Water protection proves to be a difficult task, whether it is dealt with through legislation or the implementation of a process to reduce further pollution. This study considers how the issue of water pollution from nitrates in agricultural practices has become better understood through the reforms of the common agriculture policy (CAP) and the enactment of various regulations and directives by EU. The implementation of the EC Nitrate Directive is a main focus of this study because it was a major movement towards protecting water against pollution from agriculture, and an important step in implementing the Water Framework Directive. The implementation process is analyzed from both a formal and practical perspective, along with a discussion of the difficulties that arose in the implementation phase. There is a focus on the implementation of the Nitrate Directive in UK, with an emphasis on England as a case study. The study finds that if the distribution of responsibilities (planning, regulating, implementing, and reporting) is shared between national, regional and local bodies, the compliance with political regulations becomes easier. It is also concluded that rearrangements of the existing institutions are necessary to reduce costs, exchange new ideas that could translate to regulative ideas, and create an atmosphere of trust between regulators and implementers. It can be concluded from this study that, despite the traditional centralization of governments, England has taken several steps towards integrating institutions and has tried to be open and responsive to the local communities. Finally, there are several lessons that can be learned from the UK’s approach to control nitrate pollution, which are discussed and outlined in the conclusion of this study. / Water protection proves to be a difficult task, whether it is dealt with through legislation or the implementation of a process to reduce further pollution. This study considers how the issue of water pollution from nitrates in agricultural practices has become better understood through the reforms of the common agriculture policy (CAP) and the enactment of various regulations and directives by EU. The implementation of the EC Nitrate Directive is a main focus of this study because it was a major movement towards protecting water against pollution from agriculture, and an important step in implementing the Water Framework Directive. The implementation process is analyzed from both a formal and practical perspective, along with a discussion of the difficulties that arose in the implementation phase. There is a focus on the implementation of the Nitrate Directive in UK, with an emphasis on England as a case study. The study finds that if the distribution of responsibilities (planning, regulating, implementing, and reporting) is shared between national, regional and local bodies, the compliance with political regulations becomes easier. It is also concluded that rearrangements of the existing institutions are necessary to reduce costs, exchange new ideas that could translate to regulative ideas, and create an atmosphere of trust between regulators and implementers. It can be concluded from this study that, despite the traditional centralization of governments, England has taken several steps towards integrating institutions and has tried to be open and responsive to the local communities. Finally, there are several lessons that can be learned from the UK’s approach to control nitrate pollution, which are discussed and outlined in the conclusion of this study. / kungsmarksv'gen 105 371 44 karlskrona sweden

The thesis is a study of the Baking Industry in London: its history,decline and late twentieth century renaissance. Part I is a review of the history of the bakeries in London, viewed alongside the history of the food - processing industry in general. Trade directories are employed to show particular geographical and commercial trends,patterns of distribution and the formation of bakery chains. Technical developments are discussed and there is a full account of the structure of the industry as it is today. Part II is concerned with the state of bakeries today; it is based on the results of a survey of London wholesale bakers by means of a questionnaire. The principal areas of investigation were: the firm; the range and methods of production; the building; the workforce; the customers of the bakery; in addition,particular emphasis was given to the question of the location of bakeries. Part III examines the present situation,not only in terms of the bakeries themselves,but also in terms of the market they serve and new emerging forms of distribution. This section makes use of structured interviews with buyers of bread products and with directors of companies engaged in distribution. The concluding chapter addresses firstly the problem of categorising the modern Baking Industry: whether it should be regarded in the same way as any other manufacturing industry or as an adjunct of the Hotel and Catering Industry. Secondly the cultural question is considered: whether the present trends result from the manner in which the Industry has developed or whether the Characteristics of London determine the form which the Industry will take.

