The first chapter of this dissertation argues that privatization and other policy changes in China during the past decade had a direct effect on input prices. This is in contrast to most previous work, which instead emphasized the effect of privatization on productivity. I illustrate the importance of taking such differences into account by estimating the parameters of a static firm competition model using the Chinese Industrial Enterprises Database and calculating a measure of total factor productivity for each firm out of those estimates. The results of my analysis indicate that the percentage difference in productivity between private and state-owned firms may be overestimated by as much as 135 percentage points if the difference in input prices is not properly addressed. The second chapter of my dissertation establishes empirical support for such a difference in input prices by constructing a dynamic structural model of privatization, firm heterogeneity and industry evolution, and estimating its parameters using the Chinese Industrial Enterprises Database. My estimates of the model confirm many well documented institutional features about China's reform, including "grasp the large and let go of the small" policy, easy access to credit for state-owned enterprises (SOEs), and selection for privatization according to firms' probabilities of success. In addition, the estimated structural model provides the basic tool for policy simulations and enables us to see the effects of hypothetical policies, for example “grasp the small and let go of the large” and “removing SOEs’ easy access to credits”. In the last chapter, I study the effect of privatization of state-owned enterprises in China, focusing on not only the effect of privatization on a firm's productivity, but also its effect on market output allocation. I use the method proposed by Olley and Pakes (1996) to find improvements in average market productivities for all industries in China. This growth in productivity resulted from enterprises becoming more productive, but not from more efficient output allocation within the market. Private firms are proven to be more productive than state-owned enterprises in all industries, but privatization itself improved firm efficiency only for some industries.

Despite the recognized importance of the bond rating industry, little academic work has been done to investigate the determinants of the standards these firms employ to assign credit ratings to individual firms. There is an ongoing debate in the literature arguing whether the decline in the percentage of highly rated firms is because rating standards have become more stringent over time or whether the credit quality of firms in the economy has declined. We investigate this question in this dissertation. Our first contribution is to address several empirical problems in prior literature. This study uses a combination of structural models of default and econometric model of ratings to study the determinants of rating standards and, by doing so, overcome the earlier methodological shortcomings. Our second contribution is to test new theory which hypothesizes that the standards of a rating agency are conditional upon the distribution of default risk in the economy at the time. The results are robust no matter which structural models of default we employ. The evidence suggests the standards are relative to the default risk distribution and there has been a secular increase in the stringency in the assignment of ratings over time. A third way we extend the literature is by examining the accuracy of the assignment of ratings. Theoretical models suggest rating agencies have incentives to purposefully add noise to the assignment of ratings. We conduct an empirical analysis of the classification errors using receiver operating characteristic analysis. The results suggest that error rates have decreased at the extreme ends of the rating spectrum (AAA vs. AA and below; B and below vs. BB and above) over time while it has increased in the middle rating categories. This error rate is directly related to the distribution of default risk across firms at any point in time. These findings not only strengthen our result that standards are relative and time varying, but also suggest there is more noise in the assignment of ratings at exactly the time when there is more uncertainty regarding the credit risk of firms in the economy – i.e., during a credit crisis.

This research constructed the structural relationships between competitive strategy, size of business unit, task environment, organizational structure, information asymmetry and the information characteristics of management accounting system (MAS). In addition, the structural model included the impact of MAS design, by way of job-relevant information, on managerial performance. There were two kinds of relationship, including the effects of intervening variables, 28 hypotheses were studied. This research collected empirical data of 107 middle-level managers who serviced in those manufacturing companies listed in Taiwan Stock Exchange Market, and used the method of path analysis to test the hypothesized intervening effects. The empirical evidence of this research revealed as follows: 1.Those business units that adopted differentiation strategy have faced relatively high variable task environment, and adopted cost leadership strategy have faced low variable task environment. 2.Those managers of big business units perceived usefulness of broad and aggregated MAS information would be higher than those of small business units. 3.Those managers of business units perceived relatively high usefulness of broad and aggregated MAS information would have high managerial performance than those who perceived low usefulness of broad and aggregated MAS information. 4.Those managers of business units perceived relatively high usefulness of broad and aggregated MAS information would have more job-relevant information than those who perceived low usefulness of broad and aggregated MAS information. 5.Not anticipated effects this research hypothesized, the data revealed those business units that adopted differentiation strategy had low degree of decentralization, and adopted cost leadership strategy had relatively high degree of decentralization. 6.Not anticipated effects this research hypothesized, the data approved the indirect effects of decentralization on strategy type and broad and aggregated MAS information, but those business units which adopted differentiation strategy had relatively low degree of decentralization would perceived high usefulness of broad and aggregated MAS information. 7.The empirical results verified the indirect effects of job-relevant information on broad and aggregated MAS information and managerial performance.

