Establishing strong, high-quality relationships with customers can be an important element in conducting business throughout the world, particularly in complex and highly competitive markets. This study attempts to explore and examine the differences and possible linkages between two important approaches to building relationships: guanxi and relationship marketing. Guanxi-type relationships tend to work at the inter-personal level, whereas relationship marketing tends to operate at the inter-organisational level. Despite the fact that both concepts are well known individually, a dearth of critical comparison remains in academic literature, even though evidence suggests that managers can use the linkages between the approaches to improve customer recruitment and retention. More importantly, although prior research implies an association between guanxi and relationship marketing, to date, no studies have sought to link the two concepts, and therefore a unified model does not exist. Moreover, hardly any work has been done to explore guanxi-type relationships in the Arab world generally and the Egyptian context specifically, although Hutchings and Weir (2006a, 2006b) highlighted that networks, and in particular guanxi-type relationships, in the Arab world remain insufficiently researched and there is a dearth of literature exploring these. Furthermore, an informed body of knowledge, explaining guanxi-type relationships in the Arab world and comparing the networking styles of China and the Arab world, does not exist. Informed by these issues, this study attempted to address these research gaps by employing a mixed method design through two phases of research. In the first phase, twenty-one semi-structured interviews were conducted with academics, experts and practitioners in the Egyptian SME sector. The aim of this phase was to explore the nature, meaning and variables of guanxi-type relationships in the Egyptian context, identify the variables of relationship marketing, and define the relationship between these two strands, and how organisations can link them and transform personal relationships into organisational relationships to retain their customers. The data were analysed using qualitative content analysis and Nvivo9 software. This phase formed the foundation for the second phase, which employed a quantitative research design to collect primary data using 305 self-administered questionnaires from customers of SMEs in Egypt. The aim of the second phase was empirically to test a model that links guanxi-type relationships and relationship marketing and their association with relationship quality and customer retention. Through testing the research model, the study sought empirical evidence for building the organisational types of relationship involved in relationship marketing instead of the personal type of relationship involved in guanxi-type relationships, thereby enhancing customer retention and avoiding the problem of employees taking customers with them, when leaving the company. The data were analysed using SPSS19 and SPSS macros, employing multivariate data analysis techniques including exploratory factor analysis (EFA), multiple regression analysis, hierarchal multiple regression analysis, bootstrapping method and crosstabulation. The findings of the first phase revealed that guanxi-type relationships in Egypt stem from the principles of Islam and Christianity and have become rooted and embedded in the Egyptian culture. Moreover, the Egyptian type of social network (guanxi-type relationships in Egypt) can be called shabakat al-alakat (network of relationships). Eight characteristics of shabakat al-alakat have been determined: social, personal, intangible, transferable, contextual, emotional, of religious origin, and long-term. In addition, shabakat al-alakat is a multi-dimensional construct that can be measured through five variables affectional bonding, empathy, reciprocity, personal trust and face. Moreover, the findings of the second phase showed that shabakat al-alakat (guanxi-type relationships in Egypt), relationship investment programmes (financial and structural), relationship marketing and relationship quality have a significant positive relationship with customer retention. The results also highlighted that relationship investment programmes (financial and structural) and relationship marketing have a significant positive relationship with relationship quality. In addition, relationship quality mediates the relationship between relationship marketing and customer retention, as well as relationship investment programmes (financial and structural) and customer retention. Furthermore, the findings confirmed the interaction effect of shabakat al-alakat in the relationship between relationship marketing and customer retention. Overall, the proposed research model was validated. Three major contributions stem from this research. First, this study contributes to knowledge by establishing and providing a comprehensive framework of all aspects of the social network in Egypt (shabakat al-alakat or guanxi-type relationships in Egypt): its origin; meaning; name; characteristics; variables; advantages and disadvantages and its role in attracting new customers. The second contribution comes from the novel model, which links guanxi-type relationships with relationship marketing and the impact of this link on customer retention. The third contribution comes from introducing a way to transfer the personal type of relationship involved in guanxi-type relationships to the organisational type of relationship involved in relationship marketing and transferring guanxi-type relationships from the uninstitutionalised and interpersonal level to the institutionalised or organisational level. It is hoped that future research will build on these results so that further avenues can be explored.

