Management of dairy development factors

Role of HPFC

Portfolio behaviour

Valuation of securities

Computers in banking industry

Management / Health Policy

To reflect common practice in the software industry and extend transaction cost theory, this research developed building on previous research and empirically tested a model based on to identify conditions in which software vendors are likely to sell and distribute their packaged products directly to end-users through the Internet. How software firms distribute their products over the Internet is an important issue because software is a digital product, and the potential for the Internet to transform the distribution channel is considerable. Extant literature shows that Canadian software firms frequently choose direct instead of market channels. However, none of the existing studies focuses specifically on packaged software, or on the Internet as a distribution channel. Further, recent research on what products are suitable for distribution through the Internet does not address the case of packaged software. <ul> <li>Knowledge-based asset specificity, human asset specificity, and physical asset specificity are positively associated with the likelihood of using the Internet to distribute packaged software (H₁, H₂, and H₃). </li> <li>The likelihood of using the Internet in delivering products has a positive relationship with the volatility of packaged software, its clients, and markets (H₄); whereas this likelihood has a negative relationship with diversity (H₅). </li> <li>Channel growth is positively associated with the online distribution of packaged software (H₆); Channel volume is negatively associated with the likelihood that packaged software developers use the Internet to deliver products (H₇). </li> <li>The rate of growth in gross sales has a positive relationship with the likelihood of online distribution by packaged software firms (H₈); while the gross sales of a firm negatively are associated with this likelihood (H₉). </li> <li>The use of the Internet in the distribution of packaged software is positively associated with the United States market and negatively associated with other national markets (H₁₀). </li> </ul> The data to test these hypotheses were collected from Canadian software developers by a web-based survey. The information includes the distribution channels for their best selling product in its largest market, and Likert scales that measure forms of asset specificity, market uncertainty, and channel volume. The hypotheses are tested using logistic regression. The results provide support for hypotheses H₅, H₆, and H₉ whiles hypotheses H₁, H₂, H₄, H₇, H₈, and H₁₀ are not supported. The result for H₃ is statistically significant, but the direction of the relationship is the opposite of the expectation. <br /><br /> The results of this study have implications both for theory and managerial practice. This research contributes to the literature a test of the ability of transaction cost analysis to explain the use of the Internet in distributing software. It also provides managers with reliable insights into some of the circumstances where packaged software developers may use the Internet to deliver their products. However, further research is required to verify the generalizability of the findings of this study.

The importance of social capital can be characterized by a well-known quote: "it's not just what you know, but whom you know". Firms with rich social capital are more informed, more capable, and more competitive, because networks of resources are within their reach. Social capital is embedded in social networks, and social network analysis is the chief topic of this research. The network being examined contains 1126 venture capital (VC) programs, 206 of them being corporate venture programs, and the rest consisting of independent venture capital firms. Venture programs co-invest in portfolio firms following an identifiable pattern. This research attempts to explain this co-investment pattern using social network analysis. Four attributes of social networks are explored during this analysis: prominence, range, brokerage, and cohesion. The findings of the corporate venture capital network provide a number of implications for the theory of social capital. The objective of the thesis is <em>using social capital to examine the syndication patterns in a corporate VC network</em>. The analysis of the corporate VC co-investment pattern supports four hypotheses. First, the corporate VC network is not cohesive. Second, most relationships in the network are indirect. Third, most prominent VCs are also the most powerful resource brokers in the network. Lastly, prominent VCs are likely to syndicate with other prominent VCs.

The game of baseball is amenable to a variety of strategies that affect short-term outcomes. This paper employs regression analysis, simulation, and cognitive analysis of mental biases to analyze the strategic scenario known as the "Intentional Base-on-Balls" and proposes a model to explain that strategy and predict its effectiveness. <br /><br /> The results of this study suggest that managers are prone to Type II errors, that is, issuing an Intentional Base-on-Ball in a situation where objective analysis suggests otherwise. Results further suggest that the ratio of Type I errors to Type II errors is disproportional to the ratio of their respective costs. This imbalance points to a subjective component to the decision-making process, one that can be explained by biases and cognitive errors. <br /><br /> The results and model described in this paper may allow managers to avoid future mistakes and improve their decision-making ability.

Published in collaboration with the European Group for Organizations Studies.