Developing Knowledge Resources through Bridging Information Asymmetries in Network-Based Informal Labour Markets: A Study of Privately-owned Manufacturing Firms in China

The purpose of knowledge resource development is considered to be to generate and acquire the necessary knowledge for developing a firm's specific capability. In this research, I explore the patterns of knowledge resource development practice among privately-owned Chinese SME manufacturers in the informal network-based labour market. More specifically, this research focuses on exploring how privately-owned Chinese SME manufacturers attain skilled workers by bridging information asymmetries to improve both employers and employees' awareness of the skill availability in the informal labour markets that can usually be viewed as complex networked systems in the Chinese context. Through conducting an in- depth, qualitative study of 86 Chinese engineers, I identify three key aspects that explain the pattern of this phenomenon: (1) the informal rules existing within the social networks; (2) the employer's ability and strategy for acquiring skilled workers from the social networks; and (3) the skilled worker's (employee's) use of social networks to enhance employability and eventually contribute to the firm's knowledge resources. I develop an organizing framework for the process of knowledge resource development through social networks in the Chinese context to connect these three aspects. I found that, in Chinese society, the owner, senior managers and employees use guanxi (social capital in the Chinese context) to identify the individual workers, in their social network, who possess the specific skills, and encourage them to share their expertise and manpower with each other and the firm. The key contributions of this thesis are: (l) extending the current understanding of social networks by examining their application in the privately-owned Chinese manufacturing sector by providing a comprehensive picture of the way in which they develop knowledge resources through bridging information asymmetries in the network-based informal labour market; (2) identifying seven specific informal rules (namely, "anonymity", "huibao", "lun", "liyi", "mianzi", "renqing", and "integrated" rules) that have been widely used in guiding this labour matching process in the privately-owned Chinese SME manufacturing sector; (3) exploring how the owners and senior managers of privately-owned Chinese SME manufacturers use different dimensions of guanxi to gain advantages when engaging in recruitment practices through social networks to acquire skilled workers; (4) exploring the influences of different dimensions of guanxi with regard to job searching, job matching and compensation negotiating activities; and (5) extending the current understanding about connecting social capital and guanxi by providing a more detailed discussion of the connection between social capital and guanxi; developing guanxi specifications that link to specific dimensions of social capital, and using these connections to interpret the data. In general, this thesis explores Chinese firms' strategies for using social networks to attain skilled workers who contribute towards their knowledge of the resource development process. It also offers managerial insights for entrepreneurs who wish to enter the industry. 3EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Organisational capabilities and small and medium sized firms’ attainment of innovation outcomes: the moderating roles of exports and formal business networks

Purpose: We examine the influence of planning and execution capability (PEC) and operational improvement capability (OIC) on small-and-medium-sized firms’ (SMEs) attainment of different innovation outcomes under the conditions of exports and formal business networks, based on the capability-based perspective and organisational learning literature. Design/methodology/approach: We analyse time-series data about UK SMEs, extracted from the 2015 and 2016 UK Longitudinal Small Business Surveys (LSBS). Findings: We failed to find any direct effects of PEC and OIC on product innovation outcomes. However, we discovered that OIC supports the generation of process innovation outputs more strongly than PEC. Additionally, exports and formal business networks provide SMEs with different learning opportunities. We find limited support that exports amplify the beneficial effect of PEC on product innovation outcomes more than formal business networks. On the other hand, formal business networks strengthen the effect of PEC on process innovation outcomes more than exports. As a result, exports reduce the beneficial effect of OIC on product innovation outcomes more than formal business networks. However, formal business networks weaken the beneficial effect of OIC more than exports. Originality: We distinguish between two types of organisational capabilities - PEC and OIC - and examine their impact on SMEs in achieving innovation outcomes. We also identify SMEs’ involvement in exports and formal business networks as the important boundary conditions for such effect

Phenomenological study about enhancing university student's psychosocial wellbeing through YouTube videos: Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) in Finland

The present qualitative study aimed to explore how the attitudes, experiences, and feelings of Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) videos could be used to enhance psychosocial wellbeing similar to mindfulness-based treatment programs. ASMR is an atypical and multisensory phenomenon in which a tingling sensation is often elicited following specific audio-visual stimulations. Although ASMR experiences have been announced to enhance wellbeing and phenomenologically superimposed with mindfulness, there is a lack of research exploring how ASMR experiences relate to wellbeing. In this study, the theoretical underpinnings of the Differential Susceptibility to Media Effects Model (DSMM) by Patti M. Valkenburg and Jochen Peter (2013) are merged with Positive psychology's wellbeing theory (PERMA) by Seligman (2011) for the first time with the objective to explore and link the distinguishing characteristics of ASMR video with wellbeing outcomes. The study entailed two in-depth semi-structured interviews, which were conducted with three university students (one female and two males) in Finland. Interpretative phenomenological analysis with coding schemes was employed and guided by DSMM and Seligman's five domains of well-being. Three main themes and fourteen subthemes emerged from the analyses of the interview transcripts corresponding to the research question. The main themes include ASMR intentional use, ASMR media contents, and ASMR multisensory integration. The subthemes encompass prior ASMR-like experiences, social pressure from family members and curiosity, different types of sound, voices, and movement; nostalgic thoughts, pro-change bias, and positive responses. Exploration of interviewees' narratives further brought to light issues concerning ASMR's emotional effects on wellbeing. Analyses reveal different subthemes clustered into five main themes: Positive Emotion, Engagement, Relationships (Connectedness), Meaning and Making a Connection, and Accomplishment. The findings showed how ASMR videos enhance wellbeing through mindfulness-like experiences. These research findings are significant due to the ASMR videos' potential to increase wellbeing and happiness. Furthermore, their influence can extend to elevating the ability to concentrate on tasks at hand, improving the quality of sleep by stopping rumination, increasing self-confidence, and motivating altruistic behavior. The beneficial potential of ASMR videos to promote psychosocial wellbeing is remarkable

