Date: 2008-06-05 Level: Master Thesis in Business Administration, 15 ECTS Authors: Amina Ahmed Ibrahim Beatrice Yola Konlaan Carol Nakajugo Basudde Tutor: Sigvard Herber Title: Are competitors ready to take on a deregulated Apoteket AB? Problem: With the oncoming deregulation of the monopoly, Apoteket AB appears to have a competitive advantage over incoming competition therefore the problem is to find out:  What competitive advantage Apoteket AB has over its competitors.  If the competitors have the tools to successfully compete with Apoteket AB. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to find out whether competitors in Sweden are able to compete successfully with Apoteket AB for the market of non prescription medicine. Method: Qualitative and quantitative methods have been used in this thesis. In order to achieve the desired result of this research it is appropriate to choose this approach since it enables the researcher to be able to explore all areas of the subject at hand and also give an in-depth discussion and analysis. Conclusion: Apoteket AB has several competitive advantages over its competitors. It has a strong brand name that is known and trusted by customers. While all three competing companies see themselves as complements to Apoteket AB, we think that the competitors have what it takes to successfully compete with Apoteket. Judging from previous cases such as Norway and Denmark which showed different outcomes of deregulation in the retail pharmaceutical industry, the competitors in both cases have not been on the losing side. Supermarkets, petrol stations and grocery stores in Denmark and Norway were also competing with their respective pharmacies based mainly on price, accessibility and convenience. In conclusion this is an indication that the competitors in Sweden have more than enough tools to successfully compete with Apoteket AB. Keywords: Deregulation, Pharmaceutical retail, Apoteket AB, Monopoly, Competition. / Datum: 2008-06-05 Nivå: Magister Uppsats i Företagsekonomi, 15 Högskolepoäng Författare: Amina Ahmed Ibrahim Beatrice Yola Konlaan Carol Nakajugo Basudde Handledare: Sigvard Herber Titel: Är konkurrenter beredda att konkurrera med Apoteket AB i en avreglerad marknad? Problem: I samband med den kommande avregleringen av monopolet, Apoteket AB verkar ha konkurrensfördel gentemot konkurrenterna. Problemformuleringen lyder:  Vilka konkurrensfördelar har Apoteket AB över sina konkurrenter?  Har konkurrenterna de rätta verktygen för att framgångsrikt konkurrera med Apoteket AB? Syfte: Uppsatsens syfte är att ta reda på om konkurrenterna i Sverige kan framgångsrikt konkurrera med Apoteket AB i den receptfria marknaden. Metod: En kvalitativ och kvantitativ metod har använts i denna uppsats. För att uppnå det önskade resultat är det nödvändigt att använda sig av både en kvalitativ och kvantitativ metod, dels för att utförligt kunna utforska ämnet och ge en djupgående diskussion och analys. Slutsats: Apoteket AB har en mängd konkurrensfördelar över sina konkurrenter. Företaget har ett starkt märke som kunderna känner till och litar på. De tre konkurrerande företag ser sig själva som ett komplement till Apoteket AB dock anser vi att konkurrenterna har vad som krävs för att framgångsrikt kunna konkurrera med Apoteket. Apotekets avreglering i Norge och Danmark har visat olika resultat, däremot har inte konkurrenterna i båda fall inte varit på den förlorande sidan. Matbutiker och bensin stationer i Danmark och Norge har konkurrerat med huvudsakligen pris, bekvämlighet och tillgänglighet med sina respektive Apotek. Detta är en indikation på att konkurrenterna i Sverige har tillräckligt med verktyg för att framgångsrikt kunna konkurrera med Apoteket AB. Nyckelord: Avreglering, Apoteket AB, Monopol, Konkurrens.

