Glasgow Theses Service

    Domestic and international performance of UK SMEs: resources and market learning effects

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    This thesis examines jointly the domestic and international market activities of United Kingdom (UK) small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The study seeks to extend the foundational arguments of international business and international entrepreneurship on differences between domestic and international market activities. It is shown that despite its foundational nature, this theme has received limited and fragmentary research attention. Moreover, none of the theme-related studies identified had applied the resource-based view (RBV) to explain performance, despite the fact that performance is a construct of fundamental research interest and the RBV largely guides management inquiry into the performance determinants. Drawing on the RBV, this research seeks to make a unique contribution towards the holistic understanding of firm performance by uncovering the effects of domestic and international firm resources and market learning on both domestic and international performance. This research pursues a positivist and mixed-method approach, combining qualitative case studies and a large-scale quantitative survey on UK SMEs. The qualitative research phase consists of six case studies, whereas the quantitative phase is based upon a sample of 307 SMEs. The statistical technique of linear multiple regression analysis is employed to analyse this sample and discover whether the hypotheses of this research are supported. The quantitative phase is central and the qualitative phase aims at pre-understanding and facilitating the research process. Hence, the case study research assists the hypothesis development and the interpretation of the survey findings in retrospect. The findings of this research have significant implications for theory and practice. Firstly, domestic and international resources and market learning are found to influence positively domestic and international performance, respectively. A valuable finding for future research on firm market learning processes is that these resources effects seem to be much stronger than the respective market learning ones. Secondly, international resources are found to have a lesser impact on domestic SME performance compared to the effects of domestic resources on domestic performance. Respectively, domestic resources are indicated to have a lesser impact on international performance. Conversely, the equivalent effects of market learning are not established. Lastly, it is intriguing that: a. a positive relationship between domestic resources and international performance is not supported; and b. a negative relationship between international resources and domestic performance is partially supported. These contributions provide a fuller understanding of the complex relationship between domestic and international market activities, and should stimulate further research on this important theme

    Domestic and international performance of UK SMEs: resources and market learning effects

    Get PDF
    This thesis examines jointly the domestic and international market activities of United Kingdom (UK) small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The study seeks to extend the foundational arguments of international business and international entrepreneurship on differences between domestic and international market activities. It is shown that despite its foundational nature, this theme has received limited and fragmentary research attention. Moreover, none of the theme-related studies identified had applied the resource-based view (RBV) to explain performance, despite the fact that performance is a construct of fundamental research interest and the RBV largely guides management inquiry into the performance determinants. Drawing on the RBV, this research seeks to make a unique contribution towards the holistic understanding of firm performance by uncovering the effects of domestic and international firm resources and market learning on both domestic and international performance. This research pursues a positivist and mixed-method approach, combining qualitative case studies and a large-scale quantitative survey on UK SMEs. The qualitative research phase consists of six case studies, whereas the quantitative phase is based upon a sample of 307 SMEs. The statistical technique of linear multiple regression analysis is employed to analyse this sample and discover whether the hypotheses of this research are supported. The quantitative phase is central and the qualitative phase aims at pre-understanding and facilitating the research process. Hence, the case study research assists the hypothesis development and the interpretation of the survey findings in retrospect. The findings of this research have significant implications for theory and practice. Firstly, domestic and international resources and market learning are found to influence positively domestic and international performance, respectively. A valuable finding for future research on firm market learning processes is that these resources effects seem to be much stronger than the respective market learning ones. Secondly, international resources are found to have a lesser impact on domestic SME performance compared to the effects of domestic resources on domestic performance. Respectively, domestic resources are indicated to have a lesser impact on international performance. Conversely, the equivalent effects of market learning are not established. Lastly, it is intriguing that: a. a positive relationship between domestic resources and international performance is not supported; and b. a negative relationship between international resources and domestic performance is partially supported. These contributions provide a fuller understanding of the complex relationship between domestic and international market activities, and should stimulate further research on this important theme

    A discursive analysis of organizational age inequality and older worker identity

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    This thesis argues that whilst a critical mass of age and employment literature is developing, research has centred on the work/non-work interface, or focussed on the experience of ‘older workers’ as classified through chronological markers. As a result, it has overlooked how the terms themselves that are used within policy, academia and organizations to conceptualise and refer to age inequality are interrelated and shape our understanding of this phenomenon. In order to further investigate how language and power affect the reproduction of organizational age inequality, this study takes a discursive approach to examine ‘ageism’, ‘age discrimination’ and ‘older worker’ as socially constructed phenomena. The discursive approach develops the work of Pierre Bourdieu to argue that whilst action may be shaped and understood through larger collective ideological processes, power and domination are never absolute, since the constitution of the individual is created through the interaction between the self and social in different spaces and at different times. Thus, in order to understand the reproduction of age inequalities, one must not only consider what ideological discourses are drawn upon and the strategies or techniques used to legitimize them, but also analyze the relationship between these constructions and how they are related to an individual’s own identity work. Using data collected from 33 interviews with human resource managers, the findings show that whilst managers discuss their own organizations as upholding age diversity, their interpretation of what constitutes ageism and age discrimination allows for a high degree of variability in their practices. By negotiating between the margins of what constitutes equal and unequal practice, a number of ideas can be justified which may equally be construed as discriminatory. These discourses are then analysed in relation to their own ageing identity work, where the ‘older worker’ is constructed through a complex negotiation between the reproduction of an ‘ideal type’ and the individual’s own ageing identity project

