Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Market for technology'

This research is a Master’s thesis that has made for Parker Hannifin Oy in the University of Oulu in Department of Process and Environmental engineering. Parker Hannifin Oy ordered a market research of the Finnish mining market. A subject was a limited research to the northern Fennoscandian and Greenland mining market but the main focus is in Finnish mining industry and technology market. The research produced new information about the mining market for the decision makers of Parker Hannifin Oy. The research problem was to clarify which delivery models would work with mining industry, what is the commercial potential with mining industry and which are the technology areas where the supply of Parker Hannifin Oy and the demand of the mining industry would meet. Qualitative and quantitative methods were used in the market research. A sample for market research was collected from public sources and with interviews and questionnaires. The market research begun with desk research in which the researcher investigated the mining market by public information. After this there were a qualitative interviews and questionnaires for the mining industry and for the company which ordered of research. The data sample was treated with qualitative research methods. The commercial potential for Parker Hannifin Oy is huge in Finnish and Swedish mining market. The mining is developing and growing very fast in both countries. It was estimated that Parker Hannifin Oy could be increased their revenue 10 % by sales to Finnish mining industry in 2012. It has been estimated that the production of Finnish mining industry will triple by the year 2022. Also, the Swedish mining industry will need 10 000–15 000 new employees by year 2025 which two or three times more than Finnish mining industry. The potential mining industry customers considered that site container and a spare part store of mining company are efficient and effective delivery models. One result of the questionnaire was that most of the Finnish mining companies have a store of critical spare parts of mining machines. Products of Parker Hannifin Oy are mostly used in underground mining machines in Finland. In the research came out that the easiest way for Parker Hannifin Oy to increase its sales could be by finding cooperation partners from those local stores and contactors which already do business with local mining companies.

Thesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering, 2008.<br>This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.<br>Includes bibliographical references (leaves 46-47).<br>Information processing systems have been getting more powerful over the course of the past three decades due to the scaling of transistor dimensions. Scaling of transistor dimension causes a plethora of technological problems if pursued in the current fashion. Gate-All-Around architecture for transistors has been shown to alleviate many of the problems posed by scaling. Silicon being the material of choice of the semiconductor industry, it is highly desirable to have silicon one dimensional channel in the Gate-All- Around transistor. Silicon nanowires have been fabricated using various methods, in this work Self-Limiting-Oxidation was analyzed for its technological feasibility and found to be satisfactory. Possible value propositions and IP landscape analysis show that this methodology is very much feasible. As the new architecture essentially solves the problems that arise due to aggressive scaling, it becomes vital to look at the relevance of scaling beyond 45 nm technology node. Careful analysis of the semiconductor industry breakdown and top semiconductor foundries' financials reveal that scaling might not be pursued as aggressively as expected. The relevance of Moore's law in the current scheme of things could be that of a Self-fulfilling prophecy. Given this climate, Self Limiting Oxidation based Silicon nanowires have better commercial potential in the field of sensors. Monolithic integration and superior spatial precision makes this methodology ideally suited to the needs of applications which include many different kinds of sensors on the same Lab-on-Chip.<br>by Rajamouly Swaminathan Omampuliyur.<br>M.Eng.

Marknadens påstående om att ”använda så lite plast som möjligt” är vilseledande när 5 av 11 miljövänliga blöjmärken observerades innehålla 80-75% fossil baserad plast.  Detta demonstrerar att vilseledande marknadsföring är närvarande på marknaden av miljövänliga engångsblöjor. Enligt denna studie kan en produkt kan idag innehålla 80% fossilbaserad råvarumaterial och fortfarande bli klassad som en miljövänlig produkt. Förutom att gröntvättning vilseleder konsumenter så bidrar den med att bromsa utvecklingen mot en hållbar konsumtion. Detta eftersom gröntvättning förhindrar strävan utförd av uppriktiga miljövänliga företag och vägleder genuina konsumenter mot icke-optimala val. Som i sin tur ger upphov av effekten att öka produkt konsumtionen och minska rörelsen mot en mer hållbar miljö.  Det är därför av intresse att framhäva möjlig falsk marknandsföring genom att undersöka marknadens påståenden i jämförelse med laborativa resultat. De ”gröna” företag som undersökts var: Lillydoo, Naty, Pampers Pure, Kit &amp; Kin, Bambo Nature, Love &amp; Green, Moltex, Seventh Generation, The Honest company, Hello Bello, och Tooshies by Tom. Som referens valdes två “icke-gröna” märken Libero och Pampers. Dessa totalt 13 st märken undersöktes genom dem analytiska metoder FTIR, kol-14-metoden, och densitetsmätningar. För metoden GC/MS undersöktes enbart det ”icke-gröna” märket Pampers. Från dessa resultat kunde blöjans plast polymerer, okända ämnen, och den totala mängden biobaserat material per blöja bli identifierad. Dem polymerer som identifierades var polypropen, polyeten, polyetentereftalat, eller bioco polyprpylene/polyetylene, och även den nedbrytningsbara polylaktid. För dem ”icke-gröna” märkena, var den totala mängden biobaserade kol inom intervallet av 13-15%. För dem ”gröna” blöjorna så varierade den totala mängden biobaserat kol till 20-53%. Enligt dessa resultat framtagna av denna studie påvisas att endast en skillnad av 5% procentenheter behövs för blöjan ska marknadsföras som miljövänlig. De okända ämnena som observerades i Pampers blöjan var dioxiner och furaner på nivåer ng/kg materialprov.<br>The market claims of  “using as little plastic as possible” is misleading when 5 out of 11 “green” diaper brands analysed contain 80-75 % fossil based plastic. It is also evident that few brands have changed materials going against babies skin from fossil based plastic to plant based, although they claim only natural material touches babies skin. This demonstrates greenwashing present in marketing of environmentally friendly disposable diapers. Based on this study, calling a product “green” today is not related to any demands on product materials and parents are easily mislead. A product can include 80 % fossil based plastic and be considered green without going against the law. Not only will greenwashing mislead consumers, but it will also contribute to slowing the worldwide development towards sustainable consumption, since greenwashing may have a risk of discouraging sincere companies efforts to go green and guide truly genuine consumers towards non-optimal choices. This gives potentially the effect of unnecessarily increasing product consumption and thereby slowing the movement towards a more sustainable environment. It is therefore of interest to highlight possible greenwashing in the diaper industry. With the hope of creating customer awareness during purchase of “green” disposable diapers. This is accomplished by investigating the market claims compared to laboratory analytical results. The “green” brands under investigation were Lillydoo, Naty, Pampers Pure, Kit &amp; Kin, Bambo Nature, Love &amp; Green, Moltex, Seventh Generation, The Honest company, Hello Bello, and Tooshies by Tom. For reference values two “non-green” brands are chosen as Libero and Pampers. These in total 13 brands were examined using the analytical techniques  FTIR, radiocarbon dating, and density measurements. For the GC/MS method only the fossil based diaper brand Pampers was examined. From these experiments the diaper polymers, unknown substances, and total amount of biobased content may be identified.  The diaper polymers observed were polypropylene, polyethylene,polyethylene terephthalate, or the bicomponent fiber polypropylene/polyethylene, as well as the biodegradable polylactic acid. For “non-green” brands, the amount of biobased carbon content ranged from 13-15%. While for the “green” diaper brands the amount of biobased carbon varied from 20-53%. The results obtained from this study, show that some brands do not exchange more than  5 % of materials from fossil based to biobased and still contain 80% plastic while labelling themselves as green. As the certifications frequently used by diaper brands have too tolerant levels for fossile based materials, the “plastic” diapers can obtain certificates consumers falsely believe guarantees a green product. There is a big need for stricter laws on what a diaper needs to fullfil to be called itself green, equally so on how industry set up certification criteria. Today consumers who want to buy green diapers are too easily misled as majority of claimed green brands are not much greener than standard diapers.

