This multi-site case study is really the story of three same-state community colleges (Bridge and Buffer Community College, Grants and Reserves Community College, and Crystal Ball Community College) two years after they suffered a potentially catastrophic 50% reduction in state allocations. This study examined their responses to those reductions and attempted to frame those responses according to existing research on strategic activity and strategic positioning. The theoretical framework used, referenced as a theoretical mesh, consisted of academic capitalism (Slaughter & Leslie, 1997; Slaughter & Rhoades, 2004), resource dependence theory (Pfeffer & Salancik, 1978), state relative autonomy perspective (Dougherty, 1994), and neo-institutional theory (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983). The synthesis of these theories facilitated the analysis of the findings of this study. This study identified three key phenomena: The Quartering of Community Colleges to conceptualize and organize the abundance of external pressures facing community colleges, Mandates to Neutralize to explain the importance of an aggressive and formal approach to neutralizing external pressures, and Embedded Community Colleges whose strategic positions are strengthened through a deliberate, committed approach to fostering close relationships with their local communities.

A lot of theories have been propounded that has made great contribution to the enterprise internationalization and entry strategy. However, no acceptable conclusion has been made on how firms internationalized and what is factors influenced firms choose their strategy. This development necessitates further study on the firms internationalization and entry strategy. Hence the research was explorative in nature and adductive approach was comprehensive adopted with interview. Further more, the firms have been using various approaches in entering their target market. Some prefer to consolidate their position at home and concentrated their efforts on exporting, while other took aggressive steps and invested directly in the foreign market. Thus, the study examined the entry strategy of firms, and the factors that influence the choice. This was aimed to gain deeper insight on how firms enter the target market. From the findings, it was revealed that, Huawei had adopted partnership, establishment of owned subsidiaries and make high technology co-operation in the world, while the company resorted to strategic alliance and joint venture after the China economic reformed till present moment. Moreover, we found that the owner and management exerted their influence on strategic direction of the firm, but the choice of entry strategy was mostly influenced by firm vision, business offering, resources and capacity, while market conditions acted as exogenous factors.

The notion of 'strategy' plays a central role in game theory, business, and war. This thesis offers an understanding of the term can be rendered canonical for all three contexts. I argue first that rational behaviour is either complacent or non-complacent. Second, what makes non-complacent rationally distinct is reconnaissance and predictive deliberation. And so third, what we can count as 'strategic' behaviour is the employment of reconnaissance and deliberation in pursuit of alternative practices of higher utility. / vi, 91 leaves ; 28 cm.

This thesis is a collection of four manuscripts linked by the aim of extending strategic alignment thought into the knowledge management domain by explicitly including the concept of knowledge strategy into the discussion of strategic alignment. In the first paper, a set of common knowledge strategy dimensions was synthesized and used to link two existing knowledge strategy typologies. The key finding of the study was that the two typologies operated at different strategic levels, allowing for the creation of portfolios of the lower order types under each higher order type. In the second paper, a model of strategic alignment between business, information system and knowledge strategy was presented and tested using survey data. It was found that the combination of aligned information and knowledge strategies with their associated business strategy resulted in higher performance for defenders, analyzers and prospectors and that the alignment of non-viable strategies led to worse performance than individual non-viable strategies alone. In the third paper, case studies provided examples of alignment and misalignment which were used to populate a framework linking alignment and performance. Four explanations for firms’ location in the model were provided, focusing on appropriate versus inappropriate alignment, conscious versus unconscious misalignment, antagonistic alignment versus misalignment, and strategic alignment versus misalignment. In the final paper, the Strategic Orientation of Knowledge-Based Enterprises (STROKE) instrument was developed to capture the orientation of knowledge strategy employment in firms. During the development process, a new statistic was developed to aid in the validation of card sorts during the scale development step of instrument creation. / Thesis (Ph.D, Management) -- Queen's University, 2009-04-12 16:39:28.315

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The in-depth case study of an alliance termination over a five-year period surrounding the termination of a critical infrastructure industry alliance represents a contribution to organizational scholars’ understanding of alliance termination and the political process under which the set of relationships and competition amongst the firms change. The study develops a process theory to explain the termination and the events that unfold following the termination. Termination is suggested to be an important aspect of the change process. By including termination as an antecedent to firm action, both the social movement and institutional entrepreneurship and the literature on alliance processes can benefit from understanding how termination may shape firm routines and relationship formation.

