Browsing by Author "Zhang, Lei"
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- ItemApplying knowledge management in education : teaching database normalization : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Information Science at Massey University(Massey University, 2004) Zhang, LeiIn tertiary education, Information Science has been attracting more attention in both teaching and learning. However, along the course on the database design theory, learners always find it hard to grasp the knowledge on database normalisation and hard to apply different levels of the normal forms while designing a database. This results poor database construction and difficulties in database maintenance. In regard to this teaching and learning dilemma, academic teaching staff should, on the one hand, pay more attention to organising different teaching resources on database normalisation concepts and making the best use of the existing and newly developed resources so as to make the teaching environment more adaptive and more sharable. and on the other hand, apply different teaching methods to different students according to their knowledge levels by understanding the nature of each learner's behaviour, interests and preferences concerning the existing learning resources. However, at present there is no effective Information Technology tool to use in considering the dynamic nature of knowledge discovery, creation, transfer utilisation and reuse in this area. This provides an opportunity to examine the potentiality of applying knowledge management in education with the focus on teaching database normalisation, in terms of knowledge discovering, sharing, utilisation and reuse. This thesis contains a review of knowledge management and web mining technologies in the education environment, presents a dynamic knowledge management framework for better utilising teaching resource in the area of database normalisation and diagnoses the students' learning patterns and behaviours to assist effective teaching and learning. It is argued that knowledge management-supported education can work as a value-added process which supports the different needs of teachers and learners.
- ItemFulfilling the curious omission of host company responses to reshoring : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, School of Management, Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand(Massey University, 2021) Zhang, LeiWhile offshoring has become one of the most significant strategies adopted by home companies, its subsequent reshoring has created new challenges to research. For reasons that remain unexplained, the extant literature focuses on 'Why' and 'How' to reshore near exclusively from the home company's perspective. However, an interactive dyadic relationship exists between the two resource bundles during reshoring. The findings of a content-analysis based literature review reveal that published case studies focus on Western firms' offshoring and subsequent reshoring strategies, ignoring the host company response. Single and multiple case studies were completed using data collected from four host companies in China. The single case study explores the host company's response to reshoring and its influence on the home companies' decisions. Thematic analysis generated four response strategies: cost-related; market-related; knowledge-related; and, relationship-related. The multiple-case study was used to identify how the host company orchestrates resources obtained from the offshoring network in response to reshoring. Four dimensions of resources acquired from the offshoring network: financial; physical-asset related; knowledge; and, human resources were identified. The network for resource exchange was also observed to contain actors beyond the dyad, notably clients who contributed to the resource bundle. The home company's repatriation leaves resources in the host country, defined as the available residual resource (ARR). This resource bundle then leads to risks and potential sources of competition for the home company. This study adds a new dimension, the host company, to reshoring studies restoring what has become unilateral research into a bilateral dialogue.