Questo lavoro ha lo scopo di valutare i distretti tecnologici italiani. A tal fine sono stati sinteticamente presentati nel primo capitolo alcuni concetti chiave della letteratura economica rilevanti ai fini di questo lavoro. Nel secondo capitolo è stata condotta un'analisi di tipo descrittivo relativamente a tutti i distretti tecnologici approvati dal MIUR alla data del novembre 2007. Nel terzo capitolo si passa ad un'analisi di tipo quantitativo che sulla base di dati provenienti da varie fonti misura: il livello di specializzazione delle varie regioni italiane relativamente all'area tecnologica prescelta per l'implementazione del distretto tecnologico; il livello di performance delle varie regioni relativamente ad una serie di indicatori di attività scientifico-tecnologiche; il livello dell'ambiente economico in termini di tasso di imprenditorialità e di disponibilità di finanziamenti di tipo venture capital. Nel quarto capitolo si procede alla creazione di quattro indicatori sintetici: uno di specializzazione tecnologica; uno di performance scientifico-tecnologica; uno economico-ambientale; l'ultimo riassuntivo dei precedenti. Nel capitolo quarto i dati degli indicatori ottenuti dall'analisi quantitativa vengono combinati con le informazioni riportate nel capitolo secondo utilizzando un'analisi di tipo dicotomico. La visione d'insieme che ne deriva diventa la base per alcune considerazioni di policy sull'implementazione di questo strumento di politica innovativa. / This work analyses a specific policy instrument namely the establishment of technological districts (TD) in Italy. After a selective literature review of the main theoretical concepts used in the research (chapter 1), the work provides a general overview of the Italian TDs approved by MIUR at November 2007 (chapter 2). In the third chapter the work provides a statistical analysis of the regional innovation contexts using a wide set of indicators measuring: levels of regional specialization in the sectors chosen for TDs implementation; science and technology performances; features of the economic environment (entrepreneurship and venture capital funds). In the fourth chapter it is presented a system of four synthetic indices providing information on: 1) regional specializations; 2) scientific-technological performances; 3) economic environment. The fourth synthetic index, being the combination of the previous three, reflects simultaneously all the three dimensions. The analysis of statistical data is complemented, in chapter 4, by an evaluation of the institutional features of the TDs based on the information gathered in chapter 2. This has allowed to bring together the outcomes of chapter 2 and of chapter 3 in order to formulate some policy conclusions.

This study explores how student participation in the development of a school computer-network (SCN) motivated students to learn and promoted service and collegial relationships in the school. Students participated in a Technology Leadership (TL) community and engaged in activities that were central to the development of the SCN. The research examines the co-evolution of the SCN and student activities and the relationships between TL students and the school. In the study, data on students' experiences in the TL program came from non-participant observation, conversations, semi-structured interviews and document analyses. Using a sociocultural perspective of identity construction and informed by Lave and Wenger's notion of participation in a community-of-practice, with actor-network approaches, the analysis of the data showed that student level of engagement increased when the activities were relevant to their in-school and out-of-school technology experiences, or to their future career goals. Program participants provided technical support to the SCN and taught what teachers and students wanted to learn at a time when they needed to know it. In so doing, these leadership students moved towards greater technical expertise, improved interpersonal skills and increased leadership responsibilities as demonstrated by the availability of improved technical support services in the SCN. As newcomers to the TL community gradually advanced to full participation and old-timers became computer consultants to the school before they eventually graduated, the TL community was subjected to a continual process of renewal in terms of participants. With progressive student participation and with translations of diverse technology actors, the services the SCN provided to the school improved. Over time, the SCN's technical character changed and the relationships of service and collegiality between TL students and the school were enhanced. Thus, both participants and the school realized educational value. The implication for curriculum and pedagogy of discipline-based courses is that if students are to be attracted to school initiatives and retained, the curriculum and its delivery need to increase opportunities for students' changed relationships with the school community to take place, and for student participation in a relevant community-of-practice that is responsive to students' future aspirations.

