Academic literature on the topic 'Fields of Research – 350000 Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services – 350200 Business and Management'

This study develops and used a CHESS (chief Executive Stress Survival) model developed from the occupational stress literature to predict variations in the psychological and physical stress experience and health risk of chief Executives of New Zealand organisations. The model proposes that stress is a sequential process with identifiable phases and that variation are mainly due to the frequency of environmental experiences and stressor factors which are both “chronic” and “episodic”, “at work” and “outside work”. The model also assumes, however, that the impact of the environmental variables and stressor factors are moderated by individual personality differences, coping mechanisms and stress management practices. The model was tested on a sample of 107 male chief Executive officers and General Managers. It was found that the majority of the sample (80%) were relatively stress resistant and healthy. Stepwise multiple regression was used to test the model, and some evidence derived suggests that the frequency of environmental problems does predict various stress symptoms and that environmental stressors ultimately predict health risk profiles. Individual differences are shown as being largely independent variables predicting stress, rather that being moderating variables as suggested by the model. Coping and stress management variables are also shown to play a significant moderating role in the stress - outcome relationship. Some evidence derived suggests that there may be individual manager profiles, provisionally labelled “stress immune” vs “vulnerable” and “ill - health preventers” vs “non-preventers”. Due to the depth of the cross-sectional data obtained on this rarely studied management level, some comparison with published information on other researched groups are explored. A number of limitations of the study are noted. The practical implications for this senior management group of the findings of this study are also examined.
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The primary purpose of this research was to establish whether different perspectives on managerial effectiveness could be integrated to derive a common core of skills and characteristics. The different perspectives include management theory, strategic management and international business perspectives, and the competency-based approach to management effectiveness in the United Kingdom, The United States, and New Zealand. The research programme used a blend of quantitative and qualitative techniques. Each phase of research is supported by a review of the international literature and empirical field work conducted in New Zealand. A research tool relatively new to management research, Concept Mapping (Trochim, 1989a, 1989b), was to allow qualitative verbal statements to be described in terms of both quantitative and spatial relationships. A singular advantage of Concept Mapping is that collection and analysis of data is conducted without imposing research constructs at any stage, and a distillation of a core set of skills and characteristics can be derived through the reiterative process of Concept Mapping. In addition to Concept Mapping sessions with practicing managers and management educators and developers, two national surveys were conducted. In essence, the research builds a framework of the factors influencing managerial effectiveness through literature reviews and empirical work to generate a predictor variable list then tests that list for predictive strength. The primary outcomes of the research were: 1) the identification of a set of skills and characteristics that discriminate classes of effectiveness and ineffectiveness; and 2) the provision of a conceptual framework for analysing the similarities and differences between models of managerial effectiveness.

This thesis examines the relationships between performance, evolution and network governance of international joint ventures from a dynamic perspective. This is accomplished with a two-stage examination of case studies on the China-New Zealand joint ventures in China, involving two case studies in the first stage and one case study in the second stage. The exploratory and narrative research aims to aid theory building in the area of assessment and determination for IJV performance. In an investigation of the case IJVs between the Chinese and New Zealand firms, the study results in the development of three conceptual models of IJV performance and network relationships, namely, the Static Goal Model, the Goal Succession Model, and the Goal Emergence Model. These conceptual models adopt goal attainment as the criterion for assessing UV performance, and address goal attainment from a dynamic perspective by using a network approach. The theoretical models are illustrated and supported by the empirical evidence from the longitudinal case studies. The conceptual models differ from existing models of IJV performance in a number of important aspects, and thus contribute to theory relating to IJV performance in the following ways. These models integrate the concepts from the three research areas of performance, governance structure and dynamic evolution into a conceptual framework addressing IJV performance. Two types (organisational and interpersonal) of IJV network relationships are identified, and complex multiple tiers of network relationships in each type and their influence on JV performance and evolution are discussed. The study highlights the influence of network relationships and their evolution on IJV performance by arguing that IJV performance hinges on whether a trend of institutionalising the mechanism of trust building and conflict resolution and of balancing the network relationships within the IJV arrangement emerges from the process of IJV dynamic evolution. This research was solely undertaken by the author for the purpose of a thesis submitted in fulfilling the requirements for the degree of Ph. D at the University of Auckland.

