Britain produces some of the best designers in the world, and UK fashion education systems provide a continuous flow of exceptional talent into the industry. However, the numbers of British designer brands being created are low in comparison to the high number of graduates being educated. Often fashion start-ups are not able to sustain a presence in the market place after their intial entry, and are not able to realise and recognise their growth potential.

The major question this study examines is whether international acquisitions show different patterns of returns to participating firms than purely domestic events do. The research design holds the time period and sample constant, focusing on the measurement of returns using two models and three estimation periods. The models are a domestic market model (DMM) and an international market model (IMM). The estimation periods are a pre-event, pooled pre and post-event, and separate post-event period. / The sample is composed of 73 acquisitions occurring from 1970 to 1980, involving cash payment. Thirty-five acquisitions represent U.S. firms acquiring U.K. firms, and 38 events represent U.K. firms acquiring U.S. firms. Returns to the firms are measured for a $\pm$36 month period around the first acquisition announcement date. / Eight null hypotheses are used as benchmarks of performance. Hypotheses one and two state that acquired firm returns using pre-event estimation and the DMM and IMM, respectively, are not significantly greater than zero. Hypotheses one and two are rejected for U.S. and U.K. acquired firms since excess returns are significantly positive based on both the pre-event DMM and IMM. / Hypotheses three through five state that returns to U.S. (U.K.) acquiring firms under the DMM for pre, pooled, and post-event estimation, respectively, are not significantly different from zero. Hypothesis three cannot be rejected (accepted) around the event date (following the event date) because of insignificant (significant) negative returns. Hypothesis four cannot be rejected prior to (following) the event date because of insignificant positive (negative) returns, respectively. Hypothesis five cannot generally be accepted because of significantly positive returns. / Hypotheses six through eight state that returns to acquiring firms under the IMM for the three estimation periods, respectively, are not significantly different from zero. Hypothesis six cannot be rejected (accepted) for U.S. (U.K.) firms because of insignificant (significant) negative returns prior to (following) the event, respectively. Hypothesis seven cannot be rejected because of generally insignificant positive returns. Hypothesis eight cannot be accepted because of generally positive returns. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 49-07, Section: A, page: 1904. / Major Professor: Robert L. Conn. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1988.

Thesis advisor: Fabio Ghironi / This paper examines the likelihood that the United States would engage in a policy of exchange rate stabilization with the EMU. First, it examines the history of the exchange rate regimes in the United States and a review of literature on exchange rate theories. From a historical perspective, most literature and prominent economic theories focus on the Milton Friedman proposal of floating exchange rate regimes. Just as floating exchange rates were gaining prominence in the United States during the 1970s, European countries were attempting to compose a currency union which took the form of the European Monetary System in the late 1970s and eventually evolved into Europe’s Economic and Monetary Union which completed its last stage of development January 1, 1999. The importance of fixed exchange rate regimes and theories, most notably, Robert Mundell’s Theory of Optimal Currency Area is highlighted. In addition, the paradigm arguments on the relation between trade integration and synchronization of business cycles are discussed utilizing Paul Krugman and Tony Venables’ specialization hypothesis (1996) and comparing it to Jeffrey Frankel and Andrew Rose’ endogeneity hypothesis (1998). Second, this analysis shows that the United States’ economy is at a critical point in time in which it must reevaluate its stance on floating exchange rates. Particular attention is paid to current economic conditions in the United States and the EMU such as: the purchasing power of the euro with respect to the U.S. dollar, the recent decline of the dollar, the lackluster performance of the EMU with regard to some macroeconomic variables, and the profligate spending by the U.S. government which has contributed to the tremendous budget deficit. Third, this paper analyzes six properties of optimal currency area criteria: degree of economic openness, trade integration and similarity of economic structure, financial market integration, synchronization of business cycles, price flexibility, and mobility of labor as a factor of production. The countries of France and Germany are utilized as benchmarks (if they satisfy the criterion) against which the United States and EMU are compared. The time periods of (1946-1972) and (1973-2003) are utilized to highlight the advantages and disadvantages of various exchange rate regimes and to try and shed light on the endogeneity hypothesis and specialization hypothesis. This thesis concludes that France and Germany failed to satisfy certain OCA criteria such as business cycle synchronization, price flexibility, and mobility of labor as a factor of production. Although France and Germany did not fulfill all of the OCA properties, the United States and the EMU appear to be farther from optimality, only satisfying mobility of labor as a factor of production. Finally, according to this paper neither the endogeneity hypothesis nor the specialization hypothesis dominates. Therefore, the United States should not stabilize rates with the EMU because it will most likely incur greater costs than benefits since it does not form an optimal currency area with the EMU. Intermediate exchange rate policies should be evaluated and further research conducted to enhance OCA criteria and make it a more scientific and effective tool for policymakers. The findings of this paper shed light on the history of exchange rate regimes, exchange rate theories, and current economic conditions that warrant a reevaluation of the United States’ foreign exchange rate position while at the same time indicating which characteristics of the U.S. economy satisfy optimality and emphasizing the importance of further research in this field. / Thesis (BS) — Boston College, 2005. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics. / Discipline: College Honors Program.

