CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeiÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior / Ao longo dos anos, o turismo internacional vem crescendo rapidamente ao ponto de ser considerado a maior indÃstria do mundo, com contribuiÃÃes significativas na economia e no desenvolvimento de pequenos paÃses. Cabo Verde à um pequeno Estado insular, composto por dez ilhas, especializado na indÃstria do turismo, com forte Ãnfase na demanda turistica internacional. Considerando que o turismo internacional tem grande participaÃÃo no produto interno bruto e no setor de serviÃos de Cabo Verde, à essencial que o paÃs continue a atrair e reter turistas para apoiar o desenvolvimento da economia e do paÃs. Para isso, à necessÃrio saber o que influencia a demanda turÃstica internacional no paÃs. Destarte, o objetivo da pesquisa à analisar o potencial do mercado turÃstico internacional de Cabo Verde, com destaque para a capacidade de atraÃÃo da demanda internacional e a anÃlise da competitividade turÃstica das ilhas que compÃem o arquipÃlago. Trata-se de uma pesquisa analÃtica, com enfoque quantitativo, utilizando dados secundÃrios fornecidos pelo Instituto Nacional de EstatÃstica de Cabo Verde e pelo Banco Central de Cabo Verde. Os dados foram analisados no software estatÃstico Eviews7Â, por meio de um modelo economÃtrico autorregressivo. Calcularam-se ainda Ãndices de preferÃncia e de saturaÃÃo turÃstica das ilhas de Cabo Verde, assim como suas quotas de mercado. Os resultados mostraram que a demanda turÃstica internacional por Cabo Verde à influenciada positivamente pela oferta hoteleira, pelo fluxo turÃstico passado e pela taxa de cÃmbio. Os Ãndices de preferÃncia turÃstica indicam que as ilhas do Sal e da Boavista sÃo as que mais atraem turistas em Cabo Verde, mas tambÃm apresentam problemas de saturaÃÃo turÃstica, o que pode culminar em danos sociais e ambientais. Conclui-se que Cabo Verde reflete problemas de saturaÃÃo turÃstica, o que mostra a necessidade de planejamento integrado e detalhado no sentido de minimizar problemas sociais e ambientais, bem como direcionar investimentos para ilhas preteridas, inovando para tornÃ-las atrativas de modo que possam contribuir para o desenvolvimento e a formulaÃÃo de estratÃgias que promovam o turismo sustentÃvel no paÃs.

Российская Федерация является одним из ведущих мировых производителей стали. Металлургическое производство в России выросло на 2,6%, занимала четвертое место млн т пропустив вперед Китай, Японию, Индию, опередила США по сравнению с 2019 годом. Цель магистерской диссертации состоит в поиске направлений повышения конкурентоспособности промышленного на внешнем рынке, на примере ПАО «Трубная Металлургическая Компания». В частности была проведена оценка финансово-экономической деятельности и анализ международная конкурентоспособность. Анализ финансово-экономической деятельности ПАО «ТМК» позволил выявить в контексте повышения конкурентоспособности сильные и слабые стороны предприятия. К сильным сторонам можно отнести: соответствие показателей ликвидности нормативным значениям, т. е. предприятие в состоянии в срок рассчитываться по краткосрочным обязательствам; хорошая финансовая устойчивость; рентабельность продукции. К слабым сторонам можно отнести: значительную зависимость от кредиторов по причине недостатка собственного капитала; отрицательную динамику изменения собственного капитала, при том, что активы существенно увеличились. Выявлены основные факторы, оказывающие влияние на деятельность компании в сравнении с основными конкурентами Tenaris LLC и Evraz, далее выделены проблемы и очерчены контуры их решения в контексте повышения конкурентоспособности компании. Для дальнейшего развития компании и повышения ее конкурентоспособности на российском и зарубежном рынках необходимо решения таких ключевых проблем, как: необходимость повышения степени доступа к внешним рынкам и производственной гибкости предприятия. Одним из направлений повышения конкурентоспособности для ПАО «ТМК» и повышения доступности внешних рынков может стать объединение усилий с одной из компаний-конкурентов. Другим направлением повышающее конкурентоспособность, является