The purpose of this thesis is to conduct an international market selection which will result in a suitable choice of market for an SME that is about to place offshore production in an emerging market. A focus during the thesis is directed towards potential risks that may occur and how SMEs can manage these. In order to fulfill this purpose the authors have developed two main research questions:How can an SME use the IMS-framework to select an emerging market for offshore production?How can an SME manage potential risks when placing offshore production in an emerging market?The theoretical framework consists of the description of the international market selection process that is relevant as it is the framework from which the selection of a target market originates. Further, a description of theories on entry modes and risk management is presented in order to provide insight on how SMEs can manage risks when placing production in an emerging market. The empirical chapter consists of interviews from a case company as well as Business Sweden and is structured in accordance to the theoretical chapter.In the analysis the theoretical frameworks are discussed and connected to the empirical findings. In the initial part of the analysis the international market selection is presented and discussed before it culminates in the authors chosen target market. The latter part of the analysis addresses the risk management SMEs is faced with when placing offshore production in an emerging market.The conclusion provides the reader with the chosen target market for the case company. It also shows that SMEs ought to apply a risk averse mindset when placing their production in an emerging market. The authors finally present suggestions for further research regarding SMEs ventures to place production in emerging markets.

This thesis analyses what effects foreign direct investments (FDI) has on a firm’s gross profit, wages and labour productivity. Focus is on the Swedish industrial goods and service sector which has shown on a rapid growth of offshore production. We use a theoretical framework with FDI and productivity theories. As a result of cost efficient alternatives to domestic production, a firm’s productivity should fall in the case of increased foreign production. Although, the increase in gross profit should rule out the negative affect that a decrease in productivity cause. There is a positive relationship between offshore production and gross profits, and expanded foreign production leads to a decreased wage rate. However, increased foreign employment showed a boost the labour productivity, which is wrong from a theoretical point of view. / I den här uppsatsen analyseras hur utländska direktinvesteringar påverkar företags vinster, löner och arbetsproduktivitet. Fokus är ställt på svenska företag inom sektorn industriella varor och tjänster. Den teoretiska delen tar upp utländska direktinvesteringar och arbetsproduktivitet. Som ett resultat av kostnadseffektiva alternativ utomlands, borde arbetsproduktiviteten falla om den utländska produktionen ökar. Den väntade vinstökningen efter utlandslokalisering borde dock ge en generell positiv effekt. Den empiriska delen visar ett positivt samband mellan utlandslokalisering och vinst. Bevis finnes också för att medellönen sjunker när utlandslokaliseringen ökar. Empiriska resultat visar också att ökad utlandslokalisering ökar arbetsproduktiviteten, vilket ur teoretisk ståndpunkt inte stämmer.

<p>This thesis analyses what effects foreign direct investments (FDI) has on a firm’s gross profit, wages and labour productivity. Focus is on the Swedish industrial goods and service sector which has shown on a rapid growth of offshore production. We use a theoretical framework with FDI and productivity theories. As a result of cost efficient alternatives to domestic production, a firm’s productivity should fall in the case of increased foreign production. Although, the increase in gross profit should rule out the negative affect that a decrease in productivity cause.</p><p>There is a positive relationship between offshore production and gross profits, and expanded foreign production leads to a decreased wage rate. However, increased foreign employment showed a boost the labour productivity, which is wrong from a theoretical point of view.</p> / <p>I den här uppsatsen analyseras hur utländska direktinvesteringar påverkar företags vinster, löner och arbetsproduktivitet. Fokus är ställt på svenska företag inom sektorn industriella varor och tjänster. Den teoretiska delen tar upp utländska direktinvesteringar och arbetsproduktivitet. Som ett resultat av kostnadseffektiva alternativ utomlands, borde arbetsproduktiviteten falla om den utländska produktionen ökar. Den väntade vinstökningen efter utlandslokalisering borde dock ge en generell positiv effekt.</p><p>Den empiriska delen visar ett positivt samband mellan utlandslokalisering och vinst. Bevis finnes också för att medellönen sjunker när utlandslokaliseringen ökar. Empiriska resultat visar också att ökad utlandslokalisering ökar arbetsproduktiviteten, vilket ur teoretisk ståndpunkt inte stämmer.</p>

