The price variable is among the most powerful instruments in the arsenal of the executives to achieve entry deterrence objectives. There are two main pricing strategies that firms may use to defend against a competitive market entry. The first of these options, limit pricing (or entry deterring price), may be utilized prior to competitive entry. The second option, aggressive (predatory) pricing, may be executed post-entry. The effectiveness of both of these options is still controversial. For example, the Chicago School proponents argue that these strategies are anecdotal in nature. On the other hand, the rationality of such conduct has been reliably simulated by Post-Chicagoans in game theoretic settings. The potential contributions of the marketing discipline have been recognized and called upon to help resolve the conflict. With this dissertation, I attempt to shed light on the role that price plays in preemptive and post-entry market defense of firms. As such, the questions tackled include but are not limited to: how effective is price as an entry-deterrence tool; in conjunction with firm and market specific barriers to entry; and as a post-entry retaliation mechanism? What are the facilitating conditions for limit, aggressive (predatory), competitive and supra-competitive pricing? What are the (long-term) consequences of these strategies? Following a multi-disciplinary literature review, I present a dynamic process model and test my hypotheses in a key network industry the airline industry. Building upon the advantages of multiple methods a la triangulation, I find that both limit pricing and predatory pricing can serve as effective strategies for the incumbents market defense. Predatory use of pricing in network industries may diminish consumer welfare. Results also suggest that firm specific barriers have a more significant role in market defense than market specific barriers. Insights and frameworks based on the marketing philosophy are also presented with the hope of advancing the ongoing debate between the Chicago and Post-Chicago Schools of thought.

The thesis deals with the asymmetric ex-ante regulation applied in the electronic com-munications sector in order to strengthen the competitive ability of alternative operators at the expense of incumbent operators' competitiveness with the aim of reinforcing effective competition in the electronic communications markets. The author is concer-ned with the regulatory instrument entailing an obligation on the fixed incumbent opera-tors to open their access networks to other operators. This is called Local Loop Unbund-ling (LLU). The thesis assesses regulatory impacts on the Czech electronic communi-cations market. The market development in the Czech Republic certified the negative regulatory effect on the fixed alternative operators'motivation to build their own access infrastructure. The author tries to find the dismotivating elements of the present-day LLU regulatory form by means of the Czech LLU market analysis. The author adverts to the undesirable regulatory effect on both alternative operators'and incumbent opera-tors'investment motivation. The thesis offers reasoning why the pro-competitive regula-tory policy (inhibiting investments necessary for the sector development) is not appro-priate.

This thesis deals with Trans-European energy networks (TEN-E), a program of the EU which has recently undergone significant changes. The main objective of this thesis is to capture the impact of activities of The EU in the framework of TEN-E and energy policy on the status and development of Europe's energy infrastructure and apply the findings to energy networks of the Czech Republic. The thesis is divided into four chapters. The first one deals with network industries and their economic specifics. The second chapter deals with energy policy of the EU and development of the internal energy market. The third chapter focuses on TEN-E program and final chapter brings the issues of Czech energy networks.

This thesis discusses internationalisation strategies of companies in a globalising service industry, the telecommunications industry. Differences in the internationalisation processes between manufacturing and service companies, and companies in network industries in particular, are analysed. The telecommunication industry’s special characteristics are discussed. Special challenges faced by companies in small and open economies (SMOPECs) in their internationalisation are also covered. Broad research questions, and a conceptual framework and specific research propositions are presented. The methodology, a multi-case study, and research procedure are introduced, and the research findings are reported, analysed and discussed. During the last decade there has been continuous debate on how well the traditional internationalisation (process) theories are able to explain the internationalisation of service companies. In addition, several researchers have argued that the facts that service sectors are heterogeneous and have different characteristics causes remarkable variations in the internationalisation processes of different service sectors. The conceptual framework developed in this study to analyse the internationalisation strategies of the case companies, national telecommunication companies (telcos) from SMOPECs, is based on the earlier research in the areas of international business and strategic management. The framework consists of two main parts, internationalisation strategies and factors influencing these strategies. The four internationalisation strategies included in the framework are product strategy, operation strategy, market strategy and organisation strategy. The factors influencing internationalisation strategies have been divided into five main groups: global factors, industry specific factors, home country specific factors, company specific factors and