For a long time, companies have been using outsourcing as main strategy to overcome obstacles and gain competitive advantage. The reasons for doing so are many, including the possibility of cutting cost, sharing risk and focusing on the core competences. However, current research shows that outsourcing has reached its limits and companies start considering alternative solutions and revising their sourcing strategy. Therefore, an upcoming trends is to backsource. This describes the process of taking previously outsourced functions back in-house. As outsourcing brings a loss of knowledge, the matter of backsourcing is not always an easy one and therefore, bringing various challenges, which need to be overcome.The decision for backsourcing is taken when the outsourcing strategy no longer provides the best solution for the company to gain competitive advantage. On the one hand, the outsourcing partner might not be able to deliver the desired quality of the products or services anymore; on the other hand, the company itself might discover new opportunities, which provide more profit. Important motivations for backsourcing include regaining control of the core business activities, dissatisfaction with the outsourcing company, merger and acquisition etc.There are many risks and challenges managers have to consider when deciding to backsource an activity. The challenges derive from both internal and external issues and may vary based on the characteristics of each company and the business environment. Moreover, being aware of critical success factors can enable a company to fasten the backsourcing project and bring it to an end more successfully.This thesis aims at increasing the understanding of motives, challenges and critical success factors for manufacturing companies when conducting a backsourcing project. Therefore, a middle-sized manufacturing company’s backsourcing project has been investigated. From this case study, we were able to derive essential factors by interviewing managers in the under-explored field of manufacturing companies’ backsourcing projects.The result of this study shows that the matter of backsourcing plays a major role in every company’s strategy. Motivations for backsourcing could be connected either to dissatisfaction, the opportunity to gain market share or the opportunity of acquiring a competitor. Being clear about these motives and evaluating them carefully is the first step of the process. By having a strong project team, the challenges can be handled and overcome. Moreover, identifying and knowing the critical success factors enables the company to allocate its resources and in this sense to bring the project successfully to an end.

The in-depth case study of an alliance termination over a five-year period surrounding the termination of a critical infrastructure industry alliance represents a contribution to organizational scholars’ understanding of alliance termination and the political process under which the set of relationships and competition amongst the firms change. The study develops a process theory to explain the termination and the events that unfold following the termination. Termination is suggested to be an important aspect of the change process. By including termination as an antecedent to firm action, both the social movement and institutional entrepreneurship and the literature on alliance processes can benefit from understanding how termination may shape firm routines and relationship formation.

Considerable research has examined strategies involved in spatial navigation, and what factors determine which strategy an individual will use. The little research that has examined strategy adoption has produced conflicting results. The present study investigated the relative rate of adoption of allocentric and egocentric strategies in an environment that allowed individuals to adopt one or the other, or switch between them. Results indicated that by the end of testing nearly all participants had adopted one strategy or the other. Also, more participants were using an allocentric strategy than an egocentric strategy. However, strategy selection was not related to gender, or the relative efficiency of the two strategies. Analysis of gaze position at the start of trials showed that those who adopted an allocentric strategy tended to focus their attention on the distal (landscape) features of the environment whereas those who adopted an egocentric strategy tended to focus their attention on the proximal object features. However, vertical gaze position could not be used to reveal the rate of adoption of an egocentric strategy, because this did not vary over trials. Analysis of gaze position using “regions of interest” overcame this problem and showed that both strategies are adopted at a similar rate early in trials. Comparison of strategy by gaze position and strategy by navigation probe indicated that these two metrics were measuring two different stages of navigation. Finally, analysis of the navigational efficiency of different strategies indicated that the best navigators were those who used both strategies. These findings indicate allocentric and egocentric strategies are adopted at a similar rate and that within the space of a few seconds, individuals may use different strategies for orientation and navigation. / Graduate

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