Contract Design for Collaborative Response to Service Disruptions

This dissertation studies firms' strategic interactions in anticipation of random service disruption following technology failure. In particular it is aimed at understanding how contracting decisions between a vendor and one or multiple clients affect the firms' subsequent decisions to ensure disruption response and recovery are managed as efficiently as possible. This dissertation consists of three studies that were written as standalone papers seeking to contribute to the literature on contract design and technology management in operations management. Together, the three studies justify the importance of structuring the right incentives to mitigate disruption risks. In the first study we contribute to this literature by means of an analytical model which we use to examine how a client and vendor should balance investments in response capacity when both parties' efforts are critical in resolving disruption and each may have different risk preferences. We study the difference in the client's optimal expected utility between a case in which investment in response capacity is observable and a case in which it is not and refer to the difference in outcomes between the two cases as the cost of complexity. Firstly, we show that the cost of complexity to the client is decreasing in the risk aversion of vendor but increasing in her own risk aversion. Secondly, we find that a larger difference in risk aversion between a client and vendor leads to underinvestment in system uptime in case the client's investment is observable, yet the opposite happens when the client’s investment is not observable. In the second study we further examine the context of the first study through a controlled experiment. We examine how differences in risk aversion and access to information on a contracting partner’s risk preferences interact in affecting contracting and investment decisions between the client and vendor. Comparing subject decisions with the conditionally optimal benchmarks we arrive at two observations that highlight possible heuristic decision biases. Firstly, subjects tend to set and hold on to an inefficiently high investment level even though it is theoretically optimal to adjust decisions under changing differences in risk preferences. Secondly, subjects tend to set and hold on to a penalty that is too high when interacting with more risk averse vendors and too low in case the vendor is equally risk averse. Furthermore, cognitive feedback on the vendor’s risk aversion appears to have counterproductive effects on subject’s performance in the experiment, suggesting cognitive overload can have a reinforcing effect on the heuristic decision biases observed. In the third study we construct a new analytical model to examine the effect of contract design on a provider's response capacity allocation in a setting where multiple clients may be disrupted and available response capacity is limited. The results show that while clients may be incentivized to identify and report network disruptions, competition for scarce emergency resources and the required investment in understanding their own exposure may incentivize clients to deliberately miscommunicate with the vendor.This work was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council [Award No. ES/J500033/1]. Additional funding was provided by Cambridge Judge Business School and Downing College

Mind the (IT-)System – Ein Vorschlag zur Gestaltung einer IT Due Diligence von Versicherungsunternehmen

This paper describes the structural setup and the analytical scope of an independent IT due diligence for insurance companies. Based on a comprehensive review of the academic and practice-oriented literature the individual fields and the focal points of the analysis of the insurance IT are segmented. Also a framework for the structural setup of the IT due diligence is presented. Additionally, the ideal process for the analysis is portrayed and it is discussed, how the findings can subsequently be considered in the company valuation and the contract negotiations. It is shown that the analysis of the insurance IT in the course of a due diligence comprises of organizational, technical, and legal aspects which are structured in the form of independent fields of analysis. The chances and risks associated with the IT of the company to be acquired can either be incorporated as IT integration costs/synergies in the company valuation or be secured through comprehensive guaranty and liability agreements.Der vorliegende Beitrag beschreibt den strukturellen Aufbau und Untersuchungsumfang einer eigenständigen Due Diligence der IT von Versicherungsunternehmen. Hierzu werden auf Basis einer umfassenden Aufarbeitung der akademischen als auch praxisorientierten Literatur die einzelnen Teilbereiche und Schwerpunktsetzungen bei der Untersuchung der Versicherungs-IT segmentiert sowie ein Ordnungsrahmen für den strukturellen Aufbau einer IT Due Diligence vorgestellt. Ebenfalls wird der idealtypische Ablauf des Analyseprozesses dargestellt und diskutiert, wie sich die Erkenntnisse einer Due Diligence der IT in der sich anschließenden Unternehmensbewertung und den Vertragsverhandlungen berücksichtigen lassen. Dabei zeigt sich, dass die Analyse der Versicherungs-IT im Rahmen einer Due Diligence-Prüfung organisatorische, technische und rechtliche Aspekte umfasst, welche in Form eigenständiger Analysefelder strukturiert werden. Die mit der Informationsverarbeitung des zu akquirierenden Unternehmens in Zusammenhang stehenden Chancen- und Risikoaspekte lassen sich entweder als IT-Integrationskosten und Synergien bei der Unternehmenswertermittlung berücksichtigen oder durch die Ausarbeitung umfangreicher Garantie- und Haftungsvereinbarungen absichern

