Rent Appropriation in Strategic Alliances: A Study of Technical Alliances in Pharmaceutical Industry

Many existing alliance studies have investigated how embedded relations create superior value for organizations. The role of network structure in rent appropriation or pie splitting, however, has been underexplored. We propose that favorable locations in interorganizational networks provide firms with superior opportunities for appropriating more economic benefits from alliances than their partners do. Specifically, we argue that partners’ asymmetric network positions will lead to unequal brokerage positions that promote disparate levels of information gathering, monitoring, and bargaining power, which lead to differing capacities to appropriate value. This in turn results in variations in market performance. We also propose this brokerage position exacerbates existing inequalities such as commercial capital; thus, available firm resources will moderate such network effects. Evidence is presented in the form of market response to technology alliance announcements from a set of pharmaceutical firms. In general, we find that firms within central network positions and those spanning structural holes have higher returns than their partners. In addition, we show that this relationship is contingent upon available firm resources

Female Militarization and Women\u27s Rights: A Case Study of the Peshmerga and YPJ

Since 2012, there has been an increase of media attention on the Kurds, particularly women who are active in the YPJ and Peshmerga. Various publications have equated women\u27s militarization with women\u27s liberation. In an effort to more accurately measure this, the following question must be asked; what is the effect of women\u27s military involvement on women\u27s rights? Women that are active in both nationalist movements and traditional state armies are presented with changing gender roles. Post conflict, there is a struggle for women to transfer their newfound autonomy into political activism. The theory outlines a chain in which women participate in the armed forces, feel empowered, are able to obtain positions of influence, and create policy and social change. A break in any point of this chain will block female excombatants from influencing women\u27s rights. The theory is tested on Kurdish women active in the Iraqi Peshmerga and the Women\u27s Protection Units (YPJ) in Syria. Data on women\u27s military participation and their impact on women\u27s rights was gathered from NGO reports, news articles, scholarly journals, and laws that were passed in Iraqi Kurdistan and Northern Syria. The evidence gathered indicates that women\u27s military participation is not the only mechanism for improving women\u27s rights. While the development of gender equality in Northern Syria can be linked to women\u27s militarization, gender equality efforts in Iraqi Kurdistan do not have a direct link to women\u27s involvement in the Peshmerga. This work adds to the ongoing discussion on Kurdish political rights, particularly women\u27s autonomy

On The Road to Euro: How Synchronized Is Estonia with the Euro zone?

While the currency board served Estonia well during transition in the 1990s, it has limited its ability to counter the impact of the global financial crisis and heightened the currency risks. The euro adoption has thus become a top policy priority again. However, this paper finds that even after almost two decades of hard peg with the core of the euro zone shocks affecting Estonia are relatively weakly synchronized with those of the zone, contributing to large output volatility. Nevertheless, the case for euro adoption by Estonia holds, since the costs of the loss of independent monetary policy were paid, and – as the global financial crisis demonstrated – the currency board is no substitute for the common currency. To reduce future output volatility, Estonia should move to counter-cyclical fiscal policies, maintain labor and product market flexibility, and adopt policies stimulating rise in the knowledge and high-tech content of its production.shock synchronization; structural VAR; euro adoption; financial crisis; Estonia

Statutory protection of freshwater flora and fauna

The aim of this paper is to summarize the present legislation aimed at protecting freshwater species in Britain, and briefly to review its effectiveness. Some areas have been deliberately omitted, such as fisheries legislation designed to conserve stocks, and the statutory protection of birds associated with fresh waters which forms a large subject area in its own right

Women returning to community college: a response to life changes and a desire for a revised identity (a case study of Paul D. Camp Community College)

The purpose of this study was to identify what factors prompt adult women to return to community college. Adult developmental theory provided a framework for the study. Aslanian and Brickell\u27s (1980) theory that life transitions prompt a learning response was integrated with Gilligan\u27s (1982) theory that women identify themselves in the context of relationships. Information was gathered to determine whether life changes and the desire for a revised identity are the major reasons adult women return to school.;The population of this study was a randomly selected sample of 186 women who had returned to Paul D. Camp Community College during the academic year, 1985-86. The participants had to be 25 years old or older, enrolled in a credit course of study, and returning to college after at least a two year lapse in their formal educational experience. Those women selected to participate in the study responded to a survey asking them to describe their current life situation and reasons for their return to school. Personal interviews were conducted with a select portion of the survey respondents.;Frequencies and percentages were calculated to identify common and distinctive patterns in the reasons adult women return to college. The results support the hypothesis that life changes and the desire for a revised identity prompt women in general to return to education. However, notable differences were identified among women according to their age, race, marital and employment status.;Further study on the development of women is needed. More information regarding the special needs of returning women students in general is warranted. In addition, research on selected categories of returning women students (e.g., minority group women, women who are no longer married) is also needed

Organizational speed as a dynamic capability: Toward a holistic perspective

Current research on organizational speed has been disjointed, which has left organizational speed as an underdeveloped area of study. In this essay, we expand the view of organizational speed as a multidimensional gestalt-like construct that may influence firm performance and competitive advantage. We offer a capability-based definition of organizational speed and identify and review the building blocks of organizational speed. We propose new avenues and questions for future research based on our perspective

CACIQUES AND COMMUNITY: HISTORICAL MAYA ARCHAEOLOGY AT RANCHO KIUIC, YUCATÁN, MÉXICO

This dissertation examines the socioeconomic relationships between Maya-speaking landowners and laborers at Rancho Kiuic (ca. 1760-1950): a small, privately-owned cattle ranching estate in the Puuc Hills region of Yucatán, Mexico. Owned and worked by generations of indigenous caciques and an indebted laborer population, the complex relationships between landed and laboring community members are inscribed in the community’s household and religious space, and woven throughout the oral history of the rancho. While the site’s architectural remains seem suggestive of a relatively homogeneous rural community, that narrative is complicated by the laborers’ memory of the status of the landowning family. Three lines of evidence—archaeological materials from household and chapel contexts, archival documents related to baptisms of Rancho Kiuic residents, and oral histories from descendants and neighbors of the community—reveal the extent to which inequality and narratives of indebtedness to the Rancho’s indigenous cacique family are evident in the site’s household and chapel assemblages. Archaeological analysis of architectural and artifact remains highlight the differential realms in which status was expressed. Ecclesiastical records, documenting the religious life of the community, also are considered alongside the social memory of labor relations at the Rancho in exploring the role of debt in sustaining ties between landed and laborer community members. These relationships are materialized in households and spaces for religious celebration, which highlight the subtle ways in which the rancho’s owners wielded authority, and laborer families persisted. The enduring memory of the locale’s complex position as a resource-rich refuge, a space for community-building, and an oppressive labor landscape, reveal insights into relationships that continue to shape the attitudes of descendants into the present.Doctor of Philosoph

The construction of an instrument for the evaluation of student teachers.

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit