Thesis (Ph. D.)--Lehigh University, 2005. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 164-171).

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Uncertainty is inherent in the process of entrepreneurial activities and has caused a high failure rate of startups. In fact, 46% of new ventures run out of business within 4 years of operation, according to Statistic Brain Research Institute. On the other hand, a type of uncertainty that entrepreneurs need to prioritize varies depending on the industry. In high technology industries, severe problems are frequently caused especially by market uncertainty due to continuous technological developments and industries’ volatile characteristic. In entrepreneurship research, Sarasvathy introduced the concept of effectuation in 2001. Since then, the theory of effectuation has been studied by a number of researchers, as successful entrepreneurs have incorporated this theory. However, empirical evidence of effectual processes covering the applicability in high technology industries has not been testified yet. Therefore, the main purpose of this research is to fill this gap and find an answer to our research question, how do entrepreneurs effectuate in decision-making to respond to market uncertainty in high technology industries? We implemented a quantitative investigation by conducting an online survey of entrepreneurs in high-technology industries. The main findings and conclusions are that entrepreneurs in high-technology industries apply both causation and effectuation. However, causation is slightly more implemented than effectuation. Additionally, we found that experimentation-driven approach helps entrepreneurs in high-technology industries deal with market uncertainty as supplementation of effectuation.

Los ensayos contenidos en esta disertación doctoral estudian como la explotación activos intangibles tales como patentes y propiedad intelectual pueden contribuir a la creación de valor y fortalecer las ventajas competitivas de la firma. En particular, se busca estudiar las diferentes estrategias seguidas por las empresas para explotar el valor creado a través de la innovación, examinando como la incertidumbre de mercado y los activos necesarios para explotar el la innovación, determinan la decisión de comercialización. El primer capitulo presenta un modelo teórico que estudia la decisión de comercializar una patente como una opción para invertir. El segundo capitulo aborda el problema de comercialización a través de una licencia, cuando el nivel de incertidumbre de mercado es alta. Finalmente, el ultimo capitulo examina como los spillovers entre diferentes grupos de investigación afectan el valor de las innovaciones creadas. / The essays in this thesis are concerned to study the potential linkages between Firms' business strategies and how the exploitation of intellectual assets determines the way innovation can help in building competitive advantages and increasing firm value. In particular, I focus on the different strategies employed by firms to exploit the value created by innovation, examining how market uncertainty and complementary assets affect commercialization decisions. The first chapter of the thesis develops a theoretical model that studies the decision to commercialize as an option to invest. The second chapter is an empirical test to find how market uncertainty can affect the likelihood that a disembodied patent will be licensed. Finally the last chapter studies how knowledge spillovers affect the value of patented inventions.

[pt] Mostramos que o movimento do retorno de ações horas antes do anúncio do FOMC ocorre principalmente em períodos de alta incerteza de mercado. Especificamente, esse retorno anormal é explicado por uma redução significativa do prêmio de risco (volatilidade implícita e prêmio de variância) antes do anúncio, mas apenas quando o prêmio de risco do mercado é alto (quando está acima da sua mediana). As medidas de incerteza de mercado que são relevantes são persistentes e não são relacionadas à incerteza ou expectativa com relação à política. O mercado não fica estressado dias antes do anúncio, e a resolução de incerteza não é revertida dias após a reunião. Além disso, nós explicamos o porquê do movimento de antecipação não ser observado na última década, uma vez que a ausência de evidência advém da variação no tempo que também estava presente em dados passados. Adicionalmente, o CAPM funciona em datas de FOMC apenas quando o prêmio de risco é alto, ou seja, quando a volatilidade implícita está acima da mediana histórica até o momento. Os resultados são robustos a diferentes amostras e medidas alternativas de prêmio de risco e incerteza. / [en] We show that the pre-FOMC announcement drift in equity returns occurs mostly in periods of high market uncertainty. Specifically, this abnormal return is explained by a significant reduction in the risk premium (implied volatility and variance risk premium) prior to the announcement, but only when the risk premium is high, e.g., when it is above its median. The relevant measures of market uncertainty are persistent and are not related to policy uncertainty or expectations. Markets do not become stressed in the days prior to the announcement, and the resolution of uncertainty is not reversed in the days after the meeting. Moreover, we explain why recent studies suggest that the pre-FOMC drift might have disappeared in the past decade, as this decline in the effect is due to time variation that was also present in older data. Additionally, CAPM only works on FOMC dates when the risk premium is high, e.g., implied volatility above its prior median level. The results are robust to different samples and to alternative risk premium and uncertainty measures.

Through integrated modeling of power system operations and market risks, this thesis addresses a variety of important issues on market signals modeling, generation capacity scheduling, and electricity forward trading. The first part of the thesis addresses a central problem of transmission investment which is to model market signals for transmission adequacy. The proposed system simulation framework, combined with the stochastic price model, provides a powerful tool for capturing the characteristics of market prices dynamics and evaluating transmission investment. We advocate the use of an AC power flow formulations instead since it allocates transmission losses correctly and reveals the economic incentives of voltage requirements. By incorporating reliability constraints in the market dispatch, the resulting market prices yield incentives for market participants to invest in additional transmission capacity. The second part of the thesis presents a co-optimization modeling framework that incorporates market participation and market price uncertainties into the capacity allocation decision-making problem through a stochastic programming formulation. Optimal scenario-dependent generation scheduling strategies are obtained. The third part of the thesis is devoted to analyzing the risk premium present in the electricity day-ahead forward price over the real-time spot price. This study establishes a quantitative model for incorporating transmission congestion into the analysis of electricity day-ahead forward risk premium. Evidences from empirical studies confirm the significant statistical relationship between the day-ahead forward risk premium and the shadow price premiums on transmission flowgates.