Business Administration, Management, and Operations Commons^™

The Influence Of Incumbent- And Successor-Related Factors On Succession Process In Family Firms: Exploring The Role Of Values In Family Business Succession, Shengqin Zhu

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Succession has been a major concern for family business. Although past research studies how to make successful family business succession from factors related to both incumbents and successors, most studies assume incumbents as the key driver of the succession process. Based on the literature about factors contributing to family business succession, the current research adopts a more comprehensive approach by combining qualitative and quantitative research methods to examine what factors lead to succession success and how to manage the succession process. Viewing succession as the process of mutual role adjustments of incumbents and successors, the qualitative research examines the interactions …

R&D Project Portfolio Selection With Multiple Stakeholders, Wenqi Lian

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Research and Development (R&D) is time consuming, expensive and risky; yet product life cycles are shortening and competition is fierce. Therefore, R&D often requires the collaboration and input of multiple stakeholders. This dissertation studies how collaborations involving multiple stakeholders can effectively make R&D project portfolio selection decisions to create the optimal social welfare. The two essays in the dissertation build stylized analytical models to examine R&D project portfolio selection in two different settings, academia and industry respectively. The models explicitly acknowledge the different information, goals and operational decisions of the stakeholders. In the first essay, we study a two-stage funding …

Changes In Decision-Making Authority When Chaebol Firms Grow: From The Perspective Of Non-Family Managers, Changhwan Kim

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

What changes do non-family managers in large family firms such as chaebols (Korean conglomerates) observe in their decision-making authority when their organizations grow? The intuitive expectation is that non-family managers' decision-making authority will grow in conjunction with the successful expansion of the business and growth of the firm.

Based on 45 in-depth semistructured interviews with non-family managers from a wide range of chaebol firms, this study analyzes how non-family managers perceive the change in their decision-making authority and the cause of this change.

The findings indicate that respondents perceive that their decision-making authority does not increase with the growth of …

Performance Of Cross-Border Acquisitions: Evidence From China, Yuanyuan Fan

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

The number of cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in China has increased dramatically in recent years. Under China’s “go global” strategy, Chinese firms are devoting more capital and time to developing their overseas business. Cross-border M&As make up a large proportion of these activities. Therefore, it is crucial to determine what factors affect the performance of cross-border acquisitions.

Previous studies show that the acquirers’ post-merger performance is affected by various factors. Those papers mainly focus on domestic M&As. However, cross-border M&As also have unique features. In this study, I focus on Chinese cross-border acquisitions and the factors that affect the …

An Examination Of The Effectiveness Of A Training Programme To Improve Decision Making In Insurance Risk Underwriting, Gavin Raj Maistry

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This dissertation studies the effectiveness of a training programme to improve decision making in insurance risk underwriting. A key component of insurance risk underwriting decisions is qualitative judgement, in addition to quantitative analytical modelling. In the training of insurance underwriters, great strides have been made on the analytical side. However, the training of judgement, both intuitive and deliberate, has largely been ignored. The aim of this research proposal is to design and test a training programme to improve judgement in insurance underwriting.

Our research extends the script training concept, used extensively in medical training, to the domain of insurance underwriting …

Transformational Leadership And Follower Risk-Taking: Examining The Effects Of Psychological Safety And Power Distance Orientation, Josephine Poh Tin Kang

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Risk-taking is a necessary part of business, yet little is known about how leaders might impact follower risk-taking. A theoretical model is developed in which transformational leaders are hypothesized to indirectly affect follower risk-taking through follower psychological safety. Additionally, this partially mediated effect is theorised to be moderated by follower power distance orientation. Data were collected over two time periods from followers (N = 331) to test the hypothesized model. Results provided limited support for the hypothesized model. Specifically, results indicated that transformational leadership positively affected psychological safety, but psychological safety did not predict follower risk-taking. Power distance orientation did …

Successful Venture Building: What Matters! An Empirical Examination Of Effective Incubation Practices, Patrick Thng

