The literature emphasises the need to integrate innovation initiatives under the umbrella of the total quality management (TQM) philosophy. Such integration is instrumental towards achieving and sustaining a superior organisational performance. Using a sample of 229 Portuguese manufacturing organisations, factor and regression analyses procedures were used to assess the impact on organisational performance of innovation for small and large organisations in the Portuguese TQM business context. The results of this study point to the significance of the size of the organisation, and product and process innovations for organisational performance. Organisational innovation was not found to have a significant impact on organisational performance. These results might be attributed to specific ownership, which is associated with process and product innovation. Based on the results of this study, it is concluded that small organisations might want to consider directing their innovation investments towards management aspects such as processes and products. In this context, top-down organisational innovation might take more time and effort.

ABSTRACT This dissertation examines the design and implementation of Malaysia's national Information Technology (IT) policy with a focus on the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) project. Qualitative research methods, including in-depth interviews, document analysis and literature analysis, were used to build an understanding of the development of the MSC. The analysis adopts a holistic approach that draws upon the multidisciplinary perspectives of complex adaptive systems in order to understand how social, economic, political and institutional forces interact in a changing environment. This research contributes a policy framework called Goal-Policy-Implementation-Outcome (GPIO), which is used to understand, describe and assess the MSC policy design and methods. It is one of the first public studies of the MSC and one of very few complex systems analyses of a socio-economic system in a developing country. It has been argued that many countries around the world are competing rapidly to produce 'visionary' reports and policy statements on the future of their nations and societies in the 'Information Age'. This is due to the belief that IT can play critical role in stimulating the socio-economic growth of the countries. In Malaysia, the government embarked on an ambitious program to establish the MSC as an attempt to achieve Vision 2020, a national vision and Malaysia's statement of national goals that articulates the country's objective for developed-nation status, while moving towards the creation of an information-rich society by the year 2020. Despite the importance of national IT policies and the major commitment of resources to implement them, there are few critical studies of the positive and negative impacts of 'post-industrial' or 'information society' policy, particularly in the developing countries like Malaysia. This study seeks in part to fill this gap by providing a critical assessment of a Malaysian national IT policy. This research argues that IT policy for national development must be viewed holistically, taking into consideration innovations needed in the social, economic, political and institutional spheres, rather than taking limited view of IT as an economic growth engine. This is a paradigm shift that represents a movement from the traditional worldview (TWV), that was based on the Cartesian/Newtonian paradigm into new ways of thinking and action that is labelled here as the emerging worldview (EMV). The EMV is grounded in complexity theory, an interdisciplinary endeavour that draws upon ideas from a number of fields and seeks to understand and model systems with many interacting parts. This approach can help policy makers and analysts to understand, assess and develop a more balanced and comprehensive policy for the evolution of new technology such as IT and to tackle the complexity of socio-economic change of a dynamic real world setting. The data collection method is from in-depth, open-ended interviews and document analysis. This qualitative exploratory approach was chosen to understand and capture the points of view of other people without specifically limiting the lines of inquiry through questionnaires etc. This research was influenced by multiple theoretical frameworks, because taking one framework alone in analysing the complex issues involved in ICT would not provide a comprehensive understanding of the interplay of the socio-technical and techno-economic paradigms. This resulted in the contribution of a policy framework called Goal-Policy-Implementation-Outcome (GPIO), which is used to understand, describe and assess the MSC policy design and method. This research found that the MSC policy plan and process were not working as intended to achieve the goals of Vision 2020. The strategy of clustering businesses in one physical location to establish synergy did not work as anticipated because: (1) Cyberjaya was not yet fully ready with all the necessary people, infrastructure and community since many basic amenities have yet to be competed; (2) The distance of Cyberjaya to key cities were perceived to be too far; (3) Operational costs in Cyberjaya were perceived as high; (4) The Cyberjaya ecosystem lacks attractive incentives; and (5) Most of the current and potential MSC firms, customers and suppliers were already located outside Cyberjaya with existing networks of people and facilities in other locations. (6) The current environment of the MSC was also found not to be conducive to facilitating a self-organizing system due to the lack of a wide consultative and participatory process. Consequently, drastic changes to the organizational structure and behaviour are needed before success can happen. It was found that the key challenges and barriers to the transformation process in and through the MSC lie in the nature of the existing mindset, the operational practice, culture and power structural arrangements within and among the policy, people and institutions of the MSC. Discussion on the MSC tends to be centred on the technological and commercial without recognizing that technological change relies on concomitant social and political shifts. By succumbing to technology driven views and 'information society' rhetoric, policy makers are allowing real economic and social choices to be smothered. This dissertation argues that instead of presenting technology as something which is external to the society, with a dynamics of its own, and to which society must learn to adapt, effective debate about new technology must acknowledge the related political choices, power relationships and value judgments about the shape and direction of the society using the technology. Consequently, there is an urgent need to develop policies to ensure that the economic benefits and social engineering associated with Malaysia’s knowledge economy are managed through participatory and partnership methods at all levels of the country. This research has shown that complex systems analysis can lay the groundwork for a new approach that more accurately represents societal choices and outcomes than past approaches. Few researchers have undertaken complex systems analyses of social systems, with still fewer examining the context of a national public IT policy in a developing country like Malaysia. Further, there are very few thorough public studies done of the MSC itself, with most studies on the MSC either being done in confidence and/or being conducted by foreign consultants appointed by the government or by the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDC). As such, public accessibility to critical studies on the MSC or public documents on them is rarely available. This research, if not the first, is one of the first attempts made to provide a thorough constructive critical study on the MSC policy project since its official launch in 1996. It is also, if not the first, one of the first attempts made to apply the emerging paradigm or the new science of complexity in a real world national policy case study, specifically the MSC policy project. Moreover, there is a huge lacking of research done on behalf of 'marginalized communities'. This research is not carried out on behalf of private enterprise or national governments but rather it is done on behalf of its citizens.

