This study examines the readiness of suburban towns in Austin for the potential development of affordable and low-income housing through their comprehensive plans and land use policies. The study consists of four sections: an overview of the greater Austin MSA and the developing poverty in the suburban areas, a literature review of the effects of local land use policies on affordable housing production and development, the establishment of a “best practices” metric for local land use policies amenable to affordable housing production, and application of the metric to four localities in the Austin MSA, including Elgin, Dripping Springs, Kyle, and Georgetown. The findings reveal primarily low scores overall for the four localities, and expose the challenges suburban jurisdictions in a high-growth MSA in Texas face when addressing the needs of increasing low-income residents, and display best practices that localities with successful methods use to address those needs. / text

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This thesis aims at contributing to the literature on industrial policy by investigating patterns of 'association' between trade and industrial policies, the country’s national pharmaceutical policy (including pricing), the pre-January 2005 intellectual property rights regime, productivity and productivity growth in the Egyptian generics pharmaceutical sector. This thesis presented evidence that positive total factor productivity (TFP) growth can be observed under the auspices of a protectionist regime, however, there is a need to revisit pharmaceutical regulatory protectionism, as it impacts negatively on export growth and on fair pharmaceutical prices. Under the auspices of what can be categorised as a protectionist regulatory regime, this thesis examined trends in TFP growth in 13 of Egypt's pharmaceutical generics firms, which account for 50 percent of the generics market by value. Empirical results indicated that the best-practice firm in terms of TFP change belonged to the private sector, while the laggard firm belonged to the state-owned public business sector. Empirical results indicated that mean TFP change for the sample firms throughout the study period 1993-2005 (1.01) exceeded the mean TFP change for all Egyptian industries (0.75), and that there was evident disassociation or weak correlation -at best- between productivity growth and the degree of export orientation. In light of both the absence of significant generics import competition in Egypt, it has been found that prices of generics were atypical in terms of exceeding standard worldwide generic-to-originator price ratios. Generic diffusion did not significantly bring down average prices, while an evident wedge was observed between the market shares of the most sold generics versus the least-priced generics to the advantage of the former. As a result of enforcing pharmaceutical product patent protection as of January 2005, the price-related impact of the TRIPS Agreement in the domain of Egypt’s top 42 therapeutic classes by market value (50 percent of the market), has been put in the range of LE 479 million.

This study analyses renewable energy policy in hydrocarbons-wealthy Arab states. Integrating elements of energy policy analysis, Middle Eastern studies and sociotechnical governance theory, the thesis contributes to the understanding of renewable energy policy in this region as well as to the question of transferability of governance concepts. The thesis is structured in three parts. Part A discusses relevant research literature and presents the multi-level-perspective which structures the policy analysis. Additionally, the policy design model of transition management that closely interacts with the multilevel-perspective is presented. Then, the material content of renewable energy policies in hydrocarbons-wealthy Arab states is discussed and the research questions developed. A methodological discussion concludes Part A. Part B applies the analytical categories developed to two case studies, Algeria and the United Arab Emirates. The two countries represent the main types of Arab oil and gas wealthy states (large territorial and small city states) and two relevant regions (North Africa and the Gulf States). In addition to domestic renewable energy policy, the thesis also discusses the Desertec project, as well as Abu Dhabi’s Masdar Initiative as case studies within the larger country case studies. In the last part of this study, a cross-case analysis highlights common regional features and particularities in terms of renewable energy policy in the target region and formulates policy recommendations deriving from its critical use of the transition management approach. Lastly, it addresses theory-related outcomes of the case studies with regards to the transfer of Western policy design models to hydrocarbons-rich Arab states.

