Postsecondary financial aid (including scholarship awards) in the United States are as complicated and diverse in their function as they are in their long-term implications and outcomes. Through an examination of third party scholarships and the students who receive them, this study seeks to understand the dynamic intersection between a student's contextual environment, motivation and agency by analyzing students' interpretations of themselves and their place within the larger financial and scholarship context. The Self-Determination Theory (SDT) of human motivation and Deil-Amen & Tevis' (2010) circumscribed agency framework form the theoretical foundation of this study. The main contributions of this study include a description of how third party scholarships fit into the larger financial aid picture, an index of what eligibility components constitute third party scholarships, the creation of Third Party Scholarship Recipient Typology, and a synthesis of theory that informs future policy and practice.

Third party logistics (TPL), the procurement of an integrated set of logistics services in a long-term relationship between a shipper (goods owner) and a service provider, is today a viable option for how companies carry out their logistics activities. Very little has been written on implementation or change issues in a TPL setting; these issues are identified as important, but not elaborated. There is however reason to believe that implementation of TPL arrangements, or rather establishment thereof, involves a complex change process involving substantial change for a wide range of actors in both the shipper’s and the provider’s organisation. When comparing literature that deals with the TPL establishment process with a stream of research that is concerned with logistics change, it comes to light that there is a discrepancy between the theoretical and methodological foundations of the former works, and what is written in these pieces regarding the process. It is concluded that recommendations for how to manage the establishment process are given without being founded in a theory of process, or research designs capable of studying process. The theoretical underpinnings of TPL literature are founded in a view of change as a matter of conducting rational analysis and conceiving the strategically wisest decisions for the logistics system as a whole. Implementation is viewed as an unproblematic exercise of issuing directives to affected actors, asserting that all actors are rational, therefore rationally conceived decisions will be accepted and implemented accordingly. Therefore the overarching purpose of this research is: To explore the change process of third party logistics establishment To fulfil this purpose the two streams of research mentioned above are combined. A meta-model of process consisting of the three interrelated dimensions content, context, and process forms the starting point for the study of process, but this is not sufficient for a study of change; a theory of change which is capable of capturing the mechanisms of the change process as it unfolds is also needed. Therefore the theory of change of the second stream of research mentioned above is adopted. The theory of change encompasses three models of change, which are archetypical representations of the mechanisms underlying change processes according to different assumptions of what change is and how change comes about. These models are denoted the linear, the processual, and the circular. One important aspect of this theory of change is that the approach to change should be aligned with the extent oflearning requirements on the actors who are affected by or involved in the change. An actors perspective is therefore called for, and adopted in this thesis. This thesis is the first step of a wider research effort concerned with studying the process of establishing TPL. Therefore, of the three dimensions of change, the contentdimension is excluded from study in this thesis. Governed by the meta-model of process, two research objectives are formulated: To explore the context within which the TPL establishment process unfolds and describe the contextual dependence of this process &amp; To describe the change process of TPL establishment in terms of the linear, processual, and circular models of change The empirical investigation applied is a single-case retrospective study, in which the case is the establishment process between a Swedish company and an international TPL service provider. A total of fifteen actors have been interviewed; ten on the shipper side of the dyad, five on the provider side. Although the TPL establishment process is an interorganisational process, this thesis focuses on the intraorganisational process of the shipper, why the empirical material from the other side of the dyad is not used in this thesis, The interorganisational aspect, as well as the intraorganisational side within the provider’s organisation are nevertheless important, and will be included in future research. The interviews were carried out in an unstructured manner, in which the interviewees were asked to retell the story from their own perspectives. Actors from varying positions, who were involved in the process, are included in the study; in the total sample all groups who were most affected or involved are represented. The interviews rendered ten stories of the studied process. These stories were then analysed by means of a pattern-matching logic, in order to seek out the important contextual dependencies of the process, and to explore the mechanisms of the change process, as it evolved in context. After having conducted this first step of the ongoing research effort, four main conclusions can be drawn: - The TPL establishment process is context dependent. - Not only rational mechanisms are at play in the process. - It is important to acknowledge actors, not only systems. - It is important to acknowledge the process, not only the decision. / <p>ISRN/Report code: LiU-TEK-LIC-2003:27</p>

