published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

Sexual minority youth (i.e., youth who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, or who report same-sex attractions) disproportionally experience negative mental health and academic outcomes. Yet, few studies have examined positive youth development for this population. The goal of these three manuscripts is to add new information about positive developmental contexts for sexual minority youth in order to generate ideas for intervention and prevention. More specifically, the focus of these three manuscripts is on school-based extracurricular activity involvement of sexual minority youth.Manuscript one presents results from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health that compare sexual minority and heterosexual youth involvement in school-based extracurricular activities. Results documented that sexual minority youth are involved in school-based extracurricular activities at the same frequency as their heterosexual peers. For all youth, there was a small, but positive association between extracurricular activity involvement and school connectedness. School connectedness was associated with better mental health (i.e., higher self-esteem and lower depression), and these associations were stronger for sexual minority youth.Manuscript two presents results from the Preventing School Harassment Study that examine lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer (LGBQ) youth involvement in Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs). GSAs are extracurricular clubs that are tailored to the needs of LGBQ youth. This study examined the concurrent associations among GSA presence, GSA membership, and participation in GSA-related social justice activities, with victimization based on sexual orientation and school-based and civic outcomes. GSA presence and participation in GSA-related social justice activities were positively associated with school belongingness and grade-point average (GPA), and GSA membership was associated with greater school belongingness. Results suggested, however, that the positive benefits of GSA presence and social justice involvement dissipate at high levels of school victimization.Manuscript three extends findings from manuscript two by examining the associations among GSA presence, GSA membership, perceived GSA effectiveness, and young adult well-being. The study utilized the Family Acceptance Project and found that the presence of a GSA, membership in a GSA, and GSA effectiveness differentially predicted LGBT young adult well-being. In some cases, these three facets of GSAs buffered the negative effect of LGBT-specific school victimization.

Tech. (Logistics, Faculty of Management Sciences), Vaal University of Technology / The focus of this study was to examine the relationship between information sharing, information quality, strategic partnership and internal lean practices among Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in South Africa. It is essential to understand practitioners’ and entrepreneurs’ current knowledge towards the topic at hand in order to determine what interventions would be most beneficial in helping to curb the problem of the lack of knowledge in this area and to understand the underlying causes behind the problem, while creating awareness and giving new insight to those who are already aware of this topic. Data was collected from a sample of 350 Small to Medium Enterprises and the measurement items in the measuring instrument were measured using a 5-point likert scale. Thereafter the collected data was coded and analysed by means of structural equation modelling using the AMOS 21 software package. The results indicate that supplier information sharing and information quality have a strong influence on strategic partnership and in turn strategic partnership has a strong influence on internal lean practices among Small to Medium Enterprises. This indicates that the level and quality of information shared between Small to Medium Enterprises and their suppliers has a positive effect on the strength of their partnerships as well as on the internal practices of each Small to Medium Enterprise. Based on these results, conclusions were drawn and recommendations were put forward on how internal lean practices in Small to Medium Enterprises can be improved by means of information sharing, information quality and strategic partnerships.

Scholars have long debated the causes of late third party state joining in ongoing inter-state wars. This research has generally concluding that peace-time conditions, measured in terms of: third party capabilities; proximity to warring states; and inter-state alliances, are determining factors in the decision to join. However, these studies utilize theories derived from static pre-war measures of capabilities and motivation to explain late joining; indeed, the same measures that fail to predict participation at war's outset. Further, extant research has no explanation for why weak and non-proximate states every participate. Existing theory thus fails to provide a comprehensive explanation of joining behavior. This project contends that a resolution lies the interaction between pre-war conditions and intra-war events. Intra-war events that are allowed to vary on a per battle basis, including change in combat location and alliance entry and exit from combat, reveal new information about the war and its progress, thereby forcing third party states to recalculate their initial decision to abstain in relation to their pre-existing situation. Incorporation of intra-war processes helps to better explain decisions by third party states to join ongoing inter-state wars late in their development, and why states that frequently choose to abstain (e.g., weak states) ever choose to participate. This project is executed using a combination of ex post facto historical case studies, a theory of joining based on pre and intra-war environments, and large-N empirical analysis on all inter-state wars 1823-1988, conducted utilizing a novel collection of event-level data based on inter-state war battles.

The central purpose of this study was to compare the attitudes of faculty in applied sciences to the attitudes of faculty in liberal arts and other selected fields to determine if they differ significantly from each other in their perceptions of the effects of university-industry alliances on campus governance and operations. Secondary purposes were (a) to appraise the debate on alliances and the effects of alliances on academic values and (b) to contribute to the literature concerning alliances and their potential for improving higher education.

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

Approved for public release, distribution is unlimited / This thesis explores international and domestic factors that constitute continuities in U.S. foreign and security policy regarding trans-Atlantic relations. Since the founding of the Atlantic Alliance burden sharing has been one of the major sources of conflict between the United States and its European NATO allies. Despite the reluctance to spend more than minimal amounts on military capabilities in most European NATO countries the issue did not become a major concern in the U.S. Congress between 1951 and 1966. It was only in the late 1960s and early 1970s that proposals - including the Mansfield Resolutions and Amendments - were introduced in the Senate calling for a substantial reduction in the number of U.S. troops in Europe. The debates provoked by these proposals threw light on the various determinants of U.S. policy towards Europe. The contemporary relevance of the issue resides in the fact that most of the elements responsible for the emergence of the Mansfield Amendments are still influential in U.S. foreign and security policy. This circumstance might lead to comparable proposals and debates in the near future. / Civilian, Hungarian Ministry of Defense

