Financial dollarization, defined as the substantial presence of foreign currency denominated assets and liabilities in the balance sheets of the main sectors of an economy, is a widespread phenomenon among developing economies, especially in Latin America and Turkey. Since financial dollarization often causes financial fragility and limits the effectiveness of monetary policy, the causes and consequences of it and dedollarization strategies have been placed at the forefront of policy debates especially in developing countries. The purpose of this study is to analyse the determinants of corporate sector asset and liability dollarization in ten Latin American countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela) and Turkey for the period 1990-2001. To this end, this study considers the effects of monetary policy stance (exchange rate flexibility and adoption of a de facto inflation targeting regime), institutional structure (governance) and macroeconomic stance variables (volatilities of inflation and real effective exchange rates) on financial dollarization. The results based on panel data estimations suggest that high and volatile inflation and depreciation of domestic currency induce a switch to dollar denominated assets and liabilities. Furthermore, exchange rate regime flexibility appears to reduce liability dollarization and encourage asset dollarization. Finally, the empirical analysis supports the hypothesis that adoption of inflation targeting regime and strengthening the institutional structure are significant in decreasing the level of financial dollarization.

La littérature récente en commerce international et macroéconomie a souligné le rôle majeur de grandes firmes dans les résultats agrégés d'une économie. Les grandes firmes influencent, inter alia, les fluctuations économiques, les performances à l'exportation et les inégalités de salaires et de coût de la vie. Il est donc crucial de saisir comment les grandes firmes émergent et se comportent. Cette thèse s'intéresse à trois aspects de cette question. Premièrement, j'étudie comment les firmes ajustent la qualité de leurs produits à une intensification de la compétition "low-cost" sur les marchés étrangers. Pour ce faire, je développe une nouvelle méthode d'estimation de la qualité des produits au niveau firme et je trouve que les firmes augmentent leur qualité en réponse à la compétition "low-cost". Deuxièmement, j'examine la manière dont les firmes ajustent leurs ventes lorsqu'un choc de demande (e.g., une récession) frappe une de leurs destinations. Dans le cadre de l'industrie du Champagne durant la récession de 2000-2001, je montre que les firmes ré-allouent leurs ventes vers les marchés dont les conditions de demandes sont plus favorables. Cela suggère un nouveau mécanisme de diffusion internationale des chocs. Finalement, je regarde la manière dont les firmes ajustent leur taille et leur mix de capital et travail lorsque la régulation du travail contraint plus fortement les grandes firmes. Dans le cas du seuil de 50 employés en France, je trouve que les firmes se contractent et substituent du travail au capital pour limiter le coût de la régulation. Au niveau macro, mes résultats suggèrent que la régulation profite aux travailleurs mais pas aux détenteurs de capital. / Recent literature in international economics and macroeconomics has pointed to the major role played by large firms in shaping aggregate economic outcomes. Large firms influence, inter alia, economic fluctuations, performance on export markets and inequalities between workers and between consumers. It is therefore crucial to understand how large firms emerge and behave. In the present thesis, I look at three independent aspects of this question. First, I study how exporting firms adjust the quality of the products they export in response to an intensification of "low-cost" competition in foreign markets. To this end, I develop a new method to estimate the quality of products at the firm-level and I find evidence that firms upgrade quality in response to "low-cost" competition. Second, I investigate the way exporting firms adjust their sales when a demand shock (e.g. an economic recession, a war) occurs in one of their destinations. In the context of the Champagne wine industry during the 2000-2001 economic recession, I show that firms reallocate their sales toward markets where demand conditions are relatively more favorable. Lastly, I look at the way firms adjust their size and their mix of capital and labor in response to labor regulations which are more binding to large firms. I find that firms shrink and substitute capital for labor to mitigate the labor cost of the regulation. At the aggregate level, preliminary results suggests that workers gain from the regulation while capital owners lose.

