<p>The rise of technologies and the Internet have provided opportunities to connect logistics demand and supply using the crowd. In this system, named crowd-shipping (CS), a requester doing the shipping selects a courier via a platform. In reality, the idea of CS has been explored by many firms over the last several years. However, there is a lack of fundamental understanding of the issues related to: (1) the markets that are likely to be influenced by CS; (2) the considerations that govern the success of this system; and the (3) the impacts of CS and its design.</p><p><br></p> <p>To address these issues, there is a need of understanding CS system's stakeholders, such as requesters' (i.e. senders') and potential couriers' (i.e. driver-partners') behaviors as well as operations and management of CS firms. This research will address these gaps by conducting a survey to understand driver-partners' behaviors and requesters' behaviors given the CS services availability in the logistics market. Then, pricing and compensation strategies are designed and modeled based on behavior rules of supply and demand generations as well as various CS market penetrations. As such, this research addresses the CS industry in a triad of supply, demand, and operations and management.</p><p><br></p> <p>This research uses advanced econometrics, statistics analysis, mixed integer optimization, and data science techniques to analyze data and generate insights. The contributions of this research are to identify the contributing factors that impact the emerging logistics service. This research also reveals factors that influence the current and future shipping behaviors of requesters, as well as influencing factors of the individuals' willingness to work as driver-partners. The integrated matching and routing models have been developed to examine different pricing and compensation strategies under several market penetration scenarios. `Individual' price and compensation have found to provide the highest profit for CS platform providers.</p><p><br></p> <p>This research provides meaningful knowledge for stakeholders, especially for the CS firms to develop business strategies. Several remarkable benefits that CS firms can obtain include: focusing on some specific population groups to recruit driver-partners (e.g. people with children, middle-aged people having lower incomes, or no car ownership); addressing certain market segments to promote CS services (e.g. tight-window delivery packages, peripheral products, or personal health and medicine items); implementing `individual' or `flatted' pricing and compensation strategies depending on the time of the day, the day of the week, or the market penetration; and improving platform features to incorporate requesters' and driver-partners' expectations.</p>

Les Indications Géographiques (IG), désignent un label particulier utilisé pour assurer la qualité, l’origine et protéger les produits de la contrefaçon. Elles lient la qualité et la réputation d’un produit à un térritoire et sont très présentes en Europe, notamment en France. A l’heure où les consommateurs demandent davantage de transparence et d’information sur l’origine des biens qu’ils consomment, la valorisation des produits locaux représente un enjeu important. Nous analysons dans cette thèse, le consentement à payer des consommateurs pour les produits sous indications géographiques à l’aide de la base de données Kantar WorldPanel, qui regroupe des données d’achats des ménages français. L’accent étant mis sur les fromages AOP d’Auvergne, nous travaillons sur la période 2008-2010 qui représente la période de réforme et de restructuration des acteurs des filières AOP fromagères auvergnates. Dans un premier temps nous réalisons une méta-analyse afin d’observer ce que les études nous disent sur le sujet. Sachant que le consentement à payer est une prime du prix, nous estimons la dispersion et les déterminants des prix des fromages AOP d’Auvergne dans un second temps. Enfin, dans un troisième temps, nous répondons à notre question de recherche principale en estimant les déterminants de choix et le consentement à payer (CAP) des consommateurs. De façon globale, nous trouvons que l’indication géographique joue un rôle important dans l’esprit des consommateurs durant les actes d’achats, mais pour qu’elle soit plus efficace, elle doit être accompagnée par des stratégies de promotion initiée par les distributeurs et producteurs. De même les attributs des produits et les conditions de distributions jouent un rôle plus important dans les décisions d’achats, par rapport aux caractéristiques propres aux consommateurs. Enfin, nous notons que les consommateurs ont des CAP très différents d’un fromage AOP d’Auvergne à l’autre, mais ces CAP convergent tous vers un prix unique, qui représente le prix espéré par les consommateurs pour ces produits. / Geographical Indications (GIs) designate a particular label used to ensure quality, origin and protect products from counterfeiting. They bind the quality and the reputation of a product to a territory and are very present in Europe, especially in France. At a time when consumers are demanding more transparency and informations about the origin of the goods they consume, valuing local products represents an important issue. In this thesis, we analyze consumers' willingness to pay for