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This dissertation offers an economic analysis of militarization in the Caribbean through an examination of United States Department of Defense contract awards. The industrial component of the militarization process--that which the U.S. Military Industry is producing in and buying from the region--is analyzed in detail in order to demonstrate that Caribbean economies have been integrated into the international division of labor of the United States Military Industry. The industrial component is analyzed as part of a restructuring brought about by the effect of changing production paradigms on the U.S. Military Industry's structure. My research demonstrated that: (1) there are spatial patterns in the division of labor which concentrate certain functions (research and development, services, construction, and supply and equipment) and industries (apparel, electronics, pharmaceutical, scientific instruments, etc.) in the Caribbean; (2) that there is a direct relationship between countries which are host to U.S. military installations and facilities or which are undergoing U.S. military escalation, and the allocation of DOD contract awards; and (3) that the structural dependence of the U.S. Military Industry on the mass production paradigm has led it to expand maquiladora activity in the Caribbean region as the network of DOD suppliers within the United States has contracted. The militarization of the Caribbean constitutes an implicit industrial policy which brings the following benefits to the United States Military Industry: (1) nearby regional industrial capacity and enhanced geopolitical protection of United States military production; (2) offshore production at alternative sites which will decrease dependency on Far East producers; (3) integration of civilian and military production which will serve to absorb cyclical demand within some industries and will improve the United States' competitive position within the advantages offered by the CBI; and (4) enhanced geopolitical protection of United States interests and facilities in the Caribbean.

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This is a sociological study of four factories in New England on acquisitions by Japanese corporations in the late 1980s. It investigated whether two sets of "Japanese" managerial practices were implemented by the Japanese, and whether they were successful at these factories. One was "welfare corporatist" practices which enhance workers' commitment to the organization by employing paternalistic personnel policies. The other was a group of various quality assurance programs that were either developed or nurtured in Japan. A questionnaire survey of 440 employees, interviews of 25 American and 22 Japanese managers, and 4 focus groups were employed. The Japanese seemed to be reluctant to alter existing personnel practices in the U.S. Insufficient math skills of employees can be a serious obstacle to quality assurance programs. Linguistic and non-linguistic communication issues were also a major problem between the Japanese and Americans. Much Japanese managers' frustration seemed to result from weak inter-group communication and cooperation of American firms. In general, the management at these firms were more engaged in implementing quality assurance programs than welfare corporatist policies. Both types of managerial practices seem to have positive results for employees when they are instituted properly. On the other hand, the lack of these practices can cause adverse effects.

<p> The challenges of Big Data (BD) and Big Data Analytics (BDA) have attracted disproportionately less attention than the overwhelmingly espoused benefits and game-changing promises. While many studies have examined BD challenges across multiple industry verticals, very few have focused on the challenges of implementing BDA solutions. Fewer of these studies have focused directly on the financial services industry, and none have quantifiably measured the severities of the challenges. That created gaps as BDA solution implementers in the financial services industry could neither access a roadmap to guide their steps against obstacles that lay ahead, nor compute the severities of the challenges. This study addressed those gaps through two research questions: (1) What are the challenges of implementing BDA solutions in the financial services industry; and (2) What are the rankings of these challenges, in terms of importance and relative severities, such that BDA implementations can devote more research attention to or hedge better against those challenges? To answer these questions, the study used a mixed methods approach to content-analyze 75 BDA documents and collate a comprehensive list of 22 BDA challenges. As well, 36 financial services industry BDA-subject-matter-experts (SMEs) were surveyed to validate the list, rank the challenges, and measure their impacts. The research findings showed that the challenges of implementing BDA solutions in the financial services industry are mostly strategic and people-driven, rather than process-induced or technology-driven. Specifically, miscommunications and misconception of the meanings, intents, and the value-added benefits of BDA implementation in the financial services industry were found to be the top challenge. Details of the results, its implications for the BDA communities of practice and discourse, and opportunities for future research were discussed. The results can be generalized if scaled with a bigger sample size and better measures-of-intangibles.</p>

<p> The human capital accumulation is an important production factor to promote the economic growth of the countries. In this thesis the role of the universities of Puerto Rico in the creation of human capital stock at the regional level is studied, based on a panel data analysis of 15 areas of labor market during the census years 1960 to 2010. The stock of human capital refers to the knowledge generated by the universities through the production of degrees and the R&amp;D activities. Three variables as proxies were designed to measure the rate of accumulation of human capital (HCAP), the rate of new professional degrees (NGRAD) and research and development activities (DRES). The results obtained showed that NGRAD had a positive but very small impact on the rate of human capital stock, while that the R&amp;D did not show any impact. The significant determinants to the growth of HCAP in the regional labor market were the real income per capita and federal tax exemption under Section 936. It's presumed that this incentive promoted by foreign investments generated knowledge spillovers and induced positive externalities for innovation and local economic development. To increase the productivity of the regions it is suggested that universities must be more proactive in the strategic and economic development of the regions in which they are located. This implies that the universities need to reassess their roles so as to actively contribute to the formulation of regional plans of action, promote entrepreneurship activities for professionals who are not being absorbed by the economy, and promote collaboration and knowledge spillovers with regional businesses.</p>

