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Thesis ( Ph.D. ) -- University of Texas at Arlington, 2008.

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This research project specifically investigates the use of information processing strategies by organizational buyers in the first stage of the supplier selection process, the selection of an evoked set of qualified suppliers. In this selection process it is hypothesized that the buyer's use of evaluation functions or information processing strategies is influenced by the task faced by the buyer. The varying levels of risk, familiarity and informational requirements of the buying situation should impact the use of the information processing strategies. Structured protocols--written descriptions of compensatory and noncompensatory information processing strategies--were used to determine the evaluation function which organizational buyers use to qualify suppliers into an evoked set. The data was collected in a field study of 135 organizational buyers from 76 different organizations. The subjects were interviewed about purchases they were presently working on in which suppliers had been selected but the final purchase decision was still pending. Identification of the buying task, new task, modified rebuy, and straight rebuy also utilized the structured protocol technique. Written descriptions, based on the constitutive definitions of Robinson and Farris (1967), were used to address the following research question: Is there a difference in the decision rules or information processing strategies utilized by organizational buyers in the development of an evoked set of qualified suppliers when the buyer is qualifying suppliers for a new task, modified rebuy, or straight rebuy buying task? In addition to the information gathered via the structured protocols, information was gathered about the level of risk, familiarity and information requirements of the purchasing task. This was done to gain a better understanding of the use of information-processing strategies by organizational buyers. Analysis of the data indicates that the buying task is related to the choice of an information-processing strategy. The data also support the contention that the organizational buyer will utilize any of the information-processing strategies in the selection of an evoked set of suppliers. Although the buying task was found to significantly influence the use of the information-processing strategies, the study shows that all of the strategies were reported as being used for each of the buying tasks. In addition to finding that the buying task influences the choice of an information-processing strategy, the data support the model of information processing presented. The model addressed the impact that risk, familiarity, and information load had on the use of the evaluation functions. The risk node of the model was supported by two of the five risk variables included in the study: product homogeneity and supplier homogeneity. At the familiarity nodes of the model, the subjective measures of familiarity which support the model are supplier familiarity and frequency of product purchase. Supplier familiarity was found to be significantly different between the weighted and unweighted compensatory strategies. The significant difference in the level of familiarity found in the use of the conjunctive and disjunctive information processing strategies is associated with the frequency of product purchase. The final nodal section of the information-processing model which was supported is the comparison of the conjunctive and lexicographic strategies. The lexicographic strategy was found to be used when there was a higher perceived number of suppliers capable of supplying the needed product. In general this study has shown that the situation in which suppliers are selected impacts the use of an information-processing strategy. The findings are consistent with the research and hypothesizing associated with the use of information-processing strategies by consumers.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

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Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

This thesis examines the impact of taxation and financial factors on the level of investment in fixed assets by quoted manufacturing companies in the United Kingdom between 1971 and 1986. Its most important theme is that there exist substantial differences between companies in the way that they are affected by both taxation and financial factors. The empirical work therefore uses individual company accounting and stock market data (described in Appendix A) together with a detailed model of the corporation tax system (described in Appendix B) in order to exploit cross sectional as well as time series variation. Chapters 2 and 3 investigate the role played by taxation in the investment decision. Part of the cross sectional variation in taxation arises through 'tax exhaustion', caused by the asymmetric treatment of taxable profit and loss in UK corporation tax and restrictions on the use of the imputation system. Two investment equations, the first based on Tobin's Q and the second on the cost of capital in an Euler equation framework are developed from the same neoclassical model of the firm which explicitly models tax exhaustion and the role played by expectations. Each is a forward-looking model, which could be used for the purposes of simulating the effects of tax reform on investment, whether the reform is announced or unannounced, permanent or temporary. The results confirm that tax does play a role in the determination of investment, although, for various reasons, the precise effect is difficult to quantify. They also suggest that the Q model is a poor means of assessing the impact of taxation on investment and that it is dominated by the second model. Chapters 2 and 3 also consider the impact of taxation on company financial policy, and, in particular consider various regimes in which the company may find itself which depend on tax exhaustion and agency costs of debt. The stability of these regimes is more complex than commonly argued in the literature. The appropriate definition of the cost of capital is also developed further, under similar conditions, and a matrix of nine possible values is constructed, depending on the marginal source of finance in this period and the next period. Chapter 4 discusses the role played by financial factors. A model with legal constraints on financial behaviour and agency costs on debt is developed which predicts that, for all firms, investment depends on the level of cash generated, as well as Tobin's Q. The importance of cash flow for firms of different size and age is investigated. The results support the hypothesis that cash flow is a significant determinant of investment for all firms. Cash flow has the highest impact for large and new firms.

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published_or_final_version / Civil Engineering / Master / Master of Philosophy