Burrell and Morgan (2000) claimed that knowledge is paradigmatic, encompassing a distinct worldview and rationality governing research strategies and methods for which they identified four sociological paradigms to locate them based on “metatheoretical assumptions about the nature of reality, knowledge, and human behavior” (Cunliffe, 2010). They regard the competing theories developed from different paradigms as incommensurable—those working in one paradigm are not understood by those committed to another. Moreover, “there can be no measure, outside of the paradigms, which can be used as a basis for comparing and adjudicating between the claims to knowledge of theories produced from within different paradigms” (Jackson, 2000). This new theory states that because the problem of paradigm incommensurability begins at the level of ontology the solution lies there as well. Rather than supporting just one or a few paradigms, a different type of ontology is needed to explain ontological variety. It is argued that we can only perceive reality as meaningful paradigmatically, just as in the metaphor of the blind men and the elephant (Saxe, ca. 1850) where each comes upon a different part of an elephant and generalises that the whole is like their one piece. Furthermore, they cannot understand what they have found by comparing experiences. Solving the incommensurability issue is the theoretical key needed to properly underpin pluralist approaches to systems theory, design and intervention. But to do so, this new ontology is placed so that it operates within a suitable and otherwise complete theoretical framework which does not circumscribe, subsume, or in any way alter existing approaches, paradigms and theories—it purpose is only to sanction their use in a pluralist systemic approach. Such a framework, called P–S Multiparadigm Perspectivity is described in this thesis. Ten interviews with systemists were conducted with mixed results. The tests mistakenly assumed that systemists were generally aware of paradigms and incommensurability—instead, an aversion to theory was discovered. Surprisingly, though, two methods to address the issue were also found in the data. One of the interviewees teaches theory through storytelling; another demonstrates methods first, to pique the learner’s interest and evoke their questions. It was learned that the adoption of this theory depends upon an improved awareness of the concepts of critical systems paradigms within the systemist community.

The aim of this research is to investigate the price discovery, market efficiency and the temporal dynamic price relationships between financial prices (futures and index) and spot price, for three of the most important precious metals, namely gold, silver and platinum. When people are concerned about the economy, prudent investors switch their investment into precious metals rather than other asset classes. Precious metals futures, thus, are used by commercial producers and users and investors of precious metals to hedge risk or to make profit on the price fluctuations. Understanding the relationship between markets should foster sensible investment decisions and improve the statistical hedging properties of precious metals. Inspired by consideration of the unique status of precious metals in the economy and limited existing empirical evidence of price relationship regarding these metals, this research attempts to contribute to the space literature on market efficiency and causality cross three categories of markets—index, futures and spot. Further it will extend the research on price relationships and interactional impacts of precious metals markets based on non-synchronous trading that connects all the major markets around the world. The findings confirm long-term equilibrium relationships between US futures/index markets and special spot markets of all three precious metals by Cointegration tests. Via VECMs, the findings also revealed that futures prices and indexes of all the tested precious metals played a dominant role in the long run, but not all of them could be the unbiased estimators of the future spot price. On the other hand, mixed results of short-term causality suggested that US futures and indices led spot prices in the majority of cases. The results from this research supported the hypothesis that futures/indices functioned in the price discovery role in both the long- and short-term, and more importantly, the findings had value implications for market users in decision-making and improving their portfolio performance on precious metal markets.