This dissertation pursues to find an answer empirically to the question of the revenue ranking between the multiple price auction and the single price auction. I also attempt to get empirical clues in terms of the efficiency ranking between the two. Under the assumptions of symmetric bidders and private independent value (PIV), I derive the optimal bidding conditions for both auction formats. Following the structural model estimation approach, I estimate the underlying distribution of market clearing price using the nonparametric resampling strategy and recover the bidders’ unknown true valuations corresponding to each observed bid point. With these estimated valuations of the bidders, I calculate what the upper bound of the revenue would have been under the Vickery auction to perform the counterfactual revenue comparison with the actual revenue. I find that, ex-post, the multiple price auction yields more revenue to the Korean Treasury than the alternative. I also investigate the efficiency ranking by comparing the number of bids switched and the amount of surplus change which would occur when the bidders are assumed to report their true valuations as their bids. I find that the multiple price auction is also superior to the alternative in efficiency which supports the current theoretical prediction. Finally, I investigate the robustness of my model and empirical results by relaxing the previous assumptions. I, first, extend the model and estimation to the case of asymmetric bidders where the bidders are divided into two groups based on their size. It shows that the model and estimation framework are still valid and that the empirical findings are very similar to the symmetric case. I also test for the presence of common value (CV) component in the bidders’ valuation function. I propose the simple regression model adopting the idea of the policy experimental approach. I obtain quite an inconclusive result in general but find some evidence supporting PIV for relatively higher bid prices while supporting CV for lower bid prices.

I study the impact of the used goods market on pricing and profits in the video game industry and the implications of resale restrictions. I develop a modeling framework that incorporates (a) heterogeneous consumers who are forward looking in their buying an selling behaviors, (b) a strategic game producer who prices its products considering both inter-temporal price discrimination and price competition with used goods, (c) rational expectations on future prices by both consumers and the firm, and (d) market equilibria for both new and used-goods markets. Without observing sales data, I use equilibrium pricing solutions in my model and the varying rate of price decrease after a game's release to identify the sales volume of a game in every period as a percentage of its total demand. I develop a computationally tractable utility specification to solve the computational challenge comes with modeling the supply side equilibrium. I construct the demand function for a game from heterogeneous consumers whose valuations distribute on an interval, and partially characterize the consumers' decisions and reduce the dimensionality of the state space. Applying the model to a unique dataset of game prices collected from the Internet, I estimate the game-specific demand for multiple games released in the U.S. market. The results show significant variation across games in terms of shapes of valuation distributions, expected play time, degrees of consumers' preference for new over used games, and price sensitivities. Policy simulations show that the effects of prohibiting resale largely depend on the shape of a game's demand distribution, because most of the profits are gained from higher-valuation consumers who purchase the game when the price is high. Prohibiting resale does not dampen their willingness to pay for the game because their high utility from playing it. Moreover, higher expected future prices in the absence of the used-game market further reduces their incentives to wait. I find the predicted profit increase is significant for most games when reselling is prohibited. However, games with demand consisting mostly of low valuation consumers benefit less from this structural change, because (a) early sales increase only slightly given a much smaller proportion of high valuation consumers and (b) losing the option to resell significantly decreases the willingness to pay for low valuation consumers, forcing the firm to slash its prices dramatically over time. I find empirical evidence that a firm can be better off with the used game market. This suggests that though eliminating the resale market is generally optimal for popular games, retaining it can be more profitable for some games. / text

A continuous service innovation such as Cloud Computing is highly attractive in the business-to-business world because it brings the service provider both billions of dollars in profits and superior competitive advantage. The success of such an innovation is strongly tied to a consumer’s adoption decision. When dealing with a continuous service innovation, the consumer’s decision process becomes complicated. Not only do consumers need to consider two different decisions of both whether to adopt and how long to adopt (contract length), but also the increasing trend of the service-related technological improvements invokes a forward-looking behavior in consumer’s decision process. Moreover, consumers have to balance the benefits and costs of adoption when evaluating decision alternatives. Consumer adoption decisions come with the desire to have the latest technology and the fear of the adopted technology becoming obsolete. Non-adoption prevents consumers from being locked-in by the service provider, but buying that technology may be costly. Being bound to a longer contract forfeits the opportunity to capitalize on the technological revolution. Frequently signing shorter contracts increases the non-physical efforts such as learning, training and negotiating costs. Targeting the right consumers at the right time with the right service offer in the business-to-business context requires an efficient strategy of sales resource allocation. This is a “mission impossible” for service providers if they do not know how consumers make decisions regarding service innovation. In order to guide the resource allocation decisions, we propose a complex model that integrates the structural, dynamic, and learning approaches to understand the consumer’s decision process on both whether or not to adopt, and how long to adopt a continuously updating service innovation in a B2B context.

