The rapid growth of World Wide Web has created a new platform for information exchange. Although WWW makes more data easily available, it has also created many problems such as information overload, disorientation, and reduced quality of data. In order to solve these problems, most current approaches primarily focused on information filtering and searching based on the technical perspective. Few researches have provided analytical results of the information acquisition behaviors over the Web. Based on the cognitive fit theory and task-technology fit (TTF) theory, this study proposes a comprehensive research model to describe the individual information acquisition strategies on the World Wide Web. To examine the research model, a laboratory experiment was performed on a group of 120 students. Sixteen task scenarios were designed and one prototype website was developed according to the specifications defined through the literature review and a pilot study. The research results show that both task structure and system characteristics have an impact upon individual information acquisition behaviors over the website. The experiment also confirms that subjects feel more satisfactions at adopting formal search and purposeful browsing strategies. The understanding effect of the research object is a function of scanning and purposeful browsing strategies. The interaction between task structure and system characteristics is also significant. These findings allow us to have a better understanding of information acquisitions behavior on the Web.

This research examines the impact of acquisition strategies and the level of economic development of the target country on announcement returns of acquiring firms in the United Kingdom (UK) during the sixth (2003-2007) and upcoming takeover wave (2013-present). The different acquisition strategies concern geographic expansion (GEO), increasing market share (IMS), vertical integration (VERT), access to intangible resources (INT), concentric diversification (CDIV) and pure diversification (PDIV). Based on a sample of 877 acquisitions, evidence shows that GEO significantly creates value in the sixth wave and results in significantly lower announcement returns in the upcoming wave, possibly explained by a higher integration of capital and production markets. However, after adding the remaining acquisition strategies to the regression model, the latter effect disappears. It shows that VERT and CDIV result in significantly higher announcement returns in the upcoming wave compared to the sixth one. Evidence does not show a relation between the level of economic development of the target country and announcement returns.

This study investigates whether different acquisition strategies provide dissimilar abnormal returns forthe bidders’ investors before, during and after the financial crisis. The study focuses on acquisitionsconducted by banks between 2004 and 2012. The data is split in a pre-, mid-, and post-crisis sample.The dataset consists out of 950 completed acquisitions conducted by 378 unique banks. Crosssectionalresults point out that investors are generally indifferent to which acquisition strategy is usedby banks, both at announcement and at completion. Moreover, it seems that investors do not reactfiercer to the announcement compared to the completion of a deal. The results are robust whensplitting the sample in acquirers originating from common- and code law countries. However, the studyfinds that opposed to what is suggested by prior research, shareholders from code law countries earnhigher returns than shareholders from common law countries.

The purpose of the study was to find whether Taiwan banks could gain competitiveness by using merger and acquisition strategies. After interviewing with nine experts who work in the banks, the study found that ¡§economies of scales¡¨, ¡§brand image¡¨ and ¡§human resource¡¨ were the key successful factors of the banking industry. The study examined three banking mergers that were announced after the Legislative Yuan had approved ¡§The Law of Financial Institution Mergers¡¨. The result was that the banks in these cases had few benefits by using merger and acquisition strategies. Therefore, standing at the point of banks and considering their abilities and resources, the study chose three merges as the objects of study. Then, the study investigated the merger benefits and integration problems in the three merges. The study found that mergers in Taiwan commercial banks could produce economies of scales. Taiwan commercial banks could not improve brand image and human resource by using merger and acquisition strategies. Most Taiwan commercial banks were lack of innovation culture and employees who were good at financial innovation. Taiwan is going to participate in WTO, so the combined banks needs to improve their brand awareness. The conclusion of the study was that merger and acquisition strategies could bring Taiwan banks some benefits. But Taiwan banks could not rely on merger and acquisition strategies to solve the problem of being lack of competitiveness. The integration differs because of different merger goals. The integration would influence the achievement of merger benefits.

