Local government policy often relies on taxation to address the central concern of ensuring municipal growth. This paper uses a measure of taxes compiled by the Rose Institute of State and Local Government called the Kosmont Cost of Doing Business rating to discuss the effects of tax policy on growth. The goal of this paper is to use the spatial equilibrium model to estimate the correlation between the cost of doing business and certain basic observable outcomes. These outcomes are reflected in wage, population, and price levels. The underlying spatial equilibrium model leads to “deep effects” equations, which are used to connect these observable correlations to more tangible measures of growth. Through the deep effects equations, we analyze the effect of the cost of doing business on the productivity, amenities, and economic success of California’s cities. We find that a higher cost of doing business does not lead to lower productivity and amenities, but rather improves amenities and maintains steady levels of productivity under a long-term equilibrium.

Within the past two decades U.S. companies have experienced increased competition from foreign companies. In an effort to combat this competition many U.S. companies focused on quality as a solution to the problem. Researchers agree this emphasis on quality systems has changed the way many managers conduct business. Yet, no studies have identified which components of world-class quality systems, if any, contribute most to changes in performance. The purpose of this study is to empirically investigate three research questions pertaining to world-class quality systems: (1) What are the components of world-class quality systems? (2) Does a relationship exist between world-class quality system components and improved organizational performance? (3) Which world-class quality system components contribute most to changes in performance? The theoretical foundation for investigating these relationships is developed from Galbraith's (1977) information processing model of organization design. An extensive literature review resulted in the identification of seven components common to world-class quality systems: management involvement, customer involvement, employee involvement, supplier involvement, product/service design, process management, and continuous improvement. The literature suggests implementation of these components leads to changes in performance in such areas as productivity, throughput time, and quality output. A cross-sectional field study was used to gather data to answer the research questions. In this study, each component of world-class quality systems is measured as an independent variable. Change in productivity, throughput time, and quality output are measured as dependent variables. Factor analyses, correlation analyses, and hierarchical regression analyses are used to test the relationships. The target population was ISO 9000 certified companies located in the United States. The results indicated that management's involvement and employees' involvement are positively correlated with change in performance. The results also show that a positive relationship exits between the use of world-class quality system components and change in performance.

Esta tese de doutorado trata de como processos inovativos podem ser viabilizados e estimulados a partir da externalização de capabilities antes realizadas internamente à empresa. Para atingir o objetivo proposto foi escolhido o setor farmacêutico, cujo processo inovativo é constante e permeia, em diferentes graus, todas as etapas da cadeia, além da organização da sua cadeia ser propícia à desverticalização. A unidade de análise utilizada é a capability, neste caso as atividades relacionadas a pesquisa e desenvolvimento e manufatura. A partir da consulta de uma base de dados estrangeira, foi selecionado um conjunto de artigos técnicos que incluiu o tema e o setor alvo da tese. A sistematização dos dados permitiu identificar o tipo de atividade externalizada, a situação em que isso ocorria, suas principais motivações e resultados, bem como os detalhes das empresas envolvidas. A análise da externalização de atividades de pesquisa mostra quatro formas de aceleração da inovação: (1) aquela alcançada a partir do acesso a tecnologias que não seriam acessíveis de outra maneira, acelerando a fase clínica do desenvolvimento; (2) a que agrega etapas permitindo acelerar a fase clínica do desenvolvimento; (3) a da etapa de formulação que possibilitou acelerar o estágio de desenvolvimento, e (4) a relacionada a estágios da química de descoberta permitindo acelerar a própria fase, além da conseguinte. A análise da externalização de atividades de manufatura mostra um movimento de inclusão de etapas a jusante da cadeia, no caso aquelas de desenvolvimento, constantes nos dados analisados beneficia a manufatura além do produto final, mas também em termos de inovação de processo. A aceleração da inovação ocorre principalmente por possibilitar ter o produto mais rápido para ser lançado ao mercado. Os dados são convergentes com o argumento central de que ao permitir acesso a capabilities fora das fronteiras da firma, o outsourcing é ferramenta que viabiliza a inovação. A conclusão é de que as decisões tomadas não seguem uma norma pré-determinada, uma prescrição. Não há mais o referencial seguro da integração