    Roman temporary camps in Britain

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    The thesis draws together for the first time in print a comprehensive list of Roman temporary camps in Britain, drawn from published and archival sources. This material is presented as a corpus at the end of the volume. Following the introductory chapter, which outlines the scope of the work, the history of the development of study into the subject is reviewed in detail, examining the contributions made by both terrestrial and aerial archaeologists. Thereafter the evidence provided by the classical sources is examined and an attempt is made to trace the origins and subsequent development of the Roman military camp. The issue of definition forms the subject of the next section and it is argued that greater clarity than exists at present is required to allow these sites to be adequately addressed. This leads to a statement of the current state of knowledge in the subject, with a review of the central themes and arguments, and it is proposed that the role of terrestrial archaeology, and in particular excavation, has become unfairly undervalued. To support this contention a close study of the evidence provided by excavation is undertaken, leading to a call for renewed efforts through this medium, as a means of both supplementing and complementing the information obtained through the medium of aerial reconnaissance. Three case studies are then presented, utilising the methodological approaches championed in the preceding chapter. The thesis culminates in a critique of the existing knowledge base which concludes that while healthy, the subject is capable of significant advances of knowledge, some of which may best be achieved by recourse to a more balanced approach using all applications available to the discipline

    Influences on the harmonisation of accounting and disclosure in Cameroon

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    Pressures for the harmonisation of accounting practice in Cameroon arose out of UDEAC Acts which had already been incorporated into Cameroon law and required all companies in the Anglophone and Francophone provinces of the country to adopt the OCAM Plan, a variant of the continental European uniform accounting systems. The aim of this study is threefold: (i) to assess whether or not the characteristic features of the OCAM Plan are compatible with indigenous cultural values; (ii) to investigate the implementation problems associated with the OCAM Plan; and (iii) an inquiry into the factors which affect compliance with the Plan's extensive mandatory disclosures by domestic and transnational companies. The research design involved some degree of triangulation - i.e. both qualitative (case study) and positivist (questionnaire survey) modes of inquiry were used to study the same problem. The findings of the case studies and questionnaire survey indicate a broad dichotomy between the accounting values of the Anglophones on the one hand and those of the Francophones on the other. These results led to the conclusion that, by and large, the advantages or disadvantages of the OCAM Plan are not absolute as suggested in the literature. Rather, the way in which individuals of different backgrounds perceive its pros and cons seem largely dependent on their own accounting sub-culture values. Overall, the results indicate that the design of the Plan is more positively in tune with the accounting values of the French/Francophone Cameroonian groups than those of their Anglo-American/Anglophone Cameroonian counterparts. Whilst this appears inconsistent with the linkage between accounting and societal values postulated by Gray (1988) and the cultural determinism models enunciated by some scholars (e.g. Perera, 1989; Belkaoui, 1990; Belkaoui and Picur, 1991), the mismatch was explained in terms of some ecological and institutional influences within a cybernetic paradigm. (Now unrestricted

    Validation of first pass magnetic resonance myocardial perfusion imaging using fractional flow reserve

