To align firm strategy with the changing environment has always been a challenge for executives. The business literature consists of different perspectives on how to solve the problem and whether to resist change, adapt or do both at the same time. Each got their own implications, inertia could lead to rigidness, adaptability might negatively influence reliability and ambidexterity is seen as a combination of both. The core is exploiting present capabilities meanwhile exploring future opportunities. To study these notions we have conducted a cross-sectional study including four Swedish service-firms which operates in either a stable or dynamic environment. Executives were interviewed and asked to elaborate on their strategies. By doing this we were able to construct a model who suggests when to adapt, when to resist change depending on environmental stability. We also observed that capital- and knowledge-intensity has been somewhat neglected in previous research and could be studied further.

Pastaruosius du dešimtmečius Lietuvoje ir kitose šalyse aukštojo mokslo kokybei skiriamas vis didesnis dėmesys, tačiau Lietuvoje nėra atlikta sisteminių tyrimų apie kolegijų veiklos kokybės išorinio institucinio vertinimo patirtį ir rezultatus, dar daugiau – vertinimo procedūrų ir turinio tobulinimas vyksta epizodiškai ir iš dalies pagrįstai. Tyrimo objektas – kolegijų veiklos kokybės išorinio institucinio vertinimo sandara, akcentuojant išorinio vertinimo procedūras. Tyrimo tikslas - teoriškai pagrįsti ir empiriškai patikrinti kolegijų veiklos kokybės išorinio institucinio vertinimo proceso (analizuojant tik taikomas vertinimo procedūras) modelį ir nurodyti studijų kokybės vertinimo proceso tobulinimo kryptis. Magistro darbe yra apibrėžiamos kolegijų išorinio institucinio vertinimo ir įvertinimo sampratos, analizuojant kolegijų paskirtį; kolegijų veiklos kokybės koncepcijas; vertinimo ir įvertinimo procesus; vertinimo tipus; institucinio vertinimo vietą ir reikšmę aukštojo mokslo vertinimo sistemoje; sąsajas tarp vidinio ir išorinio vertinimo bei vertinimo principus. Šiame darbe aptariamos Europos aukštojo mokslo kokybės užtikrinimo nuostatos, kurios jau yra pradėtos diegti daugelyje Europos šalių, tame tarpe ir Lietuvoje. Analizuojamos aukštųjų mokyklų išorinio kokybės vertinimo sistemos Europos šalyse, atpažįstami šiose sistemose taikomi bendrieji Europos aukštojo mokslo kokybės užtikrinimo principai. Apibendrinama kolegijų išorinio institucinio vertinimo... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Attention to the quality of higher education has considerably increased in Lithuania and other countries during the last two decades. The systematic research on the experience of external institutional quality assessment of colleges still has not been executed in Lithuania. Furthermore the improvement of the procedures and the content of assessment is episodic and poorly based. The master theses define the conception of external institutional quality assessment of colleges and the decisions taken after their assessment; the conceptions of colleges’ quality, the processes of evaluation and assessment, the types of assessment, the place and the meaning of institutional assessment in the context of higher education assessment system, the links between internal and external assessment; the fundamentals of assessment. The master theses deal with the discussion of the European Standards for quality assurance in higher education. These standards in a number of European countries including Lithuania are under development and the common principles of European quality assurance in higher education have been analyzed. The experience in external institutional quality assessment of colleges have been summarized and the model of the process of external quality assessment of colleges have been provided. The model that has been analyzed consists of 5 main stages: 1) preparation for external assessment; 2) analysis and evaluation of self-assessment documents; 3) visit to the institution... [to full text]

