This research aims to develop a realistic solution to enhance the efficiency of a transport logistics operation. The case study in this research is one of the largest agricultural suppliers in Northern Thailand. The cost of logistics in Thailand is relatively high compared to other countries, i.e. 11% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2007, and is particularly high in agricultural sector. The focus of the study is to enhance and improve transportation activities which typically account for the largest cost in logistics. The research is entitled ‘RFID enabled constraint based scheduling for transport logistics ’ The dissertation studies two important research components: 1) the data acquisition using Radio Frequency Identification Technology (RFID) for monitoring vehicles in a depot and 2) the scheduling by solving Constraint Satisfaction Optimisation Problem (CSOP) using Constraint Programming (CP). The scheduling problem of the research is to compose and schedule a fleet in which both private and subcontracting (outsourcing) vehicles are available, but to minimise the use of subcontractors. Several contributions from this study can be identified at each stage of the study ranging from extensively reviewing the literature, field studies, developing the RFID prototype system for vehicle tracking, modelling and solving the defined scheduling problems using Constraint Programming, developing a RFID-CP based real time scheduling, and validating the proposed methods. A number of validations are also carried out throughout the research. For instance, laboratory based experiments were conducted to measure the performance of the developed RFID tracking system in different configurations. Scenario tests were used to test the correctness of the proposed CP-based scheduling system, and structure interviews were used to collect feedbacks on the developed prototype from the case study company.

This thesis presents an exploration of the "purpose and process" of doctoral education and has twin, equally valuable, purposes: to make an original theoretical contribution and to improve professional practice in this area. This work addresses the lack of pedagogical research into doctoral education at a time when changing perspectives are reshaping the doctoral education landscape. A number of alternatives to the traditional research PhD now exist and this has generated debate as to the specific differences between the various programmes. This research explores the purpose and process of doctoral education from the perspective of the traditional PhD and the professional doctorate and uses Northumbria University as the case study institution. This research is timely since at Northumbria new doctoral programmes are being established and existing professional doctorate programmes are undergoing significant revisions to try and provide distinctive alternatives to the PhD. The current debates regarding the strengths and weaknesses of the PhD and professional doctorates are presented and three key processes of doctoral study are critically reviewed; knowledge generation, supervision and assessment. A distinguishing feature of this research is my own position within the research setting: I am both a DBA student and a member of staff involved with the delivery of doctoral programmes. Furthermore, the product of the research itself is enmeshed with the research topic and I introduce the concept of "compounded insiderness" to describe this situation. Methodologically, this has lead to the adoption of a constructivist ontological stance coupled with an interpretivist theoretical perspective for analysis. The subjectivity of this research and my influence on the research process has been acknowledged as a central feature, demonstrated through reflexive behaviour. The research strategy is inductive in nature with data generated through twenty-two ethically conducted interviews with purposively selected participants in the doctoral research community at Northumbria University. Software has been used to store, organise and manipulate the data that were then analysed using a combination of concept driven and data driven coding structured using Nigel King's template analysis method. Student perceptions were analysed separately within PhD and professional doctorate subgroups and then compared across the two programmes whereas the staff interview data were analysed as a whole. I argue that this research is highly transparent and has the potential to be transferable to other higher education intuitions. This research makes an original theoretical contribution by concluding that, at a broad level of comparison, the taught stage of the professional doctorate separates the routes initially but once the research phase is underway, the PhD and professional doctorate at Northumbria University overlap considerably. Where differences exist, these are subtle and more likely to be related to the purpose of the programmes rather than any tangible differences that would be experienced by students in terms of process. Staff may see the programmes as "notionally different", but the interpretation of the purpose of a professional doctorate is subject to debate, particularly with regard to "making an original contribution to knowledge" and the role of theory. As a consequence, this raises serious questions regarding assessment. Professional doctorates are caught in a difficult position, since they desire to be different to a PhD and to attract different candidates, but must maintain a level of academic parity in order to be attractive. This research aims to improve professional practice at Northumbria University by raising awareness of similarities and differences between the programmes and it has already made an impact in this respect.

