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.

Zugl.: Bayreuth, Univ., Diss., 2008

Graz, Universität, Habilitation, 2001.

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität, Würzburg, 2003.

Det här arbetet syftar till att redogöra för en studie i spelarens upplevda agency i dialogsammanhang. Arbetet tar sin bakgrund i talaktsteori och känslor som hjälpmedel vid dialogsystemsdesign. Frågeställningen söker sedan svara på om ett dialogsystem av typen abstract response menu är effektivast med eller utan det så kallade känslohjulet. Känslohjulet kombinerar en abstrakt fras med en känsla. Spelaren väljer känslan genom att rotera ett hjul med färger. För att testa spelarens upplevda agency fick två testgrupper testa respektive dialogsystem och fylla i ett formulär relaterat till deras upplevda agency. Resultatet visade att inget av dialogsystemen var nämnvärt bättre än det andra. Däremot framkom det att vissa spelarens motivation som ett uttryck av agency påverkades annorlunda av känslohjulet då spelaren upplevde en högre nivå av självuttryck.

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In this paper, I examine the effects of debt structure on conservatism. The analysis is conducted in two steps. First, I examine the direction of causality between capital structure and conditional conservatism by using a unique sample of zero leverage firms that transition to non-zero leverage. Also I investigate whether off-balance-sheet leverage incrementally explains conditional conservatism. Second, I study whether the various characteristics of debt also affect conditional conservatism. Specifically, the characteristics I investigate include: (1) whether the debt is public or private, (2) maturity, (3) convertibility, (4) seniority, and (5) securitization. Since these different characteristics of debt affect agency costs to varying degrees, I predict that differences in the type of debt will lead to cross-sectional differences in conditional conservatism. I find that entering the debt market is an important factor driving demand for conditional conservatism, and that off-balance-sheet leverage incrementally increases conditional conservatism relative to on-balance-sheet leverage. Consistent with my predictions, I find that firms with greater levels of public debt, short-term debt, subordinate debt, and unsecured debt provide more timely loss recognition. After controlling for the likelihood of conversion, I also find firms with a greater level of convertible debt provide less timely loss recognition. Overall my results indicate that accounting conservatism not only varies with the presence of debt, but also with the contractual features of debt.

This paper presents a case study and analysis of changes in the organizational structure of the Open Learning Agency (OLA) of British Columbia in 1992. Under the aegis of the Ministry of Advanced Education, Technology and Training, the Agency carries a five-fold mandate - in collaboration with universities, institutions, boards of school trustees and other agencies concerned with education, OLA is to: provide an educational credit bank for students; coordinate the development of open learning education; use open learning methods to provide educational programs and services; carry out research related to open learning education; and operate one or more broadcasting undertakings devoted primarily to the field of educational broadcasting. The central question of the paper is: How will OLA restructure to achieve its mandate and strategic direction? In particular, the paper examines the Agency's structure prior to reorganization, the internal and external forces acting upon it as seen through the eyes of its executive members and the key issues facing the organization, including the reasons which precipitated a review of the organizational structure in 1991. The structure prior to reorganization is analyzed and classified as an example of Mintzberg's (1989) innovative configuration. The paper also predicts an innovative configuration for the Agency's reorganized structure based upon Mintzberg's contingency and life cycle hypotheses. The reorganized structure (which came into effect May 1, 1992) is subsequently analyzed and agrees with the prediction. The method of investigation included interviews with executive members conducted approximately three months prior and three months after the reorganization, archival research and personal observation by the writer, an employee of the Agency. Mintzberg's (1983, 1989) conceptual framework of structural configurations provided a basis for analysis of the case study data. The paper concludes that the innovative configuration is an appropriate form for the organization in view of its mandate and strategic direction but notes that it is also a difficult configuration to sustain, subject to pressures for increasing bureaucratization and susceptible to internal and external politicization. The paper recommends that the Agency do its best to maintain the configuration by educating staff about its nature and resist pressures which might shape it into a more conventional, professional form. The paper further finds Mintzberg's framework descriptive and helpful in providing limited, broad understanding of the Agency, its issues and choices for change; however, factors which can have significant impact such as political pressure, personal idiosyncrasies of leaders and centralization of office sites make any detailed prescriptions for organizational change somewhat elusive.

This study explores the impact of sport on the lives of 15-19 year old female participants in the Physically Active Youth program in Namibia by examining how they reinforce or resist dominant gender discourses in their lives through their reflections and conversations on sport and by highlighting discourses of agency that emerge from their perceptions of the role sport may play in their economic and educational futures and their own personal growth and development through sport. In the struggle to resist multiple oppressions within intersecting frameworks of race, gender, class, and age, this exploration of girls’ reflections on sports reveals the normalization of dominant discourses of gender and heterosexism through sport, but also evidence of emerging critical consciousnesses and questioning of the broader processes influencing girls’ participation in sport.

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