Thesis advisor: Fabio Ghironi / In Chapter 1, I analyze the cross-country transmission of business cycles when firms relocate production abroad, at locations with lower labor costs. In the model, I distinguish between fluctuations in the number of offshoring firms (the extensive margin) and the value added per offshoring firm (the intensive margin) as separate transmission mechanisms. Firms are heterogeneous in labor productivity. They face a sunk entry cost at home and an additional fixed cost to produce offshore. The model replicates the extensive and intensive margin dynamics that I document for Mexico's maquiladora sector. Offshoring enhances the co-movement of output between the countries involved. Offshoring also reduces price dispersion across countries, because it dampens the real exchange rate appreciation that follows improvements in domestic productivity. In Chapter 2, I estimate the conditional correlations and impulse responses of three indicators of offshoring to Mexico (total value added, value added per plant, and the number of plants) for U.S. permanent technology shocks. Using data from U.S. manufacturing and Mexico's maquiladora sector, I identify U.S. permanent technology shocks in a structural VAR model with long-run restrictions. Following a positive shock, offshore production in Mexico exhibits an immediate increase along its intensive margin, but returns to its initial level over time. The extensive margin does not adjust on impact, but increases gradually towards a permanently higher level. The model of offshoring in Chapter 1 matches qualitatively the business cycle dynamics of offshoring to Mexico. In Chapter 3 (co-authored with Federico Mandelman), we analyze the dynamics of labor migration and the insurance role of remittances in a two-country, real business cycle framework. Emigration increases with the expected stream of future wage gains, and is dampened by the sunk cost reflecting border enforcement. During booms in the destination economy, the scarcity of established immigrants enhances the volatility of the immigrant wage and remittances. The welfare gain from the inflow of unskilled labor increases with the complementarity between skilled and unskilled labor, and with the share of the skilled among native labor. The model matches the cyclical dynamics of the unskilled immigration into the U.S. and remittances sent back to Mexico. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T14:08:44Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 AndreLA_DISSERT.pdf: 1426214 bytes, checksum: 62fdf46525d28318b6138490219276ba (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-12-21 / In the operational context of industrial processes, alarm, by definition, is a warning to the operator that an action with limited time to run is required, while the event is a change of state information, which does not require action by the operator, therefore should not be advertised, and only stored for analysis of maintenance, incidents and used for signaling / monitoring (EEMUA, 2007). However, alarms and events are often confused and improperly configured similarly by developers of automation systems. This practice results in a high amount of pseudo-alarms during the operation of industrial processes. The high number of alarms is a major obstacle to improving operational efficiency, making it difficult to identify problems and increasing the time to respond to abnormalities. The main consequences of this scenario are the increased risk to personal safety, facilities, environment deterioration and loss of production. The aim of this paper is to present a philosophy for setting up a system of supervision and control, developed with the aim of reducing the amount of pseudo-alarms and increase reliability of the information that the system provides. A real case study was conducted in the automation system of the offshore production of hydrocarbons from Petrobras in Rio Grande do Norte, in order to validate the application of this new methodology. The work followed the premises of the tool presented in ISA SP18.2. 2009, called "life cycle alarm . After the implementation of methodology there was a significant reduction in the number of alarms / No contexto de opera??o de processos industriais, alarme, por defini??o, ? um aviso ao T?cnico de Opera??o que uma a??o com tempo restrito para ser executada ? necess?ria, enquanto que evento ? uma informa??o de mudan?a de estado e n?o demanda a??o por parte do T?cnico de Opera??o, consequentemente n?o deve ser anunciada, sendo apenas armazenada para fins de an?lise de manuten??o, incidentes e utilizadas para sinaliza??o/monitora??o (EEMUA, 2007). Por?m, alarmes e eventos s?o frequentemente confundidos e configurados inadequadamente de forma semelhante por programadores de sistemas de automa??o. Esta pr?tica resulta em uma elevada quantidade de pseudo-alarmes durante a opera??o de processos industriais. O elevado n?mero de alarmes configurados ? um dos principais entraves para a melhoria da efici?ncia