Management Theses and Dissertations

Russo, Michael Earle, Andrew 2013-10-10T23:18:36Z 2013-10-10T23:18:36Z 2013-10-10 http://hdl.handle.net/1794/13413 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. en_US University of Oregon All Rights Reserved. Business Strategy Innovation Networks Organizational Ambidexterity Technology Commercialization Explore with Strangers, Exploit with Friends: Organizational Ambidexterity and Networks in Successful Technology Commercialization Electronic Thesis or Dissertation Ph.D. doctoral Department of Management University of Oregon

Schlossberg, Marc Khut, Rithy 2013-07-11T19:58:23Z 2013-07-11T19:58:23Z 2013-07-11 http://hdl.handle.net/1794/12961 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. en_US University of Oregon All Rights Reserved. Bicycle boulevards Bicycle facilities Bicycling Portland Oregon Transportation planning Bicycle Boulevards: Statistical Analysis of the Presence of Bicycle Boulevards and Their Influence on Bicycle-to-Work Rates in Portland, Oregon Electronic Thesis or Dissertation M.C.R.P. masters Department of Planning, Public Policy and Management University of Oregon

Howard-Grenville, Jennifer Irwin, Jennifer Irwin, Jennifer 2012-10-26T04:00:47Z 2012-10-26T04:00:47Z 2012 http://hdl.handle.net/1794/12392 Institutions are generally assumed to be stable, but recent research has focused on how that stability may be overturned to create institutional change. The assumption of stability has led to a lack of research on the flip side of change, maintenance, even though we cannot fully understand change without understanding the forces change agents work against. By examining more than a century of American public library discourse, I develop the construct of core ideas and a model of the maintenance of these institutions. Core ideas are those institutionalized ideas at the heart of a field that act as touchstones of a field's work and identity. Like other institutions, core ideas may be both added to and subtracted from a field and require maintenance through reinforcement and reinterpretation to endure. The model of maintenance of core ideas shows how core ideas are maintained in the face of social and technological change through use, as actors draw on core ideas to justify or deny accounts of practice, which reinforces, reinterprets, or undermines existing or proposed core ideas. In developing a model of maintenance I also examine how core ideas illuminate the internal workings of institutional logics and explore how the multivocality of core ideas allows and even supports multiple logics within a field. en_US University of Oregon All Rights Reserved. Institutional Change Institutional Maintenance Institutional Theory Public Libraries The More Things Change, the More Things Stay the Same: Institutional Maintenance in the Face of Social and Technological Change in American Public Libraries, 1876-2006 Electronic Thesis or Dissertation

Tilleman, Suzanne Gladys, 1971- 2010-08-06T01:06:39Z 2010-08-06T01:06:39Z 2009-12 http://hdl.handle.net/1794/10595 xvii, 191 p. : ill. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. 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. Committee in charge: Michael Russo, Chairperson, Management; Jennifer Howard-Grenville, Member, Management; Alan Meyer, Member, Management; Glen Waddell, Outside Member, Economics en_US University of Oregon University of Oregon theses, Dept. of Management, Ph. D., 2009; Renewable energy sources Regional clusters Institutional logics Manufacturing Industrial districts Solar energy industries Wind energy industries Alternative energy Management Aligning institutional logics to enhance regional cluster emergence: Evidence from the wind and solar energy industries Thesis

Holloway, Samuel Scott, 1974- 2010-02-26T20:37:52Z 2010-02-26T20:37:52Z 2009-06 http://hdl.handle.net/1794/10222 xv, 228 p. : ill. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. This dissertation integrates economic and sociological approaches to network organizing to explain the structure and performance of network organizational forms. Previous theorizing from economics and sociology linked network organizational structure to "pairwise" or dyadic assessments of transaction efficiency and relational efficacy. Research based on these theories offered only partial understanding of network organizational performance because this work ignores the impact of multiple dyads interacting simultaneously, which occurs at the network level of analysis. This study integrates economic and sociological theories, treating them as interdependent explanations of network structure and performance. Theory is developed at the network level of analysis, which is necessary to explain the structure and performance of network organizations. Taking a network governance perspective, I formulate a theoretical model predicting the impact of exchange conditions upon the structure and performance of network organizations. I focus upon a specific variant of network organizations, "temporary interorganizational networks" (TINs), and develop and test hypotheses derived from transaction cost economics and from the sociological perspective focusing on relational embeddedness. I test these hypotheses by constructing a unique dataset containing comprehensive financial, organizational, and performance information regarding a population of network organizations during the years 2000-2007. Each observation in this dataset constitutes a network form designed to address a specific project, and these observations include both those networks that succeeded and those that failed. The study's design overcomes a limitation of prior cross-sectional analyses: Most prior analyses treat network ties as durable and assume that all ties add value to an organization. This assumption is challenged by empirical findings suggesting that the value of a relational tie decays rapidly with time. In contrast, the transient relationships common in TINS repeatedly form and dissolve over time. By observing both the formation and dissolution of ties and both successful and unsuccessful interorganizational networks, this study is among the first to test the full range of network organizational performance. My results indicate that exchange conditions significantly affect both the structure and performance of the network organizational form. Additionally, analyses reliably predict failure of the network form, which amends and extends prior theory. Committee in charge: Alan Meyer, Chairperson, Management; Michael Russo, Member, Management; Anne Parmigiani, Member, Management; William Starbuck, Member, Management; Renee Irvin, Outside Member, Planning Public Policy & Mgmt en_US University of Oregon University of Oregon theses, Dept. of Management, Ph. D., 2009; Network Organizational structure Interorganizational networks Management When does the network organizational form fail? Examining the impact of project characteristics on organizational structure and performance Examining the impact of project characteristics on organizational structure and performance Thesis