Robert Kennedy College

Guidelines for writing a Masters dissertation

Contents

Introduction 2

Section A MBA versus MSc dissertations 3

Getting started and choosing a topic 3

Basic structure 4

Constructing the plan 5

Managing time 9

Data security 12

Data gathering and note-taking 12

Questionnaires and interviews 13

Section B Length and layout 16

Fonts, pagination and numbering 18

Graphics 19

Referencing 22

Writing style 27

Bibliography 34

Section C Introductory remarks 36

Part1.Original sample 37

Part2.Commented sample 52

Guidelines for writing a Masters dissertation

Introduction This document has been prepared by an experienced marker of Masters dissertations,1 one who has graded such dissertations over many years both for Robert Kennedy College and for several other institutions. You would be well advised to read it through carefully before starting on your dissertation, then subsequently to refer to it now and then, above all when writing up. There is a wealth of material on aspects of doing dissertation research, from working in a conducive physical environment, through planning and time management, to academic writing style. Some good sources are mentioned in the bibliography. This document, however, contains most, if not all, of what you need to know. If you have already started writing up, or even have finished doing so, it will still be worthwhile reading it and making any consequent amendments you think necessary. For most students, especially those who have little or no experience of producing an academic dissertation, if these guidelines are followed, the chances of a better mark will certainly be increased. Nevertheless, while some of the material presented is prescriptive, some of it is optional – that is to say, advice rather than instructions – and some of it will depend on circumstances such as the type of dissertation undertaken and, consequently, different kinds of source material. The difference in this document between what is prescriptive and what is optional will be made clear where it is not self-evident. However, since no series of guidelines, no matter how detailed, can hope to cover every possible set of circumstances, it will almost certainly be necessary to adjust some of what is said to your particular project. The document is divided into three sections. Section A consists of basic guidelines and general advice. Section B deals with specific issues, such as page layout, writing style, referencing and the like. Section C is divided into two parts. Part 1 is a sample from a (fictitious) MBA dissertation for you to mark as an exercise. Part 2 is a commented version of that sample. It is best not to look, either now or later, at the commented version until you have marked the uncommented version. If you have not yet discussed the matter of your dissertation with your supervisor, you are advised to arm yourself at least with the information in Section A before doing so. It might save him or her a lot of explanation!

1 If you go to sources other than this present document for help and advice on writing a dissertation, you may see the term dissertation referred to as thesis, although MSc and MBA dissertations, which form only part of a course, and which are usually done at the end of that course, are more usually referred to as dissertations. A thesis tends to be longer than a dissertation. However, in the USA, even PhD theses are often called dissertations.

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Section A

1. The difference between (a) an MSc dissertation and (b) an MBA dissertation There is, in fact, very little difference. Both require academic rigour, and both represent an exercise in gathering and structuring information, analysing that information, and setting the text out in a standard academic format. However, the MBA dissertation is more often than not undertaken by those already in work, typically as managers, and it is natural that they should focus not only on their own field but often on the company they work for. The MBA dissertation thus generally draws heavily on a candidate’s work experience, whereas the MSc dissertation tends, although not without exception, to draw more on the experience and knowledge of others. It is not so much that the MBA dissertation is essentially less theoretical than the other type, but rather that there is a difference of direction. There are nevertheless exceptions to this pattern, so that it is imperative that candidates fully discuss with their supervisors their proposed projects and the general approach they intend to take. 2. Getting started and managing the work There is a considerable literature on ways to decide on a topic, plan and write up a dissertation. Whole books are dedicated to the subject, and many academic websites produce guidelines aimed at their graduate students. Some of these sites, and some pertinent books, are listed in the bibliography, although if you use them you will find that some of what they have to say is specific to their institutions. 2.1 Choosing a topic If you do not have any good ideas about a topic, contact your supervisor outlining some general areas, and ask for advice. Look at what other people have done, or in text books or articles, and/or talk to people in your organisation, and see if anything sparks off an idea, as can often happen. In fact, as you research a topic you have chosen, you may find that with the knowledge gained, a better one suggests itself. If you do already have concrete ideas, write them all down (do not discard any at this point – even ones which may seem not so good) and discuss them with your supervisor. It is preferable, although not mandatory, to choose a topic based on a hypothesis of some kind – therefore allowing something to be discussed, maybe where there are arguments to be made on both sides, and a judgement made at the end after the evidence has been presented. The following two statements illustrate the notion: a. The desk measures 2.35 metres by 1.46 metres b. The desk is too small The first of these does not allow for any argument. One takes a ruler and measures the desk: the statement is either right or it is wrong. The second does allow for argument because the statement can be justified or otherwise in various ways. Too small for what? For the room? It all depends. For sufficient working space? It depends on the work involved and perhaps the habits of the worker.

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You can see the basic principle. Thus a topic such as A Success Story: The Entry of Zodel S.A into the Soft Drinks Market may well lead a candidate into a purely descriptive as opposed to an analytical, critical approach. Assuming the descriptive material is accurate, one cannot argue with it: there is therefore nothing on which the examiner can base his or her own judgement other than whether the facts have been well ordered, and whether they are nicely presented. A Masters dissertation is not an elementary-school project. Of course, all depends on the line of attack, and if such a topic were chosen, then it would be crucial to try to determine not only how but why the company has been so successful, by presenting evidence and judging it critically. The problem with a topic such as the one above one is, then, that it tempts the candidate into spending too much time, in the worst cases the whole time, on pure description, much of which, very often, will simply have been taken from the company’s promotional material. A mediocre dissertation with this title which, other things being equal and the presentation OK, adopts a purely or mostly descriptive approach, might pass but not by much. Typically, it would spend too much of the available space in introducing in detail the former and present activities of Zodel SA, maybe including graphics showing its personnel structure (probably irrelevant), then listing and describing all the successes without investigating the reasons for them. A good dissertation with this title would also, but very briefly, describe the overall activities of Zodel SA, but concentrating on those activities which appear to have brought the success, and going into detail only as regards matters which pertain to that success, anything else being considered extraneous and therefore excluded. If descriptive material does not add anything to the evidence and the analysis, it should be discarded or, at best, included in a very concise form as background facts. The dissertation might involve, though not necessarily, some primary data such as a questionnaire and/or interviews with people who have been responsible for the success, or who claim or are generally thought to have been responsible, or who just have views about it, such that a quantitative or qualitative analysis of the responses can be conducted and presented as evidence in addition to the evidence of secondary data gathered from sources. In any case, a title more likely to result in a critical approach would be something like An Analysis of the Reasons for Jodel’s Success in the Soft Drinks Market. 2.2 Basic structure A typical, but not inevitable, dissertation structure is:

i. Acknowledgements if appropriate – do not thank your mother, brother or pet dog for their patience, support and understanding as if you were accepting an Oscar. Stick to specific help you have received.

ii. List of abbreviations. Do not use obvious, familiar ones such as USA: United

States of America.

iii. List of figures and/or tables (the list of figures in this document has nevertheless been omitted since it is not a dissertation).

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iv. Abstract or Executive Summary – normally no more than one page.

v. Introduction – not a description of a company, market etc., but an exposition of the hypothesis or hypotheses, and/or an explanation of the problem(s) or question(s) which will be treated.

vi. If apposite for background purposes, a brief description of the company in

question and its activities, and/or the market, etc. vii. A critical review of the relevant literature, partly in order to show the examiner

that you are familiar with other people’s work in the field. viii. The method(s) used for gathering the information, and a justification for your

decision(s). ix. The method(s) used for analysing that information and a justification for your

decision(s).

x. The analysis itself, which is often a statistical analysis (and if not, why not?). xi. Presentation of the results.

xii. The conclusions, judgements and/or recommendations (if appropriate) based on

the evidence, plus (again if appropriate) suggestions for future research or business activities.

xiii. Appendix or appendices, if relevant (no padding out for its own sake). 2.3 Constructing the plan This is a very important exercise. Without a clear plan at the outset, you may find you have collected a large quantity of data with too vague an idea of what to do with it. Some students prefer to read around a subject-area while making extensive notes before constructing a plan. This is obviously a good policy if you are hesitant about an exact topic, but you should not burden yourself with information overload such that you simply cannot cope with the amount you have gathered, such that the plan becomes too complicated. There are various ways of making a plan. Many people like to start with what is known as the Star system: a central idea with subsidiary ideas attached to it, as illustrated in Figure 1. You begin with a central idea, then attach related ideas to it using lines, out to two or three levels (normally three levels at most, otherwise the diagram becomes unwieldy and even incomprehensible). Some of the subsidiary ideas may also be related to each other, and these connections too can be represented diagrammatically, but the process should not be overdone or, again, the diagram will become so complicated as to be an encumbrance rather than an aid.

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Central idea

Sub-ideas

Sub-sub ideas

Central idea

Figure 1. The star plan Take the following example: in a dissertation concerned with, say, the development and implementation in a company of a new system for automating production, a central idea might simply be the extent to which it has been successful or otherwise – and why – and an analysis of any problems it has caused. Subsidiary ideas develop that theme. One such might be related to job losses, and an idea subsidiary to that might be concerned specifically with a Trade Union dispute. Another subsidiary idea might be related to the difficulty managers have in dealing with personnel in a technical department, and an idea subsidiary to that might be concerned, in order to exemplify, with some details of a specific case in point. A different planning system was designed some years ago by the author of this document. It is one which he and some colleagues, including many of his former students, use regularly when writing academic papers. It is particularly useful for dissertations dealing with an argument for which there are two opposing sides, For and Against, but it can be adapted to other scenarios. Here, you set out the arguments For and Against on two sides of a sheet of paper, in no special order, at least to begin with. You simply brainstorm ideas, each idea coming to mind being assigned to the For side or the Against side. You then draw lines linking the ideas, one side to the other (Figure 2). For example, it may be that Point 1 of Side A (For) is countered by Point 4 of Side B (Against), that Point 2 of Side A is countered by Point 3 of side B, and so forth. If, after brainstorming, the lines criss-cross too much, thus making the diagram too difficult to read, you can clarify things by moving points up or down so that more of the lines are horizontal, although since a point on one side can link to more than one point on the other side, some diagonal lines are usually the result: in Figure 2, Point 2 of Side A is countered by Points 2 and 3 of Side B.

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Side A Side B

Point 1 Point 1

Point 2 Point 2

Point 3 Point 3

Point 4

Conclusion

Introduction

Figure 2. Simplified version of the author’s own planning system

Usually, one side will have more points than the other, and the points will not have equal weight. Thus when all the points have been noted and allocated a side, it is time to make a judgement about their importance. Quantitative evidence is best if available, because a statistic is more clear-cut than a subjective judgement. Figure 3 illustrates the weighting process. Any scale can be used, but a 5-point scale is about right. In the figure, Side A scores 7 points and Side B scores 14 points. You are therefore going to end up, now that you have all the evidence, on Side B as the stronger of the two. Further, Point 4 of Side B is the most important of all, scoring a maximum of 5. This point will be kept until last when writing up. There are now two ways to write up these results. You can either make all the points of Side A, then all the points of Side B, and conclude by saying that B is stronger, and thus prevails. But this is not the best way, nor does it take full advantage of the system. Not only does the examiner have to remember the points of Side A when reading those of Side B, but also the dissertation will have less impact. A dissertation is not a detective novel, but examiners, while they may know a great deal about the subject, get bored when there is no suspense. Or, at least, it is true to say that even the most experienced examiner will appreciate some suspense (“Which side is going to win this argument?”), however slight, however dreary or otherwise he or she finds the subject matter. Thus, when writing up, you might begin by saying that Point 1 of Side A, a relatively important point, is nevertheless countered by Point 1 of Side B, which is equally important. Point 2 of Side A is countered by both Points 2 and 3 of side B, even though Point 3 of side A, again a relatively important point, is not fully countered by the slightly

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weaker argument of Point 2 of Side B. There remains Point 4 of Side B which is the most powerful of all – the killer point – and which will therefore lead naturally on to the conclusion, that is, that Side B is stronger.

Conclusion

Point 4 (5)

Side A Side B

Point 1 (3)

Point 1 (3)

Point 2 (1)

Point 2 (2)

Point 3 (4)

Point 3 (4)

Introduction

Figure 3. The author’s planning system with weightings To take the same example as above, that of a company’s new automation system, Point 1 of Side A, the positive side, might be related to increased potential efficiency, countered by Point 1 of Side B, the negative side, concerned with difficulties encountered when dealing with a Trade Union and the way in which this has reduced efficiency in the short term. Now, this is all very schematic, but once the system has been grasped, it is surprising how well it leads naturally to a good structure. Of course, not all dissertations will fit the pattern, but many do, and for some candidates it might even, when choosing what to write about, be worth considering a topic which does fit well. But that is a decision for you. Indeed, what is presented here as examples of how to make a plan, is yours to accept or reject. To use the learning jargon, whatever suits your cognitive style (in essence, the way your brain handles information) as well as your general work pattern and your personality, will be right for you. All the same, it is worth repeating that a proper plan is essential, however you decide to go about it. Once the plan has been constructed, it should be either be written out or presented diagrammatically and discussed with the supervisor, and, if necessary, subsequently amended.

