Post-crisis market realities in Greece are expected to lead to increased M&A activity in the coming years, little evidence is provided in the academic literature on Greek M&A post-acquisition performance and its driving factors. The overall aim of this thesis is to complement and enhance the existing M&A literature by examining the impact of two post-acquisition actions, of asset divestiture and resource redeployment on the long-term performance of Greek M&A deals over the period 2005-2009. The conceptual framework of this thesis draws on the strategic management perspective. Using the cost efficiencies argument, the thesis examines how cost savings, due to asset divestiture affect the post-acquisition performance of both the target and the acquiring firm. In addition, by drawing on the resource-based view of the firm and the dynamic capabilities perspective, the thesis explores the effects of post-acquisition resource redeployment from acquirers to targets and vice versa, on revenue-enhancing capabilities. The findings revealed that the divestiture of the acquirers’ assets does not reduce costs. In addition, the importance of revenue-based synergies was shown, through the mediating variables of market coverage and innovation capabilities. Finally, acquirer’s resource redeployment has a positive and significant effect on cost savings and the same holds true for the resource redeployment to the target. These results indicate that resource redeployment contributes in achieving higher cost efficiency. The originality of this study is that it tries to obtain new insights on the subject of the post-acquisition performance using arguments from the cost-based and resourcebased synergies, the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm and the dynamic capabilities perspective. In addition, this is a large-scale empirical study conducted in Greece drawing on detailed primary data on a high range of post-acquisition actions followed by the managers of the acquiring companies rather than secondary data.

In spite of the need for organisations to develop competencies among its employees as a source for gaining competitive advantage, and in spite of previous research efforts to find out what contributes to it and the effects of it, the process of Competence Development (CD) implementation is still a ‘black box’, whose internal linkages are unknown. Furthermore it is noticed in previous research that there is a lack of empirically-based research in organisations, and the purpose of this dissertation is therefore to explore the process of CD implementation, as perceived by employees within the debt-collection industry of Sweden.   A case-study on a Swedish Debt-Collection Company was conducted, and data collected through interviews with employees and managers, in order to find out how the process of CD implementation is structured. In order to investigate the internal linkages in the process an extensive literature review was performed in the field of CD, and used for developing a conceptual model, showing how the various stages interact and depend upon each other in gaining competence among its employees. The model was then tested empirically and the findings suggest that the CD implementation was structured mostly in line with the model, although adjustments had to be made.   The findings suggest that in the process of CD implementation conceptualisation of CD plans and selection of participants is conducted in one integrated step and not two distinct steps, as suggested in previous literature. Performance Management and Reflection- and Evaluation are not conducted in two steps but more or less simultaneously. Furthermore, this study suggests that it is the organisation’s responsibility to provide a foundation, opportunities and resources that enable CD, while the employees themselves set the standard for how much they will take advantage of it. Therefore this study argues that if employees can have input and influence on each stage of the process, better outcomes will be provided since it will be aligned with their objectives, personal and professional.   Up to this point, the process of CD implementation has been a ‘black box’, a mechanism that generates a certain level of output but whose internal workings are unknown. It is important to open up that box and to understand how CD operates to produce superior performance for an organisation. The findings in this study help to bridge that gap better, and are useful for managers conducting and implementing Human Resource practices that aim to develop competencies among the company’s workforce in order to gain better performance.

