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.

2
 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.

3
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).

4
 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.

5
 Sub-sub ideas

Sub-ideas

Central
Central idea
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.

6
 Side A Side B

Introduction

Point 1 Point 1

Point 2 Point 2

Point 3 Point 3

Point 4

Conclusion

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

7
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.

Side A Side B

Introduction

Point 1 Point 1
(3) (3)

Point 2 Point 2
(1) (2)

Point 3 Point 3
(4) (4)

Point 4
(5)

Conclusion

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.

8
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

9
 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

10
 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.

11
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.

12
 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).

13
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 Strongly
agree disagree Don’t know

1 2 3 4 5

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

14
 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

15
 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.

16
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).

17
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

18
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.

19
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.

Num bers of units sold

1100

1090

1080

1070

1060

1050

1040

1030

1020

1010

1000

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).

20
 Num bers of units sold

1500

1450

1400

1350

1300

1250

1200

1150

1100

1050

1000
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:

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
Male Female

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

21
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:

22
 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:

23
 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.

24
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)”.

25
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.

26
 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 within for in, for

commence for begin upon for on
permit for allow, let facilitate for teach, provide
whilst for while utilise for use (and utilisation for
amongst for among use or usage)

27
 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 Patently Definitely

Distinctly Evidently Assuredly
Apparently Certainly Positively
Plainly Surely

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

However Indeed Similarly

But True In the same way
Yet Still Now
And In fact Thus
Moreover In reality It is clear, then,
Furthermore In addition that ...
Further Of course A different
Nevertheless Naturally perspective is
Besides Likewise 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.

29
xii. Don’t use verbal contractions (Å 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.

32
 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)

33
 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

34
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.

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

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.

35
 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
240

220

200

180

160

140

120

100
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
 Table 1.1 illustrates the different performance of these two economic reforms
with various plans

Chronicle Incident Year Gross Output Value

Agriculture and Agriculture Light Heavy
Industry Industry 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 & 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)
* The index of gross output value of Industry embraces both Light & Heavy Industry.

41
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.

42
 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

43
 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.

51
 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
Contents preface) mentioned.

Chapter 1 Background
While too detailed a table of contents
Chapter 2 Research Methodology and Design (down to every level) is usually
confusing, there is too little detail
Chapter 3 The Results of the Study (Analysis of
here, and there are no page numbers.
Data and Interpretation)
Chapter 4 Summary
This should really be “Abstract”, and while we
Chapter 5 Case Study do not want padding, what is presented here is
Appendices far too thin for a proper summary.
Preface Spurious comma. And the
This dissertation is based on some questionnaires, dissertation cannot properly be said
to be 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
A spelling checker would have
in gathering the data. Chapter 3 is a statistical picked this up.
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.

52
 Chapter 1: Background
Numbering. “1. Introduction” (there
1.1.1 Introduction are many other examples).
In the 1980s, commodities such as, electronics toys,
games, electric home appliances, electronic quartz Spurious comma
watches, clocks, electronics components or
subassemblies, clothing, sports shoes, hardware
were either made or assembled in China (PRC - Refer only to Figures and Tables,
People’s Republic of China). See Graph 1.1. The not Graphs (and this should be
“Figure 1” not “1.1”).
greatly increased presence of Chinese products was
and is sometimes hidden because retailers don’t
Do not use verbal contractions
acknowledge the Chinese origin with their unless quoting an original use.
labelling.

Use single spacing for captions.

Graph 1.1. Chinese global presence in consumer The caption should appear under
the graph. Other examples of both
goods.
are highlighted in red.

Chinese global presence Do not repeat the figure caption as

in consumer goods
240
a title to the figure itself.
220

200

180

160
We are not told what the Y-axis
140
refers to in this graph. Money, and
120
if so, what currency? No source of
100 the data given.
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

The situation was much different in the

Consistency in date format. Decide
1970’s and early 1980s, although some Japanese
which format and stick to it.
and Taiwanese electronics products, such as
facsimile machines and personal computers, had Comma
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 Jones (1986) does not appear in the
references list
labels read: “Assembled in Japan or Taiwan”. The
question is: Why and how has China made such a

53
 Missing date. First name used in
body-text reference. More serious,
penetration into the international business
it is not clear what the reference
environment? (William H. Overholt). means. Did Overholt actually ask
that question or what? Page
Many are quick to cite low labour costs,
numbers given in the reference list,
saying that this is the primary factor in the but no specific page number here.
revitalisation of industry in China. That is a correct
assumption, but it isn’t the whole answer. The Verbal contraction
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 Missing article
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 China’s
relates to the micro perspectives. Overholt (1993)
Use present tense “states” unless
stated: “The Pacific Asian economic take-off, like
the reference is to a very old
the Japanese take-off before it, had transformed source
itself from politically incorrect to conventional
WISDOM. China is the latest phase in the Pacific
Double reference. Spurious right
Asian take-off”. (Overholt (1993)) This bracket. Inconsistency in placing
full stops.
dissertation intends to explore the strategies
employed in the manufacturing industry under the
PRC’s economic reform, using China’s Electronics “Electronics Industry”. Why is this
capitalised here an only here? Be
Industry as an example. consistent above all.

