Making Matters Worse by Trying to Make Them Better? Exploring Vicious Circles of Decision in Hybrid Partnerships

Our research is concerned with how and why vicious circles of decision occur in hybrid partnerships. The literature reports three types of decision dysfunctions that can alter the trajectory of multi-stakeholder collaborations: escalation of commitment, procrastination and indecision. While previous studies focused on one dysfunction at a time, we inquire about cases in which dysfunctions coexist and interact in the same partnership. Employing multiple sources of qualitative data, we conducted a longitudinal field study in a cross-sector partnership that co-created and managed a science park. We offer an in-depth account of ‘vicious circles of decision’ in which partners’ attempts to solve a dysfunction paradoxically led to the accumulation of additional dysfunctions. We explain that the process is more likely to happen when solutions are (1) conditioned by the very risk–opportunity tensions they try to solve and (2) inscribed in material artefacts for greater visibility. As well as augmenting the literature on hybrid partnerships, we contribute to the debate in organization studies about the evolution of collaborations within frames of concurrent risk–opportunity tensions and theorize about the role of materiality in such processes

Co-operation and coordination in the Co-operative Retailing System : essays on economic and identity strategies

This thesis, which consists of three self-contained essays, examines, both theoretically and empirically, some of the economic and identity strategies and mechanisms that federated co-operatives, in particular, and strategic alliances, in general, can use to achieve co-operation and coordination. To accomplish this objective, the thesis uses a combination of industrial organization and game theory concepts from economics, insights from social and cognitive psychology, and evidence from in-depth interviews with decision-makers in the Co-operative Retailing System (CRS) - an association of 264 independent Western Canadian retail co-operatives and their wholesaler, Federated Co-operatives Ltd. (FCL). Essay One combines a case study of the CRS with an examination, in a game-theoretic framework, of the co-operation and coordination problems arising among firms in alliances and the potential solutions to these problems suggested in the economics and business strategy literatures. One of the contributions of this essay is to provide examples of the mechanisms that can be used to implement these theoretical solutions in a business setting - i.e., the essay identifies practical ways for alliances to alter partner firms' payoffs, to provide private rewards, to monitor behaviour, to establish long term goals among partners, to build high group identification within the alliance, and to focus partners' expectations on the efficient outcomes. Another contribution of this essay is to identify some of the second-order co-operation problems that arise in strategic alliances - e.g., lack of incentives by alliance partners to contribute resources that are necessary to develop alliance management mechanisms - and to offer examples of the strategies that can be used to deal with these problems. Essay Two draws upon social identity theory and develops an economic model of behaviour to show how the core firm in a strategic network can promote effective co-operation among network members by inducing them to identify with the network. In addition, the essay offers empirical evidence from the CRS that identity has successfully been used, together with economic mechanisms, to foster co-operation among member retails, and provides examples of the most important mechanisms that FCL, as the core firm in the CRS, has used to manage the identity of the retails. More generally, by incorporating the psychology (and sociology) of identity into an economic model of behaviour, Essay Two contributes to an emerging view that non-economic (behavioural) factors are complementary to the economic ones in the management of strategic partnerships. Essay Three considers the collective action problems that arise in co-operatives when it comes to financing growth and identifies the conditions under which retained patronage can be an effective way for co-operatives to raise growth capital. The essay develops a game-theoretic model to examine the trade-off between the share of patronage refunds a co-operative wholesaler pays to member retails in cash and the share of patronage refunds it retains and invests, so as to provide retails with enough short-run benefits to encourage them to patronize their organization, while still retaining resources to invest in long-term growth. Analytical results show that when there are increasing returns in patronizing the co-operative wholesaler, retails' decisions to patronize their organization are complementary strategies and, as a result, multiple equilibria are possible. Some of these equilibria are ones with high patronage and high investment, while others are characterized by low patronage and low investment. Retails' expectations about the actions of their counterparts are critical in determining the prevailing equilibrium. The analysis also shows that the existence of the horizon problem further constraints the ability of the wholesaler to raise growth capital. Taken together, these results suggest that the retention of patronage refunds can be an effective way for the co-operative wholesaler to raise growth capital, provided it acts to focus retails' expectations on the 'good' equilibrium and to mitigate the horizon problem. By examining the strategies and mechanisms that the CRS has used to achieve co-operation and coordination, and in so doing illustrating the mechanisms that firms can use to manage partner opportunism and prevent coordination failure, the thesis contributes to the alliance management literature. Firms today are increasingly forming strategic alliances with suppliers, buyers, and even competitors in order to achieve sustainable competitive advantage. However, despite their increasing popularity and value-creation potential, alliances more often fail than succeed, with alliance failure often attributed to opportunistic (non-co-operative) behaviour by one or more of the partners and to coordination failure. As a result, it is important to identify strategies and mechanisms that alliance partners can use to achieve co-operation and coordination, and thus realize the benefits from their association. The thesis also contributes to the co-operative literature by shedding light on the age-old debate on whether federated co-operatives need to be centralized to ensure efficiency. In particular, the thesis shows that federated co-operatives can be efficient, provided they address the co-operation and coordination problems that arise among their members, and provides examples of the mechanisms that federated co-operatives can use to achieve co-operation and coordination. In addition, the thesis offers the first analytical treatment of how the horizon problem influences investment decisions in co-operatives

