Management Theses and Dissertations

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Open Access
Aligning institutional logics to enhance regional cluster emergence: Evidence from the wind and solar energy industries
(University of Oregon, 2009-12) Tilleman, Suzanne Gladys, 1971-
For over a century, researchers from diverse intellectual disciplines have tried to explain the emergence of regional business clusters. I contribute to research on cluster emergence by applying an institutional logics framework to model how cluster emergence is influenced by such factors as supportive institutional logics, knowledge spillover, labor pooling, and technological uncertainty. This study is guided by the research question: How do institutions, specifically, varying levels of a congruous institutional logic, affect regional cluster emergence? Using the passage of the 1978 Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA) as a catalyst for business cluster emergence in the renewable energy sector, this study examines the emergence of wind and solar energy manufacturing clusters. I test hypotheses about the positive influences of a congruous institutional logic across U.S. metropolitan statistical areas to see if the relative prevalence of a congruous institutional logic results in more firms and greater levels of clustering. For example, a pro-environmental sentiment among human populations aligns, or in other words, is congruous, with renewable energy manufacturing. I use fixed effects estimation to test several hypotheses regarding positive direct and moderating effects of institutional alignment on cluster emergence. I find that congruous institutional logics have a positive direct influence on clustering, and as technological uncertainty increases, this positive direct influence is enhanced. I find only partial support for the moderating influence of congruous institutional logics on the positive direct effect of positive externalities on clustering. This study contributes to practice and theory by building a model and supporting hypotheses on the influence of institutional fit on regional cluster emergence.
Open Access
An Alternative Alternative: The Road to Sustainable Transportation Law
(University of Oregon, 2013-10-03) Bloomfield, Jessica; Schlossberg, Marc
The dominance of motor vehicle use throughout America reflects a massive government intervention on behalf of automobiles. Congress directs billions of dollars into America's highway system annually, assuming that building new roadways is the best option to move people and goods from one place to another. These policies stand in direct contradiction to today's travel patterns. This research examines ways to improve federal law to achieve a more sustainable transportation future. First, it identifies the specific provisions in federal transportation law that inhibit the development of "low-build" transportation projects. Second, it describes challenges to halting roadway construction through litigation in federal court. Understanding the problems of federal transportation law and litigation sheds light on the ways to make positive change in the next federal surface transportation reauthorization. This research culminates in recommendations for how Congress can implement policies that require a comprehensive approach to transportation planning.
Open Access
An Analysis of the Problem of the Uninsured Motorist in Oregon
(University of Oregon, 1959-06) Rauch, Raymond C.
This paper is probably the first academic attempt to define the problem of the uninsured motorist in Oregon. It represents a piece of research in an area where little has been done to determine the scope and depth of the problem. The size of the problem is shown by the number of uninsured motorists involved in accidents, and the amount of damages incurred by individuals that become involved with uninsured motorists.
Open Access
Bicycle Boulevards: Statistical Analysis of the Presence of Bicycle Boulevards and Their Influence on Bicycle-to-Work Rates in Portland, Oregon
(University of Oregon, 2013-07-11) Khut, Rithy; Schlossberg, Marc
One of the top bicycling cities in the United States, Portland, Oregon has used a mixture of bicycle infrastructure to create a cohesive network for bicyclists. Building on their success, in 2010 Portland set forth on an ambitious path to envision their bicycle network in 2030. The primary goal of this plan is to attract the “Interested but Concerned” demographic of bicyclists through an increase of their bicycle boulevard network from 30 miles to 286 miles. However, there has been no direct link between bicycle boulevards and bicycle rates. Therefore, this study analyzes the influence of bicycle boulevards on bicycle-to-work rates using U.S. Census data with Geographic Information Systems data in concert with both ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions and a fixed effects (FE) regression. The OLS and FE models both indicate that there is a statistically significant relationship between bicycle boulevards and bicycle-to-work rates.
Open Access
Changing Concepts of Capital Gains Taxation
(University of Oregon, 1950-06) Griffin, Roy L.
A capital gain or loss results from the sale or exchange of a capital asset. It is the difference between the purchase price or acquisition value and the selling price or taxable exchange value of a capital asset. A capital asset is often defined as any asset held not in the ordinary course of the individual's business. Unless otherwise provided by law, capital assets are all assets except: (1) stock in trade or property held primarily for sale or customers; (2) depreciable property or real estate used in trade or business; (3) Federal, State, and Municipal obligations issued after arch 1, 1941, on a discount basis and payable without interest at a fixed maturity date; and (4) personal consumption goods.