Luxury and premium brand affiliation have been and likely always will be about quality and status. Extant studies in marketing consumer behavior aim to explain the effects of hedonic drivers and how these shape consumer behavioral choices when choosing a brand. A consumer's subconscious hedonic motivations are thought to result in buying decisions. Their purchase decision may thus satisfy their emotional needs as explained in hedonic theory. With respect to the distinction between tangible products as “goods” and intangible products as “services,” it appears that luxury branding has always been seen as one characteristic of goods. Many consumers will purchase a luxury brand good for the pleasure of holding that good and the social status that it represents. But luxury branding in the service industry is a bit harder to grasp. Little research exists dealing with luxury branding in the service industry and, especially, in the real estate industry. Using this contradistinction once again, a luxury consumer will purchase either a good or service. A good is tangible and may be held by the consumer indefinitely, but a service is generally time restricted and might only be a one-time purchase transaction. To probe this issue in greater depth, luxury retail marketing research and consumer behavior will inform this study. Luxury branding, that is, perceived value versus actual value in real estate sales, will be analyzed. In that the real estate industry is specifically characterized by brokers at many brand levels, this study uses this characterization of brand level to determine if luxury branding of real estate brokers impact homes sale price (and/or other components of value) by returning a premium to one or more stakeholders in the value chain. With little extant literature in the luxury branding service sector and residential real estate brokerage activities, this research, in particular, considers empirical results from previous real estate and luxury branding research in other markets to set forth a framework for brokerage branding level in real estate. The resulting framework categorizes this as real estate brokerage firm “level,” typing brand into three levels based on service and price (for the purposes of the current work, the delineation will be binary, that is to say, either luxury brand representation or not). These brokerage brand levels are: (1) low, i.e., flat fee or discount firms; (2) middle, i.e., traditional, commission-based firms; and (3) high, i.e., luxury brokerage firms. Each category appeals to a different social class of consumers in that purchasing power is highly related to home listing and final sales pricing. Given that all firms have the same resources available for listing, marketing, and syndicating a home on the market, consumer perception, which is a key component in the branding research, also becomes central in the current study when considering residential real estate brokerage and brand levels, when studying the luxury home market and the high-end brokerage firms targeting the luxury class, an interesting question arises: Do these brokers add value? Or is it an inaccurate, but common perception? These questions are addressed in the research by analyzing the marketing characteristic of luxury real estate brokerage branding in one particular market in the Dallas-Fort Worth region of the US. Specifically it asks whether branding impacts a home's value. The study follows prior scholarly suggestions to derive quality and comparable data and to focus on geographically targeted luxury real estate markets. The research builds on prior research frameworks exploring the hedonic pricing model, an established research stream that has looked into the effect of home hedonic characteristics on its ultimate valuing. To date, little research has been conducted analyzing the impact of market branding on the final sales price of a home and other features of perceived value. In the empirical results of Study 1 and Study 2 of stable, affluent communities in the Dallas-Fort Worth area of the US, we analyze the outcome of the two studies indicate that buyers may not perceive a high value related to the brand of the listing and/or selling broker. This may appear to counter the general marketing branding literature, but the strength of brand in goods could be quite different than the strength of brand in services such as real estate and we formulate null hypotheses to test this possibility. Brand loyalty to a class of brokers, for example, could be less likely given that most buyers only engage in home buying on an infrequent basis. Indeed, in the two studies conducted, the hedonic factors are overwhelmingly powerful predictors of value and these hedonic and tangible physical characteristics of a home could well be responsible for allaying or undermining any real effect of brand. This research consists of two studies conducted separately in different locations of a single county within the Dallas-Fort Worth Texas area. By studying two separate but similar communities in the same geographical area, external validity was thus enhanced, assuring that the results here were not a one-off empirical finding in only one setting. The two studies were coded for brand and hedonics and used as predictors of buyer perceptions of value, as represented in the final, agreed-to sales price and other forms of valuing. Based on the research findings, these two independent studies overall strengthen statistical power and allow for possible generalization to other unstudied populations, which, presumably, would be other real estate markets. Utilizing the current methodological approach, for example, would permit future researchers to see if the findings generalize to communities in other metropolitan areas in the US and beyond. In all such studies, it might be possible that the effect of brand becomes statistically significant, for instance, but this could be, strictly speaking, merely a function of the larger N. In this thesis, however, branding was not statistically significant and, moreover, the branding effect was minimal in terms of explained variance of the DVs such as final sales price. If these finding should hold across settings, the predictive power of brand would continue to have a very small value component and hedonic characteristics would likely dominate, rendering branding to be a far distant, minor effect. The implications of this study can be seen with respect to both academic thinking and practice. There is a theoretical contribution in showing that a brand in real estate may not impact buyer value, admitting the limitation of the dataset having been gathered from one North Texas market. These results run counter to some marketing research to date and certainly contend the thinking of many brokers and home buyers and sellers. Based on the results of this study, branding might be considered in future studies as a control variable that is not expected to affect outcomes to any marked degree. Alternatively, scholars might continue to introduce branding as a direct effect on value