Exporter-importer relationships have been an interest of International (Industrial) Marketing Purchasing (IMP) group since 1980s (Hallen and Sandstrom, 1991). The recent researches have focused on imbalanced relationships between exporters and importers. Imbalances in exporter-importer relationships are considered to be mainly associated with, cross-cultural differences, size, customs, institutions, and organisational differences of each party. However, understanding of imbalances in exporter-importer relationships has been less researched from the side of exporters as opposed to importers. Furthermore, the experiences of small export companies have not been paid enough attention to understand the strategies of these companies when they deal with the problems in relationships with importers. Moreover, SMEs characterise the largest range of organisation types both in developed and developing economies. Despite the inadequate resources and knowledge possessed by small exporters, they are increasingly involved in international supply chain relations, which determine imbalances in relationships of small exporting suppliers with importers. To date the limited empirical investigation of such claims has produced lack of understanding. This research addresses this gap in the literature and takes an exploratory perspective, using qualitative research design and multiple case study method. Twenty in-depth interviews were conducted with ten companies in international textile districts in Istanbul in Turkey. This provided a guidance to discover characteristics of relationships between exporters and importers and the influence of exporters’ capabilities on these relations. Conceptual framework and the following typology of international supply relations between exporters and importers have been obtained from related literature. The findings from the study indicated that the key relationship characteristics of export involvement stage and capabilities determine the degree of balance in the relationship. However, there is a degree of dynamism in the relationship, for instance, if exporters are in an imbalanced relationship, they are able to develop strategies to move towards a more balanced relationship. The findings revealed that capability of seize and capability of transform help exporters to create balance in relationships with importers. Furthermore, different types of imbalances in exporter-importer relationships were identified that may suggest different strategies may be applied in different customer relationships.

Performance measurements evolve as new challenges are met and the natural environment is one of the biggest challenges facing society and the evolution of performance measurement today. Consequently, a cross-disciplinary interest in the field of green supply chain management (GSCM) has grown amongst researchers and practitioners in recent years because of climate change issues, diminishing raw materials, excess waste production, increasing levels of pollution and because it is a source of competitive advantage. Yet, there has been little work done in developing and incorporating green measures into the existing bank of supply chain performance measures. Only 18 articles have been published in the last 18 years on green supply chain performance measurement (GSCPM). The aim of this thesis is to address this challenge by empirically developing and testing green performance measures for the supply chain. Based on an extensive literature review, five research questions were proposed for this thesis to address gaps in the body of knowledge. This is a new area of theory development and demanded theoretical and methodological triangulation to maximize the amount of data collected to explore the research phenomena from different perspectives. The study used a rigorous three-phased methodological framework originally developed by Churchill (1979) for items and scales development. The first phase comprised generating variables and constructs from the extant literature and focus groups. The second phase involved testing these items and constructs in a survey. Finally, a focus group was conducted in Phase Three to verify and validate the overall results. The thesis proposes a battery of 29 GSCPM variables and 12 GSCPM constructs that can be used by organisations to measure their impact on the environment. The study found that GSCPM variables used by organisations, such as usual performance measures, remain primarily driven by cost. Furthermore, there are significant differences in the capabilities and the way in which organisations view the importance, enablers, barriers and benefits of GSCPM. This thesis contributes to knowledge by proposing a universal set of GSCPM variables and reporting tools that organisations can use to manage their GSCPM. Finally, the use of methodological pluralism in this research has helped to provide a more complete picture of this phenomenon and represents one of only a few studies which have explored GSCPM in this way.

The main purpose of this study is to provide further insights into the potential influence of a number of internal and external governance mechanisms in constraining earnings management and determining the agency costs level. In addition, this study attempts to enhance the understanding of a number of issues relating to ownership structure and corporate governance in an emerging country setting. The international corporate collapse and accounting scandals surrounding some prominent large companies (e.g. Enron, Xerox, World.com, HealthSouth, Tyco, Waste management, RiteAid and Subeam) raised concern about the effectiveness of different monitoring devices that protect investors‘ interests. The majority of failures have resulted, in part, from accounting manipulation and dereliction of efficient corporate governance mechanisms that control opportunistic behaviour of management. This study argues that agency conflicts within a firm are considered to be among the influential sources of earnings management activities. In emerging countries with highly concentrated ownership, the prevalence of agency conflicts is more likely to lie mainly between controlling and minority shareholders rather than between managers and outside shareholders. Such conflicts, combined with the weak legal protection of minority shareholders and the flexibility inherent in accounting choices, are likely to induce managers to manipulate the reported earnings and adopt a range of activities that might be contrary to minority stockholders‘ interests. Using an original data set for a sample of Egyptian listed firms, the findings of the empirical analyses are in agreement with this argument. It is shown that corporate governance mechanisms do not work in isolation but they interact to effectively curb earnings management and alleviate different agency conflicts. It is also shown that firm-specific characteristics (e.g., growth opportunities) play a crucial role in understanding the conditional role of such mechanisms and other governance mechanisms, such as dividends and short debt, may help resolve corporate agency problems.