Open Access
Conflict and Change in Category Identities: How Did the Internet Change What It Means To Be a Travel Agent?
(University of Oregon, 2013-07-11) Metzger, Matthew; Meyer, Alan
This research investigates evolution of the meanings assigned to the categories that designate and demarcate formal organizations of the same genre or type. I use grounded theory techniques to examine whether and how members and stakeholders relabel organizational categories and ascribe associated new meanings. Specifically, I uncover that what seemed to be an organizational category's change in direct response to the Internet was actually better explained as a confluence of gradual changes in response to socio-cultural, regulatory, and technological pressures. The empirical context for this study consists of the population of privately owned travel agencies as they confronted almost two decades of shifting consumer demands, the aftermath of deregulation, and the emergence of online competition. Data were gathered through interviews with agents and other individuals employed within the travel industry, archival accounts from various print and electronic sources, and nearly two decades of articles published in the category's primary trade journal. I pair discourse analysis of the agents' trade journal articles with other grounded theory techniques to build theory and document mechanisms through which both members and external stakeholders of an organizational category influence the meanings ascribed to a social construct.
Open Access
Constructing nanobusiness: The role of technology framing in the emergence of a commercial domain
(University of Oregon, 2009-09) Aten, Kathryn Jeanette
Entrepreneurs seeking to commercialize science-based technologies face considerable challenges including uncertain environments, policy makers and investors' ignorance, and public opposition and ethical concerns. Most research exploring the emergence of technologies assumes the existence of accepted uses or products, despite the fact that efforts to commercialize science-based technologies often begin before specific applications exist. We have little empirical evidence of how individuals and organizations influence the earliest development of technologies. To address this gap, I conduct a real-time, seven-year, qualitative study of the nanotechnology venture investing community. The study draws on extensive archival data, participant observation of a complete series of annual nanotechnology investing conferences, and case studies of the three venture capital (VC) firms specializing in nanotechnology through the period of the study. The cases are based on semi-structured and website archives. I document the emergence of competing nanotechnology frames in the period prior to the identification of product applications. I identify three sequential activities of nanotechnology business proponents: constructing a socio-semiotic space, positioning as experts within the space, and translating scientific, opposition and futuristic discourse for a target audience. I introduce the concept of a socio-semiotic space and develop a model reflecting the three activities to explain the process through which technology proponents project a business frame to support the commercialization of science-based technologies. This dissertation contributes to our knowledge of technology evolution by focusing on the understudied period of early emergence and the sociopolitical process of technology framing. I contribute to our knowledge of how science discoveries become the basis for fields of commercial activity. The findings of this dissertation provide knowledge that can assist business people and policy makers seeking to develop science- based technologies and the fields that emerge around them.
Open Access
Credit Insurance as an Aid to the Export Trade of the United States
(University of Oregon, 1925-07) Marshall, Hardwood Leon
It is the purpose of this thesis to discuss the service offered American exporters by credit insurance companies in the United States, and to analyze this service in the light of the statements made by its advocates that it is an important aid to the exporter in the granting and extension of credit. The first part of this thesis deals with export trade methods and an analysis of the credit risk involved. The second part deals with the history and development of credit insurance in the United States and an analysis of the service offered by credit insurance companies. The third part deals with an evaluation of this service.
Open Access
A Critical Survey of the Orginization and System of Accounts Used in Lane County
(University of Oregon, 1934-06) Kimberling, Delbert O.
The purpose of this study is to make a critical survey of the organization and system of accounts used in Lane County and to offer a constructive criticism thereof. The system of accounts now in use in Lane County appears to be inadequate to serve the needs of the public. It fails to provide information which the public has a right to demand, and it fails to give a true condition of county finances. There has been some awakening in public conscience to this condition of affairs. Taxpayers, who once were content to passively pay their assessments, mildly complain that they were too high, and blindly hope that next year they would be lower, have begun to realize that they are entitled to know where their money goes and to be assured that municipal business is conducted properly and honestly. At the 1929 session of the Legislature of the State of Oregon, House Bill No.238, an excerpt from which follows, was passed and became a part of the General Laws of Oregon on June 4, 1929.
Open Access
The Development and Present Status of Corporate Disclosure
(University of Oregon, 1953-06) Sorenson, Kimball J.
