The Internet, undoubtedly, is the most influential technical invention of the 20th century that affects and constantly changes all aspects of our day-to-day lives nowadays. Although it is hard to predict its long-term consequences, the potential future of the Internet definitely relies on future Internet research. Prior to every development and deployment project, an extensive and comprehensive research study must be performed in order to design, model, analyze, and evaluate all impacts of the new initiative on the existing environment. Taking the ever-growing size of the Internet and the increasing complexity of novel Internet-based applications and services into account, the evaluation and validation of new ideas cannot be effectively carried out over local test beds and small experimental networks. The gap which exists between the small-scale pilots in academic and research test beds and the realize validations and actual deployments in production networks can be bridged by using virtual infrastructures. FEDERICA is one of the facilities, based on virtualization capabilities in both network and computing resources, which creates custom-made virtual environments and makes them available for Future Internet Researchers. This article provides a comprehensive overview of the state-of-the-art research projects that have been using the virtual infrastructure slices of FEDERICA in order to validate their research concepts, even when they are disruptive to the test bed’s infrastructure, to obtain results in realistic network environments. / © 2011 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works. QC20120119 / FEDERICA

p. 1-165 / Submitted by Santiago Fabio (fabio.ssantiago@hotmail.com) on 2013-03-05T19:32:06Z No. of bitstreams: 1 88888.pdf: 855400 bytes, checksum: 6dbddc34aee63fb3bdb425a71554efc4 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Valdinéia Ferreira(neiabf@ufba.br) on 2013-03-07T15:12:56Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 88888.pdf: 855400 bytes, checksum: 6dbddc34aee63fb3bdb425a71554efc4 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-03-07T15:12:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 88888.pdf: 855400 bytes, checksum: 6dbddc34aee63fb3bdb425a71554efc4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006 / Esta dissertação tem por objetivo avaliar os comportamentos adotados por firmas inseridas em redes de produção, para a identificação de comportamentos predominantes. Baseia-se na premissa de que os tipos de comportamento variam entre competição (alta e baixa) e cooperação (idem). De acordo com o modelo de análise proposto, as dimensões que definem os tipos de comportamento são a confiança – desdobrada nos componentes transparência, honestidade e relacionamento interpessoal – e a flexibilidade – subdividida nos componentes pró-atividade e reconfiguração. Para cada componente, é sugerido um conjunto de indicadores. O comportamento predominante pode ser identificado a partir de um questionário, montado com base nos indicadores do modelo de análise e em escalas qualitativas. As respostas do questionário permitem o cálculo de um valor para cada uma das dimensões, o que corresponde às coordenadas da matriz ConFlex – Confiança X Flexibilidade, onde o comportamento predominante pode ser encontrado. Foram pesquisadas três redes de produção do mercado local, onde o questionário foi respondido pelos subcontratados das líderes. O modelo foi testado, com base nas técnicas de Spearman e de Wilcoxon, e os resultados encontrados sugerem a consistência das relações propostas para o comportamento e as dimensões, para os componentes transparência e honestidade e a confiança, e para a flexibilidade e seus componentes. A correlação entre o componente relacionamento interpessoal e a confiança não se revelou estatisticamente significante. Entretanto, estes testes não podem ser considerados conclusivos, e são recomendadas outras verificações, para consolidar o modelo. Também foi possível identificar os comportamentos predominantes em cada uma das redes pesquisadas. Em duas delas, os resultados encontrados – competição baixa, para ambas – estavam de acordo com o que foi projetado, com base nos estudos teóricos e nas características das redes – entre competição baixa e cooperação baixa. Para a outra rede, são apresentadas possíveis explicações para a discordância entre o resultado calculado – cooperação alta – e o esperado – mesma faixa das outras duas. / Salvador

This thesis examines the position of the Czech power-engineering industry in the global market. The first aim of this thesis is to analyze the level of involvement of the Czech power-engineering firms into the GPN. The second goal is to discover to what extent the position of these firms depends on the quality of the regional innovation systems. It employs two relatively new concepts of the global production networks (GPN) and regional innovation systems (RIS) in order to reach its two main goals. The vast majority of the exemined power-engineering companies connected with global production networks and 12 of them are are identified as lead firms in GPN. Relatively very good positions of the Czech power-engineering firms in GPN caused by the industrial traditions of the Czech firms, the quality of the supporting industries and the presence of the global power- engineering TNCs in Czechia. Most of the companies supply equipment to others branches simultaneously with the power-engineering. The companies carrying out their own R&D&I activities bring the highest value to the industry. The results proved the assumption that the firms embedded in relatively more developed RISs usually enjoy higher positions in GPNs Key words: global production networks, regional innovation systems, Czechia