The aim of this research is to investigate the use of third party logistics in New Zealand companies from the users’ perspective and to identify the improvement opportunities in the New Zealand environment. The empirical research is used to investigate the reasons for undertaking or not outsourcing logistics activities in New Zealand companies; to investigate the extent of use of third party logistics services in New Zealand and the influence of firm sizes and different industries on different aspects of 3PL (third party logistics) practices; to investigate critical success factors and attributes of selecting and evaluating 3PL service providers by users of 3PL in New Zealand; to establish the impact of usage of 3PL providers on New Zealand companies; to evaluate the satisfaction level of New Zealand 3PL services; to investigate the future plans of current 3PL users in New Zealand. The results showed that 3PL has been accepted by New Zealand organizations; with more than half of the respondents using 3PL. Current users accepted that 3PL allows them to gain a number of benefits and believe that 3PL has more positive impacts than negative. With a high level of satisfaction, a large number of user firms are likely to maintain and moderately increase the use of 3PL in the near future. The results of this study provide useful information for both 3PL providers and users. Providers should be aware of the most frequently used services, the potential trend, and develop their capabilities accordingly in terms of these future requirements. The experience of the firms in this study also provides insights as to the benefits of outsourcing logistics activities and how to plan for implementation for 3PL users.

Recently, New Zealand's wine industry has made remarkable progress. For example, the number of hectares planted in grapes increased from 4,880 in 1990, to 15,479 in 2003, and the number of wineries increased from 175 in 1993 to 421 in 2003. Projections for 2006 indicate that the growth of wine exports should nearly double from 2003, with expected revenues of $NZ 736 million. However, despite this growth, little has been reported about developments in New Zealand's wine tourism industry, or about consumer perceptions of the winery experience in the form of published academic research. The limited amount of information, particularly from the visitors' points of view, may not only be preventing winery operators and the wine industry in general from having a better understanding of their visitors, but also from addressing the needs of different visitor segments. Resulting implications for winery operators may include forgone business opportunities, and customers not fully benefiting in terms of product and service quality. Recent studies indicate that this last element is particularly important in wine tourism. This study reports the results of an exploratory research project conducted in New Zealand wineries that investigated aspects of the winery experience, including wine involvement, satisfaction with the winery experience, and visitor demographics. An index to measure involvement with wine, the wine involvement index (WIX), was developed and utilised to investigate whether wine involvement had an impact on winery visitors' behaviour. Data were collected from winery visitors via questionnaires distributed in a sample of wineries in different wine regions of New Zealand. A total of 609 usable responses were obtained (24.8% response rate). The results indicate a number of differences between the independent, dependent, and moderating variables. For example, it was found that age, whether visitors are domestic or international, and different levels of wine involvement appear to have a clear impact on winery expenditure. In addition, the WIX was confirmed to be a useful tool, for example, by identifying potential relationships between different groups of winery visitors. The results add new knowledge to the area of wine tourism, and offer useful information for wineries and the wine tourism industry. This information includes the potential commercial significance of some visitor groups. An additional contribution of this study is the 'complete wine tourism research model.' This concept presents an alternative to existing wine tourism models, and points out attributes and dimensions that play a major role in the winery experience.

