Submitted by Noeme Timbo (noeme.timbo@metodista.br) on 2017-03-28T17:43:16Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Ana Rosa da Silva.pdf: 1267545 bytes, checksum: 937466510d769f2df4a24ba132ffaeeb (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-03-28T17:43:16Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Ana Rosa da Silva.pdf: 1267545 bytes, checksum: 937466510d769f2df4a24ba132ffaeeb (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-01-24 / Some organizations have been concerned in offering social projects that involve the overall community and its employees. These projects are carried with the participation of volunteers. The initiative empower citizenship and social consciousness of individuals, involving them in building a better future. This study proposes to identify background factors of volunteer behavioral intention to remain in social projects and engage in the institutions where the social work is accomplished. Altruism variables and switching costs were analyzed in order to increase knowledge in engagement and intention to remain history on social projects. The research is based on a quantitative research approach with single cross-section exploratory study, where data were collected through a survey, obtaining 351 completed questionnaires. To test the study hypothesis, structural equations based on the PLS-PM (Partial Least Squares Path Modeling) were analyzed, resulting in satisfactory grades concerning the investigated construct and proposed model and some relations between constructs being classified as significant. The results indicate that switching costs and altruism positively influence the engagement of individuals in the organization responsible for the social projects and that engagement and switching costs positively influence the intention to remain in social projects. Understanding motivations and determinants of commitment to voluntary work is crucial for managers of this workforce on being able to design effective mechanisms of attraction, engagement and retention of said volunteers. / Algumas organizações têm se preocupado em oferecer projetos sociais que englobam a comunidade em geral e os seus colaboradores. Esses projetos são realizados com a participação do trabalho voluntário. Estas iniciativas potencializam a cidadania e a consciência social dos indivíduos, envolvendo-os na construção de um futuro melhor. Analisar os fatores antecedentes que movem o cidadão voluntário a permanecerem nos projetos sociais e a se engajarem nas instituições onde são prestados esses trabalhos sociais é a proposta deste estudo. Para ampliar o conhecimento sobre os antecedentes do engajamento e da intenção de permanecer em projetos sociais foram analisadas as variáveis altruísmo e os custos de troca. A pesquisa fundamenta-se em uma abordagem de investigação quantitativa e o estudo foi exploratório com corte transversal único, onde os dados foram coletados por meio de um instrumento de pesquisa com a obtenção de 351 questionários respondidos. Para os testes das hipóteses do estudo, foi realizada a análise de equações estruturais, com base no PLS-PM (Partial Least Squares Path Modeling), onde foram apresentadas medidas satisfatórias para os construtos investigados e o modelo proposto, sendo significantes algumas relações entre os construtos. Os resultados indicam que os custos de troca e o altruísmo influenciam positivamente no engajamento dos indivíduos na organização que desenvolve projetos sociais e que o engajamento e custos de troca também impactam positivamente na intenção de permanecer nos projetos sociais. A compreensão de motivações e determinantes do comprometimento com o trabalho voluntário torna-se crucial para que os gestores desta força de trabalho possam desenhar mecanismos eficazes de atração, engajamento e retenção

O presente estudo aborda os efeitos dos custos de mudança no setor de serviços, medindo seu reflexo no comprometimento, intenção de recompra e boca-a-boca (positivo e negativo). Conceituado por Burnham, Frels e Mahajan (2003), custos de mudança significam custos que os clientes associam com o processo de troca de um fornecedor para outro. Estudos com base nesse construto se fazem presentes de forma crescente na literatura, passível de ser ampliada. Assim, essa dissertação busca preencher a lacuna referente aos efeitos dos diferentes tipos de custos de mudança. Para tanto, além da revisão bibliográfica sobre o tema, foi conduzida uma pesquisa do tipo survey com alunos do ensino superior, tendo como objeto a verificação do papel dos custos de mudança e seus efeitos positivos e negativos no contexto de serviço educacional em nível de graduação. A análise dos dados foi realizada através de modelagem de equações estruturais, a partir de uma amostra de 467 casos. Os resultados demonstram uma influência dos custos de mudança relacionais, financeiros e processuais no comprometimento afetivo, normativo e calculativo, respectivamente. Por sua vez, comprometimentos afetivo e normativo demonstraram estar associados a efeitos positivos, como intenção de recompra, sendo que o primeiro se destaca por obter também uma relação com o boca-a-boca positivo. Por outro lado, o