This dissertation consists of four chapters investigating the role of buyers in regulating suppliers' compliance with labor standards in the Cambodian garment sector. The first chapter evaluates an innovative monitoring scheme of the International Labour Organization (ILO) in the Cambodian garment sector, Better Factories Cambodia (BFC). The findings suggest that monitoring standards and procedures are rigorous and positive impacts are felt in monitored factories. Nonetheless, BFC runs in parallel to state institutions and enforcement depends on buyers, throwing its sustainability into question. The second chapter examines the effects of 'reputation-conscious buyers' on labor standard compliance in supplier facilities. Using unique factory-level panel data, this chapter shows that factories producing for reputation-conscious buyers are associated with higher compliance levels than other factories, controlling for factory characteristics. Field interviews also demonstrate that reputation-conscious buyers regulate supplier compliance both 'reactively' and 'proactively.' The third chapter explores the determinants of labor standard compliance across different issue categories (i.e. contract, wage, hours, leave, welfare, occupational safety and health, fundamental rights). Suppliers of reputation-conscious buyers are consistently associated with better compliance levels across many different issue categories including fundamental rights. The result lends support to the behavioral theory rather than the deterrence theory of regulatory compliance and challenges claims that buyer-driven regulation produces effects that are confined only to visible and easyto-fix issues. The fourth chapter exploits original survey data and examines different channels through which buyers influence their supplier compliance. The findings suggest that the main channel linking buyers and supplier compliance-performance is the nature of their relationships: market-based relationships mediated through agents are systematically associated with poorer compliance performance than established relationships. The result suggests the need to develop longer-term buyer-supplier relationships marked by open dialogue, trust, and commitment, which in turn help to foster an environment supportive of continuous improvement in working conditions.

This thesis aims to document several aspects pertaining to the dynamics of human capital, both from a theoretical and an empirical viewpoint. Chapter 2 studies how informational flows arising from social connections can affect careers and promotions. It aims to achieve identification of this causal pathway by focusing on the careers of bishops in the Catholic church. The range of the data, both in time and in space, makes it possible to infer some types of social connections between bishops (based on geography and careers), which in turn allows for the identification of their effect on careers. I find that being connected to the relevant bishops has a positive and significant effect on the likelihood of promotion to a diocese. Chapter 3 investigates the transmission of human capital from one generation to the next. While the correlation of parents’ educational achievement with that of their children is strong and well documented, there is a scarcity of consensual evidence that this relationship has a causal nature. We use a French reform that increased the duration of compulsory schooling by two years as a natural experiment, providing exogenous variation in parental years of schooling, and study its effect on the children of the affected individuals. We find evidence of a strong effect of paternal education on the educational achievement of children. Research on employer learning has concentrated on contexts where there is uncertainty only on either the general or the match-specific human capital of the worker. Chapter 4 develops a model where general and specific human capital coexist, and the uncertainty is on their respective shares in total productivity. The model generates predictions on a number of dimensions, e.g. declining worker mobility with experience and increase in wage variance over the lifetime.

Mira Wilkins argues that the free-standing company was an important form of foreign investment in the pre-1914 period, although its implications for economic development in home and host countries remain unclear. The free-standing company, here defined as a company that invested abroad without any domestic operations, was held to be at an immediate disadvantage since it lacked competitive advantage and core competencies, and had to rely on intermediaries. Scotland was home to at least 400 free-standing companies between 1862 and 1900. A core debate around these firms has been the extent to which they were entrepreneurial firms or merely devices for speculation. This thesis examines five of these companies to analyse the role of their Scottish Head Offices within the company. Two of these five companies operated in Australasia and three operated in the USA. The thesis finds that the two firms operating in Australasia were more effective in establishing control over their operations there by devising clear command structures. They were more adept than the U.S.-based firms at using their head office presence to establish marketing links in the United Kingdom, and also better at internalising information and innovating to create new combinations. The Australasian companies further had the advantage that the UK formed their main marketplace, while domestic consumption was the main focus for the companies operating in the US. The thesis concludes that the role of the principal based in the home country was important for free-standing companies in establishing competitive advantage in their operations in the host country. The Home Office is therefore key in overcoming the lack of initial competitive advantage that Wilkins claimed disadvantaged them. This can be attained either by a relationship of direct hierarchical control or by close monitoring.

This is a study of the workings of a Swedish welfare scheme during a two year period from 1979 to 1980. Its aim is to examine the effects of the scheme on the clients involved, to analyse the relationship between official and client, and to demonstrate the functioning of some components of the Swedish model at the front line. The study focuses upon the collapse of the shipbuilding industry in Gothenburg on the west coast of Sweden and the scheme designed to find jobs for around two thousand workers threatened by redundancy in the spring of 1979. The Capability Approach, as formulated by Amartya Sen, is employed to analyse whether various state actors, mobilised to avert mass unemployment during the shipbuilding collapse, were able to re-orientate career paths along mutually desired trajectories. The strength of the approach lies in its focus on the individual, thus enabling an analysis which departs from the traditional approach in Anglo-Saxon studies of Sweden that focus on peak level politics. The case study offers detailed information about the workings of the welfare scheme; it draws upon rich archival and interview data as well as a range of secondary sources previously untranslated. It demonstrates the importance of work within Sweden, how that importance affects client – official relationships thereby offering a critique of Esping Andersen's argument that Social Democratic states facilitate 'decommodification'.