Information and communication technologies (lCTs) are increasingly changing the way in which working, learning, doing research and administrations are carried out. ICTs have the changed natute of many academic, public and organisations libraries. Health service is an important and essential element of any modern society. Therefore, development of this service and updating its services is a priority for most of modern governments. Current developments in ICTs are changing the nature of health science libraries. Therefore research in this area is important to provide guidelines, recommendations to improve the health services. This study explores the impact of ICTs in Hamad Health Science Library in Qatar. Physicians and staff in the Hamad Medical Corporation were surveyed by questionnaire to identify the use of ICTs and their effect on them. Then personal interviews detertnined their perceptions of the impact on the research productivity of end-users. There is a lack of this type of study in the literature. Those that there are specifically address the impact of ICTs in health science library. ICTs have become a major link to health care resources for many health care workers. The study employs a systems methodological approach in order to better understand the impact and value of ICTs in Hamad Health Sciences Library (HHSL). Using the systems intervention, issues that affect the system were identified (technological issues, cooperation issues, cultural issues and staff (and user) training and development) and the problem situation improved. An ordered roadmap of elements necessary to bring about change was produced and a HHSL systems model constructed to understand the change processes in context. Conclusions drawn reflect the level of success of the aims and objectives and indicate ways in which the problem situation can be improved from a systemic standpoint. Recommendations to management include aspects associated with operational planning, policy objectives and strategic formulation.

Thesis (MComm)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Organisations cannot exist without humans. The behaviour of the working man is not a random event and specific factors influence employees to excel. Not only is the behaviour of individual employees influenced by these factors, but the behaviour of a collective work unit as well. This study focuses on the impact of specific leadership competencies on the performance of the collective work unit within an organisation. A leader exerts pressure on a unit to perform. What leadership competencies lead to successful work unit performance? To answer this question in a valid and credible manner, the study focuses on the development of a structural model to indicate the relationship between leadership competencies and work unit performance. The leadership-for-performance framework designed by Spangenberg and Theron (2004) aspires to explicate the structural relationship existing between leader competencies and the dimensions of organisational unit performance. The Performance Index (PI) and the Leadership Behavioural Inventory (LBI) comprise the leadership-for-performance range of measures. The PI was developed as a comprehensive criterion measure of unit performance for which the unit leader could be held responsible. The basic PI structural model has been developed to explain the manner in which the various latent leadership dimensions measured by the LBI affect the eight unit performance latent variables that are assessed by the PI. As part of ongoing research of the leadership-for-performance range of measures designed by Spangenberg and Theron (2004), this study takes the initial steps towards establishing a comprehensive leadership-work unit performance structural model. The literature review aids in developing a logical argument that culminates in a complex hypothesis about the way work unit performance is influenced by leadership dimensions. The research methodology is then discussed. The results indicate that the proposed structural model fits the data quite well. Although the majority of the structural relationships between the unit performance dimensions received support, almost no support was found for the postulated structural relationships between the second-order leadership competencies and the unit performance dimensions. Additionally, suggestions for future research are made by indicating how the model can be elaborated and improved. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Organisasies kan nie sonder mense bestaan nie. Die gedrag van werknemers in 'n organisasie is nie 'n toevallige gebeurtenis nie. Spesifieke faktore beïnvloed werknemers om te presteer. Nie net die gedrag van individuele werknemers word beïnvloed deur hierdie faktore nie, maar ook die gedrag van 'n kollektiewe werkseenheid. Hierdie studie fokus op die invloed wat spesifieke leierbevoegdhede het op die prestasie van die kollektiewe werkseenheid binne 'n organisasie. 'n Leier oefen druk uit op sy werkseenheid om te presteer. Watter leiersbevoegdhede lei tot suksesvolle werkseenheidprestasie? Om hierdie vraag geldig en geloofwaardig te beantwoord, is die studie gerig op die ontwikkeling van „n strukturele model wat die verwantskap tussen leierskapgedrag en werkseenheidprestasie verduidelik. Die leierskap-vir-prestasie raamwerk ontwerp deur Spangenberg en Theron (2004), streef daarna om die strukturele verwantskap wat tussen leierbevoegdhede en die dimensies van organisatoriese eenheid prestasie bestaan, te verklaar. Die leierskap-vir-prestasie-reeks bestaan uit die The Performance Index (PI) en die Leadership Behavioural Inventory (LBI). Die PI is ontwikkel as 'n omvattende maatstaf van eenheid-prestasie waarvoor die leier van die eenheid verantwoordelik gehou kon word. Die basiese PI strukturele model is ontwikkel om die wyse waarop die verskillende latente leierskapdimensies, gemeet deur die LBI, invloed uitoefen op die agt eenheid-prestasie latente veranderlikes, wat deur die PI geassesseer word, te verduidelik. As deel van deurlopende navorsing van die leierskap-vir-prestasie reeks, soos ontwerp deur Spangenberg en Theron (2004), neem hierdie studie die eerste stap in die ontwikkeling van 'n omvattende leierskap-werkeenheidsprestasie strukturele model. Deur middel van 'n literatuurstudie word 'n logiese argument ontwikkel wat kulmineer in 'n komplekse hipotese oor die wyse waarop werkseenheidprestasie deur die leierskapdimensies beïnvloed word. Die navorsingsmetodologie word bespreek. Die resultate dui daarop dat die voorgestelde strukturele model die data redelik goed pas. Ofskoon die meerderheid van die strukturele verwantskappe tussen die dimensies van eenheidsprestasie steun ontvang word bykans geen steun gevind vir die gepostuleerde strukturele verwantskappe tussen die tweede-orde leierbevoegdhede en die dimensies van eenheidsprestasie nie. Aanbevelings vir verdere navorsing word bespreek, asook die beperkinge van hierdie studie.