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2.3.1 Topping and tailing When it comes to writing up the dissertation (this is dealt with in more detail in Section B below), most study guides recommend that you compose the abstract and the introduction last. At this planning stage, however, some thought at least should be given to them, as well as to the conclusion. Making a rough draft of what will become the introduction and the conclusion will certainly do no harm and is a useful exercise in thinking about structure. Ensure that the introduction links up with the conclusion. The conclusion should bring together all the ideas expressed in the main part of the dissertation, but should not be a mere summary; the summary will have already appeared in the abstract. Nor, on the other hand, should you introduce much new source material, if any at all, in the conclusion. Ideally, the conclusion should contain the answers to the problems you have been dealing with in the dissertation. It is worth mentioning at this point that abstracting is an art, and it cannot be taught in this document. It takes practice, and you may not have time for that. Automated summarising tools such as the one in Word may help as a start, but word processors do not have not a brain. In the end, you have to decide what are the most significant points in your dissertation, which is precisely what the abstract should contain, and precisely what you should be thinking about at the planning stage. You may decide to talk to your supervisor about writing the abstract, or even begin to draft it, despite the advice given in study guides, at this stage. 2.4 Managing time So much has been published about time management for students, in both printed and electronic form, that if you were to read even only the most recent contributions, you would probably not have time to write your dissertation! Much of the advice given in such sources is no more than plain common sense, such as not working on your dissertation if you are exhausted, or ignoring something which seems to be distracting you while you work, or working with either background music or in silence depending on what you prefer to do (by the time you get to Masters-level research, it can surely be assumed that you know which you prefer). Some of the advice might be considered by some to be at best only vaguely apposite, as if the author of the text has scraped around for something to say or has included advice peculiar to his or her working habits, such as always working with a picture of your mother, father or other loved one in view, or decorating the room in which you work in bright colours to cheer you up when you feel down. Nevertheless, beyond what is hardly worth saying and what might be thought eccentric, the most pertinent advice can be distilled as what follows, and this may be all you need to read.

i. Decide how much time you can spend each day on the dissertation, and which

days you will normally work on it. Then block a time period, an hour, three hours, whatever you think you can manage. When writing up, you may decide instead on a target of so many words or pages per day. Some publications on research-time management recommend convoluted calendars and timetables, either printed or in software, and you are expected to use them assiduously. If this approach works for you, fine. It certainly does not work for everybody, and can become an end in itself in that if the timetable is regularly and properly filled in, that may be thought

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to be enough, whatever the quality of the work and however much of the allotted time has been spent day-dreaming.

ii. Set realistic deadlines for each stage of the work. Reading around the subject until

such and such a date. Plan completed and approved by such and such a date. Each chapter completed by such and such a date, but not to the exclusion of work on other chapters for variety (it is said proverbially that a change is as good as a rest). Proof-reading by such and such a date. Submission by such and such a date. This is, of course, sound, common-sense advice given in nearly every publication on the subject, and usually more or less left at that. Very few of us, however, are able to stick to a rigid timetable. Family matters, unexpected events, changes in schedules at work, a chapter taking more time than originally thought: all affect the time-scheme. You should therefore obviously make adjustments as you go along, always reminding yourself that your initial decisions were rough judgements, not commandments from Above.

iii. Get to work on the dissertation. This may sound so self-evident as to be

ridiculous, but starting each specified day to work on writing something is for many of us the hardest of decisions. We may procrastinate, but if we force ourselves actually to start work, even if only for a projected few minutes, it is surprising how often we get into it and move along. If you really feel that you cannot face a difficult piece of work, one that requires thought and which will probably frustrate you, do something mechanical, or simpler, like ordering your bibliography, checking the consistency of your references (little things like full stops and italics – more on that in Section B), checking that all your headings have conditional page breaks (see below 3.2.4), or writing part of a chapter which you know is going to be straightforward. The novelist Anthony Trollope is thought to be the first to have used the expression “The water drip wears away the stone.” It has become a cliché but it is none the less true. However little you feel you can do, do it. It may be a very small step forward, but is a step forward.

iv. Think about when you work best. Maybe in the morning or the evening, or late at

night. By the force of your circumstances, you may be constrained to certain available times, in which case try to see which of them would be best for you. Having said that, it has to be added that if you are obliged to work when you are not at your brightest, then say to yourself, “So be it! I took on this dissertation which, in the end, is going to improve my career prospects. So I’ll just get on with it.”

v. There is a great deal of detailed advice in the relevant literature about the

importance of good lighting, comfortable seating, wrist-rests, foot-rests, not working in the same room as the one you sleep in, and so on, all of which have an effect on time management because they can increase or reduce productivity. By all means follow such obviously good advice which need not be given in detail here. However the author of this document has often found that his best work has been produced in the most uncomfortable, badly lit environments with no wrist-rests, foot-rests or any other rests. Work where you can, when you can.

vi. Some people are more organised than others, and, not surprisingly, organised

people tend to manage their time better than disorganised people. The general

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advice given to the disorganised consists of either saying, basically, get organised, and/or setting out various ways of achieving organisation, such as always keeping a tidy desk, or ensuring that notes are all in order, or writing to-do lists or Gantt charts. If you are a disorganised person, like the writer of this document, such advice will probably go in one ear and out of the other, or, at best, be followed for a short while before being abandoned to the old disorganised ways. It does not matter. Work in a way which is not going to cause you stress, perhaps by seeing organisation as an end in itself and thus getting worried about your disorganisation. Having said that, it is of course important that notes, files on your computer and so on are reasonably well organised so that time is not wasted.

vii. Staring at a blank page. Many writers have to cope at some time or another with

this syndrome: writer’s block. There is, unfortunately, no magic cure, and there is no point in hiding that fact – on the contrary, when advice on how to cope with it does not work, this can actually make the problem worse because it increases the feeling of hopelessness. In the experience of the author of this document, advice such going out for some fresh air, or stopping work for a while and listening to your favourite music, rarely works, if ever, and indeed if it appears to do so, it is probably coincidence because it does not necessarily work a second or third time. You can always do something relevant but which does not require much thought, as mentioned in Point iii above, but it has to be said that you may return to your blank page with no more idea of what to write than before. The only good news is that the condition usually disappears by itself: one day, you find that the blank page is filling up and you are off again. If it does not, and if it persists for several days, you should discuss the matter with your supervisor, who should be sympathetic whether or not he or she has experienced the same difficulty at some time or other.

viii. Some people are happy to compose at the computer, while others prefer to write

out long-hand then transfer their work to a word processor. This seems a very clumsy way of writing but, naturally, if that is what you find is best for you, that is what you should do. More importantly, some people are happy to dispense entirely with paper, while others like to work on versions in hard copy. Again, obviously, whatever suits you best is right for you. However, for reasons which are not easy to fathom, a hard copy does look somehow different from the same text viewed in print layout format on a screen, and mistakes are more easily seen in hard copy even by the most experienced on-screen writer, so it is usually worth printing out in hard copy a final version for any last retouching.

ix. Finally, by all means ignore advice, including all the above! If people tell you that

you should not work 12 hours a day, or all night, because the quality of your work will suffer, take no notice of them if working 12 hours a day is what you want to do and produces results.

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2.5 Data security

Apart from obvious good advice about keeping data well organised, as outlined above, there are only two unbreakable rules under this heading:

i. Do not trust your memory, however good you think it is. Keep complete records of everything you read. Note down, for instance, in either hard copy or electronically, every detail of your sources: author(s), title, journal, publisher, date, ISBN number, full website address, etc. It is better to have too much than too little, and a great deal of time can be wasted in searching for a missing reference as you write up.

ii. Keep a backup copy of all drafts and all notes in a separate location. Do not rely

on a single computer. Back up to a removable hard disk or memory stick, or regularly write backups to a CD, or email them yourself. There is almost nothing worse than the disaster of having lost weeks of work, although unfortunately it is often the case that one has to suffer before realising how vital backing-up is. Data recovery services are expensive and not always successful.

2.6 Data gathering This is a whole field in itself, with, yet again, a considerable body of literature about it, especially with respect to questionnaire design, and it cannot be treated in any detail here. However some general advice is appropriate, together with some common pitfalls to avoid. 2.6.1 Taking notes As with so many aspects of writing dissertations, much has been written about effective note-taking, sections dealing with it appearing in most publications on study skills; there are even PhD theses on the subject. Two relevant websites are listed in the bibliography, but two basic points can usefully be made here, plus a little tip not often found in study guides.

i. Unless you have an outstandingly orderly mind, and are able to visualise the exact form of your dissertation before you have written it, you will probably take more notes than you will actually need. Nevertheless, try not to overwhelm yourself with piles of notes that are consequently going to be difficult to sort out when you come to writing up. This is not an uncommon student problem. Do not, therefore copy out large chunks of text; if the text in question is very important, summarise it briefly, and note down a reference to it for later access or, if the source is electronic, download it and write it to disk for later use (and see Point iii below). The author of this document, when supervising dissertations, has sometimes had to force his students into being more selective in their note-taking in order for them to avoid being engulfed. In one case, a student who did not heed the advice almost abandoned her dissertation because she felt that she was simply drowning in her own notes.

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ii. Copy out exact words only when you think you will need to quote them directly. This will tend to happen when you see something which is very nicely expressed, or which nicely sums up an argument. Mostly, however, try to summarise. Doing this also means that passages from your notes can be dropped directly into your dissertation, thus alleviating to some extent the problem of inappropriate use of material (see the point about plagiarism at 3.2.7 below).

iii. A useful method of taking notes from electronic sources is not to make notes at

all. Download the material, make a note of the source address if it is not contained within it (for your references list or bibliography), put it into an editable form if it is not already editable, then highlight important points or passages and add any comments.

2.6.2 Questionnaire design Master students often turn to questionnaires to gather primary data. Questionnaires containing closed questions (where there may be choice of boxes to tick) are very useful because they can be subjected to a quantitative analysis. If you are not mathematically very competent, do not automatically shy away from a quantitative as opposed to a qualitative approach. A statistical analysis can be designed to use only simple tools, and your supervisor will probably be able to help you work with them if you really feel you cannot cope with them on your own. A quantitative approach is often more powerful and less open to criticism than a qualitative one, as well as being in some ways easier to handle. It is also easier to design a questionnaire intended for a statistical analysis than one with only open-ended questions requiring discursive responses (see the section on questionnaire design at 2.5.2 below). What is more, if you do decide to go for the qualitative approach, you will have to justify the decision with persuasive arguments, whereas this is less necessary with a quantitative approach because numbers speak for themselves. This is not the place to delve into the niceties of different ways of analysing data, since it would require a whole documents to itself. Indeed, many books have been written about it. If you are not familiar with the techniques, read up about them. A good online source, which is probably all you need, and more, is listed in the bibliography. If you are going to use a questionnaire, ideally you should do some extensive reading about how to go about it, since the nature of the questions and how they are expressed is critical. PhD students are expected to spend a long time on the design of their questionnaires, including piloting them (trying them out on a few real respondents) sometimes several times over, in order to ensure that every question is clear, pertinent and cannot lead to any ambiguity in the response. This is why books and other publications on questionnaire design strongly recommend allocating a large proportion of available time to perfecting the questionnaire. But we live in the real world and time is precious. If you have only a few months to write the whole dissertation, and basically only in your spare time, you may not feel that you can afford to spend weeks learning a new skill solely for the purposes of your dissertation (although it should be added that it is certainly a skill worth learning). Nevertheless, if you can possibly do so, at least read something about it (see the bibliography for some pointers).

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In the meantime, take note of the following basic tenets, which, in the experience of the author of this document, relate to the commonest errors.

i. Do not make your questionnaire too complicated (or too long – it is sometimes said that a single page should be the maximum length, but this is too prescriptive). Despite what some of the literature on Masters dissertations states, the dissertation is not the definitive work on a topic. You are not expected to clear the field to such an extent that there is nothing more which can be said about it. Compose your questionnaire, then think about what is really essential and directly relevant, and what can be cut out. The more you ask, the more complicated the analysis is going to be, whether quantitative or qualitative.

ii. Make sure that, if appropriate, you ask just a few basic demographic or related

questions. Many questionnaires, particularly those used for MBA dissertations, fail to do this, and reduce the validity of results. A typical example might be a questionnaire designed to gather he views of workers in a company about a change in working practice, or about a new and challenging market. If we do not know anything about the age and experience of the respondents, the gathered information may be all but worthless. The views of a 20-year-old trainee who has just joined a firm question may be quite different from those of a 55-year-old manager with 30 years’ experience. If the average of the two responses to a particular question were, say 3.5 on a 5-point scale, this might tell us little of any real value, and may in fact be very misleading. Not to take account such differences in age and experience, but to lump together and average out results, will likely attract serious criticism from an examiner. So will similar errors such as ones related to job specifications and positions of responsibility within a company. This is perhaps obvious when written here, but it is not uncommon in Masters dissertations to find errors of this kind in questionnaire design and subsequent data analysis.

iii. Wherever suitable, use a scale (a so-called Liker scale) with boxes to tick, such as:

Question 7. The proposed new market is too risky.