products under geographical indications by using the Kantar WorldPanel database, which includes data of purchases of French households. With a focus on Auvergne PDO cheeses, we work on the period 2008-2010, which represents the period of reform and restructuring of actors in the Auvergne PDO cheeses sector. In a first step, we carry out a meta-analysis in order to observe what the studies tell us about the subject. Knowing that the willingness to pay is a price premium, we estimate the dispersion and the price determinants of Auvergne PDO cheeses in a second step. Finally, in a third step, we answer to our main research question by estimating determinants of choices and the consumers' willingness to pay (WTP). Globally, we find that the geographical indication plays an important role in the minds of consumers during purchasing activities, but in order to be more effective, it must be accompanied by promotion strategies initiated by distributors and producers. Similarly attributes of product and conditions of distribution play a more important role in the decisions of purchases, with regard to, the characteristics of consumers. Finally, we note that consumers have WTPs very different from a PDO cheese from Auvergne to another, but all these WTPs converge towards a single price, which represents the expected price of consumers for these products.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-10T10:50:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 CLEUTON CLENES DA SILVA.pdf: 1417621 bytes, checksum: 3f9b7f8cea0cb7097d1e697b0a56809b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-12-20 / This study evaluates the spontaneous Willingness to Pay (WTP) of a proportion of the Goiania II and Sao Judas Tadeu Goiânia residents in order to reduce or eliminate the air pollution, supposedly generated by Goiania II ETE (Sewage Treatment System) and Unilever, which could result in improved quality of life for those who live nearby. The goal of the research was to put a price on environmental pollution, so it was decided to use the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM), as this is most frequently recommended and used when analyzing individual consumer preference in relation to the environmental goods or services at their disposal. As a field research technique, questionnaires were given to a sample of this population, with the aim of evaluating the interviewees conceptions in relation to the environmental issues exacerbated by the Goiania II ETE and Unilever. In order to justify and tabulate the answers found in the questionnaires, the SPSS statistical program was used for regression analyses. Spontaneous WTP was considered the dependent variable while the independent variables included income, education level, occupation, etc.. By means of the field research, it could be affirmed from the majority of interviewees responses that the problem of air pollution, from their conception, is associated in particular with the industries of the region. They further highlight that Government at all levels (local, state and federal) is negligent in terms of the environmental issues which affect the residents. It was concluded that the vast majority of respondents is not willing to pay to reduce or eliminate the existing air pollution that they have to put up with, allegedly for economic reasons. Respondents warn that the Goiania II ETE and Unilever need to improve collective sewage treatment and put environmental policies in place. / Esta pesquisa avalia a Disposição a Pagar (DAP) espontânea de um percentual dos habitantes dos setores Goiânia II e São Judas Tadeu de Goiânia, para diminuir ou desaparecer com o problema da poluição do ar gerado supostamente pela ETE Goiânia II e Unilever, o que poderá resultar na melhoria da qualidade de vida dos habitantes que vivem nas proximidades dessas empresas. O objetivo da pesquisa é, valorar a poluição ambiental, por isso, decidiu-se pelo Método de Valoração Contingente (MVC), devido ser o mais recomendado e utilizado para analisar a preferência individual dos consumidores em relação aos bens ou serviços ambientais disponibilizados a eles. A técnica utilizada na pesquisa de campo foi o uso de questionários a uma amostra dessa população, tendo como intuito, avaliar a concepção dos entrevistados em relação à questão ambiental agravada pela ETE Goiânia II e Unilever. Para justificar e tabular as respostas encontradas nos questionários foi utilizado o programa estatístico SPSS fazendo a análise de regressão. Considerou-se como variável dependente a Disposição a Pagar (DAP), e como variáveis independentes, a renda, o nível de escolaridade, profissão, etc. Pela pesquisa de campo, pôde-se afirmar através da maioria dos pesquisados, que o problema do ar poluído, nas suas concepções, está associado em especial às indústrias da região. Destacam ainda que, o Poder Público em todas as esferas (municipal, estadual e federal), são omissos no que diz respeito aos problemas ambientais que os afetam. Conclui-se ainda que, a grande maioria dos pesquisados, não estão dispostos a pagar uma taxa para diminuir ou desaparecer com a poluição do ar existente e que os atingem, alegando sobretudo, fatores econômicos. Os pesquisados alertam que, a ETE Goiânia II e a Unilever precisam fazer um tratamento melhor do esgoto coletivo e apliquem em políticas ambientais.