ABSTRACT This dissertation examines the design and implementation of Malaysia's national Information Technology (IT) policy with a focus on the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) project. Qualitative research methods, including in-depth interviews, document analysis and literature analysis, were used to build an understanding of the development of the MSC. The analysis adopts a holistic approach that draws upon the multidisciplinary perspectives of complex adaptive systems in order to understand how social, economic, political and institutional forces interact in a changing environment. This research contributes a policy framework called Goal-Policy-Implementation-Outcome (GPIO), which is used to understand, describe and assess the MSC policy design and methods. It is one of the first public studies of the MSC and one of very few complex systems analyses of a socio-economic system in a developing country. It has been argued that many countries around the world are competing rapidly to produce 'visionary' reports and policy statements on the future of their nations and societies in the 'Information Age'. This is due to the belief that IT can play critical role in stimulating the socio-economic growth of the countries. In Malaysia, the government embarked on an ambitious program to establish the MSC as an attempt to achieve Vision 2020, a national vision and Malaysia's statement of national goals that articulates the country's objective for developed-nation status, while moving towards the creation of an information-rich society by the year 2020. Despite the importance of national IT policies and the major commitment of resources to implement them, there are few critical studies of the positive and negative impacts of 'post-industrial' or 'information society' policy, particularly in the developing countries like Malaysia. This study seeks in part to fill this gap by providing a critical assessment of a Malaysian national IT policy. This research argues that IT policy for national development must be viewed holistically, taking into consideration innovations needed in the social, economic, political and institutional spheres, rather than taking limited view of IT as an economic growth engine. This is a paradigm shift that represents a movement from the traditional worldview (TWV), that was based on the Cartesian/Newtonian paradigm into new ways of thinking and action that is labelled here as the emerging worldview (EMV). The EMV is grounded in complexity theory, an interdisciplinary endeavour that draws upon ideas from a number of fields and seeks to understand and model systems with many interacting parts. This approach can help policy makers and analysts to understand, assess and develop a more balanced and comprehensive policy for the evolution of new technology such as IT and to tackle the complexity of socio-economic change of a dynamic real world setting. The data collection method is from in-depth, open-ended interviews and document analysis. This qualitative exploratory approach was chosen to understand and capture the points of view of other people without specifically limiting the lines of inquiry through questionnaires etc. This research was influenced by multiple theoretical frameworks, because taking one framework alone in analysing the complex issues involved in ICT would not provide a comprehensive understanding of the interplay of the socio-technical and techno-economic paradigms. This resulted in the contribution of a policy framework called Goal-Policy-Implementation-Outcome (GPIO), which is used to understand, describe and assess the MSC policy design and method. This research found that the MSC policy plan and process were not working as intended to achieve the goals of Vision 2020. The strategy of clustering businesses in one physical location to establish synergy did not work as anticipated because: (1) Cyberjaya was not yet fully ready with all the necessary people, infrastructure and community since many basic amenities have yet to be competed; (2) The distance of Cyberjaya to key cities were perceived to be too far; (3) Operational costs in Cyberjaya were perceived as high; (4) The Cyberjaya ecosystem lacks attractive incentives; and (5) Most of the current and potential MSC firms, customers and suppliers were already located outside Cyberjaya with existing networks of people and facilities in other locations. (6) The current environment of the MSC was also found not to be conducive to facilitating a self-organizing system due to the lack of a wide consultative and participatory process. Consequently, drastic changes to the organizational structure and behaviour are needed before success can happen. It was found that the key challenges and barriers to the transformation process in and through the MSC lie in the nature of the existing mindset, the operational practice, culture and power structural arrangements within and among the policy, people and institutions of the MSC. Discussion on the MSC tends to be centred on the technological and commercial without recognizing that technological change relies on concomitant social and political shifts. By succumbing to technology driven views and 'information society' rhetoric, policy makers are allowing real economic and social choices to be smothered. This dissertation argues that instead of presenting technology as something which is external to the society, with a dynamics of its own, and to which society must learn to adapt, effective debate about new technology must acknowledge the related political choices, power relationships and value judgments about the shape and direction of the society using the technology. Consequently, there is an urgent need to develop policies to ensure that the economic benefits and social engineering associated with Malaysia’s knowledge economy are managed through participatory and partnership methods at all levels of the country. This research has shown that complex systems analysis can lay the groundwork for a new approach that more accurately represents societal choices and outcomes than past approaches. Few researchers have undertaken complex systems analyses of social systems, with still fewer examining the context of a national public IT policy in a developing country like Malaysia. Further, there are very few thorough public studies done of the MSC itself, with most studies on the MSC either being done in confidence and/or being conducted by foreign consultants appointed by the government or by the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDC). As such, public accessibility to critical studies on the MSC or public documents on them is rarely available. This research, if not the first, is one of the first attempts made to provide a thorough constructive critical study on the MSC policy project since its official launch in 1996. It is also, if not the first, one of the first attempts made to apply the emerging paradigm or the new science of complexity in a real world national policy case study, specifically the MSC policy project. Moreover, there is a huge lacking of research done on behalf of 'marginalized communities'. This research is not carried out on behalf of private enterprise or national governments but rather it is done on behalf of its citizens.

