<p><strong>Aim:</strong></p><p>The purpose of this study is to explore the Vietnamese market for Electronic Road Tolls. Company X is a world wide supplier of electronic toll systems. They are focusing on systems that will reduce traffic congestion in cities or congestion created by road charge toll systems. Company X has been active in the South East Asia for over 10 years. Now they want to explore new markets in this region. The company is interested in developing countries where road infrastructure is expanding. Since Vietnam is one of the fastest growing economies in Asia Company X is interested in if it is a market they should enter.</p><p> </p><p>Research questions: </p><p><em>Should Company X enter the Vietnamese market?</em></p><p><em>If yes, which entry strategy should be used entering this market?</em></p><p> </p><p><strong>Method:</strong></p><p>To analyze Company X’s internal and external environment I have used different theoretical methods, PEST analysis, Micro / Macro environmental analysis and with the SWOT framework I have summarized recommendations based on the facts I have gathered. I have also investigated different entry strategies to see what is most suitable for a Company X. I have collected data via interviews, literature and internet sources.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Result & Conclusions: </strong></p><p>Short term Company X has the opportunity to come in with their products into Vietnam with a co-operation with Competitor A. They will set up a test system at one toll plaza between the airport and Hanoi with two lane dedicated for EFC and Company X is their first choice if they are competitive. This will give them the opportunity to be first on this market to implement microwave equipment in Vietnam and an opportunity to set the standard in the country for the future. </p><p><strong>Suggestions for future research: </strong></p><p>The empirical data in this thesis is mainly gathered from secondary sources. The information would have been more accurate with more primary data.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Contribution of the thesis: </strong></p><p>This thesis shows that large investments in road infrastructure are coming up in Vietnam. This thesis also shows that currently there is low activity from competitors using the same technology and this was not previously known by Company X.</p>

Testing constraints for real-time systems are usually verified through the satisfiability of propositional formulae. In this paper, we propose an alternative where the verification of timing constraints can be done by counting the number of truth assignments instead of boolean satisfiability. This number can also tell us how “far away” is a given specification from satisfying its safety assertion. Furthermore, specifications and safety assertions are often modified in an incremental fashion, where problematic bugs are fixed one at a time. To support this development, we propose an incremental algorithm for counting satisfiability. Our proposed incremental algorithm is optimal as no unnecessary nodes are created during each counting. This works for the class of path RTL. To illustrate this application, we show how incremental satisfiability counting can be applied to a well-known rail-road crossing example, particularly when its specification is still being refined. / Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA)

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2006. / Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center; full text release delayed at author's request until 2011 Aug 11

In October 2000 the Initiative for the Integration of Regional Infrastructure in South America (IIRSA) was launched. The purpose of the IIRSA is to improve integration of the South American countries and intraregional trade between them. One of the ultimate goals is to promote sustainable growth. The purpose of this paper is to find out if a better quantity and quality of transport infrastructure increases intraregional trade in South America. It is found that the quantity of transport infrastructure increases intraregional trade. On the other hand, there is no evidence for the quality of transport infrastructure increasing intraregional trade in South America. Furthermore, this paper investigates whether economic growth can be obtained through more trade. In other words, this paper examines if trade causes growth. The results do not confirm the trade-growth causality for all countries. The difference between the existence of a trade-growth causal relationship or not could be explained by the core commodities that the different South American countries export.

Aim: The purpose of this study is to explore the Vietnamese market for Electronic Road Tolls. Company X is a world wide supplier of electronic toll systems. They are focusing on systems that will reduce traffic congestion in cities or congestion created by road charge toll systems. Company X has been active in the South East Asia for over 10 years. Now they want to explore new markets in this region. The company is interested in developing countries where road infrastructure is expanding. Since Vietnam is one of the fastest growing economies in Asia Company X is interested in if it is a market they should enter.   Research questions:  Should Company X enter the Vietnamese market? If yes, which entry strategy should be used entering this market?   Method: To analyze Company X’s internal and external environment I have used different theoretical methods, PEST analysis, Micro / Macro environmental analysis and with the SWOT framework I have summarized recommendations based on the facts I have gathered. I have also investigated different entry strategies to see what is most suitable for a Company X. I have collected data via interviews, literature and internet sources.   Result &amp; Conclusions: Short term Company X has the opportunity to come in with their products into Vietnam with a co-operation with Competitor A. They will set up a test system at one toll plaza between the airport and Hanoi with two lane dedicated for EFC and Company X is their first choice if they are competitive. This will give them the opportunity to be first on this market to implement microwave equipment in Vietnam and an opportunity to set the standard in the country for the future.  Suggestions for future research: The empirical data in this thesis is mainly gathered from secondary sources. The information would have been more accurate with more primary data.   Contribution of the thesis: This thesis shows that large investments in road infrastructure are coming up in Vietnam. This thesis also shows that currently there is low activity from competitors using the same technology and this was not previously known by Company X.