host country specific factors. This cross-border multi-case study includes four case companies: Singapore Telecommunications Limited (SingTel) from Singapore, Sonera Oyj (Sonera) from Finland, Telia AB (publ) (Telia) from Sweden, and Telstra Corporation Limited (Telstra) from Australia. The key findings of the study demonstrate that although in some areas the case study companies followed processes suggested by traditional internationalisation (process) theories there were also significant deviations. These deviations are most obvious when analysing market strategies. The findings present several factors behind these deviations. The findings mostly support earlier research on service industries, although there are distinctive characteristics which apply only to the telecommunications industry, or more generally, to network industries. The findings also demonstrate that the special challenges that companies from SMOPECs face in their internationalisation, influence their internationalisation strategies. Interestingly, in addition to these special challenges, the findings suggest that there are areas where these types of companies may have a competitive advantage in relation to their internationalisation. The conceptual framework developed in this study helps to understand the internationalisation process in the telco industry. The framework integrates findings from both international business and strategic management research, recognising the benefits of more generalisable internationalisation models originating from economic and marketing theories, but taking into account environmental circumstances and the influence of managerial actions, emphasised more in strategic management theories. That is, more contingency approach is taken than in some traditional internationalisation models. The conceptual framework and the findings contribute to the existing research on the internationalisation of services particularly, and to international business and strategic management research more generally. / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, Business School, 2009

Réformes des chemins de fer en Europe : la régulation en complément des mécanismes de marché Afin de trouver un nouveau dynamisme, l’Europe des chemins de fer a entrepris d’importants changements visant in fine à introduire une pression concurrentielle dans un secteur précédemment dominé par des monopoles étatiques.A l'instar des changements ayant eu lieu dans les autres industries de réseaux, la gestion en amont des infrastructures - considérée comme un monopole naturel - a été séparée du marché aval des services ferroviaires, considéré lui comme contestable, c’est-à-dire propice à l’introduction de la concurrence.Néanmoins l’expérience de réformes similaires nous rappelle que les marchés découlant d’une telle réorganisation doivent être manufacturés et ne se forment pas spontanément.Dans cette thèse, nous capitalisons sur cette période de changements afin d’analyser comment une telle transition se réalise. Plus spécifiquement, en appliquant le cadre développé par la Théorie de la Firme, les défis liés à la séparation verticale et au besoin de coordination sont examinés. Puis en s’appuyant sur les outils de la Théorie de l’Agence, nous étudions les implications dé-13coulant de l’introduction d’appels d’offres dans la délégation de service public pour le transport régional de voyageur. Au long de la thèse, l’accent est mis sur le rôle de la régulation et sur les remèdes qu’elle peut offrir aux écueils rencontrés.Le chapitre 1 analyse comment les réformes ont été conçues à travers l’Europe.Car en pratique la mise en oeuvre de cette nouvelle stratégie ferroviaire varie grandement d’un pays à l’autre à plusieurs niveaux, tels que la structure verticale,la régulation ou encore la libéralisation du secteur aval, engendrant d’importants débats sur les mérites respectifs de chacune de ces options. Cette pluralité interroge également sur les motivations sous-jacentes à chacun de ces choix. Et bien que la littérature économique aborde ces motivations, les études empiriques précédentes ne les prennent pas en compte quand il s’agit de comparer les différentes formes verticales. De ce fait, l’endogénéité peut venir biaiser les résultats des estimations économétriques. Ayant construit une base de données couvrant les quatre années entre 2009 et 2012 pour 25 pays européens, nous appliquons la méthode des doubles moindres carrées (2SLS)pour obtenir une estimation non-biaisée des effets de chacune des dimensions précédemment évoquées. En particulier, nous trouvons que l’endogénéité crée effectivement un biais qui péjore les effets mesurés de la séparation verticale.Le chapitre 2 s'appuie sur le cas du secteur ferroviaire français pour illustrer une des répercussions souvent sous-estimées de la séparation verticale, celle des coûts de coordination. Nous développons un modèle expliquant pourquoi la coordination peut aboutir à des résultats inefficients dans un secteur ferroviaire où les firmes doivent s'engager ex ante sur les quantités. Nos résultats indiquent qu’une régulation crédible peut permettre de surmonter les limites de la séparation verticale pour le gestionnaire d’infrastructure. Cependant dans un marché qui n’est pas suffisamment flexible, il devient plus dur au fur et à mesure que le marché aval s’ouvre à la concurrence de soutenir une production importante. / In an objective to revitalize the sector, railways in Europe have gone through changes in order to introduce competitive forces in an industry previous lydominated by state monopolies. Not unlike what occurred in other network industries, the upstream management of infrastructure -considered a natural monopoly- was separated from the downstream market of train services which was deemed contestable. But the experience from previous reforms shows that the markets stemming from this new organisation