Relationship quality is the cornerstone of relationship marketing. However, conceptualizations of relationship quality vary across studies indicating the absence of a general consensus. Consistent with the definition of Hennig-Thurau et al. (2002, p. 234), relationship quality most often refers to ―a metaconstruct composed of several key components reflecting the overall nature of relationships between companies and consumers‖. However, ―the only area of convergence is three major dimensions of RQ [relationship quality] (trust, commitment and satisfaction)‖ (Athanasopoulou, 2009, p. 603). This assumption is at odds with a growing body of research which calls to ―expand the constructs and determine which aspects or dimensions should be included to obtain a multifaceted view of relational exchanges‖ (Palmatier et al., 2006, p. 152). Moreover, there is a consensus that culture affects business relationships. Yet, to date, both the phenomena are under-researched. Owing to the fragmented insights into relationship quality and its links with organizational culture, calls for future research gather momentum each day. This thesis forwards a study of relationship quality across organizational cultures. Consequently, the objective of the current study is to conceptualize rival models by amalgamating extant literature stemming from diverse theories in order to empirically corroborate (1) the dimensions of relationship quality, (2) the structural relationships between them and (3) the effects of organizational culture on relationship quality. In doing so, the current study constitutes the first attempt to evaluate the direct and moderating effects of organizational culture on relationship quality in a holistic manner. Extensive synthesis of extant literature stemming from different theories reveals six dimensions of relationship quality: loyalty, reciprocity, co-operation, communication, trust and opportunism. Further synthesis of the literature identifies five dimensions or organizational culture relevant to relationship quality: individualism and collectivism, human orientation, power distance, assertiveness and uncertainty avoidance. Owing to the absence of a general consensus, two competing models of relationship quality are conceptualized. A web-based survey was employed to collect data within the logistics outsourcing industry in the United Kingdom. This process resulted in two hundred and sixty six usable responses. Subsequently, structural equation modelling was employed to test the hypotheses of interest. The findings demonstrate that the construct of relationship quality comprises five dimensions: action loyalty, reciprocity, co-operation, trust and opportunism. Moreover, four dimensions of organizational culture appear to have effects on relationship quality: individualism and collectivism, human orientation, power distance and assertiveness. The findings result in numerous theoretical contributions and practical implications.

It is widely appreciated that redundancy and the question of job security remain among the most central issues confronting contemporary industrial societies. In particular, redundancy is possibly the most important single issue that an individual worker is likely to face, and more especially manual workers, in the course of their working life. Therefore, the control over redundancy decisions is of considerable importance to individuals and their organisations, which seek to defend their position in industry. Though redundancy, and redundancy provision as part of manpower policies has been widely viewed as being a cornerstone of public policy, the orientation of redundancy research has largely focused upon its implications for the workings of the labour market. Even though public policy has defined worker resistance, arising out of fears of job insecurity, as being a central source for opposition to managerial change, redundancy research in the UK has shown little interest in the impact of redundancy upon workplace relations, and more particularly, workplace organisation. The object of this study is to attempt to draw attention to the impact which redundancy, (and recessions) have had upon the exercise of power in the workplace. The study is based upon the historical experiences of redundancy in the British motor industry. The approach has been to present redundancy as a 'key issue' in the determination of power in workplace organisation. The research is introduced by an account of the contemporary evidence of the affect of redundancy, job loss and unemployment, upon the status of the manual worker in modern society. It is maintained that this condition is underpinned by decisions over the exercise of power. In the first part of the study, the review of redundancy literature reveals a general failure to consider redundancy either in terms of workplace relations or as a question of power. The remainder of the research, therefore, undertakes an examination of redundancy as a central issue in power relations. The approach adopted has been to maintain that while power remains a central concept in workplace relations, an approach which seeks to analyse the concept of power needs to explore the interactions of the principle parties engaged in power struggles, though the selection of a key issue over which there exists a clear division of interest. It is in this respect that the study explores the ways in which the handling of redundancy has been of major importance in the strategies adopted by management, to the changing power of workplace organisation. It is concluded that the transformation of the redundancy question in the British motor industry is indicative of the changing allegiances towards workplace leaderships within the increasingly elaborate framework of industrial relations practices.