The Dubai Police, striving to meet the needs of one of the most rapidly developing communities in the world, found themselves struggling to satisfy the needs of an expanding and increasingly diverse population as well as dealing with the expectations within the force from high-qualified officers who had benefited from education in the most modern universities. Seeking to improve the service to all stakeholders, HE the Commander-in-Chief introduced the concept of Total Quality Management. The introduction and continuing application of Total Quality Management was undertaken by an over-arching general department dedicated to Total Quality together with the introduction of experts into every general department. Unfortunately, the benefits were not as universal or as consistent as had been hoped. It was thought blocks to progress arose from the rigidity of the hierarchical and militaristic style of leadership prevalent in the force. A leadership style more inclusive of officers at all level was needed, one which was also alive to the expectations of external stakeholders, the residents, visitors and executives of business interests in Dubai. The researcher was asked to study how leadership operated in the Dubai Police, how leaders viewed progress in Total Quality Management among their peers and subordinates and how subordinates assessed their immediate superiors’ performance as leaders. To this end, 31 semi-structured interviews provided data for qualitative analysis and 475 respondents completed a questionnaire for quantitative analysis. The interviews revealed great respect for the military traditions of the Dubai Police, pride in progress made in Total Quality Management to date, an acknowledgement that this had been uneven and of the existence of pockets of resistance, results borne out of the responses to the questionnaire. Subjects were keen to improve the situation but had not embraced the latest management techniques available, tending to use reductionist methods to solve problems. The researcher was requested to explore the benefits of holistic systems thinking to liberate consideration of problems and blocks to further progress in Total Quality Management. The Dubai Police were advised that systems thinking has advantages over older methods as it involves consideration of all aspects of a problem as a whole, including the interest of all stakeholders, leading to more satisfactory solutions of wider application. Among its advantages are the broader spectrum of investigation called for the greater involvement of subordinates so that a much more detailed (richer) picture can be obtained. The Dubai Police were therefore recommended to employ Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) as a means to achieving flexibility in leadership, deeper involvement of lower tiers of management in planning and quicker reaction to changing crime patterns. The Dubai Police should study western policing methods more deeply and invoke local universities in further research. The research indicated the Dubai Police needed to be more attuned to global development in policing attitudes and techniques.

This thesis consists of three empirical studies. The aim of the thesis is to examine the determinants of European Union (EU) foreign direct investment (FDI), EU subsidiaries‘ innovation performance and EU subsidiaries‘ ownership performance in China. As two of the largest, mutually complementary markets in the world, EU and the People‘s Republic of China (China or PRC), which represents the largest FDI recipient and a region with a substantial share of foreign ownership, have been largely overlooked in terms of a comprehensive economic analysis on determinants and performance of FDI inflows into China at firm level. This gap in extant literature drives this research. The research contains a number of important and original aspects that potentially contribute to the literature on several grounds. The first study investigates the determinants of EU FDI in the Chinese market using a unique dataset comprising 680 EU firms for the period of 1998-2007 from the State Statistical Bureau of China. The theoretical framework of the study builds on Dunning's ownership–location–internalization ( OLI ) paradigm, incorporating host country institutional factors to test international production by EU firms in an emerging market. It finds that FDI is positively related to policy liberalisation. However, some other factors such as firm technology, personal share, profitability, wages and rule of law reveal unexpected results. In addition, the results imply that the association of FDI with firm size and research and development intensity is non-linear. The findings have important implications for practitioners and policymaking. The second study explores the spatial determinants of 680 EU MNC subsidiaries‘ innovation in China, over the period of 1998-2007, using unbalanced panel data analysis. It bridges three theoretical approaches and streams of research: the Resource Based View (RBV), the Transaction Cost Theory (TCT) and Institutional Based Theory and applies econometric analysis techniques to investigate innovation performance and to test the presence of agglomeration