The dynamics of business contexts influence the way firms act in their industry. These changes can have effects in several areas within a company. Entrepreneurship and Innovation are two areas that are affected when a change in firm’s environment occurs, like Schumpeter, Shane and Drucker point. Changes in the deregulatory framework are a specific type of change that can occur. According to Entrepreneurship theories, the removal of regulatory barriers creates opportunities to different reallocation of resources that can lead to changes in market equilibrium. This study addresses this relation between deregulation and entrepreneurship-innovation in the European airline industry. With the removal of regulatory barriers, companies like SAS and Ryanair, saw opportunities to do something new and at the same time had to adapt to these “doing something new” behavior of other companies. Entrepreneurship and innovation were the answer to theses changes and the weapon to fight answers to others with this change. Considering this, our statement problem is the following: How did the deregulation of air transportation in Europe foster entrepreneurial behavior and innovation in the European airline industry over the last twenty years? The case of SAS and Ryanair. Our goal is to describe the process of deregulation and how firms reacted to it and to give explanations behind the relation deregulation-entrepreneurship, identifying the direct and indirect influence of deregulation in the studied companies. Furthermore, based on this investigation, we will trace possible ways on how future deregulation in Europe can foster further entrepreneurial behavior and innovation. This thesis was conducted with a positivism scientific ideal and a deductive approach. We used a qualitative method to collect empirical data that could match with the theories we had chosen beforehand. We conducted three interviews with people inside the industry – from airlines (SAS Braathens and SAS) and from airports (LFV). The first two were used as main sources to SAS case study and the third to have a perspective of airline industry. Since we could not get any interview with Ryanair, Ryanair story book was used as main source for this case study. Our theoretical framework consists of four different broad areas that are interrelated to each other. These areas and the respective theories integrated in them are: institutions and regulation, changes in context and strategic position. Our study shows that EU deregulation altered the five competitive forces in European airline industry and in turn this fostered entrepreneurship and innovation, as a reaction of firms to adapt to the change in their context. The reaction of Ryanair and SAS through entrepreneurial and innovative behaviour was different due to the differences in their business model. We argue that the removal of barriers to new entrants and the increased rivalry between firms were the main forces that fostered entrepreneurship and innovation. We predict that if further EU deregulation comes (as it is the trend) this will generate more opportunities to entrepreneurship and innovation like it generated in the past.

Following the Globalization trend, the policy of Deregulation, Open Sky and BOT had been implemented into the transportation industry in Taiwan. This new policy created the dynamics for transformation both in the Airlines Industry and Railway Industry. The new transportation policy lead to the establishment of E-Airways and T-Rail. This research concentrated on the case study of Operations Readiness Strategy implemented by E-Airways and T-Rail respectively based on the academic theory of SWOT and Five Force Model. E-Airways Case Study covers the strategic items on the establishment of Operations Core Competence, Flight Networks, Innovation of Economy-Deluxe class, Marketing Channel and Airline Strategic Alliance. T-Rail Case Study refers to the Operations Readiness Strategy implemented to import the core competence of High Speed Rail. This research reached the conclusions: 1.To confirm academic theory to be applicable for the successful model of both E-Airways and T-Rail case study; 2.To confirm same strategy model to be applied for different industry; 3.To confirm the strategic competence to be created; 4.That Cross verification of SWOT and Five Force Model will lead to solid strategy. 5.The successful model of E-Airways case study with analysis on the operation readiness strategy is available as reference for any potential airline operator after merge & acquisition of existing airlines. 6.The successful model of T-Rail case study is available as reference model for any ¡§next one¡¨ national HSR (High Speed Rail) Project.

