Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Business and Management not elsewhere classified'

This thesis is an action research investigation into the influence of my Christian habitus on my consultancy practice. My research question: How does my Christian faith inform the work I do? is located within the academic field of Spirit at Work. The complexity and difficulties of my professional practice are explored using the literature on Christian spirituality. My investigation uses the research method of practical theology to explore: my own Christian perspective; my role as a spiritual mentor; the nature of spiritual formation; and, faith in relation to work. The analytical methods of theological reflection, narrative inquiry, and autoethnography support the critical reflection. Five themes emerge: the evangelical basis of my Christian perspective; an understanding of the grace of God; the consideration of resistance as sin; strategies to enable spiritual formation; and complex combinations of faith in relation to work. This study has enabled me to interrogate my approach to spiritual formation in relation to work. My inquiry in a variety of contexts – with colleagues, one individual, and with a client –has developed my ability as a reflexive practitioner, and has strengthened my vocation as a spiritual mentor. I have used the Holistic Development Model (HDM) to underpin my approach to spiritual mentoring, and created a Christian interpretation of it. Spiritual formation is explored through the topics of: church, faith, purpose and mission using scripture, adventure and leadership, and difficulty and struggle. The research provides insights into my work as a professional consultant in the area of leadership development. My reflexive learning, combined with participative inquiry, provides an insider perspective on living within an evangelical Christian worldview. Difficulties over how to interpret Christian faith in work contexts are explored, particularly with regard to inclusivity. The research links spiritual formation with leadership, concluding that, in my practice, faith takes precedence.

Purpose: To critically investigate the effect/impact the implementation of both team and individual based pay has when responses are measured in terms of teamworking, job satisfaction, culture and commitment in 2 Nigerian financial institutions. Design/methodology/approach: The study presents the first empirical case-study research carried out in Nigeria. The data are based on 2 Nigerian financial institutions surveys from 2002 to 2006. The analysis addresses the impact of the introduction of PRP within these institutions. Questionnaires were sent out to the 226 employees. Interviews and focus groups were also carried out with both managers and employees across both organisations. Findings: The findings indicate the importance of valence for monetary incentives, the instrumentality of performance for the monetary incentives and clear individual and group objectives for improving performance. On the basis of the analysis of the data from employees covered by the scheme, the results suggests that there are clear indications that it has raised motivational levels, though employees prefer working with individual performance related pay than in teams, but would not mind working in teams if it is linked to a reward, but the responses indicate that individual performance related pay has damaged the concept of team working. The results indicated a positive link of PRP having a positive effect with employees on higher grade levels; this result support other results from a number of earlier UK studies. The results also indicate that the introduction of PRP can enhance culture change and enhanced performance but may not ultimately lead to commitment from employees. The findings also indicate a positive link between PRP, improved individual and organisational performance, change in culture and job satisfaction. Though the research indicates positive outcomes from one organisation it also indicates negative outcomes from the other organisation. Why would that occur, as both organisations operate the same form of individual PRP? It leads the researcher to conclude that PRP must be modified to take into account the cultural (national & organisational) implications of the transference western management practices into non-western organisations. The research finishes by listing out implications for management and recommendations. Research limitations: As this study utilises data from Nigerian financial institutions only, its results cannot be generalised to other sectors and countries characterised by different cultures and contexts. However, what is critical though is that the approach used to finding these results can be applied in a wide variety of situations, thus enabling the examination of external validity. ORIGINALITY/VALUE – This study is one of the first to explore the effect/impact of the introduction of performance related pay in Nigerian financial institutions and reflecting on the historic cultural context of gift giving and culture within organisations and the impact this has on the success or failure of PRP schemes. It also provides a new empirical evidence on the use of performance related pay. The results also show a link between the introduction of performance related pay and a change in the psychological contract from a relational contract to a transactional psychological contract, where commitment (bought) and loyalty is based on the monetary aspects of the relationship. The results supports an interpretation of incentive pay as motivated by expectancy theory and provides new evidence on the relationship between the success of performance related and its use by employees as a bargaining tool for salary increases and new job roles. Its implications should be of interest to human resource managers when designing reward strategies for their organisations.

