This thesis deals with different aspects of the Spanish Labor Market. The first chapter explores the impact of product market competition on job instability. Empirical results show that job instability rises with competition. The second chapter addresses the existence of network effects on immigrants' remitting behavior. Using a unique data base, I find positive network effects on the probability of remitting as well as on quantity remitted. The final chapter studies the role of the recent construction boom in explaining decisions to drop out of high-school. The construction boom is shown to increase the likelihood of dropping out of high-school. / Esta tesis trata diferentes aspectos del mercado laboral español. El primer capítulo explora el impacto de la competencia en el mercado de productos sobre la inestabilidad del empleo. Los resultados empíricos muestran que la inestabilidad en el empleo crece con el nivel de competencia. El segundo capítulo plantea la existencia de efectos de las redes sociales de inmigrantes sobre el envío de remesas. Mediante el uso de una base de datos exclusiva, he encontrado efectos positivos de las redes sociales sobre la probabilidad de enviar remesas así como sobre la cantidad enviada. El último capítulo estudia el papel del reciente boom de la construcción en el abandono escolar durante la educación secundaria. Se demuestra que el boom de la construcción ha incrementado la probabilidad de abandono escolar durante la educación secundaria.

Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Ted Schroeder / Johnsonville Sausage’s core business is to produce premium fresh and ready to eat (RTE) sausage. To accomplish this on the fresh side of the business, the organization procures and slaughters all of their own animals. The type of animal that Johnsonville Sausage procures is called a “fancy sow”. This type of sow averages 500 pounds and has had three or more litters of piglets. Johnsonville Sausage is the largest procurer of this type of sow accounting for 23% of the overall market. The largest contributor to the finished product cost is the meat. Over the last two years, the organization’s business has been faced with a number of challenges related to mass liquidations within the hog industry as well as increased sow prices due to lower supplies. Specifically, these issues have impacted the expected profitability as an organization and lead Johnsonville Sausage to question whether the supply projections within the industry will meet future growth needs. Because of these factors, Johnsonville Sausage is looking at how they can create more value for the sow that is slaughtered in order to utilize the whole animal to its highest potential, increase overall profitability to the organization and increase available sow supply within the industry. Within the business today, 55% of a sow that is harvested goes towards making the meat formulations (batter) utilized in fresh sausage production. The other 45% of the sow can be broken down into three key areas: sales credits, drop credits and rendering. Items within these three areas are classified as by-products and are sold to industries such as human consumption, pet food, pharmaceutical, medical, academia, commercial fishing and rendering to name a few. The issue that Johnsonville Sausage faces is how to define new channels, create new products, and increase customer base and volume for those parts of the sow that are not utilized in fresh sausage production thus driving increased value for these by-product items. In conjunction with this, how do they create more profitability for those items that are consistently harvested and sold today? The focus of this research was to create a project portfolio for the by-product business within Johnsonville Sausage. The goal of the portfolio was to identify industries and projects that would drive the greatest profit maximization for the by-product business and in return achieve the greatest return per sow. To accomplish this, optimization models and net present value (NPV) analyses were utilized. Utilizing the tools, I found that within Johnsonville Sausage’s existing by-product business, they have the opportunity to increase profitability by 54% from what was achieved in 2010. In conjunction with this, a NPV analysis on a further processed pork loin was conducted. Results of this analysis proved that creating this type of concept for Johnsonville Sausage was a more value added solution financially as compared to the traditional manner in which pork loins are sold today.

Abstract Applying the principles of user-centered development (UCD) in software development practice is not straightforward. In technology-push type software product development it is not clear how to match the new product innovation to the future needs of potential future users. Intensive collaboration between different organizational functions becomes essential. UCD provides valuable tools and practices as learning mechanisms both for users and for the company. The purpose of cross-functional interaction is to iteratively define the best possible market for the emerging new product. This study investigates cross-functional interaction during the early phases of a new software product. The roots of UCD are in traditional software engineering (SE). However, in a software product company it is necessary to take a broader new product development (NPD) perspective. The results indicate that the early phases of software NPD are actually a collaborative learning process in which representations of the new product are built iteratively, increasing multidisciplinary knowledge related to the evolving shared object of development. The cross-functionally shared object is more than the new software product. It is an emerging new vision for the whole new business area. Both the product and its users-customers-market develop iteratively. Traditionally this is considered to happen through communication within a cross-functional NPD team. Rather than one cross-functional team effort, software NPD seems to be a network of cross-functional activities. Furthermore, in software NPD practice the development of the new business unit may actually overlay the more established business organization. This has not been visible enough, and part of the problems with cross-functional interaction may be due to confusion between these two activity systems during every-day practices. Different mediating representations of the multidimensional object knowledge become crucial. The study starts with a summary of a three-year process improvement effort in one case company, providing the basis for theoretical reflections and analytical generalizations. SE and NPD literature is reviewed to situate the case within current theoretical understanding. The findings are synthesized using concepts from cultural-historical activity theory. This study will hopefully provoke the rethinking of some of the current taken-for-granted issues related to the management of new emerging software product businesses.