are made and don’t necessarily just happen.This dissertation preys on those changing times to analyse how such transition can be achieved. More specifically, it uses the framework developed by the Theory of the Firm to investigate some of the challenges that have risen to investigate some of the challenges that have risen from this new organisation due to vertical separation and the need to develop coordination. Then using the tools developed by Agency Theory, the dissertation investigates the introduction of tendering in public procurement for rail services.Throughout the analysis, an emphasis is put on finding how regulation can provide a remedy to the identified challenges. In chapter 1, we review how the reforms were designed in Europe. It highlights that there was very various applications across countries on several dimensions such as the vertical structure, regulation or downstream competition, triggering debates on the relative merits of each option.relative merits of each option.Furthermore this plurality questions the motivations behind these choices. And although those motivationsare brought up in the literature, the previous empirical studies do nottake them into account when comparing the relative performance of one form against the other. In such a case, endogeneity might come and biased the results of econometric regressions. Having constructed a database covering four years between 2009 and 2012 in 25 European countries we use a two-stageleast-square model to obtain an unbiased estimate of the effects of the abovementioned dimensions. In conclusion, we find that endogeneity does create abias, in particular when measuring the merits of full separation. Chapter 2 builds on the French rail sector’s example to shed the light on the crucial and understudied impact of coordination costs, one of the drawbacks arising with separation in the sector. We develop a model explaining why inefficient outcomes may arise in the railway sector when vertically separated firms have to commit ex ante on quantities. Our results indicate that credible and effective price regulation can overcome the limits of separation on the infrastructure side. On the other hand, if the market is not flexible enough, it may become harder, as the downstream market is becoming more competitive, for train operators to make optimistic production forecasts.

Cette thèse a pour objet la modernisation des Systèmes Hydriques Urbains de l'Europe des XV (SHUE). Débutant à la fin des années 1990, ce processus de rerégulation des SHUE opère une transformation du cadre réglementaire européen de la gestion de l'eau. Il vise une amélioration du fonctionnement de la gouvernance afin, notamment, d'imprimer une trajectoire soutenable aux SHUE. Or, les bilans intermédiaires s'avèrent mitigés et mettent en avant un besoin de caractérisation et d'explication analytiques de la modernisation des SHUE, afin d'en cerner les effets non anticipés. Par conséquent, la thèse aborde les effets de la modernisation des SHUE dans ses dimensions organisationnelle et soutenable. L'objectif de la thèse consiste à fournir une interprétation des impacts de la modernisation sur la structure de la gouvernance des SHUE et sur son efficacité dans une perspective de soutenabilité. Ancrée dans une approche d'économie institutionnelle, la démarche adoptée compare les modèles allemand, français et anglais et s'organise en deux temps. Le premier temps relève de l'observation empirique. Les phénomènes caractérisant la modernisation sont identifiés et formulés sous la forme de faits stylisés. Le second temps explique théoriquement ces phénomènes. Au regard des apports et limites des différents institutionnalismes, il est choisi de mobiliser le courant néoinstitutionnaliste pour rendre compte des aspects organisationnels et l'approche par les Régimes institutionnels de ressources pour traiter de la dimension soutenable de la modernisation des SHUE. Cette thèse soutient que la modernisation entraîne une mutation des modalités de coordination des SHUE, tout en intensifiant et polarisant les problèmes de soutenabilité autour du pilier économique. Au niveau organisationnel, nous mettons en évidence que, d'une part, la modernisation tend à dépolitiser les SHUE et que, d'autre part, le degré d'intégration de ses principes dans un SHUE est positivement corrélé à une dynamique socio-institutionnelle résiliente. Ces deux phénomènes résultent principalement d'une hybridation des arrangements institutionnels en direction du pôle marché. Le changement des formes contractuelles et l'atténuation des droits de propriété au sein des SHUE réduisent le contrôle direct de l'Etat et augmentent la capacité d'adaptation rapide des acteurs. A propos du potentiel de soutenabilité, un manque de cohérence dans le développement de la rerégulation des SHUE explique les perspectives relativement pessimistes. Nous montrons que ce paradoxe manifeste une incapacité intrinsèque de la modernisation à maximiser le potentiel de soutenabilité des SHUE. Si le développement de la réglementation est censé améliorer la qualité de la gouvernance, dans notre cas, elle s'accompagne d'un accroissement mécanique de coûts de coordination entravant l'atteinte d'une trajectoire soutenable. / This PhD dissertation focuses on the modernization of the urban water systems in Europe (UWSE). Since the end of the 1990's, this reregulation of the UWSE has transformed the European regulatory framework of water management. It is driven by two mains objectives: improving of the governance process and implementing a sustainable path for the UWSE. Present day, intermediate assessments highlight a need for analytical characterization and explanation of the UWSE's modernization, in order to home in on the unanticipated effects. Thus, the PhD thesis analyses the effects of the UWSE's modernization in its organizational and sustainable dimensions. The