This thesis deals primarily with only one of the several forms of business organizations. It has to do with the cooperative form and to a large extent with those cooperations of larger size where the capital investment is relatively high and where there is not usually an intimate relationship between those who own the business from those who manage and operate it. More specifically, the subject matter is a particular problem which has arisen in connection with the corporate form. This problem concerns the disclosure by management to stockholders, bondholders, and those who are interested in becoming such, of the pertinent, vital information about the financial condition and operating results of the business which such persons are entitled to have. The roots of the problem go deep and wide in our economy's. They affect many of us directly and individually because of the widespread ownership of securities. They affect most of us a bit less directly but, nevertheless, materially because of the influence they have upon employment and upon the availability of many things which come to us through the effective operation of large-scale business. They affect the nation as a whole, because the nation’s security and progress are closely tied to an efficient productive capacity and to the welfare and satisfaction of its individual members.
Open Access
Elaborating a Model of Cultural Exchange: An Investigation into the Relationship Between Organizational Cultures and the Adoption of Environmental Certified Management Standards
(University of Oregon, 2016-10-27) Boren, Brooke; Howard-Grenville, Jennifer
In this dissertation, I investigate how organizations understand and apply shared meanings of sustainability. Integrating recent theoretical developments regarding organizational culture with findings from prior literature suggesting that corporate codes can be effective instruments for shaping employee behavior, I describe the flexible exchange of cultural meanings and practices between organizations and their environment with respect to the adoption of environmental certified management standards (ECMS). Taking an inductive, mixed methodological approach, I first use cultural consensus modeling survey techniques to analyze the types of situations vineyard managers in Oregon and Washington categorize as sustainable management conventions and the consistency of these categorizations among those organizations that have adopted ECMS and those organizations that have not. I then draw on interview and archival data to gain deeper insight into the survey findings, focusing on the nature of the relationship between the adoption of ECMS and managerial knowledge around shared meanings and practices regarding sustainability. I find that the adoption of ECMS is associated with an alignment among organizations regarding how they understand and apply sustainability, with three characteristics enhancing the effectiveness of ECMS in cultivating alignment: detailed practice descriptions, demanding objectives to achieve and maintain, and industry specificity. I further uncover that key activities involving the interaction of ECMS and ECMS members facilitate this alignment in cultural meanings and practices surrounding sustainability. From these findings, I develop a grounded conceptual model of cultural exchange, describing how organizations serve varying roles in the cultural exchange process and how each role leverages a set of specific mechanisms to facilitate the adaptation, generation, and transfer of existing and new cultural meanings and practices between organizations drawing on a shared cultural repertoire. The findings from this study contribute to enhancing our theoretical understanding of organizational culture as an open system through a more complex, intentional, and hierarchical account of cultural exchange, as well as develop insight into how the substantive adoption of ECMS practices is associated with alignment among organizations regarding cultural meanings and practices regarding a salient issue in an industry, such as sustainability.
Open Access
Essays on Product Variety in Retail Operations
(University of Oregon, 2019-09-18) Yazdani, Alireza; Çil, Eren
Thanks to technological advances in the past few decades, firms find product variety a more viable and hopefully a more profitable strategy than before. In this two-essay dissertation, I employ analytical models to investigate the effects of emerging operations concerning product variety on firm profits and consumer surplus. In my first essay, I analyze a two-stage game to study product-design and price competition between two mass-customizing firms that serve consumers with varying tastes. By comparing equilibrium results in settings with and without mass customization, I establish that competition with customization may lead to lower profits and consumer surplus. In my second essay, I study sample boxes which potentially create value by helping consumers resolve their uncertainties regarding different product varieties more efficiently. I show that when a firm offers a sample box, consumers obtain equal or higher net expected surplus while the firm's expected profit may decrease. I also show that a firm can reverse the potential adverse profit impact of selling sample boxes by introducing an optimally specified future credit. This dissertation includes previously unpublished co-authored material.
