This thesis is an ethnography of drug dealers. Working from a Chicago School Symbolic Interactionist approach (Mead, 1934; Blumer, 1969), nineteen interviews were conducted with current and former drug dealers. I inquired into their careers (initial involvements, continuities, disinvolvements, reinvolvements) of participation in selling drugs. The data analysis is primarily located in three chapters – Chapters Five, Six, and Seven. Chapter Five considers people’s involvements in selling drugs as well as dealers’ interpersonal exchanges with their customers. In particular three processes are considered in Chapter Five: initial involvements in drug sales,expanding the customer base, and making sales. Chapter Six discusses dealers’ relationships with suppliers as well as dealers who become involved in supplying activities. This chapter discusses the matters of: making contacts with suppliers, working with suppliers, and becoming suppliers. Chapter Seven examines some of the identity allures and problematics of being a drug dealer as well as instances of disinvolvement and reinvolvement in drug dealing. This includes considerations of: striving for respectability, encountering regulatory agencies, and the problematics of disentanglement.

This thesis is an ethnography of drug dealers. Working from a Chicago School Symbolic Interactionist approach (Mead, 1934; Blumer, 1969), nineteen interviews were conducted with current and former drug dealers. I inquired into their careers (initial involvements, continuities, disinvolvements, reinvolvements) of participation in selling drugs. The data analysis is primarily located in three chapters – Chapters Five, Six, and Seven. Chapter Five considers people’s involvements in selling drugs as well as dealers’ interpersonal exchanges with their customers. In particular three processes are considered in Chapter Five: initial involvements in drug sales,expanding the customer base, and making sales. Chapter Six discusses dealers’ relationships with suppliers as well as dealers who become involved in supplying activities. This chapter discusses the matters of: making contacts with suppliers, working with suppliers, and becoming suppliers. Chapter Seven examines some of the identity allures and problematics of being a drug dealer as well as instances of disinvolvement and reinvolvement in drug dealing. This includes considerations of: striving for respectability, encountering regulatory agencies, and the problematics of disentanglement.

In recent times the Russian market has been exposed to significant changes, both in the challenges of the transition from planned to market economy as well as the opportunities that has spurred a willingness for foreign companies to exploit the vast potential of the market. The aim of this thesis is to explore how business relationships are managed between Swedish business-to-business(B2B) SMEs and Russian counterparts. In our study we overview Swedish companies which are well established on the Russian market and have well-developed relationships with their representatives in Russia and try to discover which aspects of their relations is decisive for the success of the companies. To conduct our research we created reseach questions "What role do business relationships play between Swedish and Russian SMEs in the Russian market?, and how are the business relationships managed?". We collected data from both Swedish and Russian perspectives to determine the main features of their relations and draw up guidance for potential Western newcomers to Russia.

(MBA) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2005

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Ohio University, November, 2007. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references.

The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file. Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on October 20, 2009). Thesis advisor: Dr. Esther Thorson. Includes bibliographical references.

O setor de telefonia vem passando por transformações em seus canais de vendas nos últimos anos, o que tem afetado a forma como as competências organizacionais e funcionais são transmitidas para toda a rede de canais de distribuição das operadoras. A presente pesquisa visa a identificar e descrever quais são as principais lacunas existentes no desdobramento das competências organizacionais e funcionais de agentes autorizados que apresentam contrato de representantes comerciais junto a uma operadora de telefonia móvel do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul. Para tanto, a pesquisa envolveu a percepção tanto de proprietários quanto de funcionários da operadora, a fim de comparar tais visões e, assim, identificar pontos de convergência e divergência que pudessem se caracterizar em lacunas no desdobramento das competências. Foram entrevistadas 11 pessoas, sendo seis proprietários de agentes autorizados e cinco funcionários da operadora. A partir das entrevistas, foram identificadas 13 variáveis significativas quanto ao desdobramento das competências, que foram posteriormente reagrupadas em seis categorias de análise, realizando-se a identificação e descrição das percepções de cada um dos grupos de forma individualizada (em um primeiro momento), para posteriormente se proceder à comparação de tais visões. A partir desta comparação frente às seis categorias é que foi possível identificar as 22 lacunas que delas emergiram e que formam os principais fatores a serem desenvolvidos pela operadora para que haja o desdobramento das competências. / Over the last few years, the telephony industry has been experiencing transformations in its sales channels. Such adjustments have caused an impact on the way functional and organizational competences are transferred to the operator’s distribution channel networks. The present research intends to identify and delineate the main gaps that arise in the unfolding of functional and organizational competences with the authorized dealers who hold a business representative contract with a mobile telephony operator company in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. In order to identify the converging and diverging aspects that could constitute gaps in the unfolding of competences, this research confronted both the perceptions of the authorized dealer’s and the operator company employee’s. A total of 11 people were interviewed, 6 of whom were authorized dealers and 5 were employees of the operator company. From this interview’s, 13 important variables were initially identified and later regrouped into 6 categories for analysis. Individualized identification and description of the perceptions of each group was performed at first and comparison of the different points of view followed. From such comparison, it was possible to identify 22 points of divergence which comprise the main parameters to be improved by the operator so that the unfolding of competences can happen in a satisfactory manner.