Studiens övergripande syfte är att öka förståelse och förutsättningarna för att studera affärsmöjligheter. Studien har bedrivits induktivt och utgår ifrån 48 stycken intervjuer med verksamhetsspecifika beslutsfattare inom upphandlingsprocessen. Beslutsfattarna är spridda över 11 svenska branscher. Resultatet visar på en stor variation med avseende på upphandlingsmängd för respondentverksamheterna, där en högsta upphandlingsmängd var 110 heltidsanställda konsulter per år och en minsta mängd var 0. Median mängden för de verksamheter som ingick i urvalsgruppen var 3 heltidsanställda konsulter per år. Vidare identifierades 10 stycken konkurrensprioriteringar för urvalsgruppen. 3 konkurrensprioriteringar var exklusiva för den grupp som tillämpade en centraliserad upphandlingsmodell och 3 var exklusiva för den grupp som tillämpade en decentraliserad upphandlingsmodell. Korrelationer mellan leverantörspreferenser med avseende på mängden aktivt bidragande leverantörer och upphandlingsmängder identifierades även. Studien har bidragit med en holistisk bilateral modell som beskriver affärsutbytet mellanen konsultverksamhet och en upphandlande verksamhet. Modellen underlättar vidare studier på så sätt att bakomliggande mekanismer för affärsmöjligheter blir lättare att studera rent systematiskt. Modellen som konstruerats kan användas som ramverk för att bedöma alternativa affärsutbyten. Genom att jämföra relativa värden och preferenser kan olika situationer bedömas för att avgöra vilket alternativ som innebär störst sannolikhet för god affärsmöjlighet. / The primary objective of the study is to increase the knowledge and conditions for studying business opportunities. The study has been conducted inductively and utilizes 48 interviews with firm specific decision-makers within the procurement process. The decision-makers are active in 11 swedish industries. The results show great variation with regards to the procurement volumes for the participating firms, where the largest volume is 110 full-time-equivalent consults per year and smallest is 0. The median value for the sample firms where 3 full-time-equivalent consults per year. 10 factors for driving competition where also identified for the sample group. 3 factors where exclusive to the firms that utilized a centralized procurement model and 3 factors where exclusive to the firms that utilized a decentralized procurement model. Correlations beteen preferences with regards to the amount of active suppliers and procurement volumes were also identified. This study has developed an holistic bilateral model, from the findings, that describes the business trade between a consultancy firm and a procuring firm.

No description available.