operacional, dificultando a identifica??o de problemas e aumentando o tempo de resposta ?s anormalidades. As principais conseq??ncias desse quadro s?o o aumento do risco ? seguran?a das pessoas, instala??es, meio ambiente e o agravamento das perdas de produ??o. O objetivo principal deste trabalho ? apresentar uma filosofia de configura??o de um sistema de supervis?o e controle, desenvolvida com o intuito de diminuir a quantidade de pseudo-alarmes configurados e aumentar a confiabilidade das informa??es que o sistema fornece. Um estudo de caso foi realizado no sistema de automa??o das plataformas mar?timas de produ??o de Hidrocarbonetos da Petrobras no Rio Grande do Norte, de forma a validar a aplica??o dessa nova metodologia. O trabalho seguiu as premissas da ferramenta apresentada na norma ISA SP18.2. 2009, denominado ciclo de vida de alarme . Ap?s a implanta??o da metodologia verificou-se uma redu??o significativa no n?mero de alarmes

Atualmente, há inúmeras instalações offshore operando em regimes instáveis de escoamento. Tal regime é resultado de diâmetros superdimensionados das linhas de produção ou baixa vazão dos poços. Deve-se notar que, muitas vezes, o regime intermitente se instala no final da vida produtiva dos poços, devido ao declínio natural dos reservatórios, o que causa uma redução da produção do campo de petróleo. Tal instabilidade traz dificuldades na produção offshore, pois pode causar danos nos equipamentos da plataforma ou perdas de produção. Neste âmbito, é necessário estudar meios de atenuar ou suprimir este tipo de regime de escoamento. O objetivo deste trabalho é desenvolver métodos de forma a garantir a estabilidade do sistema através da modulação adequada da válvula choke, reduzindo ou mesmo eliminando o comportamento oscilatório da produção, mantendo a válvula choke na maior abertura possível, trazendo desta forma, ganhos econômicos através do aumento da produtividade do poço. Para a análise do sistema, utilizou-se um modelo dinâmico simplificado encontrado na literatura. Este modelo foi escolhido por reproduzir adequadamente o escoamento em golfadas severas, causado pela presença de trecho horizontal descendente na linha de produção. O sistema foi também modelado no OLGA®, sendo este, um software comercial com uso bastante disseminado na indústria de petróleo e com grande aplicação em simulações que exigem uma análise do comportamento transiente do problema. A avaliação da eficácia dos métodos de supressão das golfadas foi realizada através de duas abordagens distintas. Inicialmente, utilizou-se um controlador PI adaptativo com capacidade de operação em diferentes regiões de aberturas da válvula choke. Por fim, utilizou-se um Regulador Linear Quadrático associado a um observador de estados com filtro de Kalman Unscented com o objetivo de verificar como o sistema se comportaria em caso de necessidade de um observador para compensar uma possível falha do sensor submarino de pressão. Em ambos os casos, notou-se redução nas oscilações devido a golfadas do poço. As soluções foram implementadas através da integração entre o modelo do OLGA® e os algoritmos desenvolvidos no MATLAB utilizando servidor OPC. / Nowadays, there are numerous offshore installations operating in unstable flow regimes. Such unstable flow is the result of oversized diameters of production lines or low flow wells. It should be noticed that often the intermittent system occurs at the end of the productive life of wells due to the natural decline of the reservoir, which causes a reduction in oil field production. Such instability brings difficulties in offshore production, it can cause damage to the platform equipment or production losses. In this context, it is necessary to consider means to reduce or remove this type of flow regime. The objective of this work is to develop methods to ensure system stability by adequate modulation of choke valve, reducing or even eliminating the oscillatory behavior of the production, with the biggest choke valve opening possible, bringing economic gains by increasing well production The system analysis was carried out using a simplified dynamic model found in literature. This model was chosen by appropriately reproduction of severe slug flow, caused by the presence of downward horizontal section in the production line. The problem was also modeled on OLGA®, which is a commercial software with widespread use in the oil industry and large application in simulations that require a transient behavior analysis. The evaluation of the slugs suppression methods was carried out through two different approaches. First, an adaptive PI controller with capability to operate in different regions of choke valve openings was used. Finally, a Quadratic Linear Regulator associated to an Unscented Kalman Filter was used to verify how the system would behave in the event of a possible failure of subsea pressure sensor. In both cases, there was a reduction in oscillations due to slugs. The solutions were implemented through communication between the OLGA® model and the control algorithms developed in MATLAB using OPC server.