Over reliance on fossil fuels, rising global population, industrialization, demands for a higher standard of living and transportation have caused alarming damage to the environment. If current trend continues then catastrophic damage to the earth and its environment may not be reversible. There is an urgent need to reduce the use of fossils fuels and substituting it with renewable energy sources such as wind, tidal and hydroelectric. Solar source seems to be the most promising due to its environmental friendly nature, portability and reliability. This source was examined in terms of microbusinesses such as SMEs including hair dressing salon, education centre, fried chicken outlet and printing shop. Small businesses account for a large proportion of the economy. The analysis developed could be applied to small business to show their contribution to the carbon footprint and how this could be reduced using solar energy. The proportions of their current electricity usage that could be substituted with solar cells were calculated. Combined these have a significant impact. These businesses were considered for UK and Iraq with the former being more amenable to solar energy implementation. Analysis of the four SMEs showed that the most energy intensive business was fried chicken take away using a large amount of electricity and the least energy intensive business was the education centre. In the latter in UK 57% of the electricity usage could be replaced by solar energy compared to Kurdistan, which generated a surplus energy that could be fed into the national grid. The gents groom hairdressing and blue apple businesses gave intermediate figures. Parallel conclusions were drawn regarding CO2 emissions released into the atmosphere with education centre being the most environmentally friendly and the fried chicken the least. In addition, a larger public space, an international airport data was analysed and the value of solar replacement demonstrated. The methodology and data analysis approach used may be implemented for other business units and larger public spaces such as hospitals, shopping complexes and football stadiums.

Higher education institutes (HEIs) and external employer organisations are increasingly recognising the benefits of engaging in work-based learning (WBL) partnerships. However, significant challenges associated with this form of engagement have meant such partnerships are not as widespread as they could be. One of the major challenges identified relates to organisational culture. The purpose of this study is to consider how WBL partnerships between an Irish HEI (HEI X) and external employer organisations can be enhanced by a deeper understanding of organisational culture. An ethnographic methodology combining a number of different data-gathering methods, including observation, reviewing of documents and interviews with eight HEI X staff, eight WBL learners and five employer representatives, was adopted. The findings reveal how cultural differences in relation to assumptions, timeframes, languages, objectives and general attitudes can be a source of difficulty for the three stakeholders (learner, employer and HEI). According to the findings, cultural issues within the HEI and external employer organisation can also create significant challenges when attempts are being made to initiate or coordinate a WBL partnership. Johnson’s cultural web (1988) is used as a framework to present the findings. The study makes a valuable contribution to knowledge by recognising the requirements of all three stakeholders and discussing the usefulness of the cultural web as a framework for considering organisational culture in WBL partnerships. The study also makes a valuable contribution to practice by presenting recommendations to the HEI and external employer organisation. The recommendations for the HEI involve a change in the “way we do things around here” due to the unique characteristics of WBL programmes, which may mean adapting existing policies, procedures and systems. Recommendations for the employer organisation include providing support to the learner, understanding and respecting the HEI’s requirements, and ensuring that internal policies, procedures, practices and priorities support WBL.