Cette thèse s’intéresse aux parcours de femmes ouest-africaines à Rouen issues de plusieurs pays (Côte d’Ivoire, Guinée Conakry, Mali, Mauritanie, Nigéria, Sénégal). Elle vise à comprendre leurs vécus, leurs histoires, leurs conditions d’immigration et d’intégration dans la société d’accueil. Elle se propose de déconstruire les stéréotypes produits sur les migrantes dans l’histoire, longtemps considérées comme victimes aux droits bafoués. Cette thèse donne à voir les situations d’oppressions multiples et croisées (genre, ethnie, classe) vécues par ces femmes dans le temps et l’espace, à partir de leurs expériences concrètes. Le contexte migratoire leur permet de modifier et réorganiser les rapports sociaux de sexes et de sélectionner les pratiques culturelles de leurs communautés d’origine. Cette recherche se propose d’analyser le processus d’autonomisation et d’émancipation des femmes ouest-africaines à partir de leurs stratégies d’acquisition de pouvoir (travail, associations, réseaux professionnels, technologie, transports). Dans le contexte de mondialisation, les migrantes se positionnent comme actrices du développement économique, parties prenantes du changement social de leur continent. Le choix d’une méthode qualitative, de l’observation prolongée dans le temps du quotidien des femmes et de leurs interactions avec les hommes favorise une immersion dans leur espace personnel. / This dissertation addresses the experiences of West African women in Rouen hailing fromseveral countries of the sub-region (Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea Conakry, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeriaand Senegal). It is aimed at facilitating a better understanding of their lives, their histories, their conditions of immigration and integration in the host society. It seeks to deconstruct thehistorical stereotypes regarding female migrants that have long been viewed as victims ofviolated rights. This dissertation casts light on the situations of multiple and crossed oppressions (gender, ethnicity, class) endured by these women in time and space, based on a series of concrete experiences. The migratory context enables them to modify and reorganize the social gender relations and select cultural practices of their native communities. This research seeks to analyze the process of West African women’s empowerment and emancipation from their power acquisition strategies (work, associations, professional networks, technology, and transports). Against the backdrop of globalization, female migrants position themselves as key stakeholders of economic development and social change in their continent. The option for a qualitative method, and a protracted observation of women’s daily life and their interactions with men required an immersion in their personal space.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This thesis has the aim to evaluate growth of native grasses of natural grasslands Rio Grande do Sul state: Axonopus affinis, Paspalum notatum, Andropogon lateralis e Aristida laevis belonging to plant functional types A, B, C and D, respectively, in response to increasing N and P in soil. For this, the four grasses were grown in greenhouse with different N and P soil availability. The results were presented in two articles: the first evaluated species responses to increase N and P soil availability and relationships with functional traits and with tissue nitrogen concentration. The second article describes species response to increasing soil P availability besides P chemical fractions accumulated on plant tissue and acid phosphatase activity on leaves. All species respond to increase soil N and P availability but it was evidenced that resources capture species presented shorter time responses than conservation species. Independent of soil nutrients availability conditions where species were grown, the grass P. notatum showed the greater N and P use efficiency. The higher potential of relative response to increase N plus P and P availability was found for the grass A. affinis, which has leaf traits of resources capture species. For this, it was suggested that resources capture species have greater potential response to fertilization in relation to resources conservation species. / Esta tese tem o objetivo de avaliar o crescimento das gramíneas nativas das pastagens naturais do Rio Grande do Sul: Axonopus affinis, Paspalum notatum, Andropogon lateralis e Aristida laevis representantes dos tipos funcionais de plantas A e B de captura de recursos, e C e D de conservação de recursos, respectivamente, em reposta ao aumento na disponibilidade de nitrogênio e de fósforo no solo. Para isso, as quatro espécies foram cultivadas em casa de vegetação com diferentes condições de disponibilidade de P e N no solo. Os resultados foram apresentados em dois artigos: O primeiro avaliou a resposta das espécies à disponibilidade de N e P e as relações com atributos funcionais e com as concentrações de nitrogênio no tecido. O segundo artigo trata da capacidade das plantas em responder ao aumento da disponibilidade de P no solo além das frações químicas de acúmulo de P no tecido e da atividade da fosfatase ácida nas folhas. Nos dois artigos, as espécies responderam em massa tanto ao aumento da disponibilidade de N e de P quanto só de P. Porém no primeiro artigo, ficou evidenciado que a resposta foi identificada em um período mais curto para as espécies com características de captura de recursos em relação às de conservação de recursos. Independente das condições de disponibilidade de nutrientes onde as espécies foram cultivadas, a gramínea P. notatum demonstrou a maior eficiência de utilização tanto de N quando de P. O maior potencial de resposta relativo ao aumento da disponibilidade de N e P e de P foi encontrado para a gramínea A. affinis, a qual possui atributos foliares de captura de recursos. Assim, como esperado as espécies de captura de recursos têm maior potencial de resposta a adubação em relação às espécies de conservação de recursos.

