Research Objective and Approach This Chapter outlines the research objective and approach of the thesis at hand. It introduces the construct of ‘strategy’ as an intermediate variable in the research design.

The Research Design section builds on the Introductory Section by defining how the research at hand is intended to contribute to the existing body of knowledge on the value of neo-liberal institutional changes in the WSS sector. Research design refers to the basic plan of the research and the logic behind it, which will make it possible to draw more general conclusions from it. The research problem is made researchable by setting up the study in a way that it will produce specific answers to specific questions (Oppenheim, 1992). The Research Design section is composed of two chapters; the first chapter outlines the general research approach, the second chapter provides the details in operationalizing the research. A lot of attention is provided in this Section to the inclusion of ‘strategy’ in the research design, which is a novelty compared to the majority of studies executed in the WSS sector. The function of ‘strategy’ as an intermediate variable is an important choice within the context of the thesis and requires interpretation and rationale. Hence, due attention is paid in this chapter to better understand the construct of ‘strategy’ and the main theoretical notions from strategic management.