In July 2013 the OECD, to tackle multinational tax avoidance, published its Action Plan against base erosion and profit shifting. The Action Plan suggests a variety of legislative and administrative measures to eliminate frictions from interactions between domestic tax laws and international tax treaties, including potential double non-taxation of businesses operating in several countries. By virtue of the OECD's structure, the proposed measures have been designed and developed predominantly by representatives from the tax administrations of OECD member countries. Our research investigates the views and opinions of other stakeholders in this process, namely tax experts from practice. We conduct a conjoint analysis, surveying experts in international taxation regarding their perceptions and beliefs on the effectiveness of the proposed actions. We find that experts rank actions that are aimed at enhancing international coordination and cooperation, as well as actions that reduce legal uncertainty, higher than other actions. Of lesser importance are antitreaty-abuse measures, further transparency at the taxpayer level and amendments to the definition of permanent establishment. (authors' abstract) / Series: WU International Taxation Research Paper Series

[pt] Esse trabalho tem como objetivo identificar o grau de sintonia, entre as visões de clientes e fornecedores, que motiva a comercialização de soluções tecnológicas, considerando os principais atributos de decisão. Por meio desse estudo espera-se contribuir para um melhor entendimento do que as empresas de médio e grande porte buscam ao adquirir soluções tecnológicas, confrontando com o que os fornecedores consideram mais relevante na oferta de suas soluções. Ao longo do trabalho, procurou-se inicialmente fazer uma abordagem sobre a tecnologia da informação (TI), conceituando-a, buscando identificar sua aplicação e cobrir a importância atual da governança de TI nas empresas. Adicionalmente, apresentou-se a importância da tecnologia da informação no mundo corporativo, explorando sua utilização nas organizações e algumas medidas utilizadas para mensurar o retorno sobre esse investimento. O aspecto comportamental também é analisado, cobrindo-se o comportamento do comprador e do vendedor corporativo, no processo de comercialização de soluções tecnológicas. Por fim, para identificar os atributos comuns que formam as visões de clientes e fornecedores, utilizou-se grupos de foco, com compradores organizacionais e fornecedores de soluções de TI. Como resultado, identificaram-se oito principais atributos: alinhamento estratégico, custo, estrutura corporativa, entendimento da necessidade do negócio, marca, referências, relacionamento e risco. Em seguida foi realizada pesquisa de campo com 99 executivos representando compradores e fornecedores. A análise multivariada dos dados (análise conjunta) permitiu a identificação das principais convergências entre os segmentos estudados, comparando as visões de clientes e fornecedores. / [en] This work aims to identify the syntony degree, among clients and vendors visions, that motivates the commercialization of technological solutions, with regard to the main decision attributes. This study hopes to contribute for a better understanding, regarding what the medium and large companies seek to, when acquiring technological solutions, confronting with what vendors consider more important, when offering their solutions. Along the work, we search initially for doing a brief approach about information technology, conceptualizing it, trying to identify its application, highlighting to follow, the current importance of governance, for adoption of the IT in companies. Additionaly it presented the information technology value in the corporative world, exploring its utilization in the organizations and treating some metrics used to measure the return over the investments. The behavioral aspect also is analyzed, covering corporative buyer and corporative salesman´s behavior, in the commercialization process of technological solutions. Finally, to identify the common attributes that form the customers and vendors visions, it used focus groups, with corporative buyers and IT solutions suppliers. Like result, they identified eight main attributes: Strategic alignment, cost, corporative structure, need understanding to business, mark, references, relationship and risk. Soon after was performed field research with 99 (ninety nine) executives representing buyers and vendors. The multivariated analysis of the data (conjoint analysis) allowed the main convergences identification among studied segments, comparing customers and suppliers visions.

