This thesis consists of three independent chapters on entry deterrence. The first two chapters consider the use of contracts as a barrier to entry, while the final chapter examines the possibility of firms expanding their product lines to deter entry in a vertical differentiation model. In Chapter 1, the role of exclusive dealing contracts in the liner shipping industry is investigated. It is shown that if the entrant is capacity-constrained, exclusive dealing contracts can be an effective entry barrier, even if the entrant has a lower cost. Chapter 2considers an industry with two stages of production. It is shown that an upstream incumbent is able to deter the entry of a more efficient producer by establishing long-term contractual relations with downstream firms, provided the downstream firms are in direct competition against each other. Chapter 3 considers the question of entry deterrence in a one-dimensional market where goods are differentiated by quality. It is shown that an incumbent firm may decide to produce several products solely for the purpose of deterring entry. Again, it is possible that a lower-cost entrant is deterred. In all three chapters, the welfare consequence is clear: social welfare is lower, since more efficient entrants are excluded from the market. / Arts, Faculty of / Vancouver School of Economics / Graduate

This thesis consists of three essays in the theory of Industrial Organization. More specifically, the thesis focuses on the interaction of financial structure and market structure. The intellectual starting point of this thesis is the Modigliani-Miller theorem. Modigliani & Miller (1958) show that in the presence of perfect financial and output markets, financial structure has no effect on the value of the firm. This thesis departs from a Modigliani-Miller economic environment by assuming that firms have more information about their projects than financiers have. In imperfect output markets, this departure from Modigliani-Miller world implies that there may exist important strategic interactions between production and financial decisions. In the three essays of this thesis, we derive theoretical links between financial structure and output market competition. We show that in the presence of asymmetric information in output and financial markets, firms may affect the outcome of various oligopolistic and entry games by choosing an appropriate financial policy. We explicitly introduce financial variables in these types of games to show that they may have an important role to play in the resolution of the output competition. The presence of asymmetric information is usually a sufficient condition for financial structure relevance to the firm's market value. However, this is not necessary. It is shown elsewhere that taxes or bankruptcy costs may also affect financial decisions. Throughout this thesis, we abstract from these important determinants of financial structure to focus on asymmetric information in output and financial markets to show that a firm's financial policy may be used strategically in oligopolies. The three essays may be united under the common theme of asymmetric information and strategic financial decisions. In the first essay, the choice of a lender in a debt contract becomes a determinant of the extent of competition in downstream industries. We show that in the presence of imperfect output markets and asymmetric information in financial markets, members of an industry may achieve a partial collusion in the output market by borrowing from the same bank. In an oligopoly, debt is pro-competitive as it gives incentives to the borrowing firm to undertake an aggressive output strategy. This aggressiveness is translated into an increased output. As both firms borrow, the industry becomes more competitive. The industry also becomes riskier and firms' debt value is decreased. A common lender can better control these incentive effects and hence, limit the extent of competition in the output market. This model finds a natural interpretation in an international trade context. In this framework, the result shows that freeing financial markets from trade barriers may decrease the competitiveness of international oligopolies by allowing firms to borrow from the same lender. In the second essay, we develop a theoretical link between firms' financial structure and their output market structure. In the presence of asymmetric information about the incumbent's cost level, an incumbent's financial structure may constitute a signal of its efficiency and prevent potential entrants from coming into the market. A market, threatened by entry, is occupied by one of two possible types of incumbent. The firm's type is completely characterized by its cost level. Only the own firm knows with certainty its true type while the entrant and financiers are uncertain of it. Entry is profitable for the entrant if and only if the market is occupied by the high cost type incumbent. The low cost firm chooses a financial structure that credibly distinguishes itself from the high cost incumbent. From the observation of the incumbent's financial policy, the entrant can correctly infer the incumbent's type. If it observes a financial structure consistent with the low cost incumbent's financial strategy, it stays out of the market. Otherwise, it enters. In equilibrium, financial structure allows credible revelation of all private information and entry occurs in the same circumstances as with perfect information. In the third essay, we give a formal representation of Telser (1966)'s 'deep pocket' argument. We propose that entrants are financially vulnerable because they must signal their value to financiers before entering the market. We assume that there are two possible types of entrant threatening to enter a monopoly market. The entrant's type is parametrized by its cost level. This information is private to each entrant as other players are uncertain of the entrant's true type. Entry is profitable only for the low cost entrant. But if the high cost type can misrepresent as a low cost firm, there exist financial structures which yield positive equity value. The low cost firm must avoid these structures to credibly reveal its type to financiers, secure sufficient funds and finance its entry. In equilibrium, the low cost entrant must issue debt to signal its quality to investors. It enters the market heavily leveraged. This provides incentives for the incumbent to engage in a price war to financially exhaust the entrant and cause its bankruptcy. The price war may be interpreted as the incumbent's predatory response to the entrant's leveraged entry. We argue that a diversified pool of undistinguishable entrants is sufficient to justify the 'deep pocket' argument put forward by Telser (1966). We base our explanation on the presence of asymmetric information in financial and output markets. / Arts, Faculty of / Vancouver School of Economics / Graduate