Researchers and practitioners have linked the survivability of organization to their ability to manage their knowledge resource. This ability of the organizations depends on providing the technological support for the creation of knowledge, organizational structures (such as the organization reward systems) and the willingness of their employees to share their knowledge. Developments in information and communication technologies have facilitated organizations in developing the infrastructures that are required for the dissemination of knowledge. Organizations are thus left with the challenge of developing organizational structures that will motivate knowledge sharing among its employees. The knowledge sharing problem, which was once seen as an issue of capturing can codifying information, is now seen as a challenge of motivating individuals, the true owner of knowledge, to share their valuable resource. Behavioural scientists have taken interest in knowledge sharing as a form of helping behaviour which is directed at the organizations or member within the organizations. Although organizations have great desire that their managers engage in this behaviour, it is the discretion of their employees whether they want to share or withhold their knowledge. Organizational structural control mechanisms (such as the performance evaluation systems) have limited success in enforcing such behaviour as there are no means of measuring its outputs. Organizations depend on their incentive systems to motivate knowledge sharing. Research into motivation indicates that there is no easy fix to achieve this. Organizations have to balance the use extrinsic and intrinsic motivators, considering the specific motivational requirements of their employees. Motivational interventions, such as the use of incentives, are dependent on the level of trust the employees have in their managers and the organization in whole to deliver on those incentives in a fair and equitable manner. Where trust levels are not sufficient, employees tend to ignore such incentives and tend to further disinvest discretionary efforts. The current study used the psychological contract theory as a frame work for understanding the dynamics of the employee-employer exchange. The central premise of the theory is that employees tend to lose trust in the organization or the agent of the organization, when they perceive that their expectations have not been met. In addition to the lost of trust, psychological contract violation is also negatively associated with desirable organization behaviours and attitudes – such as commitment, in-role and extra-role effort – and is positively associated with undesirable organization behaviours and attitudes such as intention of turnover. The current study used a qualitative research design to investigate how the violation of the psychological contract can add to the ineffectiveness of the organization incentive system to motivate knowledge sharing. Using semistructured interviews the participants were provided with short scenarios (vignettes) which simulated occurrences of psychological contract violation. The participants, acting as informants, responded to question with regards to how the situations depicted in the vignettes would affect the vignette characters’ work behaviours, specifically their desire to share knowledge.

The validity of three key Business Excellence (BE) models used in the Asia Pacific—the Australian Business Excellence Framework (Australia), the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence (New Zealand) and the Singapore Quality Award Criteria (Singapore)—was examined from a conceptual as well as a predictive standpoint. Unlike in many past studies, in this study the validity of the measurement criteria stipulated in BE models have been directly assessed. The conceptual validity of the three BE models was studied through a generic theoretical model using the partial least squares-based structural equation modelling (PLSBSEM) method. Apart from measurement validity, the strengths of the hypothesised causal relationships between the constructs of the BE models and their practical implementations were also examined under conceptual validity. The predictive validity of the three BE models was examined through linear predictive models involving enablers—being measures in BE models that cover what organisations actually do in order to achieve business outcomes—as predictors and business outcomes as responses. Alongside predictive validity, the reasonableness of the stipulated weights of the enablers was also examined. Other empirical and pragmatic inquiries covered in this study included: (a) a study of the effect of “industry attractiveness” on financial and market performance, and (b) a study of the relationship between BE constructs and “national cultural dimensions”. Results revealed that although the three BE models fulfilled the basic requirements of measurement validity, against more stringent criteria such as those used in psychometrics, they showed low levels of validity. The possible reasons for this were examined and the ways of overcoming the shortcoming were suggested. The generic theoretical model was found to be statistically significant across all three settings: Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. As regards predictive validity, it was observed that enablers appear to be good predictors of business outcomes (thus establishing predictive validity) although there was scope for improvement of the existing weighting scheme of the enablers. This study is important because many organisations in the region use BE models with the expectation of improving their performance in key results areas and hence there is a need to demonstrate that the BE models are based on sound concepts.

Changing characteristics of work and careers have resulted in a shift in perceptions of the potential value of entrepreneurial activity. In parallel there has emerged an appreciation of the non-economic impact of entrepreneurship on those who enact it. However, there still remains a limited understanding of the consequences of choosing to be an entrepreneur, and what that choice means in terms of that individual’s life and work. The potential for the young as a group to engage with entrepreneurship as a ‘career option’ is high, therefore the central research objective of this study was to learn what meaning young New Zealand entrepreneurs attach to ‘being in business’. The study was grounded in an inductive, interpretive research design, underpinned by the tenets of constructivism. Phenomenologically focussed, in-depth interviews were used to gather data from ten young New Zealand entrepreneurs. These interviews were semi-structured and emphasised language, meaning, and narrative. The resulting data were analysed using elements of a constructivist grounded theory approach. A key finding was that the nature of the relationship between the entrepreneurs and their firms was a strong attachment grounded in emotion. The intertwining of the life of the business with the life of the young entrepreneur was viewed positively, and frequently involved personal transformation. Businesses were more than mechanisms for achieving monetary wealth. The relationship between the young entrepreneurs and their work was also intense. Balance of work and life was not an issue, nor did they seek to differentiate between the two spheres. They were content to have the two blended in a manner of their choosing. Consistent with this was their drive for personal authenticity and adherence to strong ethical imperatives. Being an entrepreneur was less about career (and even less about a job) and more about fulfilling needs of a higher order. Almost all the participants strongly identified as entrepreneurs. They felt it was the identity most consistent with their values, attitudes, and aspirations. They accepted that in some instances the label small-firm owner manager was accurate in terms of the scale of their operations, but rejected its appropriateness on any other grounds.