vertical, nem de uma best practice. Cada empresa deve decidir, a partir de parâmetros que ela mesma pode determinar, a melhor forma de resolver os desafios competitivos que lhe são propostos de maneira irrecusável e incontornável. / Innovation has become a central element of the economic system. This thesis focuses on how outsourcing capabilities can foster innovation process. It does so by analyzing the pharmaceutical sector, an innovative industry which value chain can be easily disaggregated in several stages that embrace different industrial actors. The analysis unit is the capability, in this case the capabilities related to research and manufacturing activities. By means of a database searching, a system with a range of technical articles treating the central subject of the thesis was build up. The information has been classified in order to identify outsourced activities, in which situations outsourcing happens, as well as main reasons and outcomes of the outsourcing process. It also allowed knowing better what kind of companies were involved in the strategy. Outsourcing research pharmaceutical capabilities provides four main routes to nurture innovation: (1) by accessing new technologies, (2) by aggregating research phases, (3) by means of outsourced formulation activity and (4) outsourced drug discovery chemistry. In the case of manufacturing capabilities, outsourcing has incorporated upstream phases of the value chain, mainly the ones related to development activities. Eventually, innovation is boosted as products can reach the market in a faster way. The analysis demonstrates the core argument herein developed: by connecting distributed capabilities, outsourcing is a useful tool that accelerates innovation.

The current economic crisis has affected all aspects of life, which has resulted in political instability, personal financial troubles, and a growing number of business bankruptcies. While these are serious issues, simply developoing a government policy that injects an economy with money is not an appropriate means to achieve economic recovery and long-term economic development unless combined with an effective and efficient governing system. The present research studies whether the strong relationship between governance and growth exists during economic crises or only during non-crisis periods. The results of the current research show that the global economic crisis has had an influence on the relationship between governance and economic growth. In addition, this study found that different levels of development affect the relationship between governance and growth differently during times of crisis. Consequently, the results of the current research show the instability in the relationship between governance and economic growth during the economic crisis ; this unsteadiness is a sign of the need for long-term strategies to promote global and national good governance practices that are not adversely affected by crises. / by Bassam A. Albassam. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2012. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.

Submitted by JOSIANE SANTOS DE OLIVEIRA (josianeso) on 2018-05-21T14:10:44Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Daniela Bauermann_.pdf: 5292031 bytes, checksum: 381eb22a5329c379e266b3141b7478e9 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-05-21T14:10:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Daniela Bauermann_.pdf: 5292031 bytes, checksum: 381eb22a5329c379e266b3141b7478e9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-11-26 / Nenhuma / O gerenciamento eficiente da cadeia de suprimentos exige principalmente conhecimento sobre quem são os fornecedores chaves da empresa, do nível de integração com os mesmos e avaliação da relação da empresa com estes fornecedores. A complexidade do mercado é importante nesta avaliação por estar centrada na coordenação da cadeia produtiva, que varia de indústria para indústria. O poder aparece exercendo influência nas relações fornecedor/comprador e por isso a importância estratégica no entendimento do seu efeito nas relações da cadeia de suprimentos para a competitividade e bom desempenho das organizações. A presente pesquisa visa analisar a relação de poder e dependência em uma empresa brasileira e seus fornecedores e foi realizada em duas etapas. Na etapa quantitativa foram aplicados 68 questionários na empresa do estudo de caso e classificados os fornecedores de acordo com os níveis da matriz tridimensional: complexidade de gerenciamento, influência nos resultados e dependência de compras. A etapa qualitativa buscou a díade através de entrevistas semiestruturadas com 10 fornecedores. Os resultados mostraram que há influência do custo de troca de fornecedor e da qualidade na relação de poder e dependência entre a empresa estudada e seus fornecedores. Entende-se que há interdependência nesta relação e maior poder da empresa compradora uma vez que, nas duas indústrias analisadas, há poucos compradores e mais fornecedores, há maior dependência dos fornecedores, o comprador representa alta porcentagem das transações do fornecedor e o custo de troca de fornecedores é alto. / The efficient management of the supply chain requires primarily knowledge about who are the key-suppliers of the company, the level of integration with them and review company´s relationship with these