Cette thèse est composée de quatre essais relatifs à l'impact des choix organisationnels sur la performance dans les réseaux de franchise. Conçue comme une contribution à l'économie managériale, la thèse est fondée sur les théories de l'organisation industrielle, et met en oeuvre des techniques d'économétrie appliquée pour aborder des problématiques ayant des implications managériales.La première partie de la thèse porte sur les structures organisationnelles des réseaux de franchise, et sur leur impact en termes de perfomance. Plus précisément, le Chapitre 2 étudie l'impact d'une série de choix organisationnels de l'entreprise amont (le franchiseur). Le Chapitre 3 s'intéresse àJ'influence de l'introduction de franchisées multi·unités dans le réseau.La deuxième partie de la thèse porte sur les choix contractuels, plus précisément sur les liens entre le taux de redevance et la perfomance des réseaux de franchise. Ainsi, le Chapitre 4 étudie l'influence des problèmes d'incitation sur la définition du taux de redevance, et les implications sur la performance financière du réseau. Alors que les travaux antérieurs dans la littérature empirique ont révélé l'inadaptation de la théorie du signal pour comprendre les choix contractuels des réseaux de franchise dans les pays développés, le Chapitre 5 porte l'analyse sur un pays émergent, le Brésil, et montre que la déternination du taux de redevance est influencée par une motivation de signal liée à la perfomance future du réseau.L'introduction générale, Chapitre 1, met en évidence l'intérêt de travailler sur les réseaux de franchise et présente les objectifs et les orientations de la thèse. Une conclusion générale est proposée en Chapitre 6. / This dissertation is composed of four essays dealing with the impact of organizational choices on franchised network performance.The dissertation, conceived as a contribution to managerial economics, is based on the theories of industrial organization and implements applied econometric tools to address issues with managerial implications.The first part of the dissertation focuses on the governance structures and their impact on network performance. Chapter 2 studies the influence of the upstream organizational choices on network performance and Chapter 3 deals with the impact of multi-unit franchising on network perfonnance.The second part of the dissertation addresses the relationship between the royalty rate and the franchised network perfonnance. Chapter 4 studies the influence on the royalty rate of incentive motivations and risk issues at the downstream leve!, in addition to the impact of the royalty rate on network perfonnance. Chapter 5 deals with the effect of signaling motivations on the royalty rate regarding new Brazilian franchisors with a high value business concept.As a general introduction, Chapter 1 discusses the interest in studying franchising and outlines the focus of the dissertation.The final chapter, Chapter 6, concludes the dissertation and identifies future research directions.

