[wulf]

I think it depends on what you are doing to the image. Sharpening is normally best left until after any resizing as, otherwise, that transformation will often result in a softer picture.

Personally, I tend to do my cropping right at the start (so that I judge later changes on the elements in the final image without being influenced by something that will later be excluded or play a smaller role in the final composition) and frequently resize straight after that.

Wulf