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The international construction industry is highly competitive with competition expected to further intensify. However, the market remains essentially heterogeneous with contractors able to express aspects of competitive advantage. This research is concerned with the nature and application of competitive advantage. Relevant theories are reviewed in order to examine and explain the general international market. From these theories, a suitable method was adopted to accommodate the attributes of international construction and to explain 'how, why, where and when' internationalisation was viable. This is the Porter model of national competitive advantage, adapted to accentuate the consideration of locations. Through research involving major construction contractors from the UK and two competitor nations; France and Germany, each nation's 'national diamond' profile of competitive advantage was formed. This model was then applied to specific, economically distinguished, locations; Portugal, Spain and Italy, to examine the various characteristics of relative competitive internationalisation. The combination of theoretical prediction and practical research revealed numerous elements of national competitive differentiation. These influence internationalisation, focussing consideration within a progressive framework of 'how and why, where and when'. The research shows that relative competitive advantage enhances the area of viable internationalisation, through allowing competition to be undertaken within more economically mature nations. Further, this framework will also direct contractors to key areas for improvement in their relative competitive profile.

This Thesis describes an approach to the development and testing of a model that can compare construction performance across time, space, and economic system. Labour and capital productivity measures as well as the multi-factor approach were evaluated. Capital productivity alone, as a 'pure' financial ratio, appears able to deal with the key problems posed by indexation, to deal with inflation for time-series comparisons, and fluctuating currency exchange rates, for international comparisons. The major flaws with traditional capital productivity measures, particularly the problems inherent in valuing the 'capital' employed in a given industry or sector, are discussed and the model is developed to meet the objections. The notion of capital productivity employed in the model, while in computational terms similar to the traditional approach, is different in philosophical terms. Thus instead of than attempting to 'value' the capital employed in the productive process, the cost of capital 'sunk' is valued making allowance for notional depreciation based on the balance of the different types of assets employed. The discount rate emerges by counterpoising the discounted value of anticipated future profits against the historic cost of investment sunk into the current stock of capital goods. There are problems specific to construction, in particular the incidence of off-site prefabrication and plant hire, which tend to make traditional capital productivity largely irrelevant to the construction process. An input-output framework is used to examine the productivity involved in the total building process as opposed to the on-site activities. In addition, the problems of incompatibility across economic systems manifested in such issues as differential rates of indirect taxation etc., is allowed for by adjusting the price levels from market prices to 'eigenprices' an input-output based approach. The resulting model is tested via an inter-industry time-series Case Study of the UK over the period 1948 to 1990 using six broad industrial groupings. The strengths and weaknesses of the approach are discussed in the light of the Case Study results.

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This thesis is a theoretically grounded empirical analyses of the economic and social development of Oman particularly from the mid-1970s to 1995. The analyses focuses on the major factors responsible for Oman's development particularly its development policy and strategy which involved a systematic use of both the state via the Five Year Plans and the market in inducing economic and social development of the country. These instruments were crucial in the allocation of resources to the various economic and social sectors of the country which secured relatively high rates of economic and social development. A brief historical sketch of Oman's economy and society highlights the significant transformation that the country has undergone since the inception of development planning in the mid-1970s. The study is located within the context of the global economy and international policy and provides in particular a critical reappraisal of structural adjustment propagated by the major world organisations such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. In this connection the thesis provides a critical appraisal of the 'market-friendly' 'minimal state' policies promoted (and required) by provisions under conditionality. After analysing the role of the state in the development of some countries to provide a comparative dimension, the study cautions against unselective or universal adoption of structural adjustment and the privatisation package and hence a reduction in the role of the state, which is supported by the Bank and International Monetary Fund or national governments. The research critically appraises the various theories of development from both the development economics and development studies tradition; the study evaluates the plan versus the market debate in relation to both the two theoretical traditions and international policy of structural adjustment, and the theoretical assumptions underlying this. The thesis shows the importance of the role of the state in securing economic and social development including in some East Asian Countries. After analysing Oman's strategy in combining the strengths of planning and the market processes in securing development, the thesis argues that contrary to the neo-classical viewpoint now dominant, the case for rolling back the state is questionable. On the contrary the thesis recommends a proactive role for the state, in a number of spheres of Oman's economy and society including in industry and agriculture. Specifically the research findings describe how a number of five year plans have succeeded in both expanding and diversifying Oman's oil-dependent economy as reflected in various indicators such as increase in per capita income and gross national product, and in increasing social welfare as indicated by greater provision of education and health services in the country. The thesis finally offers some suggestions and recommendations in terms of dealing with future problems that Oman have to encounter, including unemployment, need for more (appropriate) trained labour force and greater diversification of the economy.

Despite market research findings which assert that up to 90% of all consumers believe that ethical issues are an important consideration when purchasing products, estimates of the number of people consuming ethically with any regularity remain at around 1%. The aim of this thesis is to look at the lives and purchases of committed ethical consumers to show the complexities inherent in ethical consumerism which determine this elusive nature of ethical consumption. A series of interviews were held with ethical consumers: the first interview concentrated on the consumer's beliefs, values and biographies; the second interview took place in the consumer's home and examined contents of their food cupboards and bathrooms, as well as their cleaning products. This allowed analysis of the stories that the consumers tell about their reasons for becoming an ethical consumer, an examination of the individual's construction of an appropriate ethical position, and a questioning of the consumer's capacity and willingness to follow through their ethics in practice. At a theoretical level the thesis is situated within contemporary theories of consumption, but includes insights from social psychology and moral philosophy to allow the study of consumption to be informed by theories of ethics and action. Notions of identity and lifestyle construction have been applied and extended to enable an understanding of the consumer as an ethical self, with complex relationships to fluidity and consistency. Findings about the differences between ethics and action have highlighted the roles of pleasure, health, money, convenience, love and graciousness in consumption, whereas changes in behaviour in different mileux reveal the effect of structural and social barriers to ethical consumerism. The thesis concludes with a suggestion of the most appropriate form for geographical knowledge to take in any attempt to reunite production and consumption through a geography of commodities.

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Under 2013 och 2014 har det skett en ökning av antalet EU-medborgare som tigger i Sverige. Det har varit ett hett ämne för offentlig debatt och åsikterna har varit många och delade. Det finns flera obesvarade frågor och situationen är komplex. Behovet av kunskap i ämnet ses därför som stort. Syftet med denna uppsats var att studera medias framställning av tiggeri och romer, samt att genom intervjuer ge en bild av den verklighet som romerna i Umeå upplever. Dessa framställningar jämfördes sedan mot varandra. För att göra detta har en mediestudie gjorts där 49 tidningsartiklar från dagstidningarna Dagens Nyheter och Västerbottens Kuriren granskats. Det har gjorts tre intervjuer med romer. En kvalitativ innehållsanalys har använts för att analysera samtligt material. Mediestudien visade att tidningarnas framställning av romer och tiggeri främst handlar om romernas utsatta situation, samt diskussioner rörande ansvarsfrågan. Intervjuerna visade att det som främst präglar romernas verklighet är utsattheten, samt att familjen har stor betydelse.