This dissertation contributes to the understanding of production and investment decisions under different circumstances. Specifically, it focuses on two aspects: (1) in a market with financial frictions, how entrepreneurs choose their production sectors and finance their business; (2) in a market with spillovers in research and development (R&D), how spillover effect influences firms' R&D investment and other market performances. In Chapter 1, I examine how financial frictions affect occupational shifts and structural transformations between the service sector and the manufacturing sector. I construct a general equilibrium occupational choice model with intermediation costs and contract enforcement, in which agents can choose to be entrepreneurs in the service or manufacturing sectors, or to be workers. The model is calibrated to match Chinese statistics and is used to conduct policy experiments that vary intermediation and enforcement costs. I find that high intermediation costs cause the contribution to output and the number of workers employed in the service sector to increase. They also decrease output per capita in the service sector. The service sector size and enforcement do not have a monotonic relationship; the association is positive when enforcement cost is sufficiently high and it is negative when enforcement cost is sufficiently low. Counterfactual experiments are performed for the U.S., Brazil and the Philippines. I find that intermediation costs and enforcement can explain almost half of the sector size gap with Brazil and the Philippines. In Chapter 2, we consider a one-stage Cournot duopoly of R&D. We characterize the Nash equilibrium of the one-stage game and provide a comparison with the two-stage version of the same Cournot model of R&D/product market competition. We look at R&D expenditures, profits, output, and welfare. Under perfect symmetry, the one-stage model always leads to higher profits when the spillover parameter is not equal to 1/2. Moreover, the one-stage model implies more R&D expenditure and higher welfare if and only if the spillover parameter is greater than 1/2. In Chapter 3, we consider a one-stage Cournot duopoly with R&D and spillovers in R&D inputs and makes a comparison with the two-stage game version where R&D levels are observed before the output choices. We focus on the possibility of a prisoner's dilemma in R&D. By adding an initial period to our one-stage model, wherein firms decide whether or not to conduct R&D, we find that there is no prisoner's dilemma in R&D regardless of the level of spillover effects.

acase@tulane.edu / Given that the economy involves all actors in a society, anthropological archaeology studies of the economy tend to be reductionist in their modelling, particularly of the ancient Maya, as by failing to examine certain segments of the ancient economy the full range of questions and complexities concerning economic interactions cannot be addressed. While much of the current framework for studying the past economy is due to the fragmentary nature of the archaeological record, traditional approaches tend to emphasize top-down studies, focusing on elites and their use of the economy for obtaining and maintaining power, and bottom-up studies which focus on the economic independence of small-scale farmers and householders. Studies of the economy should take a middle ground as it should be seen as a system of multiple economies in which different goods circulated. This dissertation seeks to model the multiple ways economies articulated in the past focusing on utilitarian goods which circulated through different economies. The articulation of economies becomes apparent through studies of the extraction and production of raw materials as access to and exchange of such goods occurs at the intersection of various economies. This dissertation asks, what was the relative role of various actors in the management of raw materials for utilitarian resource production? Examining the access to materials for utilitarian goods highlights the variability in economic practices and the involvement of actors of varying socio-economic statuses in lowland Maya economies. This dissertation focuses on lithic production at a chert quarry and production area in the upper Belize River valley of western Belize during the Late to Terminal Classic Periods (A.D. 670-890). This dissertation finds that local residents managed resources to produce utilitarian tools, indicating economies were a source of integration with and insulation from regional political dynamics. These data suggest we should view lowland Maya economies as complex systems where individuals of different socio-economic statuses negotiated wealth and power. / 1 / Rachel A. Horowitz

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<p><strong>Problem</strong> : How does Japanese company coordinate with its subsidiaries in Thai and Chinese markets?</p><p><strong>Purpose</strong> :  To describe organization structure of Japanese company as well as compare how headquarters coordinates with its subsidiaries in Thai and Chinese markets. Also, this thesis will give benefits for the academics and managers of other multinational corporations.</p><p><strong>Method</strong> :  Qualitative approach and comparative design are implemented in this thesis meanwhile secondary data from internet, documentary research  and primary data from semi-structured interview through telephone & email are used for collecting information. More importantly, Tokai Carbon is chosen as a case study to understand organization structure and its coordination between Japanese company and Thai & Chinese subsidiaries.</p><p><strong>Conclusion</strong> : The organization structure and coordination should  be concerned in multinational corporations. Tokai Carbon Co., Ltd. as a multinational Japanese company who runs business and establishes various subsidiaries in worldwide mostly centralizes power to headquarters. Also, Tokai Carbon Co., Ltd. applied means of formal and informal coordination in order to cooperate between Tokai Carbon Co., Ltd. (headquarters) and Thai Tokai Carbon Product Co., Ltd (Thai subsidiaries) & Tokai Carbon Tianjin Co., Ltd. (Chinese subsidiaries). With respect to formal and informal mechanisms, these two mechanisms are similarly implemented in collaboration between headquarters and Thai & Chinese subsidiaries. Nonetheless, there are a few differences on informal tools in form of lateral relations and socialization.</p>

The paper is concerned with communication within a team of players trying to coordinate in response to information dispersed among them. The problem is nontrivial because they cannot communicate all information instantaneously, but have to send longer or shorter sequences of messages, using coarse codes. We focus on the design of these codes and show that members may gain compatibility advantages by using identical codes, and that this can support the existence of several, more or less efficient, symmetric equilibria. Asymmetric equilibria may exist only if coordination across different sets of members is of sufficiently different importance. The results are consistent with the stylized fact that firm differ even within industries and that coordination between divisions is harder than coordination inside divisions. / Center for Innovation in Product Development at MIT under NSF Cooperative Agreement Number EEC-9529140.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 1981. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 122-126). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center.

Problem : How does Japanese company coordinate with its subsidiaries in Thai and Chinese markets? Purpose :  To describe organization structure of Japanese company as well as compare how headquarters coordinates with its subsidiaries in Thai and Chinese markets. Also, this thesis will give benefits for the academics and managers of other multinational corporations. Method :  Qualitative approach and comparative design are implemented in this thesis meanwhile secondary data from internet, documentary research  and primary data from semi-structured interview through telephone &amp; email are used for collecting information. More importantly, Tokai Carbon is chosen as a case study to understand organization structure and its coordination between Japanese company and Thai &amp; Chinese subsidiaries. Conclusion : The organization structure and coordination should  be concerned in multinational corporations. Tokai Carbon Co., Ltd. as a multinational Japanese company who runs business and establishes various subsidiaries in worldwide mostly centralizes power to headquarters. Also, Tokai Carbon Co., Ltd. applied means of formal and informal coordination in order to cooperate between Tokai Carbon Co., Ltd. (headquarters) and Thai Tokai Carbon Product Co., Ltd (Thai subsidiaries) &amp; Tokai Carbon Tianjin Co., Ltd. (Chinese subsidiaries). With respect to formal and informal mechanisms, these two mechanisms are similarly implemented in collaboration between headquarters and Thai &amp; Chinese subsidiaries. Nonetheless, there are a few differences on informal tools in form of lateral relations and socialization.