Exporting is a critically important strategy for firms to grow, yet research in this area has tended to ignore how firms can leverage resource-based capabilities to improve export performance. Building on the resource-based view and institutional theory, the authors develop a novel perspective to explain how a firm can improve export performance by aligning its export channel with its level of market orientation capabilities, contingent on the institutional distance between home and export markets. Using a unique database of Chinese exporters, the authors find that exporters with strong market orientation capabilities prefer hierarchical export channels, while those with weak market orientation capabilities prefer hybrid channels. The analysis also indicates that the institutional distance between China and the export market moderates this relation. Moreover, the authors find that aligning export channel choice with firm-level market orientation capabilities and institutional distance yields better export performance. (authors' abstract)

The aim of this research is to examine the extent to which the offshoring and outsourcing practices in Multinational Corporations, when the headquarters are registered and located in either the UK or Germany; are embedded in the institutional contexts of their respective home countries. There are six research questions relating to differences in approach and choice of location, ownership and coordination, employment practice, cultural proximity, trade union influence and finally the extent of re-shoring. These are primarily assessed through the 'varieties of capitalism' perspective. A comparative case study approach has been adopted with a focus on two sectors; airlines and engineering; in each case a major UK and German organisation are compared. Fourteen in-depth, semi-structured interviews took place in both the home countries and overseas locations in Europe, India and Asia. The sample size is small, however, each was with a senior executive and the transcripts revealed 'rich data' for compiling the case studies and answering the research questions. The contribution to original thinking is a conceptual framework posited by proposing a taxonomy to analyse the relationship between coordinated and liberal market economies and the components of the offshoring and / or outsourcing process. Reference is made to theory drawn from the resource based view, global production networks, dynamic capabilities, embeddedness as well as varieties of capitalism to focus on competences, spatial dimensions and power. It is this collective approach that is considered to be novel. Qualitative analysis is deployed to re-construct the actual framework for each industry sector. Constructs (Reichertz, 2004) combining abduction, deduction and induction are used to develop propositions that lead to conclusions. The similarities between the two UK companies and the two German companies confirms the usefulness of the taxonomy and allows for its extension to other firms and sectors. Key findings and conclusions from the two case studies are that German organizations are less inclined to outsource (in both sectors) preferring to reduce costs and retain control through captive offshoring. The UK businesses were less risk adverse and more flexible and agile in their sourcing policies. There was evidence that the UK companies regarded outsourcing and offshoring as options for closer co-operation that may lead to strategic alliances and mergers or acquisition. The relationships with trade unions/works council was also found to be very different, with a reluctance by management in Germany to progress radical initiatives. Other differences in terms of autonomy and division of labour were found. From an institutional perspective the German CME's cases were less able to deploy outsourcing and offshoring strategies with the degrees of freedom that the UK LMEs typically enjoyed. CMEs are constrained by their policies, interconnectedness and style of working. A number of ambiguities are highlighted. The thesis argues that the outsourcing and offshoring practices are embedded to a high degree in the institutional practices of the home countries. Finally, the empirical novelty lies in the 'rich data' generated by valuable insights from the senior executive interviewees to which the researcher was privileged to have access.

China has continued the economic reform and open door policy over 30 years with many great achievements, such as the second largest GDP, the largest import and export economy with the largest infrastructural investment in the world. On the other hand, the conflicts and risks the firms especially for small and medium sized manufacturing enterprises (SMEs) have faced are extremely serious and more acute due to the economy growth and increasing social wealth, especially in Yangtze River Delta, in the general context of ever increasing cost such as labour, land and higher customers’ expectations such as the quality of product. These serious problems are challenges for the competitiveness of SMEs in Yangtze River Delta. This research aims to investigate and improve the competitiveness of SMEs by the main variables such as enterprise’s resources, product’s competitive issues and innovation activities related barriers. To achieve the aim, the research employed a mixed method of quantitative and qualitative approaches to build the competitiveness’s belief network model by Bayesian Belief Networks and analyze the factors of the most important variables by the SPSS software. Secondly, 36 entrepreneurs of small and medium sized manufacturing enterprises in Yangtze River Delta have been carefully selected to participate in the questionnaire survey and face to face interviews. All participants are entrepreneurs who have run enterprise for at least three years. Five kinds of resources, competitive issues and innovation have been identified as the variables of competitiveness. The findings of research are mainly related to the three aspects which are general view of variables; barriers to innovation activity and importance of variables for improving the competitiveness; and the factor analysis of quality management practices. Firstly, the general condition of financial resource is the worst in resource sector of SMEs; Dependability is the best performance in competitive issues of SMEs; Lack of finance is generally identified the biggest barrier to innovation of SMEs. Secondly, the Physical resource in resource sector and Quality in competitive issues sector are the most important variables for improving the competitiveness of SMEs after BBN assessment; Lack of technical experts is the most serious barrier when the SMEs are really focusing on the innovation according to the BBN assessments. Thirdly, the factor analyses have identified the key independent factors explaining the quality management practices in these SMEs. Finally, these findings can help the SMEs build variables’ impact tables based on the outputs from the conditional assessment of BBNs to make more efficient and effective decisions when they try to improve the enterprise competitiveness, with detailed recommendations. At the same time, the importance and factors of good quality management practices have also been argued to help the entrepreneurs improve the quality performance and their enterprise competitiveness.