Atualmente, há inúmeras instalações offshore operando em regimes instáveis de escoamento. Tal regime é resultado de diâmetros superdimensionados das linhas de produção ou baixa vazão dos poços. Deve-se notar que, muitas vezes, o regime intermitente se instala no final da vida produtiva dos poços, devido ao declínio natural dos reservatórios, o que causa uma redução da produção do campo de petróleo. Tal instabilidade traz dificuldades na produção offshore, pois pode causar danos nos equipamentos da plataforma ou perdas de produção. Neste âmbito, é necessário estudar meios de atenuar ou suprimir este tipo de regime de escoamento. O objetivo deste trabalho é desenvolver métodos de forma a garantir a estabilidade do sistema através da modulação adequada da válvula choke, reduzindo ou mesmo eliminando o comportamento oscilatório da produção, mantendo a válvula choke na maior abertura possível, trazendo desta forma, ganhos econômicos através do aumento da produtividade do poço. Para a análise do sistema, utilizou-se um modelo dinâmico simplificado encontrado na literatura. Este modelo foi escolhido por reproduzir adequadamente o escoamento em golfadas severas, causado pela presença de trecho horizontal descendente na linha de produção. O sistema foi também modelado no OLGA®, sendo este, um software comercial com uso bastante disseminado na indústria de petróleo e com grande aplicação em simulações que exigem uma análise do comportamento transiente do problema. A avaliação da eficácia dos métodos de supressão das golfadas foi realizada através de duas abordagens distintas. Inicialmente, utilizou-se um controlador PI adaptativo com capacidade de operação em diferentes regiões de aberturas da válvula choke. Por fim, utilizou-se um Regulador Linear Quadrático associado a um observador de estados com filtro de Kalman Unscented com o objetivo de verificar como o sistema se comportaria em caso de necessidade de um observador para compensar uma possível falha do sensor submarino de pressão. Em ambos os casos, notou-se redução nas oscilações devido a golfadas do poço. As soluções foram implementadas através da integração entre o modelo do OLGA® e os algoritmos desenvolvidos no MATLAB utilizando servidor OPC. / Nowadays, there are numerous offshore installations operating in unstable flow regimes. Such unstable flow is the result of oversized diameters of production lines or low flow wells. It should be noticed that often the intermittent system occurs at the end of the productive life of wells due to the natural decline of the reservoir, which causes a reduction in oil field production. Such instability brings difficulties in offshore production, it can cause damage to the platform equipment or production losses. In this context, it is necessary to consider means to reduce or remove this type of flow regime. The objective of this work is to develop methods to ensure system stability by adequate modulation of choke valve, reducing or even eliminating the oscillatory behavior of the production, with the biggest choke valve opening possible, bringing economic gains by increasing well production The system analysis was carried out using a simplified dynamic model found in literature. This model was chosen by appropriately reproduction of severe slug flow, caused by the presence of downward horizontal section in the production line. The problem was also modeled on OLGA®, which is a commercial software with widespread use in the oil industry and large application in simulations that require a transient behavior analysis. The evaluation of the slugs suppression methods was carried out through two different approaches. First, an adaptive PI controller with capability to operate in different regions of choke valve openings was used. Finally, a Quadratic Linear Regulator associated to an Unscented Kalman Filter was used to verify how the system would behave in the event of a possible failure of subsea pressure sensor. In both cases, there was a reduction in oscillations due to slugs. The solutions were implemented through communication between the OLGA® model and the control algorithms developed in MATLAB using OPC server.

Ces dernières années, les attaques de pirates contre des navires ou des champs pétroliers n'ont cessé de se multiplier et de s'aggraver. Pour exemple, l'attaque contre la plateforme Exxon Mobil en 2010 au large du Nigeria s'est soldée par l'enlèvement de dix-neuf membres d'équipage et la réduction de 45.000 barils de sa production pétrolière quotidienne ce qui a engendré une montée des prix à l'échelle internationale.Cet exemple est une parfaite illustration de l'ampleur des dommages sur la sécurité des infrastructures pétrolières offshore.Dans le cadre de notre recherche, nous proposons une démarche de pilotage et de management du risque de piraterie en se basant sur le concept des réseaux bayésiens qui permettent la représentation des connaissances et le calcul des probabilités conditionnelles.Une dimension temporelle a été ajoutée par le recours aux réseaux bayésiens qualifiés de « dynamiques ». Ces réseaux, fondés sur les chaines de Markov cachées ou filtres de Kalman, se révèlent très performants dans le domaine de l'analyse des risques.L'application de ces réseaux au domaine de la piraterie a été envisagée, les apports et les limites seront évalués dans le cadre de cette thèse. / In recent years, pirate attacks against ships or oil fields have continued to multiply and worsen. For example, the attack against the Exxon Mobil platform in 2010 in the coast of Nigeria has resulted in the removal of nineteen crew members and the reduction of 45,000 barrels of daily oil production which resulted in a rise prices internationally.This example is a perfect illustration of the extent of damage on the safety of offshore oil infrastructure.As part of our research, we propose an approach to control and management of the risk of piracy based on the concept of Bayesian networks that enable knowledge representation and calculation of conditional probabilities.A temporal dimension was added by the use of Bayesian networks called "dynamic". These networks, based on Markov chains hidden or Kalman filters, are proving very effective in the field of risk analysis.The application of these networks on piracy was considered, the contributions and limitations will be evaluated as part of this thesis.