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Frontline employee (FLE) attitudes and behaviours during service encounters influence customers’ perceptions of service quality and customer satisfaction. The identification of variables that influence FLEs service behaviours is, therefore, important. Much remains unknown about the factors affecting prosocial service behaviours (PSBs). This thesis answers the following questions: What are the antecedents of PSBs in a travel service setting? It is argued that managerial strategies indirectly influence PSBs via their direct influence on job attitudes. This thesis represents an attempt towards an increased knowledge about the antecedents of PSBs by seeking answers to the question. A conceptual model was developed from the literature. Briefly stated, the hypothesised model proposed that job attitudes mediate the relationship between managerial strategies and the PSBs. In-depth interviews provided initial support for the conceptual model. Structural equation modelling techniques were then used to test these relationships on data from 179 travel service employees. Partial support for the mediational role of job attitudes was found. More specifically, the relationship between professional development and extra-role customer service is mediated by job satisfaction and organisational commitment, but not in-role customer service and cooperation. The managerial strategies influence PSBs directly. Internal communication influences extra- and in-role customer service behaviours positively. The relationship between professional development and the three PSBs constructs is negative. Empowerment influences in-role customer service and cooperative behaviours positively.

The process framework comprises three phases, as follows: scope the supply chain/network; identify the options for supply system architecture and select supply system architecture. It facilitates a structured approach that analyses the supply chain/network contextual characteristics, in order to ensure alignment with the appropriate supply system architecture. The process framework was derived from comprehensive literature review and archival case study analysis. The review led to the classification of supply system architectures according to their orientation, whether integrated; partially integrated; co-ordinated or independent. The classification was combined with the characteristics that influence the selection of supply system architecture to encapsulate the conceptual framework. It builds upon existing frameworks and methodologies by focusing on structured procedure; supporting project management; facilitating participation and clarifying point of entry. The process framework was initially tested in three case study applications from the food, automobile and hand tool industries. A variety of industrial settings was chosen to illustrate transferability. The case study applications indicate that the process framework is a valid approach to the problem; however, further testing is required. In particular, the use of group support system technologies to support the process and the steps involving the participation of software vendors need further testing. However, the process framework can be followed due to the clarity of its presentation. It considers the issue of timing by including alternative decision-making techniques, dependent on the constraints. It is useful for ensuring a sound business case is developed, with supporting documentation and analysis that identifies the strategic and functional requirements of supply system architecture.

This thesis reports on the results of case studies in four commercial banks in Nigeria. The study focuses how management accounting and control systems (MCS) operate in the four banks. The study is motivated by the dearth of literature on management accounting practices in the developing world in general and in Nigeria in specific. The case study approach adopted in conducting the research was useful in exploring the dynamics of the MCS in the organisations. Data was gathered from two sources. First, semi-structured interviews were conducted with managers at the head office, regional office and branches of each bank. The participants were selected from different backgrounds and managerial levels to provide broader understanding of the operations of the MCS. Second, various internal and external documents were reviewed to provide supporting evidence for the interview results. New institutional sociology (NIS) provided the theoretical framework to understand the results. NIS provided explanations for how the MCS in the four banks were shaped by diverse external and internal factors. The key factors identified as shaping the operations of the MCS were the need to comply with the regulatory environment (coercive isomorphism), the need to maintain social and cultural support (normative isomorphism) and the need to imitate successful organisations in order to appear legitimate (mimetic isomorphism). The study also examines the interplay between the institutional forces, market forces and infra-organisational power relations. This analysis is necessary to overcome the criticism of NIS that it downplays the role of market forces, agency and intra-organisational relations. The findings of the study have implications for understanding the operations of MCS in the developing world.

This thesis reports the results of research into the connections between transaction attributes and buyer-supplier relationships (BSR) in advanced manufacturing technology (AMT) acquisitions and implementation. It also examines the impact of the different patterns of BSR on performance. Specifically, it addresses the issues of how the three transaction attributes; namely level of complexity, level of asset specificity, and level of uncertainty, can affect the relationships between the technology buyer and suppler in AMT acquisition and implementation, and then to see the impact of different patterns of BSR on the two aspect of performance; namely technology and implementation performance. In understanding the pohenomena, the study mainly draws on and integrates the literature of transaction cost economics theory,buyer-supplier relationships and advanced manufacturing technology as a basis of theoretical framework and hypotheses development.data were gathered through a questionnaire survey with 147 responses and seven semi-structured interviews of manufacturing firms in Malaysia. Quantitative data were analysed mainly using the AMOS (Analysis of Moment Structure) package for structural equation modeling and SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Science) for analysis of variance (ANOVA). Data from interview sessions were used to develop a case study with the intention of providing a richer and deeper understanding on the subject under investigation and to offer triangulation in the research process. he results of the questionnaire survey indicate that the higher the level of technological specificity and uncertainty, the more firms are likely to engage in a closer relationship with technology suppliers. However, the complexity of the technology being implemented is associated with BSR only because it is associated with the level of uncertainty that has direct impact upon BSR.The analysis also provides strong support for the premise that developing strong BSR could lead to an improved performance. However, with high levels of transaction attribute, implementation performance suffers more when firms have weak relationships with technology suppliers than with moderate and low levels of transaction attributes. The implications of the study are offered for both the academic and practitioner audience. The thesis closes with reports on its limitations and suggestions for further research that would address some of these limitations.

