This study strives to investigate why some small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from Northeast Italy internationalize at inception and some internationalize gradually. The main literature regarding both, Born Globals and Stage-Models, were reviewed. In face of a high degree of fragmentation in the Born Global literature the study was developed through an abductive logic of reasoning. This basically means that we started by clustering already accepted internal and external factors, working then, towards a unified explanation. A qualitative study was developed with four SMEs. The main results show that no factor can singularly drive a company to internationalize at inception. Instead, the interaction of internal and external factors determines how SMEs internationalize. The findings provide empirical insights on the internationalization behavior of SMEs and redress the apparent theoretical gap in this field.

Masters of Art / Many empirically supported versions of stage and componential models of the cognitive processing underlying the completion of various tasks spanning a wide range of domains have been developed by cognitive scientists of various kinds. These include models of scientific (e.g. Dunbar 1999), mathematical (e.g. Schoenfeld 1985), artistic (e.g. Getzels and Csikszentmihalyi 1976), engineering (e.g. Purzer et al 2018), legal (e.g. Ronkainen 2011), medical (e.g. Vimla et al 2012) and even culinary cognition (e.g. Stierand and Dörfler 2015) (and this list is nowhere near exhaustive). Yet, despite the existence of fields such as experimental and metaphilosophy which take philosophy as their object, often by using methods from the cognitive sciences, a stage or componential model of philosophizing is conspicuously missing from even an exhaustive list of the kind just produced.

Nonprofit organizations are pivotal actors in society, and their websites can play important roles in aiding organizations in their socially-beneficial missions by serving as a platform to present information, to interact with stakeholders and to perform online transactions. This dissertation analyzed nonprofit websites in the United States (U.S.) and in Thailand in a series of three articles. The first developed a website evaluative instrument, based on an e-commerce model, and applied it to nonprofit websites through a manual decoding process. That article's findings suggested that Thai websites are not considerably different than U.S. nonprofit websites, except more American websites offer online transactions. The second article analyzed two different types of nonprofits in Thailand using the same model to assess website development in an emerging market. That analysis suggested local Thai nonprofits' websites lagged significantly behind those of internationally connected nonprofit organizations in the country in the features they offered. The third article compared the adapted model employed in the second analysis, which used manual decoding for website examination, to a commercially available, automated evaluation service. That analysis highlighted the differences between the two assessment tools and found them to be complementary, but independently insufficient to ensure robust nonprofit website evaluation. / Ph. D. / Nonprofit organizations, such as public charities, are integral in our society. With increased Internet access, members of the general public often visit nonprofit websites to learn about such institutions. Nonprofits, however, lack a systematic tool to analyze how well their websites are developing and whether they are successful in securing their aims. This dissertation developed and applied an evaluative model to examine nonprofit entity website features and efficacy in the United States and in Thailand. The analysis found U.S. and international nonprofits websites were better developed than local Thai organizations, but still evidenced significant design challenges. Comparing the results of the developed evaluation model to those produced by a commercial automated assessment tool, the author found neither to be sufficient alone for measuring the quality of nonprofit websites.

This master’s thesis deals with evaluation the performance of a limited liability company Zlatovánek. The work is divided into two parts. The theoretical part describes the topic of benchmarking using professional literature. There is explained the concept of benchmarking and issue five-stage model of benchmarking. The practical part describes the selected company Zlatovánek, s. r. o. and benchmarking method is applied in order to increase business performance. Then is the firm compared with a better competitor. The conclusion suggested possible measures to improve business performance.

This dissertation, which consists of three essays, studies online auctions both theoretically and empirically. The first essay studies a special online auction format used by eBay, “Buy-It- Now” (BIN) auctions, in which bidders are allowed to buy the item at a fixed BIN price set by the seller and end the auction immediately. I construct a two-stage model in which the BIN price is only available to one group of bidders. I find that bidders cutoff is lower in this model, which means, bidders are more likely to accept the BIN option, compared with the models assuming all bidders are offered the BIN. The results explain the high frequency of bidders accepting BIN price, and may also help explain the popularity of temporary BIN auctions in online auction sites, such as eBay, where BIN option is only offered to early bidders. In the second essay, I study how bidders’ risk attitude and time preference affect their behavior in Buy-It-Now auctions. I consider two cases, when both bidders enter the auction at the same time (homogenous bidders) thus BIN option is offered to both of them, and when two bidders enter the auction at two different stages (heterogenous bidders) thus the BIN option is only offered to the early bidder. Bidders’ optimal strategies are derived explicitly in both cases. In particular, given bidders’ risk attitude and time preference, the cutoff valuation, such that a bidder will accept BIN if his valuation is higher than the cutoff valuation and reject it otherwise, is calculated. I find that the cutoff valuation in the case of heterogenous bidders is lower than that in the case of homogenous bidders. The third essay focuses on the empirical modeling of the price processes of online auctions. I generalize the monotone series estimator to model the pooled price processes. Then I apply the model and the estimator to eBay auction data of a palm PDA. The results are shown to capture closely the overall pattern of observed price dynamics. In particular, early bidding, mid-auction draught, and sniping are well approximated by the estimated price curve.