In the past decade, the energy markets within the European Union haveincreasingly been deregulated as a means to promote increased competition, andthereby efficiency, on these markets. As a result of this, several energy institutionshave been forced to become unbundled from their parent companies and toinstead form smaller separate entities. Contracts that previously were guaranteedare now subjected to public competition and in order to not risk decreasing in size,these companies must now find new ways to grow and generate new business. To study this, a case study was conducted at a Swedish energy servicescompany who recently has been unbundled from one of the largest Swedish gridowners. Specifically, the research focused on what companies in maturebusiness-to-business services contexts can do to increase their sales. The studywas conducted primarily through gathering qualitative interview data bothinternally and externally, but secondary data from surveys were also used. The findings indicate that the case company should focus on pursuing a combinedstrategy of market penetration and service/product penetration to increase sales.In addition, the company should continue to invest substantially into relationshipmarketing practices in order to build long-term potential for growth. Specifically,the findings indicate it should improve its communication and relationshipinvestment towards its customers. Furthermore, it should adopt appropriatestrategies to reduce the switching barriers of its prospective customers. The findings contribute to the understanding of how companies in similarsituations as the case company can act in order to drive growth. The studyprovides further empirical data in a field that has received relatively little academicattention. The author also suggests venues for future research in the concludingchapters.

Denna studie undersöker digitala läsvanor och läsplattor, ur ett människa-datorinteraktions perspektiv, för att bidra med insikter kring digital läsning genom att identifiera problem och utvecklingsområden hos läsplattan. En enkätundersökning genomfördes, där 947 svar erhölls. Intressentintervjuer, en expertintervju, samt användarintervjuer utfördes vidare för en djupare analys. Ur resultatet identifierades ”Köpprocess och synkronisering”, samt ”Bibliotekshantering och sortering” som två kritiska problemområden. Förslag på lösningar som formulerades var följande; automatisk synkronisering, förenklat betalningsmoment, vattenmärkta e- böcker, prenumerationstjänst med större utbud, förenklad process för att köpa böcker från olika leverantörer, bättre rekommendationsalgoritm, spelifiering, appen som utgångspunkt för synkronisering mot alla digitala enheter, sortering på lästa/olästa e- böcker, möjlighet att favoritmarkera e- böcker i biblioteket, samt ett layout- läge där endast boktiteln syns och ett stort antal böcker kan visas samtidigt. Vidare undersöktes läsplattans Product- Market Fit (PMF), genom att mäta produktens Net Promoter Score (NPS), samt hur många av användarna som hade blivit besvikna om läsplattan försvann och de inte kunde nyttja produkten längre. NPS beräknades till 41, vilket indikerar en god PMF. Vidare uppgav 71% av användarna, i enkäten, att de skulle bli ”Mycket besvikna” om läsplattan försvann, vilket antyder att läsplattans PMF är god. / This study researched digital reading habits and e-readers, from a human-computer interaction perspective, to contribute with insights regarding digital reading by identifying problems and development areas for e-readers. A survey was conducted, where 947 answers were aquired. Further, stakeholder interviews, an expert interview and user interviews were carried out for a deeper analysis. The results identified ”Purchasing process and synchronization” and ”Library management and sorting” as two critical problem areas. Formulated suggested solutions were; automatic synchronization, a simplified payment process, watermarked e-books, subscription service with a larger selection of e-books, simplified process for buying books from different suppliers, better recommendation algorithm, gameification, using the app as a starting point for synchronization to all digital devices, sorting of read / unread e-books, the ability to mark favorite e-books in the library, and a layout mode where only the book title is visible and a large number of books can be displayed. Furthermore, the e-readers Product-Market Fit (PMF) was examined, by measuring the product’s Net Promoter Score (NPS), and measuring the amount of users that would have been disappointed if the ereader disappeared and they could no longer use the product. NPS was calculated to 41, which indicate a good PMF. Furthermore, 71 % of the users stated ,in the survey, that they would be ”Very disappointed” if the e-reader disappeared, which indicate that the e-readers PMF is good.