effect of past innovation activities. The results show MNC subsidiaries‘ innovation is positively related to firm size and export intensity. However, some other factors such as labour training and collective share reveal unexpected results. This study contributes to the literature on the evolution of multinational enterprises by exploring determinants of developed foreign subsidiaries‘ innovation activities in emerging markets. The third study adopts a multi-theoretic approach to investigate a phenomenon previously unexplored in extant literature, namely, the differential impact of foreign resource, ownership type and institutions on EU subsidiary performance in China, using newly available official data on 329 wholly owned subsidiary (WOS) and 351 joint venture (JV) EU manufacturing subsidiaries drawn from the State Statistical Bureau of China over a 10-year period (1998-2007). The study seeks to increase knowledge of foreign ownership performance by focusing on the relationship between subsidiary specific resources, equity share, and host institutional environment. The conceptual framework integrates the tenets of the Resource Based View, Agency theory ( AT), and Institutional Based View, reflecting EU firm FDI strategic ownership choices between JV and WOS) and host country institutional environment. This study offers an analysis of the relationship between ownership structure and FDI performance of market - seeking FDI EU firms in Chinese transitional economies. The results show significant differences in performance and ownership structure among China‘s state-owned enterprises (SOEs), collectives, corporate, private enterprises, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan-funded (HKMT) firms, and wholly EU invested firms. Additionally, asset turnover, asset tangibility, and Chinese economic and social institutions factors have significant negative relationships with subsidiary performance. These result point to important complementarities, but also potential conflicts between policy reforms and the interest/ benefit of multinational subsidiaries.

Employees’ performance appraisal (PA) is an essential tool used by organisations to develop and improve employees’ competencies and skills, and so assure organisations’ survival. In recent years research has moved from a psychometric approach, such as rater accuracy and rating error studies, to the qualitative aspect of PA where employees’ reactions and perceptions of performance appraisal are seen as indicators of success and effectiveness. Employees’ satisfaction with the system is indicated by scholars as the major indicator of employee perception of fairness (Cardy and Dobbins, 1994; Cawley et al., 1998; Keeping and Levy, 2000; Murphy and Cleveland, 1995). The focus of this research is on the employees’ perceptions of fairness in performance appraisal in Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC). A conceptual framework is developed based on three dimensions of organisational justice theory (the terms ‘justice’ and ‘fairness’ are used interchangeably): distributive, procedural (using the due process model), and interactional, which involves interpersonal and informational justice, to explore employees’ perceptions of justice in their appraisal. A qualitative approach was applied through an interpretivist paradigm; semi-structured interviews were used for collecting primary data from 44 respondents. The findings reveal the practice of performance appraisal is strongly influenced by cultural factors, which are divided into two dimensions. First, social factors, which include relationship, friendship, family relations, regionalism, tribe, personal interest and emotion. Second, managerial factors or characteristics of the manager (the terms supervisor, manager, direct manager, or rater are used interchangeably to refer to the person who evaluates or assesses employees’ performance) which includes expectations of managers that their subordinates obey them, managers’ tendency to threaten subordinates, and unwillingness to accept criticism. In relation to the process and procedures of appraisal the findings reveal a feeling that appraisal ratings did not reflect employees’ actual contributions or input, absence of standards for allocating salaries, and unequal training course distribution. The findings also reveal that goals and objectives are not set at the beginning of each appraisal period, and the appraisal standards used by supervisors are unclear, there is no clear feedback, and employees cannot participate in their appraisal process, meaning that appraisal decisions are only taken by managers. When employees receive their result, if they are dissatisfied with their grades they cannot appeal as the decision process is not explained to them. Employees were dissatisfied for three reasons: first, raters’ bias and subjectivity; second, evaluation depends on the department budget, and on forced distribution; third, involvement of top management in the rating and their changing the result without contacting the direct manager or supervisor who conducted the evaluation. These findings strongly support the organisational justice theory, and have important implications for practice.

