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The objective of this thesis is to develop a conceptual design of a computerized environment for detailed design of construction activities associated with projects characterized by significant repetition. High-rise building construction is used as the example of repetitive construction projects. The construction cycle design of a typical floor structure is studied to gain an understanding of the difficulty and complexity involved in the activity design process. Modeling techniques currently used in construction planning, modeling techniques developed in the field of operations research, and assembly line balancing techniques used in industrial engineering are reviewed to determine their applicability for detailed construction cycle design. Using the concept of decision support systems developed in the fields of management science and knowledge engineering for solving ill-structured and ill-defined problems, a conceptual design of a decision support system for construction cycle design is developed. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Civil Engineering, Department of / Graduate

This study develops a framework for pricing output traits derived from agriculture biotechnology and the effects on competing technologies post-introduction of the genetically modified (GM) variety. The price impact model determines processor or consumer adoption rates and changes in processor, farmer, and tech firm surplus as a result of the release of the new GM variety. Several implications result from this research. First, adoption of the GM variety may not be as high as expected due to the lower cost of using conventional varieties for processing or consumption inputs. Second, both processors who adopt the GM variety and those who continue to use conventional varieties will have an increase in surplus as a result of the introduction of the GM variety. Lower costs of conventional varieties will also result in new entrants into the market.

We consider the applicability of the Revelation Principle under the possibility of collusive behavior among players in some Bayesian framework. In doing this, since the coalition formation itself suffers information asymmetry problems, we assume that the coalition is formed if the colluding parties can successfully find some coalitional mechanism whose outcome is a set of messages in the original mechanism. Recently Cremer [1986] proposes a coalitional mechanism in the framework of the well known Vickrey-Clark-Groves mechanism. We assume that the agents successfully collude if they can find coalitional a mechanism such that (i) coalitional mechanism is incentive-compatible and (ii) the payoff of this mechanism is strictly Pareto-improving in terms of the agent’s expected utility. Our analysis is undertaken in a one principal/two agent framework. We first ünd that the Revelation Principle is still applicable in the pure adverse selection model. We then extend this result to a model with both adverse selection and moral hazard aspects. Finally, we consider a three-tier principal/supervisor/agent hierarchical organization, as in Tirole (1986). We explicitly present the coalitional mechanism as a side-contract between the supervisor and the agent. We apply the previous result of applicability of the Revelation Principle and characterize the coalition-proof mechanism. We find that the principal can design an optimal collusion free contract with some additional cost by specifying proper individual and coalitional incentive-compatibility conditions and individual rationality conditions. Moreover, we find that the results of Tirole (1986)’s paper hinge on the fact that he considers only “hard,” verifiable, information. / Ph. D.