The business model concept was first introduced in the early 1990s alongside the boom of the Internet. Although the Internet bubble has burst, the popularity of the business model concept continues to increase. It is being used more and more often by not just people in business management, but also the general population, as people, for example, talk about a successful start-up. Although it has become part of the vernacular today, the business model concept itself is lacking in theoretical roots. Thus, a gap exists regarding the business model concept. Its usefulness in practice has been proven in numerous business cases, yet academia remains divided on the definition and appropriate means to use the concept. A thorough literature review reveals that the concept of a business model has been framed in various ways, ranging from the strategic logic of a company to the activities a company performs. This misalignment creates barriers for the advancement of this body of knowledge in both research and practice. Researchers have thus called for a clearer and more operational definition of the concept.
With this goal in mind, this qualitative study sought to advance business model understanding by proposing a business model conceptualization that:
1) Is robust in its theoretical roots and informs the critical characteristics of a business model,
2) Highlights potential means to resolve the debate over the definition of a business model through examination of its broad range of conceptualizations and uses, and,
3) Guides business model design through a robust exploration of design options for users interested in business model development.
To achieve this goal, a three-stream study was conducted.
The first stream focused on creating a business model construct that is rooted in advanced system theory and on proposing a related business model framework. This objective was achieved through a combination of scholarship of integration and thematic analysis. A resilient complex adaptive system (RCAS) perspective was taken to proactively construct a business model conceptualization. To fully understand an RCAS, a literature review was carried out on the notion of systems. Theories from general system theory (GST) to an RCAS were examined to form a full understanding of these foundational concepts. The resulting construct was employed as the underlying structure of a business model framework. To create a set of functions that a business model should include, an extensive literature review was conducted on 150 business model research articles. Thematic analysis was employed to analyze words and phrases used by authors to describe the critical components of a business model, and then aggregate these views into a set of mutually supportive functions that represent the essence of a business model. Eight functions, termed “elemental functions”, centered on value were defined. These elemental functions are able to capture all components identified in the studied literature and collectively display required RCAS characteristics. This RCAS business model framework lays the foundation for a unified landscape of business model conceptualization and acts as a potential universal language in this body of knowledge. The developed framework also serves as the basis for the subsequent lines of work detailed below, and grounds both further research and application.
The second stream is based on the RCAS framework and draws on its ability to facilitate abstraction. The work stream focuses on outlining a knowledge space for business models utilizing three variables that are closely tied to abstraction in the business model context, namely: elemental functions, purposes, and levels of abstraction. These variables were identified as critical factors influencing business model variation from both a literature perspective and observations. A thematic analysis was conducted on the same 150 articles as in the first stream to extract the potential states of these variables. Eleven purposes and five levels of abstraction were identified; and these two variables act as the axes of the knowledge space. Elemental functions were incorporated in the knowledge space to illustrate the frequency with which each elemental function is used for specific purposes and specific levels of abstraction. This knowledge space, herein termed the business model knowledge map, can be used to position existing work and identify future opportunities for research. The 150 articles were positioned in this space to outline a grander picture of the business model concept. It highlights that previous authors in the business model area have worked on abstractions of the same concept. This stream is another step towards a universal landscape of business model conceptualization that could help unify previously diverse views of business models.
The last work stream contributes to the design of business models – one of the key purposes for which business model constructs are employed as highlighted in the knowledge map described above. Specifically, this work stream puts forward a system-inspired business model design method. Building directly on the RCAS framework, this stream employs combinatorial design thinking from engineering and design to create a design method. One of the most critical aspects of this design method is its emphasis on creating a complete, to the extent possible, set of design options for each elemental function that composes a business model. To achieve this, an extensive review of over 200 company annual reports was conducted to generate design options for each elemental function. This design method focuses on raising awareness of one’s design options thereby enhancing the potential for business model innovation.
Collectively, this study advances the business model body of knowledge in both research and practice. The study is unique in its proactive employment of the RCAS construct to define a business model, its focus on abstraction to form a theoretically robust and potentially universal landscape for knowledge and research on business models, and its proposition of a structured approach to complete business model design. It is hoped that the developments outlined herein help pave a path to a more unified view of business model concepts that can foster connections between the work of researchers who employ business model constructs and further advance the state of knowledge in this arena.