and compare their findings to this thesis. Challenges to the hedonic pricing model might also emerge from future empirical results, but, given the persuasiveness of prior studies of the hedonic model in real estate, we expect that such hedonic factors will continue to reign supreme. For practitioners, non-luxury brokers have some evidence that luxury branding of a home might not result in value for the buyer and this could be an effective marketing tool for them (with the caveat that scientific findings thus far are limited to a study drawn only from the Dallas-Fort Worth region). Claims that sellers should choose a luxury brokerage to list their homes may not stand the empirical test of real-world data and analysis and luxury brokers can be cautioned not to overstep in arguing that they can definitely produce economic premiums for sellers. Hedonic characteristics continue to be the most important predictor of home sales prices, as is likely, all brand levels will likely be even better informed of the relative importance of hedonic factors in the presence of branding effects in future studies. By holding brand constant, variance associated with brand can be patriated out and the resultant weights of hedonic factors can be more clearly seen and understood. / Business Administration/Finance

The rapid advancement and penetration of information technology (IT), amid continued questions over its benefits, has resulted in research efforts to understand the extent to which IT resources contribute to organisational performance. There is little question that the presence of IT contributes to organisational performance. Our understanding of how and where IT contributes to value in organisations, however, is limited. Current IT business value research advances the notion that firm’s IT-related capabilities ability to leverage their IT resources explains the IT-related performance differences across firms. Understanding the nature of the IT-related capabilities, and their relationship with IT resources can provide a better understanding of how organisations can make better use of their IT resources. IT resources are dynamic and change at a rapid pace. Current IT business value research suggests the firm’s IT-related capabilities at a point in time can source value from the IT resources. However, firms IT-related capabilities must demonstrate parallel dynamics to maximise their influence on their IT resources. In this dynamic resource relationship environment, firm’s ability to sustain a level of influence on their IT resources will determine the extent of IT resources’ value-creating ability. Using the resource-based view of the firm that suggest an organisation is a bundle of resources, and using a complementary theoretical lens, this study introduces a higher-level resource, co-created by combining two or more complementary resources. This higher-level resource is capable of contributing to business value on its own, and importantly, can help organisations sustain their existing IT-related capabilities. The sustainable IT-related capabilities will have a better influence on the IT resources and will source better IT-related business value. This higher-level resource can also help with the timing of IT investments, and can provide an environment where a firm’s technical IT skills can better integrate the IT resources into the business processes. On measurement of organisational performance, this study suggests that a unique combination of organisational resources creates an efficient and effective internal environment that then becomes a powerful tool to enhance the key external process of customer service. Such enhancements in process-level efficiency and effectiveness will carry forward to be recognised in overall firm-level performance. This study develops and tests a model that assesses the association between the two generic IT resources (IT investment and technical IT skills), three IT-related capabilities (top management commitment, shared organisational knowledge, and flexible IT infrastructure), and internal process-level performance. It also assesses whether the IT-Usage Platform, a higher-level co-created resource, on its own associates with, and enhances the generic IT resources’ and IT-related capabilities’ association with internal process-level performance. The study also proposes that improvement in internal process-level performance will be positively associated with external process-level performance of customer service. Firms that improve their internal and external process performance should also improve their firm-level performance. The results, as hypothesised, failed to reject the non-association between the generic IT resources and the internal process-level performance. The study, as predicted, found a positive association between the three IT-related capabilities, IT-Usage Platform, and the internal process-level performance. The IT-Usage Platform indeed enhances the association between the IT-related capabilities and internal process-level performance. The results also suggest that the association between the technical IT skills and internal process-level performance improves in the presence of the IT-Usage Platform. Firms’ improved internal process-level performance also relates to improvement in external process-level performance. Improvement in the internal-external process performance also contributes to performance at the firm level. For research, this study demonstrates that the complementarity and the resource-based view theories allow inclusion of a greater variety of resources in a bundle of capable resources that could be a source of IT-related business value. The complementary theoretical lens also enables one to consider firms’ higher-level resources, co-created from complementary resources. The result is a robust model with the flexibility to consider other forms of resource interactions that sustain firms existing IT-related capabilities. The model also enables comparison of IT and other organisational resources on a level-platform and allows for a deeper understanding of how organisations can better leverage their IT resources. The study also presents the internal-external coordination path of IT-related value creation. For decision makers this study reinforces the importance of the concept of a coordinated IT-related change to secure value from their IT investments. It also presents decision makers with a visual IT business value path from internal process benefits to external process benefits, and finally to firm-level benefits. This study suggests all organisational resources, through various combinations, could be a source of IT-related business value. Future research can consider resources that are at the boundary of capable/non-capable resources to evaluate whether firms various resource arrangements can make these resources more valuable in sourcing IT-related business value. This research also provides strong theoretical arguments to consider other higher-level factors that may have the potential to sustain firms existing IT-related capabilities.

