Fueled by ubiquitous access to mobile phones, and a massive population of nearly 3 billion unbanked people around the globe, mobile commerce is evolving as a disruptive technology. Simultaneously, mobile payments are surfacing as a killer application within the mobile commerce context (Hu et al. 2008). Undeniably, the proliferation of wireless mobile technology provides much-needed access to vital information, and financial services for disenfranchised, unbanked populations. In addition, technological innovations offer first-time opportunities for suppliers of goods and services in a market context to gain competitive advantages while enhancing their economic viability. According to Portio Research, the volume of mobile payments rose significantly from $68.7 billion U.S. dollars in 2009, with predictions of $633.4 billion U.S. dollars by the end of 2014 (mobithinking.com 2012). Despite exponential growth in the number of mobile subscribers globally, and widespread adoption of mobile commerce, acceptance rates for mobile payment applications have lagged (Dahlberg et al. 2007, Ondrus et al 2009, Ondrus and Lyytinen 2011). Yet examinations of factors inhibiting the widespread acceptance of mobile payments are relatively sparse. Using Social Network theory, this research examines factors affecting engagement in mobile payments. The researcher posits that four primary elements influence mobile payment engagement: 1) the relationships between and amongst inter-organizational alliance members; 2) the prevailing regulatory environment; 3) the state of existing banking and technology infrastructures, and 4) an assessment of economic opportunity. The research outcomes from this exploratory examination led to the development of a comprehensive model for mobile payment engagement, and strongly suggest that ties between and amongst firms in inter-organizational alliances help ensure the success of mobile payment engagement. Support was found for the following suppositions: 1) similarities and relations (continuous ties) help establish a framework and understanding amongst alliance members as to each party’s goals and objectives; and 2) interactions and flows (discrete ties) between and amongst inter-organizational alliance members strengthen the overall ties between alliance members while solidifying a viable working relationship amongst the alliance members. This study employs a qualitative approach to obtain real world insight into the dynamism of the mobile payment arena. A model is then proposed to practically examine mobile payment engagement opportunities. From a theoretical perspective, the research contributes to the extant scholarly knowledgebase pertaining to engagement in mobile payments.

Strategic alliances are a prevalent form of business organization. The critical characteristics of strategic alliances are detailed using Coase (1937) and the resulting definition tested through primary research and the alternative form, the infrastructure alliance posited. The thesis examines whether strategic alliances add value in the European banking sector through four types of analysis at two levels of engagement - a 23 historical review (at industry level); a review of over 400 papers in the academic literature; a questionnaire survey (at firm level) and in-depth interviews (at firm level). Bankers high pre-existing propensity to enter into strategic alliances is determined and three lifecycles, and the underpinning, conditions identified - Clubs and Consortium Banks, Bankassurance and the Virtual bank - the latter involving a fundamental change in Coase (1937) enabled by the underpinning technology. Bankers were found to be followers of potential business steams and the strategic alliance was one form of market entry. The questionnaire research, however, identified European bankers prefer to enter into alliances (as opposed to own branch or M&A) only in countries which had the appropriate supporting conditions such as definable, enforceable and terminable contracts, the provision of accounting information, stable governments and economic freedom. Direct discussions with senior bankers resulted in a number of valuable insights into the conceiving, forming, organizing evolving and dissolving of alliances. Further research into the infrastructure alliance, including 'oscillation' between infrastructure and strategic forms is proposed. The Co-Evolution Model of Strategic Alliances is proposed and taxonomy consisting of parallel co-evolution, convergent coevolution, divergent co-evolution and the subsidiary taxonomy of differential parallel coevolution, differential convergent co-evolution and differential divergent co-evolution detailed and further research suggested. Strategic alliances are found to add value in European banking but this value is contingent on the strength of the business stream, the global, national and industry conditions and the nature of managerial decisions and drive.

ABSTRACT Title: Manager’s perspectives within Tourism Alliances: the cases of Hälsingland and Finnforest Level: Final assignment for Master Degree in Business Administration Authors: Michele Salvati and Anna Skouri Supervisor: Maria Fregidou-Malama Date: 2013 - May Aim: This study investigates the most important advantages and disadvantages of being a member of tourism alliances. Furthermore, this project illuminates the importance of the experience within the alliance. Specifically, we investigate if the experience affects manager’s perception to be a member of an alliance.  Method: It has been adopted quantitative and qualitative method. Data were collected from two alliances located in Sweden: Hälsingland Tourism and Finnforest; through questionnaires to the tourism organizations that belong to each alliance. Furthermore, we did face to face interviews to the Managers of the alliances and to the advisors of Coompanion who worked for the creations of the alliances. Finally, data were analyzed with Microsoft Excel. Results& Conclusions: Sharing knowledge is the most important advantage to be a member of a tourism alliance. On the other hand the cooperation with weak and unequal partner is the most important disadvantage to be a member of a tourism alliance. Additionally, it was found out that the experience affects the manager’s perceptions. Suggestions for future research: As far as the financial support from the municipalities plays a key role in the creation and survival of tourism alliances, future studies could be conducted in that field. Contribution of the thesis: It is essential for tourism managers to understand and value the importance of the alliance before joining or creating a network. Furthermore, it was emerged that tourism alliances give benefits for the creation of tourism destination. Key words: Tourism sector, strategic alliances, tourism alliances, tourism sector, experience, tourism managers.

