The study investigates the extent and determinants of greenhouse gas voluntary disclosures by FTSE350 United Kingdom (UK) listed companies from both theory and practitioners’ views. In accomplishing the aim, the study has the following objectives: (1) to analyse the extent of voluntary disclosure of GHG information in annual and sustainability reports of FTSE350 companies over a four year period i.e. 2008-2011; (2) to establish whether voluntary GHG disclosures are influenced by corporate governance characteristics (board size, non-executive directors, environmental committee, audit committee, ownership concentration and director ownership) and firm characteristics (company size, profitability, gearing, liquidity and industry); and (3) To investigate whether practitioners consider the determinants (as in objective two above) motivates the extent of voluntary GHG disclosures. To accomplish the objectives, the study uses a mixed-method approach on data derived from a sample of 215 FTSE 350 companies listed on London Stock Exchange. Firstly, an econometric model was developed based on a set of explanatory factors i.e. the governance and company characteristics and a dependent variable of disclosure index drawn from a multiple GHG voluntary reporting frameworks. Panel regression was then employed to examine the relationship between the explanatory factors and the actual disclosures. Secondly, through survey questionnaire, company executives were asked to rate their perception of the extent to which a list of determinants derived from largely secondary data literature influenced voluntary GHG disclosure. The results indicate an increasing trend in GHG disclosures from 2008 to 2011 perhaps suggesting positive impact of the government initiatives on GHG disclosures in the UK. Overall there is more disclosure of qualitative information in particular information on company action on GHG and climate change rather than actual emission disclosures. Companies have also not been proactive in disclosing quantified estimates of all forms of risks emanating from climate change. Results of the econometric model show that there is no support for the influence of traditional board characteristics such as Non-executive Directors, board size, and audit committee whereas both forms of ownership had a significant negative influence. The presence of an environmental committee was only significant in enhancing qualitative information and not quantitative information. In addition, as in other voluntary disclosures, size plays a vital role in determining the extent of the disclosures and that highly geared companies disclose less GHG information than less geared firms. Liquidity and profitability have no significant influence. The survey results suggest that according to the practitioners, board environmental committee and firm size are the only determining factors to have received wide support by the respondents while all other factors were firmly rejected. The findings that other determinants do not influence disclosure of GHG from a practitioner point of view suggests the need for an in-depth investigation into the determinants of voluntary disclosures beyond the evidence as derived from secondary data based studies. The study contributes knowledge to the voluntary disclosure studies in a number of ways. First, through mixed data approach, it has brought additional insights into the determinants of GHG disclosures. For example, through the primary survey data approach, evidence is documented that confirm and also contradict the secondary data approach findings in respect of both some governance and company variables. This suggests the need for more research using the mixed-method approach in an attempt to reveal why the results contradict. Secondly the results enrich voluntary disclosure literature by bringing disclosure determinants evidence through longitudinal data. Insights obtained from both the data triangulation and longitudinal study setting will help inform existing debate on policy options with regard to GHG emission disclosure. Finally the study contributes to the GHG disclosure literature by developing a comprehensive GHG voluntary disclosure index drawn from a various reporting guidelines. Such a comprehensive index will help ensure that adequacy of company GHG disclosures is assessed based on robust instrument.

This study sets out to investigate the relationship development impacts on small suppliers and their larger customers in the Taiwanese electronics industry. More precisely, this research's principal goal is to outline a framework for relationship development of small suppliers and their larger customers in the Taiwanese electronics network. Recent research has shown that small suppliers may face a range of problems in their relationship with larger customers (Blomqvist, 2002; Johnsen and Ford, 2002; Johnsen, 2005). This research examines the relationship development impacts of relationship characteristics of small suppliers and their larger customers on the process of development of these relationships in the Taiwanese electronics industry. The chosen study method involves a phenomenologicalapproach using case studiesof the relationships of small suppliers and their larger customers in the Taiwaneseelectronics industry. Individual in-depth interviews in both customer and supplier firms with directors or managers who have been closely involved in the relationship are employed to collect relevant primary data. Through the literature review, a classification of relationship characteristicsof small suppliers and larger customers is developed and a relationship development stage model identified (Ford, 1980). A conceptual model of the relationship development impacts of relationship characteristics of small suppliers and larger customers on their relationship developmentprocessis developed, and guidesthe empirical study. Five sets of small supplier and larger customer relationships are examined. From each supplier organisation five persons are interviewed e.g. president, managing director, and marketing manager. Also five individuals in each of the customer organisations are interviewed e. g. vice-managing director, purchasing managerand others involved in supplier relationships. In total, there are 50 participants in 49 interviews, (since Case B supplier side had two participants interviewed together). The researcher analyses the findings from these five sets of customer and supplier relationships through the use of analysis matrices. The premise of this research is to provide a better assessmentof the relationship development impacts on the relationship characteristics of small suppliers and their larger customers on the process of relationship development in the Taiwanese electronics industry. It is hoped that this study can benefit small suppliers by developing a set of managerial lessons from the study concerning relationship development with larger customers in the Taiwanese electronics market. Furthermore, the research provides indicators that different types of relationship development impacts on the relationship characteristics may influence the relationship development process between small suppliers and their larger customers at different stagesof relationship.

