Community welfare organisations (CWOs)¹ perform an important role in society. They are founded on religious or social values that are given expression through their mission statements. In undertaking their work, many command significant economic resources. While the literature shows an increasing use of performance reporting by CWOs, little is known about the processes through which performance reports are developed and deployed. This thesis attempts to fill this lacuna by investigating the structure and process of, and rationale for, performance reporting by a CWO. The research was undertaken through a single organisation case study of performance reporting in a large, multi-service CWO. The study employed an interpretive methodology, which was informed by Strategic Choice Theory, using data that was obtained through interviews, observation of meetings and document analysis. The study found that performance reporting by the organisation was extensive, being undertaken within two distinct but related frameworks: a voluntary system that had been developed within the organisation, and a mandatory system of external reporting. It concluded that performance reporting was essentially the strategic response of a decidedly purposeful, voluntary organisation that chose to operate in a highly regulated welfare system. The contributions to knowledge from this thesis arise from a comprehensive explanation of practice, and a demonstration of the applicability of Strategic Choice Theory to understanding organisational behaviour in a CWO. ¹ See Appendix 1 for a definition of the term Community Welfare Organisation. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1374549 / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, Business School, 2009

Community welfare organisations (CWOs)¹ perform an important role in society. They are founded on religious or social values that are given expression through their mission statements. In undertaking their work, many command significant economic resources. While the literature shows an increasing use of performance reporting by CWOs, little is known about the processes through which performance reports are developed and deployed. This thesis attempts to fill this lacuna by investigating the structure and process of, and rationale for, performance reporting by a CWO. The research was undertaken through a single organisation case study of performance reporting in a large, multi-service CWO. The study employed an interpretive methodology, which was informed by Strategic Choice Theory, using data that was obtained through interviews, observation of meetings and document analysis. The study found that performance reporting by the organisation was extensive, being undertaken within two distinct but related frameworks: a voluntary system that had been developed within the organisation, and a mandatory system of external reporting. It concluded that performance reporting was essentially the strategic response of a decidedly purposeful, voluntary organisation that chose to operate in a highly regulated welfare system. The contributions to knowledge from this thesis arise from a comprehensive explanation of practice, and a demonstration of the applicability of Strategic Choice Theory to understanding organisational behaviour in a CWO. ¹ See Appendix 1 for a definition of the term Community Welfare Organisation. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1374549 / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, Business School, 2009

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The literature presents us with two distinct, and at times opposed, approaches to strategic management: the use of strategic choice and determinism. This research shows that these approaches can actually be considered as two distinct variables, which create a space or framework in which it is possible to identify, according to the available different amounts of strategic choice and determinism, the four different ontological perspectives of determinism, hard incompatibilism, libertarianism and compatibilism. According to the literature, within each ontological perspective of the strategic choice/determinism framework, companies use different levels of strategic choice and determinism to produce organizational outcomes. This research provides empirical evidence of the real life existence of these ontological perspectives, in which companies’ performance of revenues is driven by a different amount of strategic choice or determinism according to the perspectives in which companies operate. This research also shows that other important performance indicators, such as EBITDA, depend only on deterministic variables, while ROA depends neither on strategic choice nor on deterministic variables. These findings suggest that future research could increase our knowledge on the internal environment of companies, as it could do from the hard incompatibilist perspective, which was not possible to study thoroughly within this research. The research conclusions provide several contributions to both academic knowledge and practice.

A significant number of scientific projects pursuing large scale, complex investigations involve dispersed research teams, which conduct a large part or their work virtually. Virtual Research Environments (VREs), cyberinfrastructure that facilitates coordinated activities amongst dispersed scientists, thus provide a rich context to study organizational evolution. Due to the constantly evolving nature of technologies, it is important to understand how teams of scientists, system developers, and managers respond to critical incidents. Critical events are organizational situations that trigger strategic decision making to adjust structure or redirect processes in order to maintain balance or improve an already functioning system. This study examines two prominent VREs: The United States Virtual Astronomical Observatory (US-VAO) and the HathiTrust Research Center (HTRC) in order to understand how these environments evolve through critical events and strategic choices. Communication perspectives lend themselves well to a study of VRE development and evolution because of the central role occupied by communication technologies in both the functionality and management of VREs. Using the grounded theory approach, this study uses organizational reports to trace how critical events and their resulting strategic choices shape these organizations over time. The study also explores how disciplinary demands influence critical events.

Prior research on incumbent firm response to radical technological innovation identifies firm, technology, and environmental factors associated with incumbents’ performance after a technology shift. What remains unexplored are factors affecting choice of response made before a technological shift occurs. Such ex ante choices are important intermediate outcomes affecting long-term performance outcomes. Competitive considerations may be influential inputs in choice processes because technological innovation is often related to competitive strategy. The resulting research question for this study is: What role do competitive considerations play in incumbent firms’ ex ante strategic choices in response to potentially radical technological innovations? Findings from a survey of key informants in the electronics industry whose firms face a potential technological disruption (n=120) suggest that incumbents’ response choices are affected by competitor-related orientations and by perceptions of relative strength of their strategic assets. Limited support is found for a moderating effect of perceptions of the competitive environment. The results of this study extend theory on incumbent response to radical technological change by shedding light on the influence of competitor interdependence. Findings also suggest the importance of strategic choice as an intermediate variable in understanding incumbents’ long-term performance. Research examining choice factors at varied stages of a technology’s diffusion can further advance understanding of the evolving nature of strategic response choices and the effects they have on long-term performance.