O valor da Tecnologia da Informação (TI) para o negócio, na perspectiva de recursos isolados de TI, tem apresentado resultados mistos. Além disso, esse valor tem sido avaliado no nível da Firma, por meio de medidas agregadas de desempenho como rentabilidade, participação no mercado e eficiência. Como alternativa a essa abordagem, esta pesquisa adota o conceito de Capacidades de TI como um conjunto de recursos em uso pelas organizações. Também, outros construtos em níveis inferiores ao Desempenho da Firma (DF) são considerados – Qualidade da Informação (QI) e Desempenho no Nível de Processos (DP). Portanto, alternativamente às abordagens de valor da TI, esta pesquisa tem o objetivo de identificar o valor das Capacidades de TI e o seu impacto sobre a Qualidade da Informação e sobre o Desempenho Organizacional nos níveis de Processos e da Firma. O teste das hipóteses de pesquisa é precedido por entrevistas com especialistas de TI (gestores), no intuito de validar o modelo proposto. Adicionalmente, procedeu-se à tradução das variáveis para a survey. Especialistas em SI (pesquisadores) também participaram da avaliação das variáveis do modelo de medida, julgando sua permanência ou exclusão. Surveys Pré-teste e de Estudo Piloto foram realizadas com vistas ao refinamento do instrumento de coleta e do modelo de medida, respectivamente. Na survey completa participaram 150 gestores de TI e de negócios ligados a grandes organizações brasileiras. Os dados foram analisados com Modelagem de Equações Estruturais, a fim de validar o modelo de medida e testar as hipóteses do modelo. Pelo teste do modelo estrutural na survey completa, constatou-se que as Capacidades de TI Internas estão associadas ao nível de Qualidade da Informação e ao Desempenho no Nível de Processos. As Capacidades de TI Externas, por outro lado, não impactam positivamente na QI nem sobre os níveis de desempenho (Processos e Firma). Um modelo de mediação do Desempenho de Processos foi testado na survey completa. Constatou-se a mediação completa, sustentando a hipótese de que as Capacidades de TI Internas exercem impacto sobre o Desempenho da Firma, mediado por processos de negócio. Os resultados são apoiados por estudos que defendem que o valor da TI é captado direta e primeiramente em nível de Processos. As contribuições, limitações e recomendações da pesquisa constam nas Considerações Finais da tese. / The value of Information Technology (IT) to business, from the perspective of individual IT resources, has shown mixed results in the literature. Furthermore, this value has been evaluated at the firm level, through aggregate measures of performance such as profitability, market share and efficiency. As an alternative to such perspective, this research adopts the concept of IT Capabilities as a set of resources in use by organizations. Likewise, other constructs at lower levels than the Firm Performance are considered – namely Information Quality (IQ) and at the Process level Performance. So, alternatively to approaches about the value of IT, this research aims to identify the value of IT Capabilities and theirs impacts on the Information Quality and on the Performance, at the Processes and the Firm levels. The test of research’s hypothesis is preceded by interviews with IT specialists (managers) in order to validate the research model. Additionally, we proceeded to the translation of the variables for the survey. Information Systems experts (researchers) also participated in the evaluation of the variables to the measurement model, judging its presence or deletion. Surveys Pre-test and Pilot Study were conducted with a view to refining the data collection instrument and the measurement model, respectively. The full survey was answered by 150 IT’s and business’s managers in large Brazilian organizations. Data were analyzed with Structural Equation Modeling in order to validate the measurement model and testing hypotheses of the research model. For the test of the structural model in the full survey, it was found that the Internal IT Capabilities are associated with the level of Quality of Information and at the Process Level Performance. The External IT Capabilities, on the other hand, do not impact positively on IQ, neither on the performance levels (Processes and Firm). One model of mediation for Process level Performance was tested in the full survey. It was found full mediation, supporting the hypothesis that Internal IT Capabilities exert impact on the performance at the Firm level, mediated by business processes. The results are supported by researches that argue value of IT is captured direct and firstly at the Processes level. The contributions, limitations and recommendations of the research are contained in the end of the thesis.