The Water Framework Directive requires reduced environmental impacts from human activities and for the assessment of the non-market benefits of pollution remediation schemes. This policy shift has exacerbated the research problems surrounding the physical, social and economic consequences of the relationship between land use and water quality. This research seeks to quantify the major socio-economic and environmental benefits for people which may arise as riverine pollution is reduced. To achieve these aims this research integrates primary data analyses combining choice experiment techniques with geographical information system based analyses of secondary data concerning the spatial distributions of riverine pollution. Current knowledge on the microbial quality of river water, measured by faecal indicator organism (FIO) concentrations and assessed at catchment scale, is inadequate. This research develops generic regression models to predict base- and high-flow faecal coliform (FC) and enterococci (EN) concentrations, using land cover and population (human and livestock) variables. The resulting models are then used both to predict FIO concentrations in unmonitored watercourses and to evaluate the likely impacts of different land use scenarios, enabling insights into the optimal locations and cost-effective mix of implementation strategies. Valuation experiments frequently conflate respondents’ preferences for different aspects of water quality. This analysis uses stated preference techniques to disaggregate the values of recreation and ecological attributes of water quality, thereby allowing decision makers to better understand the consequences of adopting alternative investment strategies which favour either ecological, recreational or a mix of benefits. The results reveal heterogeneous preferences across society; specifically, latent class analysis identifies three distinct groups, holding significantly different preferences for water quality. From a methodological perspective this research greatly enhances the ongoing synthesis of geographic and economic social sciences and addresses important policy questions which are of interest to a variety of stakeholders, including government departments and the water industry.

Ce travail doctoral est une contribution à la compréhension des effets des labels lorsqu’ils sont associés aux marques. Il s’intéresse plus particulièrement aux effets des labels sur la qualité perçue par le consommateur, les relations à la marque et le consentement à payer. La définition de la qualité et la désignation des instances en charge de sa normalisation sont des problématiques historiques dont on retrouve les traces tant dans les principes du droit romain que chez les théologiens médiévistes et, plus récemment, au cœur de la distinction théorique entre les biens ou les attributs de recherche, d’expérience et de croyance. La thèse aspire à dépasser la dyade marque-acheteur. Elle considère que la qualité ne peut être garantie par le seul offreur dans certaines circonstances. Nous inscrivons notre modélisation dans le cadre des enseignements des recherches sur le capital-marque et nous appuyons sur la théorie économique du signal. Les labels, en tant qu’émanation de l’action d’un tiers de confiance permettent de réduire l’asymétrie informationnelle facteur essentiel de la difficulté à estimer la qualité. Le design de notre expérience repose sur un plan factoriel complet de type 4 × 4 (quatre marques, sans label et trois types de label) en inter-sujets. Au total, 1005 acheteurs de marques d’un produit agroalimentaire de grande consommation ont été interrogés sur internet et en face-à-face. Les qualités psychométriques des instruments de mesure sont vérifiées, les interactions entre marque et label sont étudiées par les chemins de causalité et la mesure du consentement à payer est formalisée par une zone d’acceptabilité du prix. Un effet direct du label sur les variables dépendantes est constaté mais lorsque la marque est prise en compte cet effet disparait, mettant ainsi en évidence une médiation totale par la marque. Des effets indirects de médiation en chaîne sont également mesurés, différents d’un label à l’autre et selon la marque à laquelle ils sont associés. Nos résultats conduisent à donner avec prudence de l’importance aux stratégies d’association d’une marque et d’un label. / This doctoral work is a contribution to understand the effects of third-party seals when they are associated with brands. It focuses more precisely on their effects on the perceived quality, the relationship to brand and the willingness to pay. The determination of the quality and the designation of who is revealing it are historical issues which the foundations can be found in the principles of the Roman law, among the theologians medievalists and more recently in the heart of the theoretical distinction between research, experience and credence goods or characteristics. This thesis led to exceed the brand-buyer dyad and consider that the quality cannot be guaranteed by the single buyer, under certain circumstances. We took anchor on the signal theory with reference to research on brand equity. The third-party seals, as a consequence of the action of a trusted third party, can reduce information asymmetries linked to the difficulty to estimate the quality. Our experience is based on a 4 × 4 between-subjects full factorial design (four brands, without label and three types of third-party seals). A sample of 1005 buyers of a fast-moving consumer good was asked on the internet and face-to-face. The psychometric qualities of the measuring instruments are verified, brand-label interactions are studied by the path analysis and the extent of the willingness to pay is formalized by a zone of price acceptability. A direct effect of third-party seals on dependent variable is measured, but when the brand is taken into account this effect disappears, highlighting a total mediation by the brand. Indirect effects of serial multiple mediation are also underlined; the results differ from one third-party seal to another and depending on the brand to which they are associated. Our results lead to give with caution the importance to the association of a brand with a third-party seal.

