Leadership, Global Leadership, International Business, International Management, Organizational Change, Organizational Development, International Trade, Sustainablee Development, Africa, Strategic Management.

Examining the link between international business networks and performance in international trade a research agenda

by Breda Kenny

NETWORK RESOURCES AND INTERNATIONAL PERFORMANCE OF HIGH TECH SMES

by Breda Kenny

Kenny, B and J Fahy, (2011), Network Resources and International Performance of High Tech SMEs, Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, Special Issue on International Entrepreneurship, Vol. 18 Iss: 3, 529 – 555.

Purpose This study identifies and examines the relationship between network resources and international performance of... more Purpose This study identifies and examines the relationship between network resources and international performance of High Tech SMEs (HTSME) in the telecommunications industry in Ireland. The network resource construct for this paper comprises three dimensions:  network human capital resources, network resource combination and information sharing.
Design/methodology/approach Empirical research was carried out using a mail survey in which 154 firms completed and returned the questionnaire. Three hypotheses were analysed using structural equations modelling using LISREL.
Findings The study’s main finding suggests a positive relationship between a firm’s network human capital resources and international performance. However, no support was found for the relationship between network resources combinations, information sharing and international performance.
Research limitations/implications – This study is cross sectional, confined to a single industry  and  focused on the role of networks in the HTSME context only. Results from this study will provide policy makers and practitioners with additional insights into network resource based factors that are associated with international performance for HTSMEs. 
Practical implications The paper concludes with a discussion of these findings and the overall implications for policy makers and managers.
Originality/value- This study offers a multiple dimensionality to the network resource concept by measuring the direct effect of the type of network resources in terms of human capital, information and resources combinations on international performance of High Tech SMEs (HTSMEs) in the telecommunications industry. These findings advance network research by highlighting the trade-offs that networks impose on firms that seek to manage and leverage their network resources.

Keywords: Network Resources, HTSMEs, International Performance
Article Type Research Paper

Foreign Language Use and Training: A Study of US Firms Operating in the Mid west Region of Ireland,

by Breda Kenny

Kenny, B and H Sheikh, (2000). Foreign Language Use and Training: A Study of US Firms Operating in the Mid west Region of Ireland, The Journal of Language for International Business, Thunderbird.  Vol 11, No. 1 41 – 55.

A competitive future for UK construction?

by Chris Goodier

Synthesising emerging issues within key futures study reports in construction

by Chris Goodier

Anticipating tomorrow: the future of the European construction industry

by Chris Goodier

Enhancing strategic planning in the UK construction industry

by Chris Goodier

The last judgement: exploring intellectual leadership in higher education through academic obituaries

by Roy Chan

Co-authored

The literature on leadership in higher education is focused mainly on senior academic leaders with managerial roles.... more The literature on leadership in higher education is focused mainly on senior academic leaders with managerial roles. It largely excludes informal and distributed forms of intellectual leadership offered by full professors among others. This article explores the concept of intellectual leadership using academic obituaries. A total of 63 obituaries were collected from Times Higher Education published between 2008 and 2010. These identify the importance of personal characteristics and academic achievements in the formation of reputation. Four elements of intellectual leadership are suggested, linked to academic obituaries: a passion for transformation, possessing a balance of personal virtues, a commitment to service, and overcoming adversity. Despite the limitations of obituaries, it is argued that they provide a valuable and under-utilised ‘last judgement’ on intellectual leadership.

"Text Organizing": el espacio social de la ciudad

by Hugo Gaggiotti

published in Journal Imagen, (34 (1), 72-77, 2001.

Learning the Hard Way

by STAMATIA KREMMYDA

published in 'Insight, Edinburgh University Economics Magazine', page 30

The Changing ‘Face’ of African Immigrants and Refugees: The Case of Ghanaian immigrants in Columbus, Ohio

by PADMORE AGBEMABIESE

Although much of the evidence is sporadic and anecdotal, no one makes the effort to obtain a good sense of the... more Although much of the evidence is sporadic and anecdotal, no one makes the effort to obtain a good sense of the magnitude of problems Africans face when they migrate to other countries. The most significant influx of Ghanaians emigrating to the United States has been in the four decades since independence. While many long-time Ghanaian American immigrants in the United States came as students, many of the immigrants of 1980s and 1990s came seeking business opportunities as well as specialized experience and training. Even though, times of economic hardship in Ghana have affected the number that emigrate little or less is imagined of the socio-cultural, economic and political challenges that await their emigration to the United States.

