Airlines wanting to cooperatively set prices for their international air travel service must apply to the relevant authorities for antitrust immunity (ATI). Whether consumers, on net, benefit from a grant of ATI to partner airlines has caused much public debate. This paper investigates the impact of granting ATI to oneworld alliance members on their price, markup, and various measures of cost. The evidence suggests that implementation of the oneworld alliance without ATI did not have a statistically significant impact on the markup of products offered by the members, and there is no evidence that the subsequent grant of ATI to various members resulted in higher markups on their products. We find evidence suggesting that the grant of ATI facilitated a decrease in partner carriers’ marginal and fixed costs. Furthermore, member carriers’ price did not increase (decreased) in markets where their services do (do not) overlap, implying that consumers, on net, benefit from the grant of ATI in terms of price changes.

No description available.

Strategic alliances have become a recognized strategy used by firms in the pursuit of their diverse organizational objectives. Consequently, the literature on alliances is replete with research investigating the value strategic alliances generate for participating organizations. Strategic alliances have been shown to contribute to firm value through numerous sources, including scale economies, effective risk management, cost efficient market entries, and learning from partners. Largely overlooked in the literature however, are issues investigating the relationship between strategic alliances and one of the organization's most important constituents, the consumer. Questions such as how the consumer reacts to inter-firm alliances, how strategic alliances impact consumer value, satisfaction, and customer post-purchase behavior have yet to be answered. This lacuna has been recently highlighted by prominent researchers in the discipline (Rindfleisch and Moorman 2003). Focusing on marketing alliances, the present dissertation attempts to address this gap in the alliance literature by advancing and testing a theoretical framework examining consumers' cognitive, affective, and behavioral reactions to organizational strategic alliances. The dissertation also contributes to the satisfaction literature. Scholars in this area have traditionally viewed satisfaction as a cognitive response to the comparison of actual consumption experiences with some comparison standard (confirmation/disconfirmation paradigm). Recently however, there have been increasing calls for satisfaction measures to capture not just how the customer thinks the product performed relative to the comparison standard, but also the resulting customer emotion. The study provides additional support of an affective route to customer satisfaction, particularly when customer hedonic value is enhanced. Moreover, the association between customer satisfaction and behavioral outcomes is also examined. While prior research shows that satisfaction is positively related to loyalty and word of mouth and negatively related to intentions to switch, it was found that these relationships are even stronger in the presence of alliances. The results of this dissertation provide important theoretical and managerial insights. The strategic alliance literature is enhanced insofar as this is the first effort aimed at investigating the impact of strategic alliances on the consumer. The study examines the relationship between marketing alliances and customer value, particularly utilitarian and hedonic value, as well as the moderating role of alliance type (functional or symbolic) in this relationship. From a managerial perspective, engaging in strategic alliances is strategically critical and costly. By providing insight into how alliances enhance consumer value, and how in turn value enhancement is related to customer satisfaction and behavioral outcomes, the present research will help managers make more appropriate and better-informed alliance decisions.

No description available.

The international liner shipping industry has been undergoing major structural changes caused by a number of factors. Liner companies have responded to these challenges by engaging in mergers and acquisitions and by forming global strategic alliances. Many of these organizational changes have reportedly been undertaken to achieve, among other things, economies of scale. This paper systematically addresses two questions — whether there are economies of scale in international liner shipping, and if so, what are the implications of those economies for industry structure. To determine whether scale advantages exist, George Stigler's "Survivorship Principle" is used with current data in three phases. All three phases of the study show that increasing returns to scale are present. In each application of the survivorship test, small and medium sized firms experienced significant decline in their share of the industry's capacity, while the largest firms continued to gain market share over the 20-year test period. The existence of economies of scale at both the firm and plant level is most pronounced during the shorter 1987-1997 period, subsequent to significant regulatory changes. The study empirically verifies that economies of scale in liner shipping have been increasing in response to technology-driven productivity growth, regulatory changes, and higher world-wide trade flows. The pursuit of economies of scale also appears to be contributing to the consolidation occurring in the industry today via both mergers and acquisitions, and the formation of global strategic alliances. Lastly, the study discusses the implications of economies of scale on firm structure within the context of current industry economics, and evaluates business strategies presently being pursued. / Master of Arts