Thesis advisor: Hideo Konishi / Online auctions have many different formats. Each of these affect the ways in which users bid strategically. One example of this is the end-time format. Some sites, like eBay, use a hard close, under which there is a strict end-time and the highest bidder at that time wins. Others, like Amazon, have an extended end-time format. It has been shown that these differences do, in fact, appear to change how bidders behave. This paper uses data obtained from Yahoo! Auctions, where both formats are used, to examine the impact these differences have on the final price of an auction. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2005. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics Honors Program.

Goal of diploma thesis is to develop set of metrics for Internet Mall, a.s. company, carrying business in online shopping. Secondary goal is practical demonstration of Business Intelligence (BI) analysis on selected metrics. Balanced scorecard (BSC), strategic planning and management system, was selected as a framework for model of metrics. Basic concept of BSC was upgraded by an e-commerce extension. These extensions appear to be mostly inspiration. Main sources of information were consultations with company`s representatives. Developing process for model of metric consist of several steps: 1. Definition of mission, vision and strategy 2. Creating strategic objectives for each BSC perspective 3. Defining connections among objectives in explicit cause-and-effect relationship 4. Assigning each objective one or more indicators 5. Accomplished Model of metrics 6. Practical demonstration of BI analysis on selected metrics Goal of practice part was fulfilled by simple implementation of BI analysis, using three selected metrics. The aim was on introducing analytics reports for management and explaining their features and benefits. Contribution of whole effort is in increasing of quality of decision making process (carrying by head executives) supported by analytics reports.

In addition to a review of the literatures on the gravity equation, and on how foreign aid and trade are related, the purposes of this dissertation are (1) to develop an asymmetric version of the Anderson and van Wincoop (2003) model appropriate to applications explicitly involving developed and less developed countries, such as foreign aid; and (2) use this model to obtain empirical evidence of the positive effect of foreign aid on trade. Anderson and van Wincoop's (2003) model is extended to a dual context, where the developed North trades heterogeneous goods in a monopolistic competition framework and the less developed South trades homogeneous goods. In addition, the linearization technique that Baier and Bergstrand (2006) apply to Anderson and van Wincoop's (2003) model is extended to the present North-South dual context. This extension permits a better interpretation of the proposed model and increases the efficiency of the estimation. The result is an empirical model that is better suited to the analysis of North-South trade issues like the link between trade and aid. The empirical results are strongly significant and robust since they survive a series of sensibility analysis. Foreign aid explains 2% of the predicted increase in trade from 1966 to 2000 / acase@tulane.edu

This dissertation focuses on the effects of fiscal policy on investment in industrial innovation. We particularly evaluate the impact of tax incentives on R&D expenditures After discussing the desirability of government intervention in the innovation activities, we set up a model of demand for R&D investment derived from a dynamic profit maximization framework following Jorgenson investment theory. The effects of tax incentives on R&D expenditures is indirectly captured through the user cost of research capital The estimation of the R&D investment function is conducted at the firm, industry, and at selected manufacturing sector level. Results indicate that R&D investment is responding to price changes, therefore, tax incentives through their effects on the user cost of research capital should be effective in stimulating R&D expenditures However, although the estimates indicate that demand for R&D investment is price elastic, the additional R&D expenditures generated by theses tax incentives fell short of revenues losses to the government. There are evidences for many firms, especially those in the low-tech sector, that these R&D incentives programs provided windfall profits rather than an incentive to expand their R&D programs / acase@tulane.edu