The first essay titled “Fundamental Sources of Long-run Labour Productivity Improvements in Canada” examines the importance of Research and Development activities, as well as the stock of public infrastructure, and economic openness as sources of growth in labour productivity in the Canadian economy within the last four decades. The second paper titled “R&D Spillovers, Innovation, and Entry” extends a theoretical framework to analyze the impact of R&D spillovers on entry and the resulting equilibrium market structure. It is shown that the degree of spillovers plays a fundamental role on the number of firms entering the market, their R&D activities, and social welfare. The third paper titled “The Search for New Drugs: A Theory of R&D in the Pharmaceutical Industry” uses a dynamic model of optimal patent design and in the presence of information externalities studies the evolution of technological progress in the context of a pharmaceutical industry.

As infrastructure networks grow more complex, regulatory requirements become greater, populations grow, budgets become more limited, and the expectations of customers increase, municipalities are progressively being required to provide more for less. This is presenting some particular challenges to the long-term sustainability of buried water and wastewater infrastructure in Ontario. In response, municipalities are increasingly seeking to improve their business processes and asset management capabilities as a path to optimize the lifecycle of their infrastructure assets and ensure public safety, community development, and financial sustainability. This thesis presents an organizational performance measurement framework for municipal infrastructure asset management which was validated through interviews and surveys with international discipline experts. The resultant framework provides a high-level outline and suggestions for implementation of key objectives, 11 core critical success factors, and 135 quantitative performance indicators for municipal water and wastewater asset management organizations.

As infrastructure networks grow more complex, regulatory requirements become greater, populations grow, budgets become more limited, and the expectations of customers increase, municipalities are progressively being required to provide more for less. This is presenting some particular challenges to the long-term sustainability of buried water and wastewater infrastructure in Ontario. In response, municipalities are increasingly seeking to improve their business processes and asset management capabilities as a path to optimize the lifecycle of their infrastructure assets and ensure public safety, community development, and financial sustainability. This thesis presents an organizational performance measurement framework for municipal infrastructure asset management which was validated through interviews and surveys with international discipline experts. The resultant framework provides a high-level outline and suggestions for implementation of key objectives, 11 core critical success factors, and 135 quantitative performance indicators for municipal water and wastewater asset management organizations.

This dissertation attempts to examine the effect of urbanization on poverty reduction outcomes by considering various dimensions of poverty and channels of reducing poverty. First, we develop a theoretical model in order to infer a relationship between urbanization and poverty reduction outcomes. Specifically, it shows an optimal level of urbanization to properly allocate basic public infrastructure and promote pro-poor growth. Second, we conduct empirical analysis on international data to examine the testable hypotheses that are derived from the theoretical model. Further, we explore the “channeled effects” of urbanization on basic education and health by the IV estimation and on productivity by the dynamic panel GMM estimation. As the theoretical model suggests, our results exhibit the statistically significant relationship in a non-linear form between urbanization and poverty. In addition, we explore the impact of urbanization on poverty reduction outcomes in different regions in order to see the various magnitudes of urbanization effects among regions.

The first essay titled “Fundamental Sources of Long-run Labour Productivity Improvements in Canada” examines the importance of Research and Development activities, as well as the stock of public infrastructure, and economic openness as sources of growth in labour productivity in the Canadian economy within the last four decades. The second paper titled “R&D Spillovers, Innovation, and Entry” extends a theoretical framework to analyze the impact of R&D spillovers on entry and the resulting equilibrium market structure. It is shown that the degree of spillovers plays a fundamental role on the number of firms entering the market, their R&D activities, and social welfare. The third paper titled “The Search for New Drugs: A Theory of R&D in the Pharmaceutical Industry” uses a dynamic model of optimal patent design and in the presence of information externalities studies the evolution of technological progress in the context of a pharmaceutical industry.