This thesis identifies tools and mechanisms of existing application markets by presenting features they offer and how they are realized. Design of a market for the smart environment is proposed, developed and evaluated. The design targets current issues of smart environments - no convenient ways to extend functionality of the environment, dealing with heterogeneous base and unattended application execution. Market called Agora is implemented according to a design. System is evaluated with custom made simulation, simulation procedures and components are developed. The system designed in this thesis provides application provisioning, automatic application update mechanism, compatibility check with conflict situation suggestions, feedback mechanisms including explicit and implicit ratings, automatic malicious application removal from a market and the smart environments. Evaluation of the system in various scenarios shows that proposed system design provides solution to a given problems of the smart environments. System is able to provide compatible applications to an end-user and automatically support developers by sending automatic crash reports. Implicit rating of applications and removing malicious applications from the system also provides helpful feedback to developers and market.<br>En typisk hem idag innehåller ett stort antal datorer, var och en med en dedikerad funktion. Dessa datorer är inbäddade inte bara i högteknologisk utrustning som smarta telefoner, iPods utan ocksåi de traditionella hushållsapparater, t.ex. spisar, tvättmaskiner och kylskåp. Även detta apparater och anordningar är användbara som enskilda objekt kan deras användbarhet kan förbättras avsevärt genom att ansluta dem via ett nätverk för att möjliggöra kommunikation mellan enheter och apparater. Ett system där kylskåpet har förmåga att styra de viktigaste hemdator att beställa mjölk online från en butik, eftersom det slut påmjölk är mycket mer användbar än någon av apparaterna ensam. Denna avhandling identifierar verktyg och mekanismer för befintliga program marknader genom att presentera funktioner som de erbjuder och hur de förverkligas. Design av en marknad för smarta miljön föreslås utvecklas och utvärderas. Designen riktar aktuella frågor av smarta miljöer -. Inga praktiska sätt att utöka funktionaliteten av miljön, som handlar om heterogena bas och obevakad tillämpning utförande Det system som utformats i avhandlingen ger ansökan provisionering, automatisk programuppdatering mekanism, kompatibilitet kontroll med förslag konfliktsituation, återkopplingsmekanismer inklusive explicita och implicita betyg, automatisk skadligt program tas bort från en marknad och de smarta miljöer. Utvärdering av systemet i olika scenarier visar att föreslagna systemet konstruktion ger lösning till ett givet problem med de smarta miljöer. Systemet kan ge kompatibla program till en slutanvändare och automatiskt stöd utvecklare genom att skicka automatiska felrapporter. Implicit rating av ansökningar och ta bort skadliga program från systemet ger ocksåhjälp feedback till utvecklare och marknad.

This thesis studies the relationship between technology and industrial structure in the context of a growing market economy. Chapters 2 and 5 develop some general equilibrium models which permit a study of the relationship between quality competition, market structure and growth. Both market structure and the rate of growth are determined endogenously as functions of underlying parameters describing the pattern of technology and tastes, and the institutional environment. It is argued that quality competition constitutes an economic mechanism of primary importance, which provides essential incentives for innovation at the industry level, while also contributing to aggregate technological progress by way of R&D spillover effects. A related theme of the thesis is that constraints on quality competition are detrimental to growth. Chapter 3 presents a theoretical model which explains certain statistical regularities regarding cohort survival patterns, the persistence of firm turnover, and the appearance of shakeouts during an industry life cycle. By treating the market as comprising a number of strategically independent submarkets, this analysis separates the strategic interaction effects which occur at the submarket level, from the independence effects which operate across submarkets. Chapter 4 studies competition between two cohorts of radically different but substitutable technologies. By analyzing the entry of new-technology- based firms, the exit of incumbents and subsequent quality competition, this chapter explores the impact of a radical innovation on market structure and on the turnover of firms. Two critical levels of the parameter which measures the efficiency of the new technology are identified: the first must be attained for 'creative destruction' to take place, while the second must be attained for this 'creative destruction' process to take a 'drastic' form which involves the complete replacement of currently active firms by a wave of new entrants.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 1986.<br>MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND DEWEY.<br>Bibliography: leaves 212-218.<br>by Marc H. Meyer.<br>Ph.D.

Financial interactions on the capital market involve a wide variety of actors and processes. The requirement of security and privacy results to a large extent in non-shared and unintegrated databases among the different parties, leading to complex, time consuming and costly procedures. The last decade's introduction of innovative blockchain technologies such as Bitcoin, has brought attention to the possibilities of decentralized peer-to-peer networking in general, and its potential influence in the financial sector in particular. This master thesis investigates the possibilities for the capital market to adapt such a system from a technical point of view, with main focus on scalability. The analysis covers crucial aspects such as a peer-to-peer application's ability to handle large transaction volumes while maintaining security. The degree project also includes continued work on Visigon's blockchain application prototype with main focus on the network communication, as well as simulations of its performance capability. Results from the simulations showed that the transaction throughput capacity is limited to the time of broadcasting the transaction to the network, and thus decreasing linearly with increasing network size. The required time for handling other parts in the process appears constant and takes up a small fraction of the total time, therefore future work lays in further optimization of the communication protocol.

