At the top of the hierarchy, construction project managers emphasise that safety is a key priority; and at its bottom, front-­line workers do not turn up to work to get hurt. Yet, somewhere within the organisation it goes wrong, as accidents still occur. Research has suggested that unsafe acts contribute to over 80% of accidents, and hence reducing or eliminating unsafe acts should take a significant step forward to improving construction safety. While it has been recognised that the vast majority of accidents are still caused by unsafe behaviour, research has shown that organisational and cultural factors considerably affect unsafe work behaviour. This study aims to provide insights on unsafe acts that were committed by construction mangers and operatives; as well as providing insights on the effects a multinational workforce has on unsafe behaviours. Hence, the content within this thesis has purely focused on ‘unsafety’ rather than safe practices, and there were many good safety practices on the QC (Queensferry Crossing). It is the premise that by concentrating on ‘unsafety’, theoretical and practical insights can be gathered for safety improvements in the construction industry. This investigation explores this problem on a large multinational construction project in the UK, the QC. The contractors of the QC, Dragados of Spain, Hochtief of Germany, Morrison of the UK and American Bridge, represent Forth Crossing Bridge Constructors (FCBC). Adopting an interpretive paradigm, this study used a qualitative approach through ethnographic methods. A moderate participant observer approach was implemented; where the researcher adopted a role as a member of the H&S department and frequented the research setting between one and three times a week for almost three years. The contribution of this research is the in-­depth ethnographic insights into the complexity of unsafe acts. The insights revealed that: there was a blame culture, creating an environment that was very difficult to learn from; that some cost-­saving strategies appeared to increase safety risks; some H&S rules were viewed as excessive and inflexible by construction workers, and therefore their were times when workers used their own judgement about when to follow the rules; there were communication barriers with migrant workers, and the one in six translator policy used in an attempt to overcome this was far from ideal; and that the different ways of working that foreign subcontractors had meant they were difficult to manage, monitor and adjust. The findings revealed that there were two main underlying themes that were influential in the undertaking of unsafe acts: firstly, the perceived compensation culture and secondly, tight financial budgets. The fear of compensation claims appeared to prompt the H&S rules that were viewed as excessive, and took away ‘common sense’ from some procedures. The operatives desired more of a common sense approach, and felt at times they needed to break the rules in order to complete the job. The fear of claims also appeared to lead to the unconscious adoption of a ‘Person approach’ perspective, which concentrates on individual error and blame, and as far as possible uncouples organisational responsibility from an individual’s unsafe acts. This approach is inextricably linked to a blame culture, where accidents were under-­reported, misreported and reported late. The second theme was tight financial budgets. Previous research has explained that the competitive tendering process in the industry can discourage contractors from factoring into bids the cost of performing the work safely. In this research study, there appeared to be additional risks taken for schedule or cost reasons. Directors and senior managers acknowledged there was significant pressure for production, construction site managers believed the budget they were working with was too tight, and construction operatives explained that a phrase used on site was ‘just get it done’. To cope with production pressure construction site managers used undercover and informal reward schemes, referred to as ‘Vegas Time’ in this study. These schemes strongly incentivise production, potentially at the cost of safety. Ethnographic insights also revealed the areas where cost saving strategies appeared to increase safety risks, such as temporary designs, labour shortages, machinery and equipment. One of the most obvious cost-­saving strategies was to employ a cheap multinational workforce. However this led to many challenges with communication and different work practices, which was also perceived as an additional safety risk. The theoretical implications of this research work is that to avoid additional safety risks from occurring due to cost-­saving strategies, occupational health and safety considerations should be planned and priced for in more detail during the tender stage. Also, the eradication or reduction of the perceived compensation culture would increase the likelihood of adopting the System perspective to unsafe acts, rather than a Person approach, which is inextricably linked to a blame culture.