I vår studie har vi undersökt hur journalister gestaltar tre amerikanska skolskjutningar i svensk och amerikansk press. Skolskjutningarna ägde rum på Columbine High School, Virginia Tech och Sandy Hook Elementary School. Vi har analyserat sammanlagt 91 texter publicerade i Aftonbladet, Dagens Nyheter och New York Times. Teorierna vi har valt till vår studie är gestaltningsteori, media events och moralpanik. Kvantitativt har vi undersökt hur journalisterna valt att gestalta gärningsmännen och vilka som fått komma till tals i artiklarna. Kvalitativt har vi närstuderat 12 texter med fokus på skillnaderna mellan de svenska och amerikanska journalisternas gestaltning. Slutsatserna vi kan dra från vår studie är att rapporteringen skiljer sig åt mellan svenska Dagens Nyheter och amerikanska New York Times. De amerikanska journalisterna har större benägenhet att gestalta överlevande i skolskjutningar som “hjältar” och gärningsmännen som “onda personer”. De svenska journalisterna dramatiserar händelserna med fokus på sorg och tragedi. Både de svenska och amerikanska journalisterna väljer att gestalta gärningsmännen som unika individer.

This thesis examines how industry differences affect both corporate financial policies and valuation. Chapter 1 studies the impact of a firm‟s product market power, through the channel of business risk, on its dividend policy. Using three measures of market power – the Herfindahl-Hirschman index, the degree of import competition and the Lerner Index, I find that market power positively affects a firm‟s dividend decision, both in terms of the probability of paying a dividend and the amount of the dividend. I also provide evidence that the route through which market power affects the dividend decision is business risk: a firm with greater market power is less risky and hence more likely to pay dividends and pay more dividends. Chapter 2 examines industry differences on the level of corporate cash holdings since the 1970s with a focus on high-tech versus non-high-tech firms. In contrast to the average cash-to-assets ratio of non-high-tech firms, which remained stable at a level close to that of the 1970s, the average cash ratio of high-tech firms more than tripled from 1980 to 2007. I find that this difference can be explained by changing firm characteristics across these two industrial sectors. This is due to high-tech new listings, whose changing characteristics and increasing proportion have caused the population characteristics of the high-tech sector to tilt toward those typical of firms that hold more cash. Chapter 3 investigates the industry impact on the marginal value of corporate cash holdings and how it has evolved over time. I find that on average the difference in the marginal value of cash between high-tech and non-high-tech firms has become larger during the sub-period which covers the 1990s and 2000s, as compared to earlier time periods. Furthermore, I show that this increase can be explained by changing firm characteristics related to the precautionary demand for holding cash. Overall, this thesis shows that industry differences, represented by varying degrees of market power and changing firm characteristics, have significantly affected corporate financial policies, both in terms of dividend policy and optimal cash holdings.

This thesis examines how industry differences affect both corporate financial policies and valuation. Chapter 1 studies the impact of a firm‟s product market power, through the channel of business risk, on its dividend policy. Using three measures of market power – the Herfindahl-Hirschman index, the degree of import competition and the Lerner Index, I find that market power positively affects a firm‟s dividend decision, both in terms of the probability of paying a dividend and the amount of the dividend. I also provide evidence that the route through which market power affects the dividend decision is business risk: a firm with greater market power is less risky and hence more likely to pay dividends and pay more dividends. Chapter 2 examines industry differences on the level of corporate cash holdings since the 1970s with a focus on high-tech versus non-high-tech firms. In contrast to the average cash-to-assets ratio of non-high-tech firms, which remained stable at a level close to that of the 1970s, the average cash ratio of high-tech firms more than tripled from 1980 to 2007. I find that this difference can be explained by changing firm characteristics across these two industrial sectors. This is due to high-tech new listings, whose changing characteristics and increasing proportion have caused the population characteristics of the high-tech sector to tilt toward those typical of firms that hold more cash. Chapter 3 investigates the industry impact on the marginal value of corporate cash holdings and how it has evolved over time. I find that on average the difference in the marginal value of cash between high-tech and non-high-tech firms has become larger during the sub-period which covers the 1990s and 2000s, as compared to earlier time periods. Furthermore, I show that this increase can be explained by changing firm characteristics related to the precautionary demand for holding cash. Overall, this thesis shows that industry differences, represented by varying degrees of market power and changing firm characteristics, have significantly affected corporate financial policies, both in terms of dividend policy and optimal cash holdings.