Some industrial relations researchers have considered the meat processing industry as one of the more strike-prone industries in Australia. Many researchers have analysed this industry from either a political economy perspective or a union industrial relations perspective. This thesis acknowledges this body of literature, but takes as its focus the ways that employers have shaped the industry?s industrial relations. Employers, far from being reactive or even passive actors in shaping the industry?s industrial relations, have taken a long-term active role in this area. This thesis, therefore, focuses on an historical analysis of the changing roles of employers and employer associations in the industry?s industrial relations. This thesis will identify and link the relevant theoretical literature to the historical narrative, and then link this to actual events through three case studies analysing three exemplar employers. The findings of this thesis are that employers have had and made strategic choices about the industry?s industrial relations, at the workplace, industry and national-levels. The rise of AMH, which forms much of the second half of the narrative and analysis, shaped the industry?s industrial relations in ways not seen before in the Australian meat processing industry. Thus, the strategic choices on by many medium and larger meat-industry employers at the time, proved ineffective in the face of AMH?s success in driving down the cost of the wage-effort bargain, rendering many uncompetitive on both the input and output sides of the product market.

This dissertation argues that advocacy is a two-stage decision in which organizations must first decide whether or not to undertake political activity through advocacy or lobbying and then choose between the set of strategic actions that, based on available financial and human resources, are available to them. These are separate decisions with separate constraints. The decision to advocate is a strategic stance taken by nonprofit organizations in policy environments that necessitate such activity and in which it is politically conducive for them to undertake the cost of such actions. Once an organization has decided that it will undertake advocacy activities, it must determine the specific activities, collaboration, grassroots advocacy, or direct lobbying, that will help it to pursue that course most effectively. These hypotheses are tested in an analysis of the advocacy activities of over 500 nonprofit reproductive health service providers. Data for this study were gathered from the National Center for Charitable Statistics within the Urban Institute and directly from IRS Form 990s filed by the organizations. The findings suggest that there are strong and consistent relationships between policy and politics and the political activity of nonprofit service providers. In states with more restrictive reproductive health policy environments, nonprofit organizations that provide these services are more likely to engage in advocacy activity. The findings also suggest that, even when controlling for the policy environment, 501(c)(3)s are more likely to become politically active in states where they have a larger number of political allies. Additional analyses suggest that there is a negative relationship between government monies and the aggressiveness of advocacy and the use of multiple advocacy strategies. Interestingly, this finding is consistent with the expectations offered in the resource dependence literature and the results suggest only a tenuous relationship between institutional variables and decisions regarding organizational aggressiveness in the choice of advocacy strategies.

The U.S. has been building the security umbrella in Asia-Pacific after the World War II, from Japan and South Korea in the north, to Philippine, Thailand, Australia and New Zealand in the south, to protect its homeland security and interests in Asia-Pacific from communist threat like Communist China. When the Cold War ended which saw the decline of USSR as a world power, the U.S. security umbrella continues but it now faces a new challenge posed by the rise of China. While Australia is part of the security umbrella of U.S., it is quite different from Japan, South Korea, Philippine and Thailand. Australia is a state with cultures and values similar to the West but is geographically located in Asia-Pacific. It has huge territory that ranks top 6 in the world but sparsely populated with only around twenty one million people. Trade contributes significantly to its economic development due to its relatively small population and abundant resources. China's influence is rising after its economic reform. China has been the most important trade partner of Australia since 2007. However, when Australia seeks a wider bilateral interaction with China, it is expected that this will have an impact on the Australia-United States bilateral relations. The concept of a ¡§Strategic Triangle¡¨ has been used in this dissertation to observe the changes of the Australia-United States-China relationship in different stages. The national interests approach is applied to interpret the importance of relationships of Australia-United States and Australia-China to Australia. Therefore, the contents of Australia¡¦s national interests and Australia's foreign policies are explored first. Then, the bilateral relationship between U.S.-China is examined for its impacts on Australia¡¦s choices between U.S. and China. The Australia-U.S. relationship and Australia-China relationship are also examined respectively to understand the rationale behind Australia's approach toward U.S. and China. Finally, Australia's strategies are reviewed and the possible strategic choices for Australia are discussed. The strategic choices made by Australia could be interpreted from the Australia-U.S.-China triangular relationship.

Some industrial relations researchers have considered the meat processing industry as one of the more strike-prone industries in Australia. Many researchers have analysed this industry from either a political economy perspective or a union industrial relations perspective. This thesis acknowledges this body of literature, but takes as its focus the ways that employers have shaped the industry?s industrial relations. Employers, far from being reactive or even passive actors in shaping the industry?s industrial relations, have taken a long-term active role in this area. This thesis, therefore, focuses on an historical analysis of the changing roles of employers and employer associations in the industry?s industrial relations. This thesis will identify and link the relevant theoretical literature to the historical narrative, and then link this to actual events through three case studies analysing three exemplar employers. The findings of this thesis are that employers have had and made strategic choices about the industry?s industrial relations, at the workplace, industry and national-levels. The rise of AMH, which forms much of the second half of the narrative and analysis, shaped the industry?s industrial relations in ways not seen before in the Australian meat processing industry. Thus, the strategic choices on by many medium and larger meat-industry employers at the time, proved ineffective in the face of AMH?s success in driving down the cost of the wage-effort bargain, rendering many uncompetitive on both the input and output sides of the product market.