Banalieva and Dhanaraj argue that digital service multinationals (DSMNCs) possess a new category of firm-specific advantage (FSA), the network advantage, and that, contrary to extant theory, they use networks as a mode of governance. I review the business models used by DSMNCs, compare them to non-digital ones, and explore what we can learn about them from extant IB theory. I conclude that network advantages are not a new category of FSAs, that networks are not a mode of governance, and that their use by DSMNCs is well explained by extant theory.

In incomplete market models, agents with homothetic preferences over one non-durable consumption good and exposed to idiosyncratic income shocks use precautionary savings as an instrument to smooth consumption across different contingencies. The magnitude and role of precautionary savings is therefore essential in the understanding of savings behavior of agents in such an economy. In this dissertation, I study the effects of consumption commitments on aggregate savings behavior within an otherwise standard incomplete market framework. In the first chapter, I explore the impact of a consumption commitment good like housing in an incomplete market framework (Aiyagari(1994), Huggett(1997)). Conceptually, I concentrate on the argument whether consumption of housing is associated with changes in risk aversion and therefore reflected in precautionary savings behavior of agents. I study an analytical framework that captures key elements in the data like (i) heterogeneity in earnings through fixed effects and uninsurable idiosyncratic shocks, (ii) fraction of income spent on housing, (iii) magnitude of moving costs. In the second chapter, I present a dynamic incomplete market model with a key feature: a commitment good (housing) with positive transaction (moving) costs. I focus on a stationary recursive equilibrium for agents in the benchmark economy. I calibrate the benchmark model to the US economy. I find that the benchmark economy replicates (i) the fraction of income spent on housing services, (ii) the fraction of people moving in each period. In the third chapter, I quantitatively evaluate the magnitude of precautionary savings in the presence of housing consumption in the benchmark economy and compare it to the standard incomplete market model. Results indicate that the presence of housing leads to higher aggregate precautionary savings by nearly 13% when compared to the Aiyagari specification. I find transaction costs to have significant impact on aggregate savings behavior.

Advances in wireless networking technology have engendered a new paradigm of computing, called mobile computing; in which users carrying portable devices have access to a shared infrastructure independent of their physical location. Mobile computing has matured rapidly as a field of computer science. In environments of mobile computing, the mobility and disconnection of portable computing devices introduce many new challenging problems that have never been encountered in conventional computer networks. New research issues combine different areas of computer science: networking, operating systems, data and knowledge management, and databases. This thesis studies data and knowledge transaction in mobile environments. To study transaction processing at the fundamental and theoretical level in mobile environments, a range of classical notions and protocols of transaction processing are rechecked and redefined in this thesis, and form the foundation for studying transaction processing in mobile environments. A criterion for mobile serial history is given and two new concurrency theorems are proved in mobile environments. In addition to data transaction, this thesis explores knowledge transaction in mobile environments. To study knowledge transaction in mobile environments this thesis presents and formalizes a knowledge transaction language and model for use in mobile computing environments. The thesis further formalizes a framework/model for a mobile logic programming multi-agent system which can be used to study knowledge transaction in multi-agent systems in mobile environments and is a very early effort towards a formal study of knowledge base and intelligent agents in mobile environments. This work provides a foundation for the formal specification and development of real-world mobile software systems, in the same way as traditional software systems have developed. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) (Science)

Batch processing is a means of improving the efficiency of transaction processing systems. Despite the maturity of this field, there is no rigorous theory that can assist in the design of batch systems. This thesis proposes such a theory, and shows that it is practical to use it to automate system design. This has important consequences; the main impediment to the wider use of batch systems is the high cost of their development and intenance. The theory is developed twice: informally, in a way that can be used by a systems analyst, and formally, as a result of which a computer program has been developed to prove the feasibility of automated design. Two important concepts are identified, which can aid in the decomposition of any system: 'separability', and 'independence'. Separability is the property that allows processes to be joined together by pipelines or similar topologies. Independence is the property that allows elements of a large set to be accessed and updated independently of one another. Traditional batch processing technology exploits independence when it uses sequential access in preference to random access. It is shown how the same property allows parallel access, resulting in speed gains limited only by the number of processors. This is a useful development that should assist in the design of very high throughput transaction processing systems. Systems are specified procedurally by describing an ideal system, which generates output and updates its internal state immediately following each input event. The derived systems have the same external behaviour as the ideal system except that their outputs and internal states lag those of the ideal system arbitrarily. Indeed, their state variables may have different delays, and the systems as whole may never be in consistent state. A 'state dependency graph' is derived from a static analysis of a specification. The reduced graph of its strongly-connected components defines a canonical process network from which all possible implementations of the system can be derived by composition. From these it is possible to choose the one that minimises any imposed cost function. Although, in general, choosing the optimum design proves to be an NP-complete problem, it is shown that heuristics can find it quickly in practical cases. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Mathematical and Computer Sciences (Department of Computer Science), 1999.