Slavery and Colonialism: The Worst Terrorism on Africa

by Mohamed Eno

Co-authored with Omar A. Eno, Mohamed H. Ingiriis, and Jamal M. Haji; Published in African Renaissance, Vol. 9, No. 1, 2012.

Humans need not justify terrorism of any kind, regardless of whether one is Muslim, Christian or Jew, because it is... more Humans need not justify terrorism of any kind, regardless of whether one is Muslim, Christian or Jew, because it is the axis of evil and devastation of mankind. However, the deliberate use of the term terrorism in recent decades was carefully selected, mainly, against a certain religion (Islam). The idea was then globally politicized by the Western world. Leaving that scholarly view in its own right, we disagree with the opinion raising terrorism as the devil’s just-born child of evil, when in reality Africans had been terrorized for centuries as slaves and human chattel. Hence the basis for the concept of this thesis: conceptualizing the episode of ‘terrorism’ and ‘terrorist’ from the broader perspective of its practice from the Middle Passage or the Atlantic Slave Trade. To portray that argument and broaden the scope of the debate over this critically sensitive subject, we divided the discussion into three sections: an examination of what constitutes terrorism and terrorist; history of terrorism and terrorists from an Africa perspective; and the ideological constraints within the subject of terrorism as practiced by the US and its Western allies.

Abstract, Dedication, and Acknowledgments for the Hobbs (2011) dissertation published by SAS.

by Robert Dean Hobbs

The Hobbs (2011) doctoral study is published in the ProQuest Dissertations and These database, UMI No. 3484309

The purpose of the qualitative research was to assess models of education developed for the study to investigate how... more The purpose of the qualitative research was to assess models of education developed for the study to investigate how and when to incorporate second and third languages into the curriculum to improve language acquisition. Research indicates that L3 enhances and reinforces L2 and L1. The stratified systematic grounded theory study explored the perspectives of neurolinguists, psycholinguists, sociolinguists, and interdisciplinary education researchers to derive variables for constructing a new model of education. The outcome of the Internet survey revealed that 100% of the participants agreed that education must change and that teacher training must improve. Variables from the cross-disciplinary data contributed to the construction of an integrated model of multilingual education consisting of four primary models and other models to serve as tools for designing curriculum, instruction, and assessment as well as determining demographics and student meta-analysis of language abilities and storage in the brain. The first model emerged from the data to offer multilingual principles of education. The other primary models are macro, meso, and micro models. The macro model represents schools, instruction, assessment, and the curriculum cycle. The meso model depicts the developmental domains of the individual learner and includes a cyclical equation. The micro model delineates multilingual processing in the brain based on neurolinguistic research, variables from the current study, and Kees de Bot's bilingual adaptation of Levelt's language processing model. Recommendations include the incorporation of notional-functional pragmatic-aesthetic concepts as depicted in the models developed for the study and enhanced by input from published researchers with unique language and research repertoires who were located on four continents.

The international business performance of Ceramco Limted with reference to the crockery trade

by Peter Mellalieu

Mellalieu, P. J. (1976, October). The international business performance of Ceramco Limted with reference to the crockery trade (Term paper for International Business, Master of Public Policy). Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand.

The study reports how the New Zealand company Ceramco (formerly Crown Lynn Potteries) became an international business... more The study reports how the New Zealand company Ceramco (formerly Crown Lynn Potteries) became an international business enterprise. The report describes how the specialized ceramics subsidiary grew from the company’s established manufacturing of bricks and roof tiles to become a company exporting from New Zealand. The subsequent evolution of Ceramco to attain global horizons with world-wide manufacturing and marketing operations is discussed. Particular attention is paid to policy changes in New Zealand’s macro-economic environment that facilitated the establishment of the company’s protected crockery manufacturing business, export subsidies, and grants for off-shore manufacture.