Magister Legum - LLM / This thesis investigates the possibility of relaxing the privity principle of contract to accommodate the interests of third parties in South Africa. It explores concepts relating to the doctrine of privity as well as the two legs that constitute this common law doctrine. It will draw lessons from the English legal system because English law of contract managed to reform the doctrine of privity in order to accommodate the interests of third parties to a contract. While this thesis is not a comparative study of England and South Africa, it will draw substantially from lessons that can be taken from England with regard to abrogating the privity principle of contract. England has been chosen as the point of reference because there has not yet been any other African country that has reformed this privity principle of the common law of contract in order to accommodate the interests of third parties.

Why do third-party interventions in civil wars sometimes positively contribute to fast conflict resolutions and post-war development and sometimes backfire? To solve this puzzle, I present a conceptual framework that links the motives and methods of intervention to civil war outcomes and post-war development. Two contrasting motives, self-interest and humanitarian concerns, lead to different intervention types. Self-interest prompts states to undertake unilateral and biased intervention. Humanitarian concerns encourage states to engage in multilateral intervention through the UN with a biased position. Interveners are more prudent in the use of force. They resort to violent methods only when critical security interests are at stake or when extreme humanitarian disasters occur. The method of intervention reflects interveners' motives and significantly influences civil war processes and post-war development. The effects of intervention on civil war duration and outcome, however, tend to be inconsistent with interveners' intentions. I find no empirical evidence that external intervention is likely to make civil war shorter. Whether interveners are motivated by humanitarian concerns or self-interest, they tend to fail to achieve their best outcome: a faster victory for their protégé or a faster negotiated settlement. Instead, biased interveners succeed in retarding military victory by their protégé's rival. Neutral interveners play a role in delaying time until government victory, regardless of their intention. The effects of intervention on post-war development are somewhat consistent with interveners' intention. Multilateral intervention motivated by humanitarian concerns tends to promote post-war well-being by increasing resources available for post-war reconstruction. On the other hand, unilateral intervention tends to impede the improvement of post-war quality of life. The use of force also has negative impacts on post-war development. The reason is that those interventions pursing self-interest produce a less-respondent government and reduce available resources. Military victory is more likely to improve post-war quality of life than is a negotiated settlement. However, the positive effects of military victory are realized only when a group wins a victory without biased support from foreign powers. I find that multilateral intervention using nonviolent methods and having an unbiased stance may be the best way for the international community to help post-war development.