Submitted by CARLA MARIA GOULART DE MORAES (carlagm) on 2015-05-07T20:03:40Z No. of bitstreams: 1 MarceloGostinski.pdf: 879729 bytes, checksum: c44b232c2f08b016fcb34b7f51913cf0 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-07T20:03:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 MarceloGostinski.pdf: 879729 bytes, checksum: c44b232c2f08b016fcb34b7f51913cf0 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011 / Nenhuma / O objetivo do presente estudo é avaliar a capacidade das empresas do setor de moldes de adaptar seus recursos produtivos às especificidades do ambiente concorrencial e tecnológico no qual estão inseridas. A linha teórica seguida baseia-se na teoria econômica neo-schumpeteriana, tendo como ponto central o conceito de capacidade dinâmica da firma. Para isso, se adotou como método três estudos de caso de empresas consideradas representativas no segmento de mercado em que atuam. Fora dada ênfase aos procedimentos de busca de informações que proporcionam os fundamentos à tomada de decisão das empresas no desenvolvimento de novos produtos. Existem rotinas de monitoramento da evolução do mercado nacional e internacional, de seus concorrentes e dos clientes no Brasil e no exterior. A qualidade das informações obtidas está vinculada às habilidades dos diretores dessas firmas, que em sua maioria possuem um perfil centralizador. As decisões são baseadas na análise das informações obtidas no mercado; a microempresa e a pequena empresa analisadas se restringem a um planejamento informal de curto prazo, e, a empresa de médio porte investigada, adota planejamentos de curto, médio e longo prazo, através da elaboração de cenários prováveis ou desejáveis pela firma, com revisões periódicas para ajustes. Quanto às capacidades dinâmicas da firma, as empresas analisadas nesse estudo apresentam capacidades de busca de acordo com o esperado para seus portes e desenvolvem rotinas que propiciam o desenvolvimento de um conhecimento interno que as diferencia dos seus pares. Também fica evidente a capacidade de adaptabilidade de cada firma, pois apesar de apresentarem características semelhantes ao iniciarem suas atividades, o modo e a capacidade de analisar o ambiente e de reorganizar os recursos tangíveis e intangíveis, fez com que, atualmente apresentem competências diferentes, que resultaram em posições diferentes dentro do ambiente competitivo em que se encontram. / The objective of the present study is to evaluate the capacity of firms from the sector of models to adapt their productive resources to the specificities of the competitive and technological environment that they are inserted. The theoretical line is based upon the neo-Schumpeterian economic theory, having as central point the concept of dynamic capacity of the firm. Then, it was adopted as method three case studies of firms considered representatives in the market that they act. It was emphasized the proceedings of search of information that proportionate the fundaments to the decision process on enterprises in a development of a new products. There are routines of monitoring of the international and national markets, of its competitors and the clients in Brazil and worldwide. The quality of obtained information is linked to the abilities of these firms? directors, which in its majority have a centralizing profile. The decisions are based in the analysis of market obtained information; the analysed microenterprise and small company are restricted to an informal planning of small, medium and long term, throughout the elaboration of probable or derisible sceneries by the firm, with periodical revisions to adjust. As for the dynamic capabilities of the firm, the analysed companies in this study present capacities of search according to the waited to their size and develop routines that propitiate the development of an intern knowledge that differentiate them to their pairs. Also it is evident the capacity of adaptability of each firm, because although presenting similar characteristics when initializing their activities, the way and capability of analyse the environment and reorganize the tangible and intangible resources, made to, nowadays they present different competences, that resulted in distinct positions inside the competitive environment that they are.

[Truncated abstract] The core objective of this thesis is summarised by its title: “Understanding the World Wool Market: Trade, Productivity and Grower Incomes”. Thus, we wish to aid understanding of the economic mechanisms by which the world wool market operates. In doing so, we analyse two issues trade and productivity and their effect on, inter alia, grower incomes. To achieve the objective, we develop a novel analytical framework, or model. The model combines two long and rich modelling traditions: the partial-equilibrium commodity-specific approach and the computable-general-equilibrium approach. The result is a model that represents the world wool market in detail, tracking the production of greasy wool through five off-farm production stages ending in the production of wool garments. Capturing the multistage nature of the wool production system is a key pillar in this part of the model . . . The estimated welfare gain for China is 0.1% of real income; this is a significant welfare gain. For three losing regions Italy, Germany and Japan the results are robust and we can be highly confident that these regions are the largest losers from the complete removal of 2005 wool tariffs. In both wool tariff liberalisation scenarios, regions whose exports are skewed towards wool textiles and garments gain the most as it is these wool products that have the highest initial tariff rates. The overall finding of this work is that a sophisticated analytical framework is necessary for analysing productivity and trade issues in the world wool market. Only a model of this kind can appropriately handle the degree of complexity of interactions between members (domestic and foreign) of the multistage wool production system. Further, including the nonwool economy in the analytical framework allows us to capture the indirect effects of changes in the world wool market and also the effects on the nonwool economy itself.

Please read the abstract in the 00front part of this document / Dissertation (MSc Agric (Agricultural Economics))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development / unrestricted

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