Currently the provision of corporate financial information through the internet is a new issue confronting providers and users of financial information in Egypt. It is expected to be important as financial information would be disseminated worldwide and this availability of information could encourage people to invest in any part of the world. Studying internet reporting in Egypt will help in providing on line timely information, thus encouraging investors to invest in Egypt. It will meet stakeholders� demands for greater speed and volume of financial information. Businesses must find better and more effective ways of communicating financial information with these stakeholders. Therefore, there is a need to examine the role played by the internet in communicating financial information in Egypt, in order to find out how that role may be enhanced. The major objectives of the study were to 1) identify the extent of internet corporate financial reporting in the Egyptian companies; 2) identify factors which influence Egyptian listed companies to voluntarily adopt internet-based corporate financial reporting; 3) evaluate the effectiveness of voluntary internet financial reporting and disclosure to selected groups of users; and 4) explore the role of Investor Relations and auditors regarding internet financial reporting and their functions or procedures are affected. Innovation diffusion, institutional change, and economic-based theories were employed to explain the adoption of internet financial reporting in Egypt. To accomplish these objectives, a sequential explanatory triangulation design was employed, employing both quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis. Quantitative methods were used to achieve the first and second objectives. A disclosure index was constructed to determine the level of voluntary internet financial reporting of the 100 most active listed Egyptian companies for the year ended 2004. Ten hypotheses were formulated to test the relationship between the level of voluntary financial internet disclosure and the company�s characteristics. It was found that 27 companies had no websites, the websites of 9 companies were under construction, 62 companies had websites and 35 companies disclosed their financial information on their websites. The average disclosure rates of financial information were 30% for the Egyptian companies which had websites and 44% for companies having websites and disclosing financial information. 100% of communication companies and 67% of financial services companies disclosed financial information on their websites and all communication companies had disclosure scores over 50%. The results of Univariate analysis revealed that firm size variables (total assets, total sales); leverage variables (Total Debt /Total Assets and Long term Debt/ Total Assets); foreign listing; industry type; and audit firm size are significantly associated with the extent of internet disclosure at least at the 5% level of significance. The results of multiple regressions indicated that profitability, foreign listing and industrial sector (communications and financial services) are important factors affecting the amount and presentation formatting of financial information disclosed on Egyptian companies� websites. Qualitative method was used to accomplish the second, third and fourth objectives. Seventeen interviews were conducted with stakeholders [Investor relations officers, financial analysts & fund managers, audit partners & key managers from Egyptian Stock Exchange]. A framework was developed which includes six main factors affecting companies� disclosure of financial information on the internet, which include companies� characteristics [Size, Foreign listing, Industrial sector (banking and communications sectors), Capital structure (Foreign investors, Governmental ownership, Number of shareholders)], management style, amount of paper-based disclosure, imitation, rules and regulations, and number of analysts covering the company. Investor relations officers should be responsible and decide upon the financial information to be published on companies� websites but this is not the case in Egypt. Auditors have no responsibility regarding internet financial reporting in Egypt. This study makes the following contribution to knowledge: - This study is the first which undertakes an empirical investigation regarding internet financial reporting and disclosure of Egyptian listed companies. - This is the first study to examine the effects of culture, organizational structure and demographic characteristics on the adoption of voluntary internet reporting and disclosure. - One of the significant features in this study is that it employed quantitative and qualitative methods to identify the factors which affect companies� adoption of voluntary internet financial reporting and disclosure in Egypt. - This study will contribute to the understanding of the concept, functions and activities of Investor Relations within companies and this might draw the attention to the importance of Investor Relations and help in the development of Investor Relations in Egypt. This is the first time that the role of Investor Relations has been investigated in Egypt, or indeed any Arab country. - The disclosure index used was modified to be suitable for companies working in the Egyptian environment context. This index could be used by other researchers to investigate internet financial reporting and disclosure for companies working in other Arab countries that are experiencing similar economic changes.