This report supports submission of business related training resource packages (see Attachments 1 & 2) for assessment of a Professional Practicum. The report provides information on the production process and details educational concepts and justifications used during resource package development.

The "Business Development Through Innovation" project was conceived and designed by the author and the resource package subsequently developed by the author's production company. The project objective is to disseminate information about the philosophy of innovation and specifically to facilitate the application of a number of lessons learned from case studies of successful Australian small and medium enterprises (SME).

The project involved the design and development of a training package targeted at Australian SME and micro businesses. The package may be used privately by business operators and is also used as the primary reference resource in a range of business development workshops.

In this dissertation, I strive to enhance our understanding of the effect of entry timing on firm performance using both empirical and formal modeling techniques. I accomplish this through addressing three major unanswered issues in entry timing research. In the first essay of my dissertation, I theoretically examine the effect of selection bias on entry timing associated performance outcomes via the introduction of a novel concept called First-mover Benefits (FMB) which is both theoretically and empirically distinct from the traditional First-mover Advantages (FMA) concept. The second essay of my dissertation empirically investigates this distinction in a unique entrepreneurial setting: the marijuana retailing industry in the State of Washington. The randomized order of entry into the geographically separate jurisdictions in Washington State via the lottery system gives me the opportunity to look at the overlooked effects of two key macrocontingencies: market growth rate and rivalry intensity without any selection bias concern. The main result of this essay indicates that pioneering advantages are more likely to be found in markets with higher level of rivalry intensity. My final essay focuses on the sustainability dimension of pioneering advantage. Taking advantage of the Washington State marijuana retailing industry dataset that eliminates the selection bias issue, I examine how long entry timing associated performance benefits are sustained in this nascent industry context. I find that pioneering advantages last for only four quarters. Overall, this dissertation helps partially resolve the longstanding controversy surrounding the potential effect of entry timing on performance.

This exploratory study investigates the combined effects on firm performance of Chinese SMEs in Sarawak due to the managerial characteristics of owners / managers and business strategy as moderated by business environment. A review of the existing literature reveals that each of these constructs has been examined either alone or in some combinations and has contributed to the firm performance. Prior studies have raised concern on underspecified models or methodological problems that may have prevented a fuller understanding of potential multivariate relationships among these constructs as relate to one another and to performance.

Globalisation and rapid advances in technology have had a swift and substantial impact on the way organisations do business and the need to have a highly skilled and flexible workforce. Corporations have started to recognise education and training is not a cost but rather an investment in order to attract and retain the best workforce. Some organisations have centralised their education and training functions and established in-house educational facilities, sometimes labeling them as corporate universities. As corporations expand their range of education programs for employees, many are forming partnerships with traditional universities to provide accredited university awards to complement their in-house programs. This thesis explores existing literature on the growing phenomena of corporate universities and university corporate partnerships to develop an understanding and context to the nature of such partnerships. The research involves qualitative research to explore emergent factors identified in the literature as contributing to the successful strategic management of university-corporate education partnerships. A quantitative research study is then undertaken in what appears to be the first global quantitative study of university-corporate education partnerships to explore: The purpose of a corporate university, or structured corporate education; Reasons leading to the establishment of university-corporate education partnerships; Factors that contribute to the success, or lack of success, of a university corporate education partnership. Emerging from the research, a model is presented as the basis for the successful management of university-corporate education partnerships, embracing such factors as: the need for a corporation and its university partner to develop a shared vision of the purpose of the corporate education program and partnership; the need for trust and openness in the partnership arrangements between a corporation and its university partner; regular communication between those responsible for the management of a corporate education program in a corporation and those responsible for the management of the corporate education unit within a university. In particular, the research finds that within both a corporation and its university partner, there needs to be support and commitment for the corporate education program and partnership by senior management, starting at the level of chief executive. Senior management commitment is important for demonstrating the significance of a corporate education program to an organisation and ensuring appropriate funds are invested in the development and delivery of corporate education programs. However, like any partnership, the research indicates the importance of careful selection of the partner. This means, from the initial approach by a corporation, universities need to take the time to get to know their corporate partner, the purpose of their corporate education program, the role the university can play in a corporate education program and the expectations of the corporate partner. Given that universities are increasingly seeking new income to address declining funding from governments, corporate education programs developed and delivered in partnerships is a significant opportunity as corporations play an increasing role in the lifelong learning and development of their employees. Those universities that take the time to develop a partnership approach to corporate education are likely to generate long-term relationships with corporations, rather than be treated as an outsourced education provider that is contracted casually on an as-needed basis.