No / Purpose ¿ To explore alliance managers' perceptions of the most significant determinants of strategic alliance success in the software sector. Design/methodology/approach ¿ The study is based on 30 key informant interviews and a survey of 143 alliance managers. Findings ¿ While both structural and process factors are important, the most significant factors affecting alliance success are the adaptability and openness of the alliance partners, human resource practices and partners' learning capability during implementation. Alliance partners should pay more attention to operational implementation issues as an alliance evolves, in order to achieve successful cooperative relationships. Research limitations/implications ¿ This research has responded to the call for more empirical study of the underlying causes of successful alliances. It contributes to the ongoing debate about which factors have most impact on strategic alliance outcomes, and complements prior research on several dimensions. First, using selected interview quotations to illuminate the quantitative analysis, it contributes to a deeper understanding of the alliance process, and reduced the ambiguity about which factors are most influential. In particular, the study provides support for those authors who have argued for the relative importance of the alliance implementation process. Second, support has also been found for the prominence of learning capability and the inter-partner learning process as a major component of effective alliance implementation. Third, the results are based on the views of practicing alliance managers, which addresses a recognized gap in the literature. Practical implications ¿ The results send a signal to senior managers contemplating strategic alliances that they should not underestimate the importance of alliance process factors and the role that alliance managers play in achieving successful alliance relationships. This is particularly important, given the high levels of alliance failure reported in the extant literature. Originality/value ¿ While past research on strategic alliances has placed more emphasis on the importance of alliance formation than on implementation, there is an ongoing debate about whether structural, formation factors have more influence on alliance success than implementation or process factors. There has been only limited empirical work examining this interplay between structure and process, particularly from an operations perspective, and very few studies have examined strategic alliances in the software industry.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

Le 25 octobre 1415, avec la disparition des derniers représentants du groupe par filiation directe, s’éteignait au combat le lignage de Craon dont la renommée et la fortune avaient été acquises, entre autres, sur les champs de bataille. Notre travail s’inscrit dans une perspective chronologique : la genèse du lignage des Craon au XIe siècle puis son fonctionnement jusqu’à sa disparition à Azincourt. À partir de l’étude sur la famille de Craon, nous proposons une réflexion sur le concept lignager. Pouvons-nous d’ailleurs parler sans nuance de lignage ? Le lignage du XIIe siècle ne ressemble pas à celui des siècles suivants : il s’agit d’une structure de parenté complexe recouvrant des réalités multiples. Si la nécessité d’une terminologie commune nous apparaît évidente, il convient cependant de rester prudent sur l’usage de « lignage ». Son emploi abusif en a appauvri le sens à tel point que nous avons l’impression que ce terme pose aujourd’hui un problème sémantique : peut-on opposer systématiquement deux structures de parenté – « carolingienne » et lignagère ? Le corpus documentaire des Craon nous met dans une position inconfortable puisqu’il nous oriente sur une structure de parenté particulière : le lignage. L’enjeu de ce travail consiste donc à formuler un questionnement sur le lignage à travers une documentation partielle et orientée qui en postule l'existence. L’emploi de ce terme ne nous offre qu’une vision simpliste de la parenté et ne prend pas assez en compte d’autres formes qui coexistent au même moment : sur une structure patrilinéaire de transmission des biens et des pouvoirs se plaque un système de filiation indifférenciée. Le monument funéraire des Craon, dans la chapelle des Cordeliers à Angers, réalisé par Maurice V de Craon à la fin du XIIIe siècle, est un document essentiel : il illustre une conception de la famille telle qu’elle se manifeste dans les actes de la pratique accordant une place essentielle aux alliances, au moins autant qu’à la filiation et dans laquelle la notion de lignage est difficile à cerner. Or, une telle représentation peut coexister avec d’autres, répondant à d’autres besoins et véhiculant d’autres messages : le lignage n’oblitère pas d’autres formes de parenté. Notre travail nous invite à remettre en cause les schémas modèles et à voir la parenté comme une intrication de systèmes diversement opératoires, par effet de sources ou selon le contexte, soumis au poids des normes canoniques omniprésentes à l’époque. / On October 25th 1415, the last direct descendents of the Craon lineage, founded in the 11th Century by Robert of Burgundy, died on the battlefield. A great part of their renown and fortune had been acquired through their feats of arms. Hence the chronologically-based approach of our work: from the genesis of this lineage, we probe into the way they lived and evolved, until they vanished in Agincourt. The study of the Craon family leads us to consider the concept of lineage. The term itself seems impossible to handle without bringing out various shades of its meaning. Lineage is a complex, multifaceted parental structure, and our work intends to mirror these intricacies and evolving features. Indeed, the lineage in the 12th Century is very different from that of the previous centuries. Although it seems essential to use a term common to all History researchers, we believe the word “lineage” needs to be qualified: a great part of its meaning has been sucked out from the lexeme itself by an abusive usage, so much so that we are now faced with a semantic issue: can we consistently oppose these two parental structures – caroligian pattern and lineage? The corpus of documents relevant to the Craons seems to be pointing to lineage, which places us in a puzzling situation. The aim of our work is thus to raise questions about lineage, relying on incomplete documentation. But we should bear in mind that the term lineage allows only an oversimplified approach to kinship, which does not take into account other forms of patterns coexisting at the same moment: indeed, a system of undifferenciated filiation is superimposing itself over a patrilinear structure of the transmission of wealth. The Craons’ funerary monument, in the chapel of the Cordeliers in Angers, and built by Maurice V of Craon at the end of the 13th Century, is an essential document: it reveals a conception of the family which takes into consideration filiation as much as alliances, therefore blurring the outlines of the notion of lineage. However, this representation can stand side by side with others, fulfilling other needs and conveying other messages: lineage does not annihilate other forms of kinship. Henceforth, our work leads us to put into question the traditional patterns and to view kinship as an intricacy of systems with various levels of functioning, and following the constraining and yet unabiding canonic norms of the time.

