This thesis documents a study of the factors associated with Boards of Directors’ strategic decisions. The premise upon which such a research initiative is founded concerns the increased interest of academics and business practitioners in Board of Directors in the U.K and in U.S in part arising from recent financial scandals made in major public companies. Despite this increased attention to Board of Directors, it is acknowledged that Boards of Directors is one of the most under-researched management topics and its research is limited in scope and scale. An extensive review of the literature revealed that a useful contribution to knowledge could be derived from the investigation of the factors that influence Boards’ strategic decisions in quoted organisations. The research objectives is then to investigate the strategic decisions Boards of Directors and the organisation make by examining the environmental factors associated with the Board, the characteristics of the Board such as age, education, experience, composition, the Boards’ strategic choices in areas such as innovation, strategic decisions and to examine the influence the Boards have on performance. Despite the significant research interest in this topic, knowledge is still incomplete. This thesis makes a significant contribution to the strategic management literature by developing an integrative framework which examines strategic decisions from both content and process perspectives. The model developed, identifies the influence on strategic decisions, the environment, the characteristics of the Boards of Directors and its involvement has as influence on strategic decisions. The empirical study is carried out in a new cultural context; Greece and more specifically to listed firms on the Athens Stock Exchange. A theoretical model has been created and following a deductive approach, primary data through questionnaires was collected from 105 Greek listed organisations. Data was analysed according to their descriptive properties and underlying correlation structure. Several principal components were derived from these analyses which were used in hypothesis testing. Subsequently, a multiple regression and GLM analyses were conducted in order to examine the interrelationships between the factors associated with Boards’ strategic decisions. The research findings are discussed and considered in light of current knowledge in the area. A number of conclusions are made from the findings. Furthermore, implications for academics and business practitioners are drawn that indicate the relevance and applicability of this research to corporate governance practices. Limitations of the research and possible future research are set out. The thesis is organised into seven chapters which are entitled in the following order: literature review of Boards of Directors and development of theoretical framework; empirical approach and conceptualisation of the factors associated with boards’ strategic decisions; descriptive research findings; principal component analysis and construction of scale indices; multiple regression and GLM analyses; and, conclusions and implications of the study.

Problem: Researchers argue that strategic management and its implementation has be-come the main focus in SMEs because of its role in generating economic wealth. Although, there are many advantages to use strategic management, there are still many SME organizations that resist using it, since some of them may think this process is only useful for larger organizations and they did not recognize that it‟s also very helpful for SMEs as a whole. Therefore, the organization face challenges such as how to use this strategic management, and how to recognize the importance of strategic management and so on.     Purpose: Our purpose is to find out how strategic management determines / affects / in-fluence SMEs performance in South East Asia and specifically in China and In-donesia. Moreover, its purpose is to identify the crucial factors that determine survival and growth in the two countries. Theory: The theoretical framework is divided into several major parts. We start with looking at definition of strategy and different types of strategy in organization. The chapter continues with looking at SMEs strategic Management Model (Analoui & Karami, 2003), strategic choice, strategic fit and theory of firm per-formance i.e. dynamic capabilities (core capabilities). The last part of the chap-ter combine the previous theory, i.e. strategy and firm performance. More spe-cific, we use our theoretical framework of the process, regarding the effect of strategic management on SMEs performance.   Method: We chose qualitative method as our research method. We use case study to do this research and conduct interview to collect data. Qualitative is the appropriate method for this thesis since we aim to understand the phenomenon of SMEs strategic management on different levels. In order to gain more information, we conducted interview with middle management and top management of the com-pany. This method help us to explore into deeper stages of analyzing our subject and support our research.   Conclusion: We found there is no general answer on how strategic management determine / affects / influence SMEs performance in East Asia SMEs specifically in China and Indonesia. Further, the studied companies have more common characteris-tics than different characteristics. All of them are aware of the importance of us-ing strategic management. Moreover, our research indicate that understanding the role of internal & external factors, and constantly combining the two factors into daily operation are the crucial factors for these companies survival and growth in the two countries