Titre: Categorisation et évaluation de l'innovation :approche par la théorie des prospects appliquée au cas du vin allégé en alcool.Chaque année de très nombreuses innovations sont proposées sur le marché, mais seul un nombre réduit d'entre elles rencontre le succès espéré. Face à ce constat, l'une des explications avancées par la recherche marketing est la difficulté du consommateur à catégoriser un nouveau produit.Ce travail s'insère dans le courant de recherches sur la catégorisation de l'innovation et suggère de tenir compte de l'incertitude qui caractérise ce processus. L'originalité de cette étude est de proposer un lien entre les recherches sur la catégorisation de l'innovation et celles sur la prise de décision en condition d'incertitude. La Théorie des Prospects (Kahneman et Tversky, 1979) en particulier, et l'un de ses principes, celui d'aversion aux pertes, ont fourni un cadre théorique adapté pour tenir compte du caractère d'incertitude de l'innovation. Notre question de recherche a proposé de vérifier si le principe d'aversion aux pertes pouvait s'appliquer pour expliquer comment la modification de certains attributs d'une catégorie provoque la perception d'une rupture et la création d'une nouvelle catégorie de produits par le consommateur.La partie empirique de ce travail a été appliquée dans le domaine le vin, un produit qui traverse une grave crise de consommation. Nous avons retenu une approche expérimentale à travers six études conduites sur des innovations du secteur vinicole. Les résultats ont permis de mettre en évidence le rôle majeur joué par la nature de l'attribut dans la catégorisation ainsi que son influence sur la perception des ruptures d'une catégorie.Du point de vue managérial, les conclusions de ce travail ont pour objet l'efficacité des stratégies d'innovation qui agissent sur les attributs d'un produit et sur leur capacité à différencier une innovation parmi la concurrence. Cette recherche fournit également des suggestions quant au positionnement et à la communication à mettre en place pour faciliter la compréhension d'un nouveau produit et donc son choix par le consommateur. / Title: Categorization and evaluation of innovation: a prospect théory approach applied to the case of low alcohol content wine Every year numerous innovations are available on the market but only a small number meet the hoped-for success. Given this fact, one of the explanations offered by marketing research is the difficulty the consumer has to categorize a new product. This work is part of current research on the categorization of innovation and suggests to consider the uncertainty that characterizes this process. Its originality is to propose a link between research on the categorization of innovation and those of decision making under uncertain conditions. Prospect Theory (Kahneman et Tversky, 1979), in particular, and one of its principles, that of loss aversion, this research has provided a theoretical framework adapted to take into account the uncertainty of innovation. Our research question proposes to determine whether the principle of loss aversion can be applied to explain how the modification of certain attributes of a class causes the perception of a break and create a new category of products by the consumer. The empirical part of this work was conducted on wine, a product that is going through a major crisis of consumption. We chose an experimental approach across six studies conducted on innovations in the wine sector. The results were used to highlight the major role played by the nature of the attribute in the categorization and its influence on the perception of breaks in a category. From the managerial point of view, the conclusions of this work relate to the effectiveness of innovation strategies that affect the attributes of a product in their ability to differentiate an innovation from competition. This work also provides suggestions for the positioning and communication set up to facilitate the understanding of a new product and therefore its choice by the consumer.