Strongly agree

Strongly disagree

1 2 3 4 5

Don’t know

The “Don’t know” box is there in order to forestall a common analysis error, which is to assume that the middle box (here, box 3) represents something in between the two extremes, whereas a respondent who wants to indicate no opinion ticks it as if it were neutral. It is remarkable how many questionnaires in Masters dissertations do not take this point into account.

iv. Do not make judgements about results if the number of respondents is too small.

Even without applying test of statistical significance (which may well be necessary), it is obvious that if you have only, say, five respondents, any

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individual quirks will have far too much influence on an average. Normally, if you have only very few potential respondents, it will be better to opt for interviews, or to construct an open-ended questionnaire, so that Question 7 above might become: How risky do you think that the proposed new market is for the company, and what are the risks as you see them? The added advantage of such an open-ended question is, of course, that it allows the respondent to expand an answer, but does not allow for a statistical analysis. Even if you have a potentially substantial number of respondents, it is therefore worth considering, in certain cases, an open-ended questionnaire (or adding open-ended questions to a closed questionnaire). Note, however, that open-ended questions can easily be ambiguous. The classic, often cited example is the following: People want different things from their jobs. What would you most prefer in a job? A likely answer would be the salary, but how do we know what is meant by that? This has been tested numerous times, and it is clear that when respondents are asked exactly what they meant, some say that it is the regularity of the salary which is most important to them, and others how high the salary is. The question would be better phrased as a closed one with boxes to tick, such as: Which of the following is the most important to you in a job? (then have boxes for high salary, steady salary, good relations with colleagues, etc.)

v. Take the greatest possible care in formulating your questions. Pitfalls here are very numerous. Here are two examples taken from real dissertations:

Does your company regularly review its payroll obligations? Here, “regularly” is open to too much interpretation. Equally, avoid the common pitfall of the double question in one, such as: To what extent do you agree that planning and production in the company are urgently due for a review? Here, it may be, for instance, that the respondent agrees for planning but strongly disagrees for production, and does not therefore know which box to tick. It also invites ambiguity in the use of the word “urgently” by putting some respondents into indecision. Even those respondents who think that both planning and production are in need of a review, may not think it an urgent matter.

vi. All the above needs some careful thought. But avoid the pitfall of thinking that you must decide everything yourself. The method of gathering primary data which you adopt can be crucial, and you should not be ashamed to admit to your

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supervisor, if this is the case, that you are unsure of the best way of going about doing it. The quality of many otherwise good dissertations may be reduced because not enough thought has gone into the data-gathering process.

2.6.3 Interviews Interviewing is quite an art, and the techniques, which cannot be dealt with here without going into great detail, can be learned (see the bibliography). It is worth noting here, however, that interviews are usually conducted as structured or free. In a structured interview, exactly the same questions are asked of each interviewee. In a free interview, you ask questions as they arise out of the conversation. Neither is the right or wrong way of conducting the interview, and it may be that a mixture of the two is right. However, in your dissertation you should say why you chose to do things in the way you did.

Section B

3. The length and layout of the dissertation 3.1 Length There is no prescription here, only what is usual. The usual length can be anything from about 10,000 (rather short, particularly for an MSc dissertation) to 30,000 words (very long for an MBA), not including appendices, but including references and a bibliography. Differences in length requirement can depend heavily on those of individual educational institutions. For Robert Kennedy College, an average of around 15,000 to 20,000 words would be about right. If you do depart from what is usual, either way, you should justify your decision early on in the dissertation. Once the project is decided, length may perhaps be discussed with the supervisor, although it is unlikely that a supervisor who has not yet seen a plan of the dissertation will be able to give concrete advice. However, after the supervisor has seen a plan, a joint decision on length can be made. It should be added that in the experience of many examiners, Masters dissertations, especially for the MBA degree, are often too long. They frequently give the impression of padding – too much fat and not enough lean. And that padding is often purely descriptive as opposed to analytical material or material offering judgements or reasoning.

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3.2 Layout 3.2.1 Word processing There are no absolutely strict rules here, but most examiners expect a word-processed document, normally in MS Word format which is the industry standard. Dissertations for Robert Kennedy College are submitted online then sent on to examiners, so unless there are special reasons not to use Word, you might as well try to send in your dissertation in a format which is not going to annoy an examiner before he or she even starts because he or she does not have the software to read it. If you use a word processor other than Word, try to convert the file to Word, and if you cannot do so, explain why to your supervisor who will advise you how to proceed. Most modern word processors are as good, if not better than, amateur desktop publishing packages, so for a normal dissertation there is no advantage in using one. There is also no need to convert files to Acrobat pdf format, the format in which this document is being produced. Although it is acceptable to do so, some examiners do like to make notes and add comments on screen, and this is not possible with pdf files if the examiner does not have the right version of Acrobat Reader and its Commenting plug-in. It is too much to ask to require him or her to use a pdf converter which he or she may not have, so Word files are less likely to irritate. Word also has a Track Changes feature which allows one examiner to comment on a document, send it to another examiner who comments and sends it back. This process is not often required, but it is occasionally. It is true that pdf files are completely portable, and that Acrobat Reader is a free piece of software easily downloadable to any platform; pdf files can therefore be read without resort to any other program, and on any computer. You can assume, however, that all examiners have Word installed on their machines. 3.2.2 Text layout The text of your dissertation should be double-spaced (not as in this document which is single-spaced because it is not meant to be graded) except for figure and table captions, and footnotes or endnotes if used (see below 3.2.7). You may justify text if you wish, but while justified text (as used for this document) looks more like published material, it is not obligatory. Some people find it more difficult to compose on screen using justified text because the dynamic micro-justification process constantly adjusts the line spacing so that the text is always moving around a little. If this is so for you, enter your text left-aligned then justify it all at the end. Note, however, that if you do this, you should scan through the whole document to ensure that the layout has not been affected in any other way . Be careful, too, to un-justify and set at left aligned or insert a paragraph mark in any text which would otherwise look strange (word processors are clever but not that clever). This may occur, for instance, when a URL is cited because a long address cannot be split between lines. An example is: Alex Poole Interaction Design and Research alexpoole.info/academic/literaturereview.html (last accessed March 2007).

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Better, even in a dissertation otherwise justified throughout, is: Alex Poole Interaction Design and Research alexpoole.info/academic/literaturereview.html (last accessed March 2007). where a paragraph mark has been inserted at the word “Research” to terminate the line. 3.2.3 Fonts Any standard font is acceptable, but do not try to make the dissertation look longer or shorter by altering the font size. Examiners are well aware of such tricks and will not be impressed. On the contrary, very large and very small fonts are, for different reasons, difficult to read. 12 point Times New Roman or 10-point Arial are standard fonts for dissertations (note that 10-point Arial gives characters which are about the same size as those of 12-point Times New Roman). Some research has shown that a serif font such as Times New Roman, used for this document, is easier on the eyes than a non-serif (usually referred to as a sans serif) font such as Arial, although this may not be so for fonts used in websites. If you are interested, you can see the arguments quite well set out, and with links to many research papers on the issue in Alex Poole’s website Interaction Design and Research (see the bibliography). 3.2.4 Pagination Incorrect pagination is a very frequent presentation problem. It is irritating to examiners, creates an impression of carelessness, and is so undemanding to put right that not to spend some time doing so is nothing but silly. The most common error springs from not using conditional page breaks, that is, not ensuring that lines which should appear together on the page actually do so. A heading left at the bottom of a page while the text which goes with it appears at the top of the next page looks bad, and much worse than a few blank lines at the bottom of the page. An isolated heading of that kind is called a widow. Widows and orphans are words or phrases at the end or beginning of a paragraph which are separated from the rest of it and left dangling at the top or bottom of a page. Widow and orphan control in Word is turned on by default, but always make sure that it has not been turned off. In the case of headings, however, this is not an automatic process, and the way to ensure that no heading is left on its own is to block lines which should not be separated. In Word, this is accomplished very easily by highlighting the relevant lines, then using Format/Paragraph/Line and Page Breaks to check the boxes for Keep lines together and Keep with next (widow and orphan control is on the same screen). If you do this as you go along, you will never even see the problem. However it is easy to forget to do it, and a heading which appears in the middle of a page and thus seems to present no problem can suddenly become a widow when something is inserted above it. So do check your final version to be sure that the pagination is right. 3.2.5 Numbering The numbering system used in this document (as here, 3.2.5) is the most common way of setting out headings dissertations. It allows for cross-referencing without worrying about

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page numbers which can change as a document is edited, and it gives a sense of structure. It is not mandatory, however, and some people believe that it actually complicates matters. Certainly, if the numbering goes down to more than three levels, the system becomes unwieldy. A heading number such as:

7.2.3.6.8.7 not only looks quite outlandish, but is also all but unfathomable. Four levels down (such as 2.3.3.1) should be the absolute maximum. One of the problems of using this standard numbering system, rarely mentioned in study guides, is that there is always a danger of it going awry when section headings are inserted. A section heading inserted will inevitably affect subsequent numbering, and therefore any cross-referencing for which the system is partly designed. Tools for automating the process tend to be unreliable except in the most straightforward cases. So, check your final document carefully to be sure that all numbers are sequential and that all cross references are OK. A fairly common criticism among dissertation examiners that a numbering system does not work as it was intended to, clearly because of insertions and deletions. 3.2.6 Graphics A not uncommon problem which can completely destroy correct pagination relates to graphics. When graphics are required, as they often are, handling them in a word processor such as Word can be quite tricky. Word is a very powerful tool, and most graphics likely to be required for a dissertation can be handled with it, but it is not as flexible as a high-level desktop publishing package such as QuarkXpress (the professional industry standard for page layout). Moving graphics around in Word can easily lead to pagination being destroyed, and there are even occasions when the graphic appears to be lost, only to reappear, if it ever does, in the wrong place, or partly hidden by a page break. In particular, constructing diagrams in Word can become a nightmare, and moving them around almost worse. One way of avoiding the pagination problem is to draw the diagram separately, then insert it as a picture-image in your Word file. Other word processors are no better, some worse, at graphics drawing and manipulation. There are many websites which deal with handling graphics in Word, or another word processor you use, and two of them relating to Word are noted in the bibliography. If you intend to make extensive use of graphics, as opposed to including only one or two charts or pictures, you really should familiarise yourself with Word’s graphics tools (and be prepared to be frustrated even if using only the odd graphic!). On a more substantive note, it is very important not to use diagrams, figures or other graphic illustrations merely in order to make the presentation look prettier. A picture does not always say a thousand words, and it can sometimes in reality confuse matters. But graphics can also enhance a text far more efficiently than adding more words, and sometimes, needless to say, one simply cannot do without them, such as if the inclusion of a product-photograph is really the only sensible course of action, or if a screenshot needs to be displayed.

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Never, however, try to pull the wool over the examiner’s eyes by improperly manipulating charts in order to enhance an argument. Take Figure 4.

Numbers of units sold

1000

1010

1020

1030

1040

1050

1060

1070

1080

1090

1100

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

Figure 4. A chart manipulated to increase the appearance of a positive effect

The graph appears to show an impressive increase in sales, an effect which has been achieved by compressing the scale and stretching the data bars, whereas closer inspection reveals that the increase is, in actual fact, less than 10% over five years. Changing the scale (admittedly exaggerated as in Figure 4 for the purposes of illustration), and highlighting the Y-axis numbers, reveal a very different picture (Figure 5 – again exaggerated).

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Numbers of units sold

1000

1050

1100

1150

1200

1250

1300

1350

1400

1450

1500

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

Figure 5. The reverse effect of Figure 4

Graphs in which the graphics have been manipulated to show statistics in a better light presumably assume that the average reader may not look at the scale, merely perceiving an overall picture. But examiners are not average readers, and will penalise for what is essentially a kind of dishonesty. Equally, do not use any graphics for their own sake, just to make your dissertation look prettier. You would insult the intelligence of the examiner if you produced the following graph (Figure 6), when simply saying that the sample consisted of 55% male and 45% female is about as straightforward as it could be:

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Male Female

Figure 6. Percentage of males to females in the sample population – a superfluous graph

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3.2.7 Handling citations and references A brief note on plagiarism is pertinent at this point, before dealing with the details of referencing. Plagiarism is of course quite wrong, and any dissertation shown to have been plagiarised will be severely dealt with. However, the line between plagiarism and honest acknowledgement can sometimes be blurred. There is a spectrum at one end of which is blatantly copied material with no acknowledgement. This is clearly cheating. At the other end is fully acknowledged material. This is clearly honest. Somewhere in the middle is material which has been acknowledged but not to the full extent. If a whole acknowledged three pages are reproduced from a source, with only minor changes to a few words, is this plagiarism? How much does one have to change for it to move out of the cheating area of the spectrum?

There are no clear answers to such questions. The only advice one can give – which has to be somewhat vague advice – is that you should try to put what you find in source material into your own words, and if, for whatever reason, that is not a suitable way of proceeding, then quote it directly and make it clear that your are doing so (see Section 4, Point xviii, on quotations): all direct quotations must be referenced. It is also worth noting that examiners themselves, in their academic writing, constantly come up against the problem and are thus fully aware of how tricky it can be to overcome.