Despite the intense scholarly focus on leadership development in corporate settings, the importance of developing good leaders in police organisations has received scant attention. The dearth of scholarship on police leadership means that the distinctive demands of policing are often overlooked in addressing the question of unique leadership requirements. This gap also suggests that we do not yet understand how the characteristics of policing drive a need for tailored approaches to developing police leaders. This research addressed this gap in the literature by initially exploring how senior officers learn the art of leadership within an Australian policing context through interviews with jurisdictional experts (Study 1). The focus of this research then centred on commissioned officers within the Queensland Police Service (QPS) through a survey questionnaire (Study 2) and stakeholder interviews (Study 3). Drawing upon the literature and theoretical frameworks of leader development models, this investigation explored what development methods best advanced officers’ leadership together with other factors that facilitated or constrained their development. The research then centred on the extent to which recognised factors—such as the unique challenges of policing, the existence of feedback and the extent of support—lead to the enhancement of senior police leaders. Study 1 explored policy frameworks across eight (8) Australian police agencies that revealed each jurisdiction applied a unique approach to leader development, reflecting the parochial and independent way each agency administered its policing functions. In study 2 the survey questionnaire yielded a 61 percent response rate comprising officers who were predominately male, highly educated and mature (in age and service). Inherent cultural and organisational characteristics encouraged officers to adopt a “cradle to the grave” approach to their policing careers. In the final study, interviews with twenty (20) QPS commissioned officers revealed participants comprised a small cohort of survivors who had successfully navigated the politically charged police environment. This study highlighted officers’ journeys in acquiring their leadership was underscored by being contextually grounded within the difficult and challenging organisational milieu of policing. In addressing the research questions, the three studies, when analysed, broadly supported the 70:20:10 learning model which theorises leadership is primarily acquired by job experiences (70%) and to a lesser extent through relationships (20%) and via formal or structured learning (10%). This model did not present as a measured outcome which arose from allocating resources or priorities according to a clearly defined 70:20:10 outcome ‘rule’. Instead, the (approximate) 70:20:10 distribution of leadership learning was almost certainly the outcome of an interaction between the structure of the police leadership environment and the reality of the field. This research found on the job work was their primary “classroom” for learning leadership, with the majority of learning acquired through informal means (i.e. job experiences and relationships). However, the three components of the 70:20:10 process needed to be better articulated, planned and seamlessly integrated. In particular, more tangible and coherent links need to be developed between formal learning and informal learning and greater acknowledgement that informal learning requires the same levels of support and feedback to that supplied for formal learning. The research found superiors played a pivotal role in the leadership development process; either as facilitating or hindering an officers’ leadership. The findings revealed that many superiors were found wanting as role models with officers’ learning more about what leadership behaviours to avoid replicating; by observing the key characteristics of superiors who were bad role models (i.e. reverse role-modelling). Diverse cultural factors were found to hinder officers from advancing their leadership including the rank orientated and risk adverse culture and the powerful tradition of favouring management over leadership. Various macro-organisational characteristics also stymied officers’ development including the failure to integrate leadership development into the organisations’ infrastructure, evidenced by policies and frameworks that lacked strategic maturity and intent. The findings also broadly support the two-part leadership development model promoted by McCauley et al. (2010a). Within the fertile contextual milieu of policing, officers’ key characteristics were highlighted in the first component of the model. Commissioned officers were a highly homogenous group that were winners who had flourished within the unique developmental system and distinctive police culture. Their characteristics were critical in scaling the rungs of the highly competitive and occasionally brutal leadership ladder, including possessing warrior like skills that reflected the deeply entrenched macho police culture. The research also lent support to the second part of the model comprising vital elements of challenge, support (coupled with feedback), together with the pivotal elements of (i) leadership context with (ii) varied developmental experiences, moulded by challenge, feedback and support. The research highlighted that the quality and extent of support and feedback provided by superiors, coupled with their key characteristics proved instrumental in officers’ developing as leaders. Arguably more strategic roles played by senior leaders are part science and part art, however, the findings suggest there is relatively little “science”, (formal learning) and a great deal of art (on-the-job training). Officers were thrown into significant, ill-controlled and unpredictable challenges, often with a considerable lack of training and resources, and it was the on-the-job challenges that ultimately defined them as leaders. Another key issue that emerged was that officers were not being “developed” by the police service but had rather survived the difficulties thrown up by their work. This meant the nature of police “leadership development” resulted in survivors becoming leaders and the ad hoc system of police development may have inadvertently “weeded out” talented individuals. Superiors’ permeated this process by possessing a hopeful but ultimately naïve assumption that informal learning occurred naturally and by merely adopting a “set and forgot” approach would eventually culminate in officers’ automatically acquiring leadership capability. Such an approach reflects a “cream rises to the top” philosophy of leader development involving the misconception that the best talent will emerge regardless of the quality of developmental experiences provided. Finally, this program of research highlighted a conflict between how headquarters would like to see policing and police leadership training, and the reality of how officers acquired their leadership primarily in the field. At a senior level, police may well imagine or wish that the process was more structured and orderly, and governments require the process to be documented and predictable, but out in the field a battle is ongoing, despite the wishes of leadership. So there is a tension, or juxtaposition between a desire for order, and a reality of chaos in the police workplace which has implications for how leaders are developed.