A sharp shift in Federal Reserve operating procedures occurred on October 6, 1979. The Federal Reserve announced that it would begin to use nonborrowed bank reserves as its policy instrument in an effort to control the stock of money and attain price stability, at the expense of increased volatility in short term interest rates. However, the period from October 6, 1979 and October 18, 1980, experienced unexpected increases in the volatility of long term interest rates and the money stock. These results are not consistent with a monetary policy regime that is monetary aggregate targeting. This dissertation investigates if the Federal Reserve was indeed monetary aggregate targeting between October 6, 1979 and October 18, 1982 This dissertation develops a single contemporaneous money market model and a simple IS-LM model, that are useful in comparing the money supply process under each Federal Reserve operating policy. The simple contemporaneous model is tested empirically. The Chow tests performed on the empirical results show that there was a shift in policy on October 6, 1979 and on October 18, 1982. The dissertation continues by developing a general dynamic money market model. It examines the lag adjustment process of the monetary variables, and the restrictions that must be placed on this type of model, under each alternative policy regime. It investigates the exogeneity assumption underlying the model through the causal relationships of monetary aggregates and real economic activity. The lag structures for each variable were found using Hsiao's Final Prediction Error Criterion. The model was estimated using Zellner's Seemingly Unrelated Regressions technique. The exogeneity assumptions for each policy regime were tested using Granger's concept of causality The results of this dissertation indicate that the Federal Reserve did not conduct a monetarist experiment from October 6, 1979 to October 18, 1982. Although there is evidence that the Federal Reserve shifted to controlling the level of nonborrowed reserves, it did not strictly adhere to the targeted level. The investigation also found that the borrowed reserves supply function used by the Federal Reserve was incomplete. Given this evidence, the procedure by which the money supply was targeted, through the targeting of nonborrowed reserves, was flawed / acase@tulane.edu

President Salinas de Gortari of Mexico has taken steps to induce Mexican companies to become internationally competitive. The 1986 entry into the GATT by Mexico under the de la Madrid Administration and subsequent Government policies under the Salinas Administration have moved the Mexican market toward greater openness to foreigners. The most recent and possibly the most important action has been the decision by President Salinas to pursue vigorously bilateral trade negotiations with the United States. Negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the United States and Mexico have been moved to a 'fast track', and a ratified agreement between the two countries is expected to be signed sometime in 1993 This dissertation looks at the strategic changes taking place in eight of Mexico's leading companies as management responds to the economic opening which began in Mexico in 1986. The data used in this study was collected through interviews, questionnaires and annual reports The direction, pace, and commitment of these strategic changes is documented for the years 1987-1991. Through its policies, the Mexican government has paved the way for the private sector to be the new engine of economic growth in Mexico. Many of the executives of Mexico's leading companies are assuming this new role as they actively seek new international markets, upgrade product quality and improve production efficiency The author also analyzes the preparedness of Mexico's leading companies for a North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The author determines that Mexico's leading companies are gearing up to be viable global competitors and serious participants in a free North American market. The majority of the companies in this study are prepared for the NAFTA. Those companies which are not, are diligently working to become so The results of this study are expected to incite further study in the areas of: the strategic management of MNCs from developing countries, the role of the environment in strategic change, and the role of government and the private sector in economic development / acase@tulane.edu

A general equilibrium model is established to evaluate fiscal policy in Taiwan, particularly the replacement of the sales tax by a value-added tax. To begin, the major taxes levied in Taiwan are identified and briefly described. Based on this descriptive analysis, we can make assumptions concerning tax incidence for Taiwan's major taxes within a general equilibrium framework; and the effective tax rates, by type of tax, by family income class, are calculated. Then, a general equilibrium computation algorithm is applied to convert an abstract representation of an economy into an operational model The results are obtained by comparing the solutions between before- and after-tax equilibrium in nonlinear equations system. The main conclusions show that (1) the relative prices of goods, in general, only have a small change; and (2) the efficiency gain in production and total welfare gain are both small as well / acase@tulane.edu