наращивание коммуникационной активности на внешнем рынке за счет улучшения интернет-магазина TMK eTrade. / The Russian Federation is one of the world's leading steel producers. Metallurgical production in Russia grew by 2.6%, ranked fourth in million tons, leaving China, Japan, India ahead, ahead of the United States compared to 2019. The purpose of the master's thesis is to find ways to increase the competitiveness of industrial in the foreign market, as exemplified by PJSC "Pipe Metallurgical Company". In particular, an assessment of financial and economic activities and an analysis of international competitiveness were carried out. Analysis of the financial and economic activities of PJSC "TMK" made it possible to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the enterprise in the context of increasing competitiveness. The strengths include: compliance of liquidity indicators with standard values, ie, the company is able to settle on time for short-term liabilities; good financial stability; profitability of products. Weaknesses include: significant dependence on creditors due to lack of equity capital; negative dynamics of changes in equity capital, despite the fact that assets have increased significantly. The main factors influencing the company's activities in comparison with the main competitors Tenaris LLC and Evraz are identified, the problems are further highlighted and the contours of their solution in the context of increasing the company's competitiveness are outlined. For the further development of the company and increasing its competitiveness in the Russian and foreign markets, it is necessary to solve such key problems as: the need to increase the degree of access to foreign markets and the production flexibility of the enterprise. One of the ways to increase competitiveness for PJSC TMK and increase the accessibility of foreign markets may be joining efforts with one of the competing companies. Another area of increasing competitiveness is increasing communication activity in the foreign market by improving the TMK eTrade online store.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / This study analyses the effects of generic medicine competition on the market share growth and pricing of originator brand medicine in the South African private pharmaceutical market. The study is based on five years (2005 to 2011) of IMS Health market share data for 39 originator brand drugs that have been exposed to competition from generic substitutes from 2001. The results show that, for all the drug molecules included in the study pooled together, the price of an originator brand medicine relative to the weighted average price of its generics has a significant negative impact on the change of its market share. Results for the molecules pooled according to anatomical classes, as well as each molecule separately, show that in four out of the nine classes represented in the study and nine out of the 39 molecules the relative price of the originator brand medicine had a significant negative impact on its change in market share. The manufacturers and marketers of generic medicines would be well advised to offer their medicines at significantly discounted prices compared to the originator brands, as the results suggest that the market penetration of the generic product may depend heavily on the price the generics are offered at. Investigations into the prices of the originator brands in relation with the number of generic equivalents in the market show that the number of generics available in a specific market has a significant positive impact on the relative price of originators, thereby making originators relatively more expensive compared with their generic competitors, while at the same time the results show that the absolute price of the originator brand medicines declines as the number of generic equivalents in the market increases. This indicates that, from a policy perspective, reducing the barriers to entry for generic medicine once originator patents expire may have a significant role to play in reducing the cost of pharmaceutical drugs in the South African market.

Diese Dissertation setzt sich aus fünf Forschungspapieren zusammen. Jedes Kapitel enthält ein Papier. Das erste Kapitel untersucht den Zusammenhang zwischen der Größe des Kundenstamms einer Firma und ihrem Gewinn in einem Markt mit Wechselkosten. Entgegen unserer Intuition wird gezeigt, dass Firmen nicht immer von einer Vergrößerung ihres Kundenstamms profitieren, weil diese die Intensität des Wettbewerbs beeinflusst. Kapitel 2 führt eine ähnliche Untersuchung durch, aber für einen Markt, in dem die Konsumenten unvollständig über die Standorte der Anbieter informiert sind. Es zeigt sich auch hier, dass eine Firma nicht immer von einem großen Kundenstamm profitiert. Die zugrunde liegenden Mechanismen unterscheiden sich jedoch deutlich von denen in Kapitel 1. Kapitel 3 ist eine Erweiterung des Modells mit unvollständiger Konsumenteninformation hin zu einer vollständig dynamischen Version. Im Zentrum der Analyse stehen nun die dynamischen Eigenschaften des Modells. Unter den Annahmen über die graduelle Verbreitung von Information auf der Konsumentenseite entsteht Trägheit in den Marktanteilen der Firmen. Dynamik entsteht im Modell ausschließlich aufgrund der Verwendung von gemischten Preisstrategien. Kapitel 4 analysiert Wettbewerb in einem vertikal differenzierten Markt. Hier gibt es keine Trägheit auf der Nachfrageseite. Das Hauptergebnis der Analyse ist, dass Wohlfahrtsverluste, die im Duopol aus ineffizienter Qualitätswahl resultieren, in Märkten mit drei oder mehr Wettbewerbern fast vollständig verschwinden. Dieses überraschende Ergebnis resultiert aus einem Regimewechsel in der Art des Wettbewerbs, der beim Übergang vom Duopol zum Markt mit drei Wettbewerbern auftritt. Kapitel 5 ist eine Erweiterung von Kapitel 4. Während in Kapitel 4 ein quadratischer Zusammenhang zwischen Kosten bzw. Zahlungsbereitschaft und Qualität angenommen wurde, wird die Analyse nun für eine allgemeinere nicht-lineare Abhängigkeit durchgeführt. Es werden grundlegende Einsichten über das Funktionieren von vertikal differenzierten Märkten vermittelt. So zeigt sich, dass der allgemein postulierte Vorteil der Firma mit der höheren Produktqualität nicht allgemeingültig ist. Ob dieser besteht, hängt von der Art der strategischen Interaktion ab. / This dissertation consists of five independent research papers. Each chapter represents one paper. The first chapter analyzes the shape of the relation between the size of a firm’s customer base and profit in a market with consumer switching costs. Contrary to common wisdom, it is shown that a firm is not automatically better off with a larger customer base, as the size of its customer base affects the intensity of price competition. Chapter 2 performs a similar exercise, but for a market where consumers are not fully informed about the locations of the different suppliers. Once more, it is shown that firms do not always benefit from an increase in the size of their customer base. However, the underlying mechanisms are rather different than in the model with switching costs. Chapter 3 is an extension of the model introduced in chapter 2 to a fully dynamic game. The focus of chapter 3 is on the dynamics in a market with incomplete consumer information. Under the assumptions about the gradual diffusion of information among consumers, there is inertia in the market shares. Dynamics are generated solely by the firms’ usage of mixed pricing strategies. Chapter 4 analyzes competition in a vertically differentiated market. There is no inertia on the demand side. The main result of the analysis is, that welfare losses that stem from an inefficient choice of qualities in the duopoly case, disappear almost completely as soon as three or more competitors are in the market. This surprising result is related to a regime change in the nature of competition that occurs at the transition from duopoly to triopoly. Chapter 5 is an extension of chapter 4. Whereas the model introduced in chapter 4 was based on a quadratic relation between costs or willingness-to-pay and quality, the analysis is now extended to a more general non-linear dependency. The analysis provides fundamental insights into the functioning of vertically differentiated markets. Interestingly, the well-known high-quality advantage is not a robust feature of these markets. Whether it is obtained, depends on the nature of strategic interaction between the firms.

The primary goal of this paper is to critically examine five of the top nine US fast food chains to look at their history and to determine what factors have lead to their massive success. The companies that will be analyzed include: McDonald's, Taco Bell, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Domino's Pizza, and Subway. Similarities and differences of these companies are compared and contrasted throughout the paper and clearly demonstrate how each company has managed to capture and maintain major market share in their respective food categories. Areas that are examined range from product quality to to business models to consumer psychology. A review of these companies reveals that there are specific success factors for each, and one overarching factor for all. Specific factors include, but are not limited to marketing technique, organizational structure and overall business concept. The one factor that seems critical to all is entering the market with an innovative and unique concept.

This thesis comprises three papers examining the impact of competitive pricing or competition on participants in energy markets. The scope of each paper is narrow but focused, dealing with one particular aspect of competition in each market under study. It is hoped that results from these three studies could provide valuable policy lessons to public policy makers in their task to create or maintain competition in different energy markets, so as to improve efficiencies in these markets. The first and second papers examine the load shifting behavior of industrial customers in Ontario under real time pricing (RTP). Using Hourly Ontario Energy Price (HOEP) data from 2005 to 2008 and industry-level consumption data from all industrial customers directly connected to the transmission grid, the first paper adopts a Generalized Leontief specification to obtain elasticities of substitution estimates for various industry groups, while the second paper adopts a specification derived from standard consumer theory to obtain price elasticity estimates. The findings of both papers confirm that in some industries, industrial customers who are direct participants of the wholesale market tend to shift consumption from peak to off-peak periods in order to take advantage of lower off-peak prices. Furthermore, in the first paper, a demand model is estimated and there is evidence that the marginal effect of hourly load on hourly price during peak periods is larger than the marginal effect during off-peak periods. An important policy implication from the results of these papers is that while RTP is currently limited to industrial customers, it does have positive spillover effects on all consumers. The third paper uses a unique panel dataset of all retail gasoline stations across five Canadian cities from late-2006 to mid-2007 to examine the effect of local competition on market shares and sales of individual stations. The base empirical specification includes explanatory variables representing the number of same brand stations and the number of different brand stations within a 3km radius to identify brand affiliation effect. It is found that the number of local competitors is negatively correlated with market share and sales. More interestingly, a same brand competitor has a larger marginal impact on market share and sales than a competitor of a different brand. These findings suggest that additional local competition leads to cannibalization of market share among existing stations, rather than create new demand. Another implication is that relying only on the number of different brands operating within a geographic market could understate the competition intensity in the local market.

Private Banking är en banktjänst för förmögna individer och företag som syftar till att hjälpa dem med förvaltning av deras kapital men även andra tjänster såsom hjälp med deklarationer. Storbanker idag kämpar med att återfå kunders förtroende efter finanskrisen 2008 och fokusen på riskhantering har blivit viktigare. Kunder har blivit mer känsliga för risker och därmed försöker banker dra fördel av detta genom att skapa värde i riskhanteringsprocessen. I detta värdeskapande eftersträvar man en bra relation till kunden som därmed kan generera i ökade marknadsandelar.  Vår problemformulering i uppsatsen blir då följande: ”På vilket sätt kan den svenska storbanken Nordea öka sina marknadsandelar inom Private Banking med hjälp av riskhantering?” Syftet med vår uppsats blir därmed att få en djupare inblick i hur Nordeas Private Bankingtjänst arbetar med riskhantering och hur det påverkar deras marknadsandelar. För att kunna få denna förståelse har vi genomfört en kvalitativ studie i form av en fallstudie på Senior Private Banking Managern på Nordea. Valet av Nordea grundar sig på att de vann pris för bästa aktör i Norden samt att de är den största finanskoncernen i Norden. I uppsatsen har vi använt oss av en abduktiv ansats för att kunna få fram förståelse mellan vår teori och empiri. Slutsatsen i denna uppsats är att det är kommunikation av risker som är den viktigaste biten i riskhanteringen för att kunna öka marknadsandelar samt att kunna göra en korrekt risk- samt kundprofilering. Om detta görs på rätt sätt kan Nordea som storbank och koncern skapa förtroende samt värde för kunden som resulterar i kundnöjdhet. Agentteorin som bland annat regleras av fast lön resulterar dessutom i att rådgivaren tänker på kundens behov i första hand och gör att riskhanteringen fungerar. Vårt bidrag med denna studie är att vi har visat att Nordeas arbetssätt med riskhantering är värdeskapande för kunden och är en bidragande faktor till att deras ökande marknadsandelar. / Private Banking is a banking service for wealthy individuals and companies that aims to provide help with the management of their capital but also other services such as help with declarations. Today large banks are fighting to regain their customers’ trust after the financial crisis of 2008 and the focus on risk management has become increasingly important. Customers have become more sensitive to risks and consequently banks are trying to adapt to this and create value in the risk management process. In this value creation the aim is to have a good relationship to the customer, which in turn can generate into increasing market share. Our problem formulation therefore becomes the following in the thesis: ”In what way could the Swedish large bank Nordea increase their market share within Private Banking through risk management?”  The purpose with our thesis is to get a deeper insight in how Nordea is working with risk management and how it affects their market shares. To get this understanding we have done a qualitative study in terms of a case study on the Senior Private Banking Manager in Nordea. The choice of Nordea is based on the fact that they won prize for best provider of Private Banking services in the Nordic together with being the largest financial group in the Nordic. In the thesis we have used an abductive approach to get the understanding between our theory and empirics. The conclusion of this thesis is that communication of risks is one of the most important parts in the risk management to be able to increase market shares together with being able to do a correct risk and customer profiling. If this is done in the right way, Nordea as a large bank and financial group, could create trust and value for the customer that can result in customer satisfaction. The agency theory that among other things is regulated by fixed salary results in that the advisor thinks about the customer needs in first place and therefore results in an effective risk management work. Our contribution with this thesis is that we have shown that the way Nordea is working with the risk management is value creating for the customer and is contributing to an increase in their market shares.

Abstract Purpose This study is designed to determine whether managed care has had an influence on the number and distribution of procedures with demonstrated volume and outcome endogeneity in Florida healthcare markets; in addition, methods are developed to determine which measures of managed care activity best predict the impact of managed care on surgical procedure utiliation. Rationale A shift in surgical procedure volume on the basis of preferred provider arrangements has the potential to redistribute surgical procedures within hospital markets. The surgical procedures for which such a distribution could have the greatest impact on population health are those for which the volume of cases performed has a strong inverse influence on the outcomes observed. A shift in high risk surgical procedures to low volume hospitals could potentially reduce the number of cases performed at high volume centers and increase cases at low volume centers, adversely impacting quality in both. Methods A retrospective population based cohort design is used to capitalize on the variability among Florida metropolitan statistical areas between 1995 and 1999, a period which captured the full business life cycle of managed care plans in Florida. Multiple regression models are used to measure the impact of changes in managed care activity as measured by penetration, index of competition and consolidation on the change in the number and distribution of seven procedures for which volume is associated with patient outcome, controlling for socio-demographic and market factors known to influence surgical procedure utilization. Difference scores derived for each of the model variables were used to measure change from the baseline in 1995 to 1999. Post hoc analysis of the count data models was performed using the cases from all study years in a log linear generalized estimating equation to provide validation of the difference score approach. Key Findings Study procedure volume increased over the period, and remained a consistent proportion of the total inpatient surgical procedure volume. Procedure rate remained stable over the study period with substantial small area variation. Change in managed care concentration was consistently and negatively associated with procedure volume at both the MSA (&betaâ&beta = -19.67; p = 0.0489) and hospital level (&betaâ&beta = -4.088; p = 0.0027).Change in the total population and the number of specialty surgeons had a substantial, consistent and positive relationship to change in procedure volume at both the market and hospital level. The change in the index of competition was positively associated with change in hospital market share (&betaâ&beta = 0.1005; p = 0.05); whereas, neither change in managed care penetration nor change in managed care index of competition was predictive of change in procedure volume at the market level. The managed care variables were not correlated when difference scores were tested providing evidence that the managed care variables measure different constructs and behave differently. Implications As markets for managed care became more concentrated, the number of surgical procedures with volume and outcome endogeneity declined; the specific reasons for the observed decline require additional study. Competitive managed care markets have a favorable impact on hospital market share for these high risk, high margin procedures. Studies of managed care require consideration of the stage of managed care development in order to understand its influence and the use of difference scores as a method to measure change over time has substantial potential for the study of health care markets.