While two objectives of deregulation are to reduce service interruptions and achieve lower energy costs, deregulation has actually introduced new problems in both areas. Since the transmission network was built in the last century, mainly for the regulated power systems, with mostly local power transfers, the increased long distance power transfer introduced by free energy trading has made congestion happen more frequently. When congestion happens, service interruptions occur and higher energy costs arise. We approach the issue from the viewpoints of both planning and online operations. Accordingly, we develop a reactive online remedying method that uses Flexible AC Transmission (FACTS) devices to eliminate congestion with minimum transaction curtailment to maintain market force. We also develop a proactive preventive method for offline planning, such as in the day-ahead market, which uses FACTS devices to maximize the Total Transfer Capability so that more transactions can be scheduled without causing congestion in the system. Optimal Power Flow is used for both methods with FACTS devices treated as control variables so that they can be adjusted to the best FACTS parameters to minimize the transaction curtailment or maximize the Total Transfer Capability. We demonstrate that FACTS devices are very effective for both situations. Since the installation of FACTS devices involves heavy infrastructure investment, an effective pricing method needs to be in place to encourage this investment by guaranteeing sufficient return. This research uses a novel pricing scheme to charge for both utilizing the FACTS devices and having the FACTS devices operating at their limits. The owners of the FACTS devices will then be able to recover their investment. With the above control method and the pricing method, we can make better use of the existing transmission network and relieve congestion. However, deregulation may also degrade system reliability since the generation companies are not obligated to sell into the market and market participation is driven by market forces instead. We use the market share based short-term adequacy analysis method to address generation resource adequacy issues. The market share based method uses the market share time series for the generation companies to reflect their market behavior in the new environment. Multiple regression modeling, a tool of time series analysis, is used to model involved factors. We demonstrate how the market share based short-term adequacy analysis method can capture the adequacy problems that the traditional method cannot. In addition, it can also help to remedy the adequacy problems, which can in turn reduce service interruption and thus the energy price.

The effects of the deregulation of the electricity market 1996 in Sweden on short-term hydropower regulation are unknown. This report investigates patterns in subdaily regulation in the Ångerman River Basin during the period 1993-2011. Differences in subdaily flows and zero flow events between the periods 1993-1995 and 1996-2011 were studied by analyzing hourly data from 8 regulated and 8 unregulated locations with four subdaily flow variation indices. No correlations between the market deregulation and the regulation intensity in the Ångerman River basin were detected. The number of days natural ranges of variability were exceeded and the magnitude of subdaily variation were significantly higher at regulated locations. Zero flow events increased substantially when the periods 1993-2007 and 2008-2011 were compared. Significant correlations were detected in the summer periods between dry years and high magnitudes for the indices that measured variation in volume and low magnitudes for subdaily flow reversals. Zero flow events in the summer periods increased during dry years if the period 2008-2011 were excluded. The major conclusions are that the deregulation of the electricity market has not affected the subdaily regulation of the Ångerman River and that the regulated sites show highly unnatural subdaily variations. Regulation intensity and zero flows events increases during summertime in dry years and the latter also increased substantially after 2007. The current regulation regime is considered harmful for riverine ecosystems and the high and increasing levels of subdaily flow alteration shows the urgent need of national directives for subdaily hydropower operation.

La tesi si compone di tre saggi. nel primo saggio si sviluppa un modello teorico che analizza i possibili effetti macroeconomici, controintuitivi e redistributivi, di politiche di deregolamentazione nel mercato dei prodotti in un contesto di eterogeneità tra le imprese produttrici, nel breve e nel lungo periodo. Il secondo saggio presenta la struttura, la metodologia, e alcuni fatti stilizzati relativi al nuovo indice di regulation nei mercati dei prodotti; nel terzo saggio si usa l'indice di regulation nei mercati agricoli, per esplorare econometricamente le cause sottostanti al processo di riforma in tali mercati, in un'ottica di political economy. / The dissertation includes three papers. The first paper develops a theoretical model of deregulation in product market with heterogeneous firms. The second paper presents the methodology and the construction of the new index of regulation in product market; also, some stylized facts are presented. The third paper uses the new index to econometrically explore drivers and phases of market reforms in the agricultural sector.

Classical view of power system is characterized by a unidirectional power flow from centralized generation to consumers. Power system deregulation gave impetus to a modern view by introducing distributed generations (DGs) into distribution systems, leading to a bi-directional power flow. Several benefits of embedding DGs into distribution systems, such as increased reliability and reduced system losses, can be achieved. However, when a zone of the distribution system remains energized after being disconnected from the grid, DGs become islanded and early detection is needed to avoid several operational issues. In response to this call, a wavelet-based approach that uses the mean voltage index is proposed in this work to detect islanding operation in distribution systems embedding DGs. The proposed approach has been tested in several islanding and non-islanding scenarios using IEEE 13-bus distribution system. The results have shown the effectiveness of the proposed approach compared to other islanding approaches previously published in the literature. / UOIT