This Thesis contributes to understanding of strategic collaborative partnerships between industrial customers and suppliers, within the context of technical change. Automotive manufacturers are facing a plethora of technical change - more than they can handle in traditional ways - and a new basis for competition, set by so-called "lean" manufacturers, from Japan. Lean Production, a demonstrably superior strategy for vehicle design and manufacture, contradicts many of the tenets of the previous best practice: mass production. In order to compete, vehicle assemblers are turning to their suppliers for help. The role of the supplier is thus changing fundamentally: the new challenge is to adopt collaborative strategies and become good "partners". The research was based upon almost 200 interviews in the industry, in ten countries. Five original models of customer-supplier relationships were built and tested exhaustively. Two original models of strategy for component suppliers were identified - operable in two modes - designed for positioning within the industry in the light of the new complex demands from customers. The conclusions of the research are: 1. The business relationship between a vehicle assembler and its components suppliers may be seen as an example of vertical strategic collaboration - partnership between two parties making complementary, dissimilar, contributions, for mutual benefit. Suchp artnershipsm ust be assumedto havea finite life. 2. Whilst all component suppliers will need to adopt lean production methods and approaches, four distinct types of strategy may be identified. 3. Vertical collaboration appears to share many features of horizontal collaboration. The reasons for entering strategic collaboration, identified by research into horizontal collaboration, can be further understood by study of vertical collaboration. 4. Supplier firms form networks within which individual roles vary. Lean supply requires suppliers and their customers to perceive competition in a more comprehensive fashion.

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the impact of liberalization on market structure in the European airline industry. The following chapters focus on three interrelated aspects: airlines' pricing behaviour and determinants of demand, differences between European flag carriers and independent airlines in profits and probability of entry in a route and their main determinants, and the effect of different regulatory policies on the productivity of European carriers. Chapter I proposes a model that explains firms' behaviour and shows that, after the liberalization, firms exploit their cost advantages and differentiate their products more, but market structure still depends on access to airport facilities and other ancillary services controlled by the flag carriers. These results differ from American evidence in that I find that the effect of airport presence on prices through lower costs more than offsets the effect through higher perceived quality. Chapter II develops an empirical model of entry, distinguishing between European flag carriers which are highly regulated at the beginning of the eighties, and independent airlines. I find that the latter enjoy sunk cost advantages but get lower variable profits than the former. This means that possible efficiency disadvantages suffered by the flag carriers are more than offset by their higher perceived quality, leading to a situation in which they are less likely to enter a route, but also less likely to exit. Finally, chapter III specifies and estimates a production function for the airline industry, identifying firms' network characteristics and efficiency as the main determinants of their productivity. The results show that the introduction of liberal bilateral agreements by some European governments has given their flag carriers incentives to start adjusting their structure in anticipation of future liberalization in the European market while other European flag carriers have delayed this adjustment.

This thesis analysed the effects of different regulatory frameworks on the post-patent pharmaceutical markets of the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States between 1990 and 1997. Firstly, an extensive search of peer reviewed and 'grey' literature was undertaken to develop an understanding of both the pharmaceutical and wider health policy environments during the period of study. Preference was given to prospective before and after studies with and without control groups, retrospective studies with and without controls, and case studies that were reinforced by similar supporting case studies. A comparative policy analysis of the regulatory frameworks of the three countries linked the actual or expected outcomes to pharmaceutical policies promoting the demand and supply of generic drugs. Secondly, this thesis analysed the effects of the different regulatory frameworks the cost of off-patent medicines. Molecules were selected for the study if they had experienced patent expiration between 1990 and 1997, as well as having experienced entry by two or more generic equivalents over the same time period. Contingency tables were calculated for each pair of variables analysed. The associations between the variables were tested by chi-square and the strength of the relationships was measured by Ganmia. Trends in the pricing and volume of the branded original and generic equivalents were compared. A statistical model was developed as a framework to determine significant factors affecting the market share of the original branded drug after patent expiration. The statistical model was estimated both by ordinary least squares regression and by a fixed-effects estimation. Finally, conclusions were drawn from the comparative analysis of these different regulatory approaches and policy implications are discussed.

