This study presents three essays on the evolving competitive environment characterizing the modern retailing industry: (1) the impact of the scope of supermarket services on food prices and demand; (2) the impact of Wal-Mart on retail wages and workers; and (3) the expansion strategy of...

Essay one examines the strategies of supermarket me-too brands. Current research in marketing focuses mainly on the benefits of new feature introduction and overlooks the importance of feature imitation. The prevalence of me-too brands merits investigation. In our sample, for example, there are...

Chapter 1 of this thesis examines in theory and empirics how exporters use different modes of transportation to hedge price uncertainty. Ocean transportation in international trade imposes a time lag between the departure and arrival of a shipment. This arrival lag creates a problem for firms...

Background . Michigan Medicaid outpatient prescription drug program implemented the following four policies to address rising expenditures considered "out of control": (1) February 2002: Preferred Drug List (PDL); (2) February 2003: Joint Purchasing Arrangement (JPA); (3) November 2003: Maximum...

Empirical research in manufacturing and service operations management is an emerging and promising area of research with potential to contribute significantly to our understanding of companies' operational practices. In the first part of the dissertation, we describe a study of the consequences...

The three essays in this dissertation study issues related to technology-intensive product pricing, Information Technologies (IT) workforce utilization through an emerging online channel, and IT vendor selection in online markets, respectively. The first essay considers pricing issues of...

Entrepreneurship has a global impact on the economic growth of local and national economies. This study examines the entrepreneurial process and how it impacts household economic well-being within the different environments of five countries. Secondary survey data from Argentina, India, Russia,...

This dissertation deals with two important research problems in computer networks: resource allocation and caching. It consists of three essays in the broad research areas mentioned above. Essay 1 presents a pricing and allocation mechanism for peer-to-peer (P2P) networks. A P2P system can be...