Sharing Design Rights: A Commons Approach for Developing Infrastructure

This study empirically investigates the relationship between design structure and organization structure in the context of new infrastructure development projects. Our research setting is a capital program to develop new school buildings in the city of Manchester, UK. Instead of creating a controlled, hierarchical organization, which would mirror the buildings’ design structure, the Manchester City Council created a “commons organization,” and chose to share decision-rights with local claimants. Each school’s faculty was thus given rights equal to Council staff to participate in the design process and to approve the school’s design. In the natural resources literature, commons theory predicts that, if a robust governance structure is created, this complex form of organizing gives claimants incentives to contribute to the enterprise whilst dampening collective action problems (Ostrom 1990). Here we extend this claim to the production of man-made artifacts. The design commons induced teachers to volunteer time and effort to communicate their practical knowledge, but created corresponding tensions over interdependent choices for the final design. Yet, none of the projects succumbed to collective action problems in the form of budget overruns, bogged-down processes, or users feeling disenfranchised. Applying Ostrom’s (1990) principles of robust commons governance, we show that the Manchester design commons organization was robust by her criteria and propose that robustness contributed positively to the outcome. We also discuss design flexibility as an intervening variable that was critical in reconciling differences that governance alone could not resolve. We conclude with the rudiments of a theory describing when and why a commons organization can be advantageous for production of designs

Religion and the Evolution of Democracy: A Revised Selectorate Model for the Arab Spring

2011 was a seminal year in the history of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Popularly referred to as the Arab Spring, the region has experienced a wave of revolutions and instability. It can be classified in three broad categories within 2011: Uprisings that have resulted in the overthrow of standing regimes, uprisings that have failed to overthrow standing regimes, and states that have not experienced popular revolts. In the first category Libya, Egypt, Yemen, and Tunisia have all experienced uprisings resulting in the respective departure of Muamar Gaddafi, Hosni Mubarak, Ali Abdullah Saleh, and Zine Al Abidine Ben Ali. In contrast Syria and Bahrain have experienced uprisings that have not resulted into the toppling of their regimes thus far. Finally, countries such as Saudi Arabia and Iran have experienced none of the instability observed in 2011 within the same time period. In tracking the evolution of selectorates, I identified the rise of actors within the newly developing coalitions whose Islamist preferences are unaccounted for in the standard Selectorate Model. As later explained in detail, Selectorate Theory is driven by the public-private goods argument. The theory states that a leader’s political survival is based on the mix of private payoffs he can provide to his selectorate and public goods provided to the general population. The once secular despots are either gone or are on the way out as evident by the removal of Hosni Mubarak, Zine Abidine Ben-Ali, Saddam Hussein, Muamar Gaddafi, Ali Abdullah Saleh, and the currently embattled Bashar Al- Assad. They are being replaced or have already been removed by governments that are led by Islamic Parties. Therefore, newly elected or appointed leaders must take into account the role of religion in their calculus for political survival in a way that they did not before. This begs the question: what about the regimes in my case studies that have not been toppled such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Bahrain? Although these are highly autocratic governments, the leaders of such governments have a legitimacy that is derived from implicit approval of their Islamist allies. This strengthens the argument that religion must be accounted for beyond the standard Selectorate Model rationale for political survival in MENA. In such context I provide a revised Selectorate Model explanation that accounts for the role of religion. I conclude that the standard Selectorate Theory is insufficient for MENA because it is does not account for the role of religion. By testing the coalitional distribution and evolution of selectorates, I developed a revised Selectorate Model that includes the role of religion along with the standard private payoffs – public goods argument. The role of religion is expressed by the presence of religious stakeholders in the agent based model such as clerics, shura councils or Islamic parties present in all selectorates in MENA. I tracked the selectorates through a series of predictions made throughout the course of 2011 using the Senturion agent based model. It serves as a powerful alternative to standard historical analysis and wisdom. I provide an explanation of why certain regimes fell while others remained relatively stable and why some governments experiencing similar instability remain using agent based modeling (ABM) in application to Selectorate Theory