Biodiesel has been suggested as an alternative fuel to the petroleum diesel fuel. It beneficially reduces regulated emission gases, but increases NOx (nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide) Thus, the increase in NOx is the barrier for potential growth of the biodiesel fuel. In general, NOx formation is dominated by flame temperature. Interestingly, soot can play a role as a heat sink as well as a heat transfer media to high temperature gases. Thus, the cooling effect of soot may change the flame temperature and therefore, NOx emissions. In this study, emphasis is placed on the relationship between soot and NO (Nitric oxide) formation. For the experimental study, a metallic fuel additive is used since barium is known to be effective to suppress soot formation during combustion. The barium additive is applied to #2D (Number 2 diesel fuel) by volume basis: 0.1, 0.25 and 0.5 %-v, and to the palm olein oil by 0.25 %-v. All the tests are carried out in a four-cylinder medium duty diesel engine, 4045 DI diesel engine, manufactured by John Deere. For the analysis, an analytical model is used to estimate combustion temperature, NO concentration and soot emissivity. The results show that NO concentration does not have the expected trade-off relation with soot. Rather, NO concentration is found to be more strongly affected by ambient temperature and combustion characteristics than by soot. The results of the analytical model show the reasonable NO estimation and the improvement on temperature calculation. However, the model is not able to explain the detailed changes of soot emissivity by the different fuels since the emissivity correlation is developed empirically for diesel fuel.

Utnyttjande av barn för sexuell posering är ett brott som begås både på ochutanför internet. Enligt stagemodellen för onlinegroomers antas förövare inledasin internetbrottslighet på en låg, mindre allvarlig nivå för att sedan eskalera ochförflytta brottsligheten från online till offline. Syftet med studien var att utifråntingsrättsdomar redogöra för likheter och skillnader mellan förövare som gjort sigskyldiga till utnyttjande av barn för sexuell posering beroende på om de ageratonline eller offline. Syftet var också att med stöd av stagemodellen föronlinegroomers få en uppfattning om huruvida onlineförövare som har lagförts äri starten på ett kontinuum eller om de är offlineförövare som kompletterar sinasexualbrott med hjälp av internet. Metod Studien är en kvantitativ studie avretrospektiv design baserad på tingsrättsdomar (N = 67) från 2009-2013.Resultatet påvisade att förövargrupperna använde samma tillvägagångsätt; tjat,hot, betalning eller kärlek för att få barnen att exponera sig. I stagemodellenbedömdes onlineförövarna oftast vara onlinekommunikatörer medanofflineförövarna var onlineorganisatörer. Oavsett vilket steg i modellen förövarnabefann sig i bedömdes de flesta uteslutande ha tillhört endast ett steg. Detta talarför att det utifrån tingsrättsdomar inte går att bekräfta stagemodellen. SlutsatsBaserat på informationen som gick att utläsa i tingsrättsdomarna skiljer sigonlineförövarna inte signifikant från offlineförövarna. Det går inte att säkerställaatt dömda onlineförövare skulle befinna sig i början på ett kontinuum då de likagärna kan vara offlineförövare som drar nytta av internet i sin jakt på offer. / <p>2015-06-03</p>

abstract: ABSTRACT This research reveals how governments cut budgets during fiscal crises and what pattern may emerge based on the cuts. It addresses a significant gap in literature by looking into the details of an agency for a full recession period to explain how cutback requirements were met. Through investigating a large Arizona state agency during the 2008 recession in the United States, the research reveals that cutback management is a stage-by-stage process lagging the immediate deterioration of the state’s economy and that patterns found among cuts are more often rational than not. Cutbacks in this agency proceeded through three stages: the beginning, middle and the end period of cuts. In each stage, the author used descriptive analysis, process map analysis and cause and effect analysis to explore the features of cuts made. These methods of analysis were used to break down an annual budget reduction into original appropriation budget cuts, mid year reductions and the final budget cuts required to end the fiscal year in balance. In addition, the analytical methods permitted more detailed analysis of specific appropriation line items. The information used was secondary data collected from seven fiscal years around the recession and from various sources, including budgetary materials, legislation, accounting materials and many program reports related to budget cuts. The findings suggested that across-the-board cuts are implemented at the beginning of cutback stage mainly to non-mandatory programs without jeopardizing the core functions of the agency. Later, in the middle period of the recession, selective cuts are made on large programs. Fund transfers and excess balance transfers are also preferred to reduce the budgets of other restricted funds. At the end stage of budget cuts, new revenue sources are established to support programs which had relied on general fund revenues in the past. Overall, the cutback process observed in this research reflects decremental and rational patterns of decision making, contrasting with the randomness observed in previous research on cutback management. Across the board cuts are decremental; the remainders are rational, even strategic decisions. This investigation reminds researchers to be aware of the context and the level of observation when analyzing cutbacks. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Public Administration and Policy 2018

abstract: Generativity was first described by Erikson (1963) as an adult's concern for and commitment to promoting the welfare and development of future generations. Generativity is juxtaposed by stagnation in Erikson's stage of midlife (35-65 years old). The developmental hurdle faced at this point in the developmental cycle is whether a person will produce something of real value, both in the present and impacting future generations. Generative adults seek to give something back to society, generally behaving in a way to make the world a better place for others with no personal gain attached. The goal of the current study was to assess differences in levels of generativity at the final stage of adult life, and the potential functions that generativity can serve individuals. Results suggest that lowly generative individuals in older adult life tend to experience doubts about the impact they have had on the world and the lack of legacy they are leaving behind. Themes of highly generative participants included having felt they lived a purposeful and meaningful life, along with feeling fortunate and lucky in their lives. Also highly generative participants seemed to feel confident in the legacy they will leave behind after death. Results are discussed in light of the theories and findings of Erikson and McAdams. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Counseling Psychology 2013

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(工学) / 甲第21086号 / 工博第4450号 / 新制||工||1692(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院工学研究科都市社会工学専攻 / (主査)教授 藤井 聡, 准教授 SCHMOECKER Jan-Dirk, 教授 宇野 伸宏 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering) / Kyoto University / DFAM