The role of information is central to the study of corporate finance. In the real world where one party usually has more and better information, information asymmetry forms the basis of analysis in many key aspects of modern economics including contract theory and principle-agent problems. Although technology facilitates information flow, information continues to play an important role because we live in an environment in which there is more information and information that is more complex. Moreover, we are experiencing a fundamental shift towards a knowledge-based economy in which ideas and concepts, both in the form of information, gain importance. This thesis examines the role of information as we make this transition in two separate settings: First in a “real impact” setting where knowledge generated at leading research universities spills over into firms nearby, and second, in a "traditional market" setting where analysts help disseminate information. In the post-industrial economy of the 21st century, innovation is the engine of economic growth. As a result, we increasingly value human capital and knowledge. Chapter 2 looks at the location of firms relative to knowledge centers and its impact on stock volatility. I argue that knowledge spillovers foster firm R&D and find supporting evidence. My evidence is consistent with the classic models on the impact of human capital on economic growth (Nelson and Phelps, 1966). Chapter 3 examines the impact of knowledge and innovation on firms’ cash management policies. Bates, Kahle, and Stulz (2009) find that the average cash-to-assets ratio for firms more than doubles in the past decades and attribute it to changing firm characteristics. I identify innovation as a driving force behind these changes, resulting in firms holding more cash as a precaution. In Chapter 4, I study the investment value of information from analysts, or more specifically, analyst target prices. Due to potential conflicts of interest problems, the value that analysts provide to investors remains controversial. Moreover, since the information age is characterized by information overload, it is harder for investors to identify relevant information. I find that institutions trade in the same direction as the consensus target price movement. / Thesis (Ph.D, Management) -- Queen's University, 2012-03-07 14:20:20.178

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The value and scope of telecom services have increased substantially in the decade from the mid 1990s. The telecom companies have offered not only telephone services but also data exchanges for example streaming services. Therefore, they now offer telecom services as packaging into which layered services are integrated. The number of actors involved in the market has increased due to the expansion of business areas, while rapidly changing technological trends have altered R&D methods. The thesis shows that the adoption of the marketing concept and the development of complex inter-firm technology based relationships underpin the creation and management of new telecom services. The relationships have originated from an exchange of technological knowledge and specialized skills. This research uses the NTT-centred collaboration system in Japan, which features relational exchanges and high mutual dependence. This case shows that inter-firm relationships greatly contributed in the development of technological resources in two ways; collecting advantageous technologies from others and mediating in the introduction of new technologies. In addition, developments in technology resulted in an expanded domain of applicability. Consequently, not only the market structure was changed but also the relationship between marketing and R&D changed. With increasing integration of the market, the number of related firms increased as firms concentrated on specific technologies, with additional firms having superior competitive advantages in each layered business area. The case in the thesis also shows mechanisms of changing inter-firm relationships under dynamic business circumstances; indirect exchanges occurred when inter-firm relationships changed. Inter-firm relationships are changed, keeping existing but adding new relationships. The study also indicates a new direction to study service marketing. As the new trend of service development in ICT industry develops so the integration abilities and the management of inter-firm relationships in supply-sides become more focused. The thesis points to the importance of these upstream activities (coordinating inter-firm relationships in a service-oriented approach) and advocates the presence of a facilitator who can bridge both upstream and downstream activities. The results should contribute to both marketing and technology management in academia as well as business practices in R&D management.

