Doing business research:a guide to theory and practice

For anyone involved in developing a research project, this textbook provides an integrated, accessible and humorous account that explains why research methods are the way they are and how they do what they do. Unrivalled in its nature Doing Business Research addresses the research project as a whole and provides: - essential detail of philosophical and theoretical matters that are crucial to conceptualising the nature of methodology - a pragmatic guide to why things are important and how they are important - a huge range of things to consider that the reader can use to develop their research project further - a resource book, providing extensive suggested reading to help the researcher do their research.

Organizing to reorganize:doing end-to-end management in practice

This paper takes a practice perspective on organizing, re-conceptualizing coordination mechanisms as dynamic activities that are under continuous construction and modification in order to socially accomplish intra-organizational relationships and activities. The paper is based on the case of Servico, an organization undergoing a major reorganization of its value chain in response to a change in government regulation. We examine the specific performances through which the ostensive and abstract character of a coordination mechanism, ‘end-to-end management’, is defined and refined into a set of activities that actors can use to effect the re-organization of relationships between two divisions during the delivery of a critical regulatory goal. We find six cycles of iteration between the ostensive and performative nature of end-to-end, which progressively help to organize three phases in the reorganization of Servico; absence, presence and formalization. The discussion examines the processual evolution of these cycles and phases and their implications for the way that reorganization occurred. We draw these findings together in a process model that makes contributions to the literature on organizing, on ostensive and performative routines, and on organizational restructuring.

Being female doing gender:narratives of women in education management

The paper explores gender relations in academia and discusses how gender is constructed within academic institutions. It is based upon the study of a business school, part of a British university. The construction of gender relations within this institution was of special interest because the majority of managerial roles were occupied by women. All female academic managers (dean, associate deans and heads of department) and a random selection of female and male academics were interviewed. The process of construction of gender relations is investigated through the analysis of the discrepancy between the ‘masculine culture’ of high education institutions and the dominance of women managers within this organization. It is suggested that the numerical dominance of women managers may create tensions between their individual identities as women and their managerial identities, due to the predominance of masculine practices and values within the organization. Additionally, it emerged that the maintenance of masculine ideals and practices is also associated with downplaying women’s achievements.

Organizing to reorganize:doing end-to-end management in practice

This paper takes a practice perspective on organizing, re-conceptualizing coordination mechanisms as dynamic activities that are under continuous construction and modification in order to socially accomplish intra-organizational relationships and activities. The paper is based on the case of Servico, an organization undergoing a major reorganization of its value chain in response to a change in government regulation. We examine the specific performances through which the ostensive and abstract character of a coordination mechanism, ‘end-to-end management’, is defined and refined into a set of activities that actors can use to effect the re-organization of relationships between two divisions during the delivery of a critical regulatory goal. We find six cycles of iteration between the ostensive and performative nature of end-to-end, which progressively help to organize three phases in the reorganization of Servico; absence, presence and formalization. The discussion examines the processual evolution of these cycles and phases and their implications for the way that reorganization occurred. We draw these findings together in a process model that makes contributions to the literature on organizing, on ostensive and performative routines, and on organizational restructuring.

Supporting English language teachers doing further degrees at a distance:a web based strategy researched

This thesis explores how the world-wide-web can be used to support English language teachers doing further studies at a distance. The future of education worldwide is moving towards a requirement that we, as teacher educators, use the latest web technology not as a gambit, but as a viable tool to improve learning. By examining the literature on knowledge, teacher education and web training, a model of teacher knowledge development, along with statements of advice for web developers based upon the model are developed. Next, the applicability and viability of both the model and statements of advice are examined by developing a teacher support site (bttp://www. philseflsupport. com) according to these principles. The data collected from one focus group of users from sixteen different countries, all studying on the same distance Masters programme, is then analysed in depth. The outcomes from the research are threefold: A functioning website that is averaging around 15, 000 hits a month provides a professional contribution. An expanded model of teacher knowledge development that is based upon five theoretical principles that reflect the ever-expanding cyclical nature of teacher learning provides an academic contribution. A series of six statements of advice for developers of teacher support sites. These statements are grounded in the theoretical principles behind the model of teacher knowledge development and incorporate nine keys to effective web facilitation. Taken together, they provide a forward-looking contribution to the praxis of web supported teacher education, and thus to the potential dissemination of the research presented here. The research has succeeded in reducing the proliferation of terminology in teacher knowledge into a succinct model of teacher knowledge development. The model may now be used to further our understanding of how teachers learn and develop as other research builds upon the individual study here. NB: Appendix 4 is only available only available for consultation at Aston University Library with prior arrangement.

