http://hdl.handle.net/1893/42 Electronic theses of Management, Work and Organisation students. 2026-10-04T09:43:34Z http://hdl.handle.net/1893/38353 Title: The strategic transformation process of new energy technology firms from a dynamic capabilities perspective: a case study of company E Author(s): Wu, Jun Abstract: In the context of the global energy system accelerating its transition towards low-carbon, intelligent and systematic development, new energy technology enterprises are confronted with multiple uncertainties across technology, policy, markets and industry boundaries. This thesis takes Company E as a single case study, exploring the process and mechanism of strategic transformation of new energy technology enterprises from a dynamic capabilities perspective. It asks what happened during the strategic transformation, why it could continue, and how dynamic capabilities play a role. This research adopts an interpretivist qualitative case study approach, integrating 15 semi-structured interviews, participatory observations, and secondary data, and conducts the research through thematic analysis, coding analysis, and process analysis. The research reveals that the strategic transformation of Company E was not a one-off leap but went through three stages: the product breakthrough period (2007-2015), the multi-business expansion period (2016-2020), and the ecosystem leadership period (2021 to present). The strategic logic evolved from competing in wind turbine products to providing comprehensive clean energy solutions and building a zero-carbon ecosystem. Dynamic capabilities have played a pivotal role in connecting external changes with internal strategic actions: the company sensed technological, policy, and market changes, seized new strategic windows, and reconfigured resources, organizational structures, and ecosystem relationships. Additionally, dynamic capabilities exhibited differentiated forms at different stages, namely technology-oriented, portfolio-integrative, and ecosystem-shaping dynamic capabilities. The contribution of this research lies in deepening the understanding of the evolution of strategic transformation stages in new energy technology enterprises from a process perspective, revealing the mediating mechanism of dynamic capabilities in driving strategic transformation, and refining the specific manifestations and micro-foundations of dynamic capabilities at different stages. The research also provides management insights for new energy technology enterprises to enhance their sensing, seizing, and reconfiguring capabilities and promote continuous strategic upgrading. 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/1893/38250 Title: Designing organisational resilience under prolonged crisis: an integrated resource-change framework for classical music organisations in Beijing Author(s): Hu, Yan Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic created a prolonged systemic crisis for classical music organisations because their artistic production depends on in-person collaboration, specialised labour, regular programming, and sustained audience participation. However, organisations operating under broadly similar restrictions followed different trajectories of survival, recovery, and organisational change. This study examines how and why such divergence occurred through comparative case studies of three classical music organisations in Beijing with contrasting governance, funding, employment, artistic, and market structures. The study develops the Integrated Resource-Change Framework (IRCF) to explain how organisational resilience emerges through the interaction between resource reconfiguration and the institutionalisation of change. Drawing on the Resource-Based View, dynamic capability theory, change-management scholarship, and organisational resilience research, the IRCF conceptualises resilience not as an inherent organisational attribute or a return to the pre-crisis state, but as a cumulative, path-dependent, and potentially designable capability system. It concerns an organisation’s capacity to sense disruption, mobilise and recombine financial, human, technological, relational, and symbolic resources, and subsequently embed effective adaptations within governance structures, routines, roles, decision-making pathways, and reusable process assets. Using an interpretivist, qualitative comparative case-study design, the study analyses evidence collected from October 2024 to March 2025 concerning organisational experiences during and after the pandemic. The final analytical sample comprises 64 semi-structured interviews across the three cases, supported by organisational documents, policy materials, and public media and platform content. The data were analysed through thematic analysis, within-case process tracing, and cross-case comparison. Ten analytical themes were used to operationalise the IRCF and examine how organisational responses developed over time. The findings demonstrate that resource availability alone does not guarantee resilience. Durable organisational resilience emerges when rapid resource reconfiguration is combined with consistent leadership, organisational learning, governance coordination, and the institutionalisation of effective crisis responses. Three configurations are identified: a high-resilience configuration characterised by an integrated capability loop and institutionalised adaptation; a constrained-resilience configuration marked by partial integration and structural limitations; and a reactive configuration characterised by strong initial responsiveness but limited cumulative capability development. Governance friction, infrastructural bottlenecks, policy dependence, digital-transition pressures, and weak retention of process assets often prevent temporary improvisations from becoming enduring organisational capabilities. The configurational logic of the IRCF may also inform the analysis of other cultural organisations operating in resource-constrained and policy-intensive institutional environments. 