In 2005, the Syrian government decided to move from a centrally planned economy to a more market-based one. This research explains why the Syrian government has taken this transitional decision and presents the institutional reforms carried out as a result of this decision. Indeed, it was clear that a major goal of these institutional reforms was attracting more FDI inflows into Syria. This is because FDI can play a vital role in driving economic growth. Therefore, this study explores the extent to which institutional reforms have affected FDI inflows into Syria, which has not been undertaken before in the transition economy of Syria. Since the early 1990s, many researchers have explored the locational determinants of FDI in transition economies. However, these studies were quantitative, mainly econometric. This study is different since, in respect of the transition economy of Syria, it explores the locational determinants of FDI following a qualitative research strategy that is based on a strategic management perspective. Within this, the deductive and the inductive research approaches are integrated to create a more open and flexible research design that can go beyond the borders of the quantitative findings of the previous econometric research. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews with thirty key decision makers who were directly involved in making the locational decision of FDI in Syria. The thematic analysis of text, using the template technique, was followed in this study to analyse the conducted interviews. The research’s findings revealed that the Syrian government institutional reforms have enhanced Syria’s attractiveness to FDI. Yet, they also revealed that further steps are needed to overcome the remaining problems in the Syrian institutional investment environment. However, these problems proved to be less daunting to foreign investors who already had experience in Syria or in a similar type economy. The same holds true for investors whose backgrounds were culturally close to that of Syria. Other foreign investors, however, overcame these problems by having a Syrian partner. This study also revealed that institutional factors, although important, were not by themselves sufficient to attract FDI into Syria. Foreign investors also had to have economic motivations to invest in Syria to ensure the profitability and the competitiveness of their FDI projects. In addition, the research also revealed that the economic motivations for FDI in Syria were clearly linked with the institutional reforms taken by the Syrian government. This was because institutional reforms opened the door to FDI, enabling foreign investors to benefit from the economic opportunities now offered by Syria.

This thesis presents an explanatory analysis of the accountability and governance practices within Islamic microfinance institutions in Indonesia, adopting Bourdieu’s theory of practice with the triad of concepts of field, capital and habitus. This study is based on the argument that accountability and governance are socially and subjectively constructed through internal and external mechanisms. The internal mechanism includes the organisational history and its culture, while the external factor is the context in which the organisation operates. The concept of field is a guide to achieving the first research objective in examining the historical development of the Islamic microfinance sector in Indonesia. The changes and developments within the field are the external factors that affect the construction of accountability and governance practices within selected Islamic microfinance institutions in Indonesia (IIMFIs). The historical research method is deemed the most appropriate to provide a narrative history of the development of the field. This was done by interviewing and analysing the secondary data of journal research relating to Indonesia’s socio-political situation over the period, the initiative on microfinance services, the Islamic resurgence movement and the financial reforms. The findings demonstrate that the development of the Islamic microfinance sector is inseparable from the socio-economic and political situation in Indonesia. Therefore, the field of Islamic microfinance is dynamic rather than static: it changes and develops over time. Furthermore, the concept of capital and habitus helps to achieve the second research objective, to examine the construction and re-construction of accountability and governance within selected IMFIs in Indonesia: BMT A and BTM B. The internal factors of the growth of various types of capital (economic, culture, social and symbolic), imbued by the organisational habitus, constructed the accountability and governance practices. Such practices are developed over the period corresponding to the different stages of organisational growth. Both institutions have evolved from small pilot projects into two of the biggest IIMFIs in Indonesia by developing their own mechanisms of accountability and governance to ensure their capability to continue their operations in the future. This study offers a unique lens for exploring, in a specific context, the construction of accountability and governance practices, the dynamic aspects of which traditional governance theories are unable to explain.