Following the dynamic capabilities perspective, I suggest that antecedents to innovation can be found at the individual, firm, and network level. Thus, I challenge two assumptions common in prior research: (1) that significant variance exists at the focal level of analysis, while other levels of analysis are assumed to be homogeneous, and (2) that the focal level of analysis is independent from other levels of analysis. Accordingly, I advance a set of hypotheses to simultaneously assess the direct effects of antecedents at the individual, firm, and network level on innovation output. I then investigate whether a firm s antecedents to innovation lie across different levels. To accomplish this, I propose two competing interaction hypotheses. I juxtapose the hypothesis that the individual, firm, and network-level antecedents to innovation are substitutes versus the proposition that these innovation mechanisms are complements. I test my multi-level theoretical model using an unusually comprehensive and detailed panel dataset that documents the innovation attempts of global pharmaceutical companies within biotechnology over a 22-year time period (1980-2001). I find evidence that the antecedents to innovation lie across different levels of analysis and can have compensating or reinforcing effects on firm-level innovative output.

Over the last two decades there has been a tremendous increase in collaboration among competing firms. A significant number of these collaborations are international. This thesis explores the incentives and welfare consequences of collaboration in the context of international trade. We consider two types of cross-border collaborations. The first is collaboration by sharing a part of firms' value creating activities, such as technology development, product design and distribution. This saves on production costs but reduces product distinctiveness. Firms collaborate if and only if the reduction in product distinctiveness is lower than a threshold level. We find that the threshold increases with an increase in trade costs. That is, an increase in trade costs makes collaboration more likely. Higher trade cost lowers competition, which in turn enables the firms to save on fixed costs while forgoing some product distinctiveness. Furthermore, we demonstrate that contrary to standard intuition, higher trade cost could enhance consumers' welfare by inducing competitors to collaborate. We extend our model to endogenise location choice by the firms where collaboration requires co-location (due to the benefit of local spillovers or joint investment in key infrastructures). Unlike the original model, we find that an increase in trade costs can discourage collaboration. In both circumstances, we find that an increase in trade cost can improve consumer surplus. The second type of collaboration considered in this thesis is licensing. We extend the standard licensing literature to an environment where firms compete in the domestic as well as foreign market. We examine how trade cost affects the licensing decision as well as the optimal payment mechanism. We find that an increase in trade costs reduces the possibility of licensing. Concerning the payment mechanism, we find that (i) either royalty or (ii) a two-part tariff (involving a fixed fee as well as royalty payments) is optimal. An increase in trade costs reduces the likelihood of royalty only being the optimal payment mechanism.

Individual businesses from a variety of sectors network and work together to create a successful tourist experience. The interdependencies of organisations producing this experience make cooperation a necessity in destination marketing. Despite the centrality of cooperation and networking in tourism marketing relatively little empirical research has been conducted in this area. This thesis uses the case of the development of the official NZ website www.purenz.com (purenz) to examine the role, form and process of inter-organisational cooperation in destination marketing. Drawing on in-depth interviews with thirty- five industry members involved in establishing and managing www.purenz.com between 1999 and 2006 this thesis makes a number of contributions to both the marketing and tourism literature. The thesis confirms that there are considerable difficulties in broadening the marketing role of the national tourism organisation (NTO) beyond destination promotion. The study also finds that destination marketing and destination management are still perceived as separate processes in the NZ tourism industry. In addition, the results of this study provide support for the view that the social networks in which firms are embedded have a considerable influence on inter-organisational alliance formation. This thesis contributes to the development of theoretical approaches to the study of cooperation in destination marketing by identifying five levels of cooperation in destination marketing: passive acceptance, support, alignment, contribution and pooling. The levels are based on the different types of input that may be required from stakeholders by the NTO. The level of cooperation desired in a particular context is a strategic choice to be made by the destination marketing management. This choice is affected by the existing characteristics of the tourism network; the NTO leaders’ perception of the need for and value of cooperation in destination marketing and also by the extent of shared understanding of the scope of destination marketing management among tourism stakeholders. The research points to the need to develop further the network characteristics affecting cooperation in destination marketing. Further work is also needed to develop a more complete profile of the five levels of cooperation identified by this study and the investment required to achieve each level of cooperation.

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / Bibliography. Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Management, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2008. / Committee Chair: Frank T. Rothaermel; Committee Member: J. Jeongsik Lee; Committee Member: John Walsh; Committee Member: Luis Martins; Committee Member: Matt Higgins.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Western Sydney, 2005. / "A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, University of Western Sydney, 2005". Includes bibliographical references and appendices.

Thesis (M.B.A.) - Carleton University, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 94-99). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.