Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 121-124). / Mobile wireless telephone systems require enormous investments in land-based radio, transmission, and switching systems in order to provide the coverage and capacity to efficiently operate a regional or nationwide cellular phone network. This wireless equipment is manufactured by an oligopoly of Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM). These "wireless OEMs," in turn, depend upon a growing number of "upstream" component and subsystem suppliers and "downstream" wireless operators. Together these firms compose the "Wireless Equipment Value Chain." As in many industries where technology is changing rapidly, wireless telephony has seen waves of change in industry structure. This thesis surveys the forces currently driving change in the industry, outlines scenarios that describe potential directions for reorganization of the industry structure, and lists a set of warning signs that may provide clues to future trends within the industry. In addition, the thesis provides a model for the structure of the industry, which is used to construct the scenarios. Finally, it compares the strategies of two large OEMs using the models and scenarios. / by David B. Munsinger. / S.M.M.O.T.

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 78-79). / There are data that suggest that the earth's surface temperature has. increased over the past century. Many scientists believe that this rise is due to the emissions of greenhouse gases by anthropogenic sources, while others believe it is due primarily to natural phenomena, such as solar cycles. Regardless of the actual cause, we should be motivated to drastically reduce · emissions of these gases, improve fuel efficiency, and reduce other type of air pollution. This will also reduce the country's reliance on potentially unstable foreign sources of these fuels. There are many technologies currently being developed which promise to reduce our consumption of fossil fuels in automotive applications, including direct injection internal combustion engines, hybrid engines, battery-powered cars, fuel cells, 42-volt electrical systems, and lightweight bodies. When considered on total lifecycle and infrastructure bases, there can be significant downsides associated with any of these technological improvements, but each also offers a potential contribution to lowering fuel consumption. This thesis proposes that there are steps that can be taken to enhance the mainstream acceptance and benefits of these technologies, including early electrification of loads onboard vehicles, incremental reductions in consumption, and use of fleets to implement technologies requiring new infrastructure buildouts. However, automotive emissions are a small part of the overall emission problem, and we should also be concentrating efforts in other areas as well. / by Allen McDonald Marcum. / S.M.M.O.T.

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 134-141). / The Internet is changing the way we do business. Today's conventional wisdom says that in order to survive in the new economy era, companies must transform from and align their old business practices, processes and culture to suit the new business requirements. This thesis examines the dynamics of channel shift from traditional supply chain to on-line e-commerce, in particular the enablers and barriers, as well as the value transformation due to the channel shift. The scope of this thesis is limited to B2B E-commerce. This paper took global perspectives to analyze value transformation, enablers and barriers, technology, privacy and security due to channel shift from traditional channel to e-commerce. / by Muhammad Farid [and] Bayu Hanantasena. / S.M.M.O.T.

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 110-116). / This thesis presents a case study of introduction of the coronary stent into the percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) industry. The industry evolution is analyzed within the industrial life cycle framework developed by Utterback, Tushman and others. The coronary stent was first introduced in 1994, and has passed through all of the industry cycle stages: from a technology disruption stage to an incremental improvement. The interactions of the organization with the exterior environment and the technical development expertise, in combination, prove to be determining elements in an the stent manufacturer's likelihood for success. Relationships with the clinical personnel and practitioner are needed for design validation ( data for regulatory filings), design feedback, clinical acceptance of their products and to promote awareness of their products. Relations with clinical institutions and purchasing groups form distribution channels. This case study of the coronary stent industry provides an additional data point to compare actual industry practice against theory. / by Susan M. Ostrowski. / S.M.M.O.T.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Technology, Management, and Policy Program, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 439-442). / Recycling, especially paper recycling, has become a de-facto public policy during the last three decades of the 20th Century. At the cusp of the new millennium it receives widespread support. Unfortunately, at the same time, this well-intentioned and locally rational action has also been soundly criticized based on the observed market instabilities in the industry that are the cause of poor performance by firms. This poor performance, especially in the case of paper, threatens the value and usefulness of recycling as an environmental strategy. Many current works that address recycling issues fail to recognize that the basis for the behavior, problematic or otherwise, is the linked set of markets that cause the materials, in the form of products and by-products, to flow through the entire macroeconomy. The sources of this behavior include both the internal structure of the sectors from which the markets are comprised as well as the linkages between the markets. To understand the potential problems in the paper recovery and associated markets and to assess remedies, this thesis develops and explores a new, integrated, macroeconomic model using the system dynamics method. The model is calibrated to paper material-flow-related data. It replicates problematic behaviors in the paper market, and describes their genesis, and forecasts their effects for the future. Analyses undertaken with the model also describe outcomes from several different commonly proposed interventions in terms of market stability, production, profitability, resource utilization, and overall recovery. / by Henry F. Taylor, III. / Ph.D.