Do not pepper your dissertation with so many references that the flow of the text is completely lost. Better too many than too few is a valid approach only as far as it goes. On the other hand, do not have large chunks of unacknowledged material. What is required is a balance.

That is as much as one can fairly say.

When and when not to cite When and when not to include a reference is not a trivial matter. How you set out your references (dealt with immediately below) is a mechanical process which can be learned, even if getting it perfectly right requires some prior thought and great care. However, referencing itself is far from being simple. Not including a reference where one is required is a fault, but equally, including a reference can be just as defective, in fact more so. References in a dissertation are of course there to show that you have acknowledged your sources, and for a reader to check or to find out more, but your references also show how familiar you are with your field. Take the following:

Today, computers are found extensively in American offices (Smith, 2004), but a surprising proportion of American businesses still make little use of email.

If the reference is simply misplaced, so that it really should come at the end of the assertion, then including it would be valid: the reference implies that Smith has either presumably gathered evidence for the assertion, or has referred to such evidence, and the fact is not something anyone would know. But as it stands, the text appears to state what is common knowledge, and the placement of the reference tends to make an examiner think that you do not know this.

That is a very straightforward example, but there are many times when the issue is far from clear cut, and you will have to make a judgement about whether or not to include a reference. Take the following:

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Identifying human-resource capabilities is the most important factor in meeting a company’s goals.

It could be argued that this would be better if backed up by a reference, since the point may be thought open to debate by the lay reader, but equally that someone who is an expert in the field of human-resource management would find it self-evident and thus not in need of a reference.

A useful rule of thumb is to ask yourself if someone who is generally familiar with the broad subject-area but not with the specific aspect of it you are dealing with, would find the assertion in question so apparent that no evidence for it need be given.

Referencing procedures

Footnotes and endnotes should be avoided unless absolutely necessary. In this document there is one footnote (page 1) which has been included partly for illustration purposes. The justification for it is that the information it contains is subsidiary, meant only to warn candidates about a case of terminology in other publications. It could have reasonably been left in the body-text, but might have interrupted the flow of the main points.

References should be included in the body text using the Harvard system (also known as the author-date system) as in the following example (all references are fictitious):

This has been a contentious issue in the field of customer relations (McAleese, 2004; Barker, 2006), but an interesting solution has been suggested by Smith (2007).

Look carefully at how that has been done. Two references to the same point are separated by a semi-colon (;) and put in date order, although, any consistent system is acceptable. The name “Smith”, since it is in the body-text, does not need to be repeated in the parentheses.

In the body-text, a reference to a piece by two authors should cite both, for example: (Smith and Jones, 2003). If there are more than two authors, et al. should be used (it may or may not be in italics, and may or may not have a full stop). For example: (Smith et al, 2001). In the references list, however, all authors should be included unless there are very many (more than five or six), as is the case with some scientific papers.

Page numbers of journal papers should not be included in the body-text reference, but are often included in the reference-list entry (do that either way, but always in the same way throughout). Page numbers of books, however, should be included in the body-text reference, and omitted from the reference-list entry.

For example:

Phillips (2005) contends that the marketing strategy should be …

indicates that Phillips’s publication is not a book, whereas:

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Phillips (2005, 46-47) contends that the marketing strategy should be …

indicates that Phillips’s publication is a book, and that the relevant idea can be found on pages 46-47).

(See immediately below for the referencing format relating to page numbers.)

Unpublished material, in other words material which is not readily available for consultation or verification, should in general not be cited. However, if it is absolutely necessary to cite an unpublished conference paper, a working paper which has not been published, or some other source which the examiner cannot consult (for instance, a confidential company report), do it as in the following examples, but do keep such sources to an absolute minimum.

In the body text:

As John Smith contends in a recent paper, unfortunately not yet published (Smith, 2007), the most important point is […]

A working paper by Bischoff and Adams used as a presentation at Robert Kennedy College in 2005 is perhaps the most outstanding example of […]

In a confidential report produced by Microsoft (2006), it is strongly argued that […]

Then in the references list:

Smith J. (2007). Caribbean export policy. Paper given at the International Conference on Small-Island Economies in Hawaii, June 2007. This paper is due to appear in the conference proceedings in 2008.

Bischoff E. & Adams M. C. The online MBA – prospects for career advancement. Unpublished working paper presented at Robert Kennedy College, 11 May 2005.

Microsoft (2006) The House of the Future. Confidential report to which the author of this dissertation was kindly allowed access.

(See immediately below for details of the referencing format.)

A company’s promotional material should be cited as if it were published by a publisher (and its use kept to a strict minimum unless, of course, it is itself part of the focus of the dissertation).

Short pieces of unpublished material can be included in an appendix, but if the piece is more a page or so, cut it down by deleting what is not absolutely necessary.

Systems other than the Harvard author-date system, as used above, can be used instead, provided that systems are not mixed, but the Harvard system is the one most commonly found in Masters dissertations related to science or business. Humanities dissertations often use a system of footnotes or endnotes, but even in the Humanities there is a tendency to be move to the Harvard system which has become a global standard for academic writing, mostly because of its simplicity and flexibility, and because it dispenses with what can be distracting footnotes or endnotes.

See the bibliography for a useful, detailed online guide to the Harvard system.

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Referencing Format There is no globally accepted format for references in a reference list. Some academic journals have their own house guidelines, and when submitting a paper, one is expected to stick to the house rules. Others point authors to style guides produced by official organisations. The same is true for Masters dissertations in some academic organisations. Robert Kennedy College does not prescribe a particular format. The crucial thing – and this cannot be repeated enough – is to be consistent.

References in the list should thus conform to any uniform format. Below are two such formats. Examine them carefully. The best way to explain any referencing system is to display it with some comments, and that is what has been done here. Note that the cited works are fictitious.

Coulthard, R.M. (2004), Advances in Discourse Analysis, London: Routledge.

This is a book. The title is italicised and the main words capitalised. Note how the author is cited as surname first, comma, initials with full stops, the date of the book in brackets, comma, title, comma, place of publication, colon, publisher, full stop.

Watzlawick, P., Helmick, B.J. and Ackson, D.D. (1967), Pragmatics of Human Communication. A Study of Interactional Patterns, Pathologies and Paradoxes, New York: Norton.

This is a book with multiple authors.

Gisolfi, A. and Moccaldi, G. (2004), ‘A tutor for the factorization of algebraic expressions for business students’, Journal of Artificial Intelligence, 3 (2), 347-358.

This is a journal paper. The title of the paper appears between single inverted commas, while the title of the journal is italicised and the main words capitalised. “3 (2)” indicates “Issue 3 Volume 2”, and “347-358” are the page numbers.

Isaacs, G. (2007), ‘Helping management students take control of their learning’, European Business Review, 27 (1), 85-91.

Another example of a journal paper, this time by a single author.

Pejtersen, A.M. (2003b), ‘Implications of users’ value perception for the design of a bibliographic retrieval system’, in Agraval, J.C. and Zunde, P. (eds), Empirical Foundation of Information Science, New York: Plenum Press, 607-611.

This is a contribution to an edited book. Notice that the contribution itself follows the rules for a journal paper, and the volume for those of a book. “eds” means that the names mentioned are the editors of the volume. “2003b” indicates that there is a “Pejtersen (2003a)”.

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However, the same references could equally well be written as follows, or in any other consistent format.

Coulthard R M (2004) ADVANCES IN DISCOURSE ANALYSIS Routledge, London.

Watzlawick P Helmick BJ Ackson DD (1967) PRAGMATICS OF HUMAN COMMUNICATION. A STUDY OF INTERACTIONAL PATTERNS, PATHOLOGIES AND PARADOXES Norton, New York

Gisolfi A Moccaldi G (2004) A tutor for the factorization of algebraic expressions for business students Journal of Artificial Intelligence 3-2. pp. 347-58.

Isaacs G (2007), Helping students take control of their learning European Business Review 27-1. pp. 85-91.

Pejtersen A M (2003b) Implications of users’ value perception for the design of a bibliographic retrieval system IN Agraval J C Zunde P (eds.) Empirical Foundation of Information Science, Plenum, New York, pp. 607-11.

Note that page numbers can be preceded by “p.” for a single page, or “pp.” for multiple pages, or omitted throughout.

Internet references should be followed by an indication of when a website was last accessed. In the academic world of citation, nobody has yet come up with satisfactory solution to the problem of the changing, or even disappearing, website. Indeed, there does not seem to be any practicable solution. Printed material is fixed. Websites are dynamic. Printed material, unless the circumstances are very special, will always be available. Websites may be taken offline at anytime. Thus giving a reference to a website, the idea behind which is that the reader can access it, and in the same form as it was originally presented, is an unstable procedure. A typical example is a reference to an item of news; such references can be quite common in certain dissertations, and the website will have changed by the time a reader gets to access it. The only course of action, and which is recommended by many journal editors and book publishers, is to indicate last access in a form such as:

http://www.themagazinesite.com/ [last accessed June 2008]

URLs should be given in as short a form as possible. Try to avoid long, convoluted website addresses of the kind: http://office.microsoft.com/en-s/word/FX100649261033.aspx?CTT=96&Origin=CL100636481033

(here reproduced in a smaller font so as not to have it split over two lines: a common problem).

Unless hyperlinked, long internet addresses, particularly those containing non-alphabetical characters are very difficult to copy out. True, dissertations written for Robert Kennedy College are submitted online and the Internet references can therefore be hyperlinked, but in any event a very long reference looks clumsy. So, wherever practicable, use a short form instead by pointing the reader to, say, the index page of the site in question, as the author of this dissertation has done for that very Microsoft site above (see the bibliography). Sometimes, however, this is not possible, since there can be no practicable short form, in which case the full URL should naturally be given and, if there is no other way, the line split.

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4. Writing style Just as music can be reduced to two elements – pitch and rhythm – so a dissertation can be reduced to two fundamental constituents, namely form (how it is written and presented) and substance (its contents, what is actually said). As far as impact on a reader is concerned, writing style (the form) can be as important as the substance. And while examiners are expert readers who expect valid substance, they are no more immune to the impact of good style than the everyday reader. It may come as a surprise to learn that some examiners, despite their expertise in their fields, do not consider themselves experts in writing clear, grammatical English, nor are they always consciously aware of the techniques which can be used to add impact in writing style. That is a statement which requires justification. The evidence for it comes from the long experience of the author of this document in acting as a peer-reviewer for academic journals. Many papers initially submitted to journals, whether or not they are worthy of publication or are even ground-breaking, are not well written; journal copy-editors have very often to edit submitted text to bring its style up to an acceptable standard. Papers submitted by non-native English speakers are often returned to their authors with the comment that while the substance of the paper is excellent, it should be redrafted by an educated native English speaker. However, markers of Masters dissertations who might make no claim to being expert writers themselves are invariably subconsciously responsive to writing techniques. They may not be able to recite the rules, may not even know them if they come across them, but if the rules are not observed, this will affect their judgement. It is therefore well worth studying writing techniques, some basic tenets of which are covered below. Even a small effort to follow them will pay off.

i. The first and most important point to make is that good style is clear style, so go for simplicity. Keep sentences as short as clarity and flow allow, but do not be afraid of a longer sentence if the meaning is clear. Academic writing is often seen by those who are not used to it as clumsy, long-winded, and even impenetrable. But you are writing an academic dissertation and you should write in an academic style.

ii. Be ruthless with yourself in cutting out things which really are extraneous. This is not

easy. When you have written something and are pleased with it, it can be hard simply to discard it because it is not strictly relevant. Remember, however, that the examiner has never seen what has been deleted.

iii. Avoid jargon and posh words which you think will make your piece look more

academic, words such as:

purchase for buy commence for begin permit for allow, let whilst for while amongst for among

within for in, for upon for on facilitate for teach, provide utilise for use (and utilisation for use or usage)

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The following text (taken from a real Masters dissertation) sounds clumsy and stilted:

“Whilst this equipment was purchased in the Business School, we commenced using it within the School of Computing. The lecturer monitored the students for one semester whilst they utilised the software.”

If the dissertation is badly structured and generally badly written, using jargon and posh words will only highlight deficiencies elsewhere.

iv. Avoid clichés and unnecessarily stretched-out expressions:

at the end of the day (= in the final account, in the last analysis – or miss out entirely) at this point in time (= now, currently, at present) business-based activity (= business)

v. Use a thesaurus to avoid repetition (but remember that thesauruses give near-

synonyms as well as exact synonyms):

Clearly Distinctly Apparently Plainly

Patently Evidently Certainly Surely

Definitely Assuredly Positively

vi. Use linking words and signposting words to clarify the structure of the text, words

such as:

However But Yet And Moreover Furthermore Further Nevertheless Besides

Indeed True Still In fact In reality In addition Of course Naturally Likewise

Similarly In the same way Now Thus It is clear, then, that ... A different perspective is provided by ...

vii. Avoid gender-oriented vocabulary. It can annoy some examiners. Use he/she or she/he, his or her, etc. Or avoid the problem by using a plural:

What does this mean to the customer? It means that he/she can ... What does this mean to customers? It means that they can ...

viii. Use ‘such as’ or ‘including’ if appropriate and if you have used ‘for example’ and/or ‘for instance’ too many times. Consider using ‘namely’ or ‘that is’. Do not use etc. after ‘for example’ or ‘such as’ and the like. The indication of an instance not the whole is already there. So do not write:

For example, screen design, icons, etc.