goal of the PhD is to provide an interpretation of the modernization impacts on the UWSE governance structure and on the efficiency of the reforms from a sustainability point a of view. Rooted in an institutional economics approach, our methodology consists in a comparative analysis of the German, French and English models of the UWSE. Two phases structure this methodology. The first focuses on empirical observation. The phenomena that characterize the modernization are identified and enunciated as stylized facts. The second phase theoretically explains these phenomena. Regarding the contributions and limits of the different institutionalisms, we choose to mobilize the New institutional economics here to deal with the organizational aspects and Institutional resources regimes to address the sustainable dimension of the UWSE's modernization. We argue that the modernization of the UWSE involves a transformation of their coordination modalities, at the same time; it is intensifying and it leads the sustainability problems to focus on the economic pillar. At the organizational level, we support that, on the one hand, modernization tends to depoliticize UWSE and that, on the other hand, the degree of integration of its principles in the UWSE is positively correlated with a resilient socio-institutional dynamics. These two phenomena ensue essentially from a hybridation of the institutional arrangements in the direction of the market pole. In the UWSE, the change of the contractual forms and the attenuation of the property rights lead to a reduction of the State's direct control and to an augmentation of the actors' ability to adapt quickly. Regarding the potential of sustainability, a lack of coherence in reregulation of UWSE accounts for the pessimistic prospects. We show a paradox which manifests itself in the intrinsic inability of the modernization to maximize the UWSE's potential of sustainability. If the development of the regulation is supposed to improve the governance quality, in this case, it comes with a mechanical increase of the costs of coordination which hampers the achievement of a sustainable path.

Cette thèse, qui s’inscrit dans le questionnement économique général sur la recherche d’outils de régulation des industries de réseaux, questionne la pertinence du choix français de régionalisation ferroviaire. Ce dernier, depuis la réforme introduite par la loi SRU, associe le maintien du monopole d'exploitation de la SNCF pour le Transport Express Régional (TER) avec la décentralisation aux Régions d'une prérogative jusqu'alors assurée de manière bureaucratique et centralisée. Dans cet environnement institutionnel, original au regard du mouvement européen, les Régions françaises ont-elles réussi à écrire et à gouverner le "système SNCF-TER" ?Pour répondre à cette double interrogation, l’auteur mobilise la théorie néo-institutionnelle, à partir de laquelle il propose une matrice interprétative de l’architecture économique des conventions TER et présente une transposition de la méthode des comptes de surplus (MCS), pour l’étude de la performance économique de ces contrats.Les résultats obtenus, sur l’échantillon des sept régions qui ont expérimenté la régionalisation, ne confirment que partiellement les déductions habituelles obtenues à partir de la théorie standard du monopole et de la capture du réglementateur par la firme régulée. Si la contractualisation SNCF / Régions, très éloignée du modèle « net cost » (présent dans de nombreux pays en Europe), exprime l’acceptation par le Législateur d’une large couverture des risques industriels, commerciaux, et plus encore sur investissements, par la Collectivité, la régionalisation s’est traduite par une grande diversité contractuelle. Une analyse fine montre le caractère hybride des modes de gouvernance que l’auteur qualifie de « fiduciaro-autoritaires ». La MCS révèle que si l’effet du monopole est bien présent et s’impose aux Régions, il ne profite guère à la SNCF, mais plutôt à RFF. Tendanciellement, les voyageurs sont devenus « gagnants » de la régionalisation ferroviaire. / This thesis, which fits the general economical issues on the research tools of the network industries regulation, questions the relevancy of the French railways regionalisation. The latter, since the reform introduced by the law SRU associates the maintenance of the railway service operating monopoly for the Regional Express Transport (TER) with the decentralisation to the regions, so that they benefit from a prerogative ensured hitherto in a centralised and bureaucratic way. In this institutional environment, original compared to the European movement, have the French regions managed to write and to govern the "SNCF-TER system” ?To answer both questions, the author used the neo-institutional theory from which he offers an interpretative array on the economical structure of the TER conventions and presents a transposition of this method on surplus accounts to study the economical performance of these contracts.From a panel of seven regions which have tested the regionalisation, the results can only partially confirm the usual deductions made from the standard theory of the monopoly and the capture of the regulator by the regulated firm. If the contracting SNCF/Regions, far from the “net cost” model, expresses that the legislature accepts a broad industrial and commercial insurance cover, and more on investments made by the community, then regionalisation resulted in a larger variety of employment contracts.A detailed analysis shows the hybrid character of the governance methods which the author calls “fiduciaro-authoritarian”. The method on surplus accounts reveals that, while the effect of monopoly is present and essential to the regions, then it means little benefit to the railway operator but much to RFF. Today travellers have trendily become the “winners’ of the rail regionalisation.

