The three studies in this dissertation examine the relationship between the decision of market participants to compete or collaborate on their innovation strategies and outcomes as well as the broader industry structure and technological progress. The first study analyzes the impact of modern patent pools on the innovative performance of firms outside the pool. Theories generally predict that modern patent pools have a positive impact on innovation by reducing the cost of access to the pool’s technology, but recent empirical research suggests that patent pools may actually decrease the innovation rate of firms outside the pool. Using a difference-in-difference-with-matching methodology, I find a substantial decline in outsiders’ patenting rate after the pool formation. However I find that the observed reduction is mainly due to a shift in firms’ investment from additional patentable technological exploration toward implementing the pool technology in their products. The results shed light on how the interaction between cooperation, in the form of patent pooling, and competition shapes firms’ innovative strategies by enabling opportunities for application development based on the pooled technologies. In the second study, I examine the impact of restrictive stem cell policies introduced by George W. Bush in 2001 on the U.S. scientists’ productivity and collaboration patterns. Employing a difference-in-differences methodology, I find that the 2001 Bush policy led to a decline in the research productivity of U.S. scientists. However, the effect was short-lived as U.S. scientists accessed non-federal funds within the United States and sought funds outside the United States through their international ties. The results suggest that scientists may use international collaborations as a strategic means to deal with uncertainties in their national policy environment. In the third study, I examine the effects of the fragmentation of patent rights on subsequent investment in new inventions. Using a theoretical model and an empirical analysis of the semiconductor industry, I seek to shed light on the contingency factors that shape the role of technological fragmentation in explaining the investment decisions and appropriation strategies of firms. The results provide a dynamic explanation of the interplay between firms’ R&D investment, their patenting strategies, and technological fragmentation.

Research on sex discrimination has found consistent support for the idea that women who violate gender roles by succeeding in male-dominated domains elicit hot forms of discrimination. In particular, evidence suggests that a perceivers' conservatism, which represents a preference against gender change toward greater equality, might motivate this kind of discrimination. Therefore, I hypothesized that perceiver conservatism would predict discrimination against female gender role violators. In two studies, I found evidence that conservatism predicts negative evaluations of targets (Study 1), as well as sabotage (Study 2). In addition, Study 2 revealed that the relationship between conservatism and sabotage was partially mediated by the perceivers' anxiety. However, if the discrimination that conservative perceivers direct at gender role violators is motivated by conservatives' preference against social change toward greater equality, then targets who support gender status hierarchies while they violate gender roles should experience less discrimination from conservative perceivers than those who challenge status hierarchies. Consistent with this reasoning, perceivers' conservatism was negatively related to perceived interpersonal hostility of female gender role violators who expressed support for gender hierarchy. In contrast, perceivers' conservatism was positively related to perceived interpersonal hostility of female gender role violators who expressed opposition to gender hierarchy (Study 1). However, targets' expressions of support for gender hierarchy did not have this effect on the relationship between perceivers' conservatism and perceptions of the target's ineffectuality (Study 1), respect for the target (Study 1), or sabotage of the target (Study 2). Moreover, while supporting status hierarchies reduced perceptions of interpersonal hostility from perceivers high in conservatism, it increased perceptions of hostility from those low in conservatism. Thus, supporting gender hierarchies may appear to help in some contexts, but is associated with significant costs, as well. The implications of these findings for theory and practice are discussed.

