The purpose of this study is to gain an insight into Chinese brands and branding strategies, with a particular focus on the manufacturing sector. This study will explore the value of existing brand management theory as related to Chinese brand building. In order to gain answers to the research questions, analyses of the secondary data and in-depth interviews with top Chinese banding consultants are conducted. The data is then analyzed using constant comparative and coding methods. This study comprehensively analyzes all the possible factors which directly or indirectly influence Chinese brand building. The research findings show that Chinese companeis, especially manufacturing companies, lack a clear brandoriented culture and sustainable investment in branding. Chinese companies’ brand builing lacks a systematic theoretical system, as well as lack professional brand knowledge, experience and skills-set. Moreover, external factors in terms of industry structure, government policy/regulations, and the market environement also have further specific impacts on Chinese companies’ brand building. This research highlights that currently the most important aims for Chinese companies are to remove their production-orientated mind-set, and to change the poor image of ‘Made in China’ in terms of poor quality, weak R&D and a poor level of marketing skills. In addition to such self-discipline, the government should strengthen relevant legislation in order to promote a better brand-building environment and to encourage independent innovation. Furthermore, this research suggests that Chinese companies should not be too hasty to enter foreign markets unless they are fully prepared. The domestic market provides a good opportunity for Chinese companies to learn to grow gradually by developing their ability to build brands. This study generates a better understanding of the current situation of Chinese brands and branding, which could result in positive improvements for those Chinese companies and policy makers, in that they will be able to undertake more effective action and employ greater sophistication in future brand creation. The research findings have also complemented the previous literature, and lay the foundation for future research focusing on Chinese band building. Meanwhile, the research findings support existing theories of brand management. This study addresses the importance of the application of brand management theory in Chinese branding practices. The existing brand management theories provide a comprehensive systematic guideline for Chinese companies, and they are fundamental to Chinese companies’ brand building.

Previous studies have shown that information regarding competitors has great value for organizations, especially in terms of strategy, making strategic decisions, strategic plans, development of resources, innovation and change, etc. However, most studies tend to investigate competitive intelligence rather than competitor intelligence. Competitor intelligence may be an important factor for organizations to include in their strategy building but too few focus on its impact on such process. Therefore this paper modified one of the strategy tools which are utilized in the strategy building process of organization by including competitor intelligence, with the aim at having a better understanding how competitor intelligence has impact or contribution to the process of strategy building. The modified model shows that with the presence of competitor intelligence, the reliability and feasibility of strategic options are improved to achieve a competitive strategy, which facilitates to enhance competitive advantage and sustainability of the organization.

abstract: Economic development over the last century has driven a tripling of the world's population, a twenty-fold increase in fossil fuel consumption, and a tripling of traditional biomass consumption. The associated broad income and wealth inequities are retaining over 2 billion people in poverty. Adding to this, fossil fuel combustion is impacting the environment across spatial and temporal scales and the cost of energy is outpacing all other variable costs for most industries. With 60% of world energy delivered in 2008 consumed by the commercial and industrial sector, the fragmented and disparate energy-related decision making within organizations are largely responsible for the inefficient and impacting use of energy resources. The global transition towards sustainable development will require the collective efforts of national, regional, and local governments, institutions, the private sector, and a well-informed public. The leadership role in this transition could be provided by private and public sector organizations, by way of sustainability-oriented organizations, cultures, and infrastructure. The diversity in literature exemplifies the developing nature of sustainability science, with most sustainability assessment approaches and frameworks lacking transformational characteristics, tending to focus on analytical methods. In general, some shortfalls in sustainability assessment processes include lack of: * thorough stakeholder participation in systems and stakeholder mapping, * participatory envisioning of future sustainable states, * normative aggregation of results to provide an overall measure of sustainability, and * influence within strategic decision-making processes. Specific to energy sustainability assessments, while some authors aggregate results to provide overall sustainability scores, assessments have focused solely on energy supply scenarios, while including the deficits discussed above. This paper presents a framework for supporting organizational transition processes towards sustainable energy systems, using systems and stakeholder mapping, participatory envisioning, and sustainability assessment to prepare the development of transition strategies towards realizing long-term energy sustainability. The energy system at Arizona State University's Tempe campus (ASU) in 2008 was used as a baseline to evaluate the sustainability of the current system. From interviews and participatory workshops, energy system stakeholders provided information to map the current system and measure its performance. Utilizing operationalized principles of energy sustainability, stakeholders envisioned a future sustainable state of the energy system, and then developed strategies to begin transition of the current system to its potential future sustainable state. Key findings include stakeholders recognizing that the current energy system is unsustainable as measured against principles of energy sustainability and an envisioned future sustainable state of the energy system. Also, insufficient governmental stakeholder engagement upstream within the current system could lead to added risk as regulations affect energy supply. Energy demand behavior and consumption patterns are insufficiently understood by current stakeholders, limiting participation and accountability from consumers. In conclusion, although this research study focused on the Tempe campus, ASU could apply this process to other campuses thereby improving overall ASU energy system sustainability. Expanding stakeholder engagement upstream within the energy system and better understanding energy consumption behavior can also improve long-term energy sustainability. Finally, benchmarking ASU's performance against its peer universities could expand the current climate commitment of participants to broader sustainability goals. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Sustainability 2011

