This is a case analysis according to the author’s working experience in P&G. This thesis focuses on the consignment stores in the market of home products. The author takes apart the channel functions into eight flows, and uses 4 types of transaction cost to discuss the relationship between manufacturers and retailers.

ABSTRACT Owing to the negative effect from ¡§Internet Bubbling¡¨, electronic commerce doesn¡¦t seem to be prosperous like before. But relevant researches indicate that ¡§Internet ticket agency¡¨ will be the most profitable business in e-commerce in the future. As a result, this thesis wants to study the operation of the Internet ticket agencies in Taiwan. Collecting related documents and interviewing ticket agencies in order to understand the real operation situation of ticket agencies in Taiwan. Then discuss the impact of Internet on the ticket industry. Utilizing Williamson¡¦s transaction cost economics, this thesis analyzes the transaction cost between traditional and Internet ticket agencies. And concluding six topics below from these observations and analyses: 1. There is a serious impact of the Internet on the ticket price structure, and reduces the profits of ticket providers. 2. Internet ticket agencies must provide more value-added service in order to attract more customers. 3. Self-conducting Internet personal ticket distributor will withdraw from the market. 4. Air companies will expand the existent alliances relationship on Internet ticket market, and have dominant competitive advantage on personal ticket selling. 5. Internet ticket agencies will cooperate with other companies from different industry. 6. The Internet technology will not be the key factor of competitive advantage.

Master of Science / Department of Agricultural Economics / Vincent Amanor-Boadu / Transaction costs, one of the most significant barriers to market participation, may vary by buyer type. Depending on who a farmer sells their produce to, they may alter their potential transaction costs consequently influencing their market participation. This study examines the effect of buyer type on smallholder market participation in Northern Ghana where poverty is still endemic and often exacerbated by fewer opportunities for commercialization such as limited access to markets. The analysis is based on data from the agriculture production survey conducted in 2013 and 2014 and the Population based Survey conducted in 2012 in northern Ghana. Analysis is performed using the Double Hurdle approach to control for self-selection bias, ensure more flexibility on the variables affecting the decision to sell and how much to sell as well as to provide unconditional effects of the variables on market participation. The results reveal greater market participation of cash crop producing farmers than those producing a lower value food crop - Maize. The results also show that farmers selling to aggregator-type middlemen and other buyers have a propensity to sell more. The aggregators and ‘other buyers’ buy in bulky, offer lower prices and are associated with lower transport, loading and offloading costs than consumers. Farm output, access to information and price also have a significant positive impact on intensity of market participation. These findings support policy initiatives such as supporting aggregator-type middlemen, increasing the provision of information, promotion of cash crops as well as supporting more interventions focusing on increasing production and yields.

In recent years, the beef industry has been forced to examine improving supply chain coordination in order to respond to the declining consumer demand for beef. Exploring the different supply chain structures being used by beef industry participants to improve coordination and provide consumers with differentiated beef products is important. The problem is that it is not clear how the different attributes often included in branded beef programs affect transaction costs and result in the formation of particular supply chain structures. This thesis examines what makes a successful supply chain alliance in the beef industry. Essentially, this study examines the sustainability and effectiveness of different alliance types and their ability to coordinate various branded beef programs and the product attributes included under these programs. A predictive transaction cost model is developed, which examines how different product attributes result in the emergence of particular transaction characteristics. The model shows how the structure of the supply chain adapts in order to minimize the associated transaction costs. In order to better understand the relative importance of different transaction characteristics to supply chain participants, a two-part empirical study was conducted. In the first portion of the study the relative importance of key transaction characteristics to cow-calf operators was examined through the use of conjoint analysis. The results from the conjoint analysis indicate that certain transaction characteristics, namely asset specific investments, limit the willingness of cow-calf operators to participate in alliances due to the associated transaction costs. Cow-calf operators placed an emphasis on premiums, which shows that while they are willing to make trade-offs and accept increased costs, associated with asset specific investments and price uncertainty, they are only willing to do this when benefits are greater than costs. To further understand the importance of different transaction characteristics to supply chain participants, key managers and directors of different beef alliances throughout Canada and the United States were interviewed. Based on the interviews it appears that alliances have typically limited the level of asset specific investments required. Consequently, the degree of coordination is not affected to, any great extent, by the level of investments required. Instead, the degree of coordination appears to more a result of how an alliance is aligned with a particular brand name label. It appears that greater coordination occurs when an alliance owns a brand name label or is an exclusive supplier to a brand name label, as there is a higher risk of opportunistic behaviour and, as a result, higher transaction costs. The use of grid-based pricing systems and the number of buyers/sellers in the market did not appear to have a significant affect on the method of coordination chosen. Based on the results obtained from both the cow-calf operator conjoint-based analysis and interviews with alliance members this thesis identifies several critical success factors and challenges to improving coordination in the beef industry. Most significantly, when developing alliances it is necessary to understand the importance of different transaction characteristics to supply chain participants. This research demonstrates that supply chain participants in the beef industry are willing to make trade-offs between the benefits received from improved coordination and the transaction costs that arise, as long as the benefits exceeds the increase in costs.