2026-04-30T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/1893/38249 Title: Guanxi, Organizational Justice, and Commitment in Chinese State-Owned Enterprises: Regulatory Focus and Justice-Related Work Experiences Author(s): Chen, Feihong Abstract: This dissertation investigates the relationship between Guanxi, organisational justice, and organisational commitment in Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs). It focuses on how informal relational practices in recruitment and promotion are interpreted by senior managers and how employees' perceived Guanxi embeddedness and motivational orientations are associated with justice-related work experiences. The study treats Guanxi as a culturally embedded relational mechanism with both benefits and risks: it can support trust, coordination, and access to resources, but it can also generate concerns about favouritism, opacity, and unequal opportunity. Drawing on social capital theory, organisational justice theory, regulatory focus theory, and social exchange theory, the thesis develops a framework in which Guanxi is understood as conditional social capital. Its legitimacy depends on whether relational ties are linked to competence, role fit, procedural visibility, and organisational value. In the quantitative strand, organisational justice is not measured through the full classical justice scale. Instead, role adaptability, work autonomy, and communication quality are treated as justice-related work experiences through which employees may encounter the effects of Guanxi-shaped organisational arrangements. The study adopts a qualitatively informed mixed-methods design. The qualitative phase comprises 24 semi-structured interviews with senior and middle-senior SOE managers, examining managerial rationales, legitimacy boundaries, and fairness-efficiency tensions in Guanxi-related personnel decisions. The quantitative phase uses matched employee-supervisor survey data from 99 SOE employees and applies partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). The quantitative findings indicate that promotion focus is positively associated with role adaptability and communication quality, while prevention focus is positively associated with work autonomy. Role adaptability and work autonomy are negatively associated with supervisor-rated organisational commitment, while Guanxi embeddedness shows a positive direct association with commitment. The dissertation contributes by clarifying when Guanxi is treated as useful social capital and when it becomes a perceived fairness risk in SOE HR governance. It also offers a cautious explanation of why autonomy and adaptability may not always strengthen commitment in bureaucratic settings when they are not accompanied by sufficient authority, resources, clarity, or support. Methodologically, the thesis combines managerial interview evidence with employee-supervisor survey evidence while avoiding the claim that every survey construct was generated directly from the qualitative strand. Practically, it highlights the need for SOEs to manage referrals, recommendations, and relational resources through transparent criteria, visible procedures, and communication practices that protect fairness and legitimacy. 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/1893/38237 Title: Analysing the Impact of Regulatory and Cultural Factors on Recent Graduates Initiating AI Technology Startups in China's Urban Centers Author(s): Sheng, Yi Abstract: This thesis examines the roles played by regulatory frameworks, technological infrastructure, cultural expectations, and educational background in shaping the entrepreneurial experiences of recent graduates who start artificial intelligence (AI) companies in urban centres in China. The research employed a sequential exploratory mixed-methods approach, collecting survey data from 150 AI startup founders and conducting in-depth interviews with 15 participants. Quantitative results indicate that perceived technology infrastructure and regulatory understanding are strongly associated with self-reported startup success within this sample, while educational background shows a weak or negative association. Qualitative analysis identifies six overlapping themes: regulatory complexity; funding access and strategic dependencies; cultural narratives and entrepreneurial identity; gaps in entrepreneurial education; infrastructure and digital inequality; and ecosystem navigation and strategic adaptation. The thesis proposes a Layered Ecosystem Pressures Model to interpret how institutional, ecosystem and founder-level pressures shape entrepreneurial agency. The study applies institutional theory, entrepreneurial ecosystem theory and resource-based perspectives to interpret how graduate founders experience layered pressures in early-stage AI venture formation. It concludes that AI entrepreneurship in China is shaped not only by technological opportunity, but also by perceived regulatory clarity, access to infrastructure, cultural legitimacy and the practical agency of recent graduate founders. 2026-05-01T00:00:00Z