The goal of the work is to provide monetary valuation of changes in visual aspects of the landscape as a result of construction of an additional wind turbine in the village Maletín. For a suitable method for achieving the goal is being selected the contingent valuation method. A key element of this method is being considered the carefully compiled questionnaire, on which basis is made the quantification and evaluation of collected data. The representative sample consists of 112 households and the selected payment method is the increase of the monthly bill for electricity. The questionnaire reports that 54.3% of households consider the impact of wind turbines on the landscape Maletín to be positive. With the construction of additional wind turbine agree less than 74.3% of households and the most common reason is to obtain grants for the village and to produce cleaner energy from wind turbines. With the construction of new wind turbine while increasing monthly bill agrees 28.6% of all households living in the village Maletín. Estimation of changes in a welfare, thus improving the quality of the environment, is based on estimated central values, that has been calculated from selected characteristics and nonparametric estimation. The average household's willingness to pay for construction of wind turbine is estimated to be between 77 CZK - 200 CZK per month.

Um Strommärkte so zu konzipieren damit sie sowohl zur Verringerung der Nutzung fossiler Brennstoffe als auch zur Deckung des steigenden Energiebedarfes beitragen, ist Wissen über die Präferenzen der Konsumenten notwendig. Die vorliegende kumulative Dissertation untersucht Präferenzen für Elektrizitätsattribute von privaten Haushalten und trägt zu einem tieferen Verständnis dieser in unterschiedlichen Kontextsituationen bei. Der erste Artikel betrachtet statistische Methoden um die zwei am häufigsten angewandten Modelle – das Random Parameter Logit und das Latent Class Logit Modell – zu vergleichen. Der Artikel trägt dazu bei, den Prozess der Modellwahl zu verbessern und für die angewandte Forschung im Energiebereich anzupassen. Basierend auf den empirischen Ergebnissen des ersten Artikels untersucht der zweite Artikel die Präferenzen von privaten Haushalten in Hyderabad, Indien mit besonderem Fokus auf die physische Qualität der Energieversorgung. Die Ergebnisse deuten auf eine geringe Zahlungsbereitschaft der Konsumenten hin. Jedoch unterscheiden sich die Präferenzen der Haushalte. Die Artikel 3 und 4 basieren auf Datenerhebungen in Deutschland. Im dritten Artikel werden die Präferenzen privater Haushalte hinsichtlich der Organisationsform von Stromanbietern untersucht. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Kunden bereit sind mehr zu zahlen, wenn die Stromversorgung von Genossenschaften oder Stadtwerken übernommen wird. Der vierte Artikel betrachtet die Erfolgsfaktoren von Energiegenossenschaften in Deutschland. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Governance des Stromanbieters die Zahlungsbereitschaft für Strom beeinflussen. Insbesondere Genossenschaften werden den großen Privatunternehmen und Aktiengesellschaften vorgezogen. / In order to design electricity markets to simultaneously reduce the share of fossil fuels in energy production and meet the increasing demand for electricity, knowledge on consumer preferences is necessary. The goal of this cumulative dissertation is to contribute to the understanding of preferences of private households for electricity supply attributes in different contexts. In Paper 1 I review statistical methods to compare two frequently applied models, the random parameters logit and the latent class logit. The methods presented here can be readily used by other researchers and practitioners to better understand model performance which ultimately contributes to improving model choice in applied energy research. Based on the empirical findings of Paper 1, Paper 2 identifies preferences of private households in Hyderabad in India for electricity supply quality. The results indicate that willingness to pay for improvements are, on average, rather low. However, the preferences strongly vary between subjects. Papers 3 and 4 investigate preferences of German private households. In \textbf{Paper 3}, the respondents stated their preferences for the organization of the electricity distribution company under different renewable energy scenarios. It turned out that most people are willing to pay more for electricity supplied by municipally-owned companies and cooperatives. This additional willingness to pay increases disproportionally when the share of renewable energy is high. The paper identifies non-profit orientated distribution companies as potential drivers of the energy transition. Paper 4 investigates the determinants for the success of energy cooperatives in Germany. The results indicate that the governance of distribution companies impacts the choices of private households for electricity supply contracts. Especially, people preferred cooperative-like governance attributes.