O setor de telefonia vem passando por transformações em seus canais de vendas nos últimos anos, o que tem afetado a forma como as competências organizacionais e funcionais são transmitidas para toda a rede de canais de distribuição das operadoras. A presente pesquisa visa a identificar e descrever quais são as principais lacunas existentes no desdobramento das competências organizacionais e funcionais de agentes autorizados que apresentam contrato de representantes comerciais junto a uma operadora de telefonia móvel do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul. Para tanto, a pesquisa envolveu a percepção tanto de proprietários quanto de funcionários da operadora, a fim de comparar tais visões e, assim, identificar pontos de convergência e divergência que pudessem se caracterizar em lacunas no desdobramento das competências. Foram entrevistadas 11 pessoas, sendo seis proprietários de agentes autorizados e cinco funcionários da operadora. A partir das entrevistas, foram identificadas 13 variáveis significativas quanto ao desdobramento das competências, que foram posteriormente reagrupadas em seis categorias de análise, realizando-se a identificação e descrição das percepções de cada um dos grupos de forma individualizada (em um primeiro momento), para posteriormente se proceder à comparação de tais visões. A partir desta comparação frente às seis categorias é que foi possível identificar as 22 lacunas que delas emergiram e que formam os principais fatores a serem desenvolvidos pela operadora para que haja o desdobramento das competências. / Over the last few years, the telephony industry has been experiencing transformations in its sales channels. Such adjustments have caused an impact on the way functional and organizational competences are transferred to the operator’s distribution channel networks. The present research intends to identify and delineate the main gaps that arise in the unfolding of functional and organizational competences with the authorized dealers who hold a business representative contract with a mobile telephony operator company in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. In order to identify the converging and diverging aspects that could constitute gaps in the unfolding of competences, this research confronted both the perceptions of the authorized dealer’s and the operator company employee’s. A total of 11 people were interviewed, 6 of whom were authorized dealers and 5 were employees of the operator company. From this interview’s, 13 important variables were initially identified and later regrouped into 6 categories for analysis. Individualized identification and description of the perceptions of each group was performed at first and comparison of the different points of view followed. From such comparison, it was possible to identify 22 points of divergence which comprise the main parameters to be improved by the operator so that the unfolding of competences can happen in a satisfactory manner.

