The relationship between culture, leadership, strategic planning and performance in small and medium sized enterprises.

The importance of manufacturing Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) to the economy is well documented. Most research on SMEs focuses on efficiency-related measures. The literature suggests that a significant amount of efficiency based initiatives have been directed at SMEs and that the time is now opportune to consider a more strategic approach. The literature survey indicates a dearth of empirical research on strategic planning in SMEs. In addition, the literature implies that strategic planning is influenced by a range of factors, which include culture, leadership and contingency factors such as the formality of planning, barriers to strategic development, the operating environment, size, ownership, perceived market share and industrial sector. Little is known about these factors in relation to SMEs and no attempt has been made to examine them in one integrated model in any firm size. Accordingly, the aim of this study was to empirically test the validity of a deductive model linking contingency factors: culture, leadership, strategic planning and organisational performance. This was attained by formulating a series of objectives and testing these objectives using a variety of methods. These included descriptive statistics, factor analysis, chi-square tests, canonical correlation analysis and the wilcoxon test. The research utilises a hybrid positivist-phenomenological method. Exploratory research methods in conjunction with the literature review were-used Ho-develop an inductive model. The exploratory interviews were held with managing directors of SMEs in the engineering and electronics' sectors. A postal survey was used as it is the most reliable and effective means of data gathering in order to test the deductive model. The survey was based on the opinions or perceptions of managing directors - an approach extensively used by other researchers. The questionnaire achieved a satisfactory response rate (nearly 28%) and yielded strong factor structures during the data analysis stage. The main statistical techniques used in the analysis of the data included factor analysis and canonical correlation analysis - to derive clear associations between the main concepts and to link all the main factors in the deductive model. The key findings indicate that there is no association between the contingency factors and the main concepts in the deductive model: culture, leadership, strategic planning and organisational performance. In addition, none of the contingency factors impact on the product type (mature, standard or customised), the proportion of total sales exported or the propensity to invest in research and development. All the attributes of organisational culture are associated with the characteristics of strategic planning. The analysis also indicates that strategic planning is associated with the following dimensions of organisational performance: learning and growth, meeting customer demands and the provision of quality goods on time. This tends to suggest that strategic planning leads to an improvement in effectiveness. The results in relation to the main concepts of leadership, culture, strategic planning and organisational performance indicate that transactional - rewards, competence, creativity and employee focused leadership styles are associated with all five cultural types. The results indicate that these leadership styles are also likely to impact to a greater extent on strategic planning than laissez faire leadership styles. This finding broadens the Wilderom and van den Berg categorisation of leadership by the inclusion of transactional – rewards attributes. The analysis of the data suggests that high success firms place a strong emphasis on each of the attributes of leadership and culture associated with strategic planning and on each of the characteristics of strategic planning associated with organisational performance. The main parts of the deductive model are therefore confirmed. Finally, a comparison of the emphasis given to the attributes of culture, leadership and strategic planning by firms with 1-9 employees and those with 100-249 employees failed to detect any statistically significant differences. Accordingly, it can be concluded that size is not a key determinant of behaviour. The hypothesis that SMEs adhere to generic strategies such as the Miles and Snow typology was partially supported. These findings enable a greater understanding of the influences on strategic planning in SMEs and its role in relation to organisational performance. In particular, the findings are relevant to SME managing directors, policy makers, business advisers and researchers. The research improves the understanding of strategic planning in SMEs. It fills a number of gaps identified in the literature review in relation to the relationship between contingency factors, culture, leadership, strategic planning and performance. The main limitation of this study results from the use of a single respondent, although it should be noted that this approach has a strong base in the literature. Other possible limitations include the use of a lengthy questionnaire, the restriction of the sample to only two industrial sectors and the use of the strategic planning process as a surrogate measure of strategy. However, it is important to note that the latter is not unusual and other researchers have also adopted this approach. The thesis comprises eleven chapters. Chapter 1 introduces the study by providing a brief critique of the literature and sets the study's aims and objectives. Chapters 2-6 provide the literature review in relation to: SMEs, strategic planning, leadership and culture. The methodology and research design are outlined in chapter 7. The remaining chapters involve the analysis of the data and the testing of the deductive model

In search of the drivers of high growth in manufacturing SMEs

Though considerable attention in the extant literature has been devoted to growth and performance of firms, there is a dearth of research on high growth firms. Furthermore, the majority of literature in this area focuses on large firms while research on high growth small firms is underdeveloped. This paper investigates the drivers of high growth in manufacturing SMEs. Following a number of focus group interviews with six managing directors of manufacturing firms, a number of drivers of high growth were identified and investigated in a sample of 207 manufacturing SMEs. The results of this study indicate that high growth firms place a greater emphasis on external drivers such as strategic orientation, their operating environment and the use of e-commerce compared with firms having static or declining sales. The analysis shows that high growth firms compete largely on the basis of price. While high growth firms have increased their sales by over 30% during the past three years or longer, it is questionable if manufacturing firms can sustain their competitive advantage without recourse to greater research and development, and innovation in the longer term

Solar energy conversion

If solar energy is to become a practical alternative to fossil fuels, we must have efficient ways to convert photons into electricity, fuel, and heat. The need for better conversion technologies is a driving force behind many recent developments in biology, materials, and especially nanoscience