ABSTRACT This dissertation examines the design and implementation of Malaysia's national Information Technology (IT) policy with a focus on the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) project. Qualitative research methods, including in-depth interviews, document analysis and literature analysis, were used to build an understanding of the development of the MSC. The analysis adopts a holistic approach that draws upon the multidisciplinary perspectives of complex adaptive systems in order to understand how social, economic, political and institutional forces interact in a changing environment. This research contributes a policy framework called Goal-Policy-Implementation-Outcome (GPIO), which is used to understand, describe and assess the MSC policy design and methods. It is one of the first public studies of the MSC and one of very few complex systems analyses of a socio-economic system in a developing country. It has been argued that many countries around the world are competing rapidly to produce 'visionary' reports and policy statements on the future of their nations and societies in the 'Information Age'. This is due to the belief that IT can play critical role in stimulating the socio-economic growth of the countries. In Malaysia, the government embarked on an ambitious program to establish the MSC as an attempt to achieve Vision 2020, a national vision and Malaysia's statement of national goals that articulates the country's objective for developed-nation status, while moving towards the creation of an information-rich society by the year 2020. Despite the importance of national IT policies and the major commitment of resources to implement them, there are few critical studies of the positive and negative impacts of 'post-industrial' or 'information society' policy, particularly in the developing countries like Malaysia. This study seeks in part to fill this gap by providing a critical assessment of a Malaysian national IT policy. This research argues that IT policy for national development must be viewed holistically, taking into consideration innovations needed in the social, economic, political and institutional spheres, rather than taking limited view of IT as an economic growth engine. This is a paradigm shift that represents a movement from the traditional worldview (TWV), that was based on the Cartesian/Newtonian paradigm into new ways of thinking and action that is labelled here as the emerging worldview (EMV). The EMV is grounded in complexity theory, an interdisciplinary endeavour that draws upon ideas from a number of fields and seeks to understand and model systems with many interacting parts. This approach can help policy makers and analysts to understand, assess and develop a more balanced and comprehensive policy for the evolution of new technology such as IT and to tackle the complexity of socio-economic change of a dynamic real world setting. The data collection method is from in-depth, open-ended interviews and document analysis. This qualitative exploratory approach was chosen to understand and capture the points of view of other people without specifically limiting the lines of inquiry through questionnaires etc. This research was influenced by multiple theoretical frameworks, because taking one framework alone in analysing the complex issues involved in ICT would not provide a comprehensive understanding of the interplay of the socio-technical and techno-economic paradigms. This resulted in the contribution of a policy framework called Goal-Policy-Implementation-Outcome (GPIO), which is used to understand, describe and assess the MSC policy design and method. This research found that the MSC policy plan and process were not working as intended to achieve the goals of Vision 2020. The strategy of clustering businesses in one physical location to establish synergy did not work as anticipated because: (1) Cyberjaya was not yet fully ready with all the necessary people, infrastructure and community since many basic amenities have yet to be competed; (2) The distance of Cyberjaya to key cities were perceived to be too far; (3) Operational costs in Cyberjaya were perceived as high; (4) The Cyberjaya ecosystem lacks attractive incentives; and (5) Most of the current and potential MSC firms, customers and suppliers were already located outside Cyberjaya with existing networks of people and facilities in other locations. (6) The current environment of the MSC was also found not to be conducive to facilitating a self-organizing system due to the lack of a wide consultative and participatory process. Consequently, drastic changes to the organizational structure and behaviour are needed before success can happen. It was found that the key challenges and barriers to the transformation process in and through the MSC lie in the nature of the existing mindset, the operational practice, culture and power structural arrangements within and among the policy, people and institutions of the MSC. Discussion on the MSC tends to be centred on the technological and commercial without recognizing that technological change relies on concomitant social and political shifts. By succumbing to technology driven views and 'information society' rhetoric, policy makers are allowing real economic and social choices to be smothered. This dissertation argues that instead of presenting technology as something which is external to the society, with a dynamics of its own, and to which society must learn to adapt, effective debate about new technology must acknowledge the related political choices, power relationships and value judgments about the shape and direction of the society using the technology. Consequently, there is an urgent need to develop policies to ensure that the economic benefits and social engineering associated with Malaysia’s knowledge economy are managed through participatory and partnership methods at all levels of the country. This research has shown that complex systems analysis can lay the groundwork for a new approach that more accurately represents societal choices and outcomes than past approaches. Few researchers have undertaken complex systems analyses of social systems, with still fewer examining the context of a national public IT policy in a developing country like Malaysia. Further, there are very few thorough public studies done of the MSC itself, with most studies on the MSC either being done in confidence and/or being conducted by foreign consultants appointed by the government or by the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDC). As such, public accessibility to critical studies on the MSC or public documents on them is rarely available. This research, if not the first, is one of the first attempts made to provide a thorough constructive critical study on the MSC policy project since its official launch in 1996. It is also, if not the first, one of the first attempts made to apply the emerging paradigm or the new science of complexity in a real world national policy case study, specifically the MSC policy project. Moreover, there is a huge lacking of research done on behalf of 'marginalized communities'. This research is not carried out on behalf of private enterprise or national governments but rather it is done on behalf of its citizens.