As the distinction in roles of production by suppliers and consumption by customers become blurred, concomitantly there is increasing interest to understand the process of how value is co-created through interaction in business relationships. In this connection and in the context of larger customers and small and medium-sized suppliers’ (SMEs) dyad, this study identifies the areas of collaboration, how value is co-created and the respective co-created value. This is based on five in-depth case studies (business relationships) drawn from the UK organic food sector. Theoretically, the investigation is grounded on the Industrial Marketing and Purchasing (IMP) group’s interaction approach, given its assumptions. The larger customers and SME suppliers were found to collaborate in a wide range of areas including innovation, corporate social responsibility, inter-linked technical systems, planning, co-evaluation and interactive learning. Considering the value co-creation practices as representing how value is co-created, this occurred respectively in the form of, for example: exchanging ideas on product development; facilitating and sponsoring school children to visit farms; joint technical systems; consultations in the development of business plans; co-evaluating processes and staff; and internships. The collaboration led to co-creation of monetary and non-monetary values such as revenue and reputation respectively. Different collaborative areas led to the co-creation of various types of value and this underscores the potential of larger customer-SME supplier relationships and also has implications in resource allocation. The identified value cocreation phenomenon reveals the need to extend the IMP interaction approach by entrenching the concept of value co-creation such that the framework not only shows exchange but also value co-creation.

This research explores the role of trust in relation to how the quality of care provided by the Humber Mental Health NHS Teaching Trust (HMHTT) is perceived by stakeholders.A Participatory Action Research Project (PAR) was carried out within an overarching framework of Critical Systems Thinking (CST), using a modified form of Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) (Checkland and Scholes, 1990; Checkland and Poulter, 2006) to structure the process of gathering information regarding perceptions of service quality, communication among stakeholders as individuals and groups, and trust in the system and thinking critically and creatively about the issues raised. Semi-structured, face-to-face interviews were conducted with 14 service users, 5 carers, 6 service providers, and 3 decision-makers, to build up a rich picture of the situation, and workshops were held to identify and model relevant systems and generate proposals for change.Root definitions and conceptual models were generated by service users and carers for two activity systems identified by them as priorities for attention: Communication and Carer Involvement, and forwarded to service providers for feedback. The issues raised were carried forward to the Trust's planning and budgeting agenda, and were disseminated more widely within the Trust, to inform subsequent action.The research contributes to theory on relational quality by providing rich data and conceptual models on the complex interrelationships between trust, communcation and perceived quality and points to the value of explicit incorporation of trust in CST theory and practice.

Within the last twenty years the link between market organisation and development has come under increased scrutiny in response to the implementation of World Bank liberalisation policies across many of sub-Saharan Africa's agriculture markets. Under the neoliberal teachings of the Washington Consensus, liberalised markets have replaced systems of government control, with disappointing results. Recognising the challenges created by the universal implementation of liberalisation policies, the attention of development economists, including the World Bank, has now turned to alternative modes of market organisation. In light of this, the following study aims to contribute to the post Washington Consensus understanding of market development through a detailed exploration of the Ghanaian cocoa market as an alternative model for market organisation within sub-Saharan agriculture. The Ghanaian cocoa market has been selected because, in contrast with its fully liberalised cocoa producing neighbours, Ghana has only undergone partial liberalisation. The Ghanaian Cocoa Board [Cocobod] maintains control over several functions across both the domestic and international dimensions of the Ghanaian cocoa chain. Given the span of the Cocobod's influence along the Ghanaian cocoa chain, it has been necessary to develop a cross disciplinary theoretical framework, using New Institutional Economics for a microanalysis of the domestic cocoa chain, and Global Value Chain analysis for a macro-analysis of the international cocoa chain. Building on a critique of the universalism inherent within the Washington Consensus, methodologically this study has attempted to achieve an in-depth understanding of the Ghanaian cocoa market. In line with the ontological approach of critical realism, this has involved the use of semi-structured qualitative interviews, throughout two independent rounds of research in Ghana. Interview data has been systematically organised and interpreted using the approach of template analysis. Based on the construction of six final templates it has been possible to deduce that direct government intervention in the areas of quality control, enforcement and a monopoly over cocoa exports appear to be having a positive impact upon market development in Ghana. Equally, it has been observed that the Cocobod may be failing to leverage the potential of private sector investment, as it struggles to adapt to partial liberalisation. In closing it is recommended that future research into models of partial liberalisation should be pursued based on the results of this study.

