| 171. |
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| 172. |
- Lindqvist, Sylwia
(författare)
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Transaction cost and transparency on the owner-occupied housing market : An international comparison
- 2011
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation consists of four essays with specific objectives. The overall objective is, however, to seek a further understanding of the issue of cross-border residential transaction markets. While the first two essays focus specifically on transaction processes and costs in a number of selected countries, the two subsequent essays shift their attention towards the EU’s Internal Market and the impact of differences between the countries, with relation to the transparency of transaction markets. The research is primary based on studies of written sources, subject-specific literature and legislation. The main message is that organization of the transaction process affects transaction costs in different ways. It can be argued that efficiency is associated with a lowering of transaction costs. The efficiency of different structures depends on our perspective. Transparency is associated with the organisation of transactions and their needs, though the term is somewhat unclear. Generally, the term may refer to the ability of transaction participants to observe information concerning the transacting process, thereby increasing their knowledge to make informed decisions. Thus it can be argued that a better basis for the decision-making process presupposes information disclosure, more standardized transaction practices, synchronized legal systems, and both legible and transparent regulations. This leads to the design of a transparency system, which is based on an understanding of the need for the system and its goal. Although reaching transparency will be both complex and time-consuming, this study draws attention to certain key aspect of the need to encourage transparency. The first two essays focus on how residential transactions are organized in selected countries and on the costs for carrying out these transactions. Essay II works with two hypotheses concerning the relation between the organizational structure and the transaction costs. The study shows that transaction processes and costs differ considerably between the countries and as a result it is difficult to arrange the countries in a clear way according to their rules. Moreover, there is no clear connection between a broker’s education level and how large a part in the process s/he plays. The total transaction costs excluding taxes vary from approximately 3 up to 8.5 percent. The costs are lower when the recording system is well arranged, when a broker has a bigger part in the process and when a conveyancer is impartial. In the countries where a broker has a higher education level and plays bigger part in the process, the broker’s commission is not any higher when compared to other countries in the study. The study shows also that transaction costs are lower in the countries where the broker has a more neutral role and where fewer parties are involved in the process. Thus in order to avoid high transaction costs, it is important to avoid situations where both buyer and seller have their own agents. Furthermore, the availability of standardized information about properties may increase the efficiency of the market even though it increases the short run transaction cost. Essay III provides a theoretical framework for an analysis of the concept of transparency in residential property transactions within the EU’s internal market and tries to identify the essential factors that need to be addressed with respect to transparency of procedural, regulative and economic features. Essay IV seeks a further understanding of the issue of transparency in the residential property transaction market and attempts to define the state of transparency on the basis of selected EU-countries, in accord with five specific dimensions. The essential points are that an increase in cross-border transactions increases demand for easy access to information in other countries, and that the studied literature focuses on the coordination of legal systems, which produces systems that are more uniform and legally secured, and on broadening the mortgage market. Some of the aspects analysed in the study are far from transparent while others may be considered relatively transparent. The degree of transparency in the EU’s internal market is determined by how transparency is defined, since something may be transparent based on a certain criteria but not on others, especially when the concept is a relative one and subject to changes. The study raises some key aspect as a basis for discussion about the encouragement of transparency.
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| 173. |
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| 174. |
- Petersson, Gustav Jakob, 1981-
(författare)
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Insurance and cartels through wars and depressions : Swedish Marine insurance and reinsurance between the World Wars
- 2011
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this thesis is to enhance our understanding of Swedish marine insurers' choices of business strategies under the potentially difficult business circumstances of the interwar period 1918-1939. Little previous research exists on marine insurance during the interwar period. This is remarkable in the Swedish context since the Swedish economy has traditionally depended on its exports. The focus on Sweden is justified since the Swedish insurance market saw regulatory stability during the interwar period. It was also characterised by the coexistence of stock and mutual insurers, allowing this thesis to contribute with insights on potentially problematic insurance cartelisaton. This thesis employs a mixed methods design, including qualitative methods and regression analysis. To interpret results, this thesis employs insurance risk theory, cartel theory, theories on reinsurance and risk diversification, and agency theory. By employing this combination of theories, it is possible to explain choices and outcomes of adopted strategies both with reference to particularities of marine insurance and with reference to particularities of the two different organisational forms. The results show that the insurers conceived several new characteristics of their business environment as challenges and implemented both cartel strategies and company-specific strategies of risk diversification. Among the challenges were rapid inflation, rapidly decreasing prices and business volumes in shipping and trade, the introduction of motor ships, and the existence of naval mines on many trade routes. Also, exchange-rate fluctuations were considered to cause losses on established marine insurance contracts and rendered business results uncertain. Swedish insurers adopted cartel strategies from 1918 through The Swedish Association of Marine Underwriters (Sjöassuradörernas Förening) since they had anticipated a post-war crisis. Market division agreements were adopted for the most attractive market segments, but eventually price agreements became the primary cartel strategy, supported by prohibitions of competition. The work on price agreements sometimes increased the market efficiency since it reduced uncertainty, for instance in insurance of cargo with motor ships. Few price agreements were however adopted for the insurance