key-suppliers. The market complexity is important in this evaluation as it´s the center of commodity chain management that can change from industry to industry. The power shows influence in the relationship supplier/buyer and therefore the strategic importance in understanding its effect on supply chain relationships for good performance and competitiveness of organizations. This research aims to analyze the relationship of power and dependence in a Brazilian company and its suppliers and was performed in two stages. In the quantitative stage 68 questionnaires were applied in the company and suppliers were classified according to the levels of the three-dimensional matrix: supplying complexity, influence in company results, and purchasing dependence. The qualitative phase pursued the dyad through semi structured interviews with 10 suppliers. The results show that there is an influence of the cost of replacing supplier and the quality of supplier on power and dependency relation between company and supplier. It is understood that there is a relationship of interdependence and higher power of the buyer company as, according to the results of this research, in the two industries analyzed there are few buyers and suppliers, there is greater reliance on suppliers, the buyer represents high percentage of transactions of the supplier and the cost of switching suppliers is high.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2016-09-13T14:20:57Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Rafael Donisete Bombonati.pdf: 2215985 bytes, checksum: f9da8c69e1031dd6f95f468e1aa07462 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-09-13T14:20:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Rafael Donisete Bombonati.pdf: 2215985 bytes, checksum: f9da8c69e1031dd6f95f468e1aa07462 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-04-19 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The analysis of the theory of business cycles in its global scope had great prominence in the economic science during the second half of the nineteenth century to the middle of the 1929 US crisis. The resumption of this research agenda would only years later, already in the 1970s with the publication of works that allied with the analysis of these fluctuations with the use of econometric tools support. Domestically, the literature devoted to analysis of the Brazilian cycles also have some division within the referred economic thought, with a predominance of authors who used these analyzes in the period before the 1980s, later became effective more related analyzes theories of the economic growth. Already the main elements highlighted in this literature as responsible for the fluctuations observed in the country pointed to the economic development plans, the impact of external shocks and as a result of the stabilization plans. In this sense and taking into account a crisis scenario already in 2015, the domestic industry was eventually raised to alternative to reversing the depressive process observed, even with since the 1980s, a process of disintegration from the debt crisis. Thus the purpose of this study focuses precisely to assess how the industry's behavior, specifically the industrial cycle, impacts the business cycle contraction considering a scenario of industrial activity, classified by many authors as a negative deindustrialization. Thus it structured the argument from an analysis of cycles in its general conceptions and according to some classic authors, later moving to the analysis of Brazilian cycles. Also presented the history of the domestic industry over time as well as its importance from the stylized facts according to the consulted theories. We also used econometric models for this importance could be measured. The results indicate that the industry is losing its ability to influence the national product over time, mainly from the 1980s, which does not mean, however, that it should not be encouraged, since there seems to be some consensus in the literature on its ability to promote growth and economic development through structural change and technological progress. The question that arises, therefore, is which sectors within the industry should be encouraged / A análise da teoria dos ciclos econômicos em seu âmbito global teve grande destaque dentro da ciência econômica durante a segunda metade do século XIX até meados da crise de 1929 nos EUA. A retomada dessa agenda de pesquisa só viria anos mais tarde, já na década de 1970, com a publicação de obras que aliavam a análise dessas flutuações com a utilização de instrumentos econométricos de apoio. No cenário interno, a literatura dedicada a análise dos ciclos brasileiros igualmente apresentam certa divisão dentro do pensamento econômico consultado, apresentando uma predominância de autores que se utilizavam dessas análises no período anterior a década de 1980, passando posteriormente a vigorar análises mais relacionadas as teorias do crescimento econômico. Já os principais elementos destacados nessa literatura como responsáveis pelas flutuações observadas no país apontavam para os planos de desenvolvimento econômico, pela influência dos choques externos e em decorrência dos planos de estabilização. Nesse sentido e levando em consideração um cenário de crise já em 2015, a indústria nacional acabou sendo alçada a alternativa para reversão