The problems of forced labour and degrading work persist within modern sectors of contemporary economies. This presents both a practical and a theoretical challenge, as reflected in the literature on new slavery and on unfree labour. Analysis of the production networks within which forced labour and degrading work are found, however, has yet to form a central theme within these bodies of literature. This thesis contributes to filling the above-mentioned gap in the literature by exploring the role of the labour dynamics of production networks in two cases of 'slave labour' in Brazil. The first case involves internal migrant workers in sugar cane while the second case involves cross-border migrants in garment workshops. The thesis addresses the question of whether, and how, the labour dynamics of production networks contribute to 'slave labour' and degrading work in the Brazilian sugar cane and garment sectors. The analysis is a cross-disciplinary one, rooted in development studies but also drawing on economic geography, sociology and economics. A case study method is used, relying principally on archival sources, a focus group and semi-stuctured interviews. Drawing on and developing the Global Production Network (GPN) framework, dynamics of production networks are conceived of as sets of power relations which structure the constraints and opportunities for the various actors who negotiate within them. These interlocking sets of relations include, among others: relations between workers, producers, suppliers, buyers, market intermediaries, civil society groups and the state. The labour dynamics of production networks are the subset of these dynamics involving or impacting relations between workers and employers and thereby structuring conditions of employment. Conditions of employment for migrant workers are examined in each case to show how these constitute 'slave labour.' Degrading conditions and restricted freedoms are found to exist to different degrees and along a number of dimensions. At the extreme, these conditions are labelled 'slave labour' in Brazil. It is argued that 'slave labour' in these cases is therefore a symptom of a wider problem of degrading work. The labour dynamics of production networks are analysed to reveal how producers at labour-intensive stages of production in both cases face increased levels of competition, and their strategies in response to these pressures intersect with the strategies of migrant workers and labour market intermediaries to produce outcomes of 'slave labour' and degrading work. Race, gender and migration status play a complex role in creating categories of workers vulnerable to degrading work and 'slave labour,' drawing attention to the way that production is necessarily embedded in particular socio-economic contexts. The analysis highlights the importance of accounting for and intervening in production networks within efforts to address 'slave labour' and degrading work.

There have been major changes taking place in export horticulture over time that have been compounded by the recent economic crisis. Women and men have been affected differently by these changes. Women have played a major role as waged and unwaged labour but have also been significantly affected by these shifts. Although we know about the effects of the supermarket-led global production network (GPN) expansion on gender relations existing literature does not explore theoretically and empirically the gender implications of changing production networks. The thesis addresses this research gap by investigating the shifting role of women in the table (fresh) grape GPN from the town of Archanes in Crete, Greece to the European market and the implications for women’s labour agency across three periods. Thus, it addresses the research question: How has the relationship between women’s waged and unwaged work in the table grape GPN shifted across periods and what are the implications for gender and GPN analysis? It investigates changes across: 1) the period of the producer-led export market; 2) the period of the buyer-led GPN expansion; and 3) the period of crisis. A qualitative case study approach is used, utilising primarily interviews, focus groups and participant observation. This research builds on the GPN, feminist political economy and intra-household bargaining literatures to further develop a Gendered Global Production Networks (Gendered GPN) approach. An evolving Gendered GPN approach combines the GPN approach with a concept of gendered societal embeddedness which captures the interaction between commercial drivers and gendered societal relations. The thesis draws from the intra-household bargaining literature to incorporate a household level analysis of labour bargaining and fall-back positions to ‘unpack’ the concept of women’s labour agency. The thesis finds that while in the period of the producer-led export market women were unskilled labour, the expansion of supermarkets in period 2 offered skills and economic opportunities, enabling them to bargain in crisis even as unwaged labour in table grapes. Hence labour agency becomes more important in shaping women’s position in production networks than in the producer-led export market. Ultimately the GPN was still able to get high quality at low costs through female labour. Therefore commercial pressures influence gendered societal relations but also gendered societal relations influence commercial transitions. The findings show complex and non-linear forms of change characterised by tensions between commercial and gendered societal relations in a process of transition underpinned by shifts in women’s work and agency. I capture this with the concept of ‘gendered societal transitions’. This helps to further develop a Gendered GPN approach to advance knowledge of non-linear gendered transformations as GPNs evolve.

