There is intensive research in international business studies exploring strategic decisions relating to the choice of entry mode. As a frontier issue the choice of entry mode has been widely recognised as being one of the critical decisions in a firm's internationalisation. However, most of the research primarily focuses upon Western multi-national enterprises (MNEs) rather than small-medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Recently, interest in the international business activities of SMEs has been increasing. Nevertheless, little has been done in light of the choice of entry mode in the SME sector, especially for SMEs from developing countries. This study explored how Chinese SME managers make their strategic market entry choices when entering the UK to address the issue of whether Western MNEs' foreign investment theories are applicable to Asian SMEs. The decision making of entry mode choices involves complicated social processes such as social relationships both in and outside the firm. This research takes a social constructionist paradigm, trying to understand and interpret the Chinese SMEs decision maker's unique experiences, perceived values and embedded Chinese culture that can have great impact on their choice of entry modes. Cohering with this philosophical stance, 10 Chinese SMEs managers in the North East of the England were involved in qualitative interviews and data was analysed through template analysis. The findings of this thesis offer a more holistic picture of SME managers' decision making in terms of their entry mode choices. This study is inconsistent with the more classic motives of firms' internationalisation, such as securing raw materials and seeking low-cost labour as it reveals 2 previously unrecognised motives of Chinese SMEs' internationalisation, namely `seeking entrepreneurial freedom' and 'building their own international teams'. Moreover, 4 entry modes were used by the Chinese SMEs' entering the North East of England markets, including direct exporting, joint venture and wholly-owned subsidiary and internet entry mode. Interestingly, the joint venture mode used by Chinese SMEs in this study is operationally different from traditional joint ventures. Furthermore, a number of influencing factors emerged from the Chinese SME managers' accounts: firm-specific factors, strategy-factors, product-specific factors, networks and social culture factors and the decision maker's personal characteristics. In drawing upon their motives, influencing factors, and entry modes a 3-stage decision making process was discovered which combined rational and cybernetic strategic approaches that have been adopted by Chinese SMEs managers at different levels. Contributively, this study offers alternative understandings of the choice of entry mode. By drawing upon experiences of Chinese SME managers it extends the foreign investment theories based on Western-MNEs and offers a contribution to practice grounded in an Asian-SME context. Significantly, this thesis develops a practice-based framework by integrating factors into the whole decision making process, providing practical guidance for SME managers to inform their entry mode choices.

This study investigates the characteristics of first line managers (FLMs) required to manage absence 'effectively' within Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council. An important theoretical contribution to knowledge is made by focusing specifically on the role and impact of FLMs which is an issue that has previously been identified as being important, but has not been researched specifically. A wide range of literature was explored from the fields of health management, psychology and business management to present a clear picture of the key issues involved in absence management. Discussions are provided on personal, organisational and group level characteristics which have been found to have an association with levels of employee absence, before looking at best practice in the management interventions that can be used. Five major hypotheses were generated from the literature and were further broken down into 21 testable sub-hypotheses. A positivist approach was taken using a quantitative methodology in order to meet the objectives of this study. This consisted of a range of research methods including a survey to FLMs, policy analysis and analysis of internal organisational documents. Using this variety of methods a clear picture of existing practices was developed and then analysed. This extensive methodological approach makes an interesting contribution to this research field and is in response to some earlier criticisms of research designs in this area. The survey results show multiple statistically significant relationships between variables and levels of absence including; the age of the FLMs; the division (p=0.01) and departments (p=0.02) in which the FLMs work, and their levels of knowledge of the organisation's absence management policy and procedures (p= 0.048). This allowed the rejection of the null hypotheses and states that there is an association between these variables and levels of absence of the FLMs' employees. However, there are also other interesting results that are of high practical significance despite the results not being statistically significant. This includes looking at relationships between variables such as career history and relationships with other stakeholders, when correlated with the absence levels of the FLMs' employees. The main results from the other research methods utilised in this study demonstrate that there is some ambiguity over responsibilities for managing absence and that absence management is not fully integrated into associated HR policies. Despite attempts to implement best practice interventions, there remain some indications of differences between rhetoric and reality. Recommendations for the organisation include the need to include supplementary details in their absence management policy and to condense the seven existing documents into one comprehensive policy guide. In addition the organisation needs to support their FLMs so that they understand exactly what their role in absence management entails and how and when they should work in partnership with other stakeholders.

This work constructs a bridge across the "knowing-doing gap" of international staff exchange: the gap between strategy formulation and its execution within the constraints of a post-1992 university business school in the UK. It goes beyond the common, well-intentioned and yet vague statements involving the "encouragement" of international staff exchange to propose a model of execution through strategic entrepreneurship. The promotion of international staff mobility is a founding principle of the "Bologna Process", designed to create a converged system of higher education across Europe. Many UK "new" (ie post-1992) universities are engaged in the development of internationalisation strategies which include staff exchange. Meanwhile, the failure to execute strategy is increasingly acknowledged as a major problem in organisational performance. Using a first-, second and third-person Insider Action Research (AR) approach, the author initiated, planned, organised and implemented an international staff exchange between universities in the UK and France. Data generated were subjected to a double process of analysis in order to construct the new model. A policy of "subjectivity with transparency" and transcontextual credibility throughout enables the reader to judge transferability. Duality is the nature of this "bridge" and the simplistic transplant of the expatriation policies of commercial organisations is avoided. Concepts from the theoretical literature in three domains - strategic management and entrepreneurship in higher education, internationalisation of higher education and strategy execution through strategic entrepreneurship - are combined with the research analysis to propose that "strategic entrepreneurs" can execute the riskier elements of an internationalisation strategy, such as staff exchange. Members of the creative class, strategic entrepreneurs are attracted and motivated by the foundation of a diverse environment and entrepreneurial culture promoted by a university's values-driven, holistic approach to internationalisation. Their autonomous strategic behaviour must be facilitated by an execution-focussed organisational architecture. In a university, the overall approach to staff exchange should combine central and local (school-based) functions and resource both to develop strategic initiatives and to exploit tactical opportunities. This work broadens AR from education into strategic management, specifically linking the areas of strategic execution and strategic entrepreneurship.