Il ne nous appartient pas dans cette étude de traiter des seuls problèmes occasionnés par l’exportation coercitive du modèle politique occidental en Afrique, la question a déjà fait l’objet de remarquables travaux. Il convient cependant de souligner que force est de constater le manque d’études concernant l’ethnie en tant qu’ontologie intrinsèque en relations internationales et en polémologie en particulier. Dans le cadre de notre étude, il s’agit d’une part de mettre en évidence l’aspect central et fondamental de la manipulation multiforme du concept d’ethnie dans la survenance de certains conflits post 2nde Guerre Mondiale. En effet, outre les deux bombardements nucléaires d’Hiroshima et de Nagasaki en 1945, les puissances nucléaires se sont livrées à un jeu macabre de chantage stratégique sans pour autant faire usage de l’arme prétorienne et ultime qu’est le feu nucléaire, reléguant les études concernant le phénomène nucléaire à de vaines spéculations sur l’emploi d’une arme devenue de fait obsolescente. Il va sans dire qu’eut égard aux nombreuses victimes civiles et militaires, directes et indirectes des conflits que nous décrivons et que nous analysons en l’espèce dans le cadre de cette étude ; l’ethnie qui est maintes fois convoquée, galvaudée joue un rôle non négligeable dans ces conflits. A cet effet les conflits étudiés en l’espèce appartiennent à la catégorie des conflits identitaires. La multiplicité des conflits à caractère ethnique en Afrique noire et les violences indicibles qui en résultent comme au Rwanda, nous incline à penser pour schématiser prosaïquement que l’ethnie tue plus que l’atome ; autrement dit les conflits ethniques auxquels un nombre limité d’études est consacré sont beaucoup plus violents et plus meurtriers que les spécialistes ne veulent le faire croire. Ainsi marginaliser, caricaturer ou analyser sans consistance scientifique, sans profondeur épistémologique les conflits identitaires et ethniques reviendrait à les exclure progressivement du champ d’étude des relations internationales et de la polémologie. L’ethnie appert de ce fait comme une ontologie intéressant de plus en plus les relations internationales eu égard à la multiplicité des conflits ethniques et identitaires essaimant en Afrique depuis la chute du Mur de Berlin. Depuis cette période symbolique les Etats forts bâtis sur le modèle jacobin importé et cimenté par les partis et pensées uniques ont fait place à une multitude de revendications, au pluralisme politique ainsi qu’à la résurgence des identités ethniques. Dans le cas congolais, l’ethnie devient une ontologie transnationale, elle sert non plus à diviser mais à unir des alliés. L’ethnie ne devient donc plus un facteur de repli identitaire mais une source de la constitution de grands ensembles politiques transnationaux. Pour ce faire, l’histoire est mobilisée et manipulée à dessein afin de servir de ferment de légitimation. / It is not up to us in this study to treat only problems caused by the coercive export of Western political model in Africa, the question has already been remarkable treated. It should however be noticed that it is clear the lack of studies on ethnicity as an integral ontology in international relations and conflict studies in particular. In our study, it is firstly to highlight the central and fundamental aspect of the multifaceted manipulation of the concept of ethnicity in the occurrence of certain post WW2 conflicts. Indeed, besides the two atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, the nuclear powers have engaged in a macabre game of strategic blackmail without making use of the ultimate weapon and Praetorian what the nuclear fire, relegating studies on nuclear phenomenon of idle speculation about the use of a weapon is now obsolescent.Needless to say, What would the light of numerous civilian and military casualties, direct and indirect conflicts we describe and we analyze the case in this study, the ethnic group that has repeatedly called, plays a hackneyed significant role in these conflicts. To this end the conflicts in the studied species belong to the category of identity conflicts. The multiplicity of ethnic conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa and the unspeakable violence that result as in Rwanda, we tend to think to map prosaically as ethnicity kills more than the atom, ie the ethnic conflicts which a limited number of studies are devoted much more violent and deadly than the experts do not want to believe. And marginalize, caricature or analysis without scientific consistency without deep epistemological identity and ethnic conflicts would be to progressively exclude the study of international relations and war studies.The ethnicity appears thus as interesting ontology increasingly international relations with respect to the multiplicity of ethnic and identity conflicts swarming in Africa since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Since this symbolic period strong states built on the Jacobin model imported cemented by single parties and thoughts have been replaced by a multitude of claims to political pluralism as well as the resurgence of ethnic identities. In the Congolese case, ethnicity becomes a transnational ontology, it is no longer to divide but to unite allies. The ethnic therefore becomes a factor of isolationism but a source of the formation of large transnational political groups. To do this, the story is mobilized and manipulated on purpose to serve as a leaven of legitimation.