This thesis explores knowledge transfer between firms in multinational organisations. The subject of knowledge transfer is undisputedly important because knowledge is the essence of competitive advantage. In addition, multinational organisations are believed to be more effective at facilitating inter-firm knowledge transfer. The theoretical framework of this thesis is based on four constructs of knowledge transfer: motivation to transfer knowledge; richness of communication channels; absorptive capacity and organisational context. The research uses both quantitative and qualitative methods to explore these constructs. The research confirms the positive relationship between these constructs. Importantly, it highlights three knowledge transfer levels namely: pooling; assimilation; application and integration of knowledge into the multinational organisation. The research shows that knowledge must move through each of these levels if the focus is knowledge creation, these levels not to be treated as isolated but in fact overlapping. The research also found that high levels of espoused motivation are not always supported by proactive knowledge transfer behaviours. It demonstrated that at a certain level of knowledge transfer encouragement becomes less important than other motivational factors. Importantly, the multinational needs to manage knowledge transfer. To do this, the nature of knowledge must be considered and there needs to be an understanding that ad hoc knowledge transfer patterns can inhibit knowledge being transferred to where it may be needed. The research highlights how important it is for multinational inter-firm knowledge transfer to begin with the individual and then move to the organisation. The individual needs to have the necessary attitudes and ability to understand the benefits. Also, they need to understand that knowledge is not transferred through acceptance alone, but needs to be implemented. This means the multinational must provide strategic direction and structure that facilitates the movement of knowledge across the multinational organisation. Knowledge transfer routines must be managed to allow knowledge to move to where it can create unique knowledge because it is this unique knowledge that can be a strategic benefit to the organisation.

This thesis argues that one type of multinational entity – the multinational bank – poses particularly significant challenges to the international tax regime in terms of its current profit allocation rules. Multinational banks are a unique subset of multinational entities, and as a consequence of their unique traits, the traditional international tax regime foes not yield an optimal interjurisdictional allocation of taxing rights. The opportunity for tax minimisation, achievable because of the unique traits, and realised through exploitation of the traditional source and transfer pricing regime, results in a jurisdictional distribution of taxing rights which does not reflect economic reality. There are two distinct ways in which the traditional international tax regime fails to reflect economic activity. The first way that economic activity may not be reflected in the distribution of the taxing rights to income from multinational banking is through the application of traditional source rules. The traditional sources rules allocate income where transactions are completed rather than where the intermediation services are arranged. As a result of their unique commercial role as financial intermediaries, by separating intermediary economic activity from legal transactions with third parties, multinational banks may distort the true location of the activity giving rise to income. The second way in which the traditional tax regime may fail to reflect economic activity is through the traditional transfer pricing regime requiring related or internal transaction to be undertaken at an arm’s length price. The arm’s length pricing requirement is theoretically deficient in its failure to recognise the highly integrated nature of multinational banking. In practice, the arm’s length pricing requirement is also difficult, if not impossible, to apply to multinational banks because of the requirement of comparability. The difficulties associated with the current model have resulted in a subtle move by multinational banks towards global formulary apportionment. This thesis concludes that, for the international taxation of multinational banks, the current source regime should be replaced with a system that allocates profits for tax purposes on the basis of income source, with source determined using a unitary taxation or global formulary apportionment system. It is argued that global formulary apportionment is a theoretically superior model that provides both jurisdiction to tax and allocated profits on the basis of the economic activity that generates the income.

