the dynamics in alliance knowledge management. The investigation is focused on the areas that alliance partners can learn, the ways they learn, and the ways the learning happens in order to understand the characteristics of the dynamics, their roles in alliance knowledge systems and relationships between them. Relating to the research aim, the primary research investigates the case of knowledge sharing within airline alliance networks in Thailand. The investigation, which is based on the concept of social constructionism, employs muti-method research strategies. It is divided into three stages (qualitative, quantitative, and qualitative phases). From the three phases of the investigation, the empirical research has been done with participants from aviation related government organisations, the operational international airlines in Thailand, and the airline alliance networks in Thailand. The main findings of the study highlight the critical values to the alliance, the utilised leadership styles and the structure of alliance knowledge flow as the distinct characteristics of learning within alliances. The developed framework of the alliance learning system explains the existences of the dynamics and their possible roles. Moreover, the elaborations from the respondents enable the author to configure the structures of airline alliance knowledge flow in Thailand. In terms of roles and relationships of the dynamics, the outcomes indicate the critical dynamics frame and direct the knowledge interactions in alliance networks. These dynamics influence, screen and support other knowledge sharing factors such as individuals, the production of knowledge materials, and knowledge sharing channels. They are also challenged by other factors such as knowledge sharing reasons and stability, as well as the compatibility of the communication infrastructures between alliance partners. Besides, to synthesise the empirical evidence with Stonehouse and Pemberton (1999)' organisational learning framework, it shows that the natures of the critical dynamics are the main differences between intra and inter-organisational learning. Nevertheless, the results also suggest the similarities between intra and inter-organisational learning in terms of learning input and output factors, the formats of knowledge conversions in the learning process, and some characteristics of knowledge creation.

During the past two decades the activity-based costing (ABC) system has received a great deal of attention as a cost management innovation that may provide more accurate product costs than conventional cost allocation methods (Johnson 1987, Kaplan 1988, Cooper 1988a). Moreover, Favere-Marchesi (2001) stated that the ABC system is one of many such tools that have the potential to help Thai companies regain their competitive edge in an ever- growing world of contenders. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the implementation process of ABC systems in Thai organisations, particularly Thai State Enterprises (TSEs), in order to identify the factors influencing this implementation so as to make suggestions for its improvement. As part of this a theoretical framework for ABC implementation in Thai State Enterprises is developed. This study has two objectives: the first is to obtain a picture of cost accounting systems, both traditional costing systems and ABC systems in Thai organisations, as the preliminary of this study. The second objective is to trace the ABC implementation in selected Thai State Enterprises where ABC systems have been implemented. This will examine the development of the ABC implementation in four Thai State Enterprises, namely, Thai Plywood Company Limited (TPC), Metropolitan Electricity Authority (MEA), Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) and TOT Corporation (Public) Company Limited (TOT). The results from this study, after in-depth investigation, reveal a large number of sub-factors influencing implementations; however, these sub-factors were compiled as nine main factors including, (1) Top management support, (2) Computer systems, (3) Education and training, (4) ABC team, (5) Objectives of ABC implementation, (6) ABC implementation process, (7) Benefits of ABC implementation, (8) Problems with ABC implementation, and (9) Level of progress of ABC implementation. Finally, this study develops a theoretical framework for ABC implementation and is the first to empirically apply an implementation stage model to Thai State Enterprises.

This study examines the impact an empowerment strategy may have when applied to public sector employees delivering Environmental Services. The study employs a case study method as its central research strategy with ten sample local authorities chosen as strategic informants. The key issues considered were the relevance of the appropriate structure within the organisation, the importance of employee engagement, the impact of the management or leadership style, and the opportunity for implementation of an empowerment strategy. Primary data collection was through twenty eight semi-structured interviews including Heads of Service, Service Managers, Supervisors and Front Line Operational Employees. Secondary data included Best Value Reviews, Comprehensive Performance Assessments, as well as Annual Audit Inspection Letters specific to the chosen sample. The research findings support the assumption that an empowered and empowering workforce can contribute to service improvement and also support the assumptions that other key drivers must also be in place to enable and facilitate that improvement. The research recognises those additional key drivers as engagement, corporate ambition, leadership style, training, resources, external constraints, task complexity, rewards and levels of and opportunities for innovation that contribute to the performance level of the organisation. Some or all of these drivers are evident in the sample authorities both from assessment reports as well as interview data. The research findings also suggest that there are many interpretations of empowerment with the most common understanding being simply the opportunity to change the way things are done but only after prior consultation with line managers. Line managers in the study group wanted to voice support for empowerment but in reality their actions fell short of an explicit strategy with a clear definition. Involvement in decision making by the front line employees was evident but fell short of a declaration of empowerment. The golden thread of empowerment appears to be dangled just out of reach of this group. The study contributes to existing empowerment literature but also to the specific impact of empowerment in a public service environment. It is important because it focuses on a service area that is experienced and used by the vast majority of citizens. The impact of poor or declining environmental services as well as high quality and improving environmental services is immediately noticeable by all that experience it. It is a service where a strategy of empowerment should bring about a noticeable change in quality.