Dans le monde de la recherche, l’analyse du signal et plus particulièrement d’image, est un domaine très actif, de par la variété des applications existantes, avec des problématiques telles que la compression de données, la vidéo-surveillance ou encore l’analyse d’images médicales pour ne prendre que quelques exemples. Le mémoire s’inscrit dans ce dernier domaine particulièrement actif. Le nombre d’appareils d’acquisition existant ainsi que le nombre de clichés réalisés, entraînent la production d’une masse importante d’informations à traiter par les praticiens. Ces derniers peuvent aujourd’hui être assistés par l’outil informatique. Dans cette thèse, l’objectif est l’élaboration d’un système d’aide au diagnostic, fondé sur l’analyse conjointe, et donc la comparaison d’images médicales. Notre approche permet de détecter des évolutions, ou des tissus aberrants dans un ensemble donné, plutôt que de tenter de caractériser, avec un très fort a priori, le type de tissu cherché.Cette problématique permet d’appréhender un aspect de l’analyse du dossier médical d’un patient effectuée par les experts qui est l’étude d’un dossier à travers le suivi des évolutions. Cette tâche n’est pas aisée à automatiser. L’œil humain effectue quasi-automatiquement des traitements qu’il faut reproduire. Avant de comparer des régions présentes sur deux images, il faut déterminer où se situent ces zones dans les clichés. Toute comparaison automatisée de signaux nécessite une phase de recalage, un alignement des composantes présentes sur les clichés afin qu’elles occupent la même position sur les deux images. Cette opération ne permet pas, dans le cadre d’images médicales, d’obtenir un alignement parfait des tissus en tous points, elle ne peut que minimiser les écarts entre tissus. La projection d’une réalité 3D sur une image 2D entraîne des différences liées à l’orientation de la prise de vue, et ne permet pas d’analyser une paire de clichés par une simple différence entre images. Différentes structurations des clichés ainsi que différents champs de déformation sont ici élaborés afin de recaler les images de manière efficace.Après avoir minimisé les différences entre les positions sur les clichés, l’analyse de l’évolution des tissus n’est pas menée au niveau des pixels, mais à celui des tissus eux-mêmes, comme le ferait un praticien. Afin de traiter les clichés en suivant cette logique, les images numériques sont réinterprétées, non plus en pixels de différentes luminosités, mais en motifs représentatifs de l’ensemble de l’image, permettant une nouvelle décomposition des clichés, une décomposition parcimonieuse. L’atout d’une telle représentation est qu’elle permet de mettre en lumière un autre aspect du signal, et d’analyser sous un angle nouveau, les informations nécessaires à l’aide au diagnostic.Cette thèse a été effectuée au sein du laboratoire LIPADE de l’Université Paris Descartes (équipe SIP, spécialisée en analyse d’images) en collaboration avec la Société Fenics (concepteur de stations d’aide au diagnostic pour l’analyse de mammographies) dans le cadre d’un contrat Cifre. / In the scientific world, signal analysis and especially image analysis is a very active area, due to the variety of existing applications, with issues such as file compression, video surveillance or medical image analysis. This last area is particularly active. The number of existing devices and the number of pictures taken, cause the production of a large amount of information to be processed by practitioners. They can now be assisted by computers.In this thesis, the problem addressed is the development of a computer diagnostic aided system based on conjoint analysis, and therefore on the comparison of medical images. This approach allows to look for evolutions or aberrant tissues in a given set, rather than attempting to characterize, with a strong a priori, the type of fabric sought.This problem allows to apprehend an aspect of the analysis of medical file performed by experts which is the study of a case through the comparison of evolutions.This task is not easy to automate. The human eye performs quasi-automatically treatments that we need to replicate.Before comparing some region on the two images, we need to determine where this area is located on both pictures. Any automated comparison of signals requires a registration phase, an alignment of components present on the pictures, so that they occupy the same space on the two images. Although the characteristics of the processed images allow the development of a smart registration, the projection of a 3D reality onto a 2D image causes differences due to the orientation of the tissues observed, and will not allow to analyze a pair of shots with a simple difference between images. Different structuring of the pictures and different deformation fields are developed here to efficiently address the registration problem.After having minimized the differences on the pictures, the analysis of tissues evolution is not performed at pixels level, but the tissues themselves, as will an expert. To process the images in this logic, they will be reinterpreted, not as pixels of different brightness, but as patterns representative of the entire image, enabling a new decomposition of the pictures. The advantage of such a representation is that it allows to highlight another aspect of the signal, and analyze under a new perspective the information necessary to the diagnosis aid.This thesis has been carried out in the LIPADE laboratory of University Paris Descartes (SIP team, specialized in image analysis) and in collaboration with the Society Fenics (designer of diagnosis aid stations in the analysis of mammograms) under a Cifre convention. The convergence of the research fields of those teams led to the development of this document.