The topic of technology transfer has been studied from several perspectives ; however, very few of these addressed the association beetween technology transfer and various foreign market modes of entry in developing countries, and especially in Egypt. Moreover, a coherent and systematic framework for understanding the dynamics of the process of technology transfer does not clearly emerge from the literature; neither does the assessment of the implications of national policy and interlinked issues on the content of technology transferred from foreign market modes of entry. Hence, the key objectives of the current thesis are "To develop a dynamic conceptual framework that allows for systematic representation and exploration of the process of technology transfer associated with different modes of foreign entry into a host developing country (Egypt); To empirically explore the dynamic process of technology transfer associated with foreign market modes of entry into Egypt; and To a ssess and critique Egypt's current policy environment impacting on modes of foreign entry into Egypt and their associated technology transfer". This thesis qualitatively explores the technology transfer process occurring in foreign companies operating in Egypt, under various contractual and investment modes of entry. The empirical findings of the multiple case analyses (conducted using in-depth interviews) and the subsequent cross-case synthesis showed that the framework developed in this thesis is valid and applies well to all explored cases. Findings also revealed that the highest level of technology transfer occurred at start-up phases of all modes. This transfer involved all components of technology. In cases of FDI and JVs, technology transfer is sustained through continuous and regular foreign interactions, and increases with the introduction of new 'events' such as new product lines being added. In the licensing modes, a slow down of technology transfer is found after start-up phases. In regards to linkage issues impacting on both foreign entry and technology transfer, the findings confirmed many expectations outlined from the literature, such as the importance of learning, compatibility of partners, contractual perspectives (and others). Some issues emerging from literature were not substantiated by findings of this thesis such as the importance of technological gaps in entry mode decisions. In addition, new issues were identified, such as the overwhelming impacts of Egyptian government measures that hamper many aspects of technology transfer. Such policy measures include exchange rate policy, as well as inconsistencies and inflexibility of policy implementation. This thesis concludes that modes of foreign entry into Egypt and technology transfer are tightly coupled, but are subject to the effects of many issues. A better understanding of the dynamics of the technology transfer process associated with foreign entries, along with an integrated and more flexible policy framework are essential requirements for attracting quality foreign investments, and catalysing associated transfer of technology. Finally, conducting research on a highly contextual topic such as technology transfer associated with modes of foreign entry, in the very challenging research environment of Egypt (due to many factors such as culture, absence of previous empirical efforts and the current turmoil in the economy) has resulted in several methodological and theoretical contributions. These contributions, along with the limitations of the research and directions for future efforts are discussed.

Thesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering, 2007.<br>Includes bibliographical references (p. 90-93).<br>This report provides quantitative analysis of Solid State Ultracapacitors (SSUs) from technological and financial perspectives. SSUs are Ultracapacitors with solid electrolytes predicted to have huge application potential as the electrical energy storage device in Hybrid Electrical Vehicles (HEVs) due to the projected high energy density. The potential high energy density of SSUs is achieved through engineering dielectric materials to possess high breakdown voltage and/or DC permittivity. Among the available SSU models, Electrical Energy Storage Units (EESUs) have been reported to possess energy density as high as 280 Wh/kg with the permittivity and breakdown voltage enhancements achieved through engineering composition modified barium titanate powders. Organic Solid State Ultracapacitors (OSSUs) is a proposed concept of SSUs with conductive particle filled polymer systems as the dielectric material to take advantage of the systems' giant permittivity phenomenon reported under AC. However, through experiments and modeling, such giant permittivity is not found under DC and it is thought that the reported AC giant permittivity may be strongly distorted by the eddy current loss in the commonly used equivalent circuit characterization model and therefore does not contribute to the energy density enhancement. It is also found that the geometric dispersion of conductive particles does not contribute to the energy storage capability. Hence, it is concluded that OSSU is not a competitive SSU model. EESU would outperform current batteries in HEV applications both in terms of manufacturing cost and fuel efficiency according to the PHEV performance model.<br>(cont.) It is predicted that a typical EESU PHEV140 midsized sedan, with the estimated cost of $29,000/vehicle and the fuel efficiency of 206 mpg, would become more economically favorable than a conventional vehicle of the same size in five years based on the current energy price. The increase of the energy price will increase the relative performance of EESU PHEVs compared with battery PHEVs. Through a dynamic manufacturing model, it is predicted that the EESUs, if manufactured from 2011, would have an appreciable market share due to its superior product utility, which, in turn, transforms the product competitiveness into the corporate financial profit as soon as the sixth year of operation with 4-5 folds of return on investment in ten years.<br>by Zibo Jiang.<br>M.Eng.

Thesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering, 2006.<br>Includes bibliographical references (leaves 65-66).<br>Electronic industry will suffer a major turn around in the near future. The current infrastructure will no longer be able to support the increasing data rates. All the disadvantages of copper as current legacy are amplified with the level of bandwidth we are going to experience soon. On the other hand, photonic industry is in the need of finding a new demand source to be able to bring back the state of industry to the "boom" era. With both conditions in mind, it is likely for photonic and electronic industry to emerge. However, the platform for the collaboration has not been mature enough. One of the biggest problems in the photonic industry is the high cost of the package. This, so far, has been one of the major issues holding the industry from gaining back to its golden era. In order to overcome this barrier, standardization has been suggested to be implemented in the industry. This thesis examines the current state of optoelectronic industry, as a convergence of photonic and electronic industry. More specifically, the condition of lack of standardization is analyzed and proven to be the case.<br>(cont.) Interviewing relevant industry players and working closely with the MIT Communications Technology Roadmap-Integration, Packaging and Interconnects Technical Working Group also determine the reason of the condition. Finally, suggestions on the need of standard package and the requirement of standard package are made to hopefully direct the research towards more focused area. For the standard to be the ultimate standard, industry wide implementation has to be the resulting condition. This thesis also examines and suggests steps needed to be taken in order to promote the full implementation of the standard package.<br>by Fatwa Firdaus Abdi.<br>M.Eng.