comprometimento calculativo gera efeitos negativos – maior boca-a-boca negativo e menor nível de intenção de recompra. Efeitos moderadores das relações interpessoais e da atratividade da concorrência nas relações estabelecidas não foram confirmados. Os resultados são discutidos, bem como suas implicações para futuras pesquisas e prática gerencial. / This study addresses the effects of switching costs in the services sector, measuring their reflection on commitment, repurchase intention and word-of-mouth (positive and negative). According to Burnham, Frels and Mahajan (2003), switching costs are the onetime costs that customers associate with the process of switching from one provider to another. Studies based on this construct are present in literature, but can be expanded. Thus, this work seeks to bridge the gap regarding the effects of different types of switching costs. A survey was conducted in the higher education sector aims to verify the role switching costs and their positive and negative effects. Data analysis was performed using structural equation modeling, from a sample of 467 cases. As expected, the switching costs (relational, financial and procedural) have a significant and positive impact on affective, normative and calculative commitment, respectively. Furthermore, affective and normative commitments are positively associated with repurchase intentions, and the first one also obtained is related to positive word-of-mouth. In the other hand, calculative commitment creates negatives effects - higher negative word-of-mouth and lower levels of repurchase intentions. The moderation effects of interpersonal relationships and attractiveness of competitors in some relationships of the model was explored as well, but none was confirmed. The results, academic and managerial implications are discussed in the final part of this work Finally, suggestions for future studies are provided.

O presente estudo aborda os efeitos dos custos de mudança no setor de serviços, medindo seu reflexo no comprometimento, intenção de recompra e boca-a-boca (positivo e negativo). Conceituado por Burnham, Frels e Mahajan (2003), custos de mudança significam custos que os clientes associam com o processo de troca de um fornecedor para outro. Estudos com base nesse construto se fazem presentes de forma crescente na literatura, passível de ser ampliada. Assim, essa dissertação busca preencher a lacuna referente aos efeitos dos diferentes tipos de custos de mudança. Para tanto, além da revisão bibliográfica sobre o tema, foi conduzida uma pesquisa do tipo survey com alunos do ensino superior, tendo como objeto a verificação do papel dos custos de mudança e seus efeitos positivos e negativos no contexto de serviço educacional em nível de graduação. A análise dos dados foi realizada através de modelagem de equações estruturais, a partir de uma amostra de 467 casos. Os resultados demonstram uma influência dos custos de mudança relacionais, financeiros e processuais no comprometimento afetivo, normativo e calculativo, respectivamente. Por sua vez, comprometimentos afetivo e normativo demonstraram estar associados a efeitos positivos, como intenção de recompra, sendo que o primeiro se destaca por obter também uma relação com o boca-a-boca positivo. Por outro lado, o comprometimento calculativo gera efeitos negativos – maior boca-a-boca negativo e menor nível de intenção de recompra. Efeitos moderadores das relações interpessoais e da atratividade da concorrência nas relações estabelecidas não foram confirmados. Os resultados são discutidos, bem como suas implicações para futuras pesquisas e prática gerencial. / This study addresses the effects of switching costs in the services sector, measuring their reflection on commitment, repurchase intention and word-of-mouth (positive and negative). According to Burnham, Frels and Mahajan (2003), switching costs are the onetime costs that customers associate with the process of switching from one provider to another. Studies based on this construct are present in literature, but can be expanded. Thus, this work seeks to bridge the gap regarding the effects of different types of switching costs. A survey was conducted in the higher education sector aims to verify the role switching costs and their positive and negative effects. Data analysis was performed using structural equation modeling, from a sample of 467 cases. As expected, the switching costs (relational, financial and procedural) have a significant and positive impact on affective, normative and calculative commitment, respectively. Furthermore, affective and normative commitments are positively associated with repurchase intentions, and the first one also obtained is related to positive word-of-mouth. In the other hand, calculative commitment creates negatives effects - higher negative word-of-mouth and lower levels of repurchase intentions. The moderation effects of interpersonal relationships and attractiveness of competitors in some relationships of the model was explored as well, but none was confirmed. The results, academic and managerial implications are discussed in the final part of this work Finally, suggestions for future studies are provided.