The main purpose of this research project was to bridge the existing knowledge gap inthe empirical identification and understanding of how conflict occurs between keyproject parties within Saudi Arabia’s public sector building projects. Such conflict hasbecome an increasingly endemic feature within the last 20 years, and this researchproject provides a contribution in knowledge terms which will help to overcome theobstacles and challenges impeding growth and development in the field. This wasachieved by conducting an investigation to provide the theoretical background aboutthe antecedents of conflict, and presenting a number of project management suggestions to avoid or minimise.Both qualitative and quantitative research approaches were utilised in this study. Thequalitative research data was obtained from 30 in-depth semi-structured interviewswith four types of key project party, namely, project owners, consultants, contractors,and sub-contractors. This was followed by two separate questionnaire surveys. The firstwas a means of validating conflict data obtained from the interviews, and the secondwas used to test Project Management - PM data, . In this part of the study, 672questionnaires were sent to various people engaged in the Saudi Arabian constructionindustry. The response rate was 46.1% (n = 310 ).In terms of the interview data, a total of 349 data items were derived and from these data items, 30 general themes emerged concerning various causes of conflict and the latent conditions of conflict, providing descriptions of what and how conflicts arise within Saudi Arabian public building projects. From these general themes, 31 recommendations for strategic project management processes are made, with the intention of preventing or at least minimising conflict. The quantitative survey conducted to test these project management strategies (recommendations) revealed that all of them were supported. The study subsequently produced a cyclical framework of conflict avoidance, derived from the research methodology used in the study, and this is outlined to enable project building participants, whether individuals, groups, or organisations, to improve their project management strategy from project to project.The research recommends that: generally, certain project management strategiesshould be implemented in the earlier phases of a project in order to promote conflictavoidance behaviours or at least to effect a reduction in these. Furthermore, strategicactions are required to deal with the latent condition-related issues in respect of building projects in the Saudi Arabian context. In this case, reforms to current practices are required to improve the performance within the building industry. It is also recommended that further research be undertaken to explore other latent conditions of conflict and conflicts themselves in order to develop additional project management strategies aimed at managing the causes of conflict.

The Corporate Agriculture division dealing with the procurement and growing of potatoes for Farm Frites in all production locations worldwide is in need of a strategy to initiate sustainable development. The scope of the project is limited to the activities in Belgium, Egypt, the Netherlands and Poland. A strategy for sustainable agriculture is developed, with goals and key performance indicators, and the methodology that led to this strategy is described as well. The methodology consists of seven steps, with an initial zero-measurement step. The zero- measurements is to describe the current status of sustainable agriculture (0), then the business priorities are identified (1), followed by setting of goals and key performance indicators (2). This leads to a strategy proposal (3), the strategy is then adopted by the general management (4), and integrated in the farming business operations (5). The progress on the strategy is reported on (6), and if need be, regularly revised and updated (7). The developed strategy on sustainable agriculture consists of four main strategic goals; Health and safety of workers first; Ensuring a safe and sustainable potato product; Using of farm inputs in the most responsible way; Sharing of best sustainable farming practices. The level of sustainable agriculture in Belgium and the Netherlands is more or less the same, where progress is made, mostly following requirements from laws and regulations. There are sustainable agriculture initiatives where best practices are shared. Sustainable agriculture in Poland is most advanced in the Farm Frites organisation, where Farm Frites Poland is actively collaborating with farmers to become more sustainable. Sustainable agriculture in Egypt has still a lot to improve, where the first priorities should be to follow and implement some basic good agriculture practices. The strategy building methodology of seven steps with an initial zero-measurement has been proved effective, resulting in a description of the level of sustainable agriculture and a strategy to further increase the sustainability of agriculture in Belgium, Egypt, the Netherlands and Poland. However, only steps zero till three have been carried out, and the strategy is still to be adopted (step four).