The dissertation provides a rich analysis of routines in four case-study companies. Explanations for the behaviour of the firms are developed and provide new building blocks for the understanding of other firms in different circumstances, emphasising empirical evidence, rule-based action and recognising the historical, social and interpretive contexts. Routines are defined as established, significant, sanctioned and recurrent practices within organizations. A number of key features of organizations figure in the analysis: the relationship between structure and agency, the firm's culture and the firm's history. Structures are identified as rules and relationships. The analysis of agency focuses on the position of the agent, the agent's skill and the desire to reduce uncertainty. Technology is an important factor in the analysis. It is (partly) constitutive of the firms, that is it has the power to enact or establish the firms. It cannot do this on its own, it is argued, but, in interacting with other factors, has major implications for the structure and routine behaviour of the firms. The cases suggest that technology has implications for human agency which go beyond the initial intentions of the agents. Technology is not determining but interacts with the other factors in a recursive way and cannot be adequately analysed outside the social system of which it is a part. The primary contribution of the research is the development of a broader concept of routine, in particular, the identification of routine practices at a strategic level and the demonstration that such practices can incorporate change. In addition, the analysis identifies the role of technology in economic change. It adds to the understanding of routines more generally and confirms that an institutional approach to the understanding of firms' behaviour is fruitful and can add to the current repertoire of approaches in Economics.

Abstract This research report explores book development strategies in Africa and the impact they have on book development. It uses Kenya and Nigeria as case studies. These case studies investigate themes pertinent to book development like reading promotions, book development associations, copyright etc. This study depicts that the basic problem under developed countries, particularly in the African book industry, stems from the fact that publishing is dominated by textbook publishing. The dominance of textbook publishing makes it difficult for books to extend towards incorporating general books so that the development of literacy, the reading habit and sustainability of the African book industry occurs. The study demonstrates that the majority of the African book industry is still suffering from neo-colonialism due to the heavy dependency on foreign publishers for their expertise in the publishing area and imported books. This dependency has to decrease and stakeholders in the publishing industry need to recognize that the African book industry will prosper, if key actors in the publishing industry work together instead of competing against one another. The creation of a national book policy and a national book council is recommended as the main book development strategy which will ensure an efficient and productive book industry. In conclusion, some recommendations are extracted and these are related to Swaziland where I work in the publishing industry.

The U.S. health care industry incurs a high level of employee turnover year over year, which results in significant costs for organizations in the sector. Specific to the field of nursing, some pharmaceutical health care managers lack effective management strategies to successfully mitigate nursing turnover intentions to reduce organizational losses. The purpose of this single case study was to explore the strategies health care managers used to mitigate nursing turnover intentions. The conceptual framework was social exchange theory. Data were collected using semistructured interviews. The targeted population included 9 managers from a pharmaceutical company in the state of New Jersey who demonstrated successful strategies for mitigating nursing turnover intentions as evidenced by meeting 3 defined inclusion criteria. Interviews were conducted, recorded, transcribed, and member checked for accuracy. Data were analyzed using Yin's 5 €step approach, that included compiling data, disassembling data, reassembling data, interpreting data, and concluding data. Three major themes were identified, which included individualization, communication, and development. Findings from this study may contribute to positive social change by providing health care managers with strategies they can use to decrease nursing turnover. Decreased nursing turnover may lead to increased nursing skills, improved patient outcomes, and a higher positive perception of care within the community, which could have a positive influence on organizational profitability and sustainability.

In this thesis consideration is given to the inter-relationships between a number of key concepts and reports in educational and general public administration which have been produced over the last decade. Networking is the inter-connecting concept. In the first half of the thesis the emphasis is on the current relationships between the key themes and educational and general public administrative structures and strategies. In the second half a variation on the “brainstorming” technique (involving purely the author rather than a group of individuals) has been used to produce a scenario of possible educational and general public administrative structures and strategies in the 1980s and 90s (with and emphasis on the possible inter-relationships between these structures and strategies, the key themes, and communication networks) A case study then follows which links the key themes and the scenario by including discussion of one senior educational administrator’s perceptions of probable futures for a particular education system. It is concluded that there is great potential for new technologies to assist with the restructuring of educational and general public administration. Recommendations on how this could be achieved are given.