This work defines religion market as a network industry when at a certain level of switching costs can lead in individual's locking up in the current group and thus prevent his conversion. First, the participating individual's utility function is defined. It is largely influenced by the probability which the individual attaches to the existence of God and afterlife. The study shows, that at sufficiently high level of social capital, it is advantageous to participate for rationally minded individuals although they are not believers. The empirical part demonstrates the effect of specific religious and social capitals on individual's decision to convert through the logit model. This influence is positive, compared to original expectations (i.e. the higher the social and specific capital, the higher the tendency to convert). It can confirm the thesis that the influence of these individual's growth of specific capital is causing higher demand for more strict organizations which eliminate free-riders and provide higher social capital.

Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur kundernas förväntningar på användarvänlighet på bankers produktutbud och förväntningar på byteskostnader har påverkats av ett bankbyte eller komplettering av en bank till. Det är av vikt för banker att förstå kunders förväntningar då kundrörligheten har ökat de senaste åren, därav är det fler kunder som genomgår bankbyte eller kompletterar med en bank till. Därmed har det blivit alltmer viktigt för bankerna att differentiera sig med sitt produktutbud och den aspekt som tas upp i studien vilket är användarvänlighet. Vidare associerar många kunder ett bankbyte med byteskostnader vilket gör att det är av intresse att förstå om de ändras efter ett bankbyte jämfört med ett tidigare bankbyte.   Studien stadgat sig på tidigare forskning som har utgjort grunden för undersökningen, däremot uppmärksammades det ingen modell som mäter förväntningar på det sätt som studien avser att göra. Det har gjort att studien har utgått från uppfattad användarvänligheten i Teknologi acceptans modellen och Byteskostnader för att besvara studiens frågeställningar. Då studien har försökt dra generella slutsatser har det använts en kvantitativ enkät som utgjorde grunden för statistiska tester. Däremot är det viktigt att påpeka studiens generaliserbarhet då studien inte lyckades uppnå ett urval som kan representera alla svenska bankkunder. De resultat som studien fick fram visar att kunders förväntningar på användarvänlighet på bankers produktutbud inte har realiserats efter bankbytet eller kompletteringen. Det kunde inte heller påvisa någon skillnad på hur kunders förväntningar på byteskostnader har ändrats efter bankbytet eller kompletteringen. / The purpose of this study is examined how customer expectations on perceived ease of use of the supply of banks products and the expectations on switch cost is affected by a switch or to complement with one bank more. It´s important for banks to understand the customer´s expectations due to the overall increase in customer mobility, where more customers undergo a switch or to complement with one bank more. Therefor it is importance for banks to differentiate their perceived ease of use of the supply of products with is the aspect with is addressed in this study. Furthermore, many customers associate a bank switch with switching costs and therefore it´s a subject that that is important to understand if the expectation have changed after they undergo a switch. This study foundation is based on previous research however it´s have not been found a model how to the measure the expectations in the manner that this study attempt to do. Instead this study has used perceived ease of use from the Technology acceptance model and the theories of switching cost to answer these study questions. Because this study has tried to draw general assumptions from the result, it has been used a quantitative survey as a base for statistical tests. Therefor it´s important to acknowledge the generalizability in the study have failed to generate a sample with can represent the Swedish bank customers. However, the resultant in the study indicates that customers’ expectations regarding customer perceived ease of use of the supply of products have not been fulfilled after a switch of bank or to complement with one bank more. It could neither detect any difference in expectations of switching cost after a switch or to complement with one bank more.

Switching costs are unobserved costs for the consumer when switching between two functionally identical products or services. These costs can take both monetary and non- monetary values, which makes them hard to estimate. The purpose of this study is to empirically estimate switching costs on the Swedish market for electricity for private consumers, and also review two methods to identify which one more suitable for the purpose. Shy’s (2002) method uses prices and market shares to estimate the costs, and Salies’ (2012) method is an extension of Shy’s method, that lifts two major limitations. Electricity providers with over 1 percent market share have been included. For each provider, prices for the three most used contract types have been gathered and used in the estimation. Prices have been limited to households with energy usage of 2 000 kWh per year. Switching costs have been estimated to between 50 – 95 percent of the yearly costs for electricity. The switching costs are higher when switching from a big firm to a smaller, than the other way around. This could indicate that customers become involuntarily locked-in to bigger firms because of the switching costs, giving bigger firms stronger market positions.