The main objective of the thesis was to investigate the factors that determine capital structures of financial firms using two separate samples of banks and insurance companies. In the first instance, the results of the study showed that the financing behaviour of banks mirrors that of non-financial firms. It was also observed bank financing behaviour can be best explained by the pecking order theory. Risk and size variables were observed to be negatively related to the Tier 1 regulatory capital ratio, whereas the dividend variable was positively related. Similarly, risk and size were found to be negatively associated with buffer capital, while dividends were positively related. The 2007–2009 global financial crisis (GFC) was found to have negatively affected the financial structures of banks. Consistent with similar studies, it was observed that banks have a target capital structure, and adjust to this target at an adjustment speed of 44%. With regard to insurance companies, it was observed that the firm-level determinants of capital structure explain insurer leveraging. Unlike banks, the 2007–2009 GFC positively affected the capital structure of insurance companies. Similar to banks, results showed that insurers have target capital structures which they seek to achieve in their financing and adjust to such targets at a rate of 21%, which is lower than that of banks. The study contributes to the body of knowledge in four major ways. Firstly, it adds to the literature on the capital structure of financial firms, which area has not been extensively and conclusively studied. Using a different environment, it validates the ‘standard corporate finance view’ as has been observed in the few studies on financial firms. Secondly, it validates the ‘buffer view’ and ‘regulatory view’ of capital structures of financial firms that have taken prominence since the last GFC. Thirdly, the study recognises that banks and insurance companies are fundamentally different with regard to capital structure and regulation and therefore warranted separate treatment in studies. This is in contrast with recent studies that do not recognise the heterogeneity of the two types of firms. Fourthly, to the researcher’s knowledge this study is the first to examine the impact of business cycles/financial crises on the financing patterns of financial firms. Confirming the fundamental differences between banks and insurance companies, the study observed that financial crises have a negative impact on capital structures of banks (meaning that they deleverage during crises). In contrast, financial crises have a positive impact on capital structures of insurance companies (meaning, unlike banks, they leverage during crises). / Business Management / D. Phil. (Management Studies)

Corporate governance has been a hot bed for scholars from diverse disciplines. Managers whose interests are not congruent with that of shareholders‟ do not have the incentive to maximize shareholder value. Agency theory implicitly assumes corporations as arenas of the principal-agent conflict. On the other hand, organizational perspectives maintain that firms differ in their adopted corporate governance level depending on the environmental contingencies in which they operate. This study develops a contingency framework by synthesizing agency theory and organization theory. The aims of this study are to examine the effect of firm level contingencies on corporate governance and examine the moderating impact of firm level contingencies on the relationship between corporate governance and firm financial performance in the Ethiopian non-financial share companies. Data were collected from public and private sources for 42 companies covering the period 2009-2013. For the first time overall corporate governance index is constructed from board structure, ownership structure, and disclosure and transparency. By specifying fixed effect regression models the study accounts for the presence of unobserved firm heterogeneity. Moreover, a moderation fixed effect model is specified for the corporate governance-performance relationship. Results show that firms choose their corporate governance in response to contexts in which they operate. High-risk firms have good corporate governance. Corporate governance is enhanced if the largest owner is government or bank. Findings show not only the positive influence of corporate governance on financial performance but also the positive effect of corporate governance on financial performance is enhanced where there are high agency problems. Firm growth, firm level risk and identity of the largest shareholder moderate the relationship between corporate governance and firm financial performance. The study contributes to the literature by providing evidence that firms endogenously choose their corporate governance and the effect of corporate governance on performance depends on firm level contingencies. For practice, the positive link between corporate governance and financial performance informs us that instituting and enforcing corporate governance should be taken seriously. Areas that require priority include the legal frameworks and their enforcement, additional corporate governance standards, strong financial market particularly a stock market. Future research can build on the limitations of the study. For instance, researchers can increase the sample size, compare industries or perform cross-country studies. / Business Management / DBL

Procurement centralization is a process that includes policy decisions on the appropriate level of collaboration, aggregation and standardization. We analyse the main aspects of collaborative procurement: centralization, scope and different market structures. We use a unique dataset that combines Czech tender-level data with the manually-collected data on centrally procured tenders and financial firm-level data for the time span 2008 - 2016. We apply vector generalized linear model to the compulsory centralized procurement sectors and assess the market competition and concentration. We find several key aspects of centralized procurement: the centralization has a significant positive impact on the competition in selected sectors. The framework agreement is recognized as a positive setup of public procurement. We identified a strong negative evidence of the heterogeneity of the procured commodity. The design of centralization process and the degree of centralization is always bound by two elementary questions: the flexibility or unification trade-off and the set-up costs or unit costs trade-off. JEL Classification D44, H11, H57 Keywords public procurement, centralization, tender- level data, firm-level data, market structure, concentration index, vector generalized linear model, Herfindahl-Hirschman...