<p>Third party logistics (TPL), the procurement of an integrated set of logistics services in a long-term relationship between a shipper (goods owner) and a service provider, is today a viable option for how companies carry out their logistics activities. Very little has been written on implementation or change issues in a TPL setting; these issues are identified as important, but not elaborated. There is however reason to believe that implementation of TPL arrangements, or rather establishment thereof, involves a complex change process involving substantial change for a wide range of actors in both the shipper’s and the provider’s organisation.</p><p>When comparing literature that deals with the TPL establishment process with a stream of research that is concerned with logistics change, it comes to light that there is a discrepancy between the theoretical and methodological foundations of the former works, and what is written in these pieces regarding the process. It is concluded that recommendations for how to manage the establishment process are given without being founded in a theory of process, or research designs capable of studying process. The theoretical underpinnings of TPL literature are founded in a view of change as a matter of conducting rational analysis and conceiving the strategically wisest decisions for the logistics system as a whole. Implementation is viewed as an unproblematic exercise of issuing directives to affected actors, asserting that all actors are rational, therefore rationally conceived decisions will be accepted and implemented accordingly.</p><p>Therefore the overarching purpose of this research is:</p><p><strong>To explore the change process of third party logistics establishment</strong></p><p>To fulfil this purpose the two streams of research mentioned above are combined. A meta-model of process consisting of the three interrelated dimensions content, context, and process forms the starting point for the study of process, but this is not sufficient for a study of change; a theory of change which is capable of capturing the mechanisms of the change process as it unfolds is also needed. Therefore the theory of change of the second stream of research mentioned above is adopted.</p><p>The theory of change encompasses three models of change, which are archetypical representations of the mechanisms underlying change processes according to different assumptions of what change is and how change comes about. These models are denoted the linear, the processual, and the circular. One important aspect of this theory of change is that the approach to change should be aligned with the extent oflearning requirements on the actors who are affected by or involved in the change. An actors perspective is therefore called for, and adopted in this thesis.</p><p>This thesis is the first step of a wider research effort concerned with studying the process of establishing TPL. Therefore, of the three dimensions of change, the contentdimension is excluded from study in this thesis. Governed by the meta-model of process, two research objectives are formulated:</p><p><strong>To explore the context within which the TPL establishment process unfolds and describe the contextual dependence of this proces</strong>s</p><p><strong>&</strong></p><p><strong>To describe the change process of TPL establishment in terms of the linear, processual, and circular models of change</strong></p><p>The empirical investigation applied is a single-case retrospective study, in which the case is the establishment process between a Swedish company and an international TPL service provider. A total of fifteen actors have been interviewed; ten on the shipper side of the dyad, five on the provider side. Although the TPL establishment process is an interorganisational process, this thesis focuses on the intraorganisational process of the shipper, why the empirical material from the other side of the dyad is not used in this thesis, The interorganisational aspect, as well as the intraorganisational side within the provider’s organisation are nevertheless important, and will be included in future research.</p><p>The interviews were carried out in an unstructured manner, in which the interviewees were asked to retell the story from their own perspectives. Actors from varying positions, who were involved in the process, are included in the study; in the total sample all groups who were most affected or involved are represented. The interviews rendered ten stories of the studied process.</p><p>These stories were then analysed by means of a pattern-matching logic, in order to seek out the important contextual dependencies of the process, and to explore the mechanisms of the change process, as it evolved in context.</p><p>After having conducted this first step of the ongoing research effort, four main conclusions can be drawn:</p><p>- The TPL establishment process is context dependent.</p><p>- Not only rational mechanisms are at play in the process.</p><p>- It is important to acknowledge actors, not only systems.</p><p>- It is important to acknowledge the process, not only the decision.</p> / ISRN/Report code: LiU-TEK-LIC-2003:27

This thesis consists of 6 papers, all of them using experimental methods. The experimental approach appeals to me, since a good design may allow a clear cut identification of the effects under study. In spite of all its advantages, however, the typical experimental study performed in the laboratory also has drawbacks due to its stylized setting and often restricted subject pool. I believe that enlarging the value of laboratory experiments by understanding more about the link from the lab to “real life” is important. I attempt to do this in my research by combining lab and field studies in order to allow comparison of the results, by using non-standard samples, or by staging experimental studies outside of the lab in a more natural setting. The papers included in this thesis range from natural field experiments, where the participants did not know that they were participating in a study (Dreber, von Essen and Ranehill, 2009), across mixtures of field and lab studies (Cárdenas, Dreber, von Essen and Ranehill, 2010), framed field experiments (Johannesson, Östling and Ranehill 2010), and to pure lab experiments (von Essen and Ranehill, 2011; and Dreber, von Essen and Ranehill, 2011). / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan i Stockholm, 2011

Due to the fast changing environment of China’s logistics market and high participative level of foreign logistics enterprises, Chinese logistics players mostly suffer from their low service ability of Third Party Logistics. Big gaps certainly exist between domestic ones and foreign giants.   The thesis aims to compare the TMS of a local logistics company and a large multinational company. Investigating how TMS is applied in China’s logistics market and making comparison of TMS between a multinational company and a Chinese local company is the main contribution of the paper.     After conducting cases study and interview on a foreign multinational logistics enterprise United Parcel Service and a Chinese local small logistics Jiangsu Universal Logistics Company, this paper has a relatively high reliability and validity. Relevant knowledge of TMS, mode and carriers, and 3PL is selected to present in the theoretical framework.   In the thesis body, we compared two chosen companies from three logistical levels: strategic, tactical, and operational. In detail, we found a vast of differences lying in nine parts that we selected from the TMS reference functional model and domains. Considering the characteristics and future challenges of China logistics market, we strongly recommend JULC to adapt TMS. However, it is unfeasible for JULC to apply the entire TMS. Therefore, we provide the solutions in three perspectives. First and foremost, apply part of TMS in the relevant field, in terms of network design and capacity management. An equally important solution is adapting cost-saving solution in certain administrative field, namely: planning, vehicle, execution, finance. Last but not least, in order to provide the company more opportunities, a few general approaches will be presented.   After a closer examine of the consequences when the integrated solutions got applied, we surely drew the conclusion that 3PL performance of domestics companies will get enhanced in the near future.