Leave it at:

For example, screen designs and icons.

ix. Use double negatives very sparingly, for emphasis:

It is not inconceivable that ... It is not without significance that ... This was far from an insubstantial part of the project.

x. Brackets (parentheses), normally indicating something subsidiary to the main idea,

can also be effectively used to emphasise something:

Jones believed (rightly so) that ...

xi. Hyphenation in compound nouns and adjectival use. The reason for the proper use of hyphenation in such instances is to avoid ambiguity, for example:

student-controlled environment (environment controlled by students) student controlled environment (student environment which is not necessarily controlled by students. Better: controlled student environment)

Here are some other examples:

user-interface easy-to-use interface (but the interface is easy to use) computer-aided instruction 20th-century opinions (but opinions in the 20th century) manager-centred activity task-oriented approach

The question of correct hyphenation is, however, a contentious one. You will see missing hyphens and spurious hyphens everywhere in published texts. Many people who consider themselves excellent in English do not seem to be able to get it right, so much so that some would claim that it is merely “academic”. Perhaps so, but you are writing an academic dissertation. What is more, while no examiner is going to deduct any marks for incorrect hyphenation, and indeed many of them will not know what is correct and what is not, you might as well try to get it as right as possible.

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xii. Don’t use verbal contractions ( like that one)! Except, that is, when quoting directly.

Examples:

can not or cannot not can’t is not not isn’t we will not we’ll would not not wouldn’t

Equally, do not use slang or colloquialisms such as The idea is bonkers” or “This is no big deal”. They are likely to jar in the mind of the examiner who is used to, and expects, an formal writing style.

xiii. Spelling. Obviously, use a spell checker, but do not rely absolutely on it. It will not

flag instances such as pear/pair, sliver/silver, there/their, and so forth.

As far as using American or British English spelling is concerned, either is OK as long as you remain consistent throughout. Use the spelling labor, but do not then use honour ; use dialogue but do not then use catalog, and so on. The language tool in Word can be set to American or British English. Note that American writers use two spaces after full stops, British writers use one. A good website on the differences between American and British English spelling can be found in the bibliography. There is hesitation over whether one should write 1990s or 1990’s, and over things like Jones’s argument or Jones’ argument. Either of forms such as these is acceptable, but, again, consistency is what to watch out for. Rules for capitalisation vary from publisher to publisher and organisation to organisation. As with other things mentioned in this document, any consistent system is acceptable at Robert Kennedy College. As for references to printed works, websites etc., take some time to look very carefully at what is capitalised in the entries for the various books, papers and websites cited in this document’s references list and bibliography, and try either to follow the format or to look at references lists in journal papers and copy their format instead. As in other cases, any reasonable system is acceptable at Robert Kennedy College, consistency yet again being the key. While on spelling variations, it should be added that English is in constant change, but that a change has to be universally accepted before it becomes, so to speak, acceptable. An example which often crops up in management dissertations is the use of enterprise for company or firm. This has no doubt come about by taking the French word for company – enterprise – and using it in the abbreviation SME: Small and Medium Enterprise. In English, however, using the word enterprise for business, company etc. can lead to ambiguity and it should be avoided. In the same vein, it is also worth remarking that words such as actually and eventually are often seen by examiners of dissertations written by continental Europeans in their “local” sense. In French and some other European languages, the word which looks something like actually means at present, not in fact, and the equivalent of eventually

30

means possibly not after a period of time. There are other examples, and in many languages, which is why, if English is not your first language and you do not consider yourself especially proficient in it, it can be important to have a native English speaker read through your work (acknowledge any help you have been given in your Acknowledgements section). Having said that, it is tempting to add that many native English speakers themselves make basic errors. How many times has the author of this document seen in dissertations written by native English speakers mistakes such as affect for effect or vice versa, criterion as a plural noun, or phenomena as a singular noun, and so on? Every little mistake has an effect (not an affect), however small, on the examiner. You might as well try to get as much as possible right.

xiv. Grammar. Obviously there is no space here to deal with correct English grammar. If

your grammar is weak, if possible have someone whose grammar is good read through your final draft, and, again thank that person in your Acknowledgements section.

Two small grammar points, however, deserve a brief mention here.

The first is that English people are taught at school never to start a sentence with And or But. But there is no good reason not to. In fact, doing so can give impact to a sentence part of which would be lost if one could resort only to Furthermore or However. The second is the all-too-frequent and irritating with regards to intended as meaning the correct with regard to (noun) or as regards (verb). The error occurs because the two are confused. With regards to should only be used when sending your best wishes to someone!

Note that computerised grammar checkers such as the one built into Word can be very treacherous allies.

xv. The art of paragraphing. More than half of the many dissertations which have been

read by the author of this document have been poorly paragraphed. A paragraph should incorporate one point, with, as necessary, its subsidiary points. Proper paragraphing has an enormous impact on the reader. Compare the following very simple but illustrative example (taken from this document).

a. The difference in this document between what is prescriptive and what is optional will be made clear where it is not self-evident. And since no series of guidelines, no matter how detailed they are, can hope to cover very possible set of circumstances, it may be necessary to adjust some of what is said to your particular project. The document is divided into three sections. Section A consists of some basic guidelines and general advice. Section B deals with specific issues, such as layout, writing style, referencing and the like. Section C is divided into two parts. Part 1 is a sample from a (fictitious) MBA dissertation for you to mark. Part 2 is a commented version of that sample […]

31

b. The difference in this document between what is prescriptive and what is optional will be made clear where it is not self-evident. And since no series of guidelines, no matter how detailed they are, can hope to cover very possible set of circumstances, it may be necessary to adjust some of what is said to your particular project. The document is divided into three sections. Section A consists of some basic guidelines and general advice. Section B deals with specific issues, such as layout, writing style, referencing and the like. Section C is divided into two parts. Part 1 is a sample from a (fictitious) MBA dissertation for you to mark. Part 2 is a commented version of that sample.

Consider also the possibility of terminating important, appropriate paragraphs with a short sentence to hammer the point home.

xvi. Use of I, me, my, and mine. This is yet another contentious issue. Some supervisors

insist on what others consider the clumsiness of “the author of this dissertation” as opposed to the much simpler “I”, or “It has been the intention of the author of this dissertation” instead of “It has been my intention”.

Up to this point in this document I have used “the author of this document” because it will be published anonymously, otherwise I prefer to say I or We. Nevertheless, the impersonal approach is safer when you do not know who your examiner is.

xvii. Figure captions should appear below their figures, but table captions should appear

above their tables. The reason for this latter stipulation is that a long table may be split over two or more pages, and if the caption appears underneath the table, a reader is obliged to look ahead for it.

xviii. Short quotations, of, say, just a line or two, should run on in the body-text within

inverted commas, as in: In the words of the Director of Personnel, “We have made significant progress this year in our attempt to reduce staff costs.”

Anything longer should appear separately, perhaps indented, and without quotation marks. It may also be put in italics.

xix. How much account will an examiner take of the level and style of your English.?

Examiners do try to ignore errors in English, but there comes a point at which it is impossible to do so, and their judgement and mark are consequently affected, even if only subconsciously. There is no point in pretending that this is not the case. Of course, if the examiner himself or herself is not a native English speaker, then the amount of irritation with errors will depend on his or her competence in English. In any event, there is no clear answer to the whole question of how much value to put on the level of English in dissertations. The only thing a candidate can do is to produce the best English possible, and to get help.

xx. There are many other little things that are found in style guides and journal layout

instructions, such as using numbers for the digits 0 to 9, but words thereafter (e.g.

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fourteen) or writing, even in British English, program when a computer program is meant, and programme in a phrase such as the programmes offered at this university. These rules are often idiosyncratic. The main point, once more, is consistency throughout your entire dissertation.

5. And, finally when the dissertation is written … … the second last but one thing to do is decide on what might be included in an appendix or appendices. Questionnaires should certainly be there, and material not publicly available, but beware of putting too much in. The more you put in an appendix, the shorter your dissertation will appear in relation it. The last but one thing to do is to check that all your references in the body-text also appear in the references list, and vice versa. It is so easy to delete what appears to be an irrelevant or otherwise inappropriate paragraph containing a reference, and forget to delete the reference from the references list, or to delete a reference when it has actually been used elsewhere in the body-text. The last thing to do is to put the dissertation away somewhere out of sight, then read it again a few days or so later. You will be surprised how many mistakes you will find, and how many little ways you can improve things. Believe me! (NB)

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Select bibliography The following entries are recommended reading.

Printed books Mauch. J.E. and Birch, J.W., (2003), Guide to the Successful Thesis and Dissertation: A Handbook for Students and Faculty, New York: Dekker. Rudestam, K.E and Newton R.R. (2007), Surviving Your Dissertation: A Comprehensive Guide to Content and Process, Newbury Park, CA: Sage [latest edition of a fairly well known work]. van Leunen, M-C. (originally 1978, re-published several times), A Handbook for Scholars, New York: Knopf. [One of the standard American works on layout and academic writing style.]

Websites

All websites listed here were last accessed in March 2007. Alex Poole Interaction Design and Research. http://alexpoole.info/academic/literaturereview.html [On the use of fonts.] Complete Your Diisertation.com http://www.completeyourdissertation.com/ Effective Notemaking http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/management/external/els/pdf/effectivenotemaking.pdf Effective Note Taking http://www.kent.ac.uk/uelt/learning/online/effective-notetaking.html Handling Graphics in Word http://82.16.64.214/resources/ks5/Unit01/GraphicsInWord.doc Harvard Referencing http://www.edgehill.ac.uk/ls/HelpSup/guides/Harvard_Referencing.pdf

Microsoft Office Help for Word http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/FX100649261033.aspx [See in particular the section on graphics and charts appropriate to your version.] Questionnaire Design. http://www.cc.gatech.edu/classes/cs6751_97_winter/Topics/quest-design/ Seven Steps to Writing a Dissertation. http://edgehill.ac.uk/tld/student/7steps/dissertation.htm

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Spelling Differences between American and British English http://www2.gsu.edu/~wwwesl/egw/jones/differences.htm Elementary Concepts in Statistics http://www.statsoft.com/textbook/stathome.html The Survey System http://surveysystem.com/sdesign.htm [Some useful general guidelines for data-gathering here, including interviewing] Tips for Doing a Literature Review for your Dissertation. http://web.syr.edu/~diekemar/disslit.html Using Structured Interview Techniques http://gao.gov/special.pubs/pe1015.pdf Writing your Dissertation. Writing and Presenting Your Thesis or Dissertation (Levine S.J. 2007 – the latest update of this quite well know work). http://learnerassociates.net/dissthes/. Also available in pdf format at http://gsl.groups.pdx.edu/docs/thesis.pdf Book previews available in page-image format at books.google.com/books (search for “dissertation”, “questionnaire design” or whatever).

This is an excellent free source. While the entire book is not available unless you buy it, the selected text (the beginning of the book) is quite extensive, some texts running to well over 100 pages. The Contents list tell you whether it is worth buying the whole printed book (details of which are on the site), but what is there online is already very useful. Some helpful books on this site are: Glatthorn, A.A. and Joyner, R.L., (2005), Writing the Winning Dissertation: A Step-by-Step Guide. Kiernan, V. (2005), Writing Your Dissertation with Microsoft Word: A Step-by-step Guide. Swetnam, D. (2001), Writing Your Dissertation: How to Plan, Prepare and Present a Successful Work. Willis, G.B. (2005), Cognitive Interviewing: A tool for Improving Questionnaire Design.

http://www.academic-skills.soton.ac.uk/studyguides/Writing%20Your%20Dissertation.doc

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Section C

This section is divided into two parts. Part 1 consists of a copy of the opening pages of a (fictitious) MBA dissertation. Part 2 is a commented version. You should read Part 1 as if you were the examiner. Examiners tend to keep a running tally in their minds as they read a dissertation, deciding on a mark as they go along, and adjusting it accordingly as the dissertation gets better or worse. In an ideal world one would read the whole dissertation once, then go back to the beginning, making a judgement therefore based in part on what is known to come later. In the real world, it has to be admitted that few examiners are so conscientious. So, as you go along, try to keep in mind a mark, according the scale shown below. When you have finished, decide on your final mark, then study Part 2 and compare your judgement with that of the author of this document. Marking a dissertation can be a very revealing exercise. It tends to focus the mind on errors, such that when it comes to writing a dissertation oneself, more of those errors can be avoided. Your marking scale Fail (below 50)

Borderline pass (50 or 52)

Satisfactory (52-60)

Good (60-69).

Distinction (70+).

36

Section C. Part 1

China and Industry: An Empirical Study

Dissertation for the MBA

H.D.X****

37

Contents

Chapter 1 Background

Chapter 2 Research Methodology and Design

Chapter 3 The Results of the Study (Analysis of Data and Interpretation)

Chapter 4 Summary

Chapter 5 Case Study

Appendices

Preface

This dissertation is based on some questionnaires, of the changing face of China in a

market economy. Chapter 1 is some background to the problem. Chapter 2 outlines the

research methodology used in gathering the data. Chapter 3 is a statistical anlaysis of

the data and interpretations of it. Chapter 4 summarises the dissertation. Chapter 5 is a

case study involving a Chinese electronics firm. Appendix 1 is the questionnaire.