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 88-91). / In the last years many solutions have been presented as the silver bullet to enhance the IT - Information Technology - of the financial institutions. This thesis is an investigation of the possible applications of web services to generate value in the financial industry, trying to segregate the business reality from the hype surrounding them. The work analyzes the potential benefits and the challenges involved in the adoption and diffusion of web services in the financial industry, utilizing academic research and examples of current use of web services, to try to derive the basis to their adoption in the next years. / by Paulo Guilherme Vita. / S.M.M.O.T.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, Technology, Management, and Policy Program, 2003. / This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 157-167). / We investigate the options for enhancing the welfare of small farmers in Thailand through subsidies of irrigation infrastructure. Enhanced water storage and irrigation can significantly improve yield and the welfare of the farm community by providing a more reliable water supply during growing periods. Generally speaking, such enhancements require subsidies from the government or other organizations since farmers are not able or willing to finance infrastructure development themselves. In order to maximize the effectiveness of such subsidies it is important to understand how farmers will react to alternative policies. We develop a two-tier approach to this problem. First, we use a government-level optimization model to identify the set of subsidies and water pricing policies that maximizes a stated measure of aggregate social welfare. This government-level model relies on a farm-level model that determines how individual small farmers will react to the policy alternatives. The farm-level model combines hydrologic, economic, and agronomic features since it considers how hydrologic variability affects crop yield, which in turn affects the farmer's utility. Policy decision variables considered in the government subsidy/pricing model include 1) water price and the number of farms served by public storage facilities (i. e. a water supply reservoir and enhanced in-stream storage), 2) maximum sizes of on-farm ponds paid for by the government, and 3) amounts of direct cash subsidies paid to the farmer. The objective is to maximize the aggregate welfare of all farmers served subject to a limit on the total subsidy as well as constraints designed to limit inequities and urban migration. The problem is solved with a deterministic nonlinear programming algorithm. / (cont.) Decision variables considered in the farm-level model include 1) whether or not to accept a government-subsidized on-farm pond (which reduces land available for cultivation), 2) how much to consume in each year, 3) whether to devote time to agriculture or off-farm employment, 4) type of crop and irrigation technique, and 5) amount of water purchased from communal storage facilities. The problem is solved using a finite-horizon discrete-time stochastic programming algorithm. Our modeling approach is tested on a study site in Saraburi Province, Thailand. This site serves as a suitable prototype because of its existing irrigation infrastructure, relatively developed market institutions, secure land-use rights, and weak endowment of water resources. To achieve an economic optimum in which the farmers' aggregate utility of consumption is maximized, the government must provide some farmers with free reservoir water. The remaining farmers, however, help pay for the subsidy at a relatively high price. Consequently, the latter seek urban employment during the dry seasons. This cross-subsidy solution resulting from the social optimum criteria is economically efficient yet markedly inequitable. In order to assure equity, the government should construct the reservoir and sell the storage water at the same price to all farms. However, this solution cannot prevent urban migration ... / by Sutapa Amornvivat. / Ph.D.

