This dissertation consists of three essays in empirical industrial organization with applications in U.S. airline and automobile industries. Chapter 1 motivates the aim of this dissertation with a brief summary of the main goals and findings of the subsequent chapters. The main focus of this dissertation is to higlight the changing environments in the U.S. airline and automobile industries in recent years and investigate their implications for the nature of industry competitiveness. Following the recession of 2000 and post 9/11 events, the U.S. airline industry has undergone major restructuring which has defined the way airlines compete today. Chapter 2 of this dissertation explores the impact of the presence of Low Cost Carriers (LCCs) on consumer welfare in this newly restructured market environment. Previous studies on LCC competition have not addressed the welfare issue and have only been limited to impact of LCC entry on average airfare. Departing from previous literature, this question is posed using a discrete choice model of demand for differentiated products. In chapter 3 we use a structural oligopoly model for differentiated products similar to chapter 2 to unveil the nature of conduct that exists in markets with endpoints which qualify as hubs of legacy carriers. In contrast to previous literature on airline hub market conduct, this chapter investigates the nature of conduct that exists in markets defined exclusively by network carrier hubs as a whole group incorporating product differentiation in the model framework. Finally chapter 4 uses the same methodological framework outlined in chapter 3 to explore the importance of frequent incidence of manufacturer incentives in shaping market conduct in the automobile industry. Unlike past literature on automobile market conduct, this is achieved using proprietary dealer level average transaction price data obtained from J.D. Power and Associates (JDPA) with a focus on the Big Three automakers. Specifically we use the widely successful Employee Discount Pricing (EDP) promotional program of 2005, the first of its kind, as a backdrop to identify changes in the nature of short run conduct among the Big Three that might be signalled by such promotional programs. / Ph. D.

Choi, Wing-Hon. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 55-61). / Abstract and questionnaire also in Chinese.

This thesis deals with different forms of strategic complementarities in industrial organization problems. Chapter 2 is an attempt to develop a unified approach to endogenous heterogeneity by constructing a general class of two-player symmetric games that possess only asymmetric pure-strategy Nash equilibria. These classes of games are characterized in some abstract sense by two general properties: payoff non-concavities and some form of strategic substitutability. While the second characteristic allows to show the existence of pure strategy Nash equilibria, the second precludes these equilibria to be symmetric. Other two classes of games that always possess asymmetric, but never symmetric, pure-strategy equilibria, although they are not of strategic substitutes are also studied. This chapter also generalizes a number of models dealing with two-stage games, with long term investment decisions in the first stage and product market competition in the second stage. Chapter 3 investigates the effects of forward looking behaviour in technology adoption. The setup is an overlapping generations model where agents choose between two alternative networks taking into consideration both the installed base and the expected base. The latter element is the distinctive feature of the approach. It is shown that a unique equilibrium exists, on which agents coordinate their expectations. While exhibiting hysteresis, the equilibrium adoption path does not comply with technologies locking in. Network choices are characterized both in terms of their long run properties and the expected time of adoption. Chapter 4 studies the problem of a monopolist who produces a good with network externalities and faces the possibility of selling a new higher quality. Within the vertical product differentiation it identifies the necessary and sufficient conditions for quality improvement to take place when a good, produced by a monopolist, exhibits positive network externalities. When network effects are not very strong, the monopolist produces both the high and the low quality and thus quality improvement takes place. In this case, he will use an introductory pricing strategy for the quality that benefits from network externalities, not maximizing however the network size. As the network effect becomes more important, the monopolist will have an incentive to practise introductory pricing and produce both qualities. Finally, if the network externality is higher than the intrinsic quality differential, quality improvement does not take place. Chapter 5 deals with the problem of an incumbent producing a low quality good with network externalities that faces the threat of entry by a higher quality good. In the framework of a vertical product differentiation model, it is identified a necessary and sufficient condition under which quality improvements are spontaneously adopted along, in spite of the existence of network effects. This condition says that the intensity of network effects on consumers' preferences should not exceed twice the differential of intrinsic qualities existing between the two variants. Finally, chapter 6 is concerned with the optimal path of prices of a monopolist who operates in a network industry for a finite horizon. Agents obtain intrinsic utility from the good and from the fact that in the past there have been other consumers using it. It is observed that the monopolist has an incentive to introduce the good at initially low prices and to increase the price as the time goes by. This chapter concludes with a necessary and sufficient condition under which the initial price, and only the initial one is zero. This condition is related both with the intensity of the preferences for the network and with the time horizon of the monopolist.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Washington University in St. Louis, 2006. / Adviser: Panos Kouvelis. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2008. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on July 27, 2009) Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Akron, School of Dance, Theatre, and Arts Administration, 2009. / "May, 2009." Title from electronic thesis title page (viewed 8/1/2009) Advisor, Neil B. Sapienza; Committee members, Durand L. Pope, Massoud Saidpour; School Director, Neil B. Sapienza; Dean of the College, James M. Lynn; Dean of the Graduate School, George R. Newkome. Includes bibliographical references.