Background In the context of booming e-commerce and associated logistics flows, there is a considerable challenge to support the future of volumes, specifically more towards home deliveries by logistics service providers (LSP). There are means of addressing this challenge by identifying the key factors that influence consumer behaviour and lead to better adoption by meeting their convenience through right self collection end points setups thus decreasing the logistics costs, meeting sustainability targets and also efficiencies for logistics service provider operations. Purpose The purpose of this study is to study and investigate the convenience factors of self-collection endpoints and associated levels that influence consumer preferences for logistics services to use self-collection last-mile endpoint in Sweden and also associate with observed behaviour across different demographic segments. Methods For research, quantitative research was done using conjoint analysis. Data was collected using a questionnaire sent in Google forms from volunteers, designed through an orthogonal designed based profile to rate the relevance and interest it generated. Results were based on 161 respondents' feedback on 16 such profiles (autogenerated in the SPSS platform). Analyses on existing historical parcel data of the logistics service provider along with the demographic data to build decision-tree models which supports determining the crucial attributes which influence home deliveries and also identify the potential site for trialability by LSP to support better decision-making aligned with the new Innovation diffusion into usage. Conclusions The research has shown that the collection distance is the most crucial convenience factor which can drive/steer consumers to use self-collection endpoints by being relevant in the context of convenience factors to be considered as an alternate to home delivery, followed by handling time. Respondents were willing to compromise on home deliveries if distance was within their expectations, such as <300m from the study conducted. During the thesis work, decision-tree models have also been developed, which has shown relationship/dependency between demographics to different delivery methods like home vs. service points across different geographies and factors influencing it. It has been further observed that different influencing attributes play a significant role across geographical type of delivery locations, such as urban, sub-urban volume data.

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Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Hospitality Management and Dietetics / Elizabeth B. Barrett / The primary purposes of this research were to 1) use the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB)to assess Millennial generation wine consumers attitudes, perceived behavioral controls, and subjective norms related to purchasing wine in casual dining restaurants (CDR), and 2) use Conjoint Analysis (CA) to analyze Millennials’ preferences for wine information on the restaurant menu. An instrument was designed based on the TPB and CA and was sent online to 216 consumers using the database of a market research firm (e-rewards). Independent variables (attitude, perceived behavioral control, and subjective norms) were analyzed to predict behavioral intentions to purchase wine. Principal component analysis was combined with multiple linear regression to assess intention. Results identified attitudes and subjective norms as being significant in predicting behavioral intention, perceived behavioral controls was partially significant. Millennial’s believe ordering wine with their friends and family in casual dining restaurants will make them feel smart and sophisticated and will increase the enjoyment of food. However, they do not believe wine consumption is appropriate in CDR’s; they had strong perceptions that wine is purchased for special occasions and consumed in fine dining restaurants. Part II of the study employed conjoint analysis to determine Millennials preferences for wine information on the menu. Results indicated that Millennials prefer menus that provide wine/food pairing information, wine flavor descriptors located near food listings and quality wines at an affordable price. Millennials attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral controls support previous research that this generation is interested in wine and wine is a social experience that increases their enjoyment of food and time spent with their friends and family. Through the use of CA, the present study suggests wine information on the menu is important to this segment of consumers. Additional research should be conducted to understand the stereotypes this generation has about wine consumption in casual dining restaurants. These operators and owners should consider focusing their marketing efforts showing Millennials enjoying wine while celebrating special occasions with their friends and family. In addition, redeveloping menus in their operations to add wine information may increase interest in wine and generate profit.