Negotiation poses a unique challenge in the modern workplace which is likely to be especially difficult for socially anxious individuals. Previous research has shown that externally focused attention strategies are useful at alleviating social anxiety symptoms and in helping improve negotiation outcomes; however this intervention has never been examined amongst socially anxious negotiators. This study examined the effect of external- and self-focused attention manipulations on anxiety, perspective (observer-field), and monetary negotiation outcomes. Thirty-eight high social anxiety (HSA) and 52 low social anxiety (LSA) female participants completed a dyadic negotiation simulation with a partner. The external-focus manipulation was successful at increasing attention focus in the desired direction, while the self-focus manipulation was not and, thus, was discarded from subsequent analyses. Results demonstrated that externally focused attention resulted in significant decreases in state anxiety during the negotiation and a significant shift in perspective from observer to field, for participants in both the HSA and LSA groups. However, these changes did not translate into better objective negotiation performance, as measured by the total commission (i.e., money) earned. The implications of the results for social anxiety and the development of workplace intervention programs are discussed.

Regular physical activity can help prevent chronic conditions and it is positively linked to health-related quality of life (United States Department of Health and Human Services [USDHHS], 2000). Unfortunately, many older adults do not engage in leisure time activity (USDHHS, 2000); making it important to design and test physical activity interventions for this population. The purpose of this dissertation was to review the external validity of theory-based physical activity interventions and to examine the efficacy of a mail-based physical activity intervention. The review included 54 theory-based interventions and overall the studies focused on internal rather than external validity. The hypotheses of the experimental study were that the psychological mediators and physical activity participation would significantly increase among the treatment group as compared to the control group, and that the changes in the mediators would be related to the changes in activity levels. The intervention included 4 weekly stage-matched packages targeting population specific physical activity beliefs (Antikainen et al., 2009) and weekly phone calls to reassess stages of change. Physical activity participation, stages of change, and theory of planned behavior constructs were assessed at baseline and follow-up. Differences in activity levels and theory-based constructs were assessed with repeated measures mixed analysis of variance. Stage of change progression was examined with chi-square analysis. Measured variable path analysis was used to determine associations between the theory constructs, stages of change, and physical activity participation. The participants were 55 older adults, ages 54 to 96 years. Most of the participants were female, Black, and reported low levels of education and income. The treatment group reported statistically significantly greater physical activity after the intervention than the control group that reported lower levels of activity at follow-up. Although not statistically significant, there was a trend in SOC progression after the intervention in the treatment group. Finally, the integrated model was found to have a good fit at follow-up and perceived behavioral control emerged as a significant predictor of physical activity. This research provides important information for the design of physical activity interventions based upon the integrated framework for translation to community-based organizations.

In this thesis, I will discuss subject conceptions among social studies teachers who work in upper secondary schools. The aim of this study is to investigate and analyse subject conceptions among social studies teachers and their relationship to the teachers’ personal background. Subject conceptions can be expressed in both planned and realized teaching, which are analysed in this study. The questions posed are: What subject conceptions are expressed in the social studies teachers’ descriptions of their teaching? Are there any relationships between the teachers’ personal background and the subject conceptions they express? Which subject conceptions are manifested in written tests and exercises? This study consists of three empirical sub-studies. The first sub-study is based on a questionnaire with 60 social studies teachers in upper secondary schools in two counties in Sweden. The second sub-study is based on in-depth interviews with eight social studies teachers who expressed different subject conceptions in the questionnaire. The last sub-study is based on a document analysis of 28 written tests and examinations that were collected from the interviewed teachers. The theoretical framework of this study consists of structuration, class, gender and didactic theories. Some conclusions can be drawn from this study. There are different subject conceptions among the social studies teachers. I have found four typical subject conceptions, which I have called the fact-and-concept–focused, value-focused, analysis-focused and citizenship-focused subject conceptions. The study also shows that the teachers’ personal background has a relationship with their subject conceptions, to a certain degree. Gender and the combination of subjects in the teachers’ academic exams are related to the subject conceptions that the teachers express. Also, internal framing factors, like social background, political views and years in the profession, and external frame factors, like steering documents, textbooks, current news events and the students’ interests and needs, influence the teachers’ subject understanding to different extents. The study also shows that there are differences between the subject conceptions, which are shown in the teachers’ descriptions of their teachings and their assessment materials. The majority of the teachers in the study expressed the citizenship-focused subject conception in the questionnaire, while the written tests and examinations are dominated by fact-and-concept–focused and analysis-focused questions. One conclusion drawn from the empirical results is that code, classification and framing vary among the different conceptions of the subject social studies.