For many years, the internet and its associated technologies have been heralded as the new frontier for SMEs and, inherently, “a good thing”. Despite this having been a common theme for at least the last fifteen years, still many SMEs are not “e-engaged. Despite significant amounts of public money being invested in promoting the Internet to SMEs, estimates for the UK range from 20 to 40 percent non- e-engagement, and substantially more in other jurisdictions. This thesis examines the barriers and drivers to e-engagement by SMEs and challenges the conventional wisdom that the Internet is a positive force for all. In particular, the research looks at the micro end of the SME spectrum, (the μSME), and identifies a number of hitherto un-examined areas of their operation and business models. Following a comprehensive review of the relevant canon of literature, a conceptual framework is derived, developed and presented. This provides the skeleton upon which the research strategy sits. The empirical data set consists of seventeen in depth case studies from a range of SMEs involved in the b2b, b2c and professional services fields. A cross case analysis was then undertaken, leading to the finalised framework. One of the key contributions of this research is the development of the conceptual model and associated framework. This allows for the identification and analysis of barriers, drivers and key determinants of the decision by SMEs and specifically of μSMEs with regard to their engagement, or not, with the Internet. Some commentators have noted that the literature on SME Internet engagement is fragmented and incoherent and that there is a need for framework development and research at the conceptual level to provide more focused research. This thesis accepts that challenge. It takes a comparative approach to both engaged and non-engaged companies, where possible in the same industry, to allow for key determinants and principle impact factors to be identified. The research provides detailed examples of the business models operated by the case companies and the factors affecting their implementation and operation. The variables affecting each SME are codified and mapped against the determinants and principle drivers. This enables the analysis to identify the barriers that filter, and in some cases entirely block, engagement with the Internet.

There have been the recent calls for additional research in order to enhance the understanding of potential contingency factors which explain the adoption of management accounting practices (MAPs). This, allied to a lack of knowledge in relation to current use of MAPs, especially in developing countries, is the motivation for this research. Thus, this research attempts to explore the adoption and perceived benefit of MAPs as well as to examine their relationships with contingency factors affecting organizational performance in a developing country, Thailand. Two potential contingency factors are adopted for this research including a comprehensive set of strategic typologies and management techniques (MTs). Three forms of contingency fit, selection, interaction, and systems approaches, have been adopted in order to develop research questions and hypotheses.A triangulation approach combining a survey and interviews is used in this research. The questionnaire was delivered to 'accounting managers' of 451 companies listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET). There were 135 returned and usable responses, resulting in 29.9 percent response rate. Semi-structured interviews of seven companies provide qualitative findings, which are in line with, but explain further, those from the survey.The findings confirm the popularity of the use of, and high perceived benefit from, traditional MAPs and reveal disappointing adoption rates of, and relatively low perceived benefit from, contemporary MAPs. There are some alignments between MAPs and strategic typologies and between MTs and strategic typologies. However, only a few moderation effects are detected. In line with expectations, the companies under differentiation/ prospector/ entrepreneurial/ build strategies tend to have higher organizational performance when they obtain higher benefit from contemporary MAPs and MTs concerning quality, employee empowerment, customization and flexibility. It was also found that the companies pursuing cost leadership/ defender/ conservative/ harvest strategies tend to have higher performance when they obtain higher benefit from traditional MAPs and MTs relating to cost reduction processes.This study adds to the limited body of knowledge of MA in Asian countries, in particular Thailand. It represents a comprehensive survey and explanation of MAPs in Thailand. It is anticipated that this research will make academics and practitioners aware of the capability of alternative MAPs combined with the right match of MTs to improve firms' efficiency and effectiveness as well as its fit with the strategies. It is also expected that the findings of this research will provide valuable insights into the nature of MAPs, and assist the academics and practitioners in improving management accounting rules and practices in Thailand.

