Collaborating with competitors : value through coopetition in the New Zealand forest industry : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Supply Chain Management at Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand

The purpose of this research is to investigate the scale of possibility for coopetition to be applied to the logistics activities in the export log supply chain in New Zealand. The research ascertains there are financial benefits of approximately $200million to the industry from cooperating in port logistics and shipping activities while continuing to compete in other sectors of the chain. The research tests to see if the existing theory on barriers and facilitators applies in this case study. Two research methods were used: 1. Qualitative interviews with exporters to probe for specific factors that support or hinder coopetition adaptation. 2. Quantitative research looking at financial implications, involving data collection from industry, building a simulation model, and simulating four degrees of coopetition adoption. The research identifies that small levels of cooperation between exporters can produce the most cost reduction benefits, with decreasing returns to scale through further collaboration attempts. As well as providing overall cost reductions the research indicates that there is a significant reduction in cost volatility by collaboration in shipping and logistics. While exporters used various terminology the themes that emerged, through semi-formal interviews, the barriers and enablers that were identified in this context relate closely to those models of other authors. The alignment of the physical world in time and space, the connection between strategic business models and relevant levels of autonomy and risk and the alignment of values, history and ability to communicate with relationship and their cost were all found to be significant factors that could both enable or disable cooperation between competitors in this case. Levels of trust and communication were found to be generally low in the log export industry the input of an independent third party may assist in supporting cooperation. The research concludes that there is potential for at least small and medium sized players in the industry to adopt some level of coopetition to reduce costs in the supply chain. However, the findings indicated that there are significant invisible costs associated with coopetition outside of the operational costs. The full cost of building and maintaining relationships required for it to persist still needs to be investigated further. These factors should be considered when analysing the savings as they may easily erode any gains made through coopetition

The Origins and Future of Gamification

This thesis paper will explore the concept of “gamification,” or the process of adding layers of game elements to an unrelated subject or task. The idea behind gamification is to take what makes games fun for the players and apply that to other areas as means of motivating people. Some of the most known gamified applications are Waze and Nike+ Run Club, to name a few. The paper will start with a definition of gamification and its differentiation from a game. There will then be a brief discussion on why understanding gamification is important. From there, the history of gamification, including its beginnings, rise, fall, and return, will be discussed. In particular, some of the very first instances of gamification will be highlighted, along with the major steps towards its current form. Then, the audience of gamification, and how they react to certain types and elements, will be examined and broken down into key groups. A handful of the most common game elements will be explained and put into context. Finally, some key success stories of gamification will be explored with emphasis on the reasons for their success. The writing will conclude with some thoughts on the ethics of using gamification in certain instances. Its power as a motivational tool opens the door to a myriad of potential abuses and issues. Finally, a possible method, based on one of the success stories discussed, for using gamification in an ethical frame will be explore

Taxation in a Time of Crisis: Policy Leadership from the OECD to the G20

After decades of directing global economic policy standards alone, the United States and Europe publicly extended leadership power to some developing countries in response to the economic crisis of 2008-2009. But an entrenched international architecture of tax policy expertise ensures that a small group of established players continue to shape tax norms and practices throughout the world. This architecture is based on historical international power relationships and institutional history. For diplomatic restructuring on the world stage to usher in a new age of inclusion for previously marginalized states and peoples, systemic changes must also take place in these entrenched institutions and processes

Networks, Norms, and National Tax Policy

Increasing economic integration inevitably draws states to coordinate their tax policies, yet policymakers are eager to protect their autonomous “tax sovereignty.” Cooperation and autonomy are balanced in transnational networks, especially the OECD, where state representatives, experts, and interest groups engage in continuous negotiation to develop nonbinding, or “soft” global tax policy norms. While the merits of these norms have prompted much scholarly analysis, little is understood about the nature and significance of using networks to develop tax policy norms in this manner. This Article demonstrates how and why states use the unique soft governance structure of the OECD to develop global tax policy norms and achieve national tax policy goals, and explores some of the implications of this particular means of balancing the competing goals of international cooperation and national autonomy in a politically, socially, and economically globalized world

Self-Admitted Technical Debt - An Investigation from Farm to Table to Refactoring

Self-Admitted Technical Debt (SATD) is a metaphorical concept which describes the self-documented contribution of technical debt to a software project in the manner of source-code comments. SATD can linger in projects and degrade source-code quality, but its palpable visibility draws a peculiar sort of attention from developers. There is a need to understand the significance of engineering SATD within a software project, as these debts may have lurking repercussions. While the oft-performed action of refactoring may work against a generalized volume of source code degradation, there exists only slight evidence suggesting that the act of refactoring has a distinct impact on SATD. In fact, refactoring is better understood to convalesce the measurable quality of source code which may very well remain unimpressed by the preponderance of SATD instances. In observation of the cross-section of these two concepts, it would seem logical to presume some magnitude of correlation between refactorings and SATD removals. In this thesis, we will address the extent of such concurrence, while also seeking to develop a dependable tool to promote the empirical studies of SATD. Using this tool, we mined data from 5 open source Java projects, from which associations between SATD removals and refactoring actions were drawn to show that developers tend to refactor SATD-containing code differently than they do code elsewhere in their projects. We also concluded that design-related SATD is more likely to entail a refactoring than non-design SATD

A Global Perspective on Citizenship-Based Taxation

This Article contends that, with regard to individuals who reside permanently outside of the United States, the global assistance sought under FATCA to enforce U.S. income taxation solely on the basis of citizenship violates international law. It argues that insisting upon foreign cooperation with the FATCA regime, under threat of serious economic penalties, is inconsistent with universally accepted norms regarding appropriate limits to the state’s jurisdiction to tax, while also being normatively unjustified. Accordingly, FATCA should be rejected by all other nation states to the extent it imposes any obligations with respect to individuals who permanently reside outside of, and have no economic ties to, the United States

How Nations Share

Every nation has an interest in sharing the gains they help create by participating in globalization. Citizens should be very interested in discovering how well their governments fare in claiming an adequate share of this international income stream, since a government that cannot or will not exert its taxing jurisdiction internationally is potentially missing out on a very large and very productive source of revenue. Yet it is all but impossible for citizens to observe exactly how, or how well, their governments navigate this aspect of economic globalization. The vast majority of international tax law plays out in practice through a series of intergovernmental dispute resolutions that are handled in complete secrecy through diplomatic channels, subject to no oversight by any judicial or legislative body and subject to no scrutiny by the taxpaying public. This Article shows that in thus obscuring public observation of international tax law as it develops, the structure of the international tax regime prevents citizens from comprehensively assessing the quality of their own nation’s tax systems. Without more information to determine what, if anything, one’s government ultimately claims from the massive stream of income created by international trade and investment, it is impossible to use any policy assessment tools, such as standards of economic efficiency and fairness, to talk coherently about the tax system. The Article concludes that at a time when national economic and political fortunes are experiencing high stress, uncertainty, and volatility, we need much better information about how international tax law develops and works out in practice