The impetus of this research to explore cross-cultural differences and conflicts between Singaporean Chinese Managers and their western MNCs managers was due to the researcher's 12 years real-life, working experiences in western MNCs. The interest was extended to discover how these managers are able to deal with the corresponding cross-cultural conflict that is embedded in the day-to-day interaction between himself and his superiors from the west The research has found out that despite the changing cultural influence on Singaporean Chinese Managers, they still exhibit a substantial number of Confucian behavioural characteristics that was inherited from their Chinese forefathers, in the area of work attitudes; the importance of intrinsic and extrinsic work attributes; the commitment to the organisation they work for; and from the job itself. Singaporean Chinese Managers are also found to be less confrontational in nature when dealing with conflicts, and are less incline to express their dissatisfaction, or even have a face-to-face argument with their superiors. The research also found that there is a growing 'compromisers' cluster, a group of people who only moderately uphold traditional values regarding family, education and morale, who are open to innovation and whose aim in life is to be socially and financially successful. It further reveals that younger Singaporean Chinese Managers are now more vocal and more confrontational than their older counterparts and possesses more westernised behavioural characteristics. Therefore, this research provides an insight into the way in which Singaporean Chinese Managers both construct and maintain a notion of identity and also explores the evolving cultural shift in the next generation of managers in the Singaporean Chinese community.