This dissertation examines the role of organized labour in governing relations in post- Fordist networked industrial districts within the context of three such sector-districts concentrated in the south-west corner of the Canadian province of British Columbia. It discusses the impact of this role on relational structures and behavioural patterns within these industries and on sector-district performance in the marketplace. It thereby builds upon the scholarly research which followed Piore and Sabel's (1984) popularization of the so-called neo- Marshallian Industrial Districts (MIDs) of the ‘Third Italy'. The study begins with a historical review of labour's influence on the evolution of production organization and institutional governance from the initial emergence of production for the market up to the current era. This review both demonstrates the significant influence of labour on the evolution of market oriented production regimes and provides a broader historical perspective for the analysis of the three cases. These case- studies use primary documentation and interview transcripts to expose the historical source and contemporary practice of labour's normative place in production organization and institutional governance in contemporary 'network systems of industrial governance' (Hollingsworth, Schmitter and Streeck 1994). Labour's roles in these three sector-districts are compared with each other and with an idealized network construct, both to further illuminate and explain the variable outcome and to illustrate possible avenues for institutional reform. The insight acquired into labour's role in the network model will contribute not just to a better understanding of the future of industrial relations in this emergent system. It will also contribute to the broader, related study of the nature of sociopolitical organization and institutional governance in the encompassing community. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

The aim of this study is to discover the board effectiveness through an examination of insider board practices in Chinese State-Owned-Enterprises (SOEs). It is based on twenty one in depth interviews with company executive and non-executive directors and supervisors in three publicly listed companies. It involves the investigation of the variables of board structure, function, processes and effectiveness. Interpretive inquiry is conducted to ascertain whether board directors and supervisors understand the meaning of corporate governance in achieving board effectiveness and to what extent they comprehend their role in implementing the codes and principles of corporate governance in day-to-day business activities. The study assesses qualitative data gathered from the interviews using content analysis and presents a model with propositions for its testing in later research. The results show that the notion of corporate governance has been widely accepted by Chinese boards. Universal principles of corporate governance are applicable in Chinese SOEs but social context prevents companies from implementing effective governance systems. Relative to the assumptions of agency theory, institutional theory and resource dependency theory, the practical challenges associate with the board processes and dynamics are not well recognised both theoretically and practically. Although the boards enact formal structures required for corporate governance, the board members' real behaviour is often far from satisfactory in order to promote shareholder accountability. These findings suggest that it is essential to understand what constitutes a good corporate governance system from the perceptions of board practitioners. The results therefore contribute to theory by highlighting the significance of primary qualitative research upon key governance variables. Extant research focuses too narrowly upon formality and by-passes process related activities, emphasising that there is a disparity between the perceived and real effectiveness of boards. The study addresses the gap between research and practice by providing an opportunity to investigate invisible board behaviours and contributes academic research to the practices of corporate governance reform. Practically, the findings provide a diagnostic framework which would benefit all Chinese companies in making further improvements to corporate governance.