ABSTRACT This dissertation examines the design and implementation of Malaysia's national Information Technology (IT) policy with a focus on the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) project. Qualitative research methods, including in-depth interviews, document analysis and literature analysis, were used to build an understanding of the development of the MSC. The analysis adopts a holistic approach that draws upon the multidisciplinary perspectives of complex adaptive systems in order to understand how social, economic, political and institutional forces interact in a changing environment. This research contributes a policy framework called Goal-Policy-Implementation-Outcome (GPIO), which is used to understand, describe and assess the MSC policy design and methods. It is one of the first public studies of the MSC and one of very few complex systems analyses of a socio-economic system in a developing country. It has been argued that many countries around the world are competing rapidly to produce 'visionary' reports and policy statements on the future of their nations and societies in the 'Information Age'. This is due to the belief that IT can play critical role in stimulating the socio-economic growth of the countries. In Malaysia, the government embarked on an ambitious program to establish the MSC as an attempt to achieve Vision 2020, a national vision and Malaysia's statement of national goals that articulates the country's objective for developed-nation status, while moving towards the creation of an information-rich society by the year 2020. Despite the importance of national IT policies and the major commitment of resources to implement them, there are few critical studies of the positive and negative impacts of 'post-industrial' or 'information society' policy, particularly in the developing countries like Malaysia. This study seeks in part to fill this gap by providing a critical assessment of a Malaysian national IT policy. This research argues that IT policy for national development must be viewed holistically, taking into consideration innovations needed in the social, economic, political and institutional spheres, rather than taking limited view of IT as an economic growth engine. This is a paradigm shift that represents a movement from the traditional worldview (TWV), that was based on the Cartesian/Newtonian paradigm into new ways of thinking and action that is labelled here as the emerging worldview (EMV). The EMV is grounded in complexity theory, an interdisciplinary endeavour that draws upon ideas from a number of fields and seeks to understand and model systems with many interacting parts. This approach can help policy makers and analysts to understand, assess and develop a more balanced and comprehensive policy for the evolution of new technology such as IT and to tackle the complexity of socio-economic change of a dynamic real world setting. The data collection method is from in-depth, open-ended interviews and document analysis. This qualitative exploratory approach was chosen to understand and capture the points of view of other people without specifically limiting the lines of inquiry through questionnaires etc. This research was influenced by multiple theoretical frameworks, because taking one framework alone in analysing the complex issues involved in ICT would not provide a comprehensive understanding of the interplay of the socio-technical and techno-economic paradigms. This resulted in the contribution of a policy framework called Goal-Policy-Implementation-Outcome (GPIO), which is used to understand, describe and assess the MSC policy design and method. This research found that the MSC policy plan and process were not working as intended to achieve the goals of Vision 2020. The strategy of clustering businesses in one physical location to establish synergy did not work as anticipated because: (1) Cyberjaya was not yet fully ready with all the necessary people, infrastructure and community since many basic amenities have yet to be competed; (2) The distance of Cyberjaya to key cities were perceived to be too far; (3) Operational costs in Cyberjaya were perceived as high; (4) The Cyberjaya ecosystem lacks attractive incentives; and (5) Most of the current and potential MSC firms, customers and suppliers were already located outside Cyberjaya with existing networks of people and facilities in other locations. (6) The current environment of the MSC was also found not to be conducive to facilitating a self-organizing system due to the lack of a wide consultative and participatory process. Consequently, drastic changes to the organizational structure and behaviour are needed before success can happen. It was found that the key challenges and barriers to the transformation process in and through the MSC lie in the nature of the existing mindset, the operational practice, culture and power structural arrangements within and among the policy, people and institutions of the MSC. Discussion on the MSC tends to be centred on the technological and commercial without recognizing that technological change relies on concomitant social and political shifts. By succumbing to technology driven views and 'information society' rhetoric, policy makers are allowing real economic and social choices to be smothered. This dissertation argues that instead of presenting technology as something which is external to the society, with a dynamics of its own, and to which society must learn to adapt, effective debate about new technology must acknowledge the related political choices, power relationships and value judgments about the shape and direction of the society using the technology. Consequently, there is an urgent need to develop policies to ensure that the economic benefits and social engineering associated with Malaysia’s knowledge economy are managed through participatory and partnership methods at all levels of the country. This research has shown that complex systems analysis can lay the groundwork for a new approach that more accurately represents societal choices and outcomes than past approaches. Few researchers have undertaken complex systems analyses of social systems, with still fewer examining the context of a national public IT policy in a developing country like Malaysia. Further, there are very few thorough public studies done of the MSC itself, with most studies on the MSC either being done in confidence and/or being conducted by foreign consultants appointed by the government or by the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDC). As such, public accessibility to critical studies on the MSC or public documents on them is rarely available. This research, if not the first, is one of the first attempts made to provide a thorough constructive critical study on the MSC policy project since its official launch in 1996. It is also, if not the first, one of the first attempts made to apply the emerging paradigm or the new science of complexity in a real world national policy case study, specifically the MSC policy project. Moreover, there is a huge lacking of research done on behalf of 'marginalized communities'. This research is not carried out on behalf of private enterprise or national governments but rather it is done on behalf of its citizens.