Industrial design is an expanding field. Through new research, discussion and explorations the definitions of what designers can and should do is constantly discussed and redefined. The starting point for my master thesis is the investigation of the concept of emotional durability. In other words, I have looked into how designers could create more meaningful relationships between users and products. It concerns product style norms, terminologies for describing relationship types, as well as a product’s meaning to a user. In order to put learning outcomes into practice, this master thesis also involves a design project where I created a proposal for a new rehabilitation product. There is great potential in investigating how meaningful medical devices for the home should be designed. During my design process I try to dig into what it means to design medical products for a home environment. At the same time, I explore how to create emotionally durable experiences for the patients and increase the motivation in their rehabilitation. My proposal is a balance exercising device that introduces a new level of user interaction, which connects back to my research on emotional durability.

During recent years corporations have been focusing on revenues rather than profits. This led to decreased margins and unstable financial performances. To increase profits, new pricing strategies have emerged. One promising pricing strategy that focuses on increasing profits is value-based pricing, which constitutes the monetising of customer perceived value. The purpose of this paper is to identify what factors influence customer perceived value in the global high-tech service industry. With this knowledge corporations can draw precise evaluations of customer perceived value and hence utilise value-based pricing in the best possible way. A qualitative method was used to study the case of MB Services, the service division of the Meyer Burger Technology Group, and the global high-tech service industry represented at the Hannovermesse 2011, an industrial exhibition in Hanover, Germany. The empirical data collected was analysed together with the theoretical framework. The findings are that customer perceived value of high-tech services is influenced by the overall benefits the customer can obtain from the service, the sacrifices in terms of costs the customer has to pay for the service, competitors’ offerings, different segments, subjective judgments of distinctive people within a corporation, and the industries’ and customers’ level of maturity. Customer perceived value is an underresearched subject, which requires further investigation.

Abstract National lands are important resources of a country as well as important tools of a government for implement of its policies. National lands are usually released in different ways and for development and utilization of different purposes from short-term lease to medium- or long-term lease; appraisal for superficies right; sale of land ownership; and from appropriation of lands to the competent authorities in charge of the relevant industries to management and operation of the lands by land authorities. Different ways of land release will bring about different policy effects and financial effects. Therefore, to attain certain goals of policies, the central government will make use of different ways to release lands for meeting different needs. In the past, when it is necessary to develop and utilize National lands for special development purposes, the public lands will become the targets of such development in most cases, and the competent government authorities in charge of the relevant industries usually play a leading role in the development. However, this is not the case in the recent ¡§Ting Pu High-tech Industrial Park Development Project¡¨ of Taipei County Government. In the project, the non-public lands became objectives of development rather than the public lands under the control of National Property Administration (NPA), Ministry of Finance. The project, through public selection procedure, recruits investors to participate in the development of the lands. As a result, three high-tech companies including Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd. entered the park and built factories there. So the project should be considered as a successful case of land release. In recent years, NPA took over some lands from the Taiwan Provincial Government and commissioned the local governments to manage those lands. In addition, NPA started to take over the national assets from various organizations and state-run enterprises. It is anticipated that there will be a great deal of state-owned non-public lands to be released by NPA at the proper time and in proper ways for development and utilizations. In this way, the state-owned lands will have the opportunities to develop their functions. This study probes into the innovative development mold of Ting Pu High-tech Industrial Park and discuss the successful factors and existing problems of the park. It is hope that this study may provide the government a better method to create the utilization value of the lands and further to promote development of the country¡¦s economy and prosperity of the society. Finally, the research submits the following suggests: (1) The government should establish a land reserve system to enhance the power and function of land distribution and develop the functions of the public lands and its role in development of society and economy. (2) Currently, there are five types of industrial lands in the country, and they compete with one another to strive for resources and sources of customers. So, an integration of those lands becomes essential. (3) An incentive system should be established to encourage the local governments to take actions that suit local circumstances and develop the industries with local features. The government departments may also take the opportunities to release more public-owned lands for development and utilization of land in order to increase the land use value and create higher economic effect. Key words¡GNational land development mold¡ATing pu High-tech Industrial Park