Fine art logistics concept is revealed by Innovative third party logistics services. However, fine art logistics concept is quite new topic of current logistics literature and existing resources, acquired knowledge are limited. Furthermore, innovative logistics services, which are provided by third party logistics service providers and their relation with niche market strategy, are not well researched. This study is prepared for making contribution to current logistics literature about fine art logistics and to investigate relation between niche market strategy and innovative third party logistics services. The method used is a qualitative case study at Benice Logistics, a fine art logistics service provider firm, located in Turkey. This study concludes and suggests how, third party logistics service providers should be more innovative for settle new business trend, and how they can create new opportunities and new specialization areas with their innovative services.

For a long time logistics have been an important part of industrial activities. Dated from 1970s, with the emergency of third party logistics (TPL), companies began to think about insourcing or outsourcing. As the development and expansion of TPL, outsourcing logistics activities to third party logistic have became a worldwide trend. Companies could gain a competitive advantage from outsourcing. Outsourcing to TPL providers could make companies focus on their core tasks. An appropriate TPL provider could apply technology and expertise, which help companies reducing costs and improving services. Flexibility and efficiency can also be achieved by adopting good TPL providers. In this sense, helping companies to make outsourcing decisions and to select optimal TPL providers is meaningful. The purpose of this thesis is to bring a holistic view of third party logistics and to build models for companies to select optimal TPL providers. To achieve the purpose, relevant literatures were reviewed to gain theoretical bases. Qualitative and quantitative research methods are both used in the thesis. Two models for selecting TPL providers were built in the thesis. One was qualitative model that contained four steps: defining problems, formulate criteria, qualify selection process and finally make decision. The other one was a quantitative model with DEA method. It contained six steps: define problem, select candidates, select criteria and indicators, determine input and output and collect data, calculate the efficiency and make final decision. Each model was applied on a case study to examine its validity and feasibility. Both advantages and disadvantages were found during the case studies. The conclusion is that both of models could be used for companies and it allows a company to choose the most suitable one.

Abstract Since 3rd party logistics business has been an emerging opportunities for many new service providers entering into such an ever-changing technology and fragmented market, it has resulted into a price-sensitive and high competition industry. In order to sharpen the competitive power in this severe environment, this research is engaged in meeting the following purposes: 1. well position the 3rd party logistics services in the logistics business industry 2. articulate the business model to compete in 3rd party logistics services market. 3. propose a competitive strategy for a 3rd logistics services provider to outrace the peers This report has done in-depth interviews with industrial experts, referred to numerous research materials, addressed fields data from the company in this case study including KPI (Key Performance Indicators) and incorporated my personal professional experiences for more than 20 years to sort out the decisions factors in priority used for companies to select and evaluate 3PL services providers. A questionnaire has been developed to interview the senior managers in the customer sides accordingly. SWOT analysis and Weihrich strategic matrix are adopted to prompt the business strategy and direction for 3PL service providers in running their business in the future. The research results has turn out the #1 item for business customers to consider is in the area of ¡§delivery services¡¨; The SWOT analysis has also unveiled the needs of developing the business focusing in internal training, alliance with other partners, innovative service model and customer intimacy in different market segment. It implies that ¡§differentiation¡¨ is the appropriate competitive strategy for the 3PL service company in this case to run the business in the future to walk away from the situation of price competition. This research report could also serve as a framework for the other logitics and 3rd parties services companies to plan out their competitive strategies. For new comers to join the same market, it will be also helpful in positioning their services and making business decisions in a holistic view.