The impact of external debt on economic growth is a debatable issue between scholars since the onset of the debt crisis in 1980’s. This thesis examines whether external debt affects the economic growth of selected heavily indebted poor African countries through the debt overhang and debt crowding out effect. This is carried out by using data for eight heavily indebted poor African countries between 1991 to 2010.The result from estimation shows that external debt affects economic growth by the debt crowding out effect rather than debt overhang. Moreover, in an attempt to mark out debt servicing history, the thesis found the selected countries are not paying (servicing) more than 95% of their accumulated debt.

The black-white suicide paradox explored in the current study explores black women's notions of suicide. In its most basic form, a fundamental question of this project is why have black women's suicide rates remained consistently low? This project seeks to explore specific internal and external adaptations that black women have come to rely on for long term survival. A great deal of attention will be given to black women's perspectives of suicide inside and outside of the black community. This qualitative study by way of narratives provides insight into the entities that black women perceive to contribute to their virtually non-existent suicide rates. This approach is particularly appropriate for this study because black women's accounts on suicide will provide rich detailed data typically unseen in current suicide literature. In my work, I assume that black women's multifaceted oppressive conditions have compelled them to use subtle forms of resistance, i.e. coping mechanisms that act as protective barriers against suicide. This study also re-examines notions of social integration and religious beliefs in lessening chances of suicide among black women. Research findings were presented by way of four themes that emerged from the dominant narratives of twenty-two in-depth interviews. Respondents perceived family and communal obligations, faith based beliefs, a sense of long suffering, and declaration of strength to be the primary grounds for black women's low rates of suicide. Recurring themes were consistent despite the women's income or education levels. The study concludes that black women employ and perceive these strategies to be significant in coping or resisting trivial and significant stressors of life. Additionally, black women's perception of suicide as a weakness played a significant role in the way they defined themselves as well as the act. For literature on suicide, I engaged the works of Durkheim, Prudomme, Hendin, and Lester among others as a theoretical framework for this study.

No description available.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Thailand are very important to economic growth and considerably essential to generate employment as in many other developing countries. SMEs account for 99.5% of the overall enterprises in Thailand while their contribution to the overall employment account for around 76% of all jobs. However, SMEs growth rate is still at a low level. Hence, this is qualitative study of the external and internal factors hampering the growth of SMEs in Thailand. Regarding external factors, there are a number of obstacles constraining their growth such as access to finance, competition, corruption, barriers to trade and macroeconomic factors as amongst some of the most significant issues. In terms of internal factors, there are also important constrains hindering their growth, for instance, poor management competences, lack of skilled labour, deficiencies in marketing strategies, little efforts on R&D, lack of new technology and low awareness concerning CSR are identified as some of the most important obstacles.

This dissertation aims to problematize the concept (and proposed policy) of "debt sustainability", particularly in relation to those countries classified as "low-income", by attempting to map the logic behind what is presented as neutral, technical fact (i.e., "best practice") and seeing what work this logic does, i.e., what its effects are. Debt sustainability is not a free-floating concept, but one that is operationalized in policy. This means that the outcomes of employing a debt sustainability framework for low-income countries may have tangible consequences; in this way, and most importantly, debt sustainability may also have consequences regarding prospects for debt reliefand for the way countries and organizations make lending and borrowing decisions. The way the International Monetary Fund (IMF) conceptualizes and presents indebtedness, poverty, governance, and (sustainable) "development" dialectically reproduces a discourse around debt that both limits (depoliticizes) and opens possibilities for debt cancellation and fundamental change fundamental change in the IMF's role and function, in the Fund's relations with countries of the global south, and in the budgetary and other constraints those countries face in processes of "indebtedness" and "development". / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2005.