Benthic phosphorus cycling within the Eurasian marginal sea ice zone

The Arctic Ocean region is currently undergoing dramatic changes, which will likely alter the nutrient cycles that underpin Arctic marine ecosystems. Phosphate is a key limiting nutrient for marine life but gaps in our understanding of the Arctic phosphorus (P) cycle persist. In this study, we investigate the benthic burial and recycling of phosphorus using sediments and pore waters from the Eurasian Arctic margin, including the Barents Sea slope and the Yermak Plateau. Our results highlight that P is generally lost from sediments with depth during organic matter respiration. On the Yermak Plateau, remobilization of P results in a diffusive flux of P to the seafloor of between 96 and 261 µmol m−2 yr−1. On the Barents Sea slope, diffusive fluxes of P are much larger (1736–2449 µmol m−2 yr−1), but these fluxes are into near-surface sediments rather than to the bottom waters. The difference in cycling on the Barents Sea slope is controlled by higher fluxes of fresh organic matter and active iron cycling. As changes in primary productivity, ocean circulation and glacial melt continue, benthic P cycling is likely to be altered with implications for P imported into the Arctic Ocean Basin

Legibility of perceptually-tuned grayscale fonts

Perceptually-tuned grayscale fonts are generated from character outline descriptions by applying to them a set of modifications specifically conceived for strengthening thin character parts, obtaining well-contrasted bars and preserving important relationships between character shape parts. The present study aims at comparing the legibility of perceptually-tuned grayscale and bilevel display fonts at small and very small sizes (6, 8 and 10 pt) The study confirms the results of previous studies indicating that reading speed is to a large extent independent of the typography (bilevel or grayscale) and the font size. However, perceptually-tuned grayscale characters perform better than bilevel characters for an italic string search task in a meaningless text. Regarding the subjective preferences of the test subjects, perceptually-tuned grayscale fonts at 8 and 10 point sizes received a superior rating than bilevel fonts at the same size

Metastatic meningioma: positron emission tomography CT imaging findings

The imaging findings of a case of metastasing meningioma are described. The case illustrates a number of rare and interesting features. The patient presented with haemoptysis 22 years after the initial resection of an intracranial meningioma. CT demonstrated heterogeneous masses with avid peripheral enhancement without central enhancement. Blood supply to the larger lesion was partially from small feeding vessels from the inferior pulmonary vein. These findings correlate with a previously published case in which there was avid uptake of fluoro-18-deoxyglucose peripherally with lesser uptake centrally. The diagnosis of metastasing meningioma was confirmed on percutaneous lung tissue biopsy

Expedition 302 summary

The first scientific drilling expedition to the central Arctic Ocean was completed in September 2004. Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 302, Arctic Coring Expedition (ACEX), recovered sediment cores to 428 meters below seafloor (mbsf) in water depths of ~1300 m, 250 km from the North Pole.Expedition 302's destination was the Lomonosov Ridge, hypothesized to be a sliver of continental crust that broke away from the Eurasian plate at ~56 Ma. As the ridge moved northward and subsided, marine sedimentation occurred and continues to the present, resulting in what was anticipated from seismic data to be a continuous paleoceanographic record. The elevation of the ridge above the surrounding abyssal plains (~3 km) ensured that sediments atop the ridge were free of turbidites. The primary scientific objective of Expedition 302 was to continuously recover this sediment record and to sample the underlying sedimentary bedrock by drilling and coring from a stationary drillship.The biggest challenge during Expedition 302 was maintaining the drillship's location while drilling and coring in 2–4 m thick sea ice that moved at speeds approaching 0.5 kt. Sea-ice cover over the Lomonosov Ridge moves with one of the two major Arctic sea-ice circulation systems, the Transpolar Drift, and responds locally to wind, tides, and currents. Until now, the high Arctic Ocean Basin, known as "mare incognitum" within the scientific community, had never before been deeply cored because of these challenging sea-ice conditions.Initial results reveal that biogenic carbonate is present only in the Holocene–Pleistocene interval. The upper 198 mbsf represents a relatively high sedimentation rate record of the past 18 m.y. and is composed of sediment with ice-rafted debris and dropstones, suggesting that ice-covered conditions extended at least this far back in time. Details of the ice type (e.g., iceberg versus sea ice), timing, and characteristics (e.g., perennial versus seasonal) await further study. A hiatus occurs at 193.13 mbsf, spanning a 25 m.y. interval from the early Miocene to the middle Eocene between ~18 Ma and 43 Ma. The sediment record during the middle Eocene is of dark, organic-rich biosiliceous composition. Isolated pebbles, interpreted as ice-rafted dropstones, are present down to 239 mbsf, well into this middle Eocene interval. Around the lower/middle Eocene boundary an abundance of Azolla spp. occurs, suggesting that a fresh and/or low-salinity surface water setting dominated the region during this time period. Although predrilling predictions based on geophysical data had placed the base of the sediment column at 50 Ma, drilling revealed that the uppermost Paleocene to lowermost Eocene boundary interval, well known as the Paleocene/Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), was recovered. During the PETM, the temperature of the Arctic Ocean surface waters exceeded 20°C.Drilling during Expedition 302 also penetrated into the underlying sedimentary bedrock, revealing a shallow-water depositional environment of Late Cretaceous age

Methods

Information assembled in this chapter will help the reader understand the basis for the preliminary conclusions of the Expedition 302 Scientists and will also enable the interested investigator to select samples for further analyses. This information concerns offshore and onshore operations and analyses described in the "Sites M0001–M0004" chapter. Methods used by various investigators for shore-based analyses of Expedition 302 samples will be described in the individual contributions published in the Expedition Research Results and in various professional journals