<p> Bullwhip effect in Pricing (BP) refers to the amplified variability of prices in a supply chain. When the amplification takes place from the upstream (i.e. supplier&rsquo;s side) towards the downstream (i.e. retail side) of a supply chain, this is referred as the Reverse Bullwhip effect in Pricing (RBP). On the other hand, if an absorption in price variability takes place from the upstream towards the downstream of a supply chain, we refer this phenomenon as the Forward Bullwhip effect in Pricing (FBP). </p><p> In this research, we analyze the occurrence of BP in the case of different game structures and supply chain contracts. We consider three game scenarios (e.g. simultaneous, wholesale-leading, and retail-leading) and two supply chain contracts (e.g. buyback and revenue-sharing). We analyze the occurrence of BP for some common demand functions (e.g. log-concave, linear, isoelastic, negative exponential, logarithmic, logit etc.). We consider some common pricing practices such as a fixed-dollar and fixed-percentage markup pricing and the optimal pricing game. </p><p> We discuss the conditions for the occurrence of BP based on the concavity coefficient and the cost-pass-through. We analyze the price variation analytically and then illustrate the results through numerical simulations. We extend the cost-pass-through analysis for a N-stage supply chain and conjecture the BP ratios for a N-stage supply chain. We compute cost-pass-through under both a buyback and a revenue-sharing contract. We compared the BP ratios between a revenue-sharing contract and a no-contract cases. We include both the deterministic and stochastic demand functions with an additive and a multiplicative uncertainty. </p><p> The results indicate that the occurrence of BP depends on the concavity coefficient of the demand functions. For example: RBP occurs for an isoelastic demand, FBP occurs for a linear demand, No BP occurs for a negative exponential demand etc. This study also shows that, FBP and RBP occur in varying magnitude for different types of games and supply chain contracts. The comparison between the stochastic model and the risk-less model shows that the additive or multiplicative uncertainty changes the price fluctuation. The comparison between contract and no-contract cases shows that the contract minimizes FBP or RBP in some cases.</p>

<p> Electronic and web technologies include a significant economic and social force in contemporary life and business. Commercial activities conducted over computers and mobile networks empower business processes and add value to consumers by introducing unique channels for buying and exchanging information. Whereas past research expanded knowledge about attitudes and perceptions toward e-commerce that drive consumer purchase intentions and provide a competitive advantage, the fundamental behavioral dynamics associated with m-commerce requires further investigation. Based on the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT), this quantitative, survey-based study investigates adult American users of m-commerce to measure their perceptions of performance and effort expectancies, social influence, the facilitating conditions of m-commerce trust and perceived risk. This study surveyed 177 participants to measure their perceptions of performance and effort expectancies, social influence, the facilitating conditions of m-commerce trust and perceived risk, and their m-commerce purchase intentions. The results of this study indicated that performance and effort expectancies, social influence, and the facilitating conditions of trust and perceived risk in the use of m-commerce together predicted m-commerce purchase intentions at a statistically significant level regarding competitive advantage.</p>

Due to their access to non-public information, insiders frequently have the opportunity to make trades based on superior information. Information contained in earnings forecasts is value-relevant and affords informed insiders the ability to earn abnormal returns by trading in advance of forecast disclosure. Penman (1982) finds evidence of informed insider trading activity prior to earnings forecasts for a sample of forecasts made during the years 1967 to 1974. Since 1974, significant structural changes have occurred with respect to insider trading and management earnings forecast regulation. This research tests whether insiders trade in an informed manner and earn abnormal returns prior to forecast release with a more current (1982-1987) and complete sample. Tests are also performed to determine the role that incentives and disincentives in the form of the magnitude and tone of the earnings surprise play in determining insider trading activity. Additionally, tests are performed to determine if incentives for litigation in the form of pre-forecast insider trading and the existence of a bad news forecast affect the sign and magnitude of ex-post forecast error. Finally, tests are performed to examine whether the Insider Trading Sanctions Act (ITSA) of 1984 affected insider trading prior to earnings forecasts. / Insiders are observed making informed trades prior to good news forecasts, but not prior to bad news forecasts. However, insiders are not observed earning abnormal returns on average. The magnitude of the earnings surprise is strongly related to insider trading activity. Weak support is found for the prediction that the presence of a bad news forecast will reduce insider trading activity. Insider trading activity is not related to the sign of the ex-post forecast error, although a weak negative relationship between insider trading activity and the magnitude of the ex-post forecast error is found. A negative relationship is found between the magnitude of ex-post forecast error and the presence of a bad news forecast. Overall, the ITSA had mixed effects. More accurate forecasts are produced in the presence of pre-forecast insider trading and bad news forecasts during the post-ITSA sub-period. However, insider trading activity increased prior to good news forecasts post-ITSA. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 55-09, Section: A, page: 2894. / Major Professor: Stephen P. Baginski. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1994.