This dissertation, which consists of three essays, studies online auctions both theoretically and empirically. The first essay studies a special online auction format used by eBay, “Buy-It- Now” (BIN) auctions, in which bidders are allowed to buy the item at a fixed BIN price set by the seller and end the auction immediately. I construct a two-stage model in which the BIN price is only available to one group of bidders. I find that bidders cutoff is lower in this model, which means, bidders are more likely to accept the BIN option, compared with the models assuming all bidders are offered the BIN. The results explain the high frequency of bidders accepting BIN price, and may also help explain the popularity of temporary BIN auctions in online auction sites, such as eBay, where BIN option is only offered to early bidders. In the second essay, I study how bidders’ risk attitude and time preference affect their behavior in Buy-It-Now auctions. I consider two cases, when both bidders enter the auction at the same time (homogenous bidders) thus BIN option is offered to both of them, and when two bidders enter the auction at two different stages (heterogenous bidders) thus the BIN option is only offered to the early bidder. Bidders’ optimal strategies are derived explicitly in both cases. In particular, given bidders’ risk attitude and time preference, the cutoff valuation, such that a bidder will accept BIN if his valuation is higher than the cutoff valuation and reject it otherwise, is calculated. I find that the cutoff valuation in the case of heterogenous bidders is lower than that in the case of homogenous bidders. The third essay focuses on the empirical modeling of the price processes of online auctions. I generalize the monotone series estimator to model the pooled price processes. Then I apply the model and the estimator to eBay auction data of a palm PDA. The results are shown to capture closely the overall pattern of observed price dynamics. In particular, early bidding, mid-auction draught, and sniping are well approximated by the estimated price curve.

With the increased attention of different stakeholders on the environmental performance of businesses, several firms are increasingly focusing on product recovery and reuse activities which are not only profitable but may also help to reduce the environmental impact of their operations. This dissertation focuses on managerial challenges associated with such value-added recovery and reuse activities. The first essay examines how a firm should bring a product to market, in particular, whether to lease or sell products. Motivated by claims that leasing can be an environmentally superior to selling, we analytically investigate if either leasing or selling can be both more profitable for a monopolist and have a lower total environmental impact. The second essay first experimentally examines the effect of remanufactured products on the perceived value of new products. This effect is then incorporated to analytically investigate an OEM's strategy in the presence of competition from third-party remanufacturers. In the third essay, motivated by a major IT company, we investigate the optimal product recovery and remanufacturing strategy for a firm that can offer trade-in rebates to achieve price discrimination. We also consider the effect of potential entry of third-party remanufacturers on the firm's recovery and remanufacturing strategy.

<p>Background and purpose</p><p>In Sweden private savings in stocks has experienced a large increase and in year 2006 there were 6.7 million people, or 77 per cent of the population owning stocks. A recent study shows that more than every other Swede has deficient knowledge in trading with stocks. Since small private investors often do not know how to gather and interpret information they must utilize investment advices. The large increase in private savings in stocks, the lack of investment knowledge together with the large increase in Internet usage has resulted in investment advice seeking on the Internet. One of the largest sources of investment advices on the Internet in Sweden today is Avanza.se. The purpose with our thesis is to describe and analyze if, after a buy recommendation issued at Avanza’s website, the effects with respect to abnormal return and market efficiency differ significantly depending on a company’s capitalization value.</p><p>Method</p><p>We have used a quantitative approach to fulfill our purpose. The secondary data required to do so was gathered from the OMX-Group’s website, where historical prices and Index information was collected, and from the online broker Avanza’s website where the buy recommendations were compiled. In order to conduct statistical tests and calculations we have used the statistical software SPSS.</p><p>Frame of Reference</p><p>The theories we made use of mainly treated market efficiency and abnormal return.</p><p>Conclusions</p><p>We have seen that the recommendations’ effect concerning abnormal return differ signifi-cantly depending on capitalization value, where the effect on companies with smaller capitalization values are larger. We have also found tendencies of market inefficiency at the semi strong level for stocks with smaller capitalization value.</p>

<p>Bakgrund: Den 10 mars 2000 blev Sverige ett av de sista västländerna att tillåta noterade bolag att återköpa egna aktier. Intresset för denna nya möjlighet har varit stort bland svenska börsbolag och fram till idag har ett femtiotal bolag återköpt egna till ett värde av åtskilliga miljarder. </p><p>Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att studera hur ett bolags återköp av egna aktier påverkar aktiekursen. </p><p>Genomförande: Vi har studerat litteratur och artiklar om ämnet återköp. Vi har undersökt 48 företags återköp och dess kursutveckling en månad efter avslutat återköp. En jämförelse har gjorts med respektive företags branschindex. Därutöver har vi även undersökt om det går att se någon mer långsiktig effekt från starten av respektive återköpsprogram till det att de avslutades i varje företag. </p><p>Resultat: I knappt hälften av de undersökta bolagen fann vi att återköpen haft en positiv effekt på aktiekursen.</p>