Open Access
Establishing Reputation on the Warsaw Stock Exchange
(University of Oregon, 1999-08) Standifird, Stephen Scott
During 1989, East Central Europe witnessed one of the most remarkable transformations in socio-political history. The economic transformation that followed represents one the most remarkable economic transitions in modern history. In Poland, the Warsaw Stock Exchange has greatly facilitated the transition from a centrally controlled to a market-based economy. Still, the general youthfulness of the Warsaw Stock Exchange erodes the ability of individual firms traded on the exchange to establish a positive reputation with investors. This dissertation investigates how firms traded on the Warsaw Stock Exchange establish reputation with investors despite the youthfulness of the exchange. To address this topic, a general model of organizational reputation formation is developed. The model presented suggests that the individual firm can establish itself as reputable through the mechanisms of performance, signaling and legitimation. The general model is used to develop specific hypotheses concerning how firms traded on the Warsaw Stock Exchange establish reputation with investors. Two separate analyses are conducted to test the hypotheses. The first analysis looks at all firms traded on the Warsaw Stock Exchange as of the end of 1996 while the second analysis looks specifically at the reputation of firms immediately following the issuing of new shares. The results provide mixed support for the hypotheses. However, the results suggest an important role for financial performance, ownership structure and the use of international brokers during the issuing of new shares, each relating to the mechanisms of performance, signaling and legitimation, respectively. Thus, each of the mechanisms identified in the general model of organizational reputation formation appears to have some influence in shaping the reputation of the firm.
Open Access
Explore with Strangers, Exploit with Friends: Organizational Ambidexterity and Networks in Successful Technology Commercialization
(University of Oregon, 2013-10-10) Earle, Andrew; Russo, Michael
This dissertation seeks to relieve theoretical tension between organizational ambidexterity and network perspectives by developing a contingent model of firm-level exploration and exploitation. The central proposition of this model is firms need to both effectively explore and exploit to succeed but that inter-organizational network features supporting one of these activities are detrimental to the other. This model indicates firms can resolve this apparent paradox by configuring their networks contingent on the particular goals of these networks. In the context of technology commercialization, I hypothesize firms should benefit by configuring their inter-organizational networks to gather novel information when seeking to discover new technologies but gather redundant information when seeking to bring these new discoveries to market. I test these hypotheses with a unique panel data set of firms active in publishing, patenting, and commercializing technologies in the field of green chemistry. My empirical results largely support these hypothesized relationships.
Open Access
Federal Credit Unions: Growth and Operations, 1934—1961
(University of Oregon, 1963-06) Lewis, James Wilson
This study deals with federal credit unions on a national basis. It attempts to answer such questions as the following: what is a federal credit union? Where does the Federal Credit Union stand, as a financial institution, in our present day economy? Are there economies of scale in the larger credit unions’ operations? Should there be a tax upon the earnings of federal credit unions similar to the tax upon earnings of other financial institutions (such as commercial banks and savings and loan associations)? For what purpose do credit unions lend? This study also analyzes Federal Credit Union growth and operations. It attempts to point out the significant changes that have taken place in the Federal Credit Union since 1934. The method of presentation in this study is both historical and statistical. And the analysis of statistical data the emphasis is predominantly on developments in recent years.
Open Access
Great Expectations and Dodgy Explanations
(University of Oregon, 2012) Krause, Alan; Krause, Alan; Parmigiani, Anne
How do organizations assess and explain their performance? Prior studies have attempted to demonstrate that, like individuals, organizations take credit for good performance and blame poor performance on influences in their environment. However, these studies have found only a weak relationship between performance and attribution at the level of the firm. This dissertation seeks to elucidate this relationship by conceptualizing firms as social agents and by combining aspiration and attribution theory for the first time at the level of the firm. Analysis of performance explanations by large, public manufacturing firms in 2004 and 2005 revealed that firms' performance explanations correlated with their cognitive experiences of success and failure. These findings further understanding of organizational cognition, attribution, and image management.
Embargo
Identity Work Through Prosocial Certifications in Hybrid Organizations
(University of Oregon, 2024-08-07) Cha, Hyeonjin; Russo, Mike
In this dissertation, I explore the role of prosocial certifications in the identity work of leaders within hybrid organizations. Existing literature has primarily emphasized the impact of these certifications on external legitimacy but has given less attention to their influence on internal dynamics. This study addresses this gap by investigating how these certifications guide internal identity alignment. Through qualitative methodologies using Certified B Corporations as an empirical setting, my research reveals that leaders initially engage in relational identity work for themselves, using prosocial certifications to deepen their understanding of their roles within the hybrid organizational context. This personal identity work is then leveraged into relational, discursive, and material identity work aimed at aligning and motivating employees. By demonstrating how these aspects of identity work are interlinked to one another and guided by certifications, this study contributes to the theoretical understanding of identity work by providing a detailed analysis of how certifications facilitate the integration of blended missions within hybrid organizations. This dissertation enriches the organizational identity literature by showcasing the multifaceted utility of prosocial certifications in enhancing internal cohesion and advancing social responsibility.