The group decision making literature defines three methods of decision making used by and within groups: consensus, negotiation, and voting. Group support systems (GSS) research, with the creation of its enabling technologies, has focused on issues that support consensus-building and negotiation, thus relegating voting to the relatively limited role of prioritization. Surprisingly, the technology of aggregating opinions in GSS has received little research attention, and the procedures for it that have been implemented in even the most sophisticated groupware systems are relatively unsophisticated. Influence allocation processes (IAP) are voting and opinion aggregating methods that allow members to distribute some or all of their decision making influence to others in the group in order to exploit not only the group's knowledge of the alternatives, but its knowledge of itself. Only with the common use of GSS has their use become practical. Two families of influence allocation processes are reconsidered and expanded in this dissertation: SPAN, introduced by MacKinnon (1966a) and a technique based on a proposal by Morris DeGroot (1974) called Rational Consensus by Lehrer and Wagner (1981), who developed it and explicated it as a normative standard for combining opinion. This dissertation first considers the development and implementation of a set of IAP voting tools within GroupSystemsᵀᴹ. Second, a series of empirical studies is used to show how decision groups use voting tools for the selection of a correct solution. Third, simulation studies are used to develop guidelines for the allocation of influence in an alternative forced-choice problem. Finally, a case study of a real group using IAP for an authentic decisional problem is described. Influence allocation processes help reconcile differences in opinion, knowledge, and judgment. As such, they show much potential for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of group decision-making.

The purpose of the research is to understand how unit managers react to and are able to engage with a newly devised centralised performance measurement system(PMS) based on the balanced scorecard(BSC). The theoretical contribution of this study is to establish the behaviours which may contributeto or hinder the way in which the BSC is accepted and used at a unit level. The knowledge gained and tested in actual practice will prove invaluable.This will not only allow managers to identify and therefore react to areas of probable negativity, but also allow them to encourage and endorse the more positive aspects. The observed research which adopts a process of collaborative inquiry covers a period of 10 months and adopts a longitudinal case study approach. During this time, emphasisis paid upon the role of the reviewing senior manager and those managers responsible for the unit score cards, examining their initial exposure to and deployment of the scorecard, along with its use in eight of the seventeen delivery units. The findings identify that three core elements exist within a performance environment.These consist of the performance strategy, its PMS and the performance encounter where performance improvement are ultimately realised. Within the centre core there exists both an emotional and behavioural reaction determining either the success or demise of the overall performance management and its measurement system. The research concludes by evaluating the lessons derived from the interactions within the performance environment.The study focuses on how considerations such as personal control and influence,when linked to understanding, knowledge and contribution impact on the level of perceived ownership and accountability felt by individuals. By addressing these areas organisations are able to ensure a more successful use of a centrally devised BSC approach across its exposure,deployment and usage.

The main objective of the research is to investigate the relative information content of complementary and supplementary narrative commentaries in UK interim reports. The study also examines the relative importance of complementary and supplementary narrative attributes. The subsidiary objective of the study is to investigate incremental information content of complementary and supplementary narratives. The study used 309 interim reports of 103 companies for the years 2005 to 2007. The returns used were daily market adjusted cumulative abnormal returns ±5 days around the announcement of interim reports. The disclosure index method was used to capture complementary and supplementary information using disclosure variety (number of information items) and disclosure depth set of attributes (good news, amounts and comparison of current with past performance, reasons for performance and forward-looking). The control variables included financial performance measures of dividend yield, earnings per share and total assets. Event studies based multiple regression models were used to measure information content. The findings in respect of the main objective indicate that supplementary narratives had higher but insignificant infonnation content than complementary narratives for the model based on disclosure variety. However, when disclosure depth is used, complementary narratives have higher and significant relative information content than supplementary narratives. The results also show that complementary good news, complementary amounts and comparisons of current with past performance and complementary reasons for performance were associated with returns unlike their respective counterparts in supplementary narratives. Both complementary and supplementary forward-looking attributes were not associated with returns. The results of the subsidiary objective suggest that the disclosure varit)ty model combining complementary and supplementary narratives when compared with the disclosure variety model having supplementary narratives does not have a significant difference. All other incremental information content comparisons based on either disclosure variety or disclosure depth had significant differences. This study has a number of research and policy implications, especially after the 2007 subprime financial crisis.