In this thesis consideration is given to the inter-relationships between a number of key concepts and reports in educational and general public administration which have been produced over the last decade. Networking is the inter-connecting concept. In the first half of the thesis the emphasis is on the current relationships between the key themes and educational and general public administrative structures and strategies. In the second half a variation on the “brainstorming” technique (involving purely the author rather than a group of individuals) has been used to produce a scenario of possible educational and general public administrative structures and strategies in the 1980s and 90s (with and emphasis on the possible inter-relationships between these structures and strategies, the key themes, and communication networks) A case study then follows which links the key themes and the scenario by including discussion of one senior educational administrator’s perceptions of probable futures for a particular education system. It is concluded that there is great potential for new technologies to assist with the restructuring of educational and general public administration. Recommendations on how this could be achieved are given.

Abstract The purpose of this research was to explore, through interviews, miscue and retrospective miscue analysis, and retellings of stories, the oral reading performance of three English as a second language (ESL) students and their perceptions of the reading process, their knowledge of the English language cueing systems and their use of strategies in reading narrative and expository passages in English. The Burke Modified Reading Interview was administered to explore the students perceptions of the reading process and of themselves as readers. Additional interviews were conducted to obtain information about their schooling and literacy background. The students miscues while reading narrative and expository passage from an informal reading inventory were recorded, transcribed and coded using selected parts of Goodmans reading miscue inventory. Students listened to their miscues during retrospective miscue analysis sessions and engaged in self-reflection and exploratory talk to discuss why they made those miscues. The findings showed that the students perceptions of reading varied. The print-based readers relied heavily on graphophonic strategies and knowledge-based readers focused on semantic strategies in reading the selected passages. All of the participants read below their grade levels. The findings also revealed that these students created images and overarching schemata in their imaginations as they were reading the selected texts. The students performed better on passages about which they had strong background knowledge. Their relative performance with narrative and expository structures varied. It was concluded that ESL students need more instruction and experience in reading informational texts and need to learn new strategies for making inferences from the texts using their knowledge of the language cueing systems and their knowledge of the world. / Language and Literacy Education

ABSTRACT Date:       June 4th, 2010 Title:       The Marketing Entry Strategies of Sandvik Mining in Serbia and Macedonia Course:    Business Administration Program: Bachelor Thesis in Business Administration Authors:  Enock Ofori-Mensah, Sarkaut Karimi & Magdi Elhadi Supervisor: Prafulla Acharya Examiner:  Ole Liljefors Introduction:  Sandvik AB was founded in 1862 by Göran Fredrik Göransson who is the first person in the world to use the Bessemer method in steel industry. Sandvik Group is considered to be a world-leading company which produces high-technology products and has achieved a global business status in more than 130 countries throughout the world. The company sales as at 2009 was 72 billion SEK and boost of 44 000 employees. As a result of the close integration of the production, administration and distribution systems, approximately 70% of the Sandvik Group’s sales are delivered to customers within a week from order. To ensure maximum customer value, R&D at Sandvik involves leading state-of-the-art technology, dynamic patent activities and extensive added value. During the last few years, couples of companies have been finding it difficult to gain a competitive position in foreign markets due to the intense competition from suppliers and competitors and also their failure to conform their marketing strategies to the countries they enter and as a result fail drastically. Companies face a lot of dilemma on which entry mode strategies to adopt when entering new foreign markets. Some pay much attention to their resources whilst others also evaluate the total cost involved in entering the market against the level of profit they will achieve in that markets. For these reasons, the main aim of this research work is to try to identify and describe some of the entry strategies models companies should consider in their internationalization process. Problem: How has Sandvik Mining Industry entered into Serbia and Macedonia? Sub questions; -          What difficulties had Sandvik faced in implementing their entry strategies in these two countries? -           How and whether participants/interviewees perceive the entry strategies as successful or not? Purpose: The main objective of this research is to identify, describe and analyze the Marketing entry strategies of Sandvik Mining in Serbia and Macedonia. Method: In this research work, both qualitative and quantitative research methods were used but most of this research work was based on qualitative research method. The qualitative research was in the form of primary data based on interviews, questionnaire and personal contacts with the sales/marketing manager, Mr. Johan Dotzauer. On the quantitative method, we used secondary data such as Journals, books and the financial information of Sandvik Mining to analyze Sandvik Mining international process as well as in evaluating the success of their internationalization process in Serbia and Macedonia markets.           Conclusions: In conclusion of this work, we found out that the exclusiveness and the technicality of Sandvik´s products and their thirst for having a strong competitive advantage drives them more and more towards the resource based theory and also partially the network approach in their foreign market entry process. That’s Sandvik Mining adopted two or more entry strategies in its internationalization Process to Serbia and Macedonia Markets. In addition, Sandvik competitive advantage over its rivals Caterpillar and Atlas was due to its resources in the form of infrastructure, hi-tech products and high scaled sales force team. The success of Sandvik Mining entries to Serbia and Macedonia as at now cannot be concluded as successful by us. This is due to the unavailability of the 2010 financial statements for these two markets. Keywords: Resource Based Theory, Uppsala Internationalization Model, Network Approach and Eclectic/Transaction Cost Approach. / Market entry strategies

