The Alliance+ project is a teacher professional development program that integrates technology into mathematics and science lessons. The effectiveness of this innovative program was evaluated in terms of students‟ perceptions of the classroom learning environment and their attitudes towards science/mathematics. The sample consisted of 759 students of seven mathematics/science teachers (four Alliance+ participants and three non-participants) in one middle school in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The students responded to learning environment scales based on the Constructivist Learning Environment Survey (CLES) and the What Is Happening In this Class? (WIHIC) questionnaires to assess their perceptions of the classroom learning environment. Additionally, they responded to an attitude scale modeled on the Test Of Science-Related Attitudes (TOSRA) to assess their attitudes towards mathematics/science. It was found that Alliance+ teachers were more successful than the non-Alliance+ teachers in promoting a classroom environment with more cooperation among students during the science/mathematics lessons. Additionally, Alliance+ professional development model was differentially effective for mathematics and science teachers in terms of three learning environment scales (namely, Teacher Support, Cooperation, and Critical Voice), but not in terms of students‟ attitudes to science. In terms of Cooperation, Alliance+ teachers were more effective than non-Alliance+ teachers for mathematics, but comparable in effectiveness to non-Alliance+ teachers for science. For Critical Voice, Alliance+ teachers were slightly more effective than non-Alliance+ teachers for mathematics, but considerably less effective than non-Alliance+ teachers for science. / In terms of Teacher Support, Alliance+ were less effective than non-Alliance+ teachers for science, but comparable in effectiveness to non-Alliance+ teachers for mathematics. However, teachers who did not participate in the Alliance+ project were more effective than the teachers who participated in the Alliance+ project in providing a positive learning environment in which the students perceived more teacher support and in promoting positive attitudes towards science/mathematics. Qualitative data results revealed that the Alliance+ teachers had not received sufficient support from their school administrators and Alliance+ trainers and lacked the resources that were necessary for them to implement the project successfully, which could possibly be an explanation for the quantitative results in favor of the non-Alliance+ teachers. This study also investigated outcome-environment associations. It was found that associations existed between students‟ attitudes towards science/mathematics and their perceptions of the classroom leaning environment (especially personal relevance, teacher support, and cooperation).

This research investigates the antecedents and consequences of relational capabilities in the context of strategic alliance projects between MNE subsidiaries and local suppliers in the Thai manufacturing sector. The need to understand the relational capabilities approach is recognised in management literature, especially the ambiguous effects of the relational and economic dimensions, on relational capabilities in cross-cultural alliance projects. In particular, academics have highlighted the importance of relational capabilities, trust and transaction cost factors in that they play important roles in determining alliance success, especially in the context of cross-cultural alliances. A theoretical framework is developed which, first, explores the antecedents and barriers of relational capabilities and second, examines the multiple mediation effect of these on the link between inter-organizational conditions and alliance performance. The research design is aligned with quantitative methodology. The theoretical frameworks were tested using the data obtained from 156 strategic alliance projects between MNE subsidiaries and local suppliers in the Thai manufacturing sector with hierarchical regression analysis and the bootstrapping technique. The empirical results indicate that inter-personal trust, inter-organizational trust and asset specificity are antecedents of relational capabilities, while HR distance between alliance partners is not a barrier of these capabilities. Moreover, the empirical outcomes in relation to the indirect effect of the relational and economic dimensions on alliance performance through knowledge sharing routines and complementary capability are supported. However, the remaining hypotheses pertaining to the expectation that effective governance mechanisms are mediators on those relationships are rejected. This is explained by the fact that trust-based relationships are so deeply embedded in the Thai manufacturing sector that they predominate over such mechanisms. The contribution of this research is twofold: first, in terms of academic advancement, it combines the arguments of trust and TCE to provide a holistic view in explaining antecedents and consequences of relational capabilities. Second, in terms of practical contribution, it improves the understanding of practitioners both purchasing managers of MNE subsidiaries and sales managers, regarding the alignment of trust and asset specificity with relational capabilities to achieve better performance in cross-cultural strategic alliance projects.

