Mémoire (M.P.M.O.)-- Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, 1994. / Résumé disponible sur Internet. CaQCU Document électronique également accessible en format PDF. CaQCU

Research on service compensation is rare. In this article we examine different compensation rules for integrated services (IS) which are produced jointly by a service provider and his client. Examples are consulting, advertising or management training. We distinguish three different compensation rules and compare them with joint profit maximization where both, service provider and client act as one organizational unit. The ompensation rules are (1) the input based compensation (IBC) characterized by a compensation that is based on work hours or work days, (2) the sales based compensation (SBC) with the compensation based on client’s sales and (3) the profit based compensation (PBC) with compensation based on client’s profits. We can show that under reasonable, realistic conditions the IBC (surprisingly) leads to better results for the service provider and for the client as compared to the PBC and the SBC.

Livestock production is one of the largest and fastest growing agricultural subsectors in the world, contributing almost 40 % of agricultural GDP. The present global trend of livestock intensification affects water demand, resulting in local alterations of hydrological features. This study quantifies water requirements for livestock production and links them to local changes in water-related ecosystem services (WRES). It examines the present situation in Uruguayan beef production as it undergoes an intensification process by analyzing three systems: traditional extensive production, mixed systems and intensive production.Mixed production systems are most water-effective in terms of water requirement. However, extensive production has the least negative long-term effects on the studied WRESs: soil productivity, erosion control and grass, crop and livestock production. Intensive systems contribute the largest negative impacts on soil productivity due to management practices, e.g. continuous cropping and fertilizer application (which is also costly). However, intensification also increases short-term positive effects on crop and livestock production. Mixed systems offer opportunities to increase livestock production, water use efficiency and mitigate soil degradation. However, a threshold value to avoid an undesirable regime shift in soil productivity remains to be determined.This framework developed herein, maps and quantifies local ecosystem effects associated with livestock production from a water perspective. It required simplifications and thus needs further improvements to be of practical use as a tool for best management practices of livestock production. Such tools can assist decision-makers in Uruguay on how to manage multiple ecosystem services in an agricultural landscape and enhance the provision of desired ES without degrading other key ecosystem processes, goods and services. For sustainable production of livestock in Uruguay, one should consider if the tradeoff between long-term negative impacts of intensification on regulating services is justifiable in the context of the short-term economic gains in provisioning services.

Cette thèse analyse les stratégies des firmes multinationales dans leurs différentes dimensions et évalue leur effet sur les consommateurs et travailleurs. Les essaies consécutifs s'intéressent aux choix d'expansion des FMNs, leur décision de délocalisation de production, leurs stratégies de l'investissement direct à l'étranger (IDE) au niveau agrégé, ainsi que les pratiques de la discrimination de prix sur les marchés aux fortes inégalités de revenu. / This thesis examines both theoretically and empirically strategies of multinational firms in their various dimensions and evaluates their impact on consumers and workers. The following essays look at MNEs' product expansion choices, their production localization decisions, foreign direct investment strategies (FOI) at the aggregate level and, finally, price discrimination practices on more unequal markets.