This thesis tried to unravel the causes of the technological underdevelopment of the Thai automobile industry by examining the institutions, the actors and their interaction. The principal characteristic of each actor was a product of where it came from, when it developed, and how it adapted to· historical events. Having only evolved slowly, these characteristics have conditioned the behaviour of the actors - the strategies of multinational corporations, the policies of the Thai government and the management structures of Thai firms - during the last 40 years of the 20th century. The minimal intervention of the Thai government helped promote the activities of multinational corporations, and they brought wide-ranging manufacturing know-how to Thailand. On the one hand, the relatively unfettered operation of multinational corporations was a driving force in the quantitative expansion of the automobile industry. On the other hand, this pattern of development was not conducive to the creation of a linkage between the technologically superior foreign [ums and local rums, and the promotion of learning activities in the latter. The situation was also aggravated by the management structure of local firms and their lack of effort to upgrade technology under the environment of the existence of the only weak market pressure. However, the technological underdevelopment cannot be simply attributed to some aspects of one or all of these actors. A case study of the Thai automobile industry suggested we could understand the root causes of the underdevelopment only by examining how the interaction of the actors set a certain path of technological development and how their behaviour was conditioned by their underlying characteristics.

In this thesis a model to describe the diffusion of a cluster of inter-related innovations is put forward. Unlike conventional diffusion approaches, which deal with each innovation independently, this model is based on a system of "aggregated measures of diffusion" (AMDs). Such AMDs assume a common technological base and a learning sequence in adoption, and they are derived from a system of double weighting, with scores attached for a) the complexity of each innovation and b) the time-span since adoption. In addition to diffusion measurement, AMDs can be used to assess technological capability of individual firms, industries, regions or countries. In this role they can replace conventional technology measures, particularly when the object of analysis are "traditional industries" or "catching up regions". In the present application, the diffusion of nine innovations available for use in the clothing industry was tracked. Alternative weighting schemes generated different AMDs, successively taken as the dependent variable in a multiple regression exercise. The variables entered into the model matched broadly the conceptual framework, with proxies of technological competence ("qualified technicians" or "intangible investment") and firm size ("sales" or "employment") displaying greater association with the AMDs. Interestingly, the dummy "country" was not selected as significant. This is in line with previous findings in the thesis, which showed an average initial lag between Portuguese and Italian firms of 4 years, narrowing to 2.5 years as diffusion proceeds. These results suggest that the productivity gap (2.6: I) derives mostly from factors other than differences in the adoption of recent hardware. Future policies to narrow this gap could better consider how to improve the handling of existing hardware (training, skills) and other intangible factors (design, quality, marketing and distribution), than concentrating exclusively on fixed capital formation. If these intangible factors are addressed by public policy, it is possible to believe that the Portuguese clothing industry will have an opportunity to survive and prosper. With regard to Italy, there are signs that some of the traditional factors of competitiveness have suffered recently a process of erosion. With the expected phasing out of the MultiFibre Arrangement, Italian tirms must concentrate further in up-market niches and relocate part of their assembling operations to lower cost regions abroad. The possibility of radical technological change reversing dramatically this industry'S pattern of comparative advantage is not a realistic prospect in the short/medium-term. However. the likelihood of full automation in a longer-term remains, and it is possible to expect that those firms which have gone further in adopting certain LT.-related innovations will have a decisive advantage early next century.

This dissertation assesses the Mexican government policy in computers during a ten year period (1981-1991). The Mexican computer industry was created by a strategic industrial programme which provided a package of conditions that attracted domestic and international capital during this period. The main policy instruments used initially were the market reserve and import permits. The programme was known in Spanish as 'Programa de Fomento Para la Manufactura de Equipo de C6mputo, Sus Principales M6dulos y Perifericos' or the PF Policy. The analysis follows policy and industry performance developments (from the birth of the PF policy to its successor the 'Programa Para la Modernizaci6n de la Industria de Computo' or PMIC). This perspective on the policy issues raised by the programme is based mainly on the views of firms and interest groups perspective. The analysis is based upon a four dimensional framework developed by the author and based upon a synthesis of theories of technological learning, technology transfer and firms strategic behaviour. This is used to explore the impact of the PF Policy at the firm and industry levels as well as to investigate the performance of government agencies and the impact of the policy on users (diffusion) and social applications. This dissertation explores the PF Policy as the first programme that in rejecting the import substitution industrialisation (lSI) model Mexico had followed for several decades, embraced export oriented industrialisation (EOI). This analysis explores the changes in the regulatory environment which accompanied the transition from lSI to EOI and considers how this shift impacted upon the performance of firms and the computer industry. The transition to EOI resulted in greater production efficiencies, higher quality and cheaper prices but these benefits are shown to have accrued to large volume producing firms (a few domestic and multinational computer firms). With regard to export generation, only the multinational computer firms have shown significant growth rates. The emphasis on export generation, the shift to EOI and rapid liberalisation of consumer and component electronics had a negative impact on the generation of productive linkages within the Information Technology Complex, e.g. the development of a horizontal layer of component producers. During this period of transition from lSI to EOI there were conflicting objectives within the policy environment. For example, policies were implemented to liberalise trade as part of commitments to GATT and policies were introduced to strengthen industrial development in the electronics sector for domestic consumption. The major failure of the PF policy in relation to its initial objectives occurred in relation to technological development. This is illustrated by the limited innovations that occurred over the ten year period among domestic firms producing microcomputers and peripherals. Despite this failure, there is evidence that technological learning occurred 'against all odds'.