Bakgrund: Inköp står för en omfattande del av en verksamhets totala kostnader och har således blivit en avgörande strategi för att vinna konkurrensfördelar. Det har en direkt inverkan på kostnadsminskning, varav val av leverantörer i synnerhet har en påverkan. Trots detta är forskning kring leverantörsbyten och vad det innebär för kostnader mycket begränsad. Ifall ett leverantörsbyte är aktuellt för ett företag är det viktigt att ha en komplett bild över samtliga kostnader som ett sådant byte kommer innebära. Syfte: Studiens syfte är att utveckla en kostnadsmodell över vilka logistikkostnader som ska tas i beaktning vid byte mellan befintliga direktmaterialleverantörer samt införande av ny direktmaterialleverantör med tillhörande beräkningsunderlag. Denna kostnadsmodell ska öka möjligheten för kostnadsanalys vid leverantörsbeslut. Metod: För att uppnå studiens syfte har en fallstudie på Volvo CE i Braås gjorts. Datainsamling har skett genom såväl primär- som sekundärdata i form av ostrukturerade och semistrukturerade intervjuer, företagsdokument samt teorier från vetenskapliga artiklar och litteratur. Snöbollsurval har använts vid studiens urval av respondenter. Slutsats: För att strategiska leverantörsbeslut ska vara lönsamma bör företag analysera kostnader genom att såväl identifiera relaterade kostnader som beräkna dem. Detta är i dagsläget ett problem hos Volvo CE vid byte mellan befintliga leverantörer och införande av ny leverantör. Genom att, i denna studie, ha identifierat samtliga logistikkostnader relaterade till dessa processer har en totalkostnadsmodell framställts. Modellen innefattar både relaterade logistikkostnader och beräkningsunderlag som genom standardisering möjliggör implementering av modellen i andra företag. Nyckelord: Logistikkostnader, Leverantörsbyte, Omställningskostnader, Kostnadsmodell, Implementering / Background: Purchasing stands for an extensive part of a company’s total costs and thus has become a decisive strategy for competitive advantages. It has a direct impact on cost reduction, where supplier selection has an impact in particular. Nevertheless, the research on supplier switching and the costs related to a supplier switch is very limited. In case of a supplier switch it is important to have a complete picture of all the costs such change will entail. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to develop a cost model of which logistics cost are to be taken into account when switching between existing suppliers of direct material or introduce a new supplier of direct material. The cost model includes calculations and aims to increase the opportunity for cost-benefit analysis of supplier decisions. Methodology: In order to achieve the purpose of the study, the authors have done a case study at Volvo CE in Braås. Data collection has been done through both primary and secondary data in the form of unstructured and semistructured interviews, documents from the company and theories from scientific articles and literature. Snowball selection has been used to select the respondents for this study. Conclusion: For strategic supplier decisions to be profitable, companies should analyze costs by both identify related costs and calculate them. This is currently a problem at Volvo CE when switching between existing suppliers or introduce a new supplier. By, in this study, having identified all logistics costs related to these processes, a total cost model has been developed. The model includes both related logistics costs and calculations, which through standardization enable implementation of the model in other companies.   Key words: Logistics costs, Supplier switching, Switching costs, Cost model, Implementation