Should be “Historical”. Historic

1.1.1.2 Historic Background
means celebrated, remarkable.
Before going into the details of the study,
preliminary background information on certain
historic events, and political and economic reforms This could be correct usage, but
doubtful.
are necessary and important primarily because
China’s industrial success is linked to them, and
politics has had an effect on economic reform

54
policies which have in turn effected industry, as in affected
modern Chinese history, since the establishment of
Sentence far too long
the Iron Curtain in 1949, there have been two
economic reforms, the first being initiated by Mao
Zedong, and resulted in economic chaos and which
tragedy for the Chinese people, and the latter
Comma. “later” not “latter”
economic reform under Deng Xiaoping had very
different investment and manufacturing results.
(Sukhan Jackson, 1992). First names used in body-text
reference. Placing of full stops
Table 1.1 illustrates the different
performance of these two economic reforms with
various plans Missing full stop. Care and
attention to detail

Chronicle Incident Year Gross Output Value

Agriculture and Agriculture Light Heavy
Industry Industry 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

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)
* The index of gross output value of Industry
embraces both Light & Heavy Industry.
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.

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

What follows can hardly be called

this. Two sets of decision
categories are outlined, with no
reference to any theoretical
1.2.1 Theoretical Framework
framework adopted for the
After the World War II, when a lot of dissertation. Indeed, one is at pains
to see any relevance of the decision
countries in Asia, Europe were re-building their
categories other than possibly by
societies and factories, the United States of i li ti
America had advanced technological capabilities Consistency. Any of these
and was able to penetrate global markets. In fact, forms to indicate the USA
is acceptable, but stick to
US dominated the world economy with almost half one of them. And telling
of the world’s gross national product, and very us that US = United States,
after already using the
strong competitiveness in manufacturing. In the late abbreviation, and writing it
1970s and early part of 1980, the US (United out in full, creates an
impression of lack of
States) realised it was gradually losing its global attention to detail. If using
market share of electronics, automobiles, steel, US as a noun, say “the
US”. Ditto for “the UK”.
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 the 1980s
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 Sentence delineator (full
stop) missing.
derived in accordance with various manufacturing
policies, strategic goals and objectives. Different

57
schools of manufacturing strategy had similar
decision elements, ad hoc factors and emphases.
Table 1.3 shows the decision categories for Ambiguous: three authors of one
two authorities in the field of manufacturing, work, or what? For clarity use
commas; “Skinner, and Hayes
namely Skinner and Hayes and Wheelwright. and Wheelwright, …” .
Basically, the decision categories of
Consistency. “and”
Skinner, Hayes & Wheelwright are very similar. or “&”
But they have a different emphasis on approach in
their manufacturing strategies formulation. “in” or “of”
Hyphenation

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.
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.
Numbering has by now gone haywire.
Unnecessary repetition.

58
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
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.

economic reform.

Elsewhere, “market economy” is not

1.4.1.1.2 Second assumption capitalised in the main body-text:
Inflation Rate consistency.
The inflation rate of China will be under
30%. Inflation has no significant impact on China at
What? Possibly up to 29% inflation
the social level.
having no social impact?

1.4.1.3 Third assumption

This is surely an unsafe assumption,
Trade Policy given the fairly long-standing move in
The trade policy of United States will be the USA to limit Chinese imports, etc.
The assumption should have at least
unchanged been justified. If it is justified later in
the dissertation, then a signpost to it
was required.
1.4.1.1.4 Fourth assumption
Loan Another example of lack of
World Bank continues to provide low interest loans hyphenation. Not vital, of course, but
would show attention to good writing
to China for economic reforms in agriculture and style.
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.
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.
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
60
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.
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.
= e.g. surely?
its
has stimulated
“China’s” in both cases, and
“Stalin’s”
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.
Repetition
Hyphenation
Tautology
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:
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:

1.5.4.1 Planned and Market Economy

In Chows text of “The Chinese Economy”, In Chow’s The Chinese Economy, the
author shows …
he shows how Chinese economy works, and makes
comparison of planned and market economies with
compares
the following diagram. These two different
economics are illustrated in Figure 1.1. 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 commercial organisations
industrial factories are the key elements in each
economy. Lines and arrows show goods or
Perhaps so, but it is not easy
services transactions and their flow. Consumer
to figure them out!
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

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
When goods and services flow in one not know that consumers pay for
the goods they buy? Presumably,
direction, monetary payments for these goods flow
this reference was meant to relate to
in the opposite direction. Consumers pay for the the whole paragraph, so at best it is
misplaced. This creates a very bad
goods they buy (Danny Samson (1991)). Producers
impression, and one compounded
also pay for the inputs and capital goods that they by the missing page reference, a
first name used, the fact that the
use. In a market economy, the buyers and sellers
book is given as 2001 not 1991 in
can settle the transaction directly in a market. The the references list, and the double
right bracket.
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 Sentence far too long.
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

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 Comma
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 Such a common error
time horizon. This shows the characteristics of the
growing change of China’s economic pattern.

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 Hyphenation
enterprises, such as a postal service. Some capitalist
countries may keep their key industries, like the Here, “enterprises” could be
correct
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
First names used, and not in
totalitarian regime. (Geoffrey Aldershot Williams, the references list. Placing of
2003) However, in terms of her economic regime, full stops.

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
Proper reference is required,
Development in Southern China, the meanings italics for the book title would
and definitions follow: 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 Again, spurious line breaks
cities do suggest lifted material,
particularly since the English
are located in the province. The province has is so perfect and stylish.
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
Does not appear in the references
textiles. (Spegelman, 2004).
list. Inconsistency in full stops.

The economic profile of the region has

undergone significant transformation in the last
decade; changing from an agricultural industry Hyphenation
emphasis to a manufacturing one dominated by the
enterprises of electronics assembly, food

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
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).
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.

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