We study three problems on supply chain location and inventory under uncertainty. In Chapter 2, we study the inventory purchasing and allocation problem in a movie rental chain under demand uncertainty. We formulate this problem as a newsvendor-like problem with multiple rental opportunities. We study several demand and return forecasting models based on comparable films using iterative maximum likelihood estimation and Bayesian estimation via Markov chain Monte Carlo simulation. Test results on data from a large movie rental firm reveal systematic under-buying of movies purchased through revenue sharing contracts and over-buying of movies purchased through standard ones. For the movies considered, the model estimates an increase in the average profit per title for new movies by 15.5% and 2.5% for revenue sharing and standard titles, respectively. We discuss the implications of revenue sharing on the profitability of both the rental firm and the studio. In Chapter 3, we focus on the effect of travel time uncertainty on the location of facilities that provide service within a given coverage radius on the transportation network. Three models - expected covering, robust covering and expected p-robust covering - are studied; each appropriate for different types of facilities. Exact and approximate algorithms are developed. The models are used to analyze the location of fire stations in the city of Toronto. Using real traffic data we show that the current system design is quite far from optimality and provide recommendations for improving the performance. In Chapter 4, we continue our analysis in Chapter 3 to study the trade-off between adding new facilities versus relocating some existing facilities. We consider a multi-objective problem that aims at minimizing the number of facility relocations while maximizing expected and worst case network coverage. Exact and approximate algorithms are developed to solve three variations of the problem and find expected--worst case trade-off curves for any given number of relocations. The models are used to analyze the addition of four new fire stations to the city of Toronto. Our results suggest that the benefit of adding four new stations is achievable, at a lower cost, by relocating 4-5 stations.

Research on sex discrimination has found consistent support for the idea that women who violate gender roles by succeeding in male-dominated domains elicit hot forms of discrimination. In particular, evidence suggests that a perceivers' conservatism, which represents a preference against gender change toward greater equality, might motivate this kind of discrimination. Therefore, I hypothesized that perceiver conservatism would predict discrimination against female gender role violators. In two studies, I found evidence that conservatism predicts negative evaluations of targets (Study 1), as well as sabotage (Study 2). In addition, Study 2 revealed that the relationship between conservatism and sabotage was partially mediated by the perceivers' anxiety. However, if the discrimination that conservative perceivers direct at gender role violators is motivated by conservatives' preference against social change toward greater equality, then targets who support gender status hierarchies while they violate gender roles should experience less discrimination from conservative perceivers than those who challenge status hierarchies. Consistent with this reasoning, perceivers' conservatism was negatively related to perceived interpersonal hostility of female gender role violators who expressed support for gender hierarchy. In contrast, perceivers' conservatism was positively related to perceived interpersonal hostility of female gender role violators who expressed opposition to gender hierarchy (Study 1). However, targets' expressions of support for gender hierarchy did not have this effect on the relationship between perceivers' conservatism and perceptions of the target's ineffectuality (Study 1), respect for the target (Study 1), or sabotage of the target (Study 2). Moreover, while supporting status hierarchies reduced perceptions of interpersonal hostility from perceivers high in conservatism, it increased perceptions of hostility from those low in conservatism. Thus, supporting gender hierarchies may appear to help in some contexts, but is associated with significant costs, as well. The implications of these findings for theory and practice are discussed.

Agency theory is one of the principal frameworks utilized in explaining the family business phenomena. The objectives of this dissertation are to (1) identify the unique agent-principal dynamics that differentiate family firms from non-family firms, (2) determine the effects of these unique agency dynamics on family firm performance, and (3) evaluate these unique agency dynamics within family businesses, as moderated by differing forms of governance and management practices.This dissertation proposes that family firms are defined by two unique and opposing agency dynamics. On one hand, it is posited that family firms are defined by their ability to deploy concomitant forms of relational governance that reduce information asymmetry and associated agency costs. On the other hand, it is posited that family firms are distinctly encumbered with agency costs from non-economic family oriented goals. These distinct agency cost-savings, termed as family gains, and agency costs, termed as family costs, contribute to the study on how and why family firms perform differently than non-family firms.In addition, the study proposes that the ensuing trade-off between family gains and family costs may lead to competitive advantages for family firms in highly competitive environments. This agency trade-off provides a link between agency theory and the resource-based perspective of the family firm.Finally, this dissertation seeks to investigate these agency dynamics among family firms that employ differing governance and management practices. In particular, this study looks at how the agency dynamics of family firms that employ the most concentrated forms of management and governance, manifested as owner-manager led family firms, compare against other forms of family firms. This study posits that manager led family firms, on one hand, have greater family gains and, on the other hand, have greater family costs when compared against other forms of family firms. Moreover, it is proposed that under highly competitive environments, the trade-off between family gains and family costs lead to greater competitive advantages for owner-manager led family firms over other family firms.This dissertation employs cross-sectional linear regression as the primary tool for empirical analysis on Australian business data. In addition, non-parametric testing is utilized to support the above analysis. These analyses are complemented by proper robustness checks to support the study’s validity.The results from empirical analysis corroborate this study’s propositions. First, the research suggests that family firms have family gains driven by lower information asymmetries, but have family costs driven by greater divergence in firm objectives. Second, the results indicate that family firms outperform non-family firms, which is consistent with extant family business literature. Likewise, the results suggest that family firms under managerial ownership have greater family gains and greater family costs than other