Appendix 2 is some documentary material supplied by the electronics firm described

in Chapter 5.

I should like to acknowledge the help of Dr Erwin D****** who obtained information

for me from the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China.

38

Chapter 1: Background

1.1.1 Introduction

In the 1980s, commodities such as, electronics toys, games, electric home

appliances, electronic quartz watches, clocks, electronics components or

subassemblies, clothing, sports shoes, hardware were either made or assembled in

China (PRC - People’s Republic of China). See Graph 1.1. The greatly increased

presence of Chinese products was and is sometimes hidden because retailers don’t

acknowledge the Chinese origin with their labelling.

Chinese global presence in consumer goods

100

120

140

160

180

200

220

240

1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

Graph 1.1. Chinese global presence in consumer goods.

The situation was much different in the 1970’s and early 1980s, although some

Japanese and Taiwanese electronics products, such as facsimile machines and personal

computers had their main printed circuit boards and accessories made in China, while

the final assembly and testing was done in Japan or Taiwan (Jones, 1986). The labels

read: “Assembled in Japan or Taiwan”. The question is: Why and how has China

made such a penetration into the international business environment? (William H.

Overholt).

39

Many are quick to cite low labour costs, saying that this is the primary factor in

the revitalisation of industry in China. That is a correct assumption, but it isn’t the

whole answer. The reasons are manifold. The Philippines, Mexico, the former Soviet

Union, and other countries also have cheap labour cost and plenty of land. Why has

China been particularly successful?

To understand triumph of China’s manufacturing industry, the author of this

thesis has had to investigate the micro world of China’s manufacturing industry and

also the macro perspectives of Chinas’ government policy as it relates to the micro

perspectives. Overholt (1993) stated: “The Pacific Asian economic take-off, like the

Japanese take-off before it, had transformed itself from politically incorrect to

conventional WISDOM. China is the latest phase in the Pacific Asian take-off”.

(Overholt (1993)) This dissertation intends to explore the strategies employed in the

manufacturing industry under the PRC’s economic reform, using China’s Electronics

Industry as an example.

1.1.1.2 Historic Background

Before going into the details of the study, preliminary background information

on certain historic events, and political and economic reforms are necessary and

important primarily because China’s industrial success is linked to them, and politics

has had an effect on economic reform policies which have in turn effected industry, as

in modern Chinese history, since the establishment of the Iron Curtain in 1949, there

have been two economic reforms, the first being initiated by Mao Zedong, and

resulted in economic chaos and tragedy for the Chinese people and the latter economic

reform under Deng Xiaoping had very different investment and manufacturing results.

(Sukhan Jackson, 1992).

40

41

Table 1.1 illustrates the different performance of these two economic reforms with various plans Chronicle Incident Year Gross Output Value

Agriculture and Industry

Agriculture Light Industry

Heavy Industry

1952 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 First Five-Year Plan 1953 114.4 103.1 126.7 136.9 1954 125.2 106.6 144.8 163.9 1955 133.5 114.7 144.8 187.7 1956 155.5 120.5 173.3 262.3 1957 167.8 124.8 183.3 310.7 Great Leap Forward 1958 221.9 127.8 245.0 555.4 1959 264.9 110.4 298.9 822.8 1960 279.3 96.4 269.5 1035.5 1961 192.6 94.1 211.2 553.5 1962 173.1 99.9 193.5 428.3 1963 189.6 111.5 198.0 487.6 1964 222.9 126.7 232.2 590.2 Culture Revolution 1965 268.3 137.1 344.5 650.5 1966 314.7 149.0 394.4 829.4 1967 284.5 151.3 366.5 663.7 1968 272.5 147.6 348.9 629.8 1969 337.4 149.2 436.1 907.5 1970 424.3 157.8 522.8 1309.5 1971 476.1 162.9 556.1 1585.3 1972 497.4 161.2 592.5 1698.3 1973 543.0 174.5 654.6 1846.6 1974 550.6 180.7 675.0 1823.8 1975 616.3 186.3 764.4 2137.7 Mao’s death & Gang of Four

1976 626.6 185.5 791.7 2171.9

1977 693.3 184.8 906.7 2409.3 Deng’s Economic Reform 1978 778.6 199.8 1005.2 2879.5 1979 845.0 214.8 1105.3 3108.9 1980 908.3 217.9 1314.6 3168.3 1981 950.2 230.5 1502.5 3024.5 1982 1033.5 256.5 1589.8 3324.6 1983 1139.2 276.5 1738.1 3759.5 1984 1312.0 310.4 2018.1 4378.1 1985 1529.0 321.0 2475.4 5260.3 Seventh Five-Year Plan 1986 1676.9 331.8 2799.9 5799.1 1987 1828.5 351.1 3321.8 6769.6 1988 2261.8 364.9 4055.7 8085.5 1989 2432.3 376.2 4388.2 8805.7 1990 2620.5 404.9 4793.1 9353.7 Eighth Five-Year Plan 1991 2935.0 419.9 5512.0 10710.0 1992 3601.2 446.6 6950.7 13815.9

Table 1.1 Indexes of Gross Output Value of Agriculture and Industry (1952 = 100) (at comparable prices) * The index of gross output value of Industry embraces both Light & Heavy Industry.

Times

Range Agriculture Light Industry Heavy Industry

Mao Zedong 1952 - 1977 2.5% 9.2% 13.0% Deng Xiaoping 1977 - 1992 6.1% 14.5% 12.3% Table 1.2 Average Compound Growth Rate of Gross Output Value

1.2.1 Theoretical Framework

After the World War II, when a lot of countries in Asia, Europe were re-

building their societies and factories, the United States of America had advanced

technological capabilities and was able to penetrate global markets. In fact, US

dominated the world economy with almost half of the world’s gross national product,

and very strong competitiveness in manufacturing. In the late 1970s and early part of

1980, the US (United States) realised it was gradually losing its global market share of

electronics, automobiles, steel, machine tools to Japan. The USA trade deficit was in

the billions. Intellectuals and manufacturers alike were alarmed by the situation and

analysis began in earnest.

Their key concern was to come up with manufacturing strategies that would

recommend a set of decisions and processes which would strengthen the

infrastructural competitiveness of manufacturing such decisions and processes were

derived in accordance with various manufacturing policies, strategic goals and

objectives. Different schools of manufacturing strategy had similar decision elements,

ad hoc factors and emphases.

Table 1.3 shows the decision categories for two authorities in the field of

manufacturing, namely Skinner and Hayes and Wheelwright.

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Basically, the decision categories of Skinner, Hayes & Wheelwright are very

similar. But they have a different emphasis on approach in their manufacturing

strategies formulation.

Item of Decision Schools Category Skinner (1969) Hayes and Wheelwright (1978) 1 Capacity Capacity 2 Facilities location, Facilities

number and size of plants 3 Equipment and Technology

process technology 4 Make versus buy Vertical integration 5 Workforce management Workforce 6 Quality control system Quality 7 Production and Production planning /

inventory control systems Materials control 8 Organisational structure Organisation 9 Cost and other /

information systems

Table 1.3 Comparison on the Decision Categorisation of Manufacturing Strategies

1.4.1 Assumptions of the Study

Certain assumptions were made in the research for this dissertation, because

many factors influenced strategy choices. The followings are assumptions made in this

dissertation.

1.4.1.1 First assumption

1) Stability

China has a stable economy and a sure political climate. There have been no

significant changes in the Market Economy and the policy of economic reform.

1.4.1.1.2 Second assumption

Inflation Rate

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The inflation rate of China will be under 30%. Inflation has no significant

impact on China at the social level.

1.4.1.3 Third assumption

Trade Policy

The trade policy of United States will be unchanged

1.4.1.1.4 Fourth assumption

Loan

World Bank continues to provide low interest loans to China for economic reforms in

agriculture and industry.

1.4.1.5 Fifth assumption

Infrastructure

China maintains her industrial infrastructure and continues to attract investors

globally.

1.4.1.6 Sixth assumption

Representational Industry

The electronics industry is considered to be the benchmark of China’s light industry

success.

1.4.1.6.1 Growth

Sing Tao Jin Pao reports that China has 405.9 billions RMB

which is a 31% rise on 2003. Electronics production in

2004 will grow to 520 billions RMB and this is therefore

considered by

the author to be a golden age for the Chinese electronics

industry.

44

1.5.1 Scope and Delimitation of the Study

This study’s analysis ranges from external factors, i.e., global industry trend, to

the study of the internal factors of decision categories. China has taken the

opportunities to forge ahead with it’s economic reform and stimulate industrial

growth. Hong Kong industry and overseas Chinese also fostered Chinas transition to

market economy from Stalins planned economy. Chinas’ light industry has benefit

extremely greatly in government policies.

1.5.1.1 Type of China’s Light Industry

This study singles out the electronics industry in this study, since it has proven

overwhelmingly to be one of the most successful industries since reform began.

Chinese made electronics products and parts are distributed globally throughout the

world. In fact, the electronics industry is considered to be a paragon of China’s

economic reforms.

1.5.2 Location of Chinas Electronics Industry

Guangdong province of China located in the south-east near Hong Kong was

home to the economic reform pioneers. In the past twenty-five years, Guangdong

province grew from a rural region to an industrialised city. Most of the electronics

factories are located in Guangdong province because it has several special economic

zones.

1.5.3 Decision Category

45

The scope of technology is great and embraces product technology, process

technology, industrial and project engineering, product design, production and plant

engineering. In this study, process technology of the decision category is discussed.

1.5.4 Definition of Terms

Some terminologies relevant to study of manufacturing industry are explained:

1.5.4.1 Planned and Market Economy

In Chows text of “The Chinese Economy”, he shows how Chinese economy

works, and makes comparison of planned and market economies with the following

diagram. These two different economics are illustrated in Figure 1.1.

46

Figure 1.1 A Planned Economy versus a Market Economy

Figure 1.1 compares the operation of a centrally planned economy and a

market economy. Consumers and enterprises including farms and industrial factories

are the key elements in each economy. Lines and arrows show goods or services

transactions and their flow. Consumer goods flow from producers to consumers.

Labour services flow from consumers to producers. In a market economy, all flows go

through markets. In a centrally planned economy, all flows are controlled by the

government planning authority. It orders the producers to produce certain consumer

goods and distributes them to the consumers. It assigns labour to work in various

production units. It also directs the production of capital goods and the construction of

investment projects.

When goods and services flow in one direction, monetary payments for these

goods flow in the opposite direction. Consumers pay for the goods they buy (Danny

Samson (1991)). Producers also pay for the inputs and capital goods that they use. In a

market economy, the buyers and sellers can settle the transaction directly in a market.

The prices are determined by the forces of demand and supply. But in a centrally

planned economy, the users and producers have to go through the planning authority

or distributors who work under the direction of the planning authority. All prices are

determined by the planning authority. In the case of centrally planned economy, the

production and distribution decisions are made by the planning authority. In the

market economy, they are made by individual consumers and producers trading in the

market. The central planning authority has to find ways to ensure that the enterprises

produce efficiently, by employing the most economical combination of inputs for any

output, by employing the right kind and the right quantity or resources of labour, and

47

by producing a product of good quality but n a central economy the problem for the

authority is that of ensuring that the producers of goods work efficiently and this can

be achieved only by finding the most efficient and cost-effective methods and it

creates a problem of incentive to management. In a market economy, incentives are

largely material, profits for owners of enterprises, and benefit for managers so there is

no incentive nor mechanism to transfer the excess material from one enterprise to

another and the problem of balancing the demand and supply of each input is solved in

a market economy in the market.

Generally, the inefficiencies of China’s factories are due to three reasons,

• With jobs guaranteed and wages independent of productivity, management has

difficulty in motivating workers to work more efficiently.

• The major duty for management is to meet the production target set by the central

authority, instead of maximising profits. There is no incentive for the management

to increase outputs beyond the targeted amounts.

• Because management receives materials and other required inputs from the

planning authority, it has little incentive to maximise on the use of the inputs.

China is employing a gradual approach to move her economy from central

planning to a market economy. Figure 1.2 illustrates the degree of economic transition

of China with regards to a time horizon. This shows the characteristics of the growing

change of China’s economic pattern.

Figure 1.2 China’s Transitional Market Economy

48

Market economy Planning economy - Private sector - Public sector

1958 1965 1976 1978 1986 1991 1995 1999 2006

There is no absolute or 100% market economy in a capitalist country. For

instance, Hong Kong is still a capitalist city but still has government planned

enterprises, such as a postal service. Some capitalist countries may keep their key

industries, like the military industry under the control of planning (Danny Samson,

1991).

China is careful to call her economic transition a move towards a “Socialist”

Market Economy. This means China will maintain her totalitarian regime. (Geoffrey

Aldershot Williams, 2003) However, in terms of her economic regime, China

continues to move towards a market economy.