The implementation of deregulation in the financial industry has shown both positive and negative effects on the average investor’s ability to save for retirement. The increase in financial investment products and supplements to saving has provided the average investor with many more opportunities to manage his/her wealth in order to save for retirement. This paper will examine the evolution of basic savings accounts offered by commercial banks in the early 1900s to the broadening of investment opportunities in the 1990s. The paper discusses the effects of three deregulatory acts on the average investor’s ability to accumulate wealth for retirement. These acts include: The Depository Institutions Deregulatory Monetary Control Act of 1980, Garn-St. Germain Depository Institutions Act of 1982, and the repeal of Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 through the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999. Each of these deregulatory measures played a significant role in the changing of investment and savings behavior of the average investor and the definition of retirement in general.

As a consequence of deregulation in the airline industry, market forces rather than public service considerations increasingly dictate services to and from airports in Europe’s peripheral areas. The new market advocates market-driven management practices as a means of satisfying airline customers and implies that airports that adopt a more marketorientated approach than their rivals will perform better. This study investigates the theoretical foundations of a market orientation, which can be defined as the organisationwide generation, dissemination and response to market intelligence. The main aim of this study is to examine the relationship between market orientation and the performance of airports in Europe’s peripheral areas. The research methodology was implemented using a questionnaire-based survey that was administered to the managers of 217 airports in 17 different countries. Usable responses from 86 airports were received and analysed. The findings of this study suggest that airports wishing to outperform competitors can do so by adopting a market orientation and should seek to continually monitor and improve the way in which they gather, disseminate and respond to market intelligence. This will be particularly effective when market turbulence is high and/or when the focus of the airport is on developing leisure services. In addition, market orientation was found to have a positive effect on performance because it means that airports are more likely to be innovative in their approach to marketing. This means that airport managers should try to develop a market-orientated culture with innovative marketing practices in mind, and visa versa. The fact that independently-owned airports have significantly higher levels of market orientation than regionally-owned or nationally-owned airports suggests that independent ownership is more conducive to the development of a market orientation. The findings of this study do have a number of limitations, the most notable being that they are restricted to airports in Europe’s peripheral areas. It is recommended that future research should be conducted on airports worldwide in order to investigate differences between a wider range of airport types and geographical regions. In addition, the findings of this study suggest that a stakeholder orientation is important for airports seeking to improve their performance, especially smaller airports that are publicly-owned. It is recommended that future studies should investigate antecedents to and consequences of a stakeholder orientation. Future studies should also investigate whether a stakeholder orientation has a greater effect on performance than a market orientation does, and whether the two types of orientation complement each other.

With increasing demand of electric power in the context of deregulated electricity markets, a good strategic planning for the growth of the power system is critical for our tomorrow. There is a need to build new resources in the form of generation plants and transmission lines while considering the effects of these new resources on power system operations, market economics and the long-term dynamics of the economy. In deregulation, the exercise of generation planning has undergone a paradigm shift. The first stage of generation planning is now undertaken by the individual investors. These investors see investments in generation capacity as an increasing business opportunity because of the increasing market prices. Therefore, the main objective of such a planning exercise, carried out by individual investors, is typically that of long-term profit maximization. This thesis presents some modeling frameworks for generation capacity expansion planning applicable to independent investor firms in the context of power industry deregulation. These modeling frameworks include various technical and financing issues within the process of power system planning. The proposed modeling frameworks consider the long-term decision making process of investor firms, the discrete nature of generation capacity addition and incorporates transmission network modeling. Studies have been carried out to examine the impact of the optimal investment plans on transmission network loadings in the long-run by integrating the generation capacity expansion planning framework within a modified IEEE 30-bus transmission system network. The work assesses the importance of arriving at an optimal IRR at which the firm’s profit maximization objective attains an extremum value. The mathematical model is further improved to incorporate binary variables while considering discrete unit sizes, and subsequently to include the detailed transmission network representation. The proposed models are novel in the sense that the planning horizon is split into plan sub-periods so as to minimize the overall risks associated with long-term plan models, particularly in the context of deregulation.