Talent Management (TM), as a new managerial concept with regard to Human Resource Management (HRM), has increasingly gained concern and attention from the academic as well as business world, but there are many gaps and omissions left for further theoretical development and empirical study. Hence, understanding the differences between TM and HRM becomes necessary. Given an absence of clarity in the literature, the aim of the present study is to gain a thorough understanding of TM among Multinational Corporations (MNCs) in Beijing, to explore to what extent this managerial idea represents anything new, and to find out why organisations adopt TM. A case study method was selected as the main research methodology. The study was undertaken in Beijing, and the target companies were limited to four MNCs, respectively from the IT (two organisations), health care and education industries, and three consultancy companies. The theoretical perspective largely draws upon the literature on TM, management fashion and institutional theory. Findings show that the topic of TM has been enthusiastically pursued. However, there is not a single concise definition shared by all the case study organisations, even though different strands of understanding regarding TM are explored in this study. The thesis has also explored what is distinctive about TM, and the factors and purposes influencing the adoption of TM in China. Through comparing HRM with literature and empirical findings relating to TM, this thesis has found that TM seems to presage some new approaches to the management of the people resource in organisations, rather than a simple repackaging of old techniques and ideas with a new label. Meanwhile, this thesis strongly challenges the idea that TM is another struggle by HR professionals to enhance their legitimacy, status and credibility. Therefore, TM should not be considered as ‘old wine in new bottles’, at least with respect to the case of MNCs in China.

published_or_final_version / Social Work and Social Administration / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / abstract / Linguistics / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / abstract / Geography / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / abstract / Nursing Studies / Master / Master of Philosophy

Abstract Last century witnessed the increase of metropolitan regions and much attention has been paid on them. The concept of megacity appeared during the development process of metropolitan regions. Due to the rapid urbanisation and the population explosion in China, there are three main megacities which have great influence on the national economy. In this thesis, we choose one of the main megacities - Beijing megacity, as our case and the research question is how to strengthen the polycentricity of Beijing megacity to achieve more balanced development. In order to find out the answers to the research question, the concepts of metropolitan region, megacity and polycentric megacity are discussed in the conceptual section of this thesis. The empirical section analyses the Tokyo megacity and Los Angeles megacity on purpose of finding the lessons and experiences that could be learned and applied to strengthen the polycentric characters of Beijing megacity. In the case study chapters, firstly we analyses the problems of monocentric Beijing municipality, then we suggest the approaches of being polycentric Beijing megacity where Beijing, Tianjin and Tangshan participate actively.

This study seeks to investigate the modern derivative of Beijing opera, known as yangbanxi, through macro and micro approaches. The first part of the thesis surveys the development of Beijing opera under the historical context and in its social, political, and cultural perspectives. The second part, taking a microscopic perspective, undertakes an in-depth analysis of the compositions that were solely created by composer Yu Huiyong. First, it assays the application of Yu’s theory to his compositions of various Beijing opera arias. Second, it analyzes Yu’s instrumental music in compositional dimensions such as material, structure, and techniques, considering the larger implications of Yu’s approach. Third, it explores the highly acclaimed opera Azalea Mountain as a case study, integrating compositional analysis and sociopolitical perspective in order to give a relatively full picture of Yu’s final work as sole composer. The analysis also focuses on three aspects of the yangbanxi. The first aspect is the role of composers, in which Yu Huiyong was largely responsible for shaping the musical language and influencing the direction of Beijing opera. The second aspect is the role of politics, focusing on Jiang Qing, who had a clear vision to transform Beijing opera along revolutionary lines and the artistic and political wherewithal to implement that transformation. The third aspect is the role of culture in shaping society, with an emphasis on yangbanxi, as the artistic centerpiece of the Cultural Revolution, and special consideration is given to its role in creating a new mass culture. Beijing opera, as a living art form, had been undergoing a process of modernization throughout the first half of the twentieth century, but it was Yu Huiyong who clearly articulated what needed to be done to make the traditional art form relevant to modern audiences. In particular, the most significant achievement of yangbanxi was its music development, which achieved a new height in artistic development thanks to Yu Huiyong’s fully constructed music theory and newly established music and performance system. As the main composer, designer, theorist, and organizer of yangbanxi, Yu Huiyong made the greatest contribution to these developments. His academic research laid the theoretical framework of the further development of opera music, and his hands-on practice and music innovation provided valuable experience for the younger generation.

