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Most studies of multinational organisations (MNE’s) have been focused on large mature corporations. Traditional literature explains that firms internationalise after a certain level of domestic maturity and wield a significant amount of economic power to withstand the threat of international competition (Oviatt, McDougall, 1993, p. 29)However, this premise has changed in recent years with the adoption of new legislation and technologies that allow firms to become established MNE’s much sooner, with many of these pursuing rapid internationalisation strategies.If the traditional notions of staged theory no longer hold true and new behavioural aspects are driving small businesses to internationalise, it is essential for researchers to gain insights into new firm development, survival and growth in the South African context. Firm growth is of particular interest where globalised SME’s are concerned. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

The aim of this thesis is to illustrate how the phenomenon of trade with hair from Indian women, can be regarded as a case of gendered commodification of human body parts. It is illustrated with the assistance of postcolonial scholar Appadurai (1986), Scheper-Hughes (2001) and Sharp (2000) theories on commodification. Also, feminist perspectives by Mohanty (1997) and Sharp (2000), as well as theories on hair’s cultural and religious meanings in India developed by Olivielle (1998) and Miller (1998), are moreover applied to show of how the trade can be seen as gendered. By using the method of qualitative text analysis, an extensive bank of material on the topic has been investigated and later analysed. The first main conclusion is that women’s hair can be seen as being commodified given that it has achieved an economic value, has been objectified (become a product) and reduced into different parts when it is shaved off in temples and later made into wigs and hair-extensions.  The second main conclusion is that the trade is gendered because women perform underpaid work in the processing of hair. Accordingly, Indian women’s hair has specific properties and is therefore more attractive to the market and gendered cultural and religious notions tied to women’s hair can possibly be important for the existence of the market with Indian women’s hair.

Even though abortion is legal, the implementation of access to safe abortion is extremely complex and depends on the socio-economic and political context. In Tunisia, abortion has been legal for 50 years, yet the country still struggles with implementing safe abortion into health care services. The main aim of this thesis is to examine what problems to abortion access women face in Tunisia. This is done through a qualitative content analysis of five Tunisian NGOs, focusing on what they present as the problems, but also what they present as the reasons and the solution to these issues. Using political culture and the conceptualisation of abortion stigma as theoretical framework, this study explores whether attitudes toward abortion in society is congruent with the liberal abortion law and policies, as a way of understanding how women can have problems accessing abortion. The findings are that according to NGOs, women have trouble getting abortions due to economical, organisational, ideological, and political reasons: The emergence of conservative forces, consequences of economic struggles, the lack of information, discrimination from health providers, and lack of attention from the state make abortion services in the public sector increasingly difficult to obtain. More than previous research, the NGOs touched upon intersectional vulnerability as a reason for increased difficulties for women and an issue that needed to be resolved. These results open up for future research on the viewpoint of NGOs, as well as the ‘access paradox’ of abortion implementation.

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Published Article / The Humanities, Social Sciences and the creative arts are somewhat marginalised within the broader conceptualisation of the South African Universities of Technology and this could lead to a paucity of engagement with the critical challenges facing them. Globalisation, for example, is taken as desirable and neutral and that culture and context are relatively unimportant to their ongoing development. The challenges of globalisation and culture are explored as a critique on the fundamental conceptualisation of the institution-type and as a way of arguing for a more critical role for the Humanities, Social Sciences and the Creative Arts.

The debate of whether to standardise or to custom-tailor marketing strategies and tactics in international markets has continued to trouble academics and practitioners alike and has produced many and varied opinions. Supporters of global standardisation argue that a single marketing strategy and a standardised marketing mix (tactics) should be used in international markets to minimise total costs and promote a global corporate image. In contrast, advocates of international adaptation debate that marketing in overseas markets should be adapted to fit the unique dimensions of each local market. Opposing the two polarised positions, literature quoting practical evidence suggests that companies make contingency choices which relate to key determinants in each circumstance. This doctoral research focuses on the tactical level. It hypothesises that multinational companies' tactical behaviour is integrated as a result of several reasons `pulling' it towards the one or the other side of the continuum. Equally, it proposes that such behaviour and the importance of reasons `pulling' it, could be significantly different based on nine factors. Consequently, this research seeks to discover the unique way in which the reasons and factors interact with international marketing tactics in any given `country and company situation'. A review of the literature (chapters two and three) allowed the development of a framework (chapter three) that presents the main perspectives of the different schools of thought towards the processeso f adaptation,s tandardisationa nd integration of marketing tactics. Its formulation made possible two main stages in this research: it firstly allowed the researcher to formulate the secondary hypotheses, and secondly it permitted the design of a questionnaire to test these hypotheses and carry out the necessary empirical research and collection of primary data. Based on the Positivist philosophy, the research design (chapter four) involved a questionnaire survey on the 500 biggest UK multinational companies across five industrial sectors. The analysis (chapters five and six) was mainly quantitative and was undertaken with S. P. S. S. and Excel statistical packages. It utilised chi-square (x2) and analysis of variance (ANOVA) statistical tests. Research results identified that UK multinational companies do not solely utilise adaptation or standardisation across their marketing mix elements. When facing the dilemma of implementing marketing tactics, the researched UK multinational companies were found to integrate the processes of adaptation and standardisation. Both processes co-exist and multinational companies are striking to find a balance. This research identified that the level of integration is dependent upon a consideration of the relationship between the reasons and elements identified, and an understanding of how these are affected by a number of factors. Followed the results of the analysis, this thesis proposes a new modelling approach, the AdaptStand Process (chapter seven), which outlines different steps to be undertaken by multinational companies towards identifying the degree of integration across the marketing mix elements. Consequently, this thesis aims to enlarge the existing body of knowledge in the subject area and guide marketing directors acid managers in deciding on marketing tactics when competing in the international marketing arena.

My novel A Watermelon, A Fish and a Bible was published in April 2010 by Quercus in the UK, who have rights to the commonwealth countries. It has also been translated into three other languages and has been very well received in Greece and Cyprus. I believe that my novel and the critical piece make an original contribution to the field. After conducting much research I discovered that the literature concerning Cypriot politics is either nationalistic or deals directly with the divide of the land or its inhabitants. My novel, however, is set during the first eight days of the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus and deals not only with the immediate effect of this invasion on the small town of Kyrenia but also with the consequences of Cypriot nationalism in the lives of the people. In many ways the novel is about the emergence of globalisation as described by Edward Said in Culture and Imperialism. It shows the “remorselessly selfish and narrow interests”1 that lead to both “mass destructiveness,”2 in the form of the invasion in this case, and personal destructiveness, in the form of the failed relationships of the characters in my novel. The first part of my research explores the reactions of the Orthodox Cypriot during British administration in the 1950s and considers reasons for these reactions, examining whether the notion of post-colonialism can be applied to Cyprus. In the second part, I take a psychological approach and consider archetypal patterns in the structure of the 1950s revolt against British administration. Finally, I will explore some post-invasion texts and their relevance to the changing identity politics of the Orthodox Cypriot community and then look at how this exploration influenced my novel. My novel A Watermelon, a Fish and a Bible can be found on Amazon.co.uk