ABSTRACT This dissertation examines the design and implementation of Malaysia's national Information Technology (IT) policy with a focus on the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) project. Qualitative research methods, including in-depth interviews, document analysis and literature analysis, were used to build an understanding of the development of the MSC. The analysis adopts a holistic approach that draws upon the multidisciplinary perspectives of complex adaptive systems in order to understand how social, economic, political and institutional forces interact in a changing environment. This research contributes a policy framework called Goal-Policy-Implementation-Outcome (GPIO), which is used to understand, describe and assess the MSC policy design and methods. It is one of the first public studies of the MSC and one of very few complex systems analyses of a socio-economic system in a developing country. It has been argued that many countries around the world are competing rapidly to produce 'visionary' reports and policy statements on the future of their nations and societies in the 'Information Age'. This is due to the belief that IT can play critical role in stimulating the socio-economic growth of the countries. In Malaysia, the government embarked on an ambitious program to establish the MSC as an attempt to achieve Vision 2020, a national vision and Malaysia's statement of national goals that articulates the country's objective for developed-nation status, while moving towards the creation of an information-rich society by the year 2020. Despite the importance of national IT policies and the major commitment of resources to implement them, there are few critical studies of the positive and negative impacts of 'post-industrial' or 'information society' policy, particularly in the developing countries like Malaysia. This study seeks in part to fill this gap by providing a critical assessment of a Malaysian national IT policy. This research argues that IT policy for national development must be viewed holistically, taking into consideration innovations needed in the social, economic, political and institutional spheres, rather than taking limited view of IT as an economic growth engine. This is a paradigm shift that represents a movement from the traditional worldview (TWV), that was based on the Cartesian/Newtonian paradigm into new ways of thinking and action that is labelled here as the emerging worldview (EMV). The EMV is grounded in complexity theory, an interdisciplinary endeavour that draws upon ideas from a number of fields and seeks to understand and model systems with many interacting parts. This approach can help policy makers and analysts to understand, assess and develop a more balanced and comprehensive policy for the evolution of new technology such as IT and to tackle the complexity of socio-economic change of a dynamic real world setting. The data collection method is from in-depth, open-ended interviews and document analysis. This qualitative exploratory approach was chosen to understand and capture the points of view of other people without specifically limiting the lines of inquiry through questionnaires etc. This research was influenced by multiple theoretical frameworks, because taking one framework alone in analysing the complex issues involved in ICT would not provide a comprehensive understanding of the interplay of the socio-technical and techno-economic paradigms. This resulted in the contribution of a policy framework called Goal-Policy-Implementation-Outcome (GPIO), which is used to understand, describe and assess the MSC policy design and method. This research found that the MSC policy plan and process were not working as intended to achieve the goals of Vision 2020. The strategy of clustering businesses in one physical location to establish synergy did not work as anticipated because: (1) Cyberjaya was not yet fully ready with all the necessary people, infrastructure and community since many basic amenities have yet to be competed; (2) The distance of Cyberjaya to key cities were perceived to be too far; (3) Operational costs in Cyberjaya were perceived as high; (4) The Cyberjaya ecosystem lacks attractive incentives; and (5) Most of the current and potential MSC firms, customers and suppliers were already located outside Cyberjaya with existing networks of people and facilities in other locations. (6) The current environment of the MSC was also found not to be conducive to facilitating a self-organizing system due to the lack of a wide consultative and participatory process. Consequently, drastic changes to the organizational structure and behaviour are needed before success can happen. It was found that the key challenges and barriers to the transformation process in and through the MSC lie in the nature of the existing mindset, the operational practice, culture and power structural arrangements within and among the policy, people and institutions of the MSC. Discussion on the MSC tends to be centred on the technological and commercial without recognizing that technological change relies on concomitant social and political shifts. By succumbing to technology driven views and 'information society' rhetoric, policy makers are allowing real economic and social choices to be smothered. This dissertation argues that instead of presenting technology as something which is external to the society, with a dynamics of its own, and to which society must learn to adapt, effective debate about new technology must acknowledge the related political choices, power relationships and value judgments about the shape and direction of the society using the technology. Consequently, there is an urgent need to develop policies to ensure that the economic benefits and social engineering associated with Malaysia’s knowledge economy are managed through participatory and partnership methods at all levels of the country. This research has shown that complex systems analysis can lay the groundwork for a new approach that more accurately represents societal choices and outcomes than past approaches. Few researchers have undertaken complex systems analyses of social systems, with still fewer examining the context of a national public IT policy in a developing country like Malaysia. Further, there are very few thorough public studies done of the MSC itself, with most studies on the MSC either being done in confidence and/or being conducted by foreign consultants appointed by the government or by the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDC). As such, public accessibility to critical studies on the MSC or public documents on them is rarely available. This research, if not the first, is one of the first attempts made to provide a thorough constructive critical study on the MSC policy project since its official launch in 1996. It is also, if not the first, one of the first attempts made to apply the emerging paradigm or the new science of complexity in a real world national policy case study, specifically the MSC policy project. Moreover, there is a huge lacking of research done on behalf of 'marginalized communities'. This research is not carried out on behalf of private enterprise or national governments but rather it is done on behalf of its citizens.