This thesis explores the drivers that encourage small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the hospitality industry in the Philippines to adopt information and communications technologies (ICTs) for their business operations during the 2020-21 COVID-19 pandemic. Despite having the distinction of being strategically located within the Asia-Pacific region, a bustling centre for world trade and commerce, an expansive melting pot of human resources and a prominent hub for agile technologies and innovations, Philippine SMEs are functioning below expectations in terms of their contribution to the country’s macroeconomy compared to other SMEs in the Asia-Pacific region. Literature highlights ICT adoption in SMEs can lead to improved business performance. Consequently, an examination of drivers or factors influencing ICT adoption in Philippine SMEs is now crucial. A systematic review of the literature on technology adoption in SMEs reveals only two studies from the Philippines out of a total of 185 studies done on the Asia-Pacific region. This clearly highlights the gap in research on SMEs in the Philippines. Further, SMEs throughout the world have been the hardest hit during the COVID-19 pandemic with huge losses and business closures. The hardest hit were the tourism and tourism-allied industries such as hospitality businesses, as governments around the world imposed lockdowns limiting travel and mobility to curtail the rapid spread of the disease. COVID-19 restrictions are likely to impact ICT adoption, and currently the published literature on ICT adoption during the pandemic in the hospitality sector SMEs is scarce. This thesis aims to address these identified research gaps in literature and develop an ICT adoption model for hospitality sector SMEs in the Philippines. Employing an exploratory sequential mixed-methods approach, this research commenced with 10 in-depth qualitative interviews with ICT implementation experts and experienced professionals working in the government and industry sectors. The findings of the qualitative study informed the design of the subsequent quantitative phase involving a survey of 154 SMEs in the hospitality industry in the Philippines. Results of the qualitative and quantitative phases were integrated to develop an ICT adoption model for Philippine SMEs. Findings of the mixed-method study revealed novel factors specific to the Philippines (e.g., Filipino culture, Philippine infrastructure and development, and local external change agents), and preparedness-related factors (i.e., perceived utility of ICTs for adapting to COVID-19, and perceived utility of ICTs for disaster preparedness) influencing ICT adoption in that country’s SMEs. These new insights were in addition to factors already identified in the literature on the technology, organisation and environment or the TOE model devised by Tornatzky, Fleischer and Chakrabarti (1990). This thesis reports 16 significant drivers for ICT adoption in Philippine SMEs, namely: technological (relative advantage, perceived ease of use, and cost of the technology), organisational (top management support, resources, awareness, attitude and end user skill ), environmental (market forces, service providers’ competence and support, government intervention, and social or external pressure), Philippine-specific (Philippine infrastructure and development, and local external change agents) and preparedness-related (perceived utility of ICTs for adapting to COVID-19, and perceived utility of ICTs for disaster preparedness). The findings suggest it is necessary and urgent for ICT developers to produce solutions that not only benefit SMEs but also not costly to the extent that they will not be able to maximise their benefits such as adapting to COVID-19 and natural calamities. Further, the government and other change agents have important roles to play in terms of improving the infrastructure needed for interconnectivity, increasing awareness of the relative advantage of ICTs in business and developing end-user skills through training and education.

An important creative decision for advertisers is whether to include a presenter in their advertising, and if so how they will select a suitable presenter. The VisCAP Model of presenter selection was proposed by Percy and Rossiter (1980) to assist advertisers when selecting appropriate presenters in their advertising, with the aim of enhancing branding and persuasion. The four main presenter characteristics of the VisCAP Model of presenter selection form an acronym for VisCAP. Thus, `Vis' refers to visibility and 'CAP' refers to Credibility, Attraction and Power. The presenter characteristic of credibility is further divided into expertise and objectivity, while attraction is divided into likability and similarity. The presenter characteristic of similarity refers to the similarity of the presenter in the advertisement to the target user of the advertised product. The Rossiter-Percy Grid is an advertising planning model which forms the theoretical foundation of the VisCAP Model and takes into account many different types of advertising situations. Components of the two models were tested on working women using a hypothetical personal superannuation service product.

This research examines the presenter characteristic of similarity, a component of one of the four main presenter characteristics of the VisCAP Model. Three hypotheses were tested in the research, two of which empirically tested the VisCAP Model, and one hypothesis which tested the Rossiter-Percy Grid.

An account of the nature of courage and how it figures in management decisions is developed on the basis of classical and contemporary literature in philosophy and management. The account contains seven elements, including obstacles and tools and a requirement for acting for good. The account is subject to a reality check using content analysis of articles in the business press in Australia, United Kingdom, United States and Hong Kong.

The author investigated the condition under which competition effect and contagion effect impact the suppliers of the firm encountering data breach. An event study was conducted to analyze the stock price of 104 suppliers of Target after the large-scale data breach in 2013. The result showed that suppliers with high dependence on Target experienced negative abnormal return on the day after Target’s announcement, while those with low dependence experienced positive abnormal return. After regressing the abnormal return on some explanatory variables, the result showed that firms with better operational performance and high information technology capability were less negatively affected. This study suggested that suppliers who relatively highly rely on one customer company are susceptible for the negative shock from that customer because of contagion effect. Furthermore, maintaining good performance and investing in information technology can help firms reduce losses from negative events happened in customer companies.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of certification on women-owned construction companies in the United States. The primary objectives were to determine if certification has impacted accessibility to public (government) and private construction work as well as the financial performance of women-owned construction firms. The secondary research objectives were to determine what challenges these firms have encountered during the certification process and their perception of it.