Dans le cadre du projet « InterPhonologie du Français Contemporain » (IPFC) (Racine, Detey et Kawaguchi 2012) ce travail se propose d’examiner les stratégies d’acquisition de la liaison en L2. Si des modèles développementaux ont été proposés pour l’acquisition de la liaison en L1, aucune hypothèse pour rendre compte de l’apprentissage en L2 n’a reçu à ce jour un appui empirique convaincant (Wauquier 2009). C’est dans ce contexte que s’inscrit la présente étude longitudinale menée auprès d’étudiants italophones de français langue étrangère (FLE) (niveau A2-B1) dont les résultats ont été enrichis par une comparaison avec les autres travaux multilingues issus du projet international IPFC. Cette approche a permis de mettre en évidence la présence de tendances et d’erreurs communes qui suggèrent que, malgré le recours à des stratégies lexicales, les apprenants sont en mesure de développer des généralisations phonologiques de la liaison. De plus, compte-tenu des difficultés que l’hétérogénéité de la liaison pose dans l’enseignement et l'acquisition en français L2 (Racine et Detey sous presse), les apprenants montrent des faiblesses tant au niveau de la production de la liaison qu’au niveau des connaissances épilinguistiques (Gombert 1990) de la variation de la liaison. Ces résultats nous ont amené à exploiter les données extraites de l’analyse fréquentielle du corpus des natifs « Phonologie du Français Contemporain » (PFC) (Durand, Laks et Lyche 2009) afin de proposer des ressources pédagogiques dont nous espérons qu’elles seront en mesure, dans le cadre d’une démarche data-driven learning, de contribuer au renouvèlement de l′enseignement de la liaison en français langue étrangère. / As part of the international project InterPhonologie du Français Contemporain (IPFC) (Detey Kawaguchi and 2008; Racine, Detey and Kawaguchi 2012), this study aims to examine acquisition strategies of liaison in French as a foreign language. While developmental models have been proposed for the acquisition of liaison in L1, to date, no hypothesis accounting for L2 liaison learning has received convincing empirical support (Wauquier 2009). It is in this context that the present longitudinal study of Italian-speaking students of French as a foreign language (FFL) (level A2-B1) can be situated. The results have been enriched by a comparison with other multilingual studies (several source languages) from the international project IPFC. This approach shows the presence of common trends and errors in different populations of learners that suggest that, despite the use of lexical strategies, learners are able to develop phonological generalisations of liaison. Taking into account the difficulties that the heterogeneity of liaison presents for second language teaching and acquisition (Racine and Detey in press), learners show weaknesses in both production of liaison and in epilinguistic knowledge (Gombert 1990) of the variation of liaison.These results led us to use data from a frequency analysis of a corpus of native speakers Phonologie du Français Contemporain (PFC) (Durand, Laks and Lyche 2009) to provide learning resources, based on a data-driven learning approach, to contribute to the renewal of the teaching of liaison in French as a foreign language. / Nata nell’ambito del progetto InterPhonologie du Français Contemporain (IPFC) (Racine, Detey et Kawaguchi 2012), questa tesi propone un’analisi delle strategie di acquisizione della liaison in L2. Sebbene dei modelli di acquisizione della liaison in L1 siano già stati proposti, nessuna ipotesi è stata confermata da studi empirici (Wauquier 2009).È in questo contesto che si situa il nostro studio longitudinale realizzato su degli studenti universitari italofoni di francese lingua straniera (FLS) (livello A2-B1); un’osservazione i cui risultati sono stati confrontati con altre ricerche multilingui facenti parte del progetto internazionale IPFC. Questo approccio ha permesso di far emergere la presenza di tendenze e errori comuni alle diverse popolazioni di apprendenti; una similitudine che suggerisce come gli apprendenti, malgrado ricorrano a diverse strategie lessicali, sono in grado di sviluppare delle generalizzazioni fonologiche della liaison. Inoltre, date le difficoltà che la variabilità della liaison pone tanto nella didattica quanto nell’acquisizione, gli apprendenti sembrano possedere una scarsa competenza della variazione della liaison non solo sul piano della produzione ma anche su quello delle conoscenze epilinguistiche (Gombert 1990).Questi risultati ci hanno spinto quindi ad utilizzare i dati dell’analisi della frequenza della liaison condotta sul corpus di nativi Phonologie du Français Contemporain (PFC) (Durand, Laks et Lyche 2009) al fine di proporre delle risorse pedagogiche per l’acquisizione della liaison. Questi strumenti potrebbero contribuire al rinnovamento dell’insegnamento della liaison nella didattica del francese lingua straniera.