Methods

The fourth, and arguably most important element of any research design is how the research questions will be answered. The ‘methods’ element of the framework suggested by Maxwell (2005) includes methodology (the strategy for data collection

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and analysis), as well as methods (the tools and techniques used to collected and analyse data). This research is exploratory in nature due to the fact that little is known about the transformation behaviour of manufacturing SMEs. Within a critical realist paradigm the methodological approach is one of discovery and process orientation to gather information-rich, contextual data. As has been noted above, case study methodology is suggested as optimal for investigations of organisational change (Pettigrew et al, 2001), and in general in the operations management field is gaining popularity (McCutcheon and Meredith, 1993; Voss et al, 2002).

Case study research

Yin (2003; pg1) suggests that case studies are relevant when “how” or “why” questions are being posed, when the researcher has little control over the events under investigation and when the focus is on phenomenon within a real-life context, each of which is true in this study. The increasing popularity of case study research in operations management has led to the development of guiding processes and frameworks for designing the data collection and analysing it. Yin (2003) presents the definitive guide to case study research design and methods, now in its fourth edition and considered the ‘bible’ of case study research. The case study method can be divided into three phases: define and design; prepare, collect and analyse; and analyse and conclude. In the initial phase, cases are selected and data collection protocols designed. Phase two consists of conducting the case studies and writing individual reports for each, and the final phase involves cross-case analysis, modification of theory and development of implications.

In the same vein, Eisenhardt (1989) proposes a process of theory building from case study research, and although the output of this research is considered to be theory extension and refinement rather than theory building, it is a useful structure to adopt for designing and conducting the study. The process steps are presented below in Table 3.2 and discussed thereafter.

Page | 40 Table 3.2 – Process of theory building from case study research (Eisenhardt, 1989)

Step in process General activity

Getting started Definition of research questions and a priori constructs. Selecting cases Specified population, sampling.

Crafting instruments and protocols

Multiple data collection methods, combination of quantitative and qualitative data.

Entering the field Overlap data collection and analysis, flexible and opportunistic data collection methods.

Analysing the data Within- and cross-case analyses.

Shaping hypotheses Tabulation of evidence for each construct, replication across cases, evidence of “why” behind relationships.

Enfolding literature Comparison with literature. Reaching closure Theoretical saturation.

The first step of ‘getting started’ has begun through defining research goals, developing the conceptual framework and developing the three research questions, however further investigation of the constructs in the literature is required to fully understand the current knowledge in the field. This will allow a theoretical framework of transformation to be developed, which will be used to discuss the empirical findings and lead to confirmation and extension of theory (presented in Chapter Four).

In selecting cases, consideration must be given to the number of cases appropriate to address the research questions. Yin (2003) makes the distinction between single- and multiple-case designs and describes in detail the rationale behind choosing one or the other, based upon the nature of the research questions, and the purpose of the data collected from the case(s). The overall aim of this study is to understand transformation behaviour in manufacturing SMEs, thus the research intends to extend theory within the field of organisational transformation, using evidence from the

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cases under investigation. This purpose, along with the wide scope of the context in this study (i.e. manufacturing SMEs) tends the researcher towards the multiple-case design. A single study would not be representative of manufacturing SMEs which operate in vastly different contextual environments, nor would it allow for robust or valid theory development (Voss et al, 2002). Moreover, the study is exploratory in that it aims to provide insights into transformation behaviour and it is only through multiple studies that general behaviours or characteristics could be identified, if they indeed exist. Yin (2003, pg 42) suggests that a rationale for conducting a single-case study is the longitudinal case, however there is no proposed injunction for conducting multiple longitudinal studies outside the obvious resource intensiveness that would be required. As previously mentioned, a longitudinal investigation of organisational transformation is deemed most appropriate to understand the phenomena, although since organisational transformation takes place over many years (e.g. Bititci et al, 2010), this strategy is not possible for this study. What is achievable, however, is the use of a small number of retrospective case studies which will allow for in-depth analysis of organisational transformation over a period of time (Yin, 2003). Voss et al, (2002) discuss the choice between longitudinal and retrospective studies, though suggest that both are not mutually exclusive since the investigation of current case studies will involve the collection of historical data to some degree. Retrospective studies do have disadvantages in that participants can place interpretations on events that may not have materialised had the data been collected in real time (Voss et al, 2002), however it is a general disadvantage of qualitative data collection that subjectivity cannot be removed, only minimised, as will be discussed in Section 3.2.3.

The cases selected for this study were chosen based upon the need for particular data in order to answer the research questions. Clearly, the case study companies must be manufacturing SMEs. The organisations needed to have transformed according to the definition presented in Chapter Two - the change in state of an organisation as a result of a series of changes in key organisational elements, including strategy,

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behaviour, structures, and systems. To gather necessary data to answer the research questions, the researcher needed to have access to those involved in the transformation of the business, any significant historical data and any external publicity. These criteria imply a close and, ideally, well established relationship with the organisations to gain access to data and receive accurate accounts of changes in the business. Fortuitously, the researcher is familiar with a number of manufacturing SMEs as a result of other research projects and so was able to identify four cases for inclusion in this study, presented in Table 3.3 below.