While it cannot be questioned that we live in an era of unprecedented, often conflicting and turbulent changes, which, alongside their outcomes, are commonly referred to as “globalisation”, some processes of economic globalisation still remain largely under-researched both in sectoral and geographical terms. Conducted from the perspective of economic geography, this thesis addresses two significant research lacunae in economic geography – one sectoral (the hotel industry) and one geographical (Central and Eastern Europe). The paucity of research on services in general and tourism and the hotel sector in particular (the sectoral gap) is especially pronounced with regard to the CEE region (the geographical gap). Meanwhile, the globalisation of the service sector which, further to the collapse of the communist system in 1989, has also embraced CEE is seen to have a growing impact on the (re)integration of the CEE countries into the global economy. Concurrently, the importance of the CEE market in the globalisation of services is also constantly increasing. Thus, as the first systematic study of the international hotel sector in the CEE region, the thesis makes an important contribution to the understanding of the globalisation of the hotel industry (and the globalisation of the service sector) both in theoretical and empirical terms. The thesis focuses on the spatial expansion of international hotel groups into Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) after 1989 and its main objective is to describe and explain the interactions between different forms of corporate development of international hotel groups and the processes of regional growth in different institutional contexts in CEE. The thesis is mainly qualitative. It is based on two intersecting comparative case studies – one organisational (all hotel groups from the world’s Top 50 that are present in CEE, i.e. 23 groups) and one territorial (three CEE countries – Poland, Estonia and Bulgaria). Grounded in the global production networks (GPN) perspective (Henderson et al 2002), the thesis investigates what can be called two “dimensions” of globalisation of the hotel industry (Coe and Ward 2007). Thus, apart from exploring the geographical expansion of international hotel groups into CEE (the horizontal dimension) the thesis also focuses upon the embeddedness of hotel groups in the variety of socio-political and institutional contexts currently emerging in CEE in place of state socialism (the vertical dimension). With regard to the horizontal dimension, the thesis argues that the spatial distribution of international hotels in CEE is shaped by two sets of factors – hotel groups’ strategies of expansion and the varying opportunities for the hotel sector development that different markets in CEE can offer. With regard to the vertical dimension, in turn, it is contended that the degree to which each economic, political or social characteristic of a given post-communist context influences the expansion of hotel groups hinges upon the business model preferred by the hotel group. By the same token, the degree to which the group can foster regional growth in a given territory hinges upon the level of embeddedness of the group in that territory which, in turn, is reflective of the business model employed by the hotel group with regard to a given hotel.

This thesis aims to understand the role of public governance (national laws and regulations) in addressing poor working conditions on South African fruit farms connected to global production networks (GPN), at the intersection of global private (codes of conduct) and local civil society organisation (CSO) initiatives. A particular objective of the investigation is to understand the extent to which public governance is able to address working conditions on South African fruit export farms, taking into account wider global commercial pressures inherent in fruit GPNs. Much analysis of global private and governance by local CSOs has not sufficiently addressed the role of public governance. Research focusing on public governance in addressing working conditions in South African fruit has not sufficiently accounted for the multi-scalar interactions between lead firm supermarkets, national suppliers and local fruit producers. These interactions are positioned to shape and influence regulatory outcomes for different groups of permanent and casual farmworkers. The thesis seeks to address the following central research question: ‘To what extent do multi-scalar tensions in global production networks (GPNs) challenge the public governance of working conditions, and what are the lessons from labour operating in South African fruit production?’This research draws upon the GPN analytical framework and public governance research, in order to conceptualise the multi-scalar commercial and governance processes that play out in the South African fruit export sector. In doing so, this research seeks to contribute to existing GPN and public governance literatures. Previous GPN research has not sufficiently investigated the role of public governance (laws and regulations) in addressing working conditions, partly due to an assumption that neoliberal policies have eroded the ability of developing states to regulate labour incorporated into global production. This problematic is beginning to be addressed, due to increasing academic acknowledgement of the central regulatory role nation states continue to play in addressing working conditions in global production, at the intersection of global private (codes of conduct) initiatives and governance by local CSOs (NGO and trade union activity). Additionally, this thesis seeks to bring together two separate strands of ‘governance’ research in global production networks, which have thus far been investigated separately; the governance of commercial interactions on the one hand, and the governance of labour on the other. A key theoretical argument is that understanding challenges facing the public governance of labour requires a broader conceptualisation of the governance of multi-scalar commercial interactions in global production, which shape and influence workforce composition at local farm level. This thesis argues that an inherent multi-scalar tension exists on the one hand between ‘global commercial pressures’ exerted by global lead firms over national suppliers and local producers driving workforce casualisation, and on the other hand a ‘global governance deficit’ at the core of which lies a public governance deficit facing increasing numbers of casual workers, characterised by minimum wages insufficient to meet living costs and a lack of trade union representation. This tension, it is argued, underpinned the crisis in South African fruit in 2012/13, when casual workers mobilised to demand an increase in the agricultural minimum wage, and threatened the fruit value chain by blocking the main arterial routes to Cape Town port. The policy implications of this thesis are that nation states are required to adopt multi-scalar interventions which transcend traditional forms of governance, in order to address the global commercial pressures inherent in GPNs and protect increasing numbers of casual workers in this context.