In Paper [I], we theoretically assess green public procurement (GPP) as an environmental policy instrument and its ability to lead to the achievement of environmental objectives. Central to our analysis is the extent to which polluting firms choose to adapt to the public sector's environmental requirements and to invest in greener technologies. Our main finding is that the potential of GPP to function as an objective-effective instrument of environmental policy is limited and can actually be counterproductive. From an environmental policy point of view, it is crucial that GPP aims for environmental standards beyond just the technology of the polluting firms and that it is designed with reference to defined environmental objectives. In Paper [II], we use data on Swedish public procurement auctions for internal regular cleaning service contracts to provide novel empirical evidence regarding GPP and its effect on the potential suppliers' decision to submit a bid and their probability of being qualified for supplier selection. We find only a weak effect on supplier behavior, and this suggests that GPP, as used in practice, does not live up to its political expectations. However, several environmental criteria appear to be associated with increased complexity, as indicated by the reduced probability of a bid being qualified in the post-qualification process. As such, GPP appears to have limited or no potential to function as an environmental policy instrument. In Paper [III], I examine how GPP is organized in Sweden and how the potential suppliers respond to varying buyer market shares using data on Swedish public procurement auctions for internal regular cleaning service contracts. The level of GPP stringency is found to vary systematically across authority types, buyer market share, and political coalition in the relevant council or in Parliament. The results also indicate quite a substantial dispersion in GPP stringency, suggesting a low degree of coordination among contracting authorities when implementing the policy. After controlling for GPP stringency and other covariates, increased buyer market share is associated with a significant increase in the probability of potential suppliers submitting a bid. The European Commission encourages public authorities to split procurement contracts into multiple contracts in order to increase the competiveness of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). In Paper [IV], I use data from Swedish public procurement auctions for internal regular cleaning service contracts to study the effect of contract size and number of contracts on SME participation and probability of winning. The results indicate that SME participation is negatively related to both contract size and the number of contracts in the procurement. A possible interpretation is that reduced contract size in order to stimulate SME participation is counteracted by reduced incentives for them to enter into procurements with multiple contracts. Medium-sized firms are also more successful when bidding for smaller contracts relative to large firms. Nevertheless, the results indicate that the award rate for SMEs is positively correlated with the number of contracts in the procurement. / Green Public Procurement: An Efficient Environmental Policy Tool?

This thesis comprises three papers examining the impact of competitive pricing or competition on participants in energy markets. The scope of each paper is narrow but focused, dealing with one particular aspect of competition in each market under study. It is hoped that results from these three studies could provide valuable policy lessons to public policy makers in their task to create or maintain competition in different energy markets, so as to improve efficiencies in these markets. The first and second papers examine the load shifting behavior of industrial customers in Ontario under real time pricing (RTP). Using Hourly Ontario Energy Price (HOEP) data from 2005 to 2008 and industry-level consumption data from all industrial customers directly connected to the transmission grid, the first paper adopts a Generalized Leontief specification to obtain elasticities of substitution estimates for various industry groups, while the second paper adopts a specification derived from standard consumer theory to obtain price elasticity estimates. The findings of both papers confirm that in some industries, industrial customers who are direct participants of the wholesale market tend to shift consumption from peak to off-peak periods in order to take advantage of lower off-peak prices. Furthermore, in the first paper, a demand model is estimated and there is evidence that the marginal effect of hourly load on hourly price during peak periods is larger than the marginal effect during off-peak periods. An important policy implication from the results of these papers is that while RTP is currently limited to industrial customers, it does have positive spillover effects on all consumers. The third paper uses a unique panel dataset of all retail gasoline stations across five Canadian cities from late-2006 to mid-2007 to examine the effect of local competition on market shares and sales of individual stations. The base empirical specification includes explanatory variables representing the number of same brand stations and the number of different brand stations within a 3km radius to identify brand affiliation effect. It is found that the number of local competitors is negatively correlated with market share and sales. More interestingly, a same brand competitor has a larger marginal impact on market share and sales than a competitor of a different brand. These findings suggest that additional local competition leads to cannibalization of market share among existing stations, rather than create new demand. Another implication is that relying only on the number of different brands operating within a geographic market could understate the competition intensity in the local market.