The objective of this thesis is to investigate the role of corporate governance and agency conflicts in determining corporate performance, foreign investment and corporate financial decisions. For this purpose, it uses firm-level corporate governance and ownership data from Jordan. Jordan is an economy in which the prevailing corporate structures and regulatory mechanisms provide a data set that lends itself particularly well to the examination of these issues. First, we provide a detailed and timely review of ownership and corporate governance structure characteristics for a unique database which we hand-collected from a sample of 519 firm-year observations of financial and non-financial Jordanian listed firms between 2004 and 2006. This work significantly contributes to the existing body of knowledge, by providing a detailed picture of firm-level corporate governance structures in Jordan as one of the Middle East and North African (MENA) countries. Second, we investigate the relationship between internal corporate governance structure and firm performance. Our analysis reveals that traditional managerial agency explanations (i.e. conflict between managers and shareholders) do not appear to hold in the Jordanian context. Instead, the main agency concern for Jordanian firms seems to be the one between founding families and minority shareholders. Our findings support the view that CEO duality has an adverse effect on firm performance. However, CEO membership on the board and concentrated ownership tend to have a positive effect on company performance. The presence of strong foreign equity ownership in firms enhances their firm performance and complements the relatively weak monitoring by domestic institutional investors. Third, we investigate the relationship between corporate governance and foreign investment decisions, by focusing on the influence of founding family ownership and control on foreign equity ownership. We document that founding family ownership and founding family control exert a significant influence on foreign investors‟ decisions. Our findings suggest that foreign investors are less likely to invest in Jordanian firms with higher founding family ownership and control. Institutional investors and board characteristics have a negative effect on foreign ownership. Additionally, we find that firms with greater growth potential and large firms seem to be more attractive to foreign investors and they avoid firms that pay high dividends. Fourth, we analyse the potential links between corporate governance and corporate cash holdings. This work significantly contributes to the existing literature on cash holdings by investigating the impact of founding family ownership and large foreign ownership on corporate cash holdings. We find strong evidence that the levels of founding family ownership exert a significant influence on cash holding decisions of Jordanian firms. We document a non-linear relationship between founding family ownership and cash holdings. In addition, we provide evidence that the presence of large foreign investors leads to lower cash holdings. Finally, we detect that corporate cash holding is positively associated with market-to-book value and dividends and negatively associated with cash flow, leverage, size and tangibility.

Recent years have seen rapid growth of Internet technology and its incorporation into many areas, including banking. Despite the potential advantages offered, however, adoption of Internet Banking (IB) has been relatively low. This thesis aims to enhance understanding of customers' adoption of IB, with particular reference to commercial banks in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). It investigates the rationale for and current status of IB in the KSA. Then, taking as a framework the Decomposed Theory of Planned Behaviour (DTPB), with the additional construct of website features, it investigates what factors may influence Saudi customers' adoption of IB, including the potential impact of website features at different stages of the customer's decision-making process (DMP). The research targeted policy makers, IB managers and clients in all 11 commercial banks operating in KSA. Data were collected in two phases, each containing qualitative and quantitative elements. In phase one, focused on the bank perspective, interviews were held with 11 bank officials, to explore the thinking behind their IB provision and website design. Then, content analysis was used to investigate the features of 22 websites – 1 corporate and 1 individual site for each bank. In phase two, semi-structured interviews (N = 40) were used to explore bank clients' perceptions of IB, and their responses used to inform a survey, delivered online and through bank branches, of IB users' (N = 651) and non-users' (N = 409) attitudes and behaviours in relation to IB. Results showed that bank managers attempted to attract and support clients throughout the DMP, and this was reflected in website content. However, support was constrained by some erroneous assumptions about clients, and the regulatory environment. Obstacles to IB use included psychological, marketing, educational, technical, cultural and linguistic barriers. IB non-users' intention to try IB was influenced by Trust and Subjective Norms, while users' intention to continue was influenced by perceived Relative Advantage and Compatibility, Ease of Use, Self-Efficacy, Resource Facilitating Conditions and Website Characteristics. Attitudes to IB also differed by clients' gender, age, income, education and Internet experience. Implications are drawn for technology adoption and e-marketing theory, and recommendations are made to government, the central bank and commercial banks to enhance the functionality and attractiveness of IB.