There has been growing interest in the field of business management in developing methods to improve management competency. One popular management development method has been executive coaching, but because of the unique needs of business executives, executive coaches are constantly looking for new and more effective methods to work with business executives’ life, career, physical, and psychological problems. There has not been an agreed upon solution discovered to solve this problem. On the one hand, it was proposed that there is a need for executive coaches to employ psychotherapeutic methods in coaching to meet the psychological demands of business executives. But on the other hand, there are numerous issues related to standardizing executive coaching methods, qualifying executive coaches, and resolving ethical dilemmas. The author of this thesis views this issue as an over expectation of society of individuals in positions of power and responsibility. This thesis uses social theories to explore the expectations behind the high demands on the performance of business executives, and to illuminate the degree to which executive coaching engages psychotherapy. The findings of this study show that certain themes such as business skills, leadership, self-development, success, interpersonal skills, and achieve work-life balance dominates the advertisements of executive coaching professionals. These advertisements also use rhetorical devices to make these skills seem attractive and important to possess, which inevitably impacts on the view of self of executives and stimulates their desire to self- improve. It was also found that 21.26% of the advertised executive coaching services could be promoted by psychotherapists instead.

Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) face enormous financial risk when embarking on a new product launch. SMEs are less likely to implement more formal risk minimization strategies for new product development (NPD) such as StageGate, often citing reasons of resource constraints or the more prevalent notion that “this stuff doesn’t apply to us”. Two key elements of any such risk minimization strategies are an early emphasis on benchmarking competitors and a thorough study of the attitudes and behaviours of potential customers. The SME’s investment of time and resource in early acquisition of this knowledge is a critical factor for success (Cooper 2001). Armed with this information, the SME is able to adopt a Customer Focused Design (CFD) strategy, whereby the product development effort is remains focused on the external customers wants and needs through all phases. SMEs that are able to satisfy these needs more effectively enjoy an obvious competitive advantage (Matzler and Hinterhuber 1998; Lüthje 2004). SMEs are often challenged by these tasks (Freel 2000; Larsen and Lewis 2007; Owens 2007). They may be overwhelmed by the prospect of expected costs, lack of expertise, and financial pressures to rush to market. Too often the more conventional path is chosen, whereby a solution is proposed, developed and tested in the market to “see if it sticks”. Such methodologies are less effective and subject the SME to increased financial risk. International studies of SMEs attitudes and behaviour towards NPD reveal common challenges of resource limitations, skills deficiencies and organizational issues (Xueli, Soutar et al. 2002; de Jong and Vermeulen 2006; Siu, Lin et al. 2006; Murphy and Ledwith 2007; Owens 2007). New Zealand firms are no exception, and are burdened with similar challenges as their international counterparts. This study aims to propose a simple framework for small firms who wish to acquire knowledge about their target markets and potential customers with limited time and resources. The framework enables SMEs to incorporate customer focused design principles into their product definition phase, and better orient themselves to the consumer marketplace. The study makes use of a New Zealand based case study to evaluate how the framework may be employed to identify quick and inexpensive efforts that can reproduce some elements of more sophisticated CFD and benchmarking methods. The obtained results are incorporated into a product design specification and embodied into a physical prototype to further illuminate the process. In addition to the primary area of study, prospects for new adjacent product lines and new potential markets for future development are also gained from the research.