Golf does not have a long history in China, only being played in the last 20 years, and has been the subject of limited research. However, Chinese golf clubs have developed very fast and it is worthy of further research. The author worked in a Chinese golf club before she came to UK. She perceived there was a less than harmonious manager-employee interaction in the club, and the morale of employees was not high. It has been accepted the importance of enhancing the satisfaction of employees, especially customer-contact employees as they can significantly and positively influences customers' satisfaction. In order to improve satisfaction of customer contact employees—caddies, this research explores the role of caddy managers in internal service encounters between them and their caddies in the Chinese golf industry from an internal marketing perspective. The reason for adopting an internal marketing perspective is to create a service culture and help to establish customer consciousness. This research aims to explore the role of caddy managers in internal service encounters from an internal marketing perspective. This research is based on the following conceptual frameworks: internal marketing, service encounters, the symbolic interactionist perspective of role theory, and defining situation because a service encounter cannot take place in a vacuum, and must take place in a specific situation. From an internal marketing perspective, caddy managers are treated as their caddies' internal service providers, the process of constructing caddy managers' role is actually the process of constructing internal service quality. Thus it is vital to review literature on service quality. The two prominent models on service quality: the Nordic Model of service quality and the SERVQUAL model are adopted as the theoretical frameworks for this research. This research employs Crotty's four elements (epistemology, theoretical perspective, methodology and methods) to justify its soundness. Taking the social constructionist epistemology, this research seeks to understand the meaning constructed by manager-employee interactions and how these meanings have led to specific internal service encounter behaviour. The interpretivists' paradigm embedded in symbolic interactionism is adopted as the theoretical perspective. Qualitative case study methodology, critical incident technique and storytelling are used as the research methods to collect data. In order to make sense of the data, narrative analysis is used to interpret the constructions of managers and caddies from their interactions. This study included 23 participants (four caddy managers and 19 caddies) from two Chinese golf clubs. It has yielded 59 internal service encounters categorised into four types, covering most of the situations where interactions between caddies and their managers take place. The nine dimensions were found to construct the role of caddy mangers in internal service encounters between caddies and caddy managers. They are reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, communication, consideration, fairness, recognition, and flexibility. Due to the specific research context, they have some differences from and similarities to the five dimension of the SERQUAL model and the seven criteria of the Nordic model of service quality. Further, an onion model of the role of caddy managers in internal service encounters was developed that could help the manager to understand their role in interacting with caddies, and to improve their service quality to caddies. This research has contributed to professional practice. In that it could help to improve golfers' satisfaction by improvement of caddies' satisfaction; and it uses the internal marketing perspective to help organizations to develop service orientation culture. This research has also contributed to theory. That is, it explored service encounters from two perspectives (the view of service providers and of customers).

This study investigates the interactions between the employment relationship and the employee rewards system. There is an implied and broadly accepted connection between these aspects of organisational life, yet the connection has not been clearly developed within either the employment relations or employee rewards literature. Employment relations research commonly prioritises certain features: organisational context; parties’ ideologies; processes concerning the interaction of the parties; and outcomes of the relationship. This study attempts to be located in this tradition: it regards rewards as an outcome of the employment relationship. However, whilst many studies of this type have tended to emphasise the interaction of isolated features, this study attempts to theorise the nature of the interactions between the reward outcomes and the other features of the relationship in a holistic manner. The study begins from an ontologically realist view of the employment relationship and employee rewards; however, it also acknowledges that these social facts are interpreted by parties, and that these interpretations are significant. The study adopts many of the features of mainstream employment relations research, reflected in a pluralist theoretical perspective. A predominantly inductive, multi-method, case study research strategy is utilised, focussing upon two unionised, private sector, manufacturing organisations. Data is collected from the parties to the employment relationship using research instruments derived from two primary conceptual models: Walton & McKersie’s (1965) behavioural bargaining framework, and Gomez-Mejia and Balkin’s (1992) algorithmic-experiential model of rewards. Analysis of this data indicates substantial commonality between the cases and suggests a complex set of interactions between the features of the employment relationship and employee reward outcomes. Key findings indicate the importance of understanding parties’ reward preferences as they provide insight regarding: the formulation of parties’ ideologies; the effectiveness of processes; and the interpretation of reward outcomes.

This study investigates the acculturation and consumer complaint behaviours (CCB) of East-Asian students at Northumbria University, located in North-East England. Approximately 70,000 East-Asians are currently enrolled for graduate study in the UK. However, little is known about their adaptation to an unfamiliar culture, and their complaint behaviours when placed in such an environment. In particular, there is a need to understand the complaint behaviours of East-Asian students in the context of Higher Education. For both acculturation and CCB a literature survey included the key theoretical frameworks and variables that can impact upon both concepts, leading to the development of four research questions that provided the focus for the data collection process. The first research question investigated if a relationship exists between the acculturation style adopted by East-Asian students and their complaint behaviours. From here, the additional research questions focused on respondent's acculturation and CCB experiences throughout their sojourn. The study utilised a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods to ensure all research questions were addressed. Initially, an online survey was administered, followed by a number of semi-structured interviews with a sample of survey respondents. Survey results suggest only weak correlations between acculturation styles and complaint behaviours: those who integrate into UK culture show a higher propensity to publicly complain (e.g. write to lecturers), whilst those who separate themselves from other cultures are more likely to do nothing in response to dissatisfactory experiences. A general willingness to publicly voice concerns over university performance is moderated by fears that complaints may compromise final degree classifications. In terms of cultural adaptation, the greatest challenges faced were functional in nature (e.g. opening bank accounts), and respondents reported a lack of interaction with local students which limited opportunities to improve their English language ability. This study advances the understanding of the East-Asian student experience, is the first to consider if acculturation is a relevant variable in the complaint behaviour process and also draws attention to the importance of student complaints as a major issue in student retention.