Commodities futures trading went through unparalleled structural transformation during the first decade of the 2000s, which ultimately resulted in long lasting impacts on the volume and open interest levels as well as on the access to these markets and inclusion of new participants. Benefiting from the new sets of high frequency data made available due to these transformations, this dissertation is composed of three papers that investigate different market microstructure aspects of the commodities futures markets at BM&F-Bovespa. The first paper analyzes the modelling and forecasting of realized volatility in the corn and live cattle markets. For this purpose, the heterogeneous autoregressive model (HAR-RV) proposed by Corsi (2009) was used, as well as its extensions adapted to include jump components (Andersen et al., 2007) and leverage components (Corsi and Reno, 2012). Using measurements to compare both analysis, results show that modelling in-sample realized volatility is best performed if jumps and leverage components are included in the model. Out-of-sample forecasts results for the live cattle market show that there was no statistically significant difference between the models. For the corn markets, difference in the models\' forecast performance was found at the daily horizon only. The second paper delves into the relationship between volatility, volume and bid-ask spread in the corn and live cattle markets. Considering that these are emerging agricultural markets, concentration measures were also included. A three-equation structural model was used to capture the relationship between volatility, volume and bid-ask spread and the estimation was performed using the IV-GMM approach. Findings show that bid-ask spread levels are higher for live cattle markets than it is for corn markets. In addition, bid-ask spread is negatively related to volume and positively related to volatility. The significance and magnitude of the responses depend on the level of liquidity in each market. Further, results point out that concentration impacts corn and live cattle differently. The third paper examines the dynamic relationship between dealers activity and market structure in the live cattle inter-dealer market at BM&F-Bovespa. First, a descriptive analysis of the live cattle inter-dealer market structure is carried out and then follows an investigation of the dynamic of dealers\' activity and its determinants. Results indicate that the live cattle inter-dealer market is not competitive and that dealers\' activity is positively related to market concentration, quoted bid-ask spread, number of active dealers and the dealer\'s traded quantity. / Negociações nos mercados futuros de commodities passaram por transformações estruturais significativas durante a primeira década dos anos 2000, resultando em uma elevação dos níveis de volume e open interest, e também em uma maior facilidade de acesso a esses mercados e inclusão de novos participantes. Beneficiando-se da divulgação de dados de alta frequência possibilitada por estas transformações, esta tese, composta por três artigos, tem por objetivo investigar diferentes aspectos da microestrutura dos mercados de commodities da BM&F-Bovespa. O primeiro artigo analisa a modelagem e previsão de volatilidade realizada nos mercados futuros de milho e boi gordo. Para este fim, utilizou-se o modelo heterogêneo auto regressivo proposto por Corsi (2009), bem como suas extensões adaptadas para a inclusão dos componentes de saltos (jumps) (Andersen et al., 2007) e alavancagem (Corsi e Reno, 2012). Utilizando diferentes métricas de comparação, os resultados encontrados mostram que os modelos que incluem os componentes de saltos e os de alavancagem tem melhor desempenho que os demais em análises in-sample (modelagem). Por outro lado, a análise das previsões out-of-sample mostra que, para o mercado de boi gordo, não há diferença entre os modelos empregados, enquanto que para o mercado de milho verificou-se uma diferenciação preditiva no horizonte diário, porém para os horizontes semanal e mensal, os quatro modelos tiveram performance indistinta. O segundo artigo explora a relação entre volatilidade, volume e bid-ask spread nos mercados de milho e boi gordo. Levando em conta que se trata de mercados emergentes, métricas de concentração de mercado foram incluídas na análise. Para capturar a relação entre volatilidade, volume e bid-ask spread, um modelo estrutural de três equações simultâneas foi utilizado e a estimação foi feita através do modelo GMM com variáveis instrumentais. Os resultados indicam que os níveis de bid-ask spread encontrados para o mercado de boi gordo são maiores que os encontrados para o mercado de milho. Além disso, o bid-ask spread é negativamente relacionado ao volume e positivamente relacionado à volatilidade. Entretanto, a intensidade e magnitude da relação entre as variáveis depende dos níveis de liquidez dos mercados analisados. A concentração impacta o mercado de milho e boi gordo de forma diferente. O terceiro artigo investiga a dinâmica da relação entre a atividade dos dealers e estrutura do mercado de boi gordo na BM&F-Bovespa. Primeiramente, faz-se uma análise descritiva deste mercado e posteriormente estuda-se o comportamento dos dealers e seus determinantes. Os resultados indicam que os dealers no mercado de boi gordo não operam em uma estrutura competitiva e que a atividade destes é positivamente relacionada à concentração de mercado, ao bid-ask spread, ao número de dealers ativos e à quantidade de contratos transacionada pelos dealers.

M.Com. (Business Management) / Please refer to full text to view abstract