Business of Drugs: poverty relief or tenaciously snap our society???

by Suman Chowdhury Mony

Businessman especially the producer, manufacturer, seller of deathly drugs, should realize that it will be too much... more Businessman especially the producer, manufacturer, seller of deathly drugs, should realize that it will be too much harmful for their children and family members who are live in the danger point being drug addicted. Their profitable business can push their family members, friends and relatives in the deathly circle of drugs. In these days, they enjoy their super profitable business of harmful drugs by destroying our several ages people specially youths, but are they think about their families? How they protect their family members, friends and relatives when they are in the mine of harmful drugs, which are easy to get to them?

Trasformative Learning and Appreciative Inquiry: A More Perfect Union for Deep Organizational Change

by Loretta Donovan

Co-athored with Susan R. Meyer, Ed. D. and Stephen Fitzgerald, Ph.D.

‘Comparative management practices in international advertising agencies in the UK, Thailand and the USA’,

by Chris Hackley

Hackley, C. and Tiwsakul, R. (2008) ‘Comparative management practices in international advertising agencies in the UK, Thailand and the USA’, Chapter 14 in Smith, C., McSweeney, B. and Fitzgerland, R. (Eds)  Remaking Management: Between Global and Local, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, pp. 380-403 ISBN -13: 9780521861519.

Case study: Capacity building for entrepreneur enabling in Southern Africa.

by Peter Mellalieu

Mellalieu, P. J. (2006). Case study: Capacity building for entrepreneur enabling in Southern Africa. International Indigenous Journal of Entrepreneurship, Advancement, Strategy and Education, 2(1). Retrieved from http://www.indigenousjournal.com/IIJEASVolIIIss1Mellalieu.pdf

INTRODUCTION The government of Botswana has set itself the challenge of developing an ‘innovative and prosperous... more INTRODUCTION The government of Botswana has set itself the challenge of developing an ‘innovative and prosperous nation’. However, “an over- dependence on diamonds, high unemployment levels, and unacceptably high levels of poverty and inequality - both in terms of assets and income - are persistent problems." (Clover, 2003) One approach to overcoming these persistent problems is to create an abundance of “grass roots” support for enterprising behaviour throughout the nation. Unfortunately, the principal focus of Botswana’s current formal education system appears mainly to educate job- takers for the public sector and larger companies. For instance, accounting studies are the most popular programmes in the University of Botswana’s Faculty of Business.

This case summarises the author’s experience designing and executing four capacity-building workshops for prospective entrepreneur-enablers whilst he was based at the University of Botswana, Gaborone. The workshops drew on experiential methodologies. In particular, the participants were tasked to work in problem-based learning teams focussed on providing practical advice to real entrepreneurs for whom the author had written introductory case studies. (Mellalieu, 2006)

RESULTS Through the workshop process, the participants recognised the value of the problem-based learning approach. For instance, they developed confidence in providing advice beyond their subject specialty. The experience of running the first three workshops lead to the design of a robust, scaleable programme format for a three-hour networking and knowledge exchange workshop - branded as Enterprise in ActionTM. One pilot of the Enterprise in Action workshop format was tested and received enthusiastic response from the participants.

CONCLUSION Botswana has an urgent need to create an enterprising culture. As a pre-requisite to achieving this outcome, an abundance of competent entrepreneur-enablers must be identified and developed throughout the country. The successful trial of the Enterprise in Action format lays a tested foundation for pursuing this initiative.

Creating Enterprise in Extreme Environments: Strategic Leadership from an Entrepreneurship Development Centre at the University of Botswana

by Peter Mellalieu

Mellalieu, P. J. (2006). Creating Enterprise in Extreme Environments: Strategic Leadership from an Entrepreneurship Development Centre at the University of Botswana (p. 67). Auckland, NZ: New Zealand Centre for Innovation & Entrepreneurship, Unitec Institute of Technology. Retrieved from http://web.me.com/petermellalieu/Teacher/Examples/Entries/2007/10/18_Creating_enterprise_in_extreme_environments__Strategic_leadership_from_an_entrepreneurship_development_centre_at_the_University_of_Botswana.html

This report presents recommendations to the University of Botswana’s Faculty of Business for extending substantially... more This report presents recommendations to the University of Botswana’s Faculty of Business for extending substantially its Business Clinic into an Entrepreneurship Development Centre. Recommendations to the University beyond the Faculty of Business are also made.