Diese Dissertation setzt sich aus fünf Forschungspapieren zusammen. Jedes Kapitel enthält ein Papier. Das erste Kapitel untersucht den Zusammenhang zwischen der Größe des Kundenstamms einer Firma und ihrem Gewinn in einem Markt mit Wechselkosten. Entgegen unserer Intuition wird gezeigt, dass Firmen nicht immer von einer Vergrößerung ihres Kundenstamms profitieren, weil diese die Intensität des Wettbewerbs beeinflusst. Kapitel 2 führt eine ähnliche Untersuchung durch, aber für einen Markt, in dem die Konsumenten unvollständig über die Standorte der Anbieter informiert sind. Es zeigt sich auch hier, dass eine Firma nicht immer von einem großen Kundenstamm profitiert. Die zugrunde liegenden Mechanismen unterscheiden sich jedoch deutlich von denen in Kapitel 1. Kapitel 3 ist eine Erweiterung des Modells mit unvollständiger Konsumenteninformation hin zu einer vollständig dynamischen Version. Im Zentrum der Analyse stehen nun die dynamischen Eigenschaften des Modells. Unter den Annahmen über die graduelle Verbreitung von Information auf der Konsumentenseite entsteht Trägheit in den Marktanteilen der Firmen. Dynamik entsteht im Modell ausschließlich aufgrund der Verwendung von gemischten Preisstrategien. Kapitel 4 analysiert Wettbewerb in einem vertikal differenzierten Markt. Hier gibt es keine Trägheit auf der Nachfrageseite. Das Hauptergebnis der Analyse ist, dass Wohlfahrtsverluste, die im Duopol aus ineffizienter Qualitätswahl resultieren, in Märkten mit drei oder mehr Wettbewerbern fast vollständig verschwinden. Dieses überraschende Ergebnis resultiert aus einem Regimewechsel in der Art des Wettbewerbs, der beim Übergang vom Duopol zum Markt mit drei Wettbewerbern auftritt. Kapitel 5 ist eine Erweiterung von Kapitel 4. Während in Kapitel 4 ein quadratischer Zusammenhang zwischen Kosten bzw. Zahlungsbereitschaft und Qualität angenommen wurde, wird die Analyse nun für eine allgemeinere nicht-lineare Abhängigkeit durchgeführt. Es werden grundlegende Einsichten über das Funktionieren von vertikal differenzierten Märkten vermittelt. So zeigt sich, dass der allgemein postulierte Vorteil der Firma mit der höheren Produktqualität nicht allgemeingültig ist. Ob dieser besteht, hängt von der Art der strategischen Interaktion ab. / This dissertation consists of five independent research papers. Each chapter represents one paper. The first chapter analyzes the shape of the relation between the size of a firm’s customer base and profit in a market with consumer switching costs. Contrary to common wisdom, it is shown that a firm is not automatically better off with a larger customer base, as the size of its customer base affects the intensity of price competition. Chapter 2 performs a similar exercise, but for a market where consumers are not fully informed about the locations of the different suppliers. Once more, it is shown that firms do not always benefit from an increase in the size of their customer base. However, the underlying mechanisms are rather different than in the model with switching costs. Chapter 3 is an extension of the model introduced in chapter 2 to a fully dynamic game. The focus of chapter 3 is on the dynamics in a market with incomplete consumer information. Under the assumptions about the gradual diffusion of information among consumers, there is inertia in the market shares. Dynamics are generated solely by the firms’ usage of mixed pricing strategies. Chapter 4 analyzes competition in a vertically differentiated market. There is no inertia on the demand side. The main result of the analysis is, that welfare losses that stem from an inefficient choice of qualities in the duopoly case, disappear almost completely as soon as three or more competitors are in the market. This surprising result is related to a regime change in the nature of competition that occurs at the transition from duopoly to triopoly. Chapter 5 is an extension of chapter 4. Whereas the model introduced in chapter 4 was based on a quadratic relation between costs or willingness-to-pay and quality, the analysis is now extended to a more general non-linear dependency. The analysis provides fundamental insights into the functioning of vertically differentiated markets. Interestingly, the well-known high-quality advantage is not a robust feature of these markets. Whether it is obtained, depends on the nature of strategic interaction between the firms.