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Incubator models have evolved since the first known US incubator in 1959. From the first generation of a facilities-focused incubator model in the 1960s to the fourth generation of emerging models, commonly referred to as, the “Accelerator” model and the “Venture Builder” model.
Since 2006, there has been a significant increase in the number of venture builders and accelerators. Yet very little is known about a) their performance and the antecedents; b) the key differences between venture builders and accelerators; c) the factors and practices that characterise highly successful venture builders and d) their (venture builders)comparative advantages or disadvantages compared …

Battling Counterfeits In A Massive Market: Designing And Evaluating An Id-Tag Based Solution For Electronic Product Monitoring And Controlling, Xiao Ying Chen

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

The problem of counterfeit and shoddy goods in China has been rampant and persistent one. The complexity of the Chinese market makes solving this problem extremely difficult. Three government agencies have tried to combat this problem extensively, from market entrance permission for prior-processing, sampling and inspection for in-processing, and punishment for post-processing. The responsibility division among agencies, however, created the cracks and holes in dealing with the problem. The existing government solution is too slow in response and too sparse in coverage to be effective and efficient. Anti-counterfeit labels and their derivatives are employed for counterfeit identification and prevention. Their …

The Multidimensionality Of Business Risk: A Managerial Perspective Implications For Its Classification, Interpretation & Management, Prakash Bagri

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Business risk has been a critical area of managerial attention and the topic of extensive academic research. Despite the intense focus, there is little convergence around its understanding and limited insights on how managers deal with it. Extant literature provides an ex post model of business risk, focusing on the behavioural context of risk-taking driving a linear expression of risk action.

We conducted in-depth interviews of 16 C-suite executives to find that managers (1) view business risk as a multi-dimensional construct involving different facets of risk, (2) emphasize the importance of people across these facets, (3) differ in their prioritization …

Voting And Commenting Mechanisms In Ongoing Crowdsourcing Platforms: A Case Study Of Lego Ideas Platform, Khalid Murzig M. Alharbi

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Although crowdsourcing, an innovative online call to help solve problems or generate new ideas, has gained much traction in the business word, not much research has been done on the commenting and voting mechanisms. Most of the research has focussed on the why and how businesses crowdsource. To fill the gap, this research focusses on the commenting and voting mechanisms and aims to analyse the effectiveness of the commenting and voting mechanism in an ongoing crowdsourcing platform, Lego Idea. Using Python software, 8663 comments were extracted from the Lego Ideas platform. These comments were then manually categorised into 10 variables …

Identifying The Competencies Of Middle Managers Leading Successful Strategy Implementation, Zafar Abdulmajid Momin

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

How does one successfully implement strategy? Persistent and alarmingly high failure rates of strategy implementation still prevail due to the myriad variables and complexities associated with execution, the brunt of which typically falls to middle management. Unfortunately, most organizations do not exercise sufficient rigor in the process and criteria to select the right middle managers for executing strategy, despite middle managers having a substantial impact on outcomes. Business leaders lack the necessary tools and frameworks for competency assessment to support their decision-making. This research seeks to provide evidence that selection of the right middle managers is more likely to lead …

Ownership Structure, Financial Structure And R&D Investment: Evidence From Korean Firms, Yanghua Chen

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Understanding factors that can enhance a firm‟s innovativeness is of critical concern in management research. Prior studies in strategy and financial economics have advanced our understanding of how resource allocation into innovation is shaped in a firm, mainly from the perspectives of ownership and financial structures. However, the extant literature is incomplete, because it treats ownership and financial structures as separate determinants, even though theoretical arguments and empirical evidences suggest that they are interdependent. This study investigates the determinants of firm‟s R&D investments by bridging ownership and financial structures. Ownerships held by inside and external owners are considered for ownership …

Organizational Slack, International Expansion And Firm Profitability, Anran Liu

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

International expansion is a viable growth strategy for firms operating in an increasingly competitive business environment. Understanding the relationship between international expansion and firm performance has been a significant concern for theory development in the strategy and international business literature. The extant literature, however, has paid insufficient attention to the tradeoff between firm growth and profitability that may imply the existence of an optimal rate of growth. Drawing from the Penrosian perspective that emphasizes the role of resources in firm growth, this study investigates whether and how firm slack resources affect the tradeoff between international expansion and profitability. Specifically, this …