Medical tourism is a global emerging industry and is an important component of tourism., and operates on the basis of both individual and regional level. Medical tourism refers to a vacation that involves traveling across international borders to obtain a broad range of medical services. It usually includes leisure, fun, and relaxation activities, as well as wellness and health-care service. Patients who seek to reduce their health-care expenditures travel to medical centers in other countries to obtain dental, medical, and surgical services that are less expensive than those at home. Medical tourism can be defined as the provision of cost-effective medical care to patients in collaboration with the tourism industry. This process is usually facilitated by the private medical sector, whereas both the private and public sectors are involved in the tourism industry. By traveling abroad to have surgery or other medical treatment, medical tourists also take advantage of the opportunity to visit a popular travel destination, thus combining health care with a vacation. The aim of this thesis can be summarized as to provide a deep understanding of what factors are essential and require the phenomenon of Medical Tourism in terms of Swedish travel patterns. The research questions aims also to develop a competitive and sustainable business concept within the frames of the current market. The results of this paper aims to proof in addition to the knowledge gained from literature and precedent research, to use a case study methodology to provide a valuable insight for both academics and practitioners into the process of further research, pursue studies and practicing approaches within the context of Medical Tourism. Results indicate that , the factors that characterize the Swedish travel patterns within medical tourism is price, availability and service, quality and the ability of combining holidays with treatment. Medical tourism phenomena can be explained using for components of medical tourism system: medical tourists, medical tourist regenerating regions, medical tourist destinations regions and medical tourism industries. Each component is a basic component of the medical tourism system, and each is mutually connected and interdependent in their mechanisms. Medical tourists require the four areas of the services which are needed for successful medical tourism. Even if the components of service influence each other, in general medical tourism agency plays a major role in arranging the schedule of medical tourists for the for service components. Medical service may be the most important factor which the medical tourists consider when they choose a destination for medical tourism. Accommodation, food and beverage, tourism experiences, and government regulations and socio-cultural factors are also crucial factors affecting the choice of a medical tourism destination. Quality management and Product differentiation is to strategies that both interrelate with each other and benefits both medical tourism efficiencies and medical tourists. They are important strategies from both a sustainable and economic perspectives as Quality management maximizes the internal force of every level in medical tourism clinics in order to satisfy their patients, meanwhile Product differentiation aims to develop sustainable marketing approaches to attract potential medical tourists and create competitive offers.

This study analyses and compares the theories relating to advertising and competition in economics literature with their operation in the market-place, and with the attitudes and pronouncements of public policy towards advertising and competition. A survey of the main literature in economic theory concerned with advertising and competition includes the theory of value, the theory of the firm, and theories and empirical studies on the effects of advertising and imperfect competition on prices, profits, barriers to entry and product differentiation. Since no general agreement exists on these theories and research, the review is interspersed with criticisms which have been made about specific features of them, and also a short outline of alternative theories which are considered to give a more accurate account of the behaviour of firms in the real world. Consumer behaviour in the market is then studied from three viewpoints: a summary of the major academic theories of consumer behaviour; the results of some empirical research into consumer behaviour; and eight case histories of products and services which show how products are developed and introduced on the market. Finally, the economic theories are compared with the results of the empirical research and the case histories. The theory and practice of advertising and competition is then compared with extracts from the reports of public bodies to illustrate the attitude of public policy towards advertising and competition. The conclusions draw attention to the major discrepancies which appear to exist between theory and practice, and the implications that follow for public policy which seems to be predominantly based on the theory of the firm and the need to eliminate imperfections in the market such as product differentiation, advertising and non-price competition.

No description available.