Table 3.3 – Case study companies for this research

Characteristics CS1 CS2 CS3 CS4 Transformation Co-packing (primary) to contract bottling (primary) Multi- divisions (home, auto, distribution) to single focus on home audio equipment; new technology base. Poor performing market ‘lagger’ to dominant brand in bowls market across world. Machine shop to precision engineering company. Transformation timeline 2000-2009 2000-2009 1992-2009 1992-2009 Location Industrial estate, outskirts of Glasgow, UK Purpose-built factory on green field site, outskirts of Glasgow, UK Industrial zone, Glasgow city, UK Industrial zone (close to residential area), Glasgow city, UK No. of employees (at time of writing) 33 (plus up to 20 agency staff during peak times) 160 42 132

Sector Food & Drink (whisky bottling and co-packing) Home audio equipment Bowls manufacturer Precision engineering/ machining

Page | 43 Ownership Private shareholders Family founded and owned (2nd generation MD) Family founded, owned by new family (2nd generation MD) Family founded and owned (2nd generation owner and MD)

Age of company 22 years 38 years 214 years 59 years

Customers Whisky producers/ distillers Home consumers (premium) Professional and amateur bowls players

Aerospace, oil & gas, nuclear industry Governance Formal management team, strategically led by managing direction and shareholders. Formal management team led by managing director (2nd generation); supported by non-exec board chaired by founder. Managing director supported by functional managers (informal structure) and main shareholder (his father). Formal management team led by managing director (2nd generation).

Case study company 1 (CS1) operates within the whisky industry and has expanded the scope of its activities from a bonded warehousing and co-packing service provider to include contract bottling of whisky and other spirits. CS2 is a family owned and managed business which designs and manufactures precision audio equipment. It has transformed the way in which it competes, operates and provides value to its customers whilst maintaining its guiding vision of perfect sound reproduction. CS3 is the world leader in the manufacture of bowls. It is a family owned and managed business and has been in existence for over 200 years, but the recent transformation occurred when a new family purchased the business and saved it from the brink of collapse. CS4 is a precision machining company which supplies components primarily for aerospace, nuclear and oil and gas markets. It is also a family owned business, now in its second generation and has positioned itself as a preferred supplier for many of its key customers.

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Each of the companies has transformed in terms of its strategy, organisational structure, culture and operational activities thus make them ideal candidates for investigation. They operate in different sectors which could enable the identification of any sector-specific contextual factors that may influence transformation behaviour, as well as control environmental variation and add to the generalisability of the findings (Eisenhardt, 1989). They are also different in terms of age, number of employees, and governance, which may allow for propositions to be made regarding associations between transformation behaviour and these variables. There is a clear geographical bias in this selection of case studies, due to close proximity between the companies and the university and their involvement in projects with the department and researcher, and this will be taken into consideration when drawing any conclusions from the data analysis. The match in transformation timeline for the companies is purely coincidental. Chapter Five presents an in-depth discussion of each case along with a discussion of the findings from the data collection phase.

Data collection

Case study methodology primarily uses interview as the data collection method and this study is no exception. Since the cases are SMEs there is little published information about them, nor any articles charting their development. An exception is CS2 which receives much media attention in its sector and whose founder has been interviewed for Harvard Business Review (Morse, 2006), however discussions with the managing director prior to this study suggested that what is shared with the media about the company is not necessarily the reality of the situation. This contributes to the reason why the cases in this study are anonymous, as it gave the interviewees confidence to speak freely without fear of sharing sensitive or proprietary information. Although exploratory in nature, this study is guided by three research questions which provided some structure to the interviews and gave a starting point to discussions. For the most part, the researcher was able to start the conversation with a brief overview of the area of study, and let the interviewees talk, interjecting only to probe for specific details or clarifications.

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The interviewees were selected to provide a cross section of decision makers, implementers and those affected by the transformation in an effort to triangulate the data collected (Yin, 2003) and understand several viewpoints of the same events (Collins and Rainwater, 2005). In an attempt to avoid shared story-telling the researcher interviewed non-management team employees to gain an alternative perspective on the changes in the business. Where this was not possible, the researcher had informal conversations with shop floor employees during facility yours and coffee breaks whilst visiting the companies. The interviews were guided by the development of a case study protocol (Appendix 1) to achieve consistency between cases and allow the researcher to ensure the necessary topics were covered during the interviews to answer the research questions (Yin, 2003). The use of a protocol also attempts to address the criticism of the case study method that it lacks rigour and repeatability. In addition, secondary documentation was collected in the form of internal reports (if made available), and externally published stories or articles about the companies to support data collected through the interviews, however as noted above, these sources of information were treated with caution and data analysis was primarily based upon interview data. The data collection strategy is summarised in Table 3.4.