Étant donné les caractéristiques du nouveau système du commerce international, il est important de revoir la théorie du commerce international dans un cadre d’économie industrielle (IO) qui capture la nature internationale de cartels, l’existence des firmes multiproduits, les interactions stratégiques entre les firmes (structure du marché oligopolistique) et l’hétérogénéité entre les firmes en matière de leur taille (grande vs. petites) afin de tirer des conclusions sur le fait que si la libéralisation du commerce sera suffisante pour encourager la concurrence ou plutôt une politique de concurrence rigoureuse devrait être appliquée en même temps afin de garantir un environnement concurrentiel et donc améliorer le bien-être. Plus précisément, les interactions stratégiques entre les entreprises jouent un rôle important dans l’évaluation de l’effet concurrentiel de la libéralisation du commerce. Cette étude vise à analyser, tout d’abord, comment l’ouverture commerciale et, par conséquent, la baisse des tarifs affectent le niveau de concurrence, la structure du marché, la formation des cartels et, par conséquent le niveau des prix. Deuxièmement, d’étudier comment le commerce affecte le comportement des firmes. L’utilisation des modèles théoriques et des données sur les firmes égyptiennes pour analyser ces questions me permettent de tirer des conclusions sur la substituabilité entre la politique de libéralisation du commerce et la politique de concurrence. Les résultats montrent que, dans un contexte de collusion entre les firmes, l’ouverture au commerce peut induire une augmentation du niveau des prix. De plus, les résultats montrent que les firmes multiproduits ajustent leur portefeuille de produit selon les caractéristiques des destinations. Enfin, proposant une structure de marché mixte quand on analyse le comportement des firmes multiproduits, montre que la mondialisation affecte la structure du marché par le biais de la sortie des petites firmes. Les effets pro-concurrentiels d’ouverture commerciale ne sont pas si évidents. Une politique de concurrence rigoureuse est indispensable afin de dissuader les comportements anticoncurrentiels. / Given the features of the new trade system, it is important to reconsider international trade theory in an Industrial Organization (IO) framework that captures the international nature of cartels, the existence of multi-product firms, strategic interactions between firms (oligopolistic market structure) and the heterogeneity between firms in terms of size (large vs. small firms) to draw conclusions on whether trade liberalization will be sufficient to enhance competition or should a rigorous competition policy be applied at the same time to ensure competition and hence welfare promotion. More precisely, strategic interactions between firms play an important role in assessing the competitive effect of trade liberalization.This study aims to analyze, first, how trade liberalization and, hence, a decline in trade costs affect the level of competition, market structure and cartel formation in the market and, hence the price level. Second, how trade openness affects firms’ behavior. Building theoretical model and using firm-level data from Egypt to analyze these questions allow me to draw conclusions on the substitutability between trade liberalization and competition policy. Findings show that trade openness, in a context of collusion between firms, may induce an increase in the level of price when there are sufficiently large firms in the market. Overall, evidence on a change in multi-product firms’ choice of product mix with tougher competition and larger market size in the destination is revealed. Finally, using a mixed market structure when analyzing multi-product firms’ behavior, shows that globalization affects the market structure through inducing the exit of small firms. Pro-competitive effects of trade openness were not so clear, a rigorous competition policy is crucial to deter anti-competitive behaviors with increasing trade liberalization.