This is a qualitative case study, conducted in the Jordanian electricity sector, aimed at exploring the concept, philosophy and practice of training and development (T&D), by investigating and comparing T&D conceptualization and practice between the public, private and privatized electricity companies. To meet the objectives of this research, an exploratory research approach was employed. Data was gathered through 29 in-depth interviews, 34 days of observation and the analysis of companies' T&D documents. The research findings showed similarities in the way in which participants perceived T&D and the way they conceptualized the term among companies with different ownership styles. T&D was interpreted in terms of learning, being development focused and emphasizing a utilitarian outlook. Regarding T&D role, participants emphasized the 'instrumental' role of T&D, showing an inclination toward the Functionalist philosophical perspective of T&D. Concerning actual practice, it was found that T&D activities had a reactive role, designed specifically to meet particular or short term needs of the companies. The study findings support the general argument proposed in HRD literature regarding the role of T&D philosophy in guiding the related actions, but also indicate that the way of thinking about T&D is shaped through the prism of the 'situation needs' and T&D 'utility'. Furthermore, this study argues that the perceptions, understanding and application of T&D are influenced by a number of interrelated factors, most importantly, industry and organizational internal specification and needs. The findings of this research make a number of theoretical and managerial contributions. From a theoretical perspective, this study provides a step toward understanding how T&D is conceptualized and interpreted by electricity sector employees. Further, it provides explanation of how the situation is constructed, which in turn helps in filling the gap in Arab literature in this area. Finally, for the managerial contribution, this study proposed a model for T&D management that could be consistent with participants’ perceptions and within the acceptable philosophical perspective. Furthermore, the model takes account of the explored T&D problems and obstacles.

Although the pattern of growth in developing countries is characterised by instability, uncertainties and volatility, the experience of the five fast-growing developing economies of Brazil, Russia, India, Mexico and China (BRIMCs) presents an unprecedented challenge for other developing countries. Therefore, this thesis argues that the emergence of the BRIMCs as the future growth engine of the world presents an excellent backdrop to re-examine the importance of financial development and foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Sub-Saharan African (SSA) context. It is important to mention that for empirical studies, the methodologies used for estimations will differ for different groups of countries. Hence, the study applies panel data techniques to take into account the heterogeneity of these developing countries. It further uses dynamic panel data framework and a panel co-integration analysis to capture the long-run relationships. The measures employed assessed various aspects of financial development including; private credit as a ratio of GDP, bank credit, liquid liabilities, stock market capitalisation and value of stock traded, and a single measure of FDI being the annual inflow of FDI as a ratio of GDP for 60 developing countries during 1980-2007. The study also explores the interaction between economic openness and human capital insofar as the attraction of FDI is concerned in the developing countries under consideration. The findings reveal that financial liberalisation and good institutions are important for financial development. For the SSA countries, the results indicate that while financial liberalisation promotes stock market development, the lack of good institutions, in particular control of corruption, bureaucratic quality and rule of law are less favourable to financial development. Furthermore, the study finds that economic openness and human capital also play an important role in the attraction of FDI and the growth effect of FDI in developing countries. The primary policy implication is that SSA countries should make efforts towards initiating and implementing financial sector development reforms and FDI incentives.