Performance of small and medium enterprises and the impact of environmental variables: evidence from Vietnam

thesis is developed from a real life application of performance evaluation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Vietnam. The thesis presents two main methodological developments on evaluation of dichotomous environment variable impacts on technical efficiency. Taking into account the selection bias the thesis proposes a revised frontier separation approach for the seminal Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model which was developed by Charnes, Cooper, and Rhodes (1981). The revised frontier separation approach is based on a nearest neighbour propensity score matching pairing treated SMEs with their counterfactuals on the propensity score. The thesis develops order-m frontier conditioning on propensity score from the conditional order-m approach proposed by Cazals, Florens, and Simar (2002), advocated by Daraio and Simar (2005). By this development, the thesis allows the application of the conditional order-m approach with a dichotomous environment variable taking into account the existence of the self-selection problem of impact evaluation. Monte Carlo style simulations have been built to examine the effectiveness of the aforementioned developments. Methodological developments of the thesis are applied in empirical studies to evaluate the impact of training programmes on the performance of food processing SMEs and the impact of exporting on technical efficiency of textile and garment SMEs of Vietnam. The analysis shows that training programmes have no significant impact on the technical efficiency of food processing SMEs. Moreover, the analysis confirms the conclusion of the export literature that exporters are self selected into the sector. The thesis finds no significant impact from exporting activities on technical efficiency of textile and garment SMEs. However, large bias has been eliminated by the proposed approach. Results of empirical studies contribute to the understanding of the impact of different environmental variables on the performance of SMEs. It helps policy makers to design proper policy supporting the development of Vietnamese SMEs.

The effects of foreign acquisition on domestic and export markets dynamics in China

Using recent data from the Chinese manufacturing industry and the generalised propensity score, this paper establishes economically significant causal effects of foreign acquisition on domestic and export markets dynamics.

Employment effects of privatisation and foreign acquisition of Chinese state-owned enterprises

This paper investigates the effects of domestic privatisation or foreign acquisition of Chinese State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) on employment growth, using firm level data for China and a combination of propensity score matching and difference-in-differences in order to identify the causal effect. Our results suggest that, controlling for output growth there is some evidence that domestic privatisation leads to contemporaneous reductions in employment growth compared to firms that did not undergo an ownership change. By contrast, there is some evidence that foreign acquisitions show higher employment growth in the post acquisition period than non-acquired SOEs.

Full and partial privatization in China:the labor consequences

This paper is the first paper to present findings evaluating the consequences for employees of full and partial privatization using difference-in-differences combined with propensity score matching. We find: (1) partial privatization causes job creation in contrast to full privatization, which destroys jobs, (2) full privatization causes higher labor productivity improvement than partial privatization, (3) wage increases occur only in partially privatized firms and (4) there are small increases in labor quality investment in both cases. The results suggest partial privatization exploits market discipline to induce labor productivity whilst simultaneously providing welfare improvements for labor. This is the ‘win-win’ outcome predicted by the ‘helping hand’ theory of government. Our results suggest that governments are likely to gain wider support for a program of partial privatization rather than full privatization.

Consumer trial, continuous use, and economic benefits of a retail service innovation:the case of the personal shopping assistant

Service innovations in retailing have the potential to benefit consumers as well as retailers. This research models key factors associated with the trial and continuous use of a specific self-service technology (SST), the personal shopping assistant (PSA), and estimates retailer benefits from implementing that innovation. Based on theoretical insights from prior SST studies, diffusion of innovation literature, and the technology acceptance model (TAM), this study develops specific hypotheses and tests them on a sample of 104 actual users of the PSA and 345 nonusers who shopped at the retail store offering the PSA device. Results indicate that factors affecting initial trial are different from those affecting continuous use. More specifically, consumers' trust toward the retailer, novelty seeking, and market mavenism are positively related to trial, while technology anxiety hinders the likelihood of trying the PSA. Perceived ease of use of the device positively impacts continuous use while consumers' need for interaction in shopping environments reduces the likelihood of continuous use. Importantly, there is evidence on retailer benefits from introducing the innovation since consumers using the PSA tend to spend more during each shopping trip. However, given the high costs of technology, the payback period for recovery of investments in innovation depends largely upon continued use of the innovation by consumers. Important implications are provided for retailers considering investments in new in-store service innovations. Incorporation of technology within physical stores affords opportunities for the retailer to reduce costs, while enhancing service provided to consumers. Therefore, service innovations in retailing have the potential to benefit consumers as well as retailers. This research models key factors associated with the trial and continuous use of a specific SST in the retail context, the PSA, and estimates retailer benefits from implementing that innovation. In so doing, the study contributes to the nascent area of research on SSTs in the retail sector. Based on theoretical insights from prior SST studies, diffusion of innovation literature, and the TAM, this study develops specific hypotheses regarding the (1) antecedent effects of technological anxiety, novelty seeking, market mavenism, and trust in the retailer on trial of the service innovation; (2) the effects of ease of use, perceived waiting time, and need for interaction on continuous use of the innovation; and (3) the effect of use of innovation on consumer spending at the store. The hypotheses were tested on a sample of 104 actual users of the PSA and 345 nonusers who shopped at the retail store offering the PSA device, one of the early adopters of PSA in Germany. Data were analyzed using logistic regression (antecedents of trial), multiple regression (antecedents of continuous use), and propensity score matching (assessing retailer benefits). Results indicate that factors affecting initial trial are different from those affecting continuous use. More specifically, consumers' trust toward the retailer, novelty seeking, and market mavenism are positively related to trial, while technology anxiety hinders the likelihood of trying the PSA. Perceived ease of use of the device positively impacts continuous use, while consumers' need for interaction in shopping environments reduces the likelihood of continuous use. Importantly, there is evidence on retailer benefits from introducing the innovation since consumers using the PSA tend to spend more during each shopping trip. However, given the high costs of technology, the payback period for recovery of investments in innovation depends largely upon continued use of the innovation by consumers. Important implications are provided for retailers considering investments in new in-store service innovations. The study contributes to the literature through its (1) simultaneous examination of antecedents of trial and continuous usage of a specific SST, (2) the demonstration of economic benefits of SST introduction for the retailer, and (3) contribution to the stream of research on service innovation, as against product innovation.