Doing action research in English language teaching:a guide for practitioners

This hands-on, practical guide for ESL/EFL teachers and teacher educators outlines, for those who are new to doing action research, what it is and how it works. Straightforward and reader friendly, it introduces the concepts and offers a step-by-step guide to going through an action research process, including illustrations drawn widely from international contexts. Specifically, the text addresses: •action research and how it differs from other forms of research •the steps involved in developing an action research project •ways of developing a research focus •methods of data collection •approaches to data analysis •making sense of action research for further classroom action. Each chapter includes a variety of pedagogical activities: •Pre-Reading questions ask readers to consider what they already know about the topic •Reflection Points invite readers to think about/discuss what they have read •action points ask readers to carry out action-research tasks based on what they have read •Classroom Voices illustrate aspects of action research from teachers internationally •Summary Points provide a synopsis of the main points in the chapter

Material artifacts:practices for doing strategy with 'stuff'

This paper addresses the dearth of research into material artifacts and how they are engaged in strategizing activities. Building on the strategy-as-practice perspective, and the notion of epistemic objects, we develop a typology of strategy practices that show how managers use material artifacts to strategize by a dual process of knowledge abstraction and substitution. Empirically, we study the practice of underwriting managers in reinsurance companies. Our findings first identify the artifacts – pictures, maps, data packs, spreadsheets and graphs – that these managers use to appraise reinsurance deals. Second, the analysis of each artifact’s situated use led to the identification of five practices for doing strategy with artifacts: physicalizing, locating, enumerating, analyzing, and selecting. Last, we developed a typology that shows how practices vary in terms of their level of abstraction from the physical properties of the risk being reinsured and unfold through a process of substituting. Our conceptual framework extends existing work in the strategy-as-practice field that calls for research into the role of material artifacts.

Doing business in India:building research-based practice

In response to the increasing interest in the growth and developments in the Indian economy, and the dynamic nature of the rapidly changing Indian business environment, this textbook is designed to provide a comprehensive guide to doing business in the Indian context. Written by academic experts in their respective fields, this book is divided into three parts: the Indian business context, conducting business in India, and India and the world. Key information is presented on a wide range of topics, including: •Both the shortcomings and opportunities associated with the Indian business environment •The economic development model in India •Critical skills for negotiation and incentives for foreign investors, including case studies of Italian companies that have entered the Indian market in different ways •Business culture in India, including particular customs and etiquette In addition to the pedagogical features, each chapter contains a set of key issues, and there is also a list of useful websites covering a wide range of business needs. This book introduces students to business in India, and will be also be of use to investors, organisations and managers who are already doing business, or intend to start one, in India.

Evaluating the impact of institutional logic on the corporate Internet reporting by Egyptian listed companies

This study explores the institutional logic(s) governing the Corporate Internet Reporting (CIR) by Egyptian listed companies. In doing so, a mixed methods approach was followed. The qualitative part seeks to understand the perceptions, believes, values, norms, that are commonly shared by Egyptian companies which engaged in these practices. Consequently, seven cases of large listed Egyptian companies operating in different industries have been examined. Other stakeholders and stockholders have been interviewed in conjunction with these cases. The quantitative part consists of two studies. The first one is descriptive aiming to specify whether the induced logic(s) from the seven cases are commonly embraced by other Egyptian companies. The second study is explanatory aiming to investigate the impact of several institutional and economic factors on the extent of CIR, types of the online information, quality of the websites as well as the Internet facilities. Drawing on prior CIR literature, four potential types of logics could be inferred: efficiency, legitimacy, technical and marketing based logics. In Egypt, legitimacy logic was initially embraced in the earlier years after the Internet inception. latter, companies confronted radical challenges in their internal and external environments which impelled them to raise their websites potentialities to defend their competitive position; either domestically or internationally. Thus, two new logics emphasizing marketing and technical perspectives have emerged, in response. Strikingly, efficiency based logic is not the most prevalent logic driving CIR practices in Egypt as in the developed countries. The empirical results support this observation and show that almost half of Egyptian listed companies 115 as on December 2010 possessed an active website, half of them 62 disclosed part of their financial and accounting information, during December 2010 to February 2011. Less than half of the websites 52 offered latest annual financial statements. Fewer 33(29%) websites provided shareholders and stock information or included a separate section for corporate governance 25 (22%) compared to 50 (44%) possessing a section for news or press releases. Additionally, the variations in CIR practices, as well as timeliness and credibility were also evident even at industrial level. After controlling for firm size, profitability, leverage, liquidity, competition and growth, it was realized that industrial companies and those facing little competition tend to disclose less. In contrast, management size, foreign investors, foreign listing, dispersion of shareholders and firm size provided significant and positive impact individually or collectively. In contrast, neither audit firm, nor most of performance indicators (i.e. profitability, leverage, and liquidity) did exert an influence on the CIR practices. Thus, it is suggested that CIR practices are loosely institutionalised in Egypt, which necessitates issuing several regulative and processional rules to raise the quality attributes of Egyptian websites, especially, timeliness and credibility. Beside, this study highlights the potency of assessing the impact of institutional logic on CIR practices and suggests paying equal attention to the institutional and economic factors when comparing the CIR practices over time or across different institutional environments in the future.

Nothing succeeds like moderation:a social self-regulation perspective on cultural dissimilarity and individual performance.