The purpose of this research is to develop a new methodology based upon ideas on managing complexity from the Viable System Model. The context for the research is Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Mexico. Worldwide, SMEs represent the segment of the economy that contributes the largest number of economic units and employees, both in industrialised countries and in those that are less developed. However, the astonishing rate of change today influences most human activities, including business organisations, and, therefore SMEs. Organisational complexity continues to grow as organisations are forced to address more issues and greater diversity in their operating environments. So, the current challenges imposed by modern-day complexity suggest to think about new ways of approaching managementpractice. The research aims to adopt systems thinking approaches applied on daily life as an ongoing process, based on a learning system which aims to increase the ability to manage complexity in SMEs to last over time. The research design is based on an action research approach developing a single case study intervention, based on Yin's work, in a Mexican SME in order to provide the empirical data. To do so, this work presents a novel model (ModK+) and multi-methodology (MetK+) as a way of thinking and acting, respectively, to perform a systemic intervention, linking the philosophical, methodological and practical levels. Finally, and based on the sources of evidence, the researcher realised two main findings. First, the MetK+ facilitated the adoption of systems thinking approaches in the daily practice of organisational management: it helped managers to identify and to overcome their main challenges and it enabled them to better manage their complexity. Second, the researcher identified the positive impact of building a learning system because it helped managers to refine their learning cycle to manage complexity; however, despite having such a learning system it was clear that managers would still require further accompaniment after the systemic intervention to overcome inertia in their busy daily agenda.

This study is grounded in the perspective of strategy-as-practice and draws, principally, on literature from strategy, industrial marketing (IM) and business models (BMs). In recent years, the BM concept has attracted increasing attention from scholars in a variety of academic disciplines and areas of professional practice. Much empirical BM research across all disciplines appears to focus on single organisation studies. This approach, arguably, provides a rather parochial view of BMs. In this study, I contend that a BM represents more than just the revenue model of a single firm, but rather views BMs as a broader, pluralistic concept that has the potential to be deployed by practitioners in a network context. I present an early contribution to open business model (OBM) literature - those BMs in which value is created/co-created and captured between actors outside the boundaries of a single firm - in this thesis. The empirical setting for the study is centred on three firms that form a single (focal) cross-industry and cross-sectoral (public-private) OBM (focal OBM). In particular, the three firms, which comprise a lead (hub) firm as an OBM innovator, a supplier firm and a buyer firm, form a supply chain through from upstream supplier to downstream end user. This supply chain takes in and considers a public and private sector downstream dyadic, a vertical upstream supply chain buyer-supplier dyad, as well as the broader strategic network and business ecosystem contexts of the three firms in a solutions provision arrangement. A qualitative, inductive, case study methodology is deployed to examine the three firms as embedded units of analysis. The data sources consist of twenty-five semi-structured interviews supplemented by archives of publications. In this study, I make theoretical contributions to OBM literature by advancing current understanding of OBMs in a cross-industry and cross-sectoral (public-private) context. The underlying assumption that existing studies provide only single-level insight into BMs is challenged. In particular, I contribute to BM literature by offering multi-level insight into an OBM as a regional strategic network, a network that also forms part of a national platform ecosystem. Furthermore, as a challenge to this predominant static understanding of BMs, I also make practical contributions by advancing current understanding by examining OBMs as strategic practice, thus breaking with the rhetorical nature of much BM literature. By focusing on practitioners and their capabilities in OBMs, this approach, therefore, addresses partially the under-socialisation of current BM research and adds insight into the open practices of these practitioners within OBMs. In particular, I offer insight into value creation/co-creation and value capture, as strategic practice. As the focal OBM crosses industry and sectoral boundaries, I also advance knowledge where it is currently lacking into the influence of boundary-spanning practitioners in OBMs.