The primary objective of this dissertation is to show that corporate governance affects the value relevance of earnings in the presence of earnings management. The role of corporate governance is to reduce the divergence of interests between shareholders and managers. The role of corporate governance is more useful when managers have an incentive to deviate from shareholders’ interests. One example of management’s deviation from shareholders’ interests is the management of earnings through the use of accounting accruals. Corporate governance is likely to reduce the incidence of earnings management. Corporate governance is also likely to improve investors’ perception of the reliability of a firm’s performance, as measured by the earnings, in situations of earnings management. That is, corporate governance will be value relevant when earnings management exists. The results of this research support these propositions.In this thesis, the value relevance of earnings is measured using the earnings response coefficient. Earnings management is measured using the magnitude of abnormal accruals as estimated by the modified Jones (Dechow et al., 1995) model. A review of the corporate governance literature revealed nine attributes that were expected to impact on shareholders’ perception of earnings reliability due to their role in enhancing the integrity of the financial reporting process. The nine attributes represent three categories of corporate governance: 1) organisational monitoring; 2) incentive alignment; and 3) governance structure.Although not all corporate governance attributes suggested in the literature impact on investors’ perception of a firm’s performance, the primary proposition that corporate governance affects this perception when earnings are managed is supported. The primary contribution of the study is finding evidence supporting the moderating effect of earnings management on the relationship between corporate governance and the value relevance of earnings. These results validate Hutchinson and Gul’s (2004) claim that the role of corporate governance attributes in firm performance should be evaluated in concurrence with a firm’s organisational environment. Future research should control for corporate governance and earnings management, as indicators of earnings reliability, when using returns-earnings regressions to address a research question.

This study is primarily about the Open Organisations Profile, a questionnaire developed in the United States by Professor Oscar Mink (1991) to assess openness in the workplace and thus assist in decisions on organisational change and development. The Open Organisations Profile was developed as an assessment tool of the Open Organisations theoretical model. The Open Organisations Model offers researchers a lens to assess an organisational system and the system’s ability to adapt to internal and external changes in its environment, while maintaining a sense of unity.While the Open Organisations Profile has been used extensively in Australia and the United States of America, limited research has examined its psychometric properties. This current set of studies aimed to examine the psychometric qualities of the instrument. The first study examined the reliabilities and factor structure of the Open Organisations Profile. Results indicated that the Open Organisations Profile displayed high internal consistency ranging from r = .80 to r = .95. Furthermore confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) confirmed the theoretical three factor model of unity, internal responsiveness and external responsiveness.The second study assessed cultural differences and similarities between Australia and American using the profile. The findings suggested that significant differences existed between the countries and also between male and female values across the nine dimensions measured.The final study examined the relationships between the three higher order factors of openness and customer satisfaction and sales performance. The study found that the three factors of openness had a mediating effect on customer satisfaction and sales performance. The three studies showed the Open Organisation Profile offers researchers a reasonably reliable and valid instrument for assessing the openness of an organisation and its ability to adapt to internal and external changes in the organisation’s environment. Furthermore, the Open Organisations Profile could be used as guide to the areas that need to be addressed to help the organisation improve service delivery, customer satisfaction and financial return.