Australia has a crop research system with higher research intensity than exists internationally. Motivated to improve R&D policy in Canada, this dissertation focuses on the Australian End Point Royalty (EPR) system for wheat and addresses four principal questions: (1) How was the Australian system created and how does it work? (2) How do public, producer and private ownership of breeding programs affect the pricing of varieties? (3) How do EPR rates affect wheat variety adoption? (4) Finally, how would uniform EPR rates, similar to those used in France, affect variety selection, total production and revenue if used in the Australian market? In addressing the first question I use existing literature and interviews with prominent personnel in the Australian wheat breeding system, including management of InterGrain, AGT, DAFWA, GRDC and others. Interviews were conducted during field study in Australia in 2011. In addressing the second question I employ a horizontal location model to analyze three game theoretic scenarios of a two firm oligopoly market with private, public and producer owned-breeding companies. The results show public and producer ownership of one of the wheat breeding programs reduces price level relative to private only ownership. I derive a novel result showing that when competing with private firms who must price above marginal cost, the public firm should also price above marginal cost in order to maximize total industry surplus. In addressing the third question I develop and estimate an econometric wheat variety adoption model for Western Australia. I find EPR rates have a negative inelastic, statistically significant impact on the adoption of varieties. Finally, in addressing the last question, I use the econometric model to simulate the adoption of Australian wheat varieties, given a counterfactual of revenue neutral uniform EPR rates. The uniform EPR rates speed up both the adoption and dis-adoption of varieties, thereby increasing weighted average yield and total production. The value of the increase in value of production exceeds the revenue for breeders under varying EPR rates, suggesting uniform EPR system may be an attractive alternative to varying EPR rates.

Agricultural research and development (R&D) investment is becoming an increasingly important policy issue as food prices push upwards and food security problems emerge. An important source of agricultural R&D funding is from producer check-offs, which are increasingly being used to fund applied agricultural research such as disease management, genetic improvement, and weed control. Existing studies of producer-funded agricultural R&D indicate that there are high private and social rates of return to agricultural R&D investment by farmers, and thus that farmers are under investing in R&D. The focus of this thesis is at the producer level. This study examines one of the factors -- the horizon problem -- behind the apparent disincentive for farmers to invest in producer-funded R&D activities. It has been argued that given the long period of time over which the benefits of R&D investment occur, the increasing age of the farm population implies that the horizon problem could be indeed an important factor in producer underinvestment. Contrary to this widely acknowledged argument, this study shows the horizon problem is likely not a factor affecting farmers R&D investment decisions. Two models are developed to examine the horizon problem. The first model consists of a framework for determining the marginal internal rate of return of investing in R&D. Specifically, the model calculates the internal rate of return -- i.e., IRRh -- associated with the farmers' planning horizon and compares this to the internal rate of return -- i.e., IRR bar-- associated with the benefit horizon of the R&D. The impact of the horizon problem is determined by examining the difference between IRRh and IRR bar. The results of the horizon problem model show how that, contrary to what some authors have argued, the horizon problem is likely not a disincentive for R&D investment, unless the time horizon of farmers is very short. Given that the membership horizon for the average Canadian producer is 15 to 20 years, it is expected that the horizon problem is not an issue for Canadian producers. Furthermore, the analysis assumes farmers only are concerned with profit maximization. However, farmers may also consider other factors when making R&D investment decisions, such as future generations of agricultural producers and environment issues. The results of this study show that, even under the assumption of profit maximization, the horizon problem is not an issue for Canadian farmers, let alone in a more realistic model implemented by including factors other than profit. The results of the horizon problem model also show that the impact of the horizon problem is not affected by land tenure relationships. The second model consists of a multi-region, multi-product trade model that is used to examine the impact of Canadian pea R&D funding on consumers and producers in Canada and in various countries around the world that produce and consume pulses. To address the underinvestment issue, it is important to understand the question of who benefits from the research that is undertaken, and who bears the cost. Given that Canada is the largest pea exporter in the world an increase in R&D investment can be expected to have a significant impact on international trade and overseas producers and consumers. The simulation results from the second model illustrate that with increased pea R&D investment, Canadian producers, as well as consumers in all regions, are better off as a result of the R&D investment, while overseas producers are worse off. The results of the sensitivity analysis show that a pivotal supply shift associated with an increased levy, combined with a parallel supply curve shift due to increases in the knowledge stock, does affect the IRR in the large country versus the small country case. This result differs from the result that occurs when there is a parallel shift in supply at both the levy and R&D stages, indicating that it is important to understand the interaction between the manner in which R&D is funded, the way in which R&D affects supply and the trade status of a country. The results of the sensitivity analysis also indicate that the IRR to Canadian producers depends critically on how large an impact pea R&D has on the production of other crops (e.g., wheat and canola). The larger is this impact -- i.e., the more that wheat and canola production falls as a result of higher yields/lower costs of pea production -- the smaller is the IRR. The results also indicate that the elasticities of demand for peas and lentils in the importing countries do not have an impact on the IRR in the case where Canada is a large country exporter for peas only; however, they do have an impact on IRR in the case where Canada is a large exporter for both peas and lentils. In all cases, the more elastic is the demand, the higher is the IRR.