Mon rapport à l'économie est dominé par ma formation d'ingénieur. Pour de purs économistes, rompus à la mécanique des prix, l'industrie peut apparaître comme une structure sous-jacente. La technique y est alors ce qui est invisible, ce qui échappe parfois à la prévisibilité ou à la connaissance des acteurs, et qui s'impose extérieurement à l'économie. L'économie doit donc internaliser aussi bien l'impact de la technologie sur l'offre que les effets externes de la consommation. L'appréciation, la mise œuvre et l'internalisation de ces externalités mettent en résonance, dans des modalités nouvelles, la technique et l'économie.

La coordination d'activités coopératives est aujourd'hui une préoccupation importante dans un contexte globalisé où les équipes travaillent de plus en plus de façon distribuées dans le temps, l'espace et dans les organisations. Fournir un support sur permettant la modélisation et le contrôle de l'exécution de ces activités fait partie de nos préoccupations depuis plusieurs années. Le problème a été abordé de plusieurs façons, en particulier en essayant d'adapter les modèles issues du monde de la gestion des procédés pour tenter de leur donner des qualités de flexibilité et d'agilité aussi bien sur les modèles que sur l'exécution. Ce travail a également donné lieu à une expérimentation en situation sur la coopération pour comprendre les mécanismes humains sous-jacent à la coopération. Il a également eu pour résultat l'implantation d'un moteur de workflow flexible aujourd'hui en production.

<p>In today’s ever changing business landscape, technology and innovation projects play a key role in creating competitive advantages for an organisation. However, many such projects are often hampered by under performance, cost overruns and lower than predicted revenue (Morris and Hough, 1987 and Christoffersen et al, 1992). This seems to indicate the lack of risk management in the way we manage projects. On the other hand, it is impossible to have any projects without risks. Thus, it is essential to have effective risk management rather than trying to eliminate risk out of projects. These factors have guided this study to focus on understanding the way risk assessment is performed in international technology projects. It aims to identify the link between risk assessment and project categorization, drawing from the ransaction cost economics (TCE) perspective. A qualitative approach applying semi-structured interviews was conducted with ten interviewees holding different roles in the engineering and technology projects within a multinational company with presence in more than 100 countries around the world. The application of the data display and analysis technique by Miles and Huberman (1984, 1994) enables initial findings to be presented using the “dendogram” method, thereafter, leading to the development of a two-dimensional risk assessment matrix as the final result of this study. </p>

This report addresses the problem of fault tolerance to system failures for database systems that are to run on highly concurrent computers. It assumes that, in general, an application may have a wide distribution in the lifetimes of its transactions. Logging remains the method of choice for ensuring fault tolerance. Generational garbage collection techniques manage the limited disk space reserved for log information; this technique does not require periodic checkpoints and is well suited for applications with a broad range of transaction lifetimes. An arbitrarily large collection of parallel log streams provide the necessary disk bandwidth.

In today’s ever changing business landscape, technology and innovation projects play a key role in creating competitive advantages for an organisation. However, many such projects are often hampered by under performance, cost overruns and lower than predicted revenue (Morris and Hough, 1987 and Christoffersen et al, 1992). This seems to indicate the lack of risk management in the way we manage projects. On the other hand, it is impossible to have any projects without risks. Thus, it is essential to have effective risk management rather than trying to eliminate risk out of projects. These factors have guided this study to focus on understanding the way risk assessment is performed in international technology projects. It aims to identify the link between risk assessment and project categorization, drawing from the ransaction cost economics (TCE) perspective. A qualitative approach applying semi-structured interviews was conducted with ten interviewees holding different roles in the engineering and technology projects within a multinational company with presence in more than 100 countries around the world. The application of the data display and analysis technique by Miles and Huberman (1984, 1994) enables initial findings to be presented using the “dendogram” method, thereafter, leading to the development of a two-dimensional risk assessment matrix as the final result of this study.

Introduction: Over half of the Swedish IT-projects get delayed and more expensive than budgeted. Large corporations and governmental institutions stand before the process of investigating in new IT-systems in intervals of three to five years. In order to decrease the cost, an external consultant with large experience in IT-purchases could be used by the customers. These consultants does today work solely for the customers, helping them to find the best solution. We want to see if an external consultant instead could act as an inde-pendent moderator between the supplier and customer in the IT-systems lifecycle. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to describe and analyze problems and possible solutions related to the involvement of third party consultants in larger IT-projects. In particular, we will investigate when and where in the project cycle it could be beneficial to use an independent moderator. Method: We have conducted semi-structured interviews with six organizations to get an understanding about consultants in IT-projects. Four of the interviewed were IT-managers at organizations were large IT-systems are bought and implemented. Then, two of the in-terviewed represented the supplier companies that sell large IT-systems. Frame of reference: Transaction cost theory and agency theory has been used. Transac-tion cost theory is a theory on whether you should conduct the service internally or purchase it from external firms. Agency theory describes problems in the relationship between a principal and an agent. The agent has a diversified interest towards the principal. In our case, the agent is a consultant. Conclusion: The implementation phase benefits from using an external moderator who monitors what the customer needs, and then in a continuous interval measures if the project is aligning towards the stated goal. This can lower the failure of information and identify problem areas early and thereby prevent costly adjustments later in the project. An in-dependent moderator with a high degree of routine and specific knowledge could enhance communication, create a better fit of the implemented system and foresee opportunistic advices from suppliers. In the pre-study phase there are benefits for the customer with evaluating the need, stating specific demands and define a clear goal.