O valor da Tecnologia da Informação (TI) para o negócio, na perspectiva de recursos isolados de TI, tem apresentado resultados mistos. Além disso, esse valor tem sido avaliado no nível da Firma, por meio de medidas agregadas de desempenho como rentabilidade, participação no mercado e eficiência. Como alternativa a essa abordagem, esta pesquisa adota o conceito de Capacidades de TI como um conjunto de recursos em uso pelas organizações. Também, outros construtos em níveis inferiores ao Desempenho da Firma (DF) são considerados – Qualidade da Informação (QI) e Desempenho no Nível de Processos (DP). Portanto, alternativamente às abordagens de valor da TI, esta pesquisa tem o objetivo de identificar o valor das Capacidades de TI e o seu impacto sobre a Qualidade da Informação e sobre o Desempenho Organizacional nos níveis de Processos e da Firma. O teste das hipóteses de pesquisa é precedido por entrevistas com especialistas de TI (gestores), no intuito de validar o modelo proposto. Adicionalmente, procedeu-se à tradução das variáveis para a survey. Especialistas em SI (pesquisadores) também participaram da avaliação das variáveis do modelo de medida, julgando sua permanência ou exclusão. Surveys Pré-teste e de Estudo Piloto foram realizadas com vistas ao refinamento do instrumento de coleta e do modelo de medida, respectivamente. Na survey completa participaram 150 gestores de TI e de negócios ligados a grandes organizações brasileiras. Os dados foram analisados com Modelagem de Equações Estruturais, a fim de validar o modelo de medida e testar as hipóteses do modelo. Pelo teste do modelo estrutural na survey completa, constatou-se que as Capacidades de TI Internas estão associadas ao nível de Qualidade da Informação e ao Desempenho no Nível de Processos. As Capacidades de TI Externas, por outro lado, não impactam positivamente na QI nem sobre os níveis de desempenho (Processos e Firma). Um modelo de mediação do Desempenho de Processos foi testado na survey completa. Constatou-se a mediação completa, sustentando a hipótese de que as Capacidades de TI Internas exercem impacto sobre o Desempenho da Firma, mediado por processos de negócio. Os resultados são apoiados por estudos que defendem que o valor da TI é captado direta e primeiramente em nível de Processos. As contribuições, limitações e recomendações da pesquisa constam nas Considerações Finais da tese. / The value of Information Technology (IT) to business, from the perspective of individual IT resources, has shown mixed results in the literature. Furthermore, this value has been evaluated at the firm level, through aggregate measures of performance such as profitability, market share and efficiency. As an alternative to such perspective, this research adopts the concept of IT Capabilities as a set of resources in use by organizations. Likewise, other constructs at lower levels than the Firm Performance are considered – namely Information Quality (IQ) and at the Process level Performance. So, alternatively to approaches about the value of IT, this research aims to identify the value of IT Capabilities and theirs impacts on the Information Quality and on the Performance, at the Processes and the Firm levels. The test of research’s hypothesis is preceded by interviews with IT specialists (managers) in order to validate the research model. Additionally, we proceeded to the translation of the variables for the survey. Information Systems experts (researchers) also participated in the evaluation of the variables to the measurement model, judging its presence or deletion. Surveys Pre-test and Pilot Study were conducted with a view to refining the data collection instrument and the measurement model, respectively. The full survey was answered by 150 IT’s and business’s managers in large Brazilian organizations. Data were analyzed with Structural Equation Modeling in order to validate the measurement model and testing hypotheses of the research model. For the test of the structural model in the full survey, it was found that the Internal IT Capabilities are associated with the level of Quality of Information and at the Process Level Performance. The External IT Capabilities, on the other hand, do not impact positively on IQ, neither on the performance levels (Processes and Firm). One model of mediation for Process level Performance was tested in the full survey. It was found full mediation, supporting the hypothesis that Internal IT Capabilities exert impact on the performance at the Firm level, mediated by business processes. The results are supported by researches that argue value of IT is captured direct and firstly at the Processes level. The contributions, limitations and recommendations of the research are contained in the end of the thesis.