Open Access
Imported Mothers and Subsidized Love: An Analysis of U.S. Labor Policy and Rights for Domestic Workers
(University of Oregon, 2016-10-27) Ohia, Emilee; Yarris, Kristin
Over the last several decades, economic and cultural shifts in the United States have created an increasing demand for domestic labor, and data shows that these jobs have largely been filled by women of color, many of whom are immigrants who may or may not have documented legal status. Despite the growing importance of this industry, domestic workers have historically and intentionally been excluded from most federal and state labor rights and regulation, which has resulted in substandard working conditions, exploitation, and abuse for workers in this industry. This research traces the gendered and racialized legislative exclusion, and analyzes recent state efforts to enact policies extending labor rights to domestic workers. It concludes with recommendations for the role of advocacy in pushing for legislative change, and for bridging the gap between policy and enforcement.
Embargo
Inequality in Shared Micromobility: Global, National, and Local Perspectives
(University of Oregon, 2024-08-07) Meng, Sian; Brown, Anne
Shared micromobility systems, such as shared bicycles and e-scooters, have seen substantial global growth over the past decade. Although these systems offer affordable, flexible, and environmentally friendly transportation options, their rapid proliferation has raised significant equity concerns. The unequal distribution of shared micromobility services may limit access for the transportation disadvantaged, which could exacerbate the inequalities in the existing transportation system. This dissertation examines inequalities in shared micromobility through three studies at global, national, and local scales. The global-level study utilized world city theory to analyze the establishment and expansion of shared micromobility companies worldwide and employed mixed methods to explain what leads to the inequality in system distribution across cities. This study reveals that shared micromobility industries are associated with the world cities of ride-hailing, advanced producer services, and startups. Factors such as low demand for shared micromobility, unfriendly regulatory environments, and negative public and governmental attitudes towards shared micromobility are the major barriers to the adoption of shared micromobility systems at the city level. The national-level study examines the effects of policies aimed at equalizing resources and opportunities on vehicle and trip inequalities within shared micromobility systems in the US. Resource-equalizing policies for shared micromobility aim to equalize the distribution of shared micromobility vehicles, which directly alleviates inequalities in vehicle distribution and indirectly lessens trip distribution inequalities. In contrast, opportunity-equalizing policies subsidize people with less capability to use shared micromobility, such as low-income, unbanked, and non-tech-savvy people. However, policies for equal opportunity are less effective in addressing inequalities in shared micromobility. The local-level study investigates the impact of introducing shared e-scooters on existing transportation modes—bikeshare, railway, bus, taxi, and ride-hailing—in Chicago’s transportation equity priority areas, where residents face increased mobility barriers. The introduction of shared e-scooters results in distinct effects on different transportation modes between equity priority and non-equity priority areas. In the equity priority area, shared e-scooters significantly boost bikeshare usage and reduce taxi usage. In contrast, in the non-equity priority area, shared e-scooters notably reduce trips by bikeshare, railway, and taxis, but increase ride-hailing trips.
Open Access
Internally Generated Factors Affecting Expansion of Aluminum Fabrication Operations in the Pacific Northwest
(University of Oregon, 1963-12) Burrow, Robert Loveland
this thesis is basically an analysis of the industrial market for aluminum in the Pacific Northwest. As such it does not include many of the variables that would have to be examined in order to determine the profitability of expansion of aluminum fabricating facilities in the region. The rather important factor of transportation cost is touched on lightly, and the other factors, such as labor costs and local taxation have not been discussed at all. The prime purpose of the study was not to make a thorough analysis of the northwest economy, but, instead, to examine and analyze the principal uses of aluminum in the two state area in hope of being able to establish the locally generated need for a greater supply of raw materials for aluminum product manufacturers. It was necessary to set some geographic limitation on the market in question and, since the bulk of the heavy industry in the Pacific Northwest is located in the states of Oregon and Washington, with the majority being in the latter, it was dedicated that these two states would comprise the area under study. Further limitations were necessary in order to adequately define the demand for aluminum. If all industrial consumers were considered, the considerable amount of double counting would result, so a “consumer of aluminum closed quote has been defined as any firm manufacturing a finished product from aluminum which is, at the time of completion, ready for its final use. Thus, the definition includes the manufacturer of cast aluminum parts, but omits a contractor who places already finished aluminum windows into a new dwelling.