The increasing global challenges, such as natural disasters, poverty and many others, pose new threats to societies and businesses. Therefore, companies increase their engagement in Corporate Sustainability (CS), which connects social, environmental and economic responsibilities. Through this approach, CS aims at overcoming environmental and social constraints in a business context to increase competitiveness in today’s fast-changing world. This fast pace, with which the business environment changes, is related to external influences, such as the above-mentioned climate change, and to fundamental structural developments. One of those is the increasing number of emerging-market companies (EMNCs) that internationalize rapidly through cross-border M&A deals, also into developed markets. Since both trends, the increase in CS engagement and the growing international M&A activity of EMNCs, gain in practical and academic importance, we conducted our study under the following research question. How is CS integrated on a strategic level after a cross-border acquisition by an EMNC? The theoretical angle from which we approached the topic aligns with the resource-based view, including the natural-resource-based view, and a stakeholder perspective. When reviewing the literature regarding CS, it became clear that substantial outcomes are still lacking despite an increasing commitment to CS. This difficulty can be linked to the variety of interpretations regarding the conception of CS and the resulting confusion among implicated parties. The review of M&A literature, with a special focus on EMNCs, revealed that these companies deploy a unique approach, which is characterized by the soft post-M&A integration of the target to allow organizational learning within both businesses. Therefore, our empirical research aimed at exploring how the strategic CS of both companies, the target and the parent, influence each other and thus, develop towards a common CS strategy. The longitudinal single case study we selected, allowed us to investigate this research proposal. Through the collection and analysis of documentary data enriched by semi-structured interviews, our study revealed the following. The exchange of knowledge and CS-related communication represented the basis for the integration of strategic CS as it nurtures organizational learning. Consequently, the CS strategies of both companies increased in maturity, which means that their sophistication evolved. In addition, we also found that the target developed towards a more permissive sustainability to align with its parent company’s CS strategy. Our main study contributions relate to an enhancement of the theoretical knowledge in the related fields. Besides this, we also identified critical practical issues, such as the importance of establishing a common conception of CS to ensure a successful CS integration on a strategic level.

Syfte – Syftet med studien var att skapa en förståelse för vilka resurser som kan vara nödvändiga vid implementering av uppkopplad tillverkning för SMF inom tillverkningsindustrin men kan upplevas som hinder. För att adressera syftet har två forskningsfrågor (FF) tagits fram, FF 1: Vilka resurser kan krävas när SMF avser att implementera uppkopplad tillverkning, samt hur kan dessa påverka SMF inom tillverkningsindustrin? FF 2: Vilka bakomliggande orsaker kan finnas till att resurser utgör hinder för en implementering av uppkopplad tillverkning? Metod – Studien har genomförts genom en deduktiv forskningsansats med induktiva inslag. Denna forskningsansats valdes för att studien tog avstamp i litteraturöversikten och sedan verifierades samt utvecklades utifrån den empiriska dataanalysen. Vidare, studien antog en kvalitativ datainsamling, och totalt genomfördes intervjuer med personer från 11 olika företag. Urvalet av intervjuade företag begränsades till svenska SMF inom tillverkningsindustrin som har implementerat uppkopplad tillverkning i form av automatiserade processer. Den valda analysmetoden är i form av en tematisk analys av insamlad data. Resultat – Studien resulterade i ett konceptuellt ramverk som främst riktar sig till SMF inom tillverkningsindustrin som vill implementera uppkopplad tillverkning. Det konceptuella ramverket är uppbyggt kring sex framtagna dimensioner, där de fysiska resurserna ses som primära och de resterande fem är sekundära gentemot den primära. Det som gör att de fysiska resurserna utgör de huvudsakliga resurserna är att de möjliggör automatiserade processer hos SMF i tillverkningsindustrin. Medan de resterande fem resurserna fungerar som ett stöd till de fysiska resurserna. De framtagna dimensionerna visar de resurser som kan brista och dess bakomliggande orsaker vid implementering av uppkopplad tillverkning. Teoretiska implikationer – Studien bidrar till tidigare litteratur kring implementering av uppkopplad tillverkning för SMF i tillverkningsindustrin genom att undersöka de bakomliggande orsakerna till att resurser upplevs som hinder. Ett av bidragen är synliggörandet av de resurser som kan hindra SMF inom