<p>Setting strategies for an organisation is full of complexities (which strategy or strategic process to use) and these complexities arise from the ambiguous and non-routine processes. This is so because, strategy development is about the future and this future is unknown, as the paths companies follow are dynamic. Due to these complexities, managers tend to embark on knowledge gain through competencies in the management of companies. In order for future managers who have not had organisational experience to understand how strategic management is in real company situation, a case study on the types of market growth strategies and strategy development process in a multinational company is done in this thesis. How these strategies implemented affects market share is also an elaborate part of this study</p><p>This study was done as a case study in Komatsu Forest AB; a multinational company that manufactures forestry machines. In this light, the study sets to identify the market growth strategies implemented by this company, its strategy development process and how the strategies have affected its market share.</p><p>As basis for an empirical research process, a theoretical framework was compiled from existing literatures on market growth strategies and strategy development process, where the strategies were considered both at the business level and corporate level. A deduction research approach was appropriate for the study whereby qualitative empirical data was collected through semi-structured face-to-face interviews. The interviews were conducted with two employees of the company (Market analyst and the spokesman for the company) who were considered to be knowledgeable in the subject area. This allowed a thorough understanding of particular issues pertaining to the company.</p><p>The analysis of the empirical findings showed that this company implements acquisition, partnership/networks and diversification at the corporate level and high pricing, differentiation at the business level as its market growth strategies. This company develops these strategies through a planned process; meaning that strategies are intended and these strategies have a positive impact on the company as its overall market situation has increased. This study offer some contributions for this company on how some strategic adjustments can be made in order to improve the current market situation and some recommendations for its management in better decision making.</p>

<p>The purpose of this study is to examine the relevant literatures about coordination mechanisms as well as study the use of coordination mechanisms by MNCs. Since many scholars have presented various models and claimed that their ideas are useful for MNCs and   subsidiary. This is due to getting a better understanding of how coordination works and what problems may occur.</p>

<p>In times of rapid growth, both in terms of economic development and globalization, an increasing number of firms extend their businesses abroad. A subsequent challenge of this development is the managerial implications of cross-cultural management. This study employs a qualitative approach in a single case study of Swedish company and its subsidiary in China. After reviewing the previous studies, the authors summarize the differences of management style, staff behaviors and communication system in different culture context and find the barriers of cross cultural communication in multinational firms. The findings of this study indicate that the barriers of communication come from the national culture’s influence on the work place and behaviors of people with different identity. Moreover, culture also influences people’s way of thinking and behaving and result in different understandings toward vision and purposes of firms.</p>

<p>This research paper reviews the topic of Planning Integrated Advertising Campaigns – Multinational enterprises acting on national markets. It examines the relevant theoretical background, the country of Sweden and a concrete business case of the multinational enterprise Dr. Oetker and its activities on the Swedish market. After an introduction, the first section of this work outlines the theoretical framework which is a necessary base for the research topic. Resultant, two models are developed: one regarding campaign phases and another concerning influences on national environments. These frame the theoretical findings in a concentrated form. In the following section, the empirical findings regarding the country of Sweden and the investigated company Dr. Oetker are depicted. The focus lies on Dr. Oetker’s company structure and the consequential influence on the manner of advertising and on the operations on the Swedish market. The analysis reveals information which can be split into two parts. Initially the empirical findings are evaluated based on the theoretical framework. Subsequently, a phase model which combines the two previous models with the empirical findings is developed. Its objective is to guide multinational enterprises through the planning process for successful national advertising campaigns. After this thorough analysis, a conclusion and recommendations for further theoretical and practical studies are given.</p>

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The purpose of this study is to examine the relevant literatures about coordination mechanisms as well as study the use of coordination mechanisms by MNCs. Since many scholars have presented various models and claimed that their ideas are useful for MNCs and   subsidiary. This is due to getting a better understanding of how coordination works and what problems may occur.

In times of rapid growth, both in terms of economic development and globalization, an increasing number of firms extend their businesses abroad. A subsequent challenge of this development is the managerial implications of cross-cultural management. This study employs a qualitative approach in a single case study of Swedish company and its subsidiary in China. After reviewing the previous studies, the authors summarize the differences of management style, staff behaviors and communication system in different culture context and find the barriers of cross cultural communication in multinational firms. The findings of this study indicate that the barriers of communication come from the national culture’s influence on the work place and behaviors of people with different identity. Moreover, culture also influences people’s way of thinking and behaving and result in different understandings toward vision and purposes of firms.