Hintergrund: Die Behandlung von Menschen mit psychischen Störungen stellt seit Jahrzehnten ein sowohl bedeutsames Versorgungssegment als auch Forschungsgebiet dar. Die im Gesundheitswesen in den letzten 20 Jahren aufkommende Haltung hin zu einer stärkeren Patientenorientierung rückt Patienten als Nutzer von Leistungen der Gesundheitsversorgung und „Experten in eigener Sache“ in den Mittelpunkt des Geschehens (Coulter & Magee, 2003). Damit wird den expertenbasierten Therapieleitlinien ein wichtiger Akteur, der Betroffene selbst, gegenübergestellt. Die Entwicklung bisheriger Leitlinien fußt auf der Beurteilung der methodischen Studienqualität sowie relevanter Therapieoutcomes, die ausschließlich von Experten vorgenommen wird. Patienteneinschätzungen werden dabei bisweilen nicht integriert, obwohl gerade durch der Einbezug von Präferenzen, Vorstellungen und Wünschen der Patienten eine wesentliche Grundlage für optimale klinische Therapieentscheidungen darstellt (Haynes, Devereaux & Guyatt, 2002). Eine verstärkt patientenorientierte Haltung hätte damit Auswirkungen auf a) die klinische Versorgungspraxis und b) die Forschung. Der Weg einer gleichberechtigten Kommunikation und gemeinsamen Entscheidungsfindung von Behandler und Patient über Behandlungsstrategien und die Auswahl von Therapieoptionen verbessert potentiell Compliance, Selbstmanagement und Zufriedenheit der Patienten. Fragestellungen: Die vorliegende kumulative Promotionsarbeit (drei peer-reviewed Publikationen) setzt den Kerngedanken der Patientenorientierung um, indem Methoden zur patientenorientierten Forschung erprobt, durchgeführt und hinsichtlich ihrer Nützlichkeit diskutiert sowie empirische Erkenntnisse zur Bedeutung von Patientenpräferenzen in der Gesundheitsversorgung beigesteuert werden. Drei Fragestellungen stehen dabei im Fokus: 1) Wie gut lassen sich Conjoint-Analysen zur patientenorientierten Forschung im Rahmen der Versorgung von psychischen Störungen einsetzen (Beitrag I)? 2) Welche Therapieziele sind bipolar Betroffenen in der Behandlung bipolarer Störungen besonders wichtig (Beitrag II)? 3) Kann mithilfe eines komprimierten achtsamkeitsorientierten Verfahrens ein Beitrag zur Verbesserung der Versorgung der Allgemeinbevölkerung sowie zur Überbrückung langer Wartezeiten auf eine ambulante Psychotherapie geleistet werden (Beitrag III)? Methode: Die methodische Umsetzung einer patientenorientierten Forschung wird anhand des Beispiels der Conjoint-Analyse zur Messung von Patientenpräferenzen für spezifische Therapieziele dargestellt. Die inhaltlichen Beiträge setzen sich aus zwei Studien zur Behandlung einer schweren chronischen psychischen Erkrankung (bipolare Störung) und einer Untersuchung zur Förderung der psychischen Gesundheit (Stressbewältigung, Depressivität, Lebensqualität) im Beratungssetting zusammen. Ergebnisse: Die vorliegende Arbeit stellt zum einen mit der Conjoint-Analyse einen innovativen Ansatz zur Messung von Patientenpräferenzen zu Therapiezielen im Rahmen der Versorgung psychischer Störungen dar (patientenorientierte Forschung). Dazu werden bisherige conjoint-analytische Untersuchungen mittels formaler, methodischer und inhaltlicher Merkmale systematisiert und hinsichtlich Nützlichkeit sowie möglichen Grenzen diskutiert. Zum zweiten liefert die Arbeit Erkenntnisse hinsichtlich der von Patienten eingeschätzten Relevanz und Präferenz von Therapiezielen in der Behandlung bipolarer Störungen. Dabei wird ausgewiesen, worin Unterschiede in den Einschätzungen bestehen und diskutiert, welche Relevanz sich für die Versorgung von Menschen mit bipolaren Störungen ergibt. Zum dritten werden Effekte (Verbesserung der Stressbewältigung, Verringerung der Depressivität, Steigerung der Lebensqualität) eines im Rahmen der psychosozialen Beratungsstelle der TU Chemnitz angewandten achtsamkeitsorientierten Stresstrainings (AST) dargestellt. Die mit einer achtsameren Haltung von Trainingsteilnehmern einhergehenden verbesserten Werte bezüglich Stressverarbeitung, Depressivität und Lebensqualität (patientennaher Endpunkt) deuten auf das Potential von AST hin, als niedrigschwelliges Angebot der psychosozialen Beratung bestehende Versorgungsangebote (Überbrückung von Therapiewartezeit) zu ergänzen. AST stellt einen Ansatz zur patientenorientierteren Ausrichtung von Wartezeitüberbrückung