tillverkningsindustrin att implementera uppkopplad tillverkning. Denna studie har även bidragit med att identifiera en sekundär resurs, marknadsresurser, som tidigare inte lyfts fram i litteraturen. Resultatet visade att det är förståelsen för helhetsbilden av marknaden som är viktigt hos företag, och inte enbart rykte hos kunderna. Resultatet visade att rykte handlar mer om förståelsen för marknaderna, såsom konkurrenssituationen. Resultaten visar även orsaker till att resurser kan upplevas som hinder vid implementering av uppkopplad tillverkning.. Praktiska implikationer – Det främsta praktiska bidraget från denna studie är det konceptuella ramverket som har sin grund i resursbaserad teori och som visar på de brister i ett företags resurser som kan hindra en implementering av uppkopplad tillverkning. Det är främst beslutsfattare i SMF inom tillverkningsindustrin som överväger att implementera uppkopplad tillverkning i sina fabriker som kan vägledas och ta hjälp av det konceptuella ramverket. Tillväxtverket kan med hjälp av denna studie öka förståelsen för SMF inom tillverkningsindustrin i Sverige. Detta kan i sin tur hjälpa dessa företag att få en bättre förståelse för vilka resurser som kan hindra en implementering av uppkopplad tillverkning. Genom en ökad förståelse med hjälp utav Tillväxtverket kan SMF undvika att dessa hinder uppstår i planeringsfasen. / Purpose – The purpose of the study was to provide an understanding of resources that may be inadequate but necessary when implementing online manufacturing for SME’s in the manufacturing industry. To address the purpose two research questions (RQ) were developed, RQ 1: What resources can affect SME’s in the manufacturing industry in the implementation of online manufacturing? RQ 2: What are the underlying reasons to that resources constitute obstacles when implementing online manufacturing? Method – The study has been conducted through a deductive research with inductive elements. The research method was chosen because the study was based on the literature review and then verified and developed on the basis of the empirical data analysis. The study adopted a qualitative data collection, and interviews were conducted with individuals from 11 different companies. The selection of interviewed companies was limited to Swedish SME’s in the manufacturing industry, which has implemented online manufacturing in the form of automated processes. The chosen analysis method of the collected data is in the form of a thematic analysis. Findings – The study resulted in a conceptual framework, which is aimed primarily for SME’s in the manufacturing industry that wants to implement online manufacturing. The conceptual framework is built on six dimensions, where physical resources are primary and the remaining five are secondary. The physical resources are the main resource since they enable automated processes for SME’s in the manufacturing industry. While the remaining five resources serve as a support for physical resources. The developed dimensions show the resources that can be inadequate and its underlying reasons of the implementation of online manufacturing. Theoretical contributions – The study contributes to previous literature on the implementation of online manufacturing for SME’s in the manufacturing industry by investigating the underlying reasons of resources being perceived as obstacles and why an implementation is not taking place. One of the contributions is the visualization of the resources that may affect SME’s in the manufacturing industry to implement online manufacturing. This study has also contributed with a new resource. The result showed that it is an understanding of the overall picture of the market that is important for companies, and not just the reputation. The result also pointed out that reputation was about the understanding of the markets, such as the competitive situation, which led to the emergence of the new dimension called market resources. Furthermore, the reasons that resources can be perceived as barriers to implementing online manufacturing were partly confirmed in the result part. Finally, new reasons emerged why resources can be perceived as obstacles. Practical implications – The main practical contribution from this study is the conceptual framework that has its foundation in the resource-based view and demonstrates the shortcomings that may arise in a company's resources prior to an implementation of online manufacturing. It is primarily managers of SME’s in the manufacturing industry, who are considering an implementation of online manufacturing in their factories, that will be guided by the conceptual framework. Tillväxtverket can, with the help of this study, increase understanding for SME’s in the manufacturing industry in Sweden. This, in turn, can help companies to get a better understanding of which resources that can prevent an implementation of online manufacturing. Through an increased understanding and with the help of Tillväxtverket SME’s can prevent difficulties from occurring during the planning phase.