Les alliances stratégiques et les fusions-acquisitions sont théoriquement considérées aujourd’hui comme de véritables leviers de création de valeur. Cette création de valeur prend différentes formes, à savoir essentiellement une valeur stratégique, une valeur substantielle, une valeur institutionnelle et une valeur financière (notamment actionnariale). C’est cette dernière qui retient spécifiquement notre attention. L’objectif de ce travail de recherche, après avoir analysé les résultats des travaux empiriques réalisés sur l’impact des annonces d’acquisitions portant sur la performance boursière, est de répondre à deux questions fondamentales. La première question est de savoir si à un horizon plus ou moins lointain, la performance boursière des acquisitions coïncide avec la performance réelle, et si par conséquent cette forme de croissance externe peut se justifier par la motivation financière des dirigeants ou actionnaires. La deuxième question est de savoir si cette hypothèse formulée se vérifie également pour le cas des alliances, établissant par la même une comparaison avantageuse en faveur de l’une ou l’autre des options de croissance externe. Nos résultats montrent en définitive que sur le court terme l’annonce d’une alliance a un impact négatif sur la performance contrairement à l’annonce d’une fusion ou d’acquisition, tandis que d’autre part sur le long terme, il n’y a aucun impact positif (impact neutre) sur la performance financière qu’il s’agisse de l’alliance stratégique ou de la fusion-acquisition. Nous expliquons ce résultat par un phénomène de « création de valeur compensatoire » dans le cadre d’une intention stratégico-financière. / Strategic alliances and mergers & acquisitions are theoretically now considered as real levers of value creation. This value creation takes different forms, essentially strategic value, substantial value, institutional value and financial value (including shareholders). This latter holds our attention specifically. The objective of our research, after analyzing the results of empirical works focused on the acquisition announcements impact on the stock market performance, is to answer two fundamental questions. The first question is to know that if, on a more or less distant horizon, the stock market performance of acquisitions coincides with the actual performance and so if this form of acquisitions can be justified by the financial motivation of CEOs or shareholders. The second question is to know that if this hypothesis is also true in the case of alliances, establishing by the way an advantageous comparison in favor of one or other of the external growth options. Our final results show that in the short term the announcement of an alliance has a negative impact on performance as opposed to the announcement of a merger & acquisition, while other hand on the long-term, there is no positive impact (neutral impact) on financial performance whether it be the strategic alliance or merger & acquisition. We explain this result by the phenomenon of "creation of compensatory value" in the context of a strategic and financial plan.