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    Background - Magnetic Resonance Myocardial Perfusion Imaging (MRMPI) has been used for the detection of reversible myocardial ischaemia in humans since the early 1990’s. This non-invasive method of diagnosing reversible myocardial ischaemia has a number of advantages over the other more commonly used non-invasive tests such as ETT, stress echocardiography and radionuclide single photon emission computerised tomography (SPECT). There is no need to perform physical exercise, no image orientation constraints, excellent spatial and temporal resolution, no photon scatter or attenuation artefacts and no exposure to ionising radiation. The use of MRMPI for the detection of reversible myocardial ischaemia has been extensively investigated in the past using other non-invasive tests as the gold standard namely PET and SPECT. Invasive comparisons have been made with visual coronary angiography and quantitative coronary angiography (QCA). This previous work has been summarised in a meta-analysis which estimated the sensitivity and specificity to be 84% and 85% respectively. The majority of previous studies have used QCA or visual estimation of stenosis severity to determine the diameter of stenosis (DS). This however has been shown to correlate poorly with the functional significance of disease within a coronary artery. Prior to the commencement of this study no comparison had been made with the invasive gold standard of FFR. This is measured using a coronary pressure wire at the time of coronary angiography and is regarded by many cardiologists to be the current invasive gold standard for determining if coronary artery disease (CAD) is physiologically significant. We therefore undertook the present study to determine the true accuracy of MRMPI for the diagnosis of physiologically significant CAD. We also assessed the ability of MRMPI to detect isolated microcirculatory disease as determined by thermodilution derived CFR. Our other aims included an analysis of troponin release following PCI and its relation to QCA, pressure wire data and the occurrence of new late gadolinium enhancement (LGE). New LGE post CABG was also quantified and compared with that encountered post-PCI. Methods - One hundred and three patients with chest pain were referred for coronary angiography and underwent MRMPI in the week prior to the angiogram. This was performed on a Siemens Sonata 1.5Tesla scanner (Erlangen, Germany). Scanning commenced with localisers and cine long and short axis scans (TrueFISP sequence) to provide left ventricular mass, volume and ejection fraction data. This was followed by perfusion imaging of 3 short axis slices using a turboFLASH sequence (TI 90ms, TE 0.99ms, TR 173ms, Flip Angle 8 degrees, Matrix 80 x 128). Thereafter long and short axis slices were acquired for the detection of LGE (turboFLASH). Maximal hyperaemia was achieved using intravenous adenosine (140µg/kg/min). The first pass bolus contained 0.1mmol/kg of gadolinium (Omniscan, Amersham Health, Oslo, Norway) power injected at 5ml/sec (Medrad, Pittsburgh, PA) followed by a 20ml saline bolus. Twenty minutes after the initial bolus of gadolinium a further bolus was administered to obtain rest perfusion images. During coronary angiography the FFR was recorded in all patent major epicardial coronary arteries using a coronary pressure wire (RADI Medical Systems Ltd, Uppsala, Sweden) with hyperaemia induced using intravenous adenosine as above. An FFR value of <0.75 was taken as the cut off for the diagnosis of significant CAD. CFR measurements were obtained at rest and during maximal hyperaemia by means of thermodilution using 3ml boluses of saline. Following coronary angiography those patients who underwent PCI returned for a repeat MRMPI scan at 24 hours and 4 weeks and CABG patients returned for a 4 week scan. PCI patients had a troponin I measurement performed at approximately 24 hours, just prior to their repeat MRMPI. Qualitative MRMPI analysis, left ventricular mass, volume and ejection fraction analysis and QCA were all performed by two blinded independent experienced observers. Results - Of the 103 enrolled patients, two were excluded from the final analysis. Seventy-six (74%) were male with a mean age of 60 years (SD = 9). 25 (24.8%) of 101 scans were normal, 40 (39.6%) had single-vessel disease, 26 (25.7%) had two-vessel disease and 10 (9.9%) had triple-vessel disease. 121 perfusion defects were reported in 300 coronary territories (3 patients had complete data for only 2 coronary territories) of which 110 had an FFR0.8 and a CFR<2.0 indicative of isolated microcirculatory disease with no physiologically significant epicardial disease. No coronary territories were found to have a perfusion defect on MRMPI suggesting that by visual analysis MRMPI is unable to detect isolated microvascular disease. The median post PCI troponin level was 0.57µg/L (SD=2, Range undetected - 13.1). The only parameters found to correlate with troponin I levels post-PCI were increasing lesion length (r=0.6, p<0.0001) and increasing total stent length (r=0.37, p=0.02). We compared the increase in mass of LGE between the post-PCI scans and the pre-PCI scan and compared this with the troponin measurement. No significant correlation was found to exist between these parameters at 24 hours (r=0.25, p=0.07) or at 4 weeks (r=-0.19, p=0.2). The change in mass of LGE was calculated for the PCI and CABG patients. The mean difference in the PCI group was -0.12g (Median=0, SD=0.8, Interquartile Range 0 – 0) and for the CABG group was 1.08g (Median=0.11, SD=2.3, Interquartile Range -0.11 – 1.38). There is a trend towards the development of more LGE following CABG than PCI however the difference between groups did not reach statistical significance (p=0.07). Conclusion - MRMPI can accurately detect significant CHD with excellent results using FFR as the gold standard. Interobserver agreement is also very good even when examining individual coronary artery territories. Qualitative analysis of MRMPI is unable to detect isolated microcirculatory disease as defined by an FFR>0.8 and a CFR<2.0. Small troponin releases are common post-PCI and are related to the length of the lesion being treated and the length of stent deployed to treat the lesion. These small troponin releases do not accurately correlate with the occurrence of new LGE. CABG did result in a trend towards more new LGE compared to PCI