The major internet auction sites eBay and Yahoo have developed innovative hybrid auction designs that incorporate buy prices. My dissertation focuses on the Buy It Now (BIN, hereafter) version of the auctions on eBay, the largest online auction site. The BIN hybrid auction combines a standard ascending bid auction with a posted-price offer. A seller in a BIN auction lists his auction with a "buy price". A bidder may purchase the item immediately at the buy price and end the auction. If he places a bid instead, the option to purchase the item at the buy price disappears and the subsequent bidders participate in the standard eBay auction. This auction format has been very popular with both buyers and sellers. In 2005 eBay's sales in fixed price platform (BIN and Half.com) totaled $13.8 billion, which was 33.1% of eBay's total sales.The dissertation explores the BIN auctions using theory, experiments and field data. Chapter 1 theoretically analyzes BIN auctions within the common values framework. An equilibrium is characterized, shown to exist, and the revenues generated by BIN and standard eBay auctions are compared. Chapter 2 compares the bidding behavior and the revenue implications of BIN auctions in lab experiments under common and private value assumptions. The third develops an "incomplete" theoretical model of BIN auctions within the private values framework. An "incomplete" empirical specification is derived and then field data collected from eBay's BIN auctions are used to estimate the primitives of the model, including the bidders' risk aversion and time preference. I then explore how heterogeneity of sellers and items influence these primitives. Chapter 1 (Common Values Auctions with a Buy Price: the case of eBay): Several explanations for the popularity of buy price have been provided for independent private value auctions. Risk aversion and impatience of either the bidders or the seller have mainly been used to explain the popularity of buy prices in IPV models. This paper, using a pure common value framework, models auctions with eBay-style "temporary" buy prices, when the bidders and the seller are either risk neutral or risk averse. It characterizes equilibrium bidding strategies in a general setup and then analyzes a seller's incentive to post a buy price when there are two bidders. When bidders are either risk neutral or risk averse there is no incentive to post a buy price for a risk neutral seller. But when the seller is risk averse, a suitably chosen buy price can raise the seller's expected utility when the bidders are either risk neutral or risk averse. Chapter 2 (An Experimental Study of Auctions with a Buy Price Under Private and Common Values): We use experiments to examine several predictions from the theoretical studies of buy prices. The theoretical predictions from Wooders and Reynolds (2003) and Chapter 1 show that the introduction of a buy price causes the seller's revenue to move in opposite directions in private value and common value settings. Meanwhile, Mathews and Katzman (2006) find that risk averse sellers might find buy prices advantageous because they reduce the variance in seller revenue in eBay auctions with risk-neutral bidders. The lab experiments are used to answer three key questions. (a) Can a buy price raise seller revenue and lower the variance of seller revenue in an independent private value auction? (b) Does a buy price lower seller revenue in common value auctions? (c) If the theoretical predictions do not hold, can a behavioral model explain the patterns observed in the data? Using a between-subjects design the results show that the use of a buy price has a positive and statistically significant effect on seller revenue in private value auctions. The buyers are risk averse. The estimate of the Constant Absolute Risk Aversion (CARA) index of 1.11 for the bidders is equivalent to a Constant Relative Risk Aversion (CRRA) index of 0.62 which is centered within the range of other estimates of relative risk aversion. As predicted by the theory when buyers are risk averse, the use of a buy price yields a statistically significant reduction in the variance of seller revenue. Hence, as predicted, the use of a buy price is advantageous to the seller when either the bidders or the seller are risk averse. The results for common value auctions are inconsistent with the theoretical predictions. Use of a buy price did not lower seller revenue, and the bidders' behavior departed from theoretical predictions in several respects. As a result, we develop and estimate a behavioral model of common value BIN auctions based on the winner's curse and overweighting of a bidder's private information. We find statistically significant evidence of overweighting of the bidder's own signal and estimated a CARA index of 0.001. This behavioral model explains all the departures from the rational model we found in the common values experiments. Chapter 3 (The Buy-it-now Option, Risk Aversion, and Impatience in an Empirical Model of eBay Bidding): Haile and Tamer (2003) first used an incomplete econometric model in an auction context, assuming that bidders bid up to their values and do not allow an opponent to win at a price they are willing to beat. Canals-Cerda and Pearcy (2004) used a similar incomplete econometric model to study eBay auctions while adding the assumption that the maximum of all the bids placed by the bidder with the second highest value is exactly equal to his value. Chapter 3 extends these incomplete models to eBay's BIN auctions. We develop and estimate an equilibrium model for BIN independent private value auctions with a stochastic and unknown number of potential bidders who enter the auction sequentially. In the model risk averse and time impatient bidders buy at the BIN price because it allows them to avoid the uncertainties and delay of the ascending bid auction that takes place if no one chooses the BIN option. As a result, the bidders' decisions to choose the BIN option in BIN auctions of different lengths can be used to identify the bidders' risk aversion and time preference parameters. Our model is "incomplete" in the sense that we do not impose any stylized structure on bidding in the ascending bid auction and, although bid revision is allowed, the process is not explicitly described. Our "incomplete" econometric model uses a partial likelihood approach proposed by Cox (1975) that allows the analysis to bypass modeling bidding and the bid revision process. The model is estimated using a new data set of 3245 eBay auctions of Pentium-3 laptops that ran between 22 July to 10 August 2005.