L’estimation structurelle des modèles de demande sur des marchés de produits différenciés joue un rôle important en économie. Elle permet de mieux comprendre les choix des consommateurs et, entre autres, de mesurer les effets d’une fusion d’entreprise, de l’introduction d’un nouveau produit sur le marché ou d’une nouvelle régulation. L’approche traditionnelle consiste à spécifier un modèle d’utilité, typiquement un modèle d’utilité aléatoire additif, à en calculer ses demandes et à inverser ces dernières pour obtenir des équations de demande inverse qui serviront de base pour l’estimation. Toutefois, en général, ces demandes inverses n’ont pas de forme analytique. L'estimation exige donc une inversion numérique et l’emploi de procédures d’estimation non-linéaire, qui peuvent être difficiles à mettre en oeuvre et chronophages.Cette thèse adopte une approche différente, en développant de nouveaux modèles de demande inverse qui sont cohérents avec un modèle d’utilité de consommateurs hétérogènes. Cette approche permet de capter de façon plus flexible les substitutions entre les produits, grâce à de simples régressions linéaires basées sur des données incluant les parts de marché, les prix et les caractéristiques des produits. Le premier chapitre de cette thèse développe le modèle inverse product differentiation logit (IPDL), qui généralise les modèles logit emboîtés, permettant ainsi de capter de façon flexible les substitutions entre les produits, y compris de la complémentarité. Il montre que le modèle IPDL appartient à une classe de modèles de demande inverse, nommée generalized inverse logit (GIL), laquelle inclut une grande majorité de modèles d’utilité aléatoire additifs qui ont été utilisés à des fins d'estimation de la demande. Le second chapitre développe le modèle flexible inverse logit (FIL), un modèle GIL qui utilise une structure de nids flexible avec un nid pour chaque pair de produits. Il montre que le modèle FIL, projeté dans l’espace des caractéristiques des produits, permet d’obtenir des élasticités-prix qui dépendent directement des caractéristiques des produits et, en utilisant des simulations de Monte-Carlo, qu’il est capable de reproduire celles du "flexible" modèle logit à coefficients aléatoires. Le troisième chapitre étudie la micro-fondation du modèle GIL. Il montre que les restrictions que le modèle GIL impose sur la fonction de demande inverse sont des conditions nécessaires et suffisantes de cohérence avec un modèle de consommateurs hétérogènes maximisant leur fonction d’utilité, connu sous le nom de perturbed utility model (PUM). Il montre également que tout modèle GIL génère une fonction de demande qui satisfait une légère variante des conditions de Daly-Zachary, laquelle permet de combiner substituabilité et complémentarité en demande. / Estimation of structural demand models in differentiated product markets plays an important role in economics. It allows to better understand consumers’ choices and, amongst other, to assess the effects of mergers, new products, and changes in regulation. The standard approach consists in specifying a utility model, typically an additive random utility model, computing its demands, and inverting them to obtain inverse demand equations, which will serve as a basis for estimation. However, since these inverse demands have generally no closed form, estimation requires numerical inversion and non-linear optimization, which can be painful and time-consuming. This dissertation adopts a different approach, developing novel inverse demand models, which are consistent with a utility model of heterogeneous consumers. This approach allows to accommodate rich substitution patterns thanks to simple linear regressions with data on market shares, prices and product characteristics. The first chapter of this dissertation develops the inverse product differentiation logit (IPDL) model, which generalizes the nested logit models to allow for richer substitution patterns, including complementarity. It also shows that the IPDL model belongs to the class of generalized inverse logit (GIL) models, which includes a vast majority of additive random utility models that have been used for demand estimation purposes. The second chapter develops the flexible inverse logit (FIL) model, a GIL model that uses a flexible nesting structure with a nest for each pair of products. It shows that the FIL model, projected into product characteristics space, makes the price elasticities depending on product characteristics directly and, using Monte Carlo simulations, that it is able to mimic those from the "flexible" random coefficient logit model. The third chapter studies the micro-foundation of the GIL model. It shows that the restrictions that the GIL model imposes on the inverse demand function are necessary and sufficient for consistency with a model of heterogeneous and utility-maximizing consumers, called perturbed utility model. It also shows that any GIL model yields a demand function that satisfies a slight variant of the Daly-Zachary conditions, which allows to combine substitutability and complementarity in demand.

This thesis aims to analyze the rules of competition of the commercial launch industry between the years 2010-2020 to better understand the market and gain strategic insights for market share captivation or profitability. The industry is analyzed quantitively within the theoretical framework of Porter's five competitive forces. By the means of a Pooled OLS model, we conduct a regression analysis with five industry proxies that closely relate to Porter’s five forces to explain competition in the industry. The results provided us with enough evidence that quantitively applying Porter’s five forces with industry specific proxies leads us to a better understanding of competition in the commercial launch industry. Furthermore, the analysis reveals that the strongest competitive force is the threat of buyers. While the threat of competitive rivalry, power of suppliers and new entrants are relatively weak but highly significant, the threat of substitutes is of very low significance to affect market competition. The result of the analysis is then used as a tool to provide strategic insights for industry actors for optimal positioning in the market. Finally, we present some suggestions for future research on the subject, as well as other industry analysis using the theoretical framework.