The aim of this thesis is to investigate how knowledge arising from basic research diffuses into the commercial sphere and impacts upon it. The particular research area in question is Artificial Intelligence (AI), which until recently was limited to academic research laboratories and was considered to offer few possibilities for commercial exploitation. An empirical study is described which investigated a group of thirty-eight UK-based firms who were all promoting AI products and services to a market largely concerned either with developing capabilities in AI programming techniques or, in seeing demonstrations of the application of these techniques to specific, commercially relevant tasks. At the time of the study none of the AI firms had demonstrated any significant commercial success. . The commercialization of AI by these firms is compared to accounts of the innovation process given by Schumpeter, Freeman and Teece. These three accounts are not mutually exclusive. Rather, they contribute to the organic developme,nt of a 'Schumpeterian' account of the relationship between the commercial application of basic research and economic change. However, the analysis of the commercialization of AI in the UK suggests a more complex picture than is currently provided by this 'Schumpeterian' perspective. The AI firms were found to have been involved in a process of technology transformation .' that is, they had transformed and .packagedgeneric AI knowledge in order to make it possible for customers to acquire such knowledge via the market place. This commodification process also involved combining AI knowledge with industry-specific or applicationspecific knowledge, which is not generally regarded as a product of basic research, but is crucial to making AI solutions relevant to industrial organizations. Although the AI firms were attempting to develop a variety of market niches in which to sell their products and services, they all adopted a common methodology for identifying customers and seeking to establish collaborative relationships with them. It is this analysis of the transfer of academic knowledge via the market place, and the consequent transformation of both, that this thesis can add as a theoretical entity to the debate around the development of new technology-based industries.

<p>The overreaching purpose of this study is to examine in what ways lobbying contributes to democratic policymaking in the European Union. Having limited amount of time, a case study has been conducted with the main purpose to examine what impacts lobbying have on the proposed EU-legislation to lower CO2 emissions from newly produced cars, in terms of democratic policymaking. The lobby groups in this case being ACEA and T&E. In order to fulfill the purpose a comprehensive research question is formulated: What impacts do ACEA and T&E have on the proposed EU-legislation to lower the CO2 emissions from newly produced cars, in terms of democratic policymaking?</p><p>The theory and definitions of democratic policymaking were drawn from Rinus van Schendelen´s book “Machiavelli in Brussels; The Art of Lobbying the EU”. Definitions of different components essential to democratic policymaking were given here and used together with the material on ACEA and T&E to answer the research question.</p><p>The material was based on documents, press-statements, speeches and publications from the European Union, ACEA and T&E to find out how ACEA and T&E lobbied the proposed legislation.</p><p>The study has shown mostly positive impacts from ACEA and T&E on the proposed EU-legislation to lower the CO2 emissions from newly produced cars, in terms of democratic policymaking. For the overreaching purpose the conclusion is that lobbying therefore contributes mostly in a positive way to democratic policymaking in the European Union.</p><p>This study can in the future be used in further studies to see what impacts lobby groups have on democratic policymaking in the European Union and also in studies concerning how lobby groups carry out their lobbying.</p>