Writing Beyond Pen and Parchment Inscribed Objects in Medieval European Literature

In the Middle Ages, writing was not confined to manuscripts, but inscribed in the broader material world, in textiles and tombs, on weapons or human skin. This volume presents the first comparative overview of text-bearing artefacts in medieval German, Old Norse, British, French, Italian and Iberian literature and offers a fresh perspective on the medieval world that takes seriously the vibrancy of matter as a vital aspect of textual culture

The making of the socialist personality: Education and socialisation in the German Democratic Republic 1958-1978

This thesis explores the ways in which two decades of socialisation in the socialist education system of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) left their mark on the people growing up there from 1958 to 1978. The centre of investigation is the enigmatic 'socialist personality', an ideal human being cast from a mould rich in Marxist-Leninist principles. The 'socialist personality' was meant to have an all-round education of 'head, heart and hand' and to possess a wide range of virtues which took their cue from societal requirements rather than individual interests. The 'subjects' under investigation are children and young people up to the age of eighteen, whose experiences both within the education system and beyond are being explored. With this thesis I aim to show that between the project of turning children into 'socialist personalities' and its implementation at the grassroots stood human nature. It is my contention that despite the regime's claim to total control of education and socialisation, the practical execution of this experiment in social engineering had its limits. It collided with young people's individuality and self-determination, as well as with influences of a 'parallel education system' that often, but not always, had a different set of values: the family, peers, the Churches, and the Western lifestyle model just across the border. Yet whilst the great majority of young people were immune to the inculcation of certain aspects of education and socialisation (notably politicisation and militarisation), they did internalise a number of 'good' socialist values (for example love of peace, solidarity and helpfulness) during their formative years. At the end of the 1970s, the 'end products' of the GDR education system, whilst not resembling the envisaged 'socialist personality', showed nevertheless traits of a 'new kind of human being'

Operatic Pasticcios in 18th-Century Europe

In Early Modern times, techniques of assembling, compiling and arranging pre-existing material were part of the established working methods in many arts. In the world of 18th-century opera, such practices ensured that operas could become a commercial success because the substitution or compilation of arias fitting the singer's abilities proved the best recipe for fulfilling the expectations of audiences. Known as »pasticcios« since the 18th-century, these operas have long been considered inferior patchwork. The volume collects essays that reconsider the pasticcio, contextualize it, define its preconditions, look at its material aspects and uncover its aesthetical principles

Operatic Pasticcios in 18th-Century Europe: Contexts, Materials and Aesthetics

In Early Modern times, techniques of assembling, compiling and arranging pre-existing material were part of the established working methods in many arts. In the world of 18th-century opera, such practices ensured that operas could become a commercial success because the substitution or compilation of arias fitting the singer's abilities proved the best recipe for fulfilling the expectations of audiences. Known as »pasticcios« since the 18th-century, these operas have long been considered inferior patchwork. The volume collects essays that reconsider the pasticcio, contextualize it, define its preconditions, look at its material aspects and uncover its aesthetical principles

Printing Spinoza

In this descriptive bibliography Jeroen van de Ven examines all editions of Spinoza’s writings published between 1663 and 1694: his exposition of Descartes’s ‘Principles’ with the ‘Metaphysical Thoughts’, the ‘Theological-Political Treatise’, and the posthumous writings, with the ‘Ethics’

Operatic Pasticcios in 18th-Century Europe

In Early Modern times, techniques of assembling, compiling and arranging pre-existing material were part of the established working methods in many arts. In the world of 18th-century opera, such practices ensured that operas could become a commercial success because the substitution or compilation of arias fitting the singer's abilities proved the best recipe for fulfilling the expectations of audiences. Known as »pasticcios« since the 18th-century, these operas have long been considered inferior patchwork. The volume collects essays that reconsider the pasticcio, contextualize it, define its preconditions, look at its material aspects and uncover its aesthetical principles