The paper sheds some light on the issue of geographically mediated knowledge spillovers from university research activities to regional knowledge production in high tech industries in Austria. Knowledge spillovers occur because knowledge created by university is typically not contained within that institution, and thereby creates value for others. The conceptual framework for analysing geographic spillovers of university research on regional knowledge production is derived from Griliches (1979). It is assumed that knowledge production in the high tech sectors essentially depends on two major sources of knowledge: the university research that represents the potential pool of knowledge spillovers and R&D performed by the high tech sectors themselves. Knowledge is measured in terms of patents, university research and R&D in terms of expenditures. We refine the standard knowledge production function by modelling research spillovers as a spatially discounted external stock of knowledge. This enables us to capture regional and interregional spillovers. Using district-level data and employing spatial econometric tools evidence is found of university research spillovers that transcend the geographic scale of the political district in Austria. It is shown that geographic boundedness of the spillovers is linked to a decay effect. (authors' abstract) / Series: Discussion Papers of the Institute for Economic Geography and GIScience

Spillover phenomena are usually statistically estimated on the basis of regional and temporal panel data. In this paper we review and investigate exploratory and confirmatory statistical panel data techniques. We illustrate the methods by calculations in the stetting of the well known Research and Development Spillover study by Coe and Helpman (1995). It will be demonstrated that alternative estimation techniques that are well compatible with the data can lead to opposite conclusions. (author's abstract) / Series: Working Papers Series "Growth and Employment in Europe: Sustainability and Competitiveness"

The purpose of this research was to study the applicability of management system standards (MSSs) in a research and development (R&D)-oriented nanotechnology setting. Since multiple quality and R&D-specific standards were found to be relevant in such environments, a methodology for the integration of MSS requirements into an organizations management system (MS), found in the recently published Integrated Use of Management System Standards (IUMSS) Handbook, was also tested in the study. The steps within the IUMSS methodology were applied to integrate the requirements of two R&D MSSs (UNE 166002:2006 and EARTO:2000) into the existing ISO 9001-based quality management system (QMS) within a Case Study Organization (CSO). Recommendations for achieving full compliance with the standards were also provided to the CSO. This research provides significant contributions for any organization using or intending to use the IUMSS methodology for building and integrating standardized management systems in an R&D-oriented setting such as nanotechnology. / Engineering Management

自1991年政府實行促進產業升級條例以來，政府為了刺激廠商增加研發投入，期間不斷的提供誘因，諸如調降申請投資抵減請門檻以及提高抵減比率，本文以1991年至2003年做為研究期間，研究在促進產業升級條例每一時期政府的政策對廠商研究發展投入與績效的影響。本文分別對一般產業、輕工業與重工業、非電子業與電子業做實証研究，結果發現，在申請投資抵減門檻調降為200萬元時，對一般產業、輕工業與非電子業有顯著的影響，與1991-1995年申請門檻為300萬元時相比，一般產業、輕工業、非電子業研發投入分別增加了1.96%、6.55%以及1.38%。但當門檻再往下調降甚至是取消門檻時，對一般產業、輕工業與重工業、非電子業與電子業皆無顯著的影響。績效方面，當期的研發投入對當期的研發績效有著負向的影響，但前一期的研發投入對廠商當期的研發績效卻有正向影響，這個結論對一般產業、輕工業與重工業、非電子業皆相同。對電子業而言，前一期的研發投入雖對當期研發績效影響不顯著，但與當期研發投入一樣，對研發績效同樣是負向的影響，這很有可能是電子業本身研發投入之遞延效果比較高所導致。