1.5.5.2 Open Door Policy

This is a catchphrase in China’s economic reform (Deng’s reform). In the text

of Development in Southern China, the meanings and definitions follow:

• Opening to other countries and reviving the economy of the inland of China.

• International exchanges provide powers for modernisation and economic

development, and has led the national economy down a road to development.

49

• The Communist Party planners envisaged that if the coastal regions took

advantage of their location and attracted investors to support development, then

the resulting prosperity would eventually be shared by the rest of the country.

1.5.5.2.1 Guangdong

Not surprisingly, the Guangdong has benefited

enormously from this policy, given that three out of the

four SEZs and two out of the fourteen coastal open cities

are located in the province. The province has received

substantial foreign investment, notably from Hong Kong.

The rapid expansion of foreign investment in the industry is,

however, confined to electronics and toys, garments and

textiles. (Spegelman, 2004).

The economic profile of the region has undergone significant transformation in

the last decade; changing from an agricultural industry emphasis to a manufacturing

one dominated by the enterprises of electronics assembly, food processing, and

footwear and garments and textiles manufacturing.

1.6 Outline of Remaining Chapters

There are four further chapters in this dissertation:

Research Methodology and Design - Chapter 2

The Results of the Study (Analysis of Data and Interpretation) - Chapter 3

Summary and Recommendations - Chapter 4

Case Study (a case study of a Chinese electronics firm) - Chapter 5

50

Bibliography

William H. Overholt (1993). China - The Next Economic Superpower. Page xvii, 5-15. State Statistical Bureau of the People’s Republic of China. China Statistical Yearbook (2003). George C. Chow. “The Chinese Economy”. Harper & Row. p. 43-46. Sukhan Jackson. ‘Chinese Enterprise Management - Reforms in Economic Perspective’. Walter de Gruyter & Co. Ltd (1992) : P. 22-27, P. 30. Wickham Skinner, The Focused Factory. Harvard Business Review. (1994). Robert H. Hayes, Steven C. Wheelwright (2000). Restoring our Competitive Edge - Competing through Manufacturing. John Wiley & Sons. (1984) : pp.27-38. Sing Tao Jin Pao. Electronics Output Rises. 1995. Longman. Development in Southern China - A Report on the Pearl River Delta Region (Including the Special Economic Zones). Longman. (1995) : P.4. Influxfunds Company Limited (2004). China Report - Social & Economic Development 1949 - 2005. Influxfunds Company Limited. Danny Samson. Manufacturing & Operation Strategy. Prentice Hall. (2001). Express. China’s economic reform is better than Russia’s. Express. January 9, 1993.

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Section C. Part 2. Commented version

China and Industry: An Empirical Study

General comments After reading the opening pages of this dissertation, an examiner would for certain have in mind a Fail mark, and a poor Fail at that. These pages hardly bode well for the rest of the dissertation. And even if the standard dramatically improved in the subsequent chapters, there would remain the question of how there could be such a contrast with what is a disastrous opening. Therefore, if you thought this dissertation was heading for a pass, your standards are far too low. If you thought it was Good, you need a great deal of help in writing your dissertation. The guidelines will be an aid, but you also need to do a fair amount of careful, critical reading of good examples of dissertations. Many of the comments in the following pages are concerned with what some would call mere detail, such as hyphenation, the proper use of commas and capital letters, etc. As explained in the guidelines, while it is true that such things are details, and that no examiner would fail a dissertation for making such errors, it is important to be aware that they do count, if only subconsciously in the mind of the examiner, especially when there are so many of them that they start to add up to a serious lack of attention to detail. Some of the comments are concerned with consistency. As explained in the guidelines, making the presentation internally consistent is a purely mechanical process. However, it is actually very difficult to make everything consistent in every detail, and the odd mistake will not count, but not to undertake what you may consider boring work is nevertheless the equivalent of shooting yourself in the foot. The typographical errors noted are very minor and would hardly count in the mind of the examiner unless, again, the dissertation were peppered with them. They would hardly count because examiners from their own writing know how easy it is to miss them: they are like little devils who can hide themselves from your eyes even if you proof-read several times. The author of this document has carefully proof-read it twice, but would not be surprised if he has missed things.

52

There is no list of figures, tables or abbreviations, nor is the abstract (here what has been called the preface) mentioned.

Contents

Chapter 1 Background While too detailed a table of contents (down to every level) is usually confusing, there is too little detail here, and there are no page numbers.

Chapter 2 Research Methodology and Design

Chapter 3 The Results of the Study (Analysis of

Data and Interpretation)

Chapter 4 Summary This should really be “Abstract”, and while we do not want padding, what is presented here is far too thin for a proper summary.

Chapter 5 Case Study

Appendices

Preface Spurious comma. And the dissertation cannot properly be said to be based on some questionnaires.

This dissertation is based on some questionnaires,

of the changing face of China in a market economy.

Chapter 1 is some background to the problem.

Chapter 2 outlines the research methodology used

in gathering the data. Chapter 3 is a statistical

anlaysis of the data and interpretations of it.

Chapter 4 summarises the dissertation. Chapter 5 is

a case study involving a Chinese electronics firm.

Appendix 1 is the questionnaire. Appendix 2 is

some documentary material supplied by the

electronics firm described in Chapter 5.

A spelling checker would have picked this up.

I should like to acknowledge the help of Dr Erwin

D****** who obtained information for me from the

Embassy of the People’s Republic of China.

52

Chapter 1: Background Numbering. “1. Introduction” (there are many other examples). 1.1.1 Introduction

In the 1980s, commodities such as, electronics toys,

games, electric home appliances, electronic quartz

watches, clocks, electronics components or

subassemblies, clothing, sports shoes, hardware

were either made or assembled in China (PRC -

People’s Republic of China). See Graph 1.1. The

greatly increased presence of Chinese products was

and is sometimes hidden because retailers don’t

acknowledge the Chinese origin with their

labelling.

Spurious comma

Refer only to Figures and Tables, not Graphs (and this should be “Figure 1” not “1.1”).

Do not use verbal contractions unless quoting an original use.

Use single spacing for captions. The caption should appear under the graph. Other examples of both are highlighted in red.

Graph 1.1. Chinese global presence in consumer

goods.

Chinese global presence in consumer goods

100

120

140

160

180

200

220

240

1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

Do not repeat the figure caption as a title to the figure itself.

We are not told what the Y-axis refers to in this graph. Money, and if so, what currency? No source of the data given.

The situation was much different in the

1970’s and early 1980s, although some Japanese

and Taiwanese electronics products, such as

facsimile machines and personal computers, had

their main printed circuit boards and accessories

made in China, while the final assembly and testing

was done in Japan or Taiwan (Jones, 1986). The

labels read: “Assembled in Japan or Taiwan”. The

question is: Why and how has China made such a

Consistency in date format. Decide which format and stick to it.

Comma

Jones (1986) does not appear in the references list

53

Missing date. First name used in body-text reference. More serious, it is not clear what the reference means. Did Overholt actually ask that question or what? Page numbers given in the reference list, but no specific page number here.

penetration into the international business

environment? (William H. Overholt).

Many are quick to cite low labour costs,

saying that this is the primary factor in the

revitalisation of industry in China. That is a correct

assumption, but it isn’t the whole answer. The

reasons are manifold. The Philippines, Mexico, the

former Soviet Union, and other countries also have

cheap labour cost and plenty of land. Why has

China been particularly successful?

To understand the triumph of China’s

manufacturing industry, the author of this thesis has

had to investigate the micro world of China’s

manufacturing industry and also the macro

perspectives of Chinas’ government policy as it

relates to the micro perspectives. Overholt (1993)

stated: “The Pacific Asian economic take-off, like

the Japanese take-off before it, had transformed

itself from politically incorrect to conventional

WISDOM. China is the latest phase in the Pacific

Asian take-off”. (Overholt (1993)) This

dissertation intends to explore the strategies

employed in the manufacturing industry under the

PRC’s economic reform, using China’s Electronics

Industry as an example.

1.1.1.2 Historic Background

Before going into the details of the study,

preliminary background information on certain

historic events, and political and economic reforms

are necessary and important primarily because

China’s industrial success is linked to them, and

politics has had an effect on economic reform

Missing article

Verbal contraction

China’s

Use present tense “states” unless the reference is to a very old source

Double reference. Spurious right bracket. Inconsistency in placing full stops.

“Electronics Industry”. Why is this capitalised here an only here? Be consistent above all.

Should be “Historical”. Historic means celebrated, remarkable.

This could be correct usage, but doubtful.

54

policies which have in turn effected industry, as in

modern Chinese history, since the establishment of

the Iron Curtain in 1949, there have been two

economic reforms, the first being initiated by Mao

Zedong, and resulted in economic chaos and

tragedy for the Chinese people, and the latter

economic reform under Deng Xiaoping had very

different investment and manufacturing results.

(Sukhan Jackson, 1992).

affected

Sentence far too long

Table 1.1 illustrates the different

performance of these two economic reforms with

various plans

Chronicle Incident Year Gross Output Value

Agriculture and

Industry

Agriculture Light

Industry

Heavy

Industry

1952 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

First Five-Year Plan 1953 114.4 103.1 126.7 136.9

1954 125.2 106.6 144.8 163.9

1955 133.5 114.7 144.8 187.7

1956 155.5 120.5 173.3 262.3

1957 167.8 124.8 183.3 310.7

Great Leap Forward 1958 221.9 127.8 245.0 555.4

1959 264.9 110.4 298.9 822.8

1960 279.3 96.4 269.5 1035.5

1961 192.6 94.1 211.2 553.5

1962 173.1 99.9 193.5 428.3

1963 189.6 111.5 198.0 487.6

1964 222.9 126.7 232.2 590.2

Culture Revolution 1965 268.3 137.1 344.5 650.5

1966 314.7 149.0 394.4 829.4

1967 284.5 151.3 366.5 663.7

1968 272.5 147.6 348.9 629.8

1969 337.4 149.2 436.1 907.5

1970 424.3 157.8 522.8 1309.5

which

Comma. “later” not “latter”

First names used in body-text reference. Placing of full stops

Missing full stop. Care and attention to detail

55

1971 476.1 162.9 556.1 1585.3

1972 497.4 161.2 592.5 1698.3

1973 543.0 174.5 654.6 1846.6

1974 550.6 180.7 675.0 1823.8

1975 616.3 186.3 764.4 2137.7

Mao’s death & 1976 626.6 185.5 791.7 2171.9

Gang of Four

1977 693.3 184.8 906.7 2409.3

Deng’s Economic Reform 1978 778.6 199.8 1005.2 2879.5

1979 845.0 214.8 1105.3 3108.9

1980 908.3 217.9 1314.6 3168.3

1981 950.2 230.5 1502.5 3024.5

1982 1033.5 256.5 1589.8 3324.6

1983 1139.2 276.5 1738.1 3759.5

1984 1312.0 310.4 2018.1 4378.1

1985 1529.0 321.0 2475.4 5260.3

Seventh Five-Year Plan 1986 1676.9 331.8 2799.9 5799.1

1987 1828.5 351.1 3321.8 6769.6

1988 2261.8 364.9 4055.7 8085.5

1989 2432.3 376.2 4388.2 8805.7

1990 2620.5 404.9 4793.1 9353.7

Eighth Five-Year Plan 1991 2935.0 419.9 5512.0 10710.0

1992 3601.2 446.6 6950.7 13815.9

Table 1.1 Indexes of Gross Output Value of

Agriculture and Industry (1952 = 100) (at

comparable prices) This detailed table would be acceptable if commented on to bring out the salient points. On its own, without satisfactory comment, it merely blasts the reader with numbers. The caption should appear above the table (mentioned here as an example of a table split between pages when this document was reformatted to allow the comments). And no source is given.

* The index of gross output value of Industry

embraces both Light & Heavy Industry.

56

Times

Range Agriculture Light Industry Heavy Industry

Mao Zedong 1952 - 1977 2.5% 9.2% 13.0%

Deng Xiaoping 1977 - 1992 6.1% 14.5% 12.3%

Table 1.2 Average Compound Growth Rate of

Gross Output Value Again, the table is uncommented and un-referenced.

What follows can hardly be called this. Two sets of decision categories are outlined, with no reference to any theoretical framework adopted for the dissertation. Indeed, one is at pains to see any relevance of the decision categories other than possibly by i li ti

1.2.1 Theoretical Framework

After the World War II, when a lot of

countries in Asia, Europe were re-building their

societies and factories, the United States of

America had advanced technological capabilities

and was able to penetrate global markets. In fact,

US dominated the world economy with almost half

of the world’s gross national product, and very

strong competitiveness in manufacturing. In the late

1970s and early part of 1980, the US (United

States) realised it was gradually losing its global

market share of electronics, automobiles, steel,

machine tools to Japan. The USA trade deficit was

in the billions. Intellectuals and manufacturers alike

were alarmed by the situation and analysis began in

earnest.

Consistency. Any of these forms to indicate the USA is acceptable, but stick to one of them. And telling us that US = United States, after already using the abbreviation, and writing it out in full, creates an impression of lack of attention to detail. If using US as a noun, say “the US”. Ditto for “the UK”.

the 1980s

Their key concern was to come up with

manufacturing strategies that would recommend a

set of decisions and processes which would

strengthen the infrastructural competitiveness of

manufacturing such decisions and processes were

derived in accordance with various manufacturing

policies, strategic goals and objectives. Different

Sentence delineator (full stop) missing.

