abstract: I show that firms' ability to adjust variable capital in response to productivity shocks has important implications for the interpretation of the widely documented investment-cash flow sensitivities. The variable capital adjustment is sufficient for firms to capture small variations in profitability, but when the revision in profitability is relatively large, limited substitutability between the factors of production may call for fixed capital investment. Hence, firms with lower substitutability are more likely to invest in both factors together and have larger sensitivities of fixed capital investment to cash flow. By building a frictionless capital markets model that allows firms to optimize over fixed capital and inventories as substitutable factors, I establish the significance of the substitutability channel in explaining cross-sectional differences in cash flow sensitivities. Moreover, incorporating variable capital into firms' investment decisions helps explain the sharp decrease in cash flow sensitivities over the past decades. Empirical evidence confirms the model's predictions. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Business Administration 2013

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De flesta företag strävar i huvudsak efter att maximera värdet av sitt företag och ett sätt att öka värdet av företaget kan vara att genomföra investeringar. En viktig faktor för att lyckas med sina investeringar är att skapa en strategi och att följa denna är avgörande för att nå dit man vill. Strategier kan utformas på olika sätt, men gemensamt för alla strategier är att de måste hantera osäkerhet. Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka vad små- och medelstora företag upplever som osäkerhet vid investeringar samt hur företagen hanterar dessa. Valet av små- och medelstora företag grundar sig på att den största delen av tidigare forskning inom detta ämne är gjord på stora företag.   Forskningsstrategin för denna studie är explorativ, eftersom vi strävar efter att öka förståelsen kring ett delvis outforskat område. Vi har valt att avgränsa urvalet till företag inom industrisektorn i nordöstra Skåne. Studien utgörs av en kvalitativ metod, där djupgående intervjuer har genomförts med sex respondenter på olika företag. Tillsammans med respondenternas åsikter och tidigare forskning görs tolkningar av materialet vilket bidrar till skapande av slutsatser. De främsta slutsatserna som kan dras från denna uppsats är att osäkerhet vid investeringar hanteras väldigt olika beroende på företag, trots att de är verksamma inom samma sektor. Företagen använder olika typer av strategier för att hantera vad de upplever som osäkerhet, vissa i större utsträckning än andra.  Med denna uppsats önskar vi öka förståelsen för vilka osäkerheter som finns vid investeringar samt för hur denna osäkerhet kan hanteras. Vår intension är att små och medelstora företag ska, med hjälp av denna studie, kunna känna sig säkrare i sina investeringsbeslut i framtiden. Säkrare beslut leder till minskad osäkerhet och därmed ökar chanserna för lönsamma investeringar. / Most companies’ main goal is to maximize the value of their company and one way to increase the value of the company can be to invest. An important factor in order to succeed with an investment is to create a strategy and stick to it. Strategies can be structured in different ways, but what they all have in common is the need to manage uncertainties. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate what kind of uncertainty small- and medium sized enterprises experience when they invest, as well as how they manage this. Our selection of small- and medium sized enterprises is based on the fact that the majority of previous research within this particular subject investigates large companies. The research strategy in this thesis is mainly exploratory, since our goal is to increase the knowledge within this partly unexplored subject. We chose to narrow our selection down to companies within the industrial sector in the North East of Skåne. This thesis consists of a qualitative method, where in-depth interviews were conducted with six respondents from different companies. Together with the opinions from the respondents and previous research, interpretations were made which made it possible to create conclusions. The primary conclusion to be drawn from this thesis is that investment uncertainty can be managed in different ways depending on the company, even though the companies are operating within the same sector. The companies use different types of strategies in order to manage what they experience as uncertainty, although some of them use the strategies more than others. We wish to increase the understanding and the knowledge of existing uncertainties as well as how to manage these. Our intension is to help small- and medium sized enterprises feel more secure about their investment decisions in the future.  Safer decision-making results in reduced uncertainty thus increase the chances of making profitable investments.

This dissertation details regulation's impact in networked markets, notably in deregulated electricity and internet service markets. These markets represent basic infrastructure in the modern economy; their innate networked structures make for rich fields of economic research on regulatory impact. The first chapter models deregulated electricity industries with a focus on the Texas market. Optimal economic benchmarks are considered for markets with regulated delivery and interrelated network costs. Using a model of regulator, consumer, and firm interaction, I determine the efficiency of the current rate formalization compared to Ramsey-Boiteux prices and two-part tariffs. I find within Texas's market increases to generator surplus up to 55% of subsidies could be achieved under Ramsey-Boiteux pricing or two-part tariffs, respectively. The second chapter presents a framework to analyze dynamic processes and long-run outcomes in two-sided markets, specifically dynamic platform and firm investment incentives within the internet-service platform/content provision market. I use the Ericson-Pakes framework applied within a platform that chooses fees on either side of its two-sided market. This chapter determines the impact of network neutrality on platform investment incentives, specifically whether to improve the platform. I use a parameterized calibration from engineering reports and current ISP literature to determine welfare outcomes and industry behavior under network neutral and non-neutral regimes. My final chapter explores retail firm failure within the deregulated Texas retail electricity market. This chapter investigates determinants of retail electric firm failures using duration analysis frameworks. In particular, this chapter investigates the impact of these determinants on firms with extant experience versus unsophisticated entrants. Understanding these determinants is an important component in evaluating whether deregulation achieves the impetus of competitive electricity market restructuring. Knowing which economic events decrease a market's competitiveness helps regulators to effectively evaluate policy implementations. I find that experience does benefit a firm's duration, but generally that benefit assists firm duration in an adverse macroeconomic environment rather than in response to adverse market conditions such as higher wholesale prices or increased transmission congestion. Additionally, I find evidence that within the Texas market entering earlier results in a longer likelihood of duration. / text