Thesis (S.M. in System Design and Management)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2010.<br>Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.<br>Includes bibliographical references (p. 79-83).<br>In this thesis, Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEV), Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) and Electric Vehicle (EV) technology and their sales forecasts are discussed. First, the current limitations and the future potential of vehicle technology for HEVs, PHEVs, and EVs are investigated. Second, factors that have historically impacted vehicle sales in the United States are examined. The examination focuses on the effect of rising gasoline prices on the U.S. vehicle market for the periods which include three significant events involving gasoline prices: the Iran and Iraq war in 1979, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and the recession of 2008. Finally, many parts of this thesis deal with sales forecasts of HEVs, PHEVs, and EVs up to 2030. While previous research used the unmodified Bass diffusion model or Generalized Bass model in order to examine the adoption rate of EVs, through using Norton-Bass Model and inserting Generalized Bass Model into Norton-Bass Model, this study seeks to overcome the limitation of Bass diffusion model, which has a fixed saturation level in order to generate more accurate projections.<br>by Sang Yeob Jeon.<br>S.M.in System Design and Management

Thesis (Ph. D.) -- University of Maryland, College Park, 2008.<br>Thesis research directed by: Dept. of Economics. Title from t.p. of PDF. Includes bibliographical references. Published by UMI Dissertation Services, Ann Arbor, Mich. Also available in paper.

With a dramatic economic growth rate of 10% per year, China, as one of the Big Emerging Markets, has drawn increasing attention from both academia and industry. Its market potential and growth rate is believed to be the top attraction for global investment. In many sectors, the increasing number of options available to consumers has led to the emergence of a consumer society in China and has further fed the development of variance in consumer behaviour. This has imposed imperatives of consumer research in China, especially market segmentation research, on both foreign multinational companies and indigenous 5 manufacturers, in order i) to identify the unique needs of consumers, to provide more desirable product/service packages, and iii) to communicate brand value via more appropriate messages to targeted consumers.

Neuronavigation is the technology used during brain surgery to verify the location in which the surgeon is working in terms of depth and width. Despite being considered to be helpful, the technology lacks when it comes to the consideration of brain shift, the dynamic changes of the brain during surgery. The purpose of this report was to verify the suspected need of an additional tool and investigate the market size and dynamics. The thesis work mainly followed the method of Biodesign – The process of innovating medical technologies, which covers all steps in the innovation process. To fit the specific purpose, the method was partly amended.The results of the report are divided into two categories – need and market. A need statement was developed and the market was mapped in terms of size and other players in the market space. The conclusions drawn are that there is a need for technology development in order to safely account for brain shift during tumour resection surgery, but that it is likely to be hard to enter the market due to other researchers who have made more progress in the area.

A large proportion of the farming in Kenya and Eastern Africa is performed by smallholding farmers. At the same time, consumers are expecting to find foodstuff more close by and in a more convenient way than most smallholding farmers can provide. Crowdsourcing can efficiently be applied to many problems where many small producers need to collaborate to create the complete product, without exposing much of the complex process to the end consumers. Using semi structured interviews, systematic literature review and prototyping, the application of crowdsourcing to reach and empower smallholding farmers was explored. The findings were used to create recommendations in the form of guidelines that are expected to serve as ground work and background to future studies within the area. In general, a mobile based platform for crowdsourcing was found to be viable while still having some problems with the intended target market. Three primary factors which affects the potential success were identified; The generally low availability of internet to smallholding farmers (limited by high prices), lacking education which can limit comprehension of more complicated processes, and smartphones with limited capacity for advanced applications.<br>En stor del av jordbruket i Kenya och östra Afrika utförs av småbönder. Samtidigt förväntar sig konsumenter att kunna hitta matprodukter närmare och på ett mer bekvämt sätt än de flesta småbönder kan erbjuda. Crowdsourcing kan effektivt tillämpas på många problem där flera små producenter behöver samarbeta för att skapa den kompletta produkten utan att utsätta slutkonsumenten för den komplexa processen. Med hjälp av semi-trukturerade intervjuer, systematisk litteratur studie och prototyping, undersöktes tillämpningen av crowdsourcing för att nå och förstärka småbönder. Resultaten användes för att skapa rekommendationer i form av riktlinjer som förväntas fungera som grundarbete och bakgrund till framtida studier inom området. I allmänhet visade sig en mobilbaserad plattform för crowdsourcing vara realistisk, samtidigt som den fortfarande hade några problem med den avsedda målmarknaden. Tre primära faktorer som påverkar den potentiella framgången identifierades. Dessa var den generellt låga tillgängligheten av internet till småbönder (begränsad av höga priser), avsaknad av utbildning som kan begränsa förståelsen av mer komplicerade processer, och smartphones med begränsad kapacitet för avancerade applikationer.

This thesis contains three essays on the role of tasks and technology in explaining the trends in reallocation of employment across occupations and sectors, and inequalities in the labor market. The first two chapters focus on the task content of occupations with special emphasis on the effect of interpersonal interactions in the changing structure of employment in the labor market. Chapter 1 studies structural change of employment at the task level. Interactions with customers are a key friction against the implementation of potentially better production styles and technologies, since customers are hard to train and should be satisfied according to their tastes. Using a wide range of data sources on tasks, detailed occupation employment, labor productivity, and computer adoption, Chapter 1 develops a novel task measure, interpersonal-service task intensity, to study the growing importance of service activity in the US labor market in recent decades and explores its linkages with technical change. The chapter explains the empirical findings with a model of structural change at the task level which suggests two distinct roles for interpersonal-service intensity and task-routinizability. Concerned with the reallocation of employment jointly across occupations and sectors, Chapter 2 quantifies the impact of interpersonal-service task intensity and routinization on job polarization and structural change of sector employment. I estimate a task-biased technical change model which is capable to address occupation-specific and sector-specific technical change separately and show that substantial portion of occupational and sectoral employment reallocation between 1987 and 2014 in the US can be explained by the two task aspects. While both types of tasks are significant drivers of job polarization, interpersonal-service tasks stand out in explaining the growth of service sector employment. Using the framework I also suggest answers to several issues in the related literature. Chapter 3 switches the focus of study from the task content to skills while keeping the occupation-based perspective. The last chapter studies the importance of within-occupation heterogeneity of skills in understanding the rising labor market inequalities. I document that employment and wage growth of occupations tend to increase monotonically with various measures of skill intensity since 1980 in the US, in contrast to the existing interpretation of labor market polarization along occupational wages. I establish robustness of the documented fact, explore the sources of the seemingly contrasting finding and argue that labor market polarization cannot be interpreted as polarization of skills that are comparable across occupations. The chapter reconciles the documented facts in an extended version of the canonical skill-biased technical change model which incorporates many occupations and within-occupation heterogeneity of skill types.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program, 2007.<br>Includes bibliographical references (p. 57-60).<br>While there is no shortage of successful and failed biotechnology ventures, it is still very difficult to gage, a priori, how a new company will fare in this industry. In many cases new biotechnology ventures are driven by rapidly evolving technology and emergent customer needs, both unpredictable by nature. Also, the Biotech Industry faces increased public and federal scrutiny as companies attempt to navigate murky ethical and legal waters. This thesis will explore the ongoing development of the next generation DNA sequencing market in an effort to predict exactly which factors will play a role in determining who will ultimately succeed. This will be accomplished through an analysis incorporating a combination of historical precedents in this industry and traditional market theories. The goal is to produce a set of dimensions along which to judge the current and future participants in this market in order to determine which are most likely to succeed.<br>by Joseph Graham.<br>S.M.