本文應用環境經濟學上非市場環境財估價方法－－假設市場評價法，評估北部地區四條河川（淡水河、基隆河、新店溪與大漢溪）在水質或景觀的整治時，北部地區居每人每年的願付價值，本文的目的是提供河川整治環境改善效益面的訊息，以利政府不管是作事前或事後的評估，皆可利用本研究結果的經濟效益資料作成本效益分析，以為河川整治之公共政策施政的參考與政策評估。由於，本文研究結果包括四條河川的水質與景觀在各種改善目標下之願付價值，所以，透過成本效益分析，政府在財政收支日益吃緊的情況下，可以知道在預算限制下應先整治哪一條河川可達最大經濟效益，且各河川條件不同，故整治目標的訂定亦有不同，本研究結果方可提供政府河川之環境改善目標訂定的參考依據。 　　在假設市場評價法中詢價方式有逐步競價法、支付卡、開放式問卷、封閉式問卷與假設市場序列法，本研究的問卷實驗設計採封閉式問卷中的雙界二分選擇法，實證模型採存活模型中的比例尺度模型作迴歸分析，推估受訪者在各河川、各種環境品質改善標的下的願付價值。 　　在迴歸分析中，得知影響受訪者願付價值的主要因素是，一在受訪者的特性變數中，教育程度、過去一年的戶外旅遊次數、家中汽車數與年家庭所得等變數對願付價值是正向顯著影響，而性別與年齡兩變數則是負相關。另一在環境品質變數中，景觀改善等級變數對願付價值是正向顯著影響，然而在水質改善的環境變數中，不論是目前的水質等級或是水質改善到各種不同乾淨程度的變數，都對受訪者頗付價值的影響不甚顯著。本文同時針對四條河川包括已進行整治的淡水河與基隆河，以及尚未進行整治工程的新店溪與大漢溪作環境改善效益評估，是與過去文獻主要差異之處。

Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2006 S. 1-125 : 4 uppsatser

The aims of this thesis were to evaluate caries-preventive measures from a societal perspective, to demonstrate the use of resources in preventive dentistry, to develop and discuss techniques suitable for evaluating dental care costs and outcomes, and to test costs and consequences within a health economic decision model adapted to preventive dental care. The thesis is based on three separate studies with three separate cohorts. In the first study, performed at a single dental clinic, analysis was made of data on dental caries progression over four years in 92 adolescents, along with the use of resources for preventive treatment. In the second study, data from the intervention study “Evaluation of caries-preventive measures” (performed between 1995 and 1999 at 26 dental health clinics throughout Sweden) were used for economic evaluation. Three different approaches to calculating unit cost were discussed, each of which reflect the differences in treatment costs as influenced by the practitioner’s level of skill and competence (salary) and by methods of handling overhead cost allocation. These methods seem useful for evaluating costs in cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) and cost-benefit analysis (CBA). The CEA showed an incremental cost-effectiveness over four years of SEK 2 043* per averted decayed (D) enamel (e) and dentine caries, missing (M) and filled (F) surface (S) (DeMFS). In the third study, 82 19-year-old individuals agreed to participate in a pilot exploratory case-control study. Individuals with high caries experience formed the test group while the control group consisted of individuals with no caries experience. To explore whether any differences existed between these two groups in perceived oral health-related quality of life (OHRQOL), two OHRQOL measures were used. Additionally, the willingness of these individuals to pay (WTP) for a preventive strategy was elicited using the contingent valuation method (CVM) within a cost-benefit approach. Using these WTP values, the cost-benefit analyses showed positive net social benefit (NSB) values for both study groups, meaning that the benefits of prevention exceeded the costs. A new outcome measure, Value of Statistical Oral Health (VOSOH), was also presented. Consideration was also made, within the economic framework fundamental to this thesis, of the trend away from a strictly bio-medical paradigm towards a biopsychosocial perspective. The health economic decision model encompasses a number of different techniques for comparing costs with consequences, each with its own advantages and disadvantages and each with its own field of application. These techniques should be seen as complementary rather than competing. Preventive dentistry plays a central role in Swedish dental health care, and it is important that resources are used properly. Accurate evaluation methods are necessary in order to improve the basis for public decision-making; the methods proposed in this thesis seem to be of potential use in this endeavour. *SEK8.54 = US$1 (December 1999).