Doctor of Philosophy / Hospitality Management / SooCheong Jang / Deborah Canter / The physical environment may be an important determinant of customer satisfaction and subsequent behavior when services are consumed primarily for hedonic purposes and customers spend moderate to long periods of time in the physical surroundings. An example of this phenomenon would be in an upscale restaurant setting. This study explored the domain of the physical environment in an upscale restaurant context to develop a DINESCAPE scale. Relevant literature was reviewed on architecture, environmental psychology, psychology, operations management, and marketing, highlighting empirical and theoretical contributions. Conceptualization and operationalization of the DINESCAPE dimensions is presented, and the procedures used in constructing and refining a multiple-item scale to assess DINESCAPE in an upscale restaurant setting are described. DINESCAPE is a six-factor scale that was developed to measure facility aesthetics, ambience, lighting, service product, layout, and social factors. Evidence of the scale’s reliability, validity, and factor structure is presented, along with potential applications of the scale. The second phase of the study attempted to build a conceptual model of how the DINESCAPE factors influenced customers’ behavioral intentions through their emotions. The Mehrabian-Russell environmental psychology model was adopted to explore the linkage of the six dimensions of DINESCAPE to customers’ emotional states (pleasure and arousal) and the linkage between pleasure and arousal with customers’ behavioral intentions. Structural equation modeling was used to test the causal relationships among the hypothesized relationships. Results revealed that facility aesthetics, ambience, and social factors affected the level of customers’ pleasure and ambience and social factors influenced the amount of arousal. In addition, pleasure and arousal had significant effects on subsequent behavioral intentions in the context of upscale restaurant. Finally, implications for restaurateurs and researchers were discussed.

Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Michael R. Langemeier / This thesis was written for the purpose of looking at the feasibility of operating a prospective business; a farm and ranch in southern Idaho. For practical reasons, I looked at a specific farm consisting of 600 irrigated acres, which are irrigated via 5 center pivots. Attached to the farm is an additional 400 acres of pasture ground seeded to crested wheat. In conjunction with operating the farm, I examined the feasibility of leasing a 300 head commercial cow herd from a separate owner than the land owner. Summer pasture for the cows would be leased from a grazing association located in northern Nevada and winter feed would come from the farm pasture, crop aftermath located on the farm, and corn stalks from a neighboring farm. Crops looked at being produced were grain corn and alfalfa hay. Operating cost projections were made using current market values, while the price received for each commodity is based on ten-year historical prices. Historical prices were used to determine whether the business is viable in the long-run. Rent on the farm is based on a 60/40 percent crop share of which the land owner’s share is 40 percent. Lease payment for the cow herd is based on a 2/3, 1/3 calf crop split of which the cow owner’s share is 1/3 of the calf crop. After analyzing the operation’s financials the business is not feasible.

Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Michael R. Langemeier / The cattle market has drastically changed over the last half century. Today, ranchers and farmers are faced with various governmental regulations as well as fluctuating grain and fuel prices. While beef may still be a commodity, it can be sold in specialized markets, in markets that have enhanced consumer demand. It is nearly impossible for a producer with a small herd to compete with a larger ranch if they are selling their cattle as a commodity. The primary economic objective of the producer is to generate revenue. Producers must be profitable to remain in business as well as provide a livelihood for their family. Providing a quality product is part of the business model. Choice within a marketplace is beneficial for producers and consumers. That said forage-fed beef will prosper in marketplaces where consumers desire their product more than alternate products. If producers are intent on progressively growing their market share, Georgia-grown, forage-fed beef must be marketed correctly. This includes promoting it on a basis of locally grown, pasture raised, and other attributes consumer’s desire. The results of the marketing survey present data that may be helpful when marketing Georgia-grown, forage-fed beef. The weekly consumption of beef products provided insight into the potential scope of the market. Approximately 39 percent of respondents consumed beef products three or more times per week. Additionally, 43 percent of the respondents were not familiar with forage-fed beef. This is a significant share of the market that is possibly open to a new product like Georgia-grown, forage-fed beef. Similarly, traceability of the product was an important feature that customers preferred. In addition to a larger selection of naturally produced beef products, respondents also indicated they were willing to pay more for the product. Approximately 49 percent of the respondents indicated that they would be willing to pay up to a dollar more per pound for Georgia-grown, forage-fed beef. Another 30 percent of the respondents indicated that they would be willing to pay more than $1 per pound for Georgia-grown, forage-fed beef. The results of the survey appear to offer opportunities for producers of Georgia-grown, forage-fed beef to expand their market share.