Botswana has set itself the challenge of becoming an ‘innovative and prosperous nation’. The challenge appears daunting. The country has embarked on a journey to make the quantum jump to a country with world-class, high-growth companies by 2016. In contrast, at the time of independence in 1966 the country was a traditional hunter-gatherer village-based society. Accordingly, the education and development system required for Botswana's 21st century global citizen must extend to include identifying and developing job-makers: world-class entrepreneurs and innovators.


The principal focus of Botswana’s current formal education system seems mainly to educate job-takers for the public sector and larger companies. Furthermore, Botswana's impressive record of growth has not translated into socioeconomic transformation: "Over-dependence on diamonds, high unemployment levels and unacceptably high levels of poverty and inequality - both in terms of assets and income - are persistent problems." (Clover, 2003, p. 4). One approach to overcoming these persistent problems is to create an abundance of “grass roots” support for enterprising behavior throughout the nation.


The job-makers and wealth creators that Botswana requires are termed ‘serial innovators and entrepreneurs’. They are habitual and compulsive in their passion for innovation and creating substantial new enterprise. They are ‘weirdly wired’ people, who some might regard as ‘mad’ or ‘crazy’ in view of the risks they appear to take. However, these habitual innovators participate in leading substantial business and social change in the communities for which they create and provide new products or new service delivery systems. Furthermore, these entrepreneurs provide leadership in creating substantial forms of wealth - financial and/or social - from the new opportunities they identify, exploit, and grow into sustainable organisations.


A series of course topics is outlined for delivery as workshops and/or educational programmes through the proposed Entrepreneurship Development Centre. The course topics are directly linked to develop competencies required to embrace all elements of the entrepreneurial process model, developed by Bolton and Thompson (2001).


Furthermore, it is recommended that at least one of the three following courses are required to be studied by all students at the University of Botswana:

A strengths-based course in personal and professional career development;

Foundations of innovation and entrepreneurship;

New venture start-up project.


The most urgent recommendation is for the Faculty of Business to institutionalize formally a regular, monthly programme of 'real world learning adventures'. The format of these learning adventures was devised specifically for the Botswana context. The events are branded with the suggested name: Enterprise in Action™ (EIA). An EIA event focusses equally on business networking and knowledge exchange. Both business networking and knowledge exchange are crucial elements in aiding the success of entrepreneurs as they overcome the many obstacles that they experience in their pursuit of success. Three examples of ‘real world learning adventures’ were designed and implemented during the author’s four-month residence in the Botswana. The last adventure formed the pilot/prototype version for the Enterprise in Action format.


Many Batswana return to their homeland from study or work in foreign countries. They bring back knowledge, experience, and professional contacts to Botswana. However, a proportion of these returning Batswana are not deployed effectively upon their return home. Accordingly, one important opportunity is for a proportion of the Enterprise in Action programmes to focus on providing a networking opportunity to help the productive re-integration into Botswana business and community life of returning Batswana.


Fundamental to the success of the proposed initiatives is that the University of Botswana implements concurrently processes to identify and develop ‘entrepreneur enablers’. Entrepreneur enablers form a unique selection of teachers, consultants, advisors, and informal investors. Entrepreneur enablers intervene directly to help their ‘client entrepreneurs’ overcome obstacles, and build their entrepreneurial self-efficacy (Bolton and Thompson, 2004, 2006, Lucas and Cooper, 2004).


The full report outlines a  series of five Strategic Focus Areas (SFAs) as a basis for collaborative development of the entire University’s commitment to becoming an enterprising institution. The Strategic Focus Areas are chosen to ensure that the University of Botswana builds a robust, widespread, and significant core-competency in entrepreneurship development for business, technological, and social contexts. The five Strategic Focus Areas recommended for institutionalization are:


SFA 1: Business innovation and entrepreneurship.

SFA 2: Design, technology, and science-based innovation and entrepreneurship

SFA 3: Social sector innovation and entrepreneurship

SFA 4: Mass entrepreneurship

SFA 5: Entrepreneur enabler identification and development


Beyond these initiatives, the University should evolve the Entrepreneurship Development Centre and the other SFAs into a university-wide, world-class applied research and development centre focussing on innovation and enterprise development studies in the southern Africa region: A Centre for Innovation and Enterprise Development Studies.

participative leadership

by Richard Wayman