ABSTRACT This dissertation examines the design and implementation of Malaysia's national Information Technology (IT) policy with a focus on the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) project. Qualitative research methods, including in-depth interviews, document analysis and literature analysis, were used to build an understanding of the development of the MSC. The analysis adopts a holistic approach that draws upon the multidisciplinary perspectives of complex adaptive systems in order to understand how social, economic, political and institutional forces interact in a changing environment. This research contributes a policy framework called Goal-Policy-Implementation-Outcome (GPIO), which is used to understand, describe and assess the MSC policy design and methods. It is one of the first public studies of the MSC and one of very few complex systems analyses of a socio-economic system in a developing country. It has been argued that many countries around the world are competing rapidly to produce 'visionary' reports and policy statements on the future of their nations and societies in the 'Information Age'. This is due to the belief that IT can play critical role in stimulating the socio-economic growth of the countries. In Malaysia, the government embarked on an ambitious program to establish the MSC as an attempt to achieve Vision 2020, a national vision and Malaysia's statement of national goals that articulates the country's objective for developed-nation status, while moving towards the creation of an information-rich society by the year 2020. Despite the importance of national IT policies and the major commitment of resources to implement them, there are few critical studies of the positive and negative impacts of 'post-industrial' or 'information society' policy, particularly in the developing countries like Malaysia. This study seeks in part to fill this gap by providing a critical assessment of a Malaysian national IT policy. This research argues that IT policy for national development must be viewed holistically, taking into consideration innovations needed in the social, economic, political and institutional spheres, rather than taking limited view of IT as an economic growth engine. This is a paradigm shift that represents a movement from the traditional worldview (TWV), that was based on the Cartesian/Newtonian paradigm into new ways of thinking and action that is labelled here as the emerging worldview (EMV). The EMV is grounded in complexity theory, an interdisciplinary endeavour that draws upon ideas from a number of fields and seeks to understand and model systems with many interacting parts. This approach can help policy makers and analysts to understand, assess and develop a more balanced and comprehensive policy for the evolution of new technology such as IT and to tackle the complexity of socio-economic change of a dynamic real world setting. The data collection method is from in-depth, open-ended interviews and document analysis. This qualitative exploratory approach was chosen to understand and capture the points of view of other people without specifically limiting the lines of inquiry through questionnaires etc. This research was influenced by multiple theoretical frameworks, because taking one framework alone in analysing the complex issues involved in ICT would not provide a comprehensive understanding of the interplay of the socio-technical and techno-economic paradigms. This resulted in the contribution of a policy framework called Goal-Policy-Implementation-Outcome (GPIO), which is used to understand, describe and assess the MSC policy design and method. This research found that the MSC policy plan and process were not working as intended to achieve the goals of Vision 2020. The strategy of clustering businesses in one physical location to establish synergy did not work as anticipated because: (1) Cyberjaya was not yet fully ready with all the necessary people, infrastructure and community since many basic amenities have yet to be competed; (2) The distance of Cyberjaya to key cities were perceived to be too far; (3) Operational costs in Cyberjaya were perceived as high; (4) The Cyberjaya ecosystem lacks attractive incentives; and (5) Most of the current and potential MSC firms, customers and suppliers were already located outside Cyberjaya with existing networks of people and facilities in other locations. (6) The current environment of the MSC was also found not to be conducive to facilitating a self-organizing system due to the lack of a wide consultative and participatory process. Consequently, drastic changes to the organizational structure and behaviour are needed before success can happen. It was found that the key challenges and barriers to the transformation process in and through the MSC lie in the nature of the existing mindset, the operational practice, culture and power structural arrangements within and among the policy, people and institutions of the MSC. Discussion on the MSC tends to be centred on the technological and commercial without recognizing that technological change relies on concomitant social and political shifts. By succumbing to technology driven views and 'information society' rhetoric, policy makers are allowing real economic and social choices to be smothered. This dissertation argues that instead of presenting technology as something which is external to the society, with a dynamics of its own, and to which society must learn to adapt, effective debate about new technology must acknowledge the related political choices, power relationships and value judgments about the shape and direction of the society using the technology. Consequently, there is an urgent need to develop policies to ensure that the economic benefits and social engineering associated with Malaysia’s knowledge economy are managed through participatory and partnership methods at all levels of the country. This research has shown that complex systems analysis can lay the groundwork for a new approach that more accurately represents societal choices and outcomes than past approaches. Few researchers have undertaken complex systems analyses of social systems, with still fewer examining the context of a national public IT policy in a developing country like Malaysia. Further, there are very few thorough public studies done of the MSC itself, with most studies on the MSC either being done in confidence and/or being conducted by foreign consultants appointed by the government or by the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDC). As such, public accessibility to critical studies on the MSC or public documents on them is rarely available. This research, if not the first, is one of the first attempts made to provide a thorough constructive critical study on the MSC policy project since its official launch in 1996. It is also, if not the first, one of the first attempts made to apply the emerging paradigm or the new science of complexity in a real world national policy case study, specifically the MSC policy project. Moreover, there is a huge lacking of research done on behalf of 'marginalized communities'. This research is not carried out on behalf of private enterprise or national governments but rather it is done on behalf of its citizens.

ABSTRACT This dissertation examines the design and implementation of Malaysia's national Information Technology (IT) policy with a focus on the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) project. Qualitative research methods, including in-depth interviews, document analysis and literature analysis, were used to build an understanding of the development of the MSC. The analysis adopts a holistic approach that draws upon the multidisciplinary perspectives of complex adaptive systems in order to understand how social, economic, political and institutional forces interact in a changing environment. This research contributes a policy framework called Goal-Policy-Implementation-Outcome (GPIO), which is used to understand, describe and assess the MSC policy design and methods. It is one of the first public studies of the MSC and one of very few complex systems analyses of a socio-economic system in a developing country. It has been argued that many countries around the world are competing rapidly to produce 'visionary' reports and policy statements on the future of their nations and societies in the 'Information Age'. This is due to the belief that IT can play critical role in stimulating the socio-economic growth of the countries. In Malaysia, the government embarked on an ambitious program to establish the MSC as an attempt to achieve Vision 2020, a national vision and Malaysia's statement of national goals that articulates the country's objective for developed-nation status, while moving towards the creation of an information-rich society by the year 2020. Despite the importance of national IT policies and the major commitment of resources to implement them, there are few critical studies of the positive and negative impacts of 'post-industrial' or 'information society' policy, particularly in the developing countries like Malaysia. This study seeks in part to fill this gap by providing a critical assessment of a Malaysian national IT policy. This research argues that IT policy for national development must be viewed holistically, taking into consideration innovations needed in the