4,126 research outputs found

    Cloud Data Auditing Using Proofs of Retrievability

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    Cloud servers offer data outsourcing facility to their clients. A client outsources her data without having any copy at her end. Therefore, she needs a guarantee that her data are not modified by the server which may be malicious. Data auditing is performed on the outsourced data to resolve this issue. Moreover, the client may want all her data to be stored untampered. In this chapter, we describe proofs of retrievability (POR) that convince the client about the integrity of all her data.Comment: A version has been published as a book chapter in Guide to Security Assurance for Cloud Computing (Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015

    Complementarity Among Vertical Integration Decisions: Evidence from Automobile Product Development

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    This paper examines complementarity among vertical integration decisions in automobile product development. Though most research assumes that contracting choices are independent of each other, contracting complementarity arises when the returns to a single vertical integration decision are increasing in the level of vertical integration associated with other contracting choices. First, effective coordination may depend on the level of (non-contractible) effort on the part of each agent; contracting complementarity results if coordination efforts are interdependent and vertical integration facilitates a higher level of non-contractible effort. Second, effective coordination may require the disclosure of proprietary trade secrets, and the potential for expropriation by external suppliers may induce complementarity among vertical integration choices. We provide evidence for complementarity in product development contracting by taking advantage of a detailed dataset that includes the level of vertical integration and the contracting environment for individual automobile systems in the luxury automobile segment. Using an instrumental variables framework that distinguishes complementarity from unobserved firm-level factors, the evidence is consistent with the hypothesis that contracting complementarity is an important driver of vertical integration choices. The findings suggest that contracting complementarity may be particularly important when coordination is important to achieve but difficult to monitor.

    Why not one big database? : principles for data ownership

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    "This paper supercedes an earlier version, WP#2518-93 published in December 1992 under the title "Ownership principles for distributed database design."Includes bibliographical references (p. 36-39).Supported by the MIT Industrial Performance Center. Supported by the Advanced Research Projects Agency. F30602-93-C-0160Marshall Van Alstyne, Erik Brynjolfsson, Stuart E. Madnick

    Optimal Contracts for Outsourced Computation

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    While expensive cryptographically verifiable computation aims at defeating malicious agents, many civil purposes of outsourced computation tolerate a weaker notion of security, i.e., “lazy-but-honest” contractors. Targeting this type of agents, we develop optimal contracts for outsourcing of computational tasks via appropriate use of rewards, punishments, auditing rate, and “redundancy”. Our contracts provably minimize the expense of the outsourcer (principal) while guaranteeing correct computation. Furthermore, we incorporate practical restrictions of the maximum enforceable fine, limited and/or costly auditing, and bounded budget of the outsourcer. By examining the optimal contracts, we provide insights on how resources should be utilized when auditing capacity and enforceability are limited. Finally, we present a light-weight cryptographic implementation of the contracts and discuss a comparison across different implementations of auditing in outsourced computation

    How Microfinance Can Close Asymmetrical Information on Peer-to-Peer Platforms

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    Peer-to-peer lending has sprung up in recent years, defined by its flexibility to meet the needs of loan applicants from a range of financial backgrounds. Institutional investors’ reluctance to fund small business owners has facilitated the widespread acceptance of peer-to-peer lending, which represents a convenient investment medium for prospective borrowers, individual investors, and P2P companies. Though, the inclusive model inherent in P2P lending breeds practical concerns for investors who expect to maximize returns while minimizing default risks. This paper proceeds to explore the value of information, the importance of information in principle-agent relationships, and how information must be leveraged further by P2P platforms to maintain high returns on investments for individual investors. Due to the importance of accurate, up-to-date borrower information, the literature herein suggests that P2P companies should outsource the procurement of borrower information to increase investment values and attract larger volumes of credit from individual investors. As a result of the absence of academic literature that explores the incorporation of microfinance institutions’ core competencies into the P2P business model, advantages of this business partnership are thus considered on a foundational level, leaving room for further empirical research in the future. Hence, this paper represents a working solution to be explored over time

    Capabilities and the Theory of the Firm

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    The recent decade has witnessed a strong expansion of work on the firm, both from a capabilities perspective and from a contractual perspective. These two bodies of theories are often thought to be fundamentally different, because their domains of applications are different (knowledge-accumulation vs contracts and incentives). However, we need to integrate propositions from capabilities perspectives with ideas about economic organization (markets, hybrids, firms). This is because only a more unified theory will allow us to understand such issues as the dynamics of the modern corporation, and, more topically, the costs and benefits of outsourcing. I discuss the relations between these two bodies of theories. It is possible to argue in favor of a relation of complementarity between the two and pursue a research strategy on this basis. However, it is also possible two claim that they are rivals. Along this line, it is argued that the capabilities perspective contains propositions about economic organization that are not to be found within the modern Coasian approach to economic organization, and thus may be seen as a distinct emerging perspective on economic organization.Economic organization, capability, tacit knowledge

    Outsourcing and Technological Innovations: A Firm-Level Analysis

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    This paper presents a dynamic model that analyzes how firms’ expectations with regards to technological change influence the demand for outsourcing. We show that outsourcing becomes more beneficial to the firm when technology is changing rapidly. As the pace of innovations in production technology increases, the firm has less time to amortize the sunk costs associated with purchasing the new technologies. This makes producing in-house with the latest technologies relatively more expensive than outsourcing. The model therefore provides an explanation for the recent increases in outsourcing that have taken place in an environment of increased expectations for technological change. We test the predictions of the model using a panel dataset on Spanish firms for the period 1990 through 2002. The empirical results support the main prediction of the model, namely, that all other things equal, the demand for outsourcing increases with the probability of technological change.technological change, outsourcing
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