Background: Microbreweries are a rapid and emergent alternative in the alcoholic beverage industry. Understanding resource selection, development, and management with their institutional context and capital are critical for microbreweries to develop sustained competitive advantage in a difficult industry. Therefore, using Oliver’s (1997) and Bresser and Millonig’s (2003) integration of resource capital and institutional capital, the researchers identified a gap in the literature and were interested in exploring how Swedish microbreweries select and manage resource and institutional capital in their competitive context and identify challenges to existing literature.                  Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore and investigate how Swedish microbreweries select, develop, and manage institutional and resource-based capital. The study looks to explain the internal strategy process and factors affecting the microbrewery’s decisions.     Method: The study is an exploratory approach by combining existing theoretical frameworks and empirical data. Empirical data was collected through a qualitative research method consisting of seven semi-structured interviews and analysed with the thematic analysis technique.   Conclusion: The authors propose an amendment to Oliver’s (1997) model that links the empirical data and existing literature. In this context, collaborations and brewery networks are an important overarching dynamic that influences the procurement and management of resource capital and institutional capital. The dominant nature of collaborations and brewery networks is instrumental in the success of the microbrewery in question as it provides access to valuable resources and knowledge development crucial to achieving a sustained competitive advantage. This model can be used in the understanding of the overlapping factors facing the Swedish microbrewing industry.

No contexto da resource-based view, que é uma das principais abordagens estratégicas associada com os fatores internos de uma organização, a tecnologia da informação aparece como um recurso que pode ter impactos positivos sobre a performance de uma organização. Diante de algumas tipologias identificadas na literatura, alguns autores dividem os recursos de tecnologia da informação em três grupos: recursos tangíveis de TI, recursos humanos de TI e recursos intangíveis habilitados pela TI. Nesse último grupo é destacado que o conhecimento pode ser viabilizado por meio da TI, e deve ser considerado um ativo que a empresa poderia usufruir por meio da TI para se diferenciar de seus concorrentes. Dessa forma pode-se afirmar que existe uma influência das capacidades de TI (infraestrutura de TI, operação de TI e recursos humanos de TI) sobre a de gestão do conhecimento, uma vez que elas podem viabilizar uma melhor eficiência sobre os processos de gestão do conhecimento. O objetivo deste trabalho é analisar a relação das capacidades de tecnologia da informação sobre a gestão do conhecimento, levando em consideração os seguintes fatores: o impacto estratégico da TI no presente e no futuro, e o estilo de gestão de conhecimento voltado pra o conhecimento explícito, com o intuito de verificar se esses fatores afetam a intensidade da relação principal foco do estudo. Para alcançar os objetivos propostos foi realizada uma pesquisa seguindo uma abordagem quantitativa, por meio de um levantamento survey. Foram identificadas evidências empíricas de que a capacidade de TI tem um impacto positivo sobre a gestão do conhecimento conforme já destacado na literatura, além desse resultado foi constatado que os fatores moderadores influenciam positivamente essa relação. As grandes contribuições para a teoria foram o incremento de mais três novos processos compondo as dimensões da gestão do conhecimento, e a inclusão dos efeitos moderadores (o estilo de gestão do conhecimento voltado para o conhecimento explícito, o impacto estratégico da TI no presente e no futuro) no modelo de pesquisa proposto. / In the context of resource-based view, which is one of the key strategic approaches associated with an organization\'s internal factors, information technology appears as a resource that can have positive impacts on an organization\'s performance. Faced with some typologies identified in the literature, some authors divide information technology resources into three groups: tangible IT resources, IT human resources, and IT-enabled intangible resources. In the latter group it is highlighted that knowledge can be made via IT and should be considered an asset that the company could use through IT to differentiate itself from its competitors. In this way, it can be said that there is an influence of IT capacities (IT infrastructure, IT operation and IT human resources) over knowledge management, since they can enable