Table 3.4 – Data collection strategy for each case study company

Company Interviewees Documentation

CS1 Managing Director/Ops Manager; Production manager (bottling), Production manager (co-packing), three key customers.

Reports from participation in previous university projects; website information.

CS2 Managing Director, Operations Director, Research and Development Manager, Supply Chain Manager.

Reports from participation in previous university projects; published articles from media and practitioner journals; website information.

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Purchasing employee.

visitor centre; website information.

CS4 Managing Director, PA to Managing Director, Engineering Works

Manager, Engineering Projects Manager, Office Supervisor.

Evolution of sales/marketing brochures, website information, internal

newsletters, published

publicity/features/news stories.

In an ideal world, multiple investigators would be used to conduct each interview in order to allow one person to focus on having the conversation with the interviewee, and the other to take notes and make any other observations. This was not possible for this work, however it was achieved ‘virtually’ by using a digital recording device during each interview. This allowed the researcher to act both as converser and note taker (which took place on listening to the recordings following the interview). Clearly, this is not as robust as having multiple investigators but it did prove vital in allowing free-flowing conversation. On some instances the interviewees requested that parts of the discussion were not recorded, and so the researcher reverted back to taking notes. For the most part, however, interviewees did not mind, nor did they seem affected (owing perhaps to the fact that it was an iPod with a small microphone attached and so fairly inconspicuous). The interview notes were made for each case in the form of a mindmap (Appendix 3) and on completion of all interviews for each case study company, a summary case study report was compiled (Appendix 2), incorporating any information gathered from the documentation, and was used as the raw data for the analysis phase.

Data analysis

The aim of data analysis is to interpret collected data to provide an answer to the research questions and thus generate insights into the transformation behaviour of manufacturing SMEs. The data collected from the case study companies will be analysed individually (within-case analysis), then collectively (cross-case analysis)

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and finally the findings from literature and case studies will be discussed together (enfolding literature).

Within-case analysis

“For a case study, analysis consists of making a detailed description of the case and its setting” (Cresswell, 1998; p153). Van de Ven and Poole (2005) present the arguments for studying organisational change using either variance or process methods and propose a typology of four approaches to guide researchers in their attempts to empirically understand the phenomenon; summarised in Table 3.5 below.

Table 3.5- Typologies of approaches for studying organizational change (from Van de Ven and Poole, 2005)

Approach I: Variance studies of change in organizational entities by causal analysis of independent variables that explain change in entity (dependent variable)

Approach IV: Variance studies of organizing by dynamic modelling of agent-based models or chaotic complex adaptive systems

Approach II :Process studies of change in organizational entities narrating sequence of events, stages or cycles of change in the development of an entity

Approach III: Process studies of organizing by narrating emergent actions and activities by which collective endeavors unfold

The nature of this study tends it towards Approach II – Process Study of Change in Organizations as described by (Van de Ven and Poole, 2005). This approach involves the narration of the sequence of events or stages in the development of the organisation, in this context the individual changes contributing to the transformation of each case study. The narratives will contain an entanglement of the areas of interest; the stimulus, content, process, and context of transformation. Thus, it is necessary that these are separated from the narrative according to distinct definitions or descriptions of each. The focussed literature review presented in Chapter Four will provide such descriptions to enable this separation. The temporal development of the

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case study companies and the internal and external contextual factors are mapped as a transformation timeline, an example illustrated in Figure 3.3.

CS – Transformation timeline Content 2 External context 4 Internal context 2 Internal context 1 Content 1 Content 3 Content 4 Content 5

Start year End year

Internal context 4 External context 1 External context 5 Internal context 3 External context 3 External context 2 Content 6

Figure 3.3 – Example of transformation timeline

Following the narrative analysis of the case, a comparison is made to the theoretical framework developed in Chapter Four. The comparison is achieved by coding the stimulus, content, process and context of the transformation of the case according to the defined constructs presented in the framework, thus converting the specific case findings into a comparable set of findings that will enable cross-case analysis. Where coding of the case data is not feasible, additional constructs are proposed. Tabular arrays will be used to display the comparative analyses, as described in Miles and Huberman (1994).

Cross-case analysis and enfolding literature

The individual comparisons against the theoretical framework will be combined in order to search for patterns across the four cases, thus leading to general conclusions being made (Miles and Huberman, 1994; Voss et al, 2002). This will be achieved by creating various tabular arrays, based on the content, process and context elements,

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which can then be used for as the basis for explanation building and discussions of causality (Voss et al, 2002). Replication of constructs from the theoretical framework will lead to confirmation of existing theory on organisational transformation, and any additional constructs proposed are discussed in terms of theory extension. Discussions on causality will enable emerging propositions and insights to be developed from the analysis for future work in the area.