social, economic, political and institutional spheres, rather than taking limited view of IT as an economic growth engine. This is a paradigm shift that represents a movement from the traditional worldview (TWV), that was based on the Cartesian/Newtonian paradigm into new ways of thinking and action that is labelled here as the emerging worldview (EMV). The EMV is grounded in complexity theory, an interdisciplinary endeavour that draws upon ideas from a number of fields and seeks to understand and model systems with many interacting parts. This approach can help policy makers and analysts to understand, assess and develop a more balanced and comprehensive policy for the evolution of new technology such as IT and to tackle the complexity of socio-economic change of a dynamic real world setting. The data collection method is from in-depth, open-ended interviews and document analysis. This qualitative exploratory approach was chosen to understand and capture the points of view of other people without specifically limiting the lines of inquiry through questionnaires etc. This research was influenced by multiple theoretical frameworks, because taking one framework alone in analysing the complex issues involved in ICT would not provide a comprehensive understanding of the interplay of the socio-technical and techno-economic paradigms. This resulted in the contribution of a policy framework called Goal-Policy-Implementation-Outcome (GPIO), which is used to understand, describe and assess the MSC policy design and method. This research found that the MSC policy plan and process were not working as intended to achieve the goals of Vision 2020. The strategy of clustering businesses in one physical location to establish synergy did not work as anticipated because: (1) Cyberjaya was not yet fully ready with all the necessary people, infrastructure and community since many basic amenities have yet to be competed; (2) The distance of Cyberjaya to key cities were perceived to be too far; (3) Operational costs in Cyberjaya were perceived as high; (4) The Cyberjaya ecosystem lacks attractive incentives; and (5) Most of the current and potential MSC firms, customers and suppliers were already located outside Cyberjaya with existing networks of people and facilities in other locations. (6) The current environment of the MSC was also found not to be conducive to facilitating a self-organizing system due to the lack of a wide consultative and participatory process. Consequently, drastic changes to the organizational structure and behaviour are needed before success can happen. It was found that the key challenges and barriers to the transformation process in and through the MSC lie in the nature of the existing mindset, the operational practice, culture and power structural arrangements within and among the policy, people and institutions of the MSC. Discussion on the MSC tends to be centred on the technological and commercial without recognizing that technological change relies on concomitant social and political shifts. By succumbing to technology driven views and 'information society' rhetoric, policy makers are allowing real economic and social choices to be smothered. This dissertation argues that instead of presenting technology as something which is external to the society, with a dynamics of its own, and to which society must learn to adapt, effective debate about new technology must acknowledge the related political choices, power relationships and value judgments about the shape and direction of the society using the technology. Consequently, there is an urgent need to develop policies to ensure that the economic benefits and social engineering associated with Malaysia’s knowledge economy are managed through participatory and partnership methods at all levels of the country. This research has shown that complex systems analysis can lay the groundwork for a new approach that more accurately represents societal choices and outcomes than past approaches. Few researchers have undertaken complex systems analyses of social systems, with still fewer examining the context of a national public IT policy in a developing country like Malaysia. Further, there are very few thorough public studies done of the MSC itself, with most studies on the MSC either being done in confidence and/or being conducted by foreign consultants appointed by the government or by the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDC). As such, public accessibility to critical studies on the MSC or public documents on them is rarely available. This research, if not the first, is one of the first attempts made to provide a thorough constructive critical study on the MSC policy project since its official launch in 1996. It is also, if not the first, one of the first attempts made to apply the emerging paradigm or the new science of complexity in a real world national policy case study, specifically the MSC policy project. Moreover, there is a huge lacking of research done on behalf of 'marginalized communities'. This research is not carried out on behalf of private enterprise or national governments but rather it is done on behalf of its citizens.

ABSTRACT This dissertation examines the design and implementation of Malaysia's national Information Technology (IT) policy with a focus on the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) project. Qualitative research methods, including in-depth interviews, document analysis and literature analysis, were used to build an understanding of the development of the MSC. The analysis adopts a holistic approach that draws upon the multidisciplinary perspectives of complex adaptive systems in order to understand how social, economic, political and institutional forces interact in a changing environment. This research contributes a policy framework called Goal-Policy-Implementation-Outcome (GPIO), which is used to understand, describe and assess the MSC policy design and methods. It is one of the first public studies of the MSC and one of very few complex systems analyses of a socio-economic system in a developing country. It has been argued that many countries around the world are competing rapidly to produce 'visionary' reports and policy statements on the future of their nations and societies in the 'Information Age'. This is due to the belief that IT can play critical role in stimulating the socio-economic growth of the countries. In Malaysia, the government embarked on an ambitious program to establish the MSC as an attempt to achieve Vision 2020, a national vision and Malaysia's statement of national goals that articulates the country's objective for developed-nation status, while moving towards the creation of an information-rich society by the year 2020. Despite the importance of national IT policies and the major commitment of resources to implement them, there are few critical studies of the positive and negative impacts of 'post-industrial' or 'information society' policy, particularly in the developing countries like Malaysia. This study seeks in part to fill this gap by providing a critical assessment of a Malaysian national IT policy. This research argues that IT policy for national development must be viewed holistically, taking into consideration innovations needed in the social, economic, political and institutional spheres, rather than taking limited view of IT as an economic growth engine. This is a paradigm shift that represents a movement from the traditional worldview (TWV), that was based on the Cartesian/Newtonian paradigm into new ways of thinking and action that is labelled here as the emerging worldview (EMV). The EMV is grounded in complexity theory, an interdisciplinary endeavour that draws upon ideas from a number of fields and seeks to understand and model systems with many interacting parts. This approach can help policy makers and analysts to understand, assess and develop a more balanced and comprehensive policy for the evolution of new technology such as IT and to tackle the complexity of socio-economic change of a dynamic real world setting. The data collection method is from in-depth, open-ended interviews and document analysis. This qualitative exploratory approach was chosen to understand and capture the points of view of other people without specifically limiting the lines of inquiry through