This study explores the ways figures of speech such as metaphors, puns and alliteration contribute to the creation of tourism images in print advertising. Extensive research has been conducted within the areas of advertising, tourism and linguistics. However, little has been done to emphasise the importance of textual analysis. The majority of the research used the more common visual semiotics approach in tourism. This study provides a detailed analysis of the figures of speech in tourism advertising. The choice of the above figures of speech was dictated by the previous research indicating the significant use of those devices in advertising. As no similar studies were conducted earlier, it was logical to start with the examination of the most frequently used figures of speech. Qualitative content analysis of 600 advertisements, selected from a range of sources, was carried out. The purpose was to find common patterns between the figures of speech used in the 1970s and 2000-2008, identify the links between advertised products and individual figures of speech and finally to explore how the interpretation process occurs when ambiguity takes place. This would lead to more in-depth understanding of the position of figures of speech in tourism advertising. Pragmatic approach, a branch of linguistics, was also implemented to explain the interpretation process. Textual analysis of puns, metaphors and alliteration reveals some concerns over the use of these devices when addressing potential consumers. Metaphors and puns are able to influence existing textual meanings carrying different degrees of ambiguity. Complex use of language devices might cause difficulties in its comprehension. Consumers require more information about the advertised products as their awareness and competence have increased. Growing legislation, development of new information technology devices, globalisation of the markets and growing consumer competence make the task of advertisers challenging and difficult. Creating new figures of speech, advertisers have to be aware of the consequential issues within their comprehension. Although Relevance Theory, a part of pragmatics, successfully explains the interpretation and derivation of ambiguous meanings, there are still numerous meanings expressed in advertising and advertisers leave the responsibility of correct interpretation for recipients. Low numbers of puns indicate that although tourism activity is associated with an enjoyment and pleasure, the satisfaction from resolving the pun is not always appreciated by readers. From another side, alliteration does not require any interpretation and thus cannot be misled, as no semantic meaning is involved. Hence, alliteration has more potential to succeed in the advertising communication. This thesis contributes to knowledge in theoretical and methodological concepts within tourism advertising depiction via linguistic devices and hopes to generate some further discussion within this area. The major contribution of this research lies in the detailed analysis of figures of speech used in tourism advertising. This work appears to be the first substantial attempt to undertake this linguistic approach.

Nepalese banks have witnessed a considerable shift in recent years towards its loans and advances by focussing on consumer credit. The traditional method of evaluating applicants that is based on the judgmental system is increasingly becoming inappropriate for the large volume of applicants. As a result of the shift in the lending market and the increased emphasis placed by the regulator on risk management, Nepalese banks have to rethinking on the way they assess their applicants for credit. Traditionally, the credit decision whether to accept/reject an applicant has been based on the subjective evaluation of the credit application forms and supporting documents. The literature advocates an objective approach on the lines of credit scoring which is fast, reliable, consistent and risk-based. On the strengths of this argument, this thesis presents the qualitative and quantitative considerations including issues relating to data capture, model development and implementation of a formal credit scoring model within the Nepalese Banking sector. The questionnaire was administered with the non-managerial level staff, the respondents in the expert interviews were managerial level staff and the database for model development were taken from a home loans customer database of a typical Nepalese bank. The findings of this work point to the fact that it is possible to develop such an objective model using six key characteristics and jointly produce a model that will predict the quality of loan with an acceptable degree of confidence.

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