Thesis: S.M. in Management Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2015. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (page 32). / Financing for SMEs is a compelling issue for both China and the US. Given that SMEs in the US have been a long-standing source of innovation and driver of GDP, financing market for SMEs has stepped into a more mature stage than in China. This thesis explores the key differences in financing for SMEs in China and the US in both debt and equity financing with a comparative study based on abundant empirical case studies, literature reading and analysis, trying to identify some main takeaways from the US market for the Chinese market. However, due to different commercial environment and DNAs of the economies, different features have appeared and are playing critical roles in these two economies. It would be more crucial for Chinese policy makers to set up better-rounded law enforcement for the unique practices in China than to simply learn the practices in the US. / by Constance (Siyuan) Zhu. / S.M. in Management Research

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 98-105). / by Homer H. Pien. / M.S.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 1992. / Includes bibliographical references. / by Mark Joseph McCabe. / Ph.D.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 146-149). / We examine three variations of a class of network design problems known as Network Loading Problems (NLP). For'each variation we develop a tailored branch and bound solution approach equipped with heuristic procedures and problem specific cutting planes. The first variation formulates a logistics problem known as Pup Matching that involves matching semitrailers to cabs that are able to tow one or two of the trailers simultaneously. Theoretically, we show that four heuristics each yield a 2-approximation and we specify facet defining conditions for a cut family that we refer to as odd flow inequalities. Computationally, we solved to optimality 67 percent of test instances randomly generated from realistic data. The average minimum heuristic error among solved instances was 1.3 percent. Cutting planes reduced the average relative difference between upper and lower bounds prior to branching from 18.8 percent to 6.4 percent. The second problem variation concerns three NLP generalizations (segregated, nested, and general compartments) that we refer to collectively as Compartmentalized Network Loading (CNLP). We model these problems, extend to the case of segregated compartments convex hull results of Magnanti, Mirchandani, and Vachani on single arc and three node problems, and employ the routine of Atamtiirk and Rajan to efficiently separate certain (residual capacity) inequalities for all three CNLP models. / (cont.) On randomly generated instances, we conducted four series of tests designed to isolate the computational impact of problem parameters including graph density and model type. The third variation, Single Commodity Network Loading (SCNLP), requires loading discrete capacity units sufficient to satisfy the demand for standard network flow (multiple source, multiple destination problem). We cast the limiting case of large capacity within the constrained forest framework of Goemans and Williamson, characterize the optimal solution to the single cut special case, and describe cutset, residual capacity, and three partition inequalities for this variation. We solved five randomly generated 15 node SCNLP instances in an average of 19.1 CPU seconds, but only three of five similarly defined NLP instances. / by John M. Bossert. / Ph.D.

Thesis: S.M. in Management Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2014. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 71-73). / In an increasingly complex world for Multinational Companies, it is difficult for managers to keep a firm grasp over the global projects they are tasked to implement. Many of them lead teams operating across country borders, creating a need to increasingly take diverse national cultures into account in their operations. This extra dimension of International culture adds a layer of complexity that has been well studied in the past, though never in the context of Change Projects. This paper aims to look at how national cultural considerations should factor in when implementing discreet change projects in an organization. The paper first lays out the historic work that has been carried out in cross-cultural organization research, to create a foundation for the definitions related to national culture. Then, using Kotter's widely used framework for "Leading Change", it examines how assumptions were initially built into the theory, and how cultural considerations can help to rectify implementation of this framework. Finally, the paper takes a look at how two comparable alliances - between Nissan and Renault and between Mitsubishi Motors Company and Daimler Chrysler - used distinct approaches to cultural understanding in the context of the Kotter framework. This paper reveals that in the case of the Renault-Nissan alliance, executives were sensitive to the Japanese culture and were successful at leveraging certain of its aspects to turn the company around. In the contrasting case, executives imposed Daimler Chrysler's management principles to lead the turnaround. They disregarded many aspects such as the need for teamwork and reverence of hierarchy in the Japanese culture, and failed to generate buy-in from their counterparts. Thanks to this analysis this paper concludes that National culture is a key element to take into account when implementing Change Projects across borders. In addition, this case comparison does show that it is not only possible to manage National cultural differences, but it is far more exciting and rewarding to leverage them. Although this is not a radical / by Charles Repoux. / S.M. in Management Studies

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 97-100). / by Stephen Bryan Bowling. / M.S.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 54-55). / by Jean-Michel Assouly. / M.S.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 1991. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 50-52). / by Ian C. Yates. / M.S.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2010. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 147-155). / The evolution of the internet, digital design tools, and more importantly, increasing access to global markets and workforce, has increased the interest of firms in offshoring their engineering and product development activities. However, there exist challenges in coordinating and collaborating across time zones, cultures, geographical locations, and organizations. These challenges are magnified in the case of firms engaged in the design and development of complex engineered products. Our field study of the global engineering efforts of five firms showed that offshoring success is largely affected by the choice of the offshoring content, the architecture of the firm's products, and the organization choices of the respective firms. This led us to frame our research questions as: How does a firm optimally structure the global work distribution, over time, of its product development organization? How does the firm's architecture affect these work distribution decisions? Arguing based on existing literature in operations management, product development, and organizational economics, we identify coordination effort required between locations as a key contributing factor towards the performance of global product development organizations. We segregate the time required to complete a product development task between work time and coordination time, and define the index of modularity for offshoring as the ratio of the work time to the sum of work time and coordination time. / (cont.) We incorporate this factor to develop a recursive equation model that identifies the global structure (work distribution) of a product development organization. We apply our model to structure (optimize) the global product development organization in an industrial setting (with the aim of minimizing costs). We use the design structure matrix (DSM) to map the current process flow. This DSM helps us identify the organization architecture that we can utilize in our optimization model. Our optimization results, based on detailed modeling of coordination costs, show significant cost savings through a re-structured PD organization. Subsequent analysis of our results shows that while offshoring based on modularity is generally right, it is not the whole answer as there exists a trade-off between the efficiency of performing specific PD tasks at the offshore location and the modularity of the task. Besides relative cost rates and modularity, the optimal organization structure is also affected by the relative efficiencies in performing the product development tasks across locations, leading to additional research questions: How does the task completion time change (efficiency differences) when a PD task is transferred to an offshore product development center? How are the firm's prioritization and distribution of efforts towards the offshored PD tasks affected by the various factors that affect the task completion time? / (cont.) To understand these efficiency differences and address the above questions, we develop and analyze a stylized model (two tasks, two locations, two time periods) for a firm seeking to establish a product development center at an offshore location to benefit from cost savings. Our key results show that (a) firms should determine their offshore content to benefit from the existing knowledge base created by the prior offshored content and to create a knowledge base from which subsequent offshoring can benefit (indicating path dependent offshoring) rather than offshoring solely based on modularity; (b) efforts supporting offshoring should prioritize the coordination challenges between tasks at different locations before those between tasks at the offshore location; and (c) in an environment of high volatility of external factors, efforts should be prioritized to enhance the work time and coordination time efficiencies in the first (earliest) period. / by Anshuman Tripathy. / Ph.D.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 1991. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 341-347). / by Usman A. Ghani. / M.S.