Zusammenfassung Die Dissertation behandelt die Thematik der Unternehmensheterogenität. Die Arbeit besteht aus einem theoretischen und einem empirischen Teil. Im theoretischen Teil wird untersucht, wie sich Asymmetrien auf der Ebene der Konsumenten auf das Unternehmensverhalten auswirken. Im empirischen Teil wird die Frage behandelt, in welchem Maße die Performance von Firmen innerhalb der gleichen Industrie differiert. Kapitel 1 führt in die Literatur zur Unternehmensheterogenität ein. Kapitel 2 gibt einen Überblick über die aktuelle Literatur zu den Modellen der Horizontalen Produktdifferenzierung. In Kapitel 3 wird das Hotelling-Duopolmodell nach d'Aspremont, Gabszewicz und Thisse (1979) in Bezug auf die Anzahl der Spieler generalisiert. Es kann gezeigt werden, dass die Anzahl der Spieler einen Einfluss auf das Niveau der Differenzierung besitzt. Das Prinzip der Maximalen Differenzierung im Duopol verliert seine Gültigkeit für den Oligopolfall. In Kapitel 4 wird das Investitionsverhalten in neue Distributionstechnologien in Märkten mit Wechselkosten der Konsumenten mit Hilfe eines Realoptionsmodells analysiert. Kapitel 5 umfasst den empirischen Teil der Arbeit. Hier wird statistisch untersucht, ob innerhalb der Industrien Firmen langfristig eine ähnliche Performance aufweisen (Performancegruppen) und welchen Anteil der Varianz der Firmen durch diese gruppierten Unternehmen erklärt wird. Schlagwörter: Firmenheterogenität, Horizontale Produktdifferenzierung, Realoptionen, Wechselkosten, Strategische Gruppen / Abstract The dissertation considers the heterogenity of firms. It consists of a theoretical and an empirical part. In the theoretical part it is examined to what extent asymmetries between customers have an impact on firm behavior. In the empirical part, the author analyzes the level of heterogeneity of firm performance within industries. Chapter 1 introduces the reader into the topic of firm heterogeneity. Chapter 2 provides an overview over the recent literature on horizontal product differentiation. In Chapter 3 the Hotelling duopoly model à la d'Aspremont, Gabszewicz and Thisse (1979) is generalized with respect to the number of firms. It is shown that the number of firms has an impact on the level of product differentiation. The Principle of Maximum Differentiation valid for the duopoly does not hold for the oligoply case. In Chapter 4, the optimal investment in a new distribution technology in markets with consumer switching costs is investigated using a real option model. Chapter 5 corresponds to the empirical part of the dissertation. It is studied if there are firms within industries with a similar long-run performance (performance groups) and how much of the total variance of the firm profits are explained by these firm groups. Key words: firm heterogeneity, horizontal product differentiation, real options, switching costs, strategic groups

A large theoretical and empirical literature has studied the response in prices to changes in demands and costs. Three of the essays in this thesis are empirical studies of price-setting. The most important reason for studying the properties of price adjustments is the possible link between pricing and the business cycle. One family of models deals with price rigidities. If prices adjust slowly to changes in costs or demand, it will magnify fluctuations in output. A second family of models examines price changes due to changes in intensity of competition. Many of these models build on the idea that changes in demand affect the possibility of maintaining implicit collusion. Cyclical changes in the intensity of competition may cause a cyclical pricing pattern that magnifies fluctuations in output. Another line of research models the effects of liquidity constraints on the business cycle. One possible effect is that prices in markets where consumers have switching costs may increase, if the firms are hit by increased liquidity constraints. As increased liquidity constraints are common in recessions, prices will get a counter-cyclical tendency, which magnifies fluctuations in output. Another reason for studying price-setting patterns is that they can give an indication of the form of interaction between competing firms, which are of importance for competition policy. The fourth essay models sex discrimination formally. It shows that it is possible that sex discrimination in the labor market might be due to self-fulfilling sex stereotypes on the distribution of time out for child care between men and women. Both an even and an uneven distribution of time out for child care are possible equilibria in the model. The four essays can be read separatelyEssay 1 Price Responses to Seasonal Demand Changes in the Swedish Gasoline MarketA common idea in a number of papers on cyclical pricing is that implicit price collusion may be affected by changes in demand. In these models, tacit collusion is modeled as a game where agents balance gains from deviating from the collusive price, thereby gaining a short-run profit, against the gains from maintaining collusion in future periods. If demand fluctuates, the gains from deviating is high in periods of high demand; collusion may still be sustainable, however, if the collusive price is allowed to vary with demand. A lower price in high demand states reduces the gains from deviating, since it reduces the gain from each unit sold in these demand states. Hence, in order to equalize the profit from deviating and the