Computer Aided Verification

This open access two-volume set LNCS 11561 and 11562 constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 31st International Conference on Computer Aided Verification, CAV 2019, held in New York City, USA, in July 2019. The 52 full papers presented together with 13 tool papers and 2 case studies, were carefully reviewed and selected from 258 submissions. The papers were organized in the following topical sections: Part I: automata and timed systems; security and hyperproperties; synthesis; model checking; cyber-physical systems and machine learning; probabilistic systems, runtime techniques; dynamical, hybrid, and reactive systems; Part II: logics, decision procedures; and solvers; numerical programs; verification; distributed systems and networks; verification and invariants; and concurrency

Design as a strategic tool for sustainability in northern and arctic contexts : case study of the arctic design concept in Finland

Globally, design is increasingly being perceived as a strategic tool for community development, well-being and innovation, both in theory and in practice. In the last few years, Finland has brought this notion to its northernmost regions through their emerging Arctic Design concept. While the concept has gained a lot of momentum, it remains, at this time, mostly Finnish-bound. Through a case study methodology, this thesis examines the ideas and visions underlying the concept of Arctic Design, and assesses its relevance for other northern regions, and in particular the province of Quebec, Canada. The data was collected through semi-directed interviews, conducted in northern Finland with leading actors involved in the concept’s strategic development. The theoretical framework employed draws on the perspectives of strategic design, sustainable design, and Nordicity (Hamelin, 1975). This study shows that design professionals are increasingly acting as key members within transdisciplinary projects and strategic areas, in order to address complex issues related to policy-making and broader societal change. This, in turn, opens up new avenues for both design practice and research in the topic of “northern design”. In particular, these findings suggest that design could play new roles in addressing northern and Arctic issues, by acknowledging local specificities (i.e. climates, socio-political frameworks, cultures) and allow the development of place-based solutions. By doing so, the province of Quebec could better use design as a catalyst of transitions towards sustainable futures among all its communities.À l’échelle mondiale, le design est perçu de plus en plus comme un outil stratégique pour le développement communautaire, le bien-être et l'innovation, tant au plan pratique que théorique. Au cours des dernières années, la Finlande a décidé d’introduire cette notion dans ses régions les plus septentrionales en développant le concept d’Arctic Design. Bien que le concept se soit beaucoup développé, il demeure, pour le moment, essentiellement limité à la Finlande. À l'aide d'une méthodologie d'étude de cas, ce mémoire examine les idées et les visions qui sous-tendent ce concept et évalue sa pertinence pour les autres régions nordiques, en particulier la province de Québec. Les données de cette étude sont constituées d’entretiens semi-dirigés, menés dans le Nord de la Finlande avec les principaux acteurs impliqués dans le développement stratégique du concept. Le cadre théorique utilisé ici s'inspire des perspectives du design stratégique, du design durable et de la Nordicité (Hamelin, 1975). Cette étude démontre que les professionnels en design peuvent occuper un rôle clé au sein de projets transdisciplinaires et de secteurs stratégiques, afin d’aborder des enjeux complexes concernant l'élaboration de politiques et des changements sociétaux plus profonds. Ceci ouvre de nouvelles avenues en design pour la pratique et la recherche en « design nordique » . Plus spécifiquement, ces résultats suggèrent que le design peut jouer un nouveau rôle dans la résolution des enjeux nordiques et Arctiques, en reconnaissant les spécificités locales (climats, contextes sociopolitiques et culturels) et permettre le développement de solutions adaptées au milieu. Ce faisant, le contexte québécois pourrait mieux utiliser le design comme catalyseur de changements vers un avenir durable pour l’ensemble de ses communautés

Measuring spatial and temporal features of physical interaction dynamics in the workplace

Human behavior unfolding through organisational life is a topic tackled from different disciplines, with emphasis on different aspects and with an overwhelming reliance on humans as observation instruments. Advances in pervasive technologies allow for the first time to capture and record location and time information behavior in real time, accurately, continuously and for multiparty events. This thesis concerns itself with the examination of the question: can these technologies provide insights into human behavior that current methods cannot? The way people use the buildings they work in, relate and physically interact with others, through time, is information that designers and managers make use of to create better buildings and better organisations. Current methods’ depiction of these issues - fairly static, discrete and short term, mostly dyadic - pales in comparison with the potential offered by location and time technologies. Or does it? Having found an organisation, where fifty-one workers each carried a tag sending out location and time information to one such system for six weeks, two parallel studies were conducted. One using current manual and other methods and the other the automated method developed in this thesis, both aiming to understand spatial and temporal characteristics of interpersonal behavior in the workplace. This new method is based on the concepts and measures of personal space and interaction distance that are used to define the mathematical boundaries of the behaviors subject of study, interaction and solo events. Outcome information from both methods is used to test hypotheses on some aspects of the spatial and temporal nature of knowledge work affected by interpersonal dynamics. This thesis proves that the data obtained through the technology can be converted in rich information on some aspects of workplace interaction dynamics offering unprecedented insights for designers and managers to produce better buildings and better organisations