This master thesis explores how the blockchain technology might affect the capital market, a market with an established role in our current society. This exploration is conducted by a literature study and an interview study with participants within the capital market, in order to gather several opinions and experiences of the technology. The blockchain technology is a registration technology that provides a high degree of security and the possibility to cut of intermediaries. These are two suitable features for the capital market and especially those sections currently in need for development, for example the post trade area. The blockchain technology will likely develop the capital market but not change its foundation. Within the capital market there are a lot of aspects to consider, regulations are one of them. Currently there are only minor initiatives launched using the blockchain technology, what it will be used for in the future is not determined but all participants in this study agreed on that the technology will affect the capital market in some manner. Even if the technology itself will not succeed it has started a mental process for the actors within the capital market and highlight that they need to develop.

Stock market enthusiasts have hooped around Twitter to exchange their opinions about companies and new investment cases. New qualitative information and questioning discussions are carried out on a daily basis. Non or less frequent Twitter users are at risk of missing out of good and relevant information. This thesis investigates if sentiment analysis can be used to classify tweets published by stock market influencers as positive or negative. Can this machine learning approach be used within an application to present relevant information? The two machine learning algorithms Naïve Bayes and Support Vector Machine are applied to historical tweets. Their performance of classifying historical tweets published by ten stock market influencers are evaluated. The results shows accuracies ranging from 68.6 - 75.6% for Naïve Bayes and 76.1 -78.9% for the Support Vector Machine.

Mobile communication has been developed a lot from its creation. Third generation mobile communication which are well known as 3G is also the developed version of 1G, 2G, 2.5G. 3G is now been left behind by its successor 4G. But not every country of the world has yet adopted the 3G technology. The aim of our study is to analyze the determinant factors which influence the customers’ intention to adopt this innovation: 3G acceptance in Bangladesh where 3G is expected to be introducing soon. This study clarifies the factors which influence the customers to adopt a new innovation through the established theories about acceptance of innovation. Also the socio demographic factors which influence individuals to accept or reject the innovation. For this study we have used several well known theories, like, technology acceptance model (TAM) and Rogers’s diffusion of innovation (DOI) theories and we have showed the link between our study topic and the theories. We followed the quantitative research approach. We have constructed five hypotheses based on socio demographic factors and Diffusion of Innovation model. Our study were conducted through a questionnaire survey which was carried on 246 responded of different age, occupation and gender to find out what influence the consumers’ for accept a new innovation. The result of our study shows that, relative advantage is the key determinate factors to influence the consumers’ intention to adopt with new technology, where compatibility is also another determinant factor for switching to new technology but not influence the consumers’ to adopt with new technology. Awareness level is main influential determinant for adopting with new technology which we have founded in our study. We have proposed a model based on the findings of this study to adopt with new technological innovation which have not been introduced yet in the market. Future research needs to develop for a better understanding of the dynamic influences studied here after introducing the 3G technology in this market which will process the measurement of the core constructs used of proposed model. Keywords: Adoption, Communication process, Innovation, Technology, Uncertainty, 3G.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 156-160).<br>The lognormal forward-Libor and Swap market models were formulated to price caps and swaptions. However, the prices computed by these two models, under equivalent measures, are reported to be unequal. This study investigates this incompatibility by computing the prices of caps and swaptions under both the forward Libor measure and the forward Swap measure, in both the Libor and Swap market models. This was done by building a computer program that implements the Monte Carlo versions of the models, using data from caps and swaptions traded in the South African market. It was found that the actual price of caps, using the same implied volatility, were simulated accurately in both the Libor and Swap market models under both the forward Libor measure and the forward Swap measure. On the other hand, although the actual swaption prices were also simulated accurately in both the Libor and Swap market models under both the forward Libor measure and the forward Swap measure, a different implied volatility was used for each model. Therefore, the swaption price computed by the Libor market model was inconsistent with the price generated by the Swap market model; the two models are indeed incompatible. In order to price interest rate derivatives consistently, either the Libor market model or the Swap market model must be chosen. Since the Libor market model priced consistently under the two forward measures, and the time taken to simulate a price in the Libor market model was much less than in the Swap market model, the practice in the market to use the Libor market model in favour of the Swap market model is justified.

