Game companies are always looking for more ways to increase consumers and their revenue as well as how consumers purchase games. Several business models have been introduced that this thesis will look at, free-to-play, adding downloadable content to existing games, freemium and premium games. This thesis attempts to provide answers to what business models there are available for game developers and how that would influence the development of the single-player games to lower the point of entry for the consumers.  It will focus on narrative single-player games and will use the business models to try and answer the question. A survey was handed out that investigated the respondent’s reaction to changes for BioShock Infinite developer by Irrational Games. The models were presented and compared to how the respondents reacted to the questions. Together with how companies are releasing games now this thesis came to the conclusion that in order to lower the entry point, the games need to be split and released episodically, together with increased downloadable content that added further playability to the game.

abstract: Two-sided online platforms are typically plagued by hidden information (adverse selection) and hidden actions (moral hazard), limiting market efficiency. Under the context of the increasingly popular online labor contracting platforms, this dissertation investigates whether and how IT-enabled monitoring systems can mitigate moral hazard and reshape the labor demand and supply by providing detailed information about workers’ effort. In the first chapter, I propose and demonstrate that monitoring records can substitute for reputation signals such that they attract more qualified inexperienced workers to enter the marketplace. Specifically, only the effort-related reputation information is substituted by monitoring but the capability-related reputation information. In line with this, monitoring can lower the entry barrier for inexperienced workers on platforms. In the second chapter, I investigate if there is home bias for local workers when employers make the hiring decisions. I further show the existence of home bias from employers and it is primarily driven by statistical inference instead of personal “taste”. In the last chapter, I examine if females tend to have a stronger avoidance of monitoring than males. With the combination of the observational data and experimental data, I find that there is a gender difference in avoidance of monitoring and the introduction of the monitoring system increases the gender wage gap due to genders differences in such willingness-to-pay for the avoidance of monitoring. These three studies jointly contribute to the literature on the online platforms, gig economy and agency theory by elucidating the critical role of IT-enabled monitoring. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Business Administration 2019

Globalization, rising affluence in developing and transitional economies, improved infrastructure, and advancements in communication and information technologies have increased the opportunities for marketing services beyond borders. For the last decade African economies has been growing which has created enormous opportunity for international companies. However, foreign companies have been slow to enter into African markets. The purpose of this research is to identify important perception of barriers and factors that affect market entry decision in Africa specifically in Ethiopia and Egypt.This research is based on a qualitative case study and data is collected from primary and secondary data. The primary data are collected from four Swedish micro and small companies. The secondary data collection is based on website, and published material from accredited government, such as UN, Ethiopian investment agency and Swedish government.The major market entry barriers and factors are determined through analysis of these data. The major barriers are cost advantages incumbents, product differentiation, capital requirement, switching cost, access of distribution channel, government policy. The factors are market attractiveness, cultural distance, uncertainty, legal environment, and competition. Market entry decision is dependent on high influential perception of market entry barriers. From this research the important influential perception of barriers and factors that affect market entry decision in Ethiopia and Egypt are government policy, cultural difference, uncertainty, and legal environment. Cost advantage and switching cost are the low influential perception of barriers.

我國素以電子工業聞名世界，近年來卻從日本大量入超先進汽車電子零組件，從事此方面產品產銷之我國廠商也寥寥無幾？本研究以此為出發點，進行該產業進入障礙、公司特質與進入策略、競爭策略之間關係之研究。 　　本研究訪問七家公司、八項先進汽車電子零組件之案例，經過分析、比較之後，有下列重要發現： 　　一、我國汽車工業發展先進汽車電子零組件時，遭遇到之進入障礙以規模經濟無法發揮、汽車中心廠轉換成本高、先進入之國外汽車母廠之干預嚴重、技術困難度高為較主要之進入障礙。 　　二、我國汽車零組件廠商具有良好之製造能力與經營網路關係，但普遍缺乏產品開發能力。大多之廠家為中小企業，因此財務資金、人力資源能源也都不佳。 　　三、進入障礙會影響進入策略及競爭策略，可能的方式有下列三種： 　　（一）與整車性能或結構相關程度較高之先進汽車電子零組件，其規模經濟無法發揮、轉換成本過高、先進者干預等情況都較嚴重，且為所有進入障礙中最嚴重的三種障礙。因此當該先進汽車電子零組件與整車性能或結構關係愈緊密時，新進入之廠商會採取愈高資源掌握之方式進入市場，以掌握較多資源，並界種合作對象化解障礙。 　　（二）若先進汽車電子零組件與整車性能或結構關係愈緊密，則發展該產品之企業偏向採用規避競爭之競爭策略，例如市場追隨者，以避免與先進廠商做正面之品質／價格的競爭。 　　（三）技術困難度愈高的產品，必需要有強大的研發開發能力做後盾方能有效提昇品質與功能，以取得有利市場地位。而我國之汽車零組件廠商，目前為止，大部份的廠商均不具完整之產品開發能力，因此偏向採取追隨者策略。 　　四、公司能力或特質會影響進入策略及競爭策略，可能的方式有下列： 　　（一）產品開發能力好的公司較可以採行自行開發策略，而競爭策略方面則較可能選擇挑戰策略。 　　（二）經營網路在進入策略上扮演重要之角色，經營網路好的公司可以找到較佳的合作伙伴與合作模式，經營網路差的公司則不一定能尋找到合適的合作伙伴及合作方式。