Production Networks of Automobile Industry as a Factor of Regional Development in Czechia Abstract Thesis "Production Networks of automotive industry as a factor of regional development in Czechia" deals with linking economic globalization, global production networks and regional development. The main purpose is to analyze the relationship between regional development and the Czech automotive industry, depending on the position of automotive firms in global production networks. The work focuses on three areas: quantitative analysis of the automobile supplier sector, the spatial heterogenity of firms located in different positions in global production networks and formulating typology of regional development potential. The methodology employs 37 indicators for inter-regional comparisons. Based on comparative analysis, I identified a typology of regions according to their regional develompent potential. Keywords: automotive industry, global production networks, regional development

Thesis advisor: Matthew O. Jackson / In this dissertation, I focus on networks in macroeconomics and finance. In Chapter 1, I develop a theoretical model of rescue of distressed financial institutions. I study rescues in a coalition formation framework, which provides new insights into the financial contagion and stability and rescue of systemically important financial institutions. The findings show that the levels of negative shock, bankruptcy costs, interbank obligations of each financial firm and the topology of the interbank network all together determine financial firms’ contributions in rescues, where government assistance in rescues is not required in certain types of network structures. In Chapter 2, which is a joint work with Matthew O. Jackson, we study the impacts of sector level technological changes on wage inequality and GDP growth in production networks. Our results show that the macroeconomic implications of sector level technological changes depend on additional factors than the input-output structure such as type of the intermediate good (e.g., substitutes for labor vs complements to labor), task weights in production processes and labor supply. Chapter 1. I model bank rescues in a setting where banks hold each other’s financial instruments creating a network of financial linkages. Costly bankruptcies reduce interbank payments, which creates incentives for rescues by other banks. Accordingly, I analyze the sources of inefficiencies in bank rescues and show that the social welfare is maximized if regulators promote financial networks that are evenly connected (without disconnectedness/clustering) and have intermediate levels of interbank liabilities at bank level. Such networks maximize banks’ total contributions to the rescue of a distressed bank hit by a relatively small negative shock, but also ensure that banks do not fail sequentially like dominos when a bank hit by a large shock does actually fail. The results also provide a rationale for why some systemically important banks were not rescued in 2007-2008. In the model, a social welfare maximizing government assists the rescues designed to prevent the potential contagious failures and maintain financial stability instead of assisting the rescue of a bank that is hit by a large shock. Chapter 2. We study the impact of technological change on wage inequality and GDP growth in production networks. We do this in a simple model that contrasts the effects of changes in intermediate goods that substitute for labor with those that complement labor. Technological changes in intermediate goods that complement labor result in increased GDP and do not change relative wages. Technological changes in intermediate goods that substitute for (low-skilled) labor involve three phases: pre-automation, transition to automation, and post-automation. During the transition phase, technological changes in such intermediate good lead to increased wage inequality and relatively smaller increases in GDP than comparable changes in complementary goods. In addition, our results show that firm-level weights of tasks performed by different types of labor play key roles in macroeconomic network consequences of interconnectedness. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2018. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics.

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