The main topic of discussion of this research is about the functions and role-played by high-tech human resources employees and to confirm what are the key factors needed to assure success at the role they play? How to maximize human resources functions and role they play to achieve the goal of empowering the industry¡¦s added value and efficiency, this is to be the main consideration of a human resources expert personnel in self-improvement. Ulrich¡¦s role vantage point was used in this research during observation, 4- role structure was applied and 20 appraisal standard tests were designed. Through experts¡¦ discussion and comparison to confirm the importance of 4 role structures, the order according to it¡¦s importance are the following: 1. Strategic human resources management 2. Employees contribution management 3. Company basic constructive management 4. Transformation and changes management. The Analytical Hierarchy Process AHP was applied during the processing of this research, after sorting and organizing the experts¡¦ evaluation and comparison of each role structure, the result shows that, 1.In high-tech industry human resources role structure comparison, the strategic human resources management is the most importance with a highest importance value of 43.9%, the other structures value of importance are: Employees contribution management 21%, company basis constructive management 18.4% and transformation and changes management 16.7%. The results conform with Ulrich¡¦s (1997) view about the human resources experts¡¦ emphasis should shift from ¡§doing the things¡¨ to¡¨ achievable result¡¨. 2.Fitzenz (1993) thinks that the organization and human resources management can lead to high-performance results. It encourages people to join the organization it should join, continue to produce high production rate, long-term organization commitment and maintain the competitive edge, the result of this research also conforms to that opinion. In the high-tech industry where the competition is stiff, to be able to maximize the human resources cost is the greatest benefit. Employees¡¦ contribution management has always been the main important point at work, that¡¦s why it is next important to the strategic human resources management, it is worth for human resources personnel to pay more attention to. 3.This research¡¦s scope is only within the high-tech industry, it was found that the transformation and changing management¡¦s less important than the other 3 structure, it did not receive much attention contrary to the general opinion that high-tech industry demands more change. As a logical conclusion, due to difference in company life cycle, product life cycle, level of technical R&D, therefore the degree of these needs are not the same, moreover, changes needs the support of the higher management and a proper timing, also, it cannot be executed at the same time so it¡¦s actual level of importance was limited. 4.Human resources strategy must be in consolidated with the enterprise strategy this research matches several scholars¡¦ opinion. In the 20 items of evaluation standard, the most important structural phase is the strategic human resources management where 3 items were included in the first 5 items of the evaluation standard. The items included are: coordinating the human resources matters and operation strategy comparative importance 14.1%, cooperate with enterprise goal in setting the human resources strategy, comparative importance 11.5%, joining the drafting of business operations strategy, comparative importance8.2%, this only shows that strategic human resources management is the most crucial key structure phase.

In order to survive in the intense competition environment, every company tries to find the way to strengthen its core competences efficiently and to gain more competitive advantages. Therefore, more and more companies start to outsource their non-core value activities in order to focus their limited resources on constructing and developing their core competences. However, when adopting outsourcing policies¡]including function outsourcing and job outsourcing¡^, companies need to review every characteristics of their jobs and sort them by organization targets or goals. Thus, they will figure out those ¡§non-core jobs¡¨, and seek the way to differentiate their own employment strategies between core and non-core jobs. Due to the idea of outsourcing, another employment type is triggered¡Xnamely employee dispatching. However, it is important to know what causes companies adopting employee dispatching. Is it the same reason as outsourcing, namely to strengthen core competences? Or is it just to minimize the operating costs? Or to avoid the legal liabilities which every company should follow. In this study, we interview the HR managers that have the authority to make the decisions in the four high-tech. companies. The aims of this research are as follows; to find out how those companies make the dispatching decisions, what the real causes are, how to choose contractors, and how to evaluate the effects of adopting employee dispatching. By consolidating and analyzing those research data, we hope that this study can shed some light on this area, provide decision making suggestions, and new research perspectives of employment shift in this study. Meanwhile, these findings can be of use for further research in this area in the future. After consolidating the data we gathered, we find: 1.Companies adopt dispatched workers to replace regular employees when considering personnel expense cost down and legal liabilities avoidance. 2.From the practicing of implementing dispatched workers, those four companies learned how to set the scope of non-core jobs for outsourcing further more. 3.The following three key factors: Specialty, Finance, and Service, can be used to help those who want to use employee dispatching to select their partners. 4.Dispatch companies just provide the only function, outsourcing employees, to their corporate customers. They have no ability to provide the other business functions. 5.For long-term planning, those enterprises have moved to China due to globalization expansion of their suppliers and customers to China market. Therefore, they will hire dispatching employees instead to fulfill those non-core jobs in Taiwan.