L’ouverture à la concurrence des marchés de l’électricité et du gaz peine à aboutir aux effets escomptés. Si les directives issues du troisième « paquet » ont été en grande partie transposées au sein des États membres, les obstacles à la réalisation effective d’une Europe de l’énergie demeurent nombreux. Dans ce contexte nébuleux, une surveillance aux yeux d’Argus a émergé. En effet, comme pour forcer le processus de libéralisation, les autorités de concurrence et les autorités de régulation sectorielle redoublent d’efforts pour achever rapidement le marché intérieur de l’énergie, quitte à aller parfois, semble-t-il, à contre-courant de leur mission originelle. D’un côté, les autorités de concurrence semblent de plus en plus enclines à se comporter en « constructeurs » des marchés de l’énergie, agissant davantage sur la structure de ces derniers que sur les comportements dommageables. À l’inverse, les autorités de régulation sectorielle, dont les pouvoirs ne cessent d’être renforcés, sont de plus en plus incitées à détecter les entraves à la concurrence et à les sanctionner. De ce contrôle bicéphale résulte une confusion des rôles qui n’est pas totalement atténuée par la mise en place des « passerelles » entre les deux types de régulateurs. Au demeurant, face à cet enchevêtrement de compétences, les opérateurs évoluent sur des marchés peu propices au jeu de la concurrence et dans un cadre réglementaire aussi complexe qu’instable, sclérosant les investissements nécessaires pour dynamiser ces marchés. Toutefois, le système mis en place, que beaucoup aimeraient voir clarifié, peut être amélioré. Alors qu’une partie de la doctrine appelle à la fusion des autorités, hypothèse pourtant peu réaliste, la voie du réaménagement du cadre de surveillance, basée sur un renforcement de l’interrégulation, mais également sur l’établissement d’une véritable régulation européenne, ne semble pas avoir été suffisamment explorée. / The opening to competition of the markets in gas and electricity has hardly produced the desired impact. To a large extent, the directives flowing from the third package have been transposed amongst the Member States. However, the effective implementation of a European energy is still facing several challenges ahead. With this nebulous background, supervision has become all-seeing, Argus-like. In fact, while competitions authorities and sectoral regulators are significantly stepping up theirs efforts so as to push forward the liberalization process towards the swift completion of the internal energy market, they seem, at times, to work against the grain of their original assignment. On the one hand, competition authorities appear to be increasingly willing to act as « builders » for the energy markets as they tackle market structures rather than harmful behaviours. Conversely, sectoral regulators, with their ever-strengthening powers, are more and more incited to track down and take sanctions against barriers to competition. Such bicephalous management has resulted in a confusion of roles which has not been alleviated by the « bridges »built between both types of regulators. At any rate, in the face of such a tangled web of competences, operators find themselves in markets that are not very conducive to competition and in a regulatory framework which is both volatile and complex, thereby paralysing the investments required to render such markets more dynamic. The system as it stands may still be improved and many would like to see it clarified. Although the prospect is not very realistic, some commentators have called for the merger of authorities. It appears nonetheless that reworking the supervision framework with a view to strengthening inter-regulation but also implementing actual European regulations is a route that has not yet been sufficiently explored.

This thesis Construction of the Single European Railway Area: Reforms of railway sector in the Czech Republic 2004-2014 deals with the europeanisation of the Czech railway policies through the lens of four subjects - government, regional governments, Czech railway and private railway companies. The work puts the issue of the European railway reform into the perspective of the concept of network industries liberalisation. The Czech Republic joined the European Union in 2004 and therefore had no chance in influencing its foundation. The thesis attempts to investigate the ways in which the EU affected the Czech railway environment and, simultaneously, if some kind strengthening of actors supporting liberalisation took place. The work concluded that although these actors have been strengthened, the railway market in passenger transport hasn't been created. As the work demonstrates, this was caused mainly by insufficient institutional and adjustment ability of the state that hasn't been able to successfully finish any public tenders. In the regions, the situation is similar - in 2009, a ten- year memorandum on operating of regional transport by Czech railways has been passed. Besides, each region has a different transport policy and the government will probably try to handle.