Abstract The infrastructure and construction industry has for decades suffered from problems such as cost overruns, delays, disputes and low productivity. To transform old adversarial practices and industrial culture into more collaborative and innovative ways of working, new operational models for project delivery have been introduced. A project alliance is among the models developed to improve infrastructure and construction project performance by addressing problems of fragmentation and lack of integration. However, the growing body of conceptual and empirical research on project alliances within the field of project management does not include any in-depth investigation of the capability requirements and relevant processes for managing alliance projects. The goal of this dissertation is to contribute to the project alliance literature within the field of project management by exploring the capabilities needed by an inter-organizational alliance project organization and participating organizations to manage project alliances in the infrastructure and construction context. The research adopts a qualitative approach, utilizing the case study method and in-depth interviews as research methods. The empirical results, which relate to the first project alliances in the Finnish infrastructure and construction industry, highlight the importance of the alliance project organization’s collective capabilities for managing project alliances. Among these capabilities, inter-organizational integration management, collaborative project identity formation and opportunity management are of particular importance. In addition, each participating organization requires specific project alliance capability, which comprises both the ability to implement key activities over the project life cycle and the skills required by project-based organizations and participating individuals. Together, these organizational and project network-level capabilities form the basis for managing such projects. / Tiivistelmä Infrastruktuuri- ja rakennusteollisuus on kärsinyt kustannusten ylityksistä, myöhästymisistä, erimielisyyksistä ja heikosta tuottavuudesta jo kymmenien vuosien ajan. Jotta vanhat, vastakkainasetteluun perustuvat käytännöt ja toimintakulttuuri voitaisiin muuttaa, uusia projektien toteutusmalleja on otettu käyttöön. Projektiallianssi on yksi yhteistoiminnallisista malleista, joka on kehitetty vähentämään toimialan sirpaloitumista ja edistämään integroitumista tavoitteena infrastruktuuri- ja rakennusalan projektien suorituskyvyn parantaminen. Lisääntyvästä konseptuaalisesta ja empiirisestä tutkimuksesta huolimatta, projektiallianssiin kohdistuva tutkimus ei ole tarkastellut organisaatioiden kyvykkyysvaatimuksia ja keskeisimpiä allianssin johtamiseen liittyviä prosesseja riittävän syvällisesti. Väitöskirjan tavoite on edistää projektiallianssin tutkimusta tuottamalla uutta tieto allianssihankkeisiin osallistuvien organisaatioiden kyvykkyysvaatimuksista sekä yhteisistä kyvykkyyksistä, joita projektiorganisaatio tarvitsee allianssiprojektin hallintaan infrastruktuuri- ja rakennusalalla. Tutkimus on toteutettu laadullisena tapaus- ja haastattelututkimuksena. Suomen ensimmäisistä infrastruktuuri- ja rakennusalan allianssihankkeista saadut empiiriset tulokset korostavat allianssiprojektiorganisaation yhteisten kyvykkyyksien merkitystä. Kyvykkyysvaatimukset kohdistuvat erityisesti organisaatioiden välisen integraation johtamiseen, yhteistyötä korostavan projekti-identiteetin muodostamiseen ja mahdollisuuksien hallintaan allianssiprojektissa. Näiden yhteisten kyvykkyyksien lisäksi jokainen organisaatio tarvitsee projektiallianssikyvykkyyden, joka koostuu allianssihankkeiden käynnistämiseen ja hallintaan tarvittavista taidoista ja kyvystä toteuttaa eri elinkaaren vaiheen kannalta keskeisiä toimintoja. Hankkeeseen osallistuvan organisaation projektiallianssikyvykkyys ja yhteiset projektiverkoston kyvykkyydet luovat perustan allianssihankkeen hallinnalle.