<p>The main hypothesis tested in this work is:</p><p>“It is possible to operate future Norwegian natural gas transportation systems at a level that is approximately optimal, technically and economically, with major stakeholders duly attending to requirements specified in the Norwegian statutory framework and in the implemented “Gas Directive.”</p><p>In order to test this hypothesis a multidisciplinary systems approach has been applied that includes analyses based on fluidmechanics and thermodynamics, economic theory and constrained by the prevailing and future legislative requirements. Operational experiences and empirical data also support the analyses.</p><p>It is assumed in this work that the introduction of the European Union’s Gas Directive will result in some new or altered legal requirements for how to conduct future Norwegian natural gas transport operations. The work has identified these new requirements and the work has suggested realistic solutions for how to conduct future operations. The author therefore concludes that the main hypothesis above is true provided five recommendations are observed.</p><p>The first recommendation is to implement into the Norwegian legislation provisions that make possible two core requirements of the Gas Directive. The first provision is to allow domestic gas sellers to compete in the downstream market by marketing and selling their gas individually. The second provision is to allow access to the transportation systems for those stakeholders who according to the Gas Directive are defined as “eligible customers” and “natural gas undertakings”, i.e. the future shippers.</p><p>The second recommendation follows as consequence of the latter provision and it recommends the future Norwegian regulatory regime to incorporate three main features. First, the transportation system is to be operated by an organization unit that has a transparent account on its transportation services or alternatively by an organization (i.e. the operator) that is functionally separated from and does not participate in any gas marketing and sales activities.</p><p>Secondly, and due to the fact that the Norwegian natural gas transportation systems are highly physically integrated it is recommended to have one and only one transportation system operator. Only one operator will be in the best position to enhance cost efficiency in daily operations, energy efficiency, resource management in daily operations, optimized utilization and optimized gas blending.</p><p>Thirdly, new and altered transportation services must be designed to meet the future needs and requirements of the shippers and these services must be offered to all shippers. The latter feature is elaborated in the third recommendation.</p><p>The third recommendation is to redefine and develop new transportation services that support shippers’ elastic demands for transportation services, both during periods of sufficient capacity as well as during peak load periods.</p><p>The above recommendation will imply that the future transportation services must comprise firm services i.e. booked and guaranteed transportation, and interruptible services i.e. transportation being interrupted either during off-peak periods or during peak periods as well as peak load services i.e. transportation services offered during peak load periods. The services must be offered to all shippers in an equal and impartial manner and be supported by a transparent and feasible tariff and toll regime. The toll regime must feature several properties that ensure recovery of fixed costs, cost efficiency in operations and maintenance, and rationing efficiency and this work recommends that the future toll regime shall be reasonable and fair and cost-based.</p><p>This work has identified that the existing toll regime does not feature all of the above properties and this work therefore suggests that the existing toll regime is re-designed and extended to include new elements. The first recommendation is to re-design the existing toll formula so that it acts as a two-part toll for firm capacity.</p><p>The fixed part of the toll shall act as a booking charge or capacity charge and it shall cover the financial costs based on the historic investment costs for the pipeline systems. It shall also include the fixed (annual) operations and maintenance costs, and any new costs for incremental new investments. The variable part of the toll may be set equal to average marginal costs per unit of gas, or be paid “in kind” as done in the current regime.</p><p>Further, a unitization of the fixed part of the firm toll is suggested here. The unitization shall include all pipelines that comprise the dry gas system. This means that the fixed part of the firm toll shall be calculated as an average fixed toll based on the historic investment costs for all the pipelines included. The unitization schema shall include the existing ship-or-pay contracts and any new firm contracts in the dry gas system.</p><p>The unitization will accomplish a possibility for eliminating specific shipper’s preferences for where to physically route gas in the dry gas system. This will subsequently improve rationing efficiency at high levels of utilization of the system when there is a concurrent need for auctioning of spare capacity. This is due to the physical behavior of the integrated system as any “internal” pre-booked routing in the system effectively may reduce the total throughput and thus a rationing efficient utilization of the system.</p><p>The above recommendations mean that the firm toll shall be charged as a “postage-stamp” toll for all pipeline systems comprising the dry gas systems. This means in practical terms that the dry gas system is to be considered as one zone only and pre-defined entry points and exit points must be established.</p><p>As a consequence of unitizing the toll for firm capacity either a unitization of the ownership structure must be done or a payment mechanism must be in force that secures the pipeline owners no extra profit or loss due to the introduction of unitization.</p><p>A new two-part toll formula that in its form is equal to the firm capacity toll is recommended for covering interruptible off-peak services. It is recommended to set the fixed part of the toll lower than the fixed part of the firm toll.</p><p>A new toll must be developed and be based on auctioning principles for allocation of spare capacity in the system during peak load periods. In order to facilitate the auction a tool is required for predicting the level of spare capacity that is available from time to time. This tool is also needed for optimizing the total throughput based on the different auction bids. In a similar manner as for the firm toll, the auction bids shall refer to a unitized dry gas system and the bids shall refer to transportation requests between any of the pre-defined entry and exits points. No shipper shall thus have a right to specify “internal” routing in the dry gas system.</p><p>The total revenues for the pipeline system owners shall not yield higher profits than the allowable regulated return and the balance shall be levied – at least in theory – the firm transportation shippers only. It is recommended to conduct such reallocations of revenues periodically.</p><p>The fourth recommendation is related to the necessity of changing documents and requirements, altering organizational forms and working processes, and how current incentive structures will be affected. All these issues will be influenced by an implementation of the Gas Directive. The work has briefly discussed these issues, but due to the many uncertainties no detailed assessments are conducted or recommendations given. The work has however indicated that a majority of the documents assessed in this work must be revised and updated to reflect the new requirements caused by liberalization. It is recommended here that the governing documents more clearly specify which new responsibilities the independent transportation system operator shall be assigned. A vital area of concern is how the transportation system operator and the shippers’ and sellers’ dispatching representatives shall communicate and perform their duties in the future. To day these functions are highly integrated, but liberalization will make them counterparts.</p><p>Further, a detailed specification of the future working processes for the independent transportation system operator must be clarified. This applies especially for the how to optimize the operations in a liberalized context. New and carefully designed incentives are needed for enhancing optimal usage of the network during capacity constraints.</p><p>The last recommendation regards allocative and dynamic efficiency in a liberalized context. In the prevailing regime the individual company acts normally both as shipper and pipeline system owner. This regime ensures proper incentives for cost efficient development of new capacity and cost efficient operations and this regime may continue to exist in a liberalized context. This regime will continue to create proper incentives for allocative and dynamic efficiently in a liberalized context as well.</p><p>Further, in order to enhance allocative and dynamic efficiency on the Norwegian Continental Shelf a centralized planning and development system must be in force in order to secure resource management and utilization of the significant conditions for economy of scale. The transportation system operator must have a close liaison with these functions in order to share information about operational experiences, capacity constraints and shadow prices on capacity of constraints.</p><p>Finally, the work has provided several observations that show how a systems approach is quite attractive for finding solutions to complex and multidisciplinary problems as considered in this work. The systems approach applied here consists of two engineering processes comprising well-defined activities. These activities comprise assessment of information, definition of effectiveness measures and creation of information models. Trade-offs are identified between contradicting requirements and the outcome of the processes is accurate descriptions of the systems operations in the prevailing context and to some extent also in a future context. The systems engineering processes have included several methodologies to solve specific tasks. Several analyses based on economic and technical theories are included, as imperative activities required for solving the problems.</p><p>The ultimate results of a systems approach are solutions that go beyond traditional and non-disciplinary approaches. This is particularly true if the objective is to find concrete and sound solutions applicable in a “real-world” context where specific stakeholders’ needs and legal requirements are present and well defined. Several observations are provided in the work showing how economic analyses are improved by combining them with technical theory, empirical data, operational experiences and last but not least: legal requirements.</p>

The applications of blockchain technology have grown rapidly in recent years. Governments, central banks, and companies are developing blockchain based projects to improve efficiency and remain competitive. In addition, the markets for cryptocurrencies have grown exponentially. It is therefore increasingly important to understand the market structure of these markets and understand how the design of blockchains affects the costs and usability. Such insights make it possible to gain new perspectives on financial issues, as aspects of their structures differ from traditional equity markets. First, I show that the intraday variation in liquidity on cryptocurrency exchanges resembles that of foreign exchange markets and that bitcoin is highly invenstible. Second, I give a new perspective on the discussion on the optimal tick size. I use the market setting on a cryptocurrency exchange, where the tick sizes are close to zero to show that small tick sizes are detrimental to market quality. I show that a dynamic tick size relative to the price of the asset may be more optimal than the "one tick size fits all" approach commonly found in stock exchanges. Third, I isolate and quantify market frictions and show that a long clearing and settlement time lowers the activities of arbitrageurs and leads to larger price differences. The results are relevant for central banks as they develop digital currencies to increase transaction speed. Lastly, I show that the bitcoin blockchain design inflates transaction volumes and adoption levels and obfuscates the transaction costs. This dissertation shows that the markets for cryptocurrencies can function as useful laboratories to provide new perspectives on long lasting finance issues. The findings have wide implications for users, companies, governments, banks, and regulators.