57

schools of manufacturing strategy had similar

decision elements, ad hoc factors and emphases.

Table 1.3 shows the decision categories for

two authorities in the field of manufacturing,

namely Skinner and Hayes and Wheelwright.

Ambiguous: three authors of one work, or what? For clarity use commas; “Skinner, and Hayes and Wheelwright, …” .

Basically, the decision categories of

Skinner, Hayes & Wheelwright are very similar.

But they have a different emphasis on approach in

their manufacturing strategies formulation.

Consistency. “and” or “&”

“in” or “of”

Item of Decision

Category

Schools

Hyphenation

Skinner (1969) Hayes and Wheelwright (1978)

1 Capacity Capacity

2 Facilities location, Facilities

number and size of plants

3 Equipment and Technology

process technology

4 Make versus buy Vertical integration

5 Workforce management Workforce

6 Quality control system Quality

7 Production and Production planning /

inventory control systems Materials control

8 Organisational structure Organisation

9 Cost and other /

information systems

Table 1.3 Comparison on the Decision

Categorisation of Manufacturing Strategies The table is all but useless, and the very principle looks faulty. There are indeed only minor differences between the two, some of them merely semantic. The supposed different emphases are not explained: a major fault.

1.4.1 Assumptions of the Study

Certain assumptions were made in the

research for this dissertation, because many

factors influenced strategy choices. The followings

are assumptions made in this dissertation. Unnecessary repetition.

Numbering has by now gone haywire.

58

Here the presentation is very clumsy. Beyond the unnecessary four levels of numbering, the assumptions could have been put into a bulleted or numbered list. One even suspects that it started out as such a list, as the spurious “1)” might tend to indicate.

1.4.1.1 First assumption

1) Stability

China has a stable economy and a sure

political climate. There have been no significant

changes in the Market Economy and the policy of

economic reform.

Elsewhere, “market economy” is not capitalised in the main body-text: consistency.

1.4.1.1.2 Second assumption

Inflation Rate

The inflation rate of China will be under

30%. Inflation has no significant impact on China at

the social level. What? Possibly up to 29% inflation having no social impact?

1.4.1.3 Third assumption This is surely an unsafe assumption, given the fairly long-standing move in the USA to limit Chinese imports, etc. The assumption should have at least been justified. If it is justified later in the dissertation, then a signpost to it was required.

Trade Policy

The trade policy of United States will be

unchanged

1.4.1.1.4 Fourth assumption

Loan Another example of lack of hyphenation. Not vital, of course, but would show attention to good writing style.

World Bank continues to provide low interest loans

to China for economic reforms in agriculture and

industry.

1.4.1.5 Fifth assumption

Infrastructure

China maintains her industrial infrastructure and

continues to attract investors globally.

59

1.4.1.6 Sixth assumption

Representational Industry

The electronics industry is considered to be the

benchmark of China’s light industry success. Five levels of numbering. By now, the numbering system has gone completely awry, and one wonders what can have caused this. Perhaps insertions and deletions without taking account of the effect on numbering.

1.4.1.6.1 Growth Sing Tao Jin Pao reports that China

has 405.9 billions RMB which is a

31% rise on 2003. Electronics

production in 2004 will grow to 520

billions RMB and this is therefore

considered by

A give-away which any examiner would not fail to notice. Change of font and a spurious line break indicate lifting directly from an electronic source, probably the Internet. This is very bad because it makes the examiner suspicious that much of the rest of the dissertation has also been lifted. And there is no reference here to any source of the information.

the author to be a golden age for

the Chinese electronics industry.

1.5.1 Scope and Delimitation of the Study

This study’s analysis ranges from external

factors, i.e., global industry trend, to the study of

the internal factors of decision categories. China has

taken the opportunities to forge ahead with it’s

economic reform and stimulate industrial growth.

Hong Kong industry and overseas Chinese also

fostered Chinas transition to market economy from

Stalins planned economy. Chinas’ light industry

has benefit extremely greatly in government

policies.

= e.g. surely?

its

has stimulated

“China’s” in both cases, and “Stalin’s”

1.5.1.1 Type of China’s Light Industry

This would immediately make an examiner suspicious. Anyone who can write elsewhere such perfect, stylish English would not make such errors. And there has been no declaration of any help form a native English speaker.

This study singles out the electronics

industry in this study, since it has proven

overwhelmingly to be one of the most successful

industries since reform began. Chinese made

electronics products and parts are distributed

globally throughout the world. In fact, the

Repetition

Hyphenation

Tautology

60

electronics industry is considered to be a paragon of

China’s economic reforms.

1.5.2 Location of Chinas Electronics Industry China’s Guangdong province of China located in the

south-east near Hong Kong was home to the

economic reform pioneers. In the past twenty-five

years, Guangdong province grew from a rural

region to an industrialised city. Most of the

electronics factories are located in Guangdong

province because it has several special economic

zones.

1.5.3 Decision Category

The scope of technology is great and

embraces product technology, process technology,

industrial and project engineering, product design,

production and plant engineering. In this study,

process technology of the decision category is

discussed.

1.5.4 Definition of Terms

Some terminologies relevant to study of

manufacturing industry are explained:

1.5.4.1 Planned and Market Economy

In Chows text of “The Chinese Economy”,

he shows how Chinese economy works, and makes

comparison of planned and market economies with

the following diagram. These two different

economics are illustrated in Figure 1.1.

Better though not obligatory: “25”. An examiner would check throughout for, at least, consistency.

Is a causal relationship really intended?

It is hard to understand what is meant by this paragraph, because the exposition of decision categories earlier on has been so vague. The second sentence of the paragraph is close to being incomprehensible. But if it means that process technology, as opposed to the other factors mentioned, which will be the focus of the dissertation, this is the first we have heard of it. It should have been mentioned much earlier. Further, we need to be told the distinction between process technology, and product technology, which is not self-evident.

can be explained as follows:

In Chow’s The Chinese Economy, the author shows …

compares

Tautology

61

Figure 1.1 A Planned Economy versus a Market

Economy

The above diagram could hardly be more confusing! And it may be considered superfluous because the text below adequately exposes the difference.

Figure 1.1 compares the operation of a centrally

planned economy and a market economy.

Consumers and enterprises including farms and

industrial factories are the key elements in each

economy. Lines and arrows show goods or

services transactions and their flow. Consumer

goods flow from producers to consumers. Labour

services flow from consumers to producers. In a

market economy, all flows go through markets. In a

centrally planned economy, all flows are controlled

commercial organisations

Perhaps so, but it is not easy to figure them out!

62

by the government planning authority. It orders the

producers to produce certain consumer goods and

distributes them to the consumers. It assigns labour

to work in various production units. It also directs

the production of capital goods and the construction

of investment projects. A superfluous reference. Who does not know that consumers pay for the goods they buy? Presumably, this reference was meant to relate to the whole paragraph, so at best it is misplaced. This creates a very bad impression, and one compounded by the missing page reference, a first name used, the fact that the book is given as 2001 not 1991 in the references list, and the double right bracket.

When goods and services flow in one

direction, monetary payments for these goods flow

in the opposite direction. Consumers pay for the

goods they buy (Danny Samson (1991)). Producers

also pay for the inputs and capital goods that they

use. In a market economy, the buyers and sellers

can settle the transaction directly in a market. The

prices are determined by the forces of demand and

supply. But in a centrally planned economy, the

users and producers have to go through the planning

authority or distributors who work under the

direction of the planning authority. All prices are

determined by the planning authority. In the case of

a centrally planned economy, the production and

distribution decisions are made by the planning

authority. In the market economy, they are made by

individual consumers and producers trading in the

market. The central planning authority has to find

ways to ensure that the enterprises produce

efficiently, by employing the most economical

combination of inputs for any output, by employing

the right kind and the right quantity or resources of

labour, and by producing a product of good quality

but in a central economy the problem for the

authority is that of ensuring that the producers of

goods work efficiently and this can be achieved

only by finding the most efficient and cost-effective

Sentence far too long.

63

methods and it creates a problem of incentive to

management. In a market economy, incentives are

largely material, profits for owners of enterprises,

and benefit for managers so there is no incentive

nor mechanism to transfer the excess material from

one enterprise to another, and the problem of

balancing the demand and supply of each input is

solved in a market economy in the market.

Comma

Generally, the inefficiencies of China’s

factories are due to three reasons,

• With jobs guaranteed and wages independent of

productivity, management has difficulty in

motivating workers to work more efficiently.

• The major duty for management is to meet the

production target set by the central authority,

instead of maximising profits. There is no

incentive for the management to increase

outputs beyond the targeted amounts.

• Because management receives materials and

other required inputs from the planning

authority, it has little incentive to maximise on

the use of the inputs.

China is employing a gradual approach to

move her economy from central planning to a

market economy. Figure 1.2 illustrates the degree of

economic transition of China with regards to a

time horizon. This shows the characteristics of the

growing change of China’s economic pattern.

Such a common error

64

Figure 1.2 China’s Transitional Market Economy

Quite apart from the fact that “planned economy” has now become “planning economy”, this is a useless figure which tells us close to nothing of any value. It is an example of “prettying up” for its own sake, and in this case making things far worse because of the impression of naiveté.

There is no absolute or 100% market economy in a

capitalist country. For instance, Hong Kong is still a

capitalist city but still has government planned

enterprises, such as a postal service. Some capitalist

countries may keep their key industries, like the

military industry under the control of planning

(Danny Samson, 1991).

Hyphenation

Here, “enterprises” could be correct

China is careful to call her economic

transition a move towards a “Socialist” Market

Economy. This means China will maintain her

totalitarian regime. (Geoffrey Aldershot Williams,

2003) However, in terms of her economic regime,

China continues to move towards a market

economy.

First names used, and not in the references list. Placing of full stops.

1.5.5.2 Open Door Policy

This is a catchphrase in China’s economic

reform (Deng’s reform). In the text of

Development in Southern China, the meanings

and definitions follow:

Proper reference is required, italics for the book title would be better, and the sentence is not in normal English.

• Opening to other countries and reviving the

economy of the inland of China.

65

• International exchanges provide powers for

modernisation and economic development, and

has led the national economy down a road to

development. In what sense are these points meanings and definitions?

• The Communist Party planners envisaged that if

the coastal regions took advantage of their

location and attracted investors to support

development, then the resulting prosperity

would eventually be shared by the rest of the

country.

1.5.5.2.1 Guangdong Not surprisingly, the Guangdong has benefited

enormously from this policy, given that three out of

the

four SEZs and two out of the fourteen coastal open

cities

are located in the province. The province has

received

substantial foreign investment, notably from Hong

Kong.

The rapid expansion of foreign investment in the

industry is,

however, confined to electronics and toys, garments

and

textiles. (Spegelman, 2004).

The economic profile of the region has

undergone significant transformation in the last

decade; changing from an agricultural industry

emphasis to a manufacturing one dominated by the

enterprises of electronics assembly, food

Again, spurious line breaks do suggest lifted material, particularly since the English is so perfect and stylish.

Does not appear in the references list. Inconsistency in full stops.

Hyphenation

66

processing, and footwear and garments and textiles

manufacturing.

1.6 Outline of Remaining Chapters

There are four further chapters in this

dissertation:

Research Methodology and Design - Chapter 2

The Results of the Study (Analysis of Data and

Interpretation) - Chapter 3 Mere repetition

Summary and Recommendations - Chapter 4

Case Study (a case study of a Chinese electronics

firm) - Chapter 5

Bibliography This references list is appalling. It is deficient in ways far too numerous to set out in detail. The list is not in any discernible order (it should be alphabetical by surname), there is a great deal of information missing, and it is so internally inconsistent that no pattern can be discerned. This sort of thing creates a very bad impression.

William H. Overholt (1993). China - The Next

Economic Superpower. Page xvii, 5-15.

State Statistical Bureau of the People’s Republic of

China. China Statistical Yearbook (2003).

George C. Chow. “The Chinese Economy”. Harper

& Row. p. 43-46.

Sukhan Jackson. ‘Chinese Enterprise Management -

Reforms in Economic Perspective’. Walter de

Gruyter & Co. Ltd (1992) : P. 22-27, P. 30.

Wickham Skinner, The Focused Factory. Harvard

Business Review. (1994).

Robert H. Hayes, Steven C. Wheelwright (2000).

Restoring our Competitive Edge - Competing

67

through Manufacturing. John Wiley & Sons. (1984)

: pp.27-38.

Sing Tao Jin Pao. Electronics Output Rises. 1995.

Longman. Development in Southern China - A

Report on the Pearl River Delta Region (Including

the Special Economic Zones). Longman. (1995) :

P.4.

Influxfunds Company Limited (2004). China Report

- Social & Economic Development 1949 - 2005.

Influxfunds Company Limited.

Danny Samson. Manufacturing & Operation

Strategy. Prentice Hall. (2001).

Express. China’s economic reform is better than

Russia’s. Express. January 9, 1993.

68