Ce manuscrit décrit la distribution géographique des génotypes de Mycobacterium tuberculosis dans une large partie de la Chine, et l'étude d'une éventuelle corrélation avec la vaccination BCG et la résistance aux antibiotiques. La prévalence de la résistance a été analysée dans 10 provinces, et les mutations responsables de la résistance à la rifampicin et à l'INH ont été recherchées. La distribution des différents génotypes a été analysée par spoligotypage, par l'identification de délétions génomiques et par l'analyse du polymorphisme de répétitions en tandem (MLVA). Le génotype Beijing représente 55 à 93% des souches dans les provinces étudiées, avec un gradient allant du Sud vers le Nord de la Chine. Plusieurs autres familles sont identifiées, toutes appartenant à la clade dite " Moderne ". Les familles " Chine 2 " et " Chine 3 " qui représentent l'essentiel des autres souches sont rares en dehors de la Chine. Quelques souches de la famille CAS (Central Asia) sont également rencontrées dans une province et un ancêtre possible de la lignée Beijing dans une autre. La prévalence de la résistance aux antibiotiques a été mesurée parmi plus de 2000 isolats de 10 provinces. Le pourcentage de souches résistantes à au moins une drogue est de 45% et celui des souches multirésistantes est d'environ 29%. En Chine, à la différence d'autres pays, aucune corrélation n'est observée entre le génotype Beijing et la vaccination BCG. La distribution des mutations du gène rpoB a été déterminée ainsi que les mutations responsables de la résistance à l'INH. Aucune mutation n'est observée dans les gènes oxyR et ahpC. Cette étude est la première étude de grande envergure effectuée en Chine sur la diversité génétique de M. tuberculosis et sur les mécanismes de résistance aux antibiotiques.

This thesis explores the significance of hosting the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games (OGs) on elite sport and sport for all development in China. The impacts of the OGs have received significant attention from both academics and practitioners worldwide in the last 20 years and attention has been predominantly paid to political, cultural, economic, and environmental impacts of hosting them, especially as these emerge after the event. However, little concern was given to changes in the host country s sport development that are due to games related preparations. This study identifies the characteristics of the sport system, the policy actors, and how such actors were involved in preparations for the 2008 OGs, and it also outlines the development of policy concerning elite sport and sport for all. A case study approach was adopted focusing on the 2008 OGs. Adopting a qualitative methodology, the study utilised document analysis and semi-structured interviews to elicit data regarding the significance of preparations for the 2008 OGs on elite sport and sport for all. Globalisation, governance and policy making were found to be useful lenses through which to explore the processes of the emergence of such impacts. This thesis found that central government and the General Administration of Sport (GAOS) were the two most powerful policy actors in both elite sport and sport for all development in China, and made decisions as regards how to develop China s sport taking the opportunities of hosting the 2008 OGs. The research reveals that preparations for the 2008 OGs have various impacts on the elite sport and sport for all sectors. On one hand, the impacts can be witnessed in increased funding, more attention received from central government and GAOS, more sport policies, increased number of sport venues, new and updated facilities and equipment, technological, scientific and medical support, and increased sport participation; on the other hand, through providing such support, GAOS exerted its control over non-governmental organisations and individuals, such as via the restrictions by GAOS on athletes commercial activities, and national competitions. The research found evidence that globalisation had influenced China s general governance (including sport governance) process since the 1970s, with governance becoming more privatised and decentralised. However, sport governance took a different path after China won the bid in 2001. Against the backdrop of decentralisation having been previously officially adopted for Chinese sport governance, the research revealed that in pursuit of the aim of winning more medals in the 2008 OGs temporarily recentralisation occurred as required by central government and GAOS. The research also revealed that increased numbers of policies were produced to develop both elite sport and sport for all, however the interests of the public had not always been satisfied because of China's closed policy making process. Therefore, some impacts had not turned out as expected for the public.

Services provided by public facilities are essential to people's lives and are closely associated with human mobility. Traditionally, public facility access characteristics, such as accessibility, equity issues and service areas, are investigated mainly based on static data (census data, travel surveys and particular records, such as medical records). Currently, the advent of big data offers an unprecedented opportunity to obtain large-scale human mobility data, which can be used to study the characteristics of public facilities from the spatial interaction perspective. Intuitively, spatial interaction characteristics and service areas of different types and sizes of public facilities are different, but how different remains an open question, so we, in turn, examine this question. Based on spatial interaction, we classify public facilities and explore the differences in facilities. In the research, based on spatial interaction extracted from taxi data, we introduce an unsupervised classification method to classify 78 hospitals in 6 districts of Beijing, and the results better reflect the type of hospital. The findings are of great significance for optimizing the spatial configuration of medical facilities or other types of public facilities, allocating public resources reasonably and relieving traffic pressure.