O objetivo deste trabalho consiste em analisar relações existentes entre a gestão da dívida pública e a condução das políticas monetária e fiscal, bem como examinar os efeitos da composição da dívida na trajetória de endividamento para o caso da economia brasileira. Com este foco, foi construído um modelo macro-estrutural que estabelece relações entre o processo de evolução da relação dívida/produto e a trajetória de variáveis macroeconômicas. Foram realizadas simulações utilizando a técnica de Monte Carlo para observar o impacto das trajetórias do hiato do produto e das taxas de câmbio, juros e inflação na evolução da relação dívida/produto em diferentes contextos de atuação das autoridades monetária e fiscal. No modelo estrutural a trajetória da dívida é função da participação dos instrumentos de financiamento na composição da dívida pública. Os instrumentos utilizados são: (i) títulos indexados à taxa Selic; (ii) títulos indexados a índices de preços; (iii) títulos prefixados; e (iv) títulos indexados à taxa de câmbio. O modelo permitiu captar que, quando a sensibilidade da inflação a mudanças na taxa de juros é pequena, os apertos monetários necessários ao cumprimento da meta produzem maior elevação na relação D/Y. Essa elevação se torna ainda mais acentuada quanto maior for a sensibilidade do produto a mudanças na taxa de juros. Os resultados permitem, ainda, analisar os trade-offs entre custo e risco oferecidos pelos instrumentos de financiamento em diferentes posturas das autoridades fiscal e monetária. / The aim of the present work consists in analyzing connections that exist between the management of public debt and the conduct of fiscal and monetary policies, as well as examining the effects of debt composition on the trajectory of the Brazilian Debt/GDP ratio. We propose a macro-structural model for the Brazilian economy to derive relations regarding debt management and the macroeconomic variables. Using Monte Carlo simulations we observed how inflation, GDP, interest rate and exchange rate alter their trajectories when we have changes in the conduct of fiscal and monetary policies. The impacts of these changes on Debt/GDP ratio depend on the debt composition. The funding instruments analyzed are: (i) Selic indexed bonds; (ii) inflation linked bonds; (iii) fixed-rate bonds; and (iv) dollar indexed bonds. The model captured that, the lower the sensibility of inflation associated with changes on interest rates, the higher the impacts on Debt/GDP consequences of a tightening in monetary policy The results allows to observe the tradeoffs between the risk and the cost associated with debt instruments for different scenarios of fiscal and monetary policies.

This paper develops a multivariate regime switching monetary policy model for the US economy. To exploit a large dataset we use a factor-augmented VAR with discrete regime shifts, capturing distinct business cycle phases. The transition probabilities are modelled as time-varying, depending on a broad set of indicators that influence business cycle movements. The model is used to investigate the relationship between business cycle phases and monetary policy. Our results indicate that the effects of monetary policy are stronger in recessions, whereas the responses are more muted in expansionary phases. Moreover, lagged prices serve as good predictors for business cycle transitions. / Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Series