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The study investigated the role of innovation management modes on organisationorganisational financial performance in South Africa. to examine what the relationship is with organisational financial performance. Although research has been conducted on the innovative strategy in South Africa none has been identified that seeks to establish the link to organisational financial performance. Innovativeness and an adapted innovation management mode questionnaire taken from Bisbe and Malagueno’s (2009), was administered to 73 companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. These 73 companies were selected because they were registered and they confirmed to be innovating companies. A poor response rate of 18% was obtained due to changes in the willingness of respondents from when the database was compiled to the date of the actual research. The Cronbach alpha coefficient analysis was conducted to ascertain the reliability of the measurement tool in relation to the small sample size obtained. The innovativeness tool proved to be reliable with a Cronbach alpha coefficient of 0.845. Some of the innovation management mode tool items were coded and reversed and upon applying the Cronbach alpha coefficient, the tool was found not to be reliable when all 25 items were analysed. Reliability was obtained for three out of the six subsections when analysed separately. These subsections were used for Spearman rho correlation analyses, together with descriptive statistics for all items in the tool, in order to test innovativeness in organisations; relationship of innovativeness and IMM; and lastly the relationship between IMM and organisational financial performance; for the sample being observed. Shareholder wealth creation (SWC) was used as a tool for organisational financial performance measurement, together with other more common measures for profitability, leverage, growth and survival. A positive relationship between financial performance and innovativeness in the sample confirmed that innovation is a source of increased financial performance in organisations. No conclusive relationship could be ascertained between organisational financial performance using SWC, leverage, return on assets and survival. However the positive relationship found between growth and IMM in the sample, suggests that IMM may have a role to play in a growing organisation. The prevalence of systematic IMM in the sample and the high organisational financial performance of some of the companies using this mode could be due to the use of the contingency innovation management. Limitations were identified in the study, which included the small sample size obtained and suggestions to improve on the implementation of the empirical research. Areas of further study include improving implementation and opening it up to a wider population group to ascertain whether the results found in this research are representative for South African companies. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

The study investigated the role of innovation management modes on organisationorganisational financial performance in South Africa. to examine what the relationship is with organisational financial performance. Although research has been conducted on the innovative strategy in South Africa none has been identified that seeks to establish the link to organisational financial performance. Innovativeness and an adapted innovation management mode questionnaire taken from Bisbe and Malagueno’s (2009), was administered to 73 companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. These 73 companies were selected because they were registered and they confirmed to be innovating companies. A poor response rate of 18% was obtained due to changes in the willingness of respondents from when the database was compiled to the date of the actual research. The Cronbach alpha coefficient analysis was conducted to ascertain the reliability of the measurement tool in relation to the small sample size obtained. The innovativeness tool proved to be reliable with a Cronbach alpha coefficient of 0.845. Some of the innovation management mode tool items were coded and reversed and upon applying the Cronbach alpha coefficient, the tool was found not to be reliable when all 25 items were analysed. Reliability was obtained for three out of the six subsections when analysed separately. These subsections were used for Spearman rho correlation analyses, together with descriptive statistics for all items in the tool, in order to test innovativeness in organisations; relationship of innovativeness and IMM; and lastly the relationship between IMM and organisational financial performance; for the sample being observed. Shareholder wealth creation (SWC) was used as a tool for organisational financial performance measurement, together with other more common measures for profitability, leverage, growth and survival. A positive relationship between financial performance and innovativeness in the sample confirmed that innovation is a source of increased financial performance in organisations. No conclusive relationship could be ascertained between organisational financial performance using SWC, leverage, return on assets and survival. However the positive relationship found between growth and IMM in the sample, suggests that IMM may have a role to play in a growing organisation. The prevalence of systematic IMM in the sample and the high organisational financial performance of some of the companies using this mode could be due to the use of the contingency innovation management. Limitations were identified in the study, which included the small sample size obtained and suggestions to improve on the implementation of the empirical research. Areas of further study include improving implementation and opening it up to a wider population group to ascertain whether the results found in this research are representative for South African companies. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