of shipping since that market segment was dominated by mutual insurers, highlighting the difficulties of cartelisation in insurance markets inhabited by both stock and mutual insurers. The cartel further adopted reinsurance agreements to create barriers to entry in the Swedish marine insurance market. It however experienced prominent difficulties to implement the cartel strategies. One prominent difficulty of implementation was cheating. Also international competition created difficulties. The cartel companies therefore engaged in international cartelisation through The International Union of Marine Insurance (Internationaler Tranport-Versicherungs-Verband) from the late 1920s. This international cartel sought to reduce international competition by agreements not to compete in foreign markets. It also sought to manage the exchange-rate fluctuations of the early 1920s and the early 1930s by agreements among marine insurers, but it failed to obtain sufficient support. In spite of cartelisation, the returns on marine insurance were pushed down by the recognized challenges during the early 1920s, inflicting losses. The business however recovered and remained profitable throughout the 1930s, showing that the great depression was not as great as the deflation crisis in marine insurance. Exchange-rate fluctuations affected the international competitive strength of both stock and mutual insurers and additionally influenced the stock insurers' returns on established marine insurance contracts. The insurers were however compensated for the poor marine business results of the early 1920s by greater reliance than previously on reinsurers and by diversification among insurance lines, which rendered profits less negative than the returns on marine insurance. The business ceded to reinsurers on average inflicted losses during each of the first seven years of the 1920s. These losses were indirectly caused by World War I since that war had caused the establishment of new reinsurers in different countries, not the least in Scandinavia, and in turn caused over capacity during the 1920s. New contractual formulations evolved internationally to the benefit of ceding insurers, indicating information asymmetries. Exits became frequent among reinsurers. In effect, into the 1930s, ceding insurers internationally found it difficult to obtain obligatory reinsurance treaties. During the early 1920s, the Swedish stock marine insurers also increasingly diversified their insurance businesses among insurance lines. This process had been catalysed by World War I, was accelerated during the 1920s, and continued into the 1930s.
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| 175. |
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| 176. |
- Öhman, Niclas
(författare)
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Considering intentions
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- "Good resolutions are useless attempts to interfere with scientific laws. Their origin is pure vanity. Their result is absolutely nil". Oscar Wilde, The picture of Dorian Gray Different types of intentions are some of the most often used variables in marketing and consumer research. The reason is that intentions are believed to predict future behavior. Yet, as the above quote from Oscar Wilde implies, resolutions and intentions are not always translated into action. Intentions and intentionality have been at the centre of discussion for well over a thousand years in philosophy and theology. For solicitors, judges and criminals it is potentially a life and death issue, and within the fields of linguistics and psychology intentions has been given considerable interest. However, in marketing and consumer research, intentions are frequently used but very rarely reflected upon. The thesis comprises six scientific articles based on empirical studies. The articles revolve around a wide definition of intention and show that not all intentions are created equal. They contain empirical evidence and theory on such phenomenon as why so called good intentions are less predictive of subsequent behavior compared to other types of intentions, why resolve and intentions deteriorate over time, and why what a consumer wants to do, plans to do and expects herself to do can be very different things. Wanting, planning and expecting are central components in intention formation and the results in this thesis suggests that researchers and practitioners have much to gain by paying attention to what type of intention they use in their research. Niclas Öhman is a researcher at the Center for Consumer Marketing and at the Center for Retailing at the Stockholm School of Economics
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| 177. |
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| 178. |
- Biedenbach, Thomas, 1976-
(författare)
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Capabilities for frequent innovation : Managing the early project phases in the pharmaceutical R&D process
- 2011
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Despite their recognized significance for project success and innovation, the management of the early project phases is still an under-researched area in project management. For organizations to secure a continuous stream of innovation, the utilization of capabilities is crucial for managing the early phases of R&D projects. The purpose of this dissertation is to advance the understanding of the management of the early project phases in hypercompetitive environments. The thesis addresses the research question of how organizations manage the early project phases of R&D in hypercompetitive environments for frequent innovation by taking a dynamic capabilities perspective. The first conceptual study reviews the literature covering organizational change in hypercompetitive environments with a focus on projects as the vehicle to create the necessary flexibility. The study found that organizational aspects and capabilities have to go hand in hand as enabler and facilitator for a successful emergent change process. The second qualitative study investigates how organizations organize the early project phases of R&D in the pharmaceutical industry for an outcome of frequent innovation. The findings show that an optimization of combinative capabilities that balances dynamic, project and multi-project capabilities can be used as a powerful leverage to boost the outcome of frequent innovation. The third study investigates the philosophical stances and related methodologies used within the last 15 years of project management research at the example of IRNOP conferences. The findings show that ontological subjectivism and epistemological interpretivism are dominating. Moreover, case studies and qualitative methods were the most common methods, whereas mixed method studies were lacking despite their value for developing an increasingly complex research field. The final mixed method study explores how absorptive, innovative and adaptive capabilities within the early phases of pharmaceutical R&D affect project and portfolio performance. Based on the results of quantitative study, the set of capabilities has an overall effect on the set of performance outcomes and thus confirms the results of the qualitative study that a distinct capability mix is needed in the pharmaceutical R&D process. To conclude, the dissertation has comprehensively explored the management of the early project phases through four studies and by applying a multitude of methodologies.
