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Domestic production of bioenergy by utilizing set-aside land in Taiwan can reduce Taiwan’s reliance on expensive and politically insecure foreign fossil fuels while also reducing the combustion of fossil fuels, which emit substantial amounts of greenhouse gases. After joining the World Trade Organization, Taiwan’s agricultural sector idled about one-third of the national cropland, hereafter called “set-aside land”. This potentially provides the land base for Taiwan to develop a bioenergy industry. This dissertation examines Taiwan’s potential for bioenergy production using feedstocks grown on set-aside land and discusses the consequent effects on Taiwan’s energy security plus benefits and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The Taiwan Agricultural Sector Model (TASM) was used to simulate different agricultural policies related to bioenergy production. To do this simulation the TASM model was extended to include additional bioenergy production possibilities and GHG accounting. We find that Taiwan’s bioenergy production portfolio depends on prices of ethanol, electricity and GHG. When GHG prices go up, ethanol production decreases and electricity production increases because of the relatively stronger GHG offset power of biopower. Results from this pyrolysis study are then incorporated into the TASM model. Biochar from pyrolysis can be used in two ways: burn it or use it as a soil amendment. Considering both of these different uses of biochar, we examine bioenergy production and GHG offset to see to what extent Taiwan gets energy security benefits from the pyrolysis technology and how it contributes to climate change mitigation. Furthermore, by examining ethanol, electricity and pyrolysis together in the same framework, we are able to see how they affect each other under different GHG prices, coal prices and ethanol prices. Results show that ethanol is driven out by pyrolysis-based electricity when GHG price is high. We also find that when biochar is hauled back to the rice fields, GHG emission reduction is higher than that when biochar is burned for electricity; however, national electricity production is consequently higher when biochar is burned.

Basically, my dissertation focuses on License Auctions. Four chapters of my dissertation are theoretical analysis of license auctions. Broadly speaking, I analyze the effects of different auction rules on revenue, efficiency and social welfare. The first chapter studies the flaw in the design of the 2000 Turkish GSM auction. In this auction, the Turkish government wants to raise as much revenue as possible and to increase competition in the cell-phone market by selling two licenses to new firms via a sequential auction, but it ends up with only one license sold. I identify this auction design failure. And I also show that if the auction were designed as a “simultaneous auction”, the government would sell two licenses and receive more revenue. In the second chapter, I show that if the cost asymmetry between the bidding firms is large enough, then having fewer firms in the market will surprisingly result in higher social welfare. This result is contrast to the common or general case in which “social welfare” will be higher if there are more firms competing in the market. In the third chapter, I characterize the optimal bidding strategies of local and global bidders for two heterogeneous licenses in a multi-unit simultaneous ascending auction with synergies. I determine the optimal bidding strategies in the presence of an exposure problem and show that global bidders may accept a loss even when they win all licenses and moreover, if a “bid-withdrawal” rule is introduced to the auction, the exposure problem disappears, and the simulation results show that revenue will be higher. In the last chapter, I study the Canadian AWS auction in which 40 percent spectrum are set aside for new firms. I characterize the effect of spectrum set-aside auctions on seller's revenue, consumer surplus and social welfare. I show that a spectrum set aside may not only encourage new entry and increase competition in the downstream market, but also under some circumstance, decreases the seller's revenue and consumer surplus. But a spectrum set aside results in inefficient allocation, and this inefficient entry further reduces social welfare.

Basically, my dissertation focuses on License Auctions. Four chapters of my dissertation are theoretical analysis of license auctions. Broadly speaking, I analyze the effects of different auction rules on revenue, efficiency and social welfare. The first chapter studies the flaw in the design of the 2000 Turkish GSM auction. In this auction, the Turkish government wants to raise as much revenue as possible and to increase competition in the cell-phone market by selling two licenses to new firms via a sequential auction, but it ends up with only one license sold. I identify this auction design failure. And I also show that if the auction were designed as a “simultaneous auction”, the government would sell two licenses and receive more revenue. In the second chapter, I show that if the cost asymmetry between the bidding firms is large enough, then having fewer firms in the market will surprisingly result in higher social welfare. This result is contrast to the common or general case in which “social welfare” will be higher if there are more firms competing in the market. In the third chapter, I characterize the optimal bidding strategies of local and global bidders for two heterogeneous licenses in a multi-unit simultaneous ascending auction with synergies. I determine the optimal bidding strategies in the presence of an exposure problem and show that global bidders may accept a loss even when they win all licenses and moreover, if a “bid-withdrawal” rule is introduced to the auction, the exposure problem disappears, and the simulation results show that revenue will be higher. In the last chapter, I study the Canadian AWS auction in which 40 percent spectrum are set aside for new firms. I characterize the effect of spectrum set-aside auctions on seller's revenue, consumer surplus and social welfare. I show that a spectrum set aside may not only encourage new entry and increase competition in the downstream market, but also under some circumstance, decreases the seller's revenue and consumer surplus. But a spectrum set aside results in inefficient allocation, and this inefficient entry further reduces social welfare.

Small business leaders (SBLs) underutilize billions of dollars of U.S. government funding for small business subcontracting. The role of small business in the United States is important to local economies as well as a major contributor to the U.S. economy. Using the resource-based view as the conceptual framework for this study, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore the strategies 5 government support sector SBLs in the mid-Atlantic region used to obtain U.S. government subcontract awards to remain sustainable. The selection criteria for this study consisted of small businesses in the mid-Atlantic region that have obtained subcontracts on prime government contracts. The data collection process included a review of the small business documents and participants' responses to semistructured interviews. The data analysis process included case study analysis and cross-case comparisons using methodological triangulation. Based on the data analysis, themes that emerged from the results of this study included education, experience, and networking related to strategy creation and implementation by the SBLs to obtain subcontracts on prime contracts. The findings of this study may contribute to social change by providing SBLs an opportunity to learn strategies to obtain subcontracts, which could increase organizational opportunities, promote job creation, and help to improve local economies through increases in tax revenues that could help the elderly, children, and others within the community.

In the United States, 99.9% of small businesses, which account for two-thirds of new jobs annually, do not participate in the federal set-aside program. Half of all small businesses will not survive their first 5 years. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies that U.S. small business leaders operating within the greater Colorado Springs metro area used to participate successfully in the federal contracting set-aside program. Von Bertalanffy's systems theory grounded the study. Data collection included semistructured interviews with an intensity purposeful sampling of 3 small business leaders participating successfully in the federal contracting set-aside program while operating within the greater Colorado Springs metropolitan area. Transcription of audio recordings from the interviews ensured data accuracy. Researcher interpretations were member checked to validate the credibility of the findings. Pattern matching and cross-case synthesis techniques facilitated data analysis and helped to identify emergent themes. The 3 themes from the study were (a) strategic management, (b) stakeholder recognition, and (c) value creation. Of these 3 themes, the most prolific was strategic management, as it began with a detailed strategy to target clients, create initiatives, and set priorities. This study may contribute to social change by promoting increased job creation through participation in the set-aside program. Expanded distribution of economic seeding to a broader representation of local communities may contribute to reducing social dependencies for the unemployed and the underemployed in a recovering economy. Small businesses contribute to local jobs, local revenue, and local taxes, all of which drive local economies.

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