do processo depressivo observado, mesmo apresentando desde a década de 1980, um processo de desestruturação a partir da crise da dívida. Sendo assim o propósito desse estudo se concentra justamente em avaliar o quanto o comportamento da indústria, mais especificamente o ciclo industrial, impacta o ciclo econômico considerando um cenário de contração da atividade industrial, classificada por muitos autores como sendo uma desindustrialização negativa. Sendo assim estruturou-se a argumentação a partir de uma análise dos ciclos em suas concepções gerais e segundo alguns autores clássicos, passando posteriormente para a análise dos ciclos brasileiros. Também se apresentou o histórico da indústria nacional ao longo do tempo, bem como a sua importância a partir dos fatos estilizados segundo as teorias consultadas. Utilizou-se também de modelos econométricos para que essa importância pudesse ser mensurada. Os resultados encontrados indicam que a indústria vem perdendo sua capacidade de influenciar o produto nacional ao longo do tempo, principalmente a partir da década de 1980, o que não significa dizer, por outro lado, que a mesma não deva ser incentivada, uma vez que parece existir certo consenso dentro da literatura sobre a sua capacidade de promover o crescimento e o desenvolvimento econômico, através da mudança estrutural e do progresso tecnológico. A questão que se coloca, portanto, é quais setores dentro da indústria deveriam ser estimulados

Ce projet s'intéresse à l'innovation dans le secteur des semences de grandes cultures, dans un contexte où il est souhaitable de diversifier la production agricole. Il est aujourd'hui bien reconnu que la diversification des cultures est un levier important pour réussir à désintensifier l'agriculture (i.e. limiter l'usage d'engrais et de pesticides) tout en maintenant un niveau de productivité suffisant. Le succès de cette stratégie dépend, entre autres, de l'effort de recherche réalisé sur chaque espèce. Or, l'agronomie moderne constate sur ce point que le progrès génétique sur les cultures de diversification (ex : pois protéagineux, lupin) est inférieur à celui observé sur les cultures majeures, ce qui constitue un frein important à la diversification.Cette thèse en économie a pour objectif de comprendre les déterminants des investissements en R&D du secteur des semences, et plus particulièrement l'arbitrage entre les investissements réalisés sur les différentes cultures. La littérature en économie industrielle considère quatre déterminants incitant les firmes à investir en R&D : la taille de marché, la concurrence, la capacité d'appropriation et les opportunités technologiques. Nous analysons ici comment ces quatre déterminants sont susceptibles de mener à la création de "marchés orphelins", avec une vue particulière sur le comportement des firmes multi-produits et des coopératives.Cette thèse s'articule autour de 4 chapitres : le chapitre 1 étudie les stratégies en gamme de produits des firmes à travers une analyse empirique du marché français sur les trois années 2001, 2006 et 2011, le chapitre 2 est une modélisation micro-économique du comportement d'une firme, celle-ci pouvant décider d'investir ou non sur deux produits différents, le chapitre 3 se veut une présentation de certains systèmes alternatifs au financement de la R&D, constatés dans différents pays et connues pour leur succès, enfin, le chapitre 4 compare les incitations à l'innovation dans les marchés orphelins lorsque l'offreur est soit une firme maximisant son profit soit une coopérative. / This project focuses on innovation in the seed industry, in a context where it is desirable to diversify agricultural production. It is now well recognized that crop diversification is an important leverage for successfully deintensifying agriculture (i.e. limiting the use of fertilizers and pesticides) while maintaining a sufficient level of productivity. The success of this strategy depends, among other things, on the research effort carried out on each species. However, modern agronomy notes on this point that genetic progress on diversification crops (e.g. protein peas, lupins) is lower than that observed on major crops, which constitutes a major brake on diversification.The aim of this thesis in economics is to understand the drivers of R&D investments in the seed sector, and more particularly the arbitrage between investments made on different crops. The literature in industrial organization considers four determinants that encourage firms to invest in R&D: market size, competition, ownership capacity and technological opportunities. We analyse here how these four determinants are likely to lead to the creation of "orphan markets", with a particular focus on the behaviour of multi-product firms and cooperatives.This thesis is structured around 4 chapters: Chapter 1 examines strategiesin product range of firms through an empirical analysis of the French marketover the three years 2001, 2006 and 2011. Chapter 2 is a modelization ofthe economic behaviour of a firm, which may decide to invest or not on two different products. Chapter 3 presents some of the alternative systems to R&D funding that have been found in different countries and are known to be successful. Finally, Chapter 4 compares incentives for innovation in orphan markets when the supplier is either a profit maximizing firm or a cooperative.