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This study re-examines the relationship between competition and innovation in a detailed firm-level dataset of publicly traded US companies spanning from 1975 to 2013. Using R&D expenditures, patent counts and patent citations as the measures of innovation, and Herfindahl-Hirschman Index, Lerner Index, Profit Elasticity and Product Market Fluidity as the proxies for competition we document a robust positive association between the two variables, as well as strong evidence of the non-linear relationship known as "inverted-U shape", when controlling for size, distance to technological frontier, level of knowledge spillovers, technological opportunities and other firm- and industry-specific characteristics. We address overdispersion in the data by using negative binomial and zero-inflated negative binomial count data regressions, and the results are robust in these specifications. Additionally, in order to address potential endogeneity issues, we employ a set of instruments based on the import tariff rates and the level of Chinese import penetration, and find a weak evidence of positive relationship as well. Overall the results strongly support the prediction of agency models, "replacement effect" and "escape- competition effect" about the positive influence of competition on innovation. Powered by TCPDF...

This dissertation consists of two empirical essays. The first chapter titled: “Hedge Fund Activism and Dual Ownership of U.S. Multinationals”. Harford, Wang & Zhang (2017) conclude that holding high cash balances abroad to avoid US taxes causes internal capital markets and investments distortions. We posit that hedge funds target MNCs with more severe internal capital and agency problems. We demonstrate that upon acquiring dual ownership in these firms, hedge funds reduce internal capital problems and improve investment, especially innovation, efficiencies. To further reduce agency costs of foreign cash holdings, hedge funds engage dual firms in focused acquisitions. These improvements are reflected in superior performances of dual firms relative to non-dual firms. Chapter 2 titled as “Innovation Strategies & IPO Underpricing”. In this chapter, we investigate how a firms’ choice of pre-IPO innovation strategies affect IPO pricing. We differentiate the orientation of the issuing firm’s innovation portfolio in terms of exploitative orientation versus explorative orientation based on citations of patents across technology classes. We introduce a measure of innovation power to generate breakthrough innovations. We show that the issuing firms with greater innovation power, especially firms with exploratory orientation of a patent, significantly decrease underpricing and have the power to bargain a higher offer price. Our results suggest that a higher exploration strategy requires more time to negotiate a higher offer price while more valuable innovation requires less time to bargain at the higher offer price.

This dissertation consists of four self-contained essays primarily concerned with incorporating the objectives of real world top managers, as revealed by the available empirical evidence, in supergame-theoretic analyses of long-term competition between oligopolistic firms. The first essay, "Ownership, Control, and Collusion", considers how the separation between ownership and control affects firms' competitive attitudes when top managers have the preference for smooth profit streams revealed by the evidence on "income smoothing" and when managerial compensation has the low pay-performance sensitivity found in many empirical studies. In a similar fashion, the second essay, "Stock-Related Compensation and Product-Market Competition", deals with the effects of the apparently more aggressive managerial incentives linked to stock price (e.g. stock options), which have become increasingly common in the U.S., on long-term oligopolistic competition. In the third paper, "Debt as a (Credible) Collusive Device", shareholders’ commitments to reduce conflicts with debtholders by choosing a top manager with a highly valuable reputation or with "conservative" incentives are considered. These forms of commitment have been shown to reduce the (agency) cost of debt finance; this paper characterizes their effects on the relation between firms' capital structure and product market competition. The fourth paper, "Multimarket Contact, Concavity, and Collusion", addresses the relation between multimarket contact and firms’ ability to sustain collusive behavior in repeated oligopolies. It explores how this relation is affected by the strict concavity of firms’ objective function induced by managerial objectives and by other features of reality, discusses the effects of conglomeration and horizontal mergers, and extends the results to non-oligopolistic supergames. / <p>Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 1999</p>

I uppsatsen undersöks marknadsavgränsningen vid onlinetjänster vilket är ett ämne som uppmärksammats nyligen i ett avgörande från Marknadsdomstolen där inblandade parter var OnlinePizza och Pizza24, som båda är verksamma inom onlinebeställning av mat. Yrkandet kunde inte bifallas på grund av bristande bevisning från den yrkande parten. Författarna har diskuterat hur utfallet av domen kunde blivit om tillräcklig bevisning hade lagts fram.Med stöd av svensk och europeisk rätt samt relevant praxis diskuterar författarna framförallt angående begränsningen av den relevanta produktmarknaden vid onlinetjänster, särskilt för matbeställningar.Det går inte att dra slutsatser angående den relevanta produktmarknaden för onlinetjänster eftersom tjänsterna till en väldigt stor grad skiljer sig från varandra generellt i syfte och användning. Författarna har undersökt tjänsten onlinebeställning av mat och kommit fram till att den relevanta produktmarknaden bygger på tre grundpelare. Även om onlinetjänster oftast betraktas som geografiskt obegränsade spelar dock den geografiska marknaden roll vid fastställandet av den relevanta marknaden för olika onlinetjänster.