The need for government organizations to become competitive is growing with the huge instability in the economy. In parallel, Knowledge Management (KM) has been rapidly growing in the past decade as a source of influence on organisational development practices. Furthermore, the past decade research approaches largely failed to show the importance of KM initiatives in creating synergy with other initiatives to an extent that would lead towards organizational competitiveness. This study address whether KM holistically influences the different organisational development practices, specifically in the context of the government sector. To ascertain the relationships between KM and four prevalent organisational development practices identified in the literature and increasingly used in practice, a quantitative survey approach was undertaken using a series of researcher-developed scales. Based on the literature review, Organisational Excellence (OE), Organisational Learning (OL), Organisational Innovation (OI) and Organisational Competitiveness (OC) were identified to be the most repeated relations with KM. A conceptual framework was designed to test the concept of the holistic influence of KM on the four identified organisational development practices. A total of 625 valid responses were collected from top and middle management from 54 government organizations in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The model was statistically tested according to the research hypotheses by regression analysis then Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). Results reveal strong and significant correlations amongst the five prevalent organisational development practices. Even though the holistic influence of the model could not be confirmed, findings show positive KM influence on the remaining organisational development practices, thus KM is an essential factor for government organisations. Besides illustrating KM as an important source of influence, this research establishes a new direction that helps to integrate all governmental organisations initiatives in relevance to organisation development practices leading to better competitiveness. The study makes a novel contribution since it increases the probability of a holistic approach model that brings support for the decision makers to enhance the overall government organizations competitiveness. The scale developed for the model tested can be generalised and used as a self assessment tool for organisational practices in KE. This work sets a baseline for KM practices in the Government of Bahrain and similar GCC Governments and can act as a reference for researchers on KM and competitiveness in the emerging economies countries. Nevertheless, the model need to be further investigated in future research to explore the missing variables in this model to make it more fit. Therefore, the concept of holistic model needs to be further subject to empirical investigations to explore its viability. The major limitation of this research is it been addressed only in the government sector and in one country.

Today Sweden is facing a significant shortage of highly educated labour force, which is recognized by various companies and which can have adverse consequences on the firms as well as the country as a whole. One of the solutions to this problem is identified to be highly skilled migrants (HSMs). Thus the purpose of this thesis is to research the impact that HSMs have on Swedish companies. By carrying out a qualitative research approach, a deeper understanding of the influences of HSMs on the internationalisation and the organisational innovation is gained, while the chosen abductive method allows exploring the subject by taking into consideration the real life issue as well as the related theories at the same time. The theoretical framework aids to build a foundation for this thesis regarding the relevant theories, including the bottom-up organisational design, the brain gain, RBV theory, internationalisation models and organisational innovation processes. This helps to construct a theoretical model which presents a theoretical answer to the research questions of the thesis. Thus the theoretical model helps to analyse the empirical data gathered from the interviews with five representatives of different Swedish companies. The cross-referencing of the cases helps to find the similarities and differences of the impact of HSMs in these companies. This is followed by the conclusions based on the analysis chapter. The main theoretical implications include the findings that the market and cultural knowledge seem to be the most important assets that HSMs bring, which, together with different educational backgrounds, technological competencies and networks, aid the internationalisation of the companies that can be understood through the Network and Born Global models. Furthermore, it is found that the new perspectives of HSMs encourage the organisational innovation through the increased tacit knowledge inside the organisations. Moreover, the managerial implications include recognising of the importance of HSMs for the Swedish companies and thus seeking a more international workforce, empowering the employees and being able to exploit the resources that they bring, while at the same time managing the cultural clashes that might occur. Therefore, this thesis helps to build a foundation for viewing HSMs a solution to Sweden’s problem of the lack of highly skilled workers.

The purpose of this study is to gain a deeper understanding of the effects of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) on trust and organizational innovation on micro and macro levels. Since earlier studies of M&As have focused mostly on financial aspects, this study aims to contribute to the understanding of non-financial and organizational aspects of M&As including trust and organizational innovation, especially through microfoundational explanation. According to this, trust is studied by focusing on two specific aspects: interpersonal trust (on individual level) and institutional trust (on the firm level). The organizational innovation is defined as a single concept but is studied both on individual and firm level. The research is conducted by focusing on eight Northern European companies that have gone through M&As and the related data is collected by using qualitative surveys, which included both free-text fields and the opinion scales. The empirics of this study show that M&As have affected trust and organizational innovation through six main factors (CIRCUS) which include communication, employees’ influence, resources, workplace cohesion, capabilities utilization,and streamlining the working methods. Based on this, the findings of the study indicate thatthere is a clear connection between trust and organizational innovation and that the M&As arehaving negative effects on both.