O setor brasileiro de celulose é um importante pilar da economia nacional. Só em 2010 a exportação de celulose trouxe para o País US$ 4,7 bilhões. Dada a sua importância, este setor já foi alvo de vários estudos de competitividade. No entanto, a mudança no cenário concorrencial global, marcada pela entrada de novos agentes, requer uma avaliação da posição competitiva do Brasil frente aos concorrentes emergentes. Neste contexto, este trabalho teve como objetivo identificar os novos players, descrever a dinâmica concorrencial nos principais mercados, propor ferramentas adequadas para avaliar os resultados dos países exportadores de celulose de fibra curta, e explicar as razões de liderança entre os países exportadores. A fim de mensurar os resultados dos países fornecedores, foi empregada uma função de subcusto translog restrita para obtenção da elasticidade de substituição entre as polpas de fibra curta dos principais países exportadores. Para essa análise foram considerados, separadamente, os mercados americano e chinês. Os resultados obtidos foram analisados levando-se em conta aspectos técnicos da polpas de fibra curta, com foco na morfologia das fibras, e também o histórico de formação dos setores de celulose no Brasil, na Indonésia (fornecedor emergente, principal fornecedor de celulose de fibra curta para a China) e no Canadá (fornecedor tradicional de celulose, principal concorrente do Brasil nos Estados Unidos). Foram também avaliadas as barreiras de mercado à polpa indonésia a partir do testemunho de funcionários e dirigentes de fábricas de papel na América do Norte, Europa e Ásia. As observações feitas sobre a organização setorial e tecnológica dos concorrentes foram comparadas aos modelos correntes de catch up tecnológico a fim de se identificar comportamentos que contribuam para a extensão da teoria nesta área. Os resultados do trabalho indicam que a competitividade brasileira no setor de celulose se apoia na produtividade florestal, resultado da acumulação de competências tecnológicas relacionadas ao eucalipto. Isso garante a competitividade brasileira frente aos concorrentes tradicionais. Frente à polpa indonésia, que vem acumulando competências tecnológicas relacionadas à acácia, a polpa brasileira é competitiva hoje. A manutenção da competitividade da polpa brasileira frente à indonésia no futuro dependerá da intensidade de investimentos em inovação feitos por ambos os países. / Pulp industry is a mainstay of Brazilian economy. In 2010, Brazilian pulp exports totaled US$ 4.7 billion. Given its importance, this industry has been the focus of several studies on competitiveness. However, the change in the competitive global scenario, marked by the entry of new players, requires an assessment of Brazil\'s competitive position towards emerging competitors. In this context, this work aimed to identify new players, to describe the dynamics of competition in key markets, to propose appropriate tools to assess the performance of hardwood pulp exporting countries, and explain the reasons for leadership among the exporting countries. In order to measure the supplier countries results, a restricted translog subcost function was applied to obtain the elasticity of substitution between hardwood pulp from the main exporters. This analysis was performed for both the U.S. and Chinese markets. Results were evaluated considering technical features of hardwood pulp, especially fiber morphology, and also a historic appraisal of pulp industry establishment in Brazil, Indonesia (emerging supplier, main hardwood pulp supplier to China) and in Canada (traditional pulp supplier, Brazil\'s main competitor in the U.S.). Market barriers to the entry of Indonesian pulp were also assessed based on the personal testimony of employees and executives of paper mills in North America, Europe and Asia. Observations on the competitors industry and technology setup were compared to current models of technological catch up in order to identify behaviors or patterns that contribute to the extension of the theory in this area. The results of this study indicate that the competitiveness of the Brazilian pulp industry is based on forest productivity, which result from the accumulation of technological capabilities related to eucalyptus. This ensures Brazilian competitiveness against traditional competitors. Compared to the Indonesian pulp industry, which has been accumulating technological capabilities related to acacia, the Brazilian pulp is currently competitive. Maintaining the competitiveness of Brazilian pulp against the Indonesian in the future will depend on the intensity of innovation investments made by both countries.