Darbo tikslas – išnagrinėti valstybinės žemės sklypų pirkimo – pardavimo ir nuomos eigą Šiaulių mieste. Pagrindiniai teisės aktai, reglamentuojantys valstybinės žemės pirkimo – pardavimo, nuomos ir panaudos klausimus yra Lietuvos Respublikos Konstitucijos 47 straipsnio 3 dalies įgyvendinimo Konstitucijos įstatymas, Lietuvos Respublikos civilinis kodeksas, Lietuvos Respublikos žemės įstatymas bei poįstatyminiai teisės aktai, kuriais vadovaujantis rengiami žemė nuosavybės dokumentai, žemės nuomos ir panaudos sutartys. Žemės pirkimo – pradavimo sutartis yra notarinės formos bei registruojama Nekilnojamojo turto registre. Sutartyje nurodomi pagrindiniai duomenys apie perkamą iš valstybės žemės sklypą taip pat jo pardavimo kaina. Pilietis pirkdamas valstybinę žemę gali sumokėti visą sumą iš karto arba pirkti ją išsimokėtinai. Žemės sandoriams sudaryti turi būti parengtas nekilnojamojo turto objekto – žemės sklypo planas. Nuosavybės teisės į žemę pirkėjui pereina nuo valstybinės žemės sklypo perdavimo. Žemės sklypo perdavimas ir jo priėmimas įforminamas pardavėjo ir pirkėjo pasirašytu priėmimo – perdavimo aktu. Piliečiai, kurie nepageidauja išsipirkti žemės gali ją nuomoti. Žemės nuomos terminas nustatomas nuomotojo ir nuomininko susitarimu, bet ne ilgiau kaip 99 metams. Kai išnuomojama žemės ūkio paskirties žemė, žemės nuomos terminas negali būti ilgesnis kaip 25 metai. Valstybės ir savivaldybių institucijoms, pelno nesiekiančioms organizacijoms valstybinės žemė ne išnuomojama... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The aim of the work – to analyze the process of buying – selling and rent of state land sites in Siauliai city. The main law acts, regulating matters of buying – selling, rent and use of state land are: 3 part implementation of Constitution law of 47th article of Constitution of Lithuanian Republic; Civil code of the Republic of Lithuania; Land law of Republic of Lithuania and after legislative law acts. Guiding these documents the documents of ownership of land, the agreements or rent and usage of land are prepared. The land buy – sell agreement is of notarial form and is registered in the registry of realty. The main information about buyable land site from the state and its selling price are noted in the agreement. People can pay all the price at once or buy land in credit. The realty site plan has to be prepared in order to make the land site transactions. Buyer gets proprietorship of land after release of state land. The release and the acceptance of the land site are formalized by the release – acceptance act signed by both sides. People what doesn’t want buy land can rent it. Land rent term adjusting both sides agreement, but no longer than 99 years. Agricultural land can be rented no longer than 25 years. State or municipality institutes, organizations which doesn’t want any benefit state land can be no rented but passed for using in use agreement.

The number of people shopping on the Internet has grown rapidly in recent years and it has been suggested that the growth rate of Internet transactions now exceeds that of traditional retailing. Despite the significant growth in the use of the Internet for business transactions, there is evidence to suggest that many customers abandon web sites without completing their transactions. It is clearly important to understand why people buy from the Internet and also the way consumers examine websites. There had been limited research undertaken to investigate the relationships between the various antecedents and the willingness to buy in the Internet environment, especially within a single study. The main trust of this research is to examine the antecedents that influence the willingness to buy from the Internet and also how these antecedents influence one another. The antecedents included in this research were brand image (Dodds, Monroe & Grewal, 1991), perceived risk (Sweeney & Soutar, 2001), trust (Lynch & Beck, 2001), affect (Lynch & Beck, 2001), convenience (Szymanski & Hise, 2000), relative price (Sweeney, Soutar & Johnson, 1999), site reputation (Baker, Grewal & Parasuraman, 1994) and web design (Szymanski & Hise, 2000). Some of the antecedents were found to be unsuitable and they were dropped from the study. The empirical results from the final model suggest that perceived value is positively influenced by affect and brand image. Both brand image and affect also positively influence the trust of the website. Willingness to buy from the website is influenced by perceived value and trust of the website.

Univ., Diss.--Dortmund, 2005.

Univ., Diss.--Passau, 2002.

Zugl.: Chemnitz, Techn. Universiẗat, Diss., 2009.