    Dynamic trust negotiation for decentralised e-health collaborations

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    In the Internet-age, the geographical boundaries that have previously impinged upon inter-organisational collaborations have become decreasingly important. Of more importance for such collaborations is the notion and subsequent nature of security and trust - this is especially so in open collaborative environments like the Grid where resources can be both made available, subsequently accessed and used by remote users from a multitude of institutions with a variety of different privileges spanning across the collaboration. In this context, the ability to dynamically negotiate and subsequently enforce security policies driven by various levels of inter-organisational trust is essential. Numerous access control solutions exist today to address aspects of inter-organisational security. These include the use of centralised access control lists where all collaborating partners negotiate and agree on privileges required to access shared resources. Other solutions involve delegating aspects of access right management to trusted remote individuals in assigning privileges to their (remote) users. These solutions typically entail negotiations and delegations which are constrained by organisations, people and the static rules they impose. Such constraints often result in a lack of flexibility in what has been agreed; difficulties in reaching agreement, or once established, in subsequently maintaining these agreements. Furthermore, these solutions often reduce the autonomous capacity of collaborating organisations because of the need to satisfy collaborating partners demands. This can result in increased security risks or reducing the granularity of security policies. Underpinning this is the issue of trust. Specifically trust realisation between organisations, between individuals, and/or between entities or systems that are present in multi-domain authorities. Trust negotiation is one approach that allows and supports trust realisation. The thesis introduces a novel model called dynamic trust negotiation (DTN) that supports n-tier negotiation hops for trust realisation in multi-domain collaborative environments with specific focus on e-Health environments. DTN describes how trust pathways can be discovered and subsequently how remote security credentials can be mapped to local security credentials through trust contracts, thereby bridging the gap that makes decentralised security policies difficult to define and enforce. Furthermore, DTN shows how n-tier negotiation hops can limit the disclosure of access control policies and how semantic issues that exist with security attributes in decentralised environments can be reduced. The thesis presents the results from the application of DTN to various clinical trials and the implementation of DTN to Virtual Organisation for Trials of Epidemiological Studies (VOTES). The thesis concludes that DTN can address the issue of realising and establishing trust between systems or agents within the e-Health domain, such as the clinical trials domain

    Designing to support impression management

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    This work investigates impression management and in particular impression management using ubiquitous technology. Generally impression management is the process through which people try to influence the impressions that others have about them. In particular, impression management focuses on the flow of information between a performer and his/her audience, with control over what is presented to whom being of the utmost importance when trying to create the appropriate impression. Ubiquitous technology has provided opportunities for individuals to present themselves to others. However, the disconnection between presenter and audience over both time and space can result in individuals being misrepresented. This thesis outlines two important areas when trying to control the impression one gives namely, hiding and revealing, and accountability. By exploring these two themes the continuous evolution and dynamic nature of controlling the impression one gives is explored. While this ongoing adaptation is recognised by designers they do not always create technology that is sufficiently dynamic to support this process. As a result, this work attempts to answer three research questions: RQ1: How do users of ubicomp systems appropriate recorded data from their everyday activity and make it into a resource for expressing themselves to others in ways that are dynamically tailored to their ongoing social context and audience? RQ2: What technology can be built to support ubicomp system developers to design and develop systems to support appropriation as a central part of a useful or enjoyable user experience? RQ3: What software architectures best suit this type of appropriated interaction and developers’ designing to support such interaction? Through a thorough review of existing literature, and the extensive study of several large ubicomp systems, the issues when presenting oneself through technology are identified. The main issues identified are hiding and revealing, and accountability. These are built into a framework that acts as a reference for designers wishing to support impression management. An architecture for supporting impression management has also been developed that conforms to this framework and its evolution is documented later in the thesis. A demonstration of this architecture in a multi-player mobile experience is subsequently presented

    Eye movement strategies during face matching

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    Although there is a large literature on face recognition, less is known about the process of face matching, i.e., deciding whether two photographs depict the same person. The research described here examines viewers’ strategies for matching faces, and addresses the issue of which parts of a face are important for this task. Consistent with previous research, several eye-tracking experiments demonstrated a bias to the eye region when looking at faces. In some studies, there was a scanning strategy whereby only one eye on each face was viewed (the left eye on the right face and the right eye on the left face). However, viewing patterns and matching performance could be influenced by manipulating the way the face pair was presented: through face inversion, changing the distance between the two faces and varying the layout. There was a strong bias to look at the face on the left first, and then to look at the face on the right. A left visual field bias for individual faces has been found in a number of previous studies, but this is the first time it has been reported using pairs of faces in a matching task. The bias to look first at the item on the left was also found when trying to match pairs of similar line drawings of objects and therefore is not specific to face stimuli. Finally, the experiments in this thesis suggest that the way face pairs are presented can influence viewers’ accuracy on a matching task, as well as the way in which these faces are viewed. This suggests that the layout of face pairs for matching might be important in real world settings, such as the attempt to identify criminals from security cameras
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