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The concept of 'globalization' has nomlally been observed and researched in relation to hightechnology sectors, and little rigorous work has been done in the clothing context. This research attempts to fill the gap by replacing opinion and views with objective analysis, and to add to the existing knowledge base by providing answers to the identified problems in a measurable form. One of the major factors shaping the clothing industry's current position towards operations in different countries is the level of labour costs and the labour cost gap between developed and developing countries. The study has shown that despite technological development, labour costs as a percentage of total costs in the clothing industry are still very high as compared with the situation in the automobile industry and the electronics industry. Moreover, the considerable labour cost gap between developed and developing countries has not closed over the years. The statistical evidence has provided a new and objective perspective on the size of the above gap and highlighted the continued relevance of the issue of labour costs to the clothing sector today. The research has also illustrated how factors such as inflation rate and indirect charges can have their impact on the labour cost level. The 'globalness' of the UK based clothing sector was assessed at both the industry level and at the company level. At the industry level, an extensive re-working of secondary data was carried out. A study of various indicators of international involvement has shown that the UK clothing industry's exports and outward investment are far from spread across the world's major markets, instead, they are fairly concentrated in certain regions. In addition, previously unpublished data on the use of outward processing traffic were collected and analyzed. Evidence suggests that the UK clothing industry is only 'global' to a limited extent. In order to develop an infornled understanding of the competitive strategies at company level and to study whether companies with higher degrees of globalization achieve better performance, a postal survey of 152 UK based clothing fimlS, followed by telephone and face-to-face interviews, was conducted. The primary data collected by questionnaires and interviews were subjected to rigorous statistical analysis. Four case studies were subsequently established to put the analysis into a real-life context. The surveyed experience of the UK based clothing companies has revealed that larger companies tend to have higher levels of international involvement. However, based on the statistical evidence, the thesis argues that a wider geographical presence does not equal globalization and it does not lead to better performance. The interviews and case studies also highlighted important strategic issues. Based on the infornlation from both the primary and secondary sources, the thesis concludes that in the future UK clothing companies will further increase their overseas manufacturing activities at the expense of the home production base. Only those companies which restructure and invest in good time in preparation for further changes in industry settings, and which have a close relationship with their clients, are more likely to succeed or survive.

Strategic group theory has become a popular tool for analysing the competitive structures of industries. A 'strategic group ' is a group of firms in an industry following the same or a similar strategy along strategic dimensions. Since its initial development in the early 1970s by Hunt, the concept of strategic groups has initiated a plethora of empirical research in both the industrial organisation economics and strategic management dliscipliiies, emphasising the importance of strategic groups in understanding the differences across firms within an industry. Despite the rich theoretical tradition from which the strategic group concept is derived and the numerous empirical efforts to test its implications, there is no consensus concerning the appropriate method to identify strategic groups. In addition, a number of important questions concerning this concept remain unanswered and many previously researched issues require further refinement. This study was concerned with the development of a general framework for formulating strategic groups within the UK construction industry and examining both the dynamic characteristics and the performance implications of strategic groups membership. The focus of this thesis was at the corporate level of 35 UK construction firms for the period starting from 1986 to 1991 inclusive. To operationalise the strategy concept the study utilised two components of strategic decisions, namely scope and resource allocations. The findings of the longitudinal analysis demonstrated that the construction industry has witnessed significant structural transformations over the study period. The number, location, and composition of strategic groups has changed over time in accordance with changes in key strategic dimensions. The results also demonstrated that there is partial support for the existence of performance differences among strategic groups. The m2jor contributions of this study are the development of a general framework for formulating, interpreting, and validating the identified strategic groups; the detailed measurement of the strategy concept; and the longitudinal analysis of the dynamic and performance implications of strategic groups. The application of the strategic group concept to a diversified and complex industry such as the UK construction industry provided more insight into the strategic group phenomenon and its usefulness to strategic management analysis. The developed methodology has a potential for providing a comparative basis for future longitudinal research on strategic groups in other industries.

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The name Volvo is considered by many to be synonymous with safety. In recent years, the company has undertaken a coordinated effort to expand that image to improve environmental performance as a strong point for their products. This case details the motivation behind that effort, outlines the steps taken to improve Volvo's environmental management, and evaluates its success to date. / The International Motor Vehicle Program at MIT