The purpose of the thesis aims to investigate pair trading strategies which are frequently used by hedge funds adopting non-directional strategies. It is also our intention to develop a set of streamlined operational guidelines for pair trading strategy to be implemented in the Taiwan securities markets. Daily closing prices of listed stocks are used. The database is compiled by Taiwan Economic Journal, covering companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange and the GreiTai Market in Taiwan. The company-pairs are selected from firms listed on the same market, conducting business in the same product field, and with sample correlation coefficient higher than 0.7. We choose 10 sample company-pairs covering 20 listed companies. The trading strategies mix both divergence and convergence rules. For the former, when the price ratio of the pair exceeds the moving average price ratio plus (minus) 0.3 standard deviation, we buy the strong and short the weak to anticipate the price ratio trend continues. For the latter, when the price ratio goes beyond the moving average price ratio plus (minus) 1.7 standard deviations, we buy the weak and short the strong, anticipating the price ratio to go back to normal. The exit rules are based on absolute dollar profit, absolute dollar loss, and prolonged position period. The research results show that the pair trading strategies are not risk-free. Risk arises when the price ratio trend runs adversely than as expected. To control the risk, our challenges lie in fine tuning the entry and exit rules. With larger sample size and more in-depth investigation, we expect that the profit/loss ratio of the stragtegy can be improved. Then the pair trading strategy will become a good alternative for conservative individual investors seeking low risk investment opportunities to participate in the securities markets in Taiwan.

Most mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are focus on the activities of Law, Finance, and Business. But many of top management who experienced M&A had admitted that human resources management is a critical point to success at M&A. As the development of concept of Human Capital, the function of Human Resources Department had been upgraded from ¡§Administration¡¨ to ¡§Strategy¡¨ in recent years. Perform as a business advisor/partner or strategic partner via providing more pro-active services, including activities of analysis of human capital, recruitment, training and development, compensation, performance management, change management, and so on. In order to operate business smoothly, when an international corporation enters to a new environment, it¡¦s necessary for this corporation to use well the local professionals and managers. After completion of M&A, then implement business strategies from headquarters. To investigate human resources strategies in 5 local companies merged by international financial groups, we could clearly to see that how those corporations conducted communication, employee retention, benefits, and relevant human resources strategies in M&A. The human resources activities in the organization could be conducted well only if there are proper human resources strategies. The competitiveness of a corporation will be reduced if there are no human resources strategies or to implement business strategies without considering factors of human resources. Human resources strategies play an important role in M&A integration from the study of these 5 companies, and they do effect future development of the organization after M&A.

Listening comprehension plays a vital role in Chinese students’ acquisitionof English; however, the current situation of students’ listening comprehension learning is notsatisfactory. As one category of learning strategies, metacognitive strategies are essential forsuccessful learning. Thus, the aim of this study is to investigate the students’ frequency ofmetacognitive strategy use, and the relationship between their use of metacognitive strategiesand their performance in a listening comprehension test from the TEM-4 test. 100sophomores of English major were chosen to participate in the test and then divided into threelevels based on their scores. Afterwards, 10 students from each level were randomly selected,which means there was a total of 30 students and they were asked to participate in thequestionnaire. Through the data collected from the listening comprehension test and thequestionnaire, the investigation finds that on the whole, the 30 students use metacognitivestrategies in the medium level. By comparison, the students in the three groups utilizemetacognitive strategies in different levels. Moreover, there is a positive relationship between30 students’ frequency of metacognitive strategy use and their performance in the listeningcomprehension test. However, there are 4 students whose frequency of metacognitive strategyuse and scores in the listening comprehension test show a negative relationship. Thus, aninterview was conducted among them to find the reasons. These include that they havedifferent difficulties in using metacognitive strategies or dealing with the listeningcomprehension tasks, and then some suggestions are put forward to help teachers improvetheir teaching quality, and students enhance their listening comprehension abilities.