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Economics / Philip G. Gayle / This dissertation constitutes two essays in the field of industrial organization. Specifically, the research focuses on empirically assessing the market effects of airline alliances. The first essay examines how codesharing, a form of strategic alliances, by airlines affects market entry decisions of potential competitors. Researchers have written extensively on the impact that strategic alliances between airlines have on airfare, but little is known of the market entry deterrent impact of strategic alliances. Using a structural econometric model, this essay examines the market entry deterrent impact of codesharing between incumbent carriers in U.S. domestic air travel markets. We find that a specific type of codesharing between market incumbents has a market entry deterrent effect to Southwest Airlines, but not other potential entrants. Furthermore, we quantify the extent to which market incumbents’ codesharing influences market entry cost of potential entrants. The second essay examines the effects of granting Antitrust Immunity (ATI) to a group of airlines. Airline alliance partners often want to extend cooperation to revenue sharing, which effectively implies joint pricing of their products (explicit price collusion). To explicitly collude on price, airlines must apply to the relevant government authorities for ATI (U.S. Department of Justice and Department of Transportation in the case of air travel markets that have a U.S. airport as an endpoint), which effectively means an exemption from prosecution under the relevant antitrust laws. Whether consumers, on net, benefit from a grant of ATI to partner airlines has caused much public debate. This essay specifically investigates the impact of granting ATI to oneworld alliance members on their price, markup, and various measures of cost. The evidence suggests that the grant of ATI facilitated a decrease in partner carriers’ marginal cost, and increased (decreased) their markup in markets where their service do (do not) overlap. Furthermore, member carriers’ price did not change (decreased) in markets where their services do (do not) overlap, implying that consumers, on net, benefit in terms of price changes.

This thesis describes the process of integration between airlines and its positive and negative impacts on customers. It deals with characteristic features of individual forms of integration with the greatest attention paid to alliances and mergers. With respect to the fact that the passenger's choice of airline is to a large extent influenced by the price of the ticket, an empirical model is introduced to explore the impact of the membership in one of the global alliances on the final price of the long-haul tickets. Besides, the attention is paid to the nature and diversification of services provided. In the next section the thesis deals with the upcoming merger between British Airways and Iberia, its preconditions, form of the new company and identification of the potential risk factors that could have a negative impact on the company.

O aparecimento das novas configurações familiares LGBT tem gerado discussões candentes no cenário mundial. Nos últimos anos, o Brasil teve conquistas jurídicas e sociais importantes. Porém, mesmo diante desses avanços, o país ocupa a posição de primeiro lugar no ranking mundial de assassinatos por homolesbotransfobia. Os relacionamentos homoafetivos, cada vez mais expressivos e visíveis, trazem a necessidade de compreender como esses casais investem subjetivamente na relação e os dilemas que vivenciam. Esta pesquisa teve por objetivo investigar a conjugalidade homoafetiva feminina e conhecer os impactos do campo de representação social predominantemente atravessado por preceitos heteronormativos nos intercâmbios inconscientes que estruturam o vínculo intersubjetivo desses casais. Foram realizadas entrevistas abertas com casais homoafetivos femininos, no qual a pesquisadora pediu para as entrevistadas compartilharem de forma livre como foi a construção do relacionamento e que pontos da relação elas julgavam importantes de serem compartilhados. O exame do material teve o apoio teórico da psicanálise, baseado nos postulados de René Kaës,que compreende o sujeito do inconsciente enquanto sujeito do grupo. Os conceitos de intersubjetividade, alianças inconscientes e negatividade serviram de embasamento conceitual-teórico e nortearam as discussões. Nos relatos das protagonistas, foram identificadas diversas formas de violência na qual foram vítimas, impingidas através de atos sutis ou de estigmatização dessubjetivante, sugerindo uma recusa da existência legítima e da visibilidade da homoconjugalidade pelos laços sociais e vínculos familiares. Negativamente marcadas, elas narraram episódios de homofobia e um imaginário de associação da mulher homoafetiva com a marginalidade. Esse cenário social de hostilidade desafia os avalistas metassociais e psíquicos do vínculo intersubjetivo e impacta nas alianças de base, fundamentais para a função narrativa e legitimadora da relação / The onset of the new LGBT Family configurations has been generating burning discussions in the world scenario. Brazil has had important legal and social achievements in the last years. However, even considering such advances, the country ranks first in murders due to homophobie. The homosexual relationships, each time more significant and visible, bring a need to understand how these couples subjectively invest in the relationship and, therefore, the dilemma that they experience. In the present research, I propose the research of the female homosexual conjugality and the knowledge of the impacts of the field of social representation, which are predominantly crossed by heteronormative precepts in the unconscious exchanges that structure the intersubjective bond of these couples. Open interviews with female homosexual couples were made, in which the interviewed were asked to freely share the construction of their relationship as well as the aspects of the relationship they found important to be shared. Theoretical support of psychoanalysis was sought in the analysis of the material, especially in the postulates of René Kaës, who understands the subject of the unconscious as the subject of the group.The concepts of intersubjectivity, unconscious alliances and negativity were taken as conceptual and theoretical background and they guided discussions. Various forms of violence were identified in the report of the victims themselves, in which they were foisted either through subtile acts or through desubjectivating stigmatization, suggesting a refusal of both the legitimate existence and the visibility of the homoconjugality through social ties and family bonds. These subjects are strikingly marked and they narrate episodes of homophobia and an imagery of association of homosexual woman and marginality. This social scenario of hostility challenges the metasocial and psychic guarantors of the intersubjective bond and it presents a negativity in the alliances of base that are essential for the role of the narrative and legitimising of the relationship