Yes / This empirical study investigated senior managers’ perceptions and application of strategic management in the Libyan National Oil Corporation (NOC). Key factors influencing the processes of strategic management were identified and overall findings have been compared with a model of strategic management. A case study approach was adopted, based on a two-stage research design. The first stage comprised of a survey involving seventy senior managers and was followed by twelve semi-structured interviews to deepen the questionnaire findings with qualitative data. Findings suggest that the Libyan NOC may have relied too heavily in the past on strategy formulation and strategic management as the preserve of a very few individuals at the top of the organization. Whilst political directives set the strategy for the whole organisation, a gap in knowledge and understanding existed between the senior business managers and the political appointments to the Board. The case study does not necessarily reflect the situation in other NOCs. Furthermore, it excludes the impact of the revolution in Libya. Recommendations have been made for improving practice concerned steps in the strategic management process and senior managers’ effectiveness within the Board team. In the context of an example of a state-owned enterprise, the inclusion of three elements was suggested: Board effectiveness, medium-term objectives and social responsibility as an aspect of environmental scanning. This is a first time empirical study of senior managers’ perceptions of strategic management in a National Oil Company.

In the recent decades there have been tremendous technological and innovative advances that have shaped the business. Technology Laws like Moore’s, Gates law, Gilder’s Law, Metcalfe’s Law and Less’s Law shows the rate at which technological development has taken place. This has impacted how society as a whole functions and thus had changed the whole business environment and the rate at which new trend and ideas are adopted. It has become important for organisations to develop dynamic capabilities to be able to adopt in these environments where they could easily become redundant in a very short time. The aim of this study was to assess the use of foresight as a managerial skill to manage business decisions in academic institutions. For this study the primary focus was on higher academic institutions in South Africa. These higher academic institutions have been operating in a business environment that is highly competitive considering they focus on delivering quality products and services to the communities they serve. These products and services have to be competitive with the rest of the international market and thus they have to ensure they deliver products and services that are relevant to the latest industry trends and technologies. Foresight as a skill is very useful in the early detection of new trends, technologies and assist in the improving the innovation of these organisations. Exploratory research found that within these organisations there is a strong representation of Flexist’s which are hesitant to adopt new technologies, where they would rather wait till it is tried and tested before adopting the technology. The results also depicted a relationship between the ways these organisations adopted technologies to that of the technology adoption life cycle model. The exact same way new technologies have to cross the chasm in the market was found within the organisations where there were some staff members being early adopter of new technology and the rest pragmatists. Finally a foresight skill measurement formula had been developed which can be adopted to various industries. It can indicate areas where the organisations need to improve and plot them on an exponential curve showing their rate of effectiveness. The curve also indicates how effective they are at the implementation of foresight. Recommendation for further research in this field can be aimed at getting a better understanding of the relationship between the biographical information such as qualifications, age and years of experience impact the ability of foresight as a skill. / MBA (Business Administration), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

In the recent decades there have been tremendous technological and innovative advances that have shaped the business. Technology Laws like Moore’s, Gates law, Gilder’s Law, Metcalfe’s Law and Less’s Law shows the rate at which technological development has taken place. This has impacted how society as a whole functions and thus had changed the whole business environment and the rate at which new trend and ideas are adopted. It has become important for organisations to develop dynamic capabilities to be able to adopt in these environments where they could easily become redundant in a very short time. The aim of this study was to assess the use of foresight as a managerial skill to manage business decisions in academic institutions. For this study the primary focus was on higher academic institutions in South Africa. These higher academic institutions have been operating in a business environment that is highly competitive considering they focus on delivering quality products and services to the communities they serve. These products and services have to be competitive with the rest of the international market and thus they have to ensure they deliver products and services that are relevant to the latest industry trends and technologies. Foresight as a skill is very useful in the early detection of new trends, technologies and assist in the improving the innovation of these organisations. Exploratory research found that within these organisations there is a strong representation of Flexist’s which are hesitant to adopt new technologies, where they would rather wait till it is tried and tested before adopting the technology. The results also depicted a relationship between the ways these organisations adopted technologies to that of the technology adoption life cycle model. The exact same way new technologies have to cross the chasm in the market was found within the organisations where there were some staff members being early adopter of new technology and the rest pragmatists. Finally a foresight skill measurement formula had been developed which can be adopted to various industries. It can indicate areas where the organisations need to improve and plot them on an exponential curve showing their rate of effectiveness. The curve also indicates how effective they are at the implementation of foresight. Recommendation for further research in this field can be aimed at getting a better understanding of the relationship between the biographical information such as qualifications, age and years of experience impact the ability of foresight as a skill. / MBA (Business Administration), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015