Addressing inconsistencies in relational demography research, we examine the relationship between cultural dissimilarity and individual performance through the lens of social self-regulation theory, which extends the social identity perspective in relational demography with the analysis of social self-regulation. We propose that social self-regulation in culturally diverse teams manifests itself as performance monitoring (i.e., individuals' actions to meet team performance standards and peer expectations). Contingent on the status associated with individuals' cultural background, performance monitoring is proposed to have a curvilinear relationship with individual performance and to mediate between cultural dissimilarity and performance. Multilevel moderated mediation analyses of time-lagged data from 316 members of 69 teams confirmed these hypotheses. Cultural dissimilarity had a negative relationship with performance monitoring for high cultural-status members, and a positive relationship for low cultural-status members. Performance monitoring had a curvilinear relationship with individual performance that became decreasingly positive. Cultural dissimilarity thus was increasingly negatively associated with performance for high culturalstatus members, and decreasingly positively for low cultural-status members. These findings suggest that cultural dissimilarity to the team is not unconditionally negative for the individual but, in moderation, may in fact have positive motivational effects.

Pleasure, pain and procrastination:reflections on the experience of doing memory-work research

The focus of this article is the process of doing memory-work research. We tell the story of our experience of what it was like to use this approach. We were enthused to work collectively on a "discovery" project to explore a method with which we were unfamiliar. We hoped to build working relationships based on mutual respect and the desire to focus on methodology and its place in our psychological understanding. The empirical activities highlighted methodological and experiential challenges, which tested our adherence to the social constructionist premise of Haug's original description of memory work. Combined with practical difficulties of living across Europe, writing and analyzing the memories became contentious. We found ourselves having to address a number of tensions emanating from the work and our approach to it. We discuss some of these tensions alongside examples that illustrate the research process and the ways we negotiated the collective nature of the memory-work approach. © 2012 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

Interactive data in financial reporting:the construction of the non-professional investor

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the United States and in particular its immediately past chairman, Christopher Cox, has been actively promoting an upgrade of the EDGAR system of disseminating filings. The new generation of information provision has been dubbed by Chairman Cox, "Interactive Data" (SEC, 2006). In October this year the Office of Interactive Disclosure was created(http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2007/2007-213.htm). The focus of this paper is to examine the way in which the non-professional investor has been constructed by various actors. We examine the manner in which Interactive Data has been sold as the panacea for financial market 'irregularities' by the SEC and others. The academic literature shows almost no evidence of researching non-professional investors in any real sense (Young, 2006). Both this literature and the behaviour of representatives of institutions such as the SEC and FSA appears to find it convenient to construct this class of investor in a particular form and to speak for them. We theorise the activities of the SEC and its chairman in particular over a period of about three years, both following and prior to the 'credit crunch'. Our approach is to examine a selection of the policy documents released by the SEC and other interested parties and the statements made by some of the policy makers and regulators central to the programme to advance the socio-technical project that is constituted by Interactive Data. We adopt insights from ANT and more particularly the sociology of translation (Callon, 1986; Latour, 1987, 2005; Law, 1996, 2002; Law & Singleton, 2005) to show how individuals and regulators have acted as spokespersons for this malleable class of investor. We theorise the processes of accountability to investors and others and in so doing reveal the regulatory bodies taking the regulated for granted. The possible implications of technological developments in digital reporting have been identified also by the CEO's of the six biggest audit firms in a discussion document on the role of accounting information and audit in the future of global capital markets (DiPiazza et al., 2006). The potential for digital reporting enabled through XBRL to "revolutionize the entire company reporting model" (p.16) is discussed and they conclude that the new model "should be driven by the wants of investors and other users of company information,..." (p.17; emphasis in the original). Here rather than examine the somewhat illusive and vexing question of whether adding interactive functionality to 'traditional' reports can achieve the benefits claimed for nonprofessional investors we wish to consider the rhetorical and discursive moves in which the SEC and others have engaged to present such developments as providing clearer reporting and accountability standards and serving the interests of this constructed and largely unknown group - the non-professional investor.

Almost Separable Data Aggregation by Layers of Formal Neurons

Information extraction or knowledge discovery from large data sets should be linked to data aggregation process. Data aggregation process can result in a new data representation with decreased number of objects of a given set. A deterministic approach to separable data aggregation means a lesser number of objects without mixing of objects from different categories. A statistical approach is less restrictive and allows for almost separable data aggregation with a low level of mixing of objects from different categories. Layers of formal neurons can be designed for the purpose of data aggregation both in the case of deterministic and statistical approach. The proposed designing method is based on minimization of the of the convex and piecewise linear (CPL) criterion functions.

Boundary-Value Problems for almost Nonlinear Singularly Perturbed Systems of Ordinary Differential Equations

A boundary-value problems for almost nonlinear singularly perturbed systems of ordinary differential equations are considered. An asymptotic solution is constructed under some assumption and using boundary functions and generalized inverse matrix and projectors.