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references. / Our thesis is part of a larger structured thesis conducted under the supervision of Professor Gabriel Bitran. The overall thesis looks at intermediaries in the IT service market, and specifically how Imaging and Computing Corporation (l&C) is positioned in the market. It has been broken up into four parts, with each part an independent thesis completed by two persons. The four sections are: ** The evolving role of Intermediaries in the market for IT products and services. ** The international market for IT services (The cases of Brazil and China). ** The customer Perspective on Services Outsourcing. ** Trends in IT Outsourcing - A Vendor Perspective. Our thesis will examine Trends in IT Outsourcing. We will identify the major trends in IT outsourcing and recommend frameworks that will help I&C align its strategy with current customer needs. / by Carl David Beckett and Mohammad Waqas Khan. / S.M.M.O.T.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, Technology, Management, and Policy Program, 2005. / Page 462 blank. / Includes bibliographical references. / There is a growing realization that stakeholder involvement in decision-making for large- scale engineering systems is necessary and crucial, both from an ethical perspective, as well as for improving the chances of success for an engineering systems project. Traditionally however, stakeholders have only been involved after decision-makers and experts have completed the initial decision-making process with little or no input from stakeholders. This has resulted in conflict and delays for engineering systems with brilliant technical designs that do not address the larger context of the broader social goals. One of the fears of experts is that the involvement of stakeholders will result in technical solutions that are of poor quality. The hypothesis of this research is that an effective involvement of stakeholders in the decision-making process for engineering systems from the problem definition stage through the system representation can produce a system representation that is superior to representations produced in an expert-centered process. This dissertation proposes a Stakeholder-Assisted Modeling and Policy Design (SAM-PD) process for effectively involving stakeholders in engineering systems with wide-ranging social and environmental impact. The SAM-PD process is designed based on insights from existing engineering systems methodologies and alternative dispute resolution literature. Starting with a comprehensive analysis of engineering systems methodologies, the role of experts in engineering systems decision-making and existing stakeholder involvement mechanisms, this research explores the role of cognitive biases of engineering systems representation through actual experiments, / (cont.) and concludes that the process of defining a system through its boundaries, components and linkages is quite subjective, and prone to implicit value judgments of those participating in the system representation process. Therefore to account for stakeholder interests, concerns and knowledge in engineering systems decision-making, it is important to have a collaborative process that enables stakeholders to jointly shape the problem definition and model outputs necessary for decision-making. Based on insights from the literature, this research developed a collaborative process for engineering systems decision-making, and explored its merits and drawbacks in applying it to the Cape Wind offshore wind energy project involving actual stakeholders in the system representation process. It further explored the potential application of such a process to the Mexico City transportation/air pollution system and the Cape and Islands Renewable Energy Planning project. The Cape Wind case study showed that a stakeholder-assisted system representation was superior to the equivalent expert-centered system representation used by the permitting agency as a basis for decision-making, in that it served as a thought expander for stakeholders, captured some effects that the expert-centered representation could not capture, better took into account social, economic and political feasibility and was more useful in suggesting better alternative strategies for the system. The case studies also highlighted the importance of the convening organization, institutional readiness for collaborative processes, the importance of stakeholder selection and process facilitation, the potentials of system representation as a basis for stakeholder dialogue and the importance of quantification versus evaluation of system representations. / (cont.) The basic implication of this research is that it would be myopic of engineering systems professionals to shift the burden of stakeholder involvement to decision-makers, and keep the analysis a merely expert-centered process. Due to the many subjective choices that have to be made with regards to system boundaries, choice of components, inclusion of linkages, nature of outputs and performance metrics and assumptions about data and relationships, system analysts are in fact not producing the analysis that will help the decision-making process. The best airport designs done with multi-tradeoff analysis and intricate options analysis may lead to nowhere if stakeholders affected by the project do not see their interests reflected in the analysis. The notion is that a good systems analysis is not one that impresses other engineering systems professionals with its complexity, but one that can actually address the problems at hand. / by Ali Mostashari. / Ph.D.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, Technology, Management, and Policy Program, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 339-351). / We investigate the effectiveness of strategic alternatives that are designed to dampen the cyclicality manifest in the commercial aviation (CA)-related industries. In this research we introduce the conceptual framework of Enterprise of Enterprises (EoE) as an extension and special case of a System of Systems, to facilitate the design of strategic alternatives in an enterprise ecosystem characterized by loosely coupled enterprises. The constituent enterprises in an EoE exhibit managerial and operational independence and have diverse value functions that are often viewed by the enterprises as zero-sum games. We argue that this may not always be the case; for example, in the CA EoE both airline and airframe manufacturers constituents would benefit from a steadier influx of aircraft that counters the current situation that is characterized by relatively stable demand growth rate for air travel while airline profitability and aircraft ordering fluctuate intensely. A strategic alternative geared towards this EoE-wide desired state is "symbiotic". In order to identify such strategies, we use the EoE framework to analyze the CA-related industries and to specify their local value functions and the salient interfaces among them based on an extensive review of the literature on commercial aviation. We develop working hypotheses about the driving mechanisms of the cycle in the CA EoE informed by the literature on economywide and supply chain cyclicality. To test these hypotheses, we extend a system dynamics model of commercial aviation. After testing several individual strategic alternatives, we find that capacity management is key to cycle moderation. We then compare two diverse, non-collusive ways for capacity management: faster aircraft deliveries and semi-fixed production schedules generated by long-term forecasts. / (cont.) While both are promising, only the latter alternative is shown to be Pareto optimal. We also examine the potential synergistic effects from combining more than one strategic alternatives for which we also discuss implementation implications. The EoE framework and some of our findings can be applicable and generalizable to other industries facing intense cyclical behavior. / by Sgouris P. Sgouridis. / Ph.D.