An integrated model of cause-related marketing strategy development

Researchers in the fields of marketing and corporate social responsibility have suggested that cause-related marketing (CRM) can provide firms with opportunities for managing their community relationships and for enhancing their marketing, financial, social, and environmental performance. In this article, we offer a conceptual framework that helps to broaden the understanding of how firms develop CRM strategy. We identify three key CRM strategy development components: motivational factors, strategy design, and campaign tactics. The conceptual framework is constructed based on these three components to explore how the key CRM drivers influence the CRM implementation plan, which subsequently leads to the development of different campaign styles. We also propose that firms’ emphasis on value delivery systems in the process of CRM strategy development plays an important role in influencing the direction in which they wish to assemble their CRM campaign

Proactive Entrepreneurial Behaviour, Market Orientation, and Innovation Outcomes: A Study of Small- and Medium-sized Manufacturing Firms in the UK

Purpose Drawing from resource-based theory, the authors aim to study how and under what conditions small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) capitalise on their proactive entrepreneurial behaviour (PEB) to achieve new product development (NPD) performance. Design/methodology/approach The authors’ data were drawn from a cross-sectional questionnaire survey of 401 UK-based SMEs in the manufacturing sector. Findings The authors identify an upward curvilinear relationship between PEB and NPD performance. Taking a step further, the authors propose and confirm that this curvilinear association arises from, in part, SMEs’ innovation capability, which in turn translates into NPD performance. The authors also find that this upward curvilinear relationship between PEB and innovation capability flips to a downward curvilinear relationship when firms pursue a customer and competitor orientation. Originality/value This paper looks beyond the linear relationship that exists among entrepreneurial behaviour, market orientation and innovation outcomes

Institutional Investment in REITs: Evidence and Implications

It has been documented that institutional investors did not participate actively in the real estate investment trust (REIT) stock market prior to 1990 and that the percentage of institutional holdings of a REIT stock is positively correlated with the performance of the REIT stock. This article documents a reversal in trend in institutional investors’ preference for investing in REIT stocks and in other stocks. The study shows that prior to 1990, institutional investors invested more of their funds in other stocks than in REITs, whereas after 1990 they invest more of their funds in REITs than in other stocks in the market. The strategies of institutional investors investing in REITs are also analyzed. The findings of the study have implications for the agency and corporate control issues prevailing in the REIT stock market.

Private certification of building works Hong Kong building control officicals' perspective /

Thesis (B.Sc)--University of Hong Kong, 2004.published_or_final_versio

The influence of marketing exploitation and exploration on business-to-business small and medium-sized enterprises

Organisational learning theory proposes firms can gain market knowledge through adaptive processes - marketing exploitation and exploration. Our study examines how these processes impact pioneering orientation, firms’ emphasis on launching innovative products ahead of competitors, in business-to-business (B2B) small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The prevailing view is firms should simultaneously pursue both processes or focus on just one. We challenge this notion and posit B2B SMEs should generally prioritise one process over the other to effectively shape pioneering orientation. However, certain circumstances like upstream supply chain (SC) integration and strong information technology (IT) competence enable firms to optimise benefits by alternating between processes. Our longitudinal analysis of 213 Chinese B2B SMEs supports this argument, revealing marketing exploration has a stronger positive influence on pioneering orientation than exploitation. Furthermore, our analysis shows upstream SC integration alone does not moderate, but combined with robust IT competence, can increase the advantages of marketing exploitation over exploration when fostering pioneering orientation in B2B SMEs

Managing internal knowledge sharing: A knowledge life cycle perspective

Master'sMASTER OF ENGINEERIN

Organizational capabilities and SME exports:the moderating role of external funding intentions and managerial capacity

Entry to export markets can stimulate business growth, yet remarkably few small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) pursue export strategies. Using data gathered from the UK Small Business Surveys and a theoretical framework that combines principles from the resource-based view of the firm with notions of “investment readiness” and “managerial capacity,” we examine the empirical relationships between new product development (NPD) and new market entry (NME) capabilities on UK SMEs export decisions. Among other things, we find that there are contexts in which SMEs should develop these capabilities concurrently and others in which they should develop them independently to minimize added managerial complexity. Our results also indicate that in the absence of strong managerial capacity, SMEs should prioritize NME over NPD capabilities. Our findings produce several interesting theoretical and practical implications for SME exports