Numerous media analyses claim that supra-regional multi-resort season passes (mega passes) are negatively impacting skiing, snowboarding, and winter-sport communities. In particular, media claims that ski areas on these season passes are charging higher single-day lift ticket prices to nudge people to buy their season pass products. To test this claim, I use a hedonic pricing model to estimate the impact of season passes on adult single-day lift ticket prices. By applying OLS regressions to a dataset of 302 US ski areas for the winter of 2018-19, I find that the ski areas on the leading season passes (Ikon and Epic Pass) charge price premiums for their adult single-day lift tickets. However, the magnitude of the price premiums is much smaller after controlling for ski area characteristics and regional fixed effects.

Understanding how health care markets function is important not only because competition has a direct influence on the price and utilization of health care services, but also because the proper functioning, or lack thereof, of health care markets has a very real impact on patients who depend on health care markets and providers for their personal well-being. In this dissertation, I examine the role of government policies and regulation in health care markets, with a focus on the response of health care providers. In Chapter 1, I analyze the impact of Medicare payment rules on hospital ownership of physician practices. Since the mid-2000’s, there has been a rapid increase in hospital ownership of physician practices, however, there is little empirical research which addresses the causes of this recent wave of integration. Medicare’s “provider-based” billing policy allows hospital-owned physician practices to charge higher reimbursement rates for services provided compared to a freestanding, independent physician practice, without altering how or where services are provided. This “site-based” differential creates a premium for physicians to integrate with hospitals, and the size of this differential varies with the types of health care services provided. I find that Medicare payment rules have contributed to hospital ownership of physician practices and that the response varies across physician specialties. A 10 percent increase in the relative reimbursement rate paid to integrated physicians leads to a 1.9 percentage point increase in the probability of hospital ownership for Medical Care specialties, including cardiology, neurology, and dermatology, which explains about one-third of observed integration of these specialties from 2005 through 2015. Magnitudes for Surgical Care specialties are similar, but more sensitive across specifications. There is no significant response for Primary Care physicians. In combination with other empirical literature which finds that integration between physicians and hospitals typically results in higher prices with no impact on costs or quality of care, I cautiously interpret this responsiveness as evidence that Medicare’s provider-based billing policy overcompensates integrated physician practices and leads to an inefficiently high level of vertical integration between physician and hospitals. In Chapter 2, I analyze the effect of anti-fraud enforcement activity on Medicaid spending, with a particular focus on the False Claims Act. The False Claims Act (FCA) is a federal statute which protects the government from making undeserved payments to contractors and suppliers. Individual states have chosen to enact their own versions of the federal FCA, and these statutes have increasingly been used to target health care fraud. FCA statutes commonly include substantial monetary penalties such as “per-violation” monetary fines and tripled damages, as well as a “whistleblower” provision which allows private plaintiffs to initiate a lawsuit and collect a portion of recoveries as a reward. Using variation in statelevel FCA legislation, I find state FCAs reduce Medicaid prescription drug spending by 21 percent, while other spending categories - which are less lucrative for FCA lawsuits - are unresponsive. Within the prescription drug category, drugs prone to off-label use show larger declines in response to the whistleblower laws, consistent with FCA lawsuits being used to prosecute pharmaceutical manufacturers for off-label marketing and promotion. Spending and prescription volume for drugs prone to off-label use fall by up to 14 percent. This effect could be driven by pharmaceutical manufacturers’ changes in physician detailing for drugs prone to off-label use and/or physicians’ changes in prescribing behavior.