Submitted by Adrian Piegsa (adrian.piegsa@web.de) on 2016-02-28T11:19:27Z No. of bitstreams: 1 AdrianPiegsa_Final_thesis_library.pdf: 11729839 bytes, checksum: 4fc866e3cef09314669668595d8d20e0 (MD5)<br>Approved for entry into archive by Janete de Oliveira Feitosa (janete.feitosa@fgv.br) on 2016-03-04T19:07:25Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 AdrianPiegsa_Final_thesis_library.pdf: 11729839 bytes, checksum: 4fc866e3cef09314669668595d8d20e0 (MD5)<br>Approved for entry into archive by Marcia Bacha (marcia.bacha@fgv.br) on 2016-03-14T12:22:07Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 AdrianPiegsa_Final_thesis_library.pdf: 11729839 bytes, checksum: 4fc866e3cef09314669668595d8d20e0 (MD5)<br>Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-14T12:22:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 AdrianPiegsa_Final_thesis_library.pdf: 11729839 bytes, checksum: 4fc866e3cef09314669668595d8d20e0 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-01-28<br>The Brazilian start-up Local Wander plans to enter the tourism sector with a mobile application aiming to enable a new form of travel research. A web-based survey has been sent out to the start-up’s target audience (n: 236) in order to gain further relevant information for the designing of Local Wander’s market entry strategy. By applying the diffusion of innovation theory, this thesis could detect five different adopter categories, originally described by Rogers (1962), among Local Wander’s target audience based on their adoption intention. The Early Market was observed to be significantly bigger than the theory predicted. Research revealed four characteristics to be of significant impact on the adoption intention: Relative Perceived Product Advantage, Perceived Product Complexity, Compatibility with digital travel research sources, and the adopter’s Innovativeness towards mobile applications. Specific characteristics in order to identify Local Wander’s early users, the so called Innovators, were detected giving indications for further necessary company market research. Findings showed that the diffusion of innovation framework is a helpful tool for start-ups’ prospective decision making and market entry strategy planning.<br>A Start-up Brasileira Local Wander planeja entrar no setor de turismo através de um aplicativo para telefone celular, com o objetivo de oferecer um novo serviço de pesquisa para viajantes. Uma pesquisa, via internet, foi enviada a 236 pessoas identificadas como público-alvo para a Start-up a fim de obter mais informações relevantes para a criação da estratégia de entrada no mercado. Ao aplicar a teoria da difusão da inovação, esta dissertação pôde identificar cinco diferentes categorias de adotantes, como descrito originalmente por Rogers (1962), entre o pú- blico-alvo da Local Wander com base na sua intenção de adoção. O Mercado Inicial foi observado significativamente maior do que a teoria previu. A pesquisa, acima citada, revelou quatro características de forte impacto sobre a intenção de adoção do produto: Vantagem relativa do produto percebida pelo público-alvo, complexidade percebida, compatibilidade com recursos digitais de pesquisa de viagem e o quão inovador são os adotantes em relação aos aplicativos para celular. Características específicas para identificar os primeiros usuários do Local Wander, chamados de inovadores, foram detectados dando indicações para futuras pesquisas que sejam necessárias para a empresa. Os resultados encontrados mostram que a teoria da difusão da inovação é uma ferramenta extremamente útil para a tomada de decisão em Start-ups e para o desenvolvimento de estratégia para entrada no mercado.

Submitted by Adrian Piegsa (adrian.piegsa@web.de) on 2016-02-28T11:19:27Z No. of bitstreams: 1 AdrianPiegsa_Final_thesis_library.pdf: 11729839 bytes, checksum: 4fc866e3cef09314669668595d8d20e0 (MD5)<br>Approved for entry into archive by Janete de Oliveira Feitosa (janete.feitosa@fgv.br) on 2016-03-04T19:07:25Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 AdrianPiegsa_Final_thesis_library.pdf: 11729839 bytes, checksum: 4fc866e3cef09314669668595d8d20e0 (MD5)<br>Approved for entry into archive by Marcia Bacha (marcia.bacha@fgv.br) on 2016-03-14T12:22:07Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 AdrianPiegsa_Final_thesis_library.pdf: 11729839 bytes, checksum: 4fc866e3cef09314669668595d8d20e0 (MD5)<br>Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-14T12:22:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 AdrianPiegsa_Final_thesis_library.pdf: 11729839 bytes, checksum: 4fc866e3cef09314669668595d8d20e0 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-01-28<br>The Brazilian start-up Local Wander plans to enter the tourism sector with a mobile application aiming to enable a new form of travel research. A web-based survey has been sent out to the start-up’s target audience (n: 236) in order to gain further relevant information for the designing of Local Wander’s market entry strategy. By applying the diffusion of innovation theory, this thesis could detect five different adopter categories, originally described by Rogers (1962), among Local Wander’s target audience based on their adoption intention. The Early Market was observed to be significantly bigger than the theory predicted. Research revealed four characteristics to be of significant impact on the adoption intention: Relative Perceived Product Advantage, Perceived Product Complexity, Compatibility with digital travel research sources, and the adopter’s Innovativeness towards mobile applications. Specific characteristics in order to identify Local Wander’s early users, the so called Innovators, were detected giving indications for further necessary company market research. Findings showed that the diffusion of innovation framework is a helpful tool for start-ups’ prospective decision making and market entry strategy planning.<br>A Start-up Brasileira Local Wander planeja entrar no setor de turismo através de um aplicativo para telefone celular, com o objetivo de oferecer um novo serviço de pesquisa para viajantes. Uma pesquisa, via internet, foi enviada a 236 pessoas identificadas como público-alvo para a Start-up a fim de obter mais informações relevantes para a criação da estratégia de entrada no mercado. Ao aplicar a teoria da difusão da inovação, esta dissertação pôde identificar cinco diferentes categorias de adotantes, como descrito originalmente por Rogers (1962), entre o pú- blico-alvo da Local Wander com base na sua intenção de adoção. O Mercado Inicial foi observado significativamente maior do que a teoria previu. A pesquisa, acima citada, revelou quatro características de forte impacto sobre a intenção de adoção do produto: Vantagem relativa do produto percebida pelo público-alvo, complexidade percebida, compatibilidade com recursos digitais de pesquisa de viagem e o quão inovador são os adotantes em relação aos aplicativos para celular. Características específicas para identificar os primeiros usuários do Local Wander, chamados de inovadores, foram detectados dando indicações para futuras pesquisas que sejam necessárias para a empresa. Os resultados encontrados mostram que a teoria da difusão da inovação é uma ferramenta extremamente útil para a tomada de decisão em Start-ups e para o desenvolvimento de estratégia para entrada no mercado.