In recent years, the beef industry has been forced to examine improving supply chain coordination in order to respond to the declining consumer demand for beef. Exploring the different supply chain structures being used by beef industry participants to improve coordination and provide consumers with differentiated beef products is important. The problem is that it is not clear how the different attributes often included in branded beef programs affect transaction costs and result in the formation of particular supply chain structures. This thesis examines what makes a successful supply chain alliance in the beef industry. Essentially, this study examines the sustainability and effectiveness of different alliance types and their ability to coordinate various branded beef programs and the product attributes included under these programs. A predictive transaction cost model is developed, which examines how different product attributes result in the emergence of particular transaction characteristics. The model shows how the structure of the supply chain adapts in order to minimize the associated transaction costs. In order to better understand the relative importance of different transaction characteristics to supply chain participants, a two-part empirical study was conducted. In the first portion of the study the relative importance of key transaction characteristics to cow-calf operators was examined through the use of conjoint analysis. The results from the conjoint analysis indicate that certain transaction characteristics, namely asset specific investments, limit the willingness of cow-calf operators to participate in alliances due to the associated transaction costs. Cow-calf operators placed an emphasis on premiums, which shows that while they are willing to make trade-offs and accept increased costs, associated with asset specific investments and price uncertainty, they are only willing to do this when benefits are greater than costs. To further understand the importance of different transaction characteristics to supply chain participants, key managers and directors of different beef alliances throughout Canada and the United States were interviewed. Based on the interviews it appears that alliances have typically limited the level of asset specific investments required. Consequently, the degree of coordination is not affected to, any great extent, by the level of investments required. Instead, the degree of coordination appears to more a result of how an alliance is aligned with a particular brand name label. It appears that greater coordination occurs when an alliance owns a brand name label or is an exclusive supplier to a brand name label, as there is a higher risk of opportunistic behaviour and, as a result, higher transaction costs. The use of grid-based pricing systems and the number of buyers/sellers in the market did not appear to have a significant affect on the method of coordination chosen. Based on the results obtained from both the cow-calf operator conjoint-based analysis and interviews with alliance members this thesis identifies several critical success factors and challenges to improving coordination in the beef industry. Most significantly, when developing alliances it is necessary to understand the importance of different transaction characteristics to supply chain participants. This research demonstrates that supply chain participants in the beef industry are willing to make trade-offs between the benefits received from improved coordination and the transaction costs that arise, as long as the benefits exceeds the increase in costs.

The paper and pulp industry saw an increase in the number of mergers in 1980s and 1990s. There had been consolidation of a number of smaller companies into larger corporations, which have greater management, financial, and marketing power. This merging trend has resulted in a fewer number of firms and an increasing concentration in the industry. Although the number of firms has decreased, the total industry capacity has been increasing. The combination of these interesting factors has motivated the topic of this masters thesis. The primary purpose of this research is to explore the factors that positively influence a firms decision to vertically integrate into producing its own pulp.

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Abstract E-Marketplace is a major model for B2B commerce. The thesis uses the transaction cost theory to investigate factors affecting the intention of adopting e-marketplace for Taiwanese petrochemical companies, Factors under study include characteristics of petrochemical products, the readiness of computerization in business, and attitude toward adopting e-marketplace. The results indicate that larger companies have stronger intentions than smaller ones to adopt an e-marketplace. Companies having a great demand on digitizing their procurement procedures are more willing to reduce their transaction costs through e-marketplaces. Businesses with higher degree of computerized operations require more functions in the e-marketplace. In addition, security over the Internet and the degree of collaboration among partners are also key factors. With regard to choosing a marketplace, most local petrochemical companies prefer joining the e-Marketplace, managed by large suppliers of raw materials. Based on the above observations, Chinese Petroleum Corporation, may be the largest upstream company producing petrochemical raw materials in Taiwan, may be the most suitable for offering such an e-marketplace to facilitate collaboration and alliance among companies. This also provides a means for globalization in the future.