questionnaires etc. This research was influenced by multiple theoretical frameworks, because taking one framework alone in analysing the complex issues involved in ICT would not provide a comprehensive understanding of the interplay of the socio-technical and techno-economic paradigms. This resulted in the contribution of a policy framework called Goal-Policy-Implementation-Outcome (GPIO), which is used to understand, describe and assess the MSC policy design and method. This research found that the MSC policy plan and process were not working as intended to achieve the goals of Vision 2020. The strategy of clustering businesses in one physical location to establish synergy did not work as anticipated because: (1) Cyberjaya was not yet fully ready with all the necessary people, infrastructure and community since many basic amenities have yet to be competed; (2) The distance of Cyberjaya to key cities were perceived to be too far; (3) Operational costs in Cyberjaya were perceived as high; (4) The Cyberjaya ecosystem lacks attractive incentives; and (5) Most of the current and potential MSC firms, customers and suppliers were already located outside Cyberjaya with existing networks of people and facilities in other locations. (6) The current environment of the MSC was also found not to be conducive to facilitating a self-organizing system due to the lack of a wide consultative and participatory process. Consequently, drastic changes to the organizational structure and behaviour are needed before success can happen. It was found that the key challenges and barriers to the transformation process in and through the MSC lie in the nature of the existing mindset, the operational practice, culture and power structural arrangements within and among the policy, people and institutions of the MSC. Discussion on the MSC tends to be centred on the technological and commercial without recognizing that technological change relies on concomitant social and political shifts. By succumbing to technology driven views and 'information society' rhetoric, policy makers are allowing real economic and social choices to be smothered. This dissertation argues that instead of presenting technology as something which is external to the society, with a dynamics of its own, and to which society must learn to adapt, effective debate about new technology must acknowledge the related political choices, power relationships and value judgments about the shape and direction of the society using the technology. Consequently, there is an urgent need to develop policies to ensure that the economic benefits and social engineering associated with Malaysia’s knowledge economy are managed through participatory and partnership methods at all levels of the country. This research has shown that complex systems analysis can lay the groundwork for a new approach that more accurately represents societal choices and outcomes than past approaches. Few researchers have undertaken complex systems analyses of social systems, with still fewer examining the context of a national public IT policy in a developing country like Malaysia. Further, there are very few thorough public studies done of the MSC itself, with most studies on the MSC either being done in confidence and/or being conducted by foreign consultants appointed by the government or by the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDC). As such, public accessibility to critical studies on the MSC or public documents on them is rarely available. This research, if not the first, is one of the first attempts made to provide a thorough constructive critical study on the MSC policy project since its official launch in 1996. It is also, if not the first, one of the first attempts made to apply the emerging paradigm or the new science of complexity in a real world national policy case study, specifically the MSC policy project. Moreover, there is a huge lacking of research done on behalf of 'marginalized communities'. This research is not carried out on behalf of private enterprise or national governments but rather it is done on behalf of its citizens.

Research studies on innovation tend to focus more on Process and Product Innovations (PPIs), while both Organisational and Marketing Innovations (OMIs) have been under-researched. The lack of prior research on these non-technological innovations has been attributed to poor data availability. Theoretical opinions show that OMIs could be necessary prerequisites needed to optimally utilise and deploy these PPIs. Organisational Ambidexterity (OA) has emerged to be crucial in achieving long-term organisational success. Ambidexterity in an organisational context refers to the ability to concurrently exploit current competitive advantage and explore new opportunities with equal dexterity. For firms to remain competitive and adaptive to continuous change in the business environment, OA has been noted as a necessary attribute, but research on ambidexterity at the individual level of analysis is limited. There is a lack of understanding of how individual ambidexterity at the lower-levels of the organisation affects the overall ambidexterity of the organisation. This research explores organisational context antecedents of OMIs capabilities; Organisational and Employee Ambidexterity, and identifies how individual employees in Small and Medium-sized Manufacturing and Service Organisations could contribute to the capability of their organisation to concurrently exploit present market opportunities and explore new opportunities, towards sustaining their competitive advantage. This study involves a two-phase sequential mixed methods design beginning with a qualitative exploratory research involving 15 in-depth Nigerian-based interviews. The first phase facilitated preliminary assessment of organisational context, measured by the Cameron and Quinn's Organisational Culture Assessment Instrument. This phase also aided the understanding of factors that promote OMIs capabilities and the development of themes used to design the survey instrument for the second phase. The second phase involved a quantitative study of 398 shop-floor and 202 managerial staff from Small and Medium-sized Nigerian Manufacturing and Service Organisations. This phase was characterised by descriptive and inferential statistics through Structural Equation Modelling. This aided identifying the organisational context that promotes Employee Ambidexterity (EA) and the relationships between EA; OA; and OMIs' capabilities. vi Drawing upon information-rich evidence, this study identified enablers that could promote EA; OA; OMIs; effective innovations; and sustainable organisational growth. Statistical evidence from the research findings shows that Organic Structure and Knowledge Sharing, plus a Flexible and Family-like Organisational Culture: 1. enhances Employee Ambidexterity and Level of Engagement; 2. improves employees' contributions to OA, OMIs and SMEs' growth; 3. optimises the internal capabilities of SMEs in order to promote their sustainable growth; 4. enables SMEs to search for new market opportunities and strengthen current market positions concurrently; and 5. promotes viable Manufacturing and Service SMEs that are needed to offset the prevalent public sector job losses. A framework that relates: Individual and Organisational Ambidexterity; Organisational and Marketing Innovations capabilities; and Organisational Performance, has been identified in this study. While Marketing Innovation capability and Exploitative Orientation of Ambidexterity target the short term organisational benefits, Organisational Innovation capability and Explorative Orientation of Ambidexterity address the long term competitive advantage of the organisations. Besides advancing literature on the study of Organisational Ambidexterity by combining the individual level of analysis with the organisational level of analysis, this study identifies frameworks that promote effective innovation and sustainable organisational performance through shop floor employees' contributions to Organisational Ambidexterity and OMIs in SMEs. Outcomes of this research have been eye-openers for the case organisations on how to optimally utilise their resources (people, materials, knowledge, technology and other assets) to achieve sustainable growth and long term success.