a better efficiency in the management processes of the knowledge. The objective of this work is to analyze the relationship of information technology capacities on knowledge management, taking into account the following factors: the strategic impact of IT in the present and in the future, and the style of knowledge management aimed at explicit knowledge , in order to verify if these factors affect the intensity of the relationship main focus of the study. In order to reach the proposed objectives, a research was carried out following a quantitative approach, through a survey survey. Empirical evidence has been found that IT capacity has a positive impact on knowledge management as already highlighted in the literature, besides this result it was found that the moderating factors positively influence this relationship. The major contributions to the theory were the increase of three new processes composing the dimensions of knowledge management, and the inclusion of the moderating effects (the style of knowledge management focused on explicit knowledge, the strategic impact of IT in the present and in the future) in the proposed research model.

Financial Non-Governmental Organisations (FNGOs) are regulated microfinance institutions (MFIs) that operate with the social welfare logic in the delivery of Microcredit (MC) and Entrepreneurship Training (ET) to the poor in Ghana. The provision of these two capitals (MC and ET) is aimed at supporting the poor to create sustainable Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) which is aimed at generating both skilled and unskilled employment. The major aim of this study is to investigate the impact of MC and ET delivered by FNGOs on the performance of MSEs in Ghana. Theoretically, the study adopts both the Institutional Theory and the Resource-Based View theory as the underlying theoretical frameworks, assuming that institutional and resource factors have a great influence on FNGOs in their delivery of MC and ET to MSEs in Ghana. The research design adopted in undertaking this study is based on the pragmatic research philosophy. Specifically, the mixed strategy with an explanatory triangulation method has been used. The mixed method has been adopted purposely for model testing as well as for exploring various issues on FNGOs and their role in the performance of MSEs. Primary data were collected through a quantitative method using a survey as well as through qualitative interviews. Adopting a stratified random sampling method, a total of 720 self-administered questionnaires were sent out in March 2017 to MSEs in the Volta Region of Ghana to collect primary data. Out of the number sent, 506 questionnaires were retrieved generating a response rate of 70.2%. Also, interviews were conducted with 10 MSEs. A multiple regression model was applied in measuring the impact of MC and ET on the performance of MSEs. The findings suggest that firm characteristics such as gender, managers educational level, industry category and business age correlate positively with employment sales and profitability growth which are statistically significant at 1% level. Secondly, the study also found that both MC and ET factors have a significant impact on MSE performance in the areas of employment, sales and profitability at 1% significant level. The qualitative findings also support the model tested in this study in the sense that the combined approach of both MC and ET have a significant impact on MSE performance in Ghana. This study has made two main contributions. Firstly, the provision of MC by FNGOs can only have the desired impact on the performance of MSEs if it is combined with entrepreneurship training, thereby leading to a sustainable employment, sales and profitability growth. Therefore, by using the 506 MSEs financed by FNGOs in the Volta region of Ghana, this study has for the first time in the Ghanaian microfinance landscape tested an empirical model and came out with meaningful findings for effective integration of ET into microfinance to improve the delivery of financial services to MSEs in Ghana by FNGOs and other socially oriented MFIs. The study has therefore developed a practical framework for ensuring that ET is provided alongside the delivery of MC in order to have the desired impact on the performance of MSEs. The study provided implications for policy and practice for making MC and ET more accessible to MSEs to achieve the desired goal of creating employment. Secondly, even though FNGOs play a very important role in providing entrepreneurial finance to MSEs particularly in developing countries, it has received insufficient research attention. This study has, therefore, added to the scanty research available about FNGOs and their contribution to entrepreneurship development and poverty reduction in developing countries.