The topic of my research is consumer brand equity (CBE). My thesis is that the success or otherwise of a brand is better viewed from the consumers’ perspective. I specifically focus on consumers as a unique group of stakeholders whose involvement with brands is crucial to the overall success of branding strategy. To this end, this research examines the constellation of ideas on brand equity that have hitherto been offered by various scholars. Through a systematic integration of the concepts and practices identified but these scholars (concepts and practices such as: competitiveness, consumer searching, consumer behaviour, brand image, brand relevance, consumer perceived value, etc.), this research identifies CBE as a construct that is shaped, directed and made valuable by the beliefs, attitudes and the subjective preferences of consumers. This is done by examining the criteria on the basis of which the consumers evaluate brands and make brand purchase decisions. Understanding the criteria by which consumers evaluate brands is crucial for several reasons. First, as the basis upon which consumers select brands changes with consumption norms and technology, understanding the consumer choice process will help in formulating branding strategy. Secondly, an understanding of these criteria will help in formulating a creative and innovative agenda for ‘new brand’ propositions. Thirdly, it will also influence firms’ ability to simulate and mould the plasticity of demand for existing brands. In examining these three issues, this thesis presents a comprehensive account of CBE. This is because the first issue raised in the preceding paragraph deals with the content of CBE. The second issue addresses the problem of how to develop a reliable and valid measuring instrument for CBE. The third issue examines the structural and statistical relationships between the factors of CBE and the consequences of CBE on consumer perceived value (CPV). Using LISREL-SIMPLIS 8.30, the study finds direct and significant influential links between consumer brand equity and consumer value perception.

This thesis deals with the problematic of the business systems systemic purpose definition. The definition of the systemic purpose, which is regarded as the utmost expression of the system's purposefulness, is to be achieved by ensuring the participation of all the stakeholders, if possible, who affect or they are affected by the business system's operations. The nature of participation, defined as a process of the stakeholders' perceptual exchanges, is deemed to be problematic in itself due to the influence exerted upon it by organisational power, coercion and false consciousness. The main focus of the thesis then is to make aware and provide the stakeholders with an explicit philosophical pedestal and a set of principles upon which a meta- epistemological framework for the enquiry of the business system's purposeful behaviour is developed. In addition, the thesis focuses on the development of a methodology that can be used by the stakeholders to achieve self-knowledge through the critical and systemic examination of their normative presuppositions, about the business system, at both sociological as well as the psychological levels concurrently and the subsequent development of an organisational intrinsically motivated information system. According to the critical systems philosophy and principles, developed in this thesis, normative presuppositions define the stakeholders' perceptions about the purposeful behaviour of the business system they perceived as having a material, an informational and/or an emacipatory stake (human interest) in. The methodology will provide Information Systems that demonstrably improve coordination of organisational activities by enabling the development and maintenance of a single/multifaceted view of purpose throughout organisations.

This research examines the role of the information management process within a process-oriented enterprise, Xerox Ltd. The research approach is based on a post-positive paradigm and has resulted in thirty-five idiographic statements. The three major outcomes are: 1. The process-oriented holistic enterprise is an organisation that requires a long-term management commitment to its development. It depends on the careful management of people, tasks, information and technology. A complex integration of business processes is required and this can be managed through the use of consistent documentation techniques, clarity in the definition of process responsibilities and management attention to the global metrics and the centralisation of the management of the process model are critical to its success. 2. The role of the information management process within the context of a process-oriented enterprise is to provide flexible and cost-effective applications, technological, and process support to the business. This is best achieved through a centralisation of the management of information management and of the process model. A business-led approach combined with the consolidation of applications, information, process, and data architectures is central to providing effective business and process-focused support. 3. In a process oriented holistic enterprise, process and information management are inextricably linked. The model of process management depends heavily on information management, whilst the model of information management is totally focused around supporting and creating the process model. The two models are mutually creating - one cannot exist without the other. There is a duality concept of process and information management.

In recent years, UK industry has seen an explosive growth in the number of `Computer Aided Production Management' (CAPM) system installations. Of the many CAPM systems, materials requirement planning/manufacturing resource planning (MRP/MRPII) is the most widely implemented. Despite the huge investments in MRP systems, over 80 percent are said to have failed within 3 to 5 years of installation. Many people now assume that Just-In-Time (JIT) is the best manufacturing technique. However, those who have implemented JIT have found that it also has many problems. The author argues that the success of a manufacturing company will not be due to a system which complies with a single technique; but due to the integration of many techniques and the ability to make them complement each other in a specific manufacturing environment. This dissertation examines the potential for integrating MRP with JIT and Two-Bin systems to reduce operational costs involved in managing bought-out inventory. Within this framework it shows that controlling MRP is essential to facilitate the integrating process. The behaviour of MRP systems is dependent on the complex interactions between the numerous control parameters used. Methodologies/models are developed to set these parameters. The models are based on the Pareto principle. The idea is to use business targets to set a coherent set of parameters, which not only enables those business targets to be realised, but also facilitates JIT implementation. It illustrates this approach in the context of an actual manufacturing plant - IBM Havant. (IBM Havant is a high volume electronics assembly plant with the majority of the materials bought-out). The parameter setting models are applicable to control bought-out items in a wide range of industries and are not dependent on specific MRP software. The models have produced successful results in several companies and are now being developed as commercial products.

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