profit from sticking to the implicit agreement, the price must move in the opposite direction to demand. Changes in demand can, naturally, be correlated with other factors affecting the price, such as cost changes. Thus, prices do not necessarily fall when demand increases in the data. According to the theory the, however, increase in demand should add a tendency to lower prices in order to make implicit collusion sustainable. The basic idea that changes in demand should affect prices if firms are engaged in implicit collusion has been employed in a number of papers, with different models for different assumptions on the pattern of demand changes. The demand for gasoline in Sweden follows a seasonal cycle, with demand being 42 percent higher in July than in January. Haltiwanger and Harrington provide a theory for implicit collusion over deterministic cycles, such as the seasonal cycle. Borenstein and Shepard (1996) tested Haltiwanger and Harrington’s model on the American gasoline retail market and found support for the theory. In this essay the model is tested for Swedish data, but no support for this theory is found. It is also investigated whether the effects on margins of the demand fluctuations induced by tax increases are compatible with theories of implicit collusion, but this is found not to be the case.Essay 2 Price Adjustments by a Gasoline Retail ChainEssay 2 is joint with Marcus Asplund and Richard Friberg. Stickiness of prices is an important building block in many business cycle models. This has spurred an empirical literature on price adjustments. Different types of price rigidities have different policy implications. Price setting can be state dependent, e.g. prices are adjusted when costs have changed by at least some minimal amount since the last price adjustment, or time-dependent e.g. adjusted once a week or once a year. Another issue is whether prices are equally rigid downwards as upwards. The second essay examines price responses in the Swedish gasoline retail market to changes in the Rotterdam spot price of gasoline, exchange rates and taxes. The main results are that cost changes are not fully passed through in the short run, but gradually moves towards the long-run equilibrium. Prices are stickier downwards than upwards. There is a minimum absolute size of price changes. Only very limited evidence of time-dependent price setting is found.Essay 3 Prices, Margins and Liquidity Constraints: Swedish Newspapers 1990-1996Essay 3 is written with Marcus Asplund and Niklas Strand. Chevalier and Scharfstein (1996) provide a model where consumer switching costs in combination with liquidity constraints give rise to a counter-cyclical tendency in prices. Customer stocks can be viewed as an investment, when consumers have switching costs when changing suppliers. Firms can exploit captured customers by setting a high price to raise short-run profits. However, a high price will induce consumers to search for alternatives, and customers once lost are costly to win back. Liquidity constraints, for instance in recessions, may force firms to sacrifice long-run profits for short-run gains. In this case, firms may have to cut back on investments in customer stocks by raising prices. Using firm level data from the Swedish daily newspaper industry, we test the effects of liquidity constraints on prices in markets with consumer switching costs. The newspaper industry is of particular interest, since firms set prices in two markets, the subscription market, where switching costs are high, and the advertising market, where switching costs are low. With accounting data from newspaper firms we can, by solvency, broadly categorize them as being more or less liquidity constrained. When Sweden enters a recession at the beginning of the nineties, we find a relative increase in subscription prices and margins for liquidity constrained firms. This is not the case for advertising prices, however. The results support the theory.Essay 4 Statistical Discrimination and Sex Stereotypes in the Labor MarketTime out for child care is unevenly distributed between the sexes. Parental leave benefits are usually exclusively given to the mother or distributed to both parents according to their choice. In Sweden, one month is reserved for each parent, however. One reason for this is to give the child better contact with both parents, but increased equality between the sexes in the labor market has also been put forward as an argument. This argument implicitly rests on the idea that sex stereotypes create sex discrimination, and that sex discrimination affects the distribution of time out for child care between the sexes. Essay 4 investigates if the uneven distribution of time out for child care can be explained by self-fulfilling sex stereotypes. It provides a model of distribution of time out for child care based on statistical discrimination and human capital investments. The model has three equilibria. In one equilibrium, time out for child care is evenly distributed between the sexes. In the second equilibrium, there is full specialization. The third equilibrium is an intermediate case, where time out for child care is unevenly distributed without full specialization There are no differences in ability or variance of ability between the sexes, the only differences between the equilibria are the self-fulfilling expectations of firms and workers. / Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Handelshögsk., 2001