The aim of the research was to investigate whether a construct-oriented approach to biodata modelling provides incremental validity over and above other instruments currently employed in the selection of managers. This aim was explored through the development of construct oriented biodata analogues of the constructs of critical thinking ability, extroversion and neuroticism. These models were developed on a pilot sample of 'potential managerial candidates'. The pilot analogue models demonstrated impressive levels of construct validity and the biodata instrument was then validated in a concurrent study based upon managerial job incumbents. Supervisor ratings of performance and a career progress variable provided subjective and objective indicators of managerial performance. Although the psychological constructs of critical thinking ability, extroversion, and neuroticism did not significantly predict either outcome, further analysis of supervisor ratings revealed that perceived conscientiousness and energy contribute much of the variance associated with overall performance ratings, suggesting the likelihood of halo error in the ratings and offering grounds for a social psychological explanation of the results relating to this criterion. Regression analyses revealed that biodata analogue models of critical thinking ability, extroversion and neuroticism demonstrate incremental validity of construct-oriented biodata analogue models over traditional psychometric measures of these constructs. Construct- oriented biographical life history analogues may add considerable utility when used in the pre-selection stage of managerial recruitment and selection.

This thesis examines the transfer of HR practices in the Nigerian subsidiaries of MNCs from emerging countries. It aimed to address a number of gaps identified from the literature, especially as there is a dearth of study in this area in developing countries in contrast to developed countries. Specifically, the study attempts to shed light on the nature of the HR practices, the process of the transfer of HR practices, the factors that influence the transfer process and the role of HR in the transfer process. The study utilised 48 semi-structured interviews conducted between November 2012 and March 2015 in the Nigerian subsidiary of the four case companies. The data was predominantly gathered using an in-depth semi-structured interview of HR managers and specialists, line managers of other functional departments, senior managers and others who are involved with people-related issues on the nature of HRM policies applied in subsidiaries of MNCs from emerging economies and their approach to the management of their human resources in overseas subsidiaries. Generally, the findings from this study reveal that these MNC case companies display more similarities than differences. In particular, similarities were found to be the increasing emphasis on training and development, which was used to develop employees extensively, implementing standard appraisal systems which are more target-oriented and standardised communication. However, differences existed in the areas of compensation and benefits, and recruitment and selection. Additionally, expatriates are appointed in key positions and are used to facilitate the transfer of these practices. Furthermore, similarities and differences are influenced by a number of factors. Overall, the study’s findings contribute to knowledge in several ways. First, they extend knowledge on the convergence debate and show that there is convergence among EMNCs themselves and with western MNCs, and this convergence is with regards to the adoption of Anglo-Saxon practices that are known to be globally accepted standard practices. The study also contributes to the Upper Echelon Theory in that it confirms that the education and experience of top and senior managers affects the nature of HR practices adopted. This study can be extended into other contexts. Secondly, it contributes to knowledge on the approaches adopted by the MNCs and the findings reveal that various IHRM approaches could be used depending on the policy or practice that is considered of “strategic importance”. It reveals that an exportive approach was adopted by the parent companies.

This study directly responds to a call for theoretical and methodological expansion of our understanding of expatriate workers as a relational dynamic, embedded in a multi-layered and multifaceted country specific context (Al Ariss, Koall, Ozbilgin and Suutari, 2012) by exploring the experiences of western women self-initiated expatriates working in the United Arab Emirates. Extant research in the international management literature in female expatriation identified that western expatriate women working in Japan were primarily perceived as foreign women (a gaijin) by their Japanese colleagues (Adler, 1987). This construction was shown to allow these women to occupy a different, more advantageous social location within Japanese organisations with more degrees of freedom and less gender-based discrimination in comparison to Japanese women; conceptually referred to as constituting a ‘Third Gender’ (Adler, 1987). This positive social construction contributed to the efficacy of female expatriation strategies. Drawing upon the intersectionality literature, specifically from feminist and ethnic theorising, the thesis develops a gender with ethnicity (Broadbridge and Simpson, 2011:473) informed intersectional theoretical lens to explore the research question “How do western women self-initiated expatriates understand their experiences in the United Arab Emirates?” The theoretical potential of an intersectional studies lens to female expatriation is developed through the conceptual construction of ‘self-initiated expatriate women’ on the interconnecting boundaries between expatriation and migration studies. Purposeful sampling was used to collect accounts from ten expatriate women through semi structured interviews conducted in 2007-09. Drawing upon discourse and thematic coding enabled interpretations of the interplay between how expatriate women’s subjectivities are constructed through relational interaction and discourses at the micro, meso and macro level to explore their experiences in the UAE. This thesis offers an intersectional lens to expatriation studies as a dynamic theoretical lens through which rich multilevel relational contextual studies of women self-initiated expatriates are theorised and connect to new understandings of international mobility in international management and female expatriation studies. Through a fusion of the intersectional lens and expatriation literatures, in-depth interpretations are offered which identify new insights into, and surface some of the discourses contributing to the paradoxical relationship between privilege and marginalisation and problematising the specificities of ‘whiteness’. It offers three discourses risk, respect and complex ethnicity to include a country in the Middle East. Finally, this research process offers insights into the temporal, contextual and relationally contingent nature of intersectionality when exploring experiences of women in management studies.