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2007.<br>Includes bibliographical references (leaves 99-105).<br>Web-based enterprise software - sometimes referred to as "Software as a Service" (SaaS) or "on demand software" - is a major wave of innovation that introduces a new technical and economic model to enterprise software. The defining characteristics of web-based enterprise software are: a fully web-based user interface, hosted application deployment, a SaaS-based business model, and the use of a service-oriented architecture for integration. This study analyzes a sample of 108 companies currently offering SaaS-based products. In total, 35 different application types and 20 different combinations of revenue models were counted. Apparently, the market is still in an experimental phase, and truly dominant designs haven't emerged yet. Gross margins for SaaS-oriented companies are lower than for traditional software product companies, but still attractive at around 85%. The entrepreneurial activity in the sector is significant. More than 50% of the companies in the sample were founded in or after 2002, and almost 30% in the last two years. Venture capital continues to be an important source of capital with 36% of the companies having received VC investment, but an equally large percentage of companies are boot-strapped, i.e. have no formal source of outside capital.<br>(cont.) The data about customer adoption of web-based enterprise software is not very clear. Most studies suggest that SaaS accounted for about 5% of the CRM market in 2006, with other application types below that level. In total, SaaS probably doesn't even account for 1% of the global software market. However, customer willingness to adopt SaaS is apparently rising very quickly, and specialized SaaS companies are experiencing rapid growth. From the data available, it can't be decided unambiguously if web-based enterprise software is a truly disruptive model or merely an incremental innovation. Most characteristics point to a new-market disruption, i.e. an innovation that will bring new functionality to current non-users of advanced enterprise software.<br>by Andreas Göldi.<br>S.M.M.O.T.

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2005.<br>Includes bibliographical references (leaves 90-91).<br>The objective of this thesis is to identify key factors that will produce further growth for NTT DoCoMo in Japan's mature mobile market. Since the early 1990s, the mobile phone market in Japan has grown rapidly, and competition for additional market share resulted in technological innovations like NTT DoCoMo's i-mode service to mobile carriers. Until recently, those innovations had leveraged the growth of the mobile phone industry. However, in 2004 the number of mobile phone subscribers exceeded 85 million and penetration rate reached 66.6%. Under such circumstances, the growth of the mobile carriers is gradually slowing. Moreover, there are threats which have the potential to change the current business model: mobile number portability, flat rate, new entrants, and globalization. In this thesis, I develop and organize frameworks that can be used by a company to produce further growth in a mature market by using traditional growth models. Then I analyze the sources for growth in mobile market and how the threats affect current dynamics in the mobile market. Finally I examine how the frameworks can work for NTT DoCoMo, and discuss the keys for growth in Japan's mature mobile market.<br>by Hiroyuki Oto.<br>S.M.M.O.T.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, Technology and Policy Program, 2002.<br>Includes bibliographical references (p. 163-169).<br>This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.<br>Software radio (SR) is a new technology where signal-processing software running over general-purpose hardware platforms performs the radio functions. This approach promises to solve the issues that traditional radios face today, enhance competitiveness and accelerate the development of wireless communications. Lots of expectations have been put on SR. Nevertheless, SR is a still developing technology whose capabilities and implications have not been deeply studied. This thesis puts some clarity on the impact of SR through four steps: first, considering the technical constraints of SR and how they may affect its evolution; second, evaluating the SR benefits assuming that there are neither regulatory nor economic hurdles; third, analyzing the impact of SR on the stakeholders; and fourth, discussing the current regulatory framework and proposing changes to reduce barriers to SR development. This thesis finds that SR capabilities may be applied to multiple commercial sectors. A/D converters and semiconductors capacity limit the full implementation of these scenarios. Battery life is a further problem for SR devices. SR disrupts the traditional wireless value chain: general-purpose processors will capture market share from dedicated semiconductors; traditional radio manufacturers will compete against general-purpose platforms vendors, operating system designers and software programmers. Such changes modify the upper layers. In the cellular industry, SR reduces deployment costs in at least 33% per standard and operation costs in at least 47% per standard, promotes VMNOs, modifies the business model of players like site owners and improves roaming. In the short-term, FCC certification rules may damage SR development and adoption. In the long-term, software radio might provide the means to relax the need for standardization and improve spectrum management policies.<br>by Maria Fuencisla Merino Artalejo.<br>S.M.

With a growing number of connected devices and an increased market penetration for wireless and cellular technologies, it has become more and more important to understand how new technologies can be leveraged in existing markets to further understand their overall impact on society as a whole. This master thesis aims to investigate potential business opportunities for a new communications technology within an existing market. This new technology, known as LTE-Broadcast, is an evolution of cellular 4G technologies, which allows content to be broadcasted throughout a cellular network. The thesis focuses on the digital signage market and uses it as context in which to investigate potential business opportunities. Digital signage, in short, refers to the use of digital screens as a medium for communication. This thesis therefore intends to understand how LTE-Broadcast can be leveraged as a viable business option within the digital signage market by perusing both a global and national perspective of the market. By investigating and analyzing a global perspective and a national perspective, in the form of the Swedish digital signage market, a clear picture of the value LTE-Broadcast can generate within digital signage is achieved. This, consequently, allows for the identification and conceptualizing of a viable business model for Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) while leveraging LTE-Broadcast in the digital signage market. The research, conclusively, allows for a clear understanding of the model’s scalability. Ultimately, the understanding of the technology’s viability within a given market will influence its successful adoption in society and its potential utilization by MNOs to create a sustainable competitive advantage within the digital signage market.