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| 179. |
- Bjerhammar, Lena
(författare)
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Produktutvecklingssamarbete mellan detaljhandelsföretag och deras varuleverantörer
- 2011
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis deals with product development co-operation between retailers and their suppliers. This phenomenon is studied in the light of the increasing importance of private brands in contemporary retailing. The basic frame of reference for the study is the Interaction and Network Approach to industrial marketing. The study takes knowledge of product development co-operation in the manufacturing industries as its starting point. To this, insights concerning retail companies’ features are added and propositions are developed concerning how product development co-operation "ought" to be carried out in this new context, that is, the retail context. These propositions are then tested in a number of cases of product development co-operation between retailers and their suppliers. The case reports are based on personal interviews with a number of product managers in various retail companies. First the propositions are tested in each case. Then an analysis is carried out across all the cases. Finally, more fundamental considerations concerning the phenomenon are discussed. A proposition finds support in a case where the retailer collaborates with their suppliers in a manner which is consistent with the way manufacturing companies do it; in the other cases that proposition is not supported. Some propositions are supported in all cases, but most of them are supported in some cases but not in others. Some retailers choose for example to co-operate with only a few suppliers, an approach that manufacturing firms are assumed to apply. Both retailers and manufacturers do it this way to keep transaction costs low, and an important reason for retailers is that this increases the opportunities to communicate complex information related to the different requirements which products must meet. Other retail companies choose to co-operate with a larger number of suppliers to encourage competition between them. The study also shows, among other things, that the retailers, like manufacturers, can choose to co-operate in various ways with a supplier depending on how strategically important the product or brand in question is considered to be.
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| 180. |
- Bjerhammar, Lena
(författare)
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Produktutvecklingssamarbete mellan detaljhandelsföretag och deras varuleverantörer
- 2011
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Allt fler detaljhandelsföretag arbetar med egna märkesvaror. Det är därför intressant att studera hur det går till när produkter som ska marknadsföras under detaljhandelsföretagens egna varumärken utvecklas. Avhandlingen handlar om hur produktutvecklingssamarbete mellan detaljhandelsföretag och deras varuleverantörer går till. Den grundläggande referensramen utgörs av interaktions- och nätverkssynsättet. Studien utgår från kunskap om produktutvecklingssamarbeten inom tillverkande industri. Till denna kunskap adderas insikter om detaljhandelsföretagens särdrag och ur detta utvecklas ett antal propositioner om hur det "borde" gå till i detta nya sammanhang, det vill säga i detaljhandelsföretag. Dessa propositioner prövas i ett antal fallbeskrivningar av olika produktutvecklingssamarbeten. Dessa fallbeskrivningar bygger på intervjuer med produktutvecklingsansvariga i olika detaljhandelsföretag. I de fall detaljhandelsföretagen samarbetar med sina leverantörer på ett sätt som överensstämmer med tillverkningsföretagens arbetssätt, får propositionerna stöd, annars inte. Somliga propositioner får stöd i samtliga fall, men merparten av propositionerna får stöd i vissa fall men inte i andra. Några detaljhandelsföretag väljer till exempel att samarbeta med endast ett fåtal leverantörer, ett arbetssätt som tillverkningsföretag antas tillämpa. Både detaljhandelsföretag och tillverkningsföretag gör på detta vis för att hålla transaktionskostnaderna nere, och ett viktigt skäl för detaljhandelsföretagen är att detta ökar möjligheterna att kommunicera komplex information rörande olika krav som produkterna ska uppfylla. Andra detaljhandelsföretag väljer att samarbeta med ett större antal leverantörer för att uppmuntra konkurrens mellan dem. Studien visar också bland annat att detaljhandelsföretag, liksom tillverkningsföretag, kan välja att samarbeta på olika sätt med en leverantör beroende på hur strategiskt viktig produkten eller varumärket i fråga bedöms vara.
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