Performance appraisal (PA) is widely used across the world to evaluate and motivate individuals’ performance in order to increase organisational productivity. This study explores the role of performance appraisal in employees’ motivation at the Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) to fill a gap in the previous literature. The first objective of this study is to explore the effectiveness of the performance appraisal system in the company from the employees’ point of view. The second objective is to explore to what extent the employees are motivated in the company. The last objective is to explore to what extent performance appraisal impacts the employees’ motivation. A qualitative methodology was used for collecting data through semi-structured interviews to provide in-depth understanding of the considered phenomena. Interviews were conducted with 40 employees in SEC who had worked with the company more than 4 years. In addition, official company documents were analysed and observations noted during the interview process. Thematic analysis was employed to indentify the major themes in the findings, using the inductive approach of Miles and Huberman (1994). With regard to the first objective of the study the findings show that generally the performance appraisal system in SEC is considered ineffective by the employees due to issues such as low level of employees’ participation in the PA process, lack of PA feedback, lack of employees’ acceptance of PA in SEC, and low levels of fairness in the PA process. The second objective of the study is addressed by considering two aspects, context and content factors. The findings regarding context factors such as job security, working conditions, pay, relationships in the workplace, and company policies, show that the employees were generally satisfied with those factors but they considered them as basic needs for completion of their jobs. However, some participants were dissatisfied with some of those factors, such as working conditions and company policies. In terms of content factors, such as recognition, work itself, the opportunity of growth, responsibility, advancement and achievement, the findings show that the participants believed those factors played an integral part in their level of motivation. However, the employees’ views regarding some of those factors were mixed. For instance, the technical employees were motivated by the work itself, such as challenge, responsibility and innovation, and they considered it as a source of motivation. Conversely, administrative employees saw the routine nature of their job as decreasing their level of motivation. With regard to the last objective of this study, the findings show that the participants strongly believed that performance appraisal has an integral role in their level of motivation. However, they mentioned three issues that should be satisfied if the company wants to use performance appraisal as a motivation mechanism: the PA should be fair, the rater should provide the ratees with regular feedback on PA, and the PA should be linked directly to the reward system in the company. The current study contributes to knowledge at both the academic and practical level. The main academic contribution is that by examining performance appraisal and motivation in SEC to provide an enhanced understanding of HRM in the Saudi context. Also, the study has answered the questions raised by a previous study conducted by Idris (2007) in SEC. At the practical level, the study has highlighted some recommendations for top management to increase their awareness of the importance of PA in regard to employees’ motivation, to improve the productivity of the organisation.

Motivation and its effect on employees’ performance is a broad, interesting, and important issue particularly for Human Resources Management (HRM). Motivation is the power behind individuals’ actions. For organisations’ high performance and maximum productivity motivation, programmes should be efficiently utilized. Leader Member Exchange (LMX) which is employed as a mediator in this empirical study between employees' motivation and job performance has also its influence on employees' job performance. Researchers have investigated motivation and its effect on job performance and developed theories which indicate and reflect the importance of these topics to organisations. The General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) is the organization of concern in this study. GACA is a public sector organisation which is located in Saudi Arabia. It has about 2500 employees. A quantitative methodology was employed to collect data from GACA's employees where 480 questionnaires were administered to all sectors of GACA in the headquarters in Jeddah, of which 319 were usable to be analysed. Exploratory factor analysis was employed to purify the refine factors of the main constructs, followed by confirmatory factor analysis to verify the factors and determine the constructs' psychometric properties. The hypothesised relationships were tested by employing structural equation modelling based on partial least square procedures. Mediation effects were examined using the Sobel test. The findings indicate that factors were reliable, valid and consistent with the employed motivation and LMX theories. Details of the nineteen factors produced from the five constructs and four dimensions of the conceptual model Figure 3.2 are presented in chapters five and six. All but two hypotheses of this study were supported, the exceptions being (H4: Job security and LMX are positively related, and H8, Work environment and LMX are positively related) which were rejected, as the relationships were not significant. This implies that employees' motivation in its all different forms has strong influence on employees' job performance when properly implemented and utilized. However in regard to GACA, which is a public sector organisation, the respondents' responses suggest that employees are not influenced by the motivation system as there is strong concern about, for example, the opportunities for training and development courses, rewards, incentives, allowances, promotion, HRM practices, etc., which imply that reform is needed and consequently job performance is not high. In reform of the motivation system, the administration or top management should take a strategic approach that is factual, effective and efficient, which would reflect on HRM practices, human resource development, LMX and all related parties. This would structure and constitute a much better and more constructive work environment, conductive to high job performance.