dar, da objektiv sehr lange Wartezeiten auf einen Psychotherapieplatz bestehen und Patienten selbst darin Versorgungsbarrieren sehen. Eine Überbrückung würde Patienten entlasten und psychische Gesundheit bereits vor dem Beginn der Psychotherapie stabilisieren. Diskussion: Patientenorientierte Forschung liefert Beiträge zur Ergänzung bisheriger Erkenntnisse in der Versorgung von Menschen mit psychischen Störungen. Die Befunde zeigen, dass Vorstellungen und Wünsche von Betroffenen nicht immer deckungsgleich mit Expertensichtweisen sind und im Rahmen von Prozessen des Shared Decision Makings Beachtung finden sollten, um eine individuell ausgerichtete Behandlung zu erzielen. Die Conjoint-Analyse als methodischer Ansatz zur Messung von Patientenpräferenzen weist sowohl Nutzen (hohe interne Validität der Messungen) als auch Grenzen auf (geringe externe Validität). Um eine möglichst hohe Generalisierbarkeit der Ergebnisse zu gewährleisten, ist notwendig, die untersuchten Zieldimensionen a priori nach klinischer Praxistauglichkeit auszuwählen. Patientenorientierte Forschung ermöglicht eine gemeinschaftlichere Basis sowohl auf Mikro- (Arzt-Patient-Kommunikation) als auch auf Mesoebene (patientennähere Leitlinien).

O mercado de Educação Superior privado no Brasil apresenta altos índices de concentração, caracterizando-se como um oligopólio, podendo, portanto, ser estudado sob a ótica da Teoria dos Jogos. Uma das técnicas existentes para abordar este tipo de mercado é conhecida por Análise Conjunta Baseada em Escolhas (Choice Based Conjoint Analysis), que permite estimar as utilidades atribuídas para cada característica dos produtos, prevendo o desejo de cada produto gerado pela combinação dos seus atributos, possibilitando, assim, simular como as decisões de uma amostra de respondentes seriam distribuídas em um mercado simulado entre dois ou mais produtos competidores. Esses modelos, porém, limitam-se a maximizar a receita individual de cada produto, de forma isolada, não levando em conta a possibilidade das firmas terem interesses em maximizar a soma de dois ou mais produtos de forma conjunta. Isso se torna necessário, por exemplo, quando uma empresa comercializa dois produtos que competem no mesmo mercado. Com o objetivo de maximizar a receita conjunta de dois ou mais produtos, foi desenvolvido um método alternativo, baseado em Programação Não-Linar, que foi aplicado em uma cidade brasileira e em um país centro-americano. A comparação dos resultados do modelo desenvolvido com os do modelo tradicional evidencia que o modelo desenvolvido apresenta melhores resultados – soma das receitas das firmas de interesse – gerando uma taxa de crescimento na receita 3% maior, no caso brasileiro e 75% maior no estudo centro-americano. O modelo desenvolvido pode ser adaptado e utilizado em outros mercados oligopolistas ou para otimizar diferentes funções-objetivo. / The Brazilian Higher Education private market shows high levels of concentration and can be considered an oligopoly. Therefore, one can study it as a Game Theory problem. Choice Based Conjoint Analysis – a technic that can be used to approach this kind of market – can estimates the utilities of each products’ features and predict the desire of each product generated by the combination of its attributes. Such technic can simulate how the decisions of a sample of respondents would be distributed among the products of a market made of two or more competitor. These models, however, only maximize the revenues of individual products, not considering the possibility of firms wanting to maximize the sum of the revenue of two or more products. This is useful, for instance, when a company trends two or more products that compete in the same market. An alternative method, based on nonlinear programming, was developed, in order to maximize the conjoint revenue of two or more products and it was applied in a Brazilian city and in a Central American country. Comparing both models – the traditional versus the developed one –, we can see that the developed model shows better outcomes – ie, sum of both companies’ revenues – resulting in a revenue increase rate 3% higher in the Brazilian case and 75% higher in the Central American study. This model can be fitted to other oligopolistic markets or to optimize others objective functions.