This thesis critically analyses the definitions of strategy within the management control literature, the relationship between resource-based view of strategy and the balanced scorecard, as well as the impact of these on manager's perceived performance. Contingency theory has been used as the overall framework for this thesis. The thesis discusses the interaction between changes in management control systems and organisational changes through the use of the Laughlin framework and the three mechanisms of institutional isomorphic suggested by DiMaggio and Powell.

Resilience is studied as a systemic property in several disciplines such as engineering, psychology, systems biology, and ecological sciences. Yet, the system view on resilience is not pervasive in management science. This dissertation is on Enterprise Resilience, which is an emerging topic within the fields of organization and management science. Corporate enterprises are viewed as type 1 complex adaptive systems (CAS) operating within an external business environment. Thus, perturbations occurring in the environment affect enterprises, whose resilience then depends on their adaptive response to them. Therefore, the focus is on system perturbances and on investigating drivers of the enterprises’ adaptive response. As a result, enterprise resilience is more granularly defined as an enterprise’s ability to continually remain valuable to stakeholders by simultaneously managing short-term shocks and long-term stressors. This re-definition brings forth an actionable pathway to enterprise resilience- the pursuit of improved management of the enterprise’s risk and growth management functions.

Two challenging issues plaguing the risk and growth functions are the lack of a comprehensive understanding of risks (especially of unknowns) and their inter-connections, and a weak link between risk management and the enterprise’s growth strategy intended to continually and increasingly generate value. This work addresses both issues via the development of an enterprise-agnostic comprehensive risk typology, and by building a conceptual link between risk and growth strategy through the business model construct and its use in the study of repeatable patterns of innovation. Therefore, this work develops one pathway toward enterprise resilience i.e., via improved risk management and systematic growth management. Furthermore, it advances knowledge by bridging the theoretical conceptualization of an enterprise as a CAS1 into actionable methods for practice in the form of risk management tools and systematic innovation frameworks that aid the enterprise’s adaptive response.

The interdisciplinary dissertation develops hypotheses and employs appropriate qualitative and quantitative methods to test them. Overall, a theory building process is undertaken using the constructionist school of thought and using methods based in inductive logic such as the scholarship of integration, thematic analysis, and case studies. Additionally, to achieve wide and comprehensive coverage, data-driven quantitative methods using advanced computing such as data mining, machine learning, and natural language processing are employed.

The dynamic nature and rapid evolution of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in the last decade (which is also referred to as the digital revolution or industrial revolution 4.0) has given little time for organisations to evaluate the nature of the technological change to their business. This research project aims to identify if there is a disconnection between organisational strategic intent and ICT use, such as, analyze ICT adoption and use issues from various perspectives concerning digital evolution, strategic outcomes and long-term objectives of the organisation, and report findings. The study also aims to identify the alignment factors for technology use with strategic intent. In today's digital age, the healthcare industry has been undergoing a transformational change in patient care pathways and patient safety with the help of digital technologies. Digital technologies such as electronic medical records, mobile applications, telehealth, assisted diagnosis, and prevention have been changing the ways healthcare services are being delivered to patients. But little success has been achieved in implementing these transformations due to the complexity of ICT requirements in healthcare. This challenge in achieving successful digital transformation has given rise to a knowledge gap requiring further research. Until now, a review of the literature reveals few studies have been undertaken to understand connections and disconnections between strategic intent and technology use in healthcare. Therefore, this study aims to understand if there is a disconnect between organisational strategic intent and technology used in the digital age. The primary audience for this research is senior policy and decision-makers in healthcare and senior ICT staff. This research is designed to understand the technology use and its impact on organisational strategic intent from the perspective of clinical staff, non-clinical staff, and executive management. The multi-stage mixed-method design has been used in this study. The findings indicate that technology should be part of strategic intent, and technology adoption should flow from the edge inwards. The findings will enhance the delivery of digital transformation initiatives in healthcare and enable more successful digital transformations with lesser technology adoption, and use issues.

The thesis proposes and defends a maxim which can serve as a foundation and guideline for professional ethics in nursing, the maxim that nurses should act so far as possible to promote patient's self-determination. The thesis is informed by philosophical ethics and by knowledge of professional nursing practice.