Millions of people, young and old, participate in sporting events in the roles of athlete or spectator or both. Sportsmanship affects the experience of both groups of participants. There is an absence of evidence showing that software that is designed using a set of research-based rules, can make a lasting, or even short-term difference in (a) the acquisition of sportsmanship knowledge and attitudes, and (b) the way children respond when placed in sporting situations, either as athletes or as spectators. The purpose of this study was twofold. First, determine whether schoolchildren, grades three through five, who use STAR Sportsmanship, a computer-based software program that was designed using a set of research-based rules and is rich with visual/ auditory examples and nonexamples, will (a) acquire more sportsmanship knowledge and attitudes, and (b) exhibit more sportsmanlike behaviors than those who do not use the software. Second, determine how those two outcomes would be impacted if all visual/ auditory examples (modeling based) were removed and replaced with auditory-only examples (lecture based). Through the use of a pre-post questionnaire of attitudes, and then with observations of behavior while youngsters were engaged in athletic events, changes in sportsmanship knowledge and attitudes were measured. This study compared questionnaire response levels and observation data of participants who either received no treatment or were assigned to use either a modeling-based or a lecture-based version of software that was developed to teach sportsmanship attitudes and behaviors to children. In regards to sportsmanship attitude and understanding, there was no measurable difference when comparing the pooled treatment group scores with the control group. The modeling treatment appeared to have a small effect when compared to both the lecture group and the control group. Furthermore, the findings showed some differences in measured attitudes and understanding between the grades, with the highest levels of sportsmanship understanding in those at the fourth grade. In regards to behavior, placement in either treatment group of the control group did not make a statistically significant impact. Grade placement, however, did however appear to make a significant impact.

Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia, the former Crownlands of Austria-Hungary which now make up the western half of Czechoslovakia, had for centuries a population mixture of 40% German, 60% Czech. The national reawakening of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries pitted the majority Czechs against their German minority master. This, coupled with the social upheavals caused by the industrial revolution, brought Czechs and Germans in Bohemia to center stage in the nationality conflict in the multinational Empire.

The subject of this thesis was chosen from both a professional and an academic interest in the economic development of Oregon. Prompted by proposals made to the Oregon Legislature to initiate various forms of industrial subsidy programs to disperse economic growth and population away from congested areas, this research effort seeks to provide an evaluative analysis of the effectiveness of subsidy techniques in influencing industrial location and stimulating a sustained growth process in less developed areas. Research was undertaken in two primary subjects: 1) theory of regional economic development and the effects of subsidies on the growth process; and 2) empirical evidence of the effectiveness of industrial subsidy programs on regional development in other areas. Information was obtained from the following resources: The author’s library of reference literature on economic development and the bibliographies contained therein; Professional organizations, particularly the library of the American Industrial Development Council, as well as requests for literature from various members of those organizations; University library resources, including: Bureaus of Business Research, Bibliography, 1968-1970; Public Affairs Information Service, 1965-Jan. 3, 1973; Business Periodicals Index, 1965-1972; Journal of Economic Articles, 1967-Dec., 1972; Index to Economic Literature, 1966-1970; U.S. Library of Congress, National Union Catalog, 1960-1972; Council of Planning Librarians, Bibliographies; Colorado University, Public Catalog of Norlin Library holdings; Colorado Technical Reference Center. Using information obtained from these and other sources, a method was obtained for defining and measuring the economic and social welfare objectives of a regional development program in Oregon. Geographical patterns of economic health indicators were mapped for the state This is followed by an analysis of various types of subsidies and their effects on resource allocation and gross output. It was found that wage subsidies offer optimum benefits for labor-surplus areas with less distortion of capital efficiency than do capital or price subsidies. Justification for subsidies was found to be greatest using social benefits as criteria rather than maximization of economic output. The influence of industrial subsidies on location decisions is then examined. Following an analysis of effects of subsidies on the cost structure and profit potential for the firm, financial and tax incentives are separately reviewed in case histories of subsidy programs. It was found that capital investment subsidies have had considerably more location influence than tax subsidies. In any case, however, subsidies were determined to be marginal, rather than decisive, locational factors with more basic economic criteria, such as labor availability and market access, being more influential. Finally, cost/benefit considerations for subsidy programs in Oregon are reviewed. External effects of industrialization on rural economies are considered, and the growth center concept for maximization of economic gain is examined. Fiscal costs for state and local governments are explored for different types of subsidy programs. The conclusion is reached that programs can be devised which minimize fiscal costs while offering maximum potential economic and social benefits.