Do work placements improve final year academic performance or do high-calibre students choose to do work placements?

This study investigates whether the completion of an optional sandwich work placement enhances student performance in final year examinations. Using Propensity Score Matching, our analysis departs from the literature by controlling for self-selection. Previous studies may have overestimated the impact of sandwich work placements on performance because it might be the case that high-calibre students choose to go on placement. Our results, utilising a large student data set, indicate that self-selection is present, but the effects of a placement on student performance still have an impact. This robust finding is found to be of a remarkably similar magnitude across two UK universities.

Investment liberalisation, technology take-off and export markets entry:does foreign ownership structure matter?

Before and after its accession to the WTO in 2001, China has undergone a far-reaching investment liberalisation. As part of this, existing restrictions on foreign ownership structure and mandatory export and technology transfer requirements imposed on foreign firms have been lifted in a number of industries. Against this background we identify the causal effects of foreign acquisitions on export market entry and technology take-off and evaluate whether the level of foreign ownership plays a role in stimulating these changes. Using doubly robust propensity score reweighted bivariate probit regressions to control for the selection bias associated with firm level foreign acquisition incidences, we uncover strong but heterogeneous positive effects on export activity for all types of foreign ownership structure. We also find that minority foreign owned acquisition targets experience higher likelihood of R&D, providing evidence that joint ventures can contribute positively to China's "science and technology take-off".

Wealth shocks, credit-supply shocks, and asset allocation:evidence from household and firm portfolios

We use a unique dataset with bank clients’ security holdings for all German banks to examine how macroeconomic shocks affect asset allocation preferences of households and non-financial firms. Our analysis focuses on two alternative mechanisms which can influence portfolio choice: wealth shocks, which are represented by the sovereign debt crisis in the Eurozone, and credit-supply shocks which arise from reductions in borrowing abilities during bank distress. We document het- erogeneous responses to these two types of shocks. While households with large holdings of secu- rities from stressed Eurozone countries (Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, and Spain) decrease the degree of concentration in their security portfolio as a result of the Eurozone crisis, non-financial firms with similar levels of holdings from stressed Eurozone countries do not. Credit-supply shocks at the bank level (caused by bank distress) result in lower concentration, for both households and non-financial corporations. We also show that only shocks to corporate credit bear ramifications on bank clients’ portfolio concentration, while shocks in retail credit are inconsequential. Our results are robust to falsification tests, propensity score matching techniques, and instrumental variables estimation.

Firm-level productivity growth in Northern Ireland:the impact of exporting, innovation and public financial assistance

Motivated by the historically poor productivity performance of Northern Ireland firms and the longstanding productivity gap with the UK, the aim of this thesis is to examine, through the use of firm-level data, how exporting, innovation and public financial assistance impact on firm productivity growth. These particular activities are investigated due to the continued policy focus on their link to productivity growth and the theoretical claims of a direct positive relationship. In order to undertake these analyses a newly constructed dataset is used which links together cross-sectional and longitudinal data over the 1998-2008 period from the Annual Business Survey, the Manufacturing Sales and Export Survey; the Community Innovation Survey and Invest NI Selective Financial Assistance (SFA) payment data. Econometric methodologies are employed to estimate each of the relationships with regards to productivity growth, making use in particular of Heckman selection techniques and propensity score matching to take account of critical issues of endogeneity and selection bias. The results show that more productive firms self-select into exporting but there is no resulting productivity effect from starting to export; contesting the argument for learning-by-exporting. Product innovation is also found to have no impact on productivity growth over a four year period but there is evidence of a negative process innovation impact, likely to reflect temporary learning effects. Finally SFA assistance, including the amount of the payment, is found to have no short term impact on productivity growth suggesting substantial deadweight effects and/or targeting of inefficient firms. The results provide partial evidence as to why Northern Ireland has failed to narrow the productivity gap with the rest of the UK. The analyses further highlight the need for access to comprehensive firm-level data for research purposes, not least to underpin robust evidence-based policymaking.

Investigation of assessment methods for final year optometry undergraduates

This retrospective study was designed to investigate the factors that influence performance in examinations comprised of multiple-choice questions (MCQs), short-answer questions (SAQs), and essay questions in an undergraduate population. Final year optometry degree examination marks were analyzed for two separate cohorts. Direct comparison found that students performed better in MCQs than essays. However, forward stepwise regression analysis of module marks compared with the overall score showed that MCQs were the least influential, and the essay or SAQ mark was a more reliable predictor of overall grade. This has implications for examination design.

Quality-driven resource utilization methods for video streaming in wireless communication networks

This research is focused on the optimisation of resource utilisation in wireless mobile networks with the consideration of the users’ experienced quality of video streaming services. The study specifically considers the new generation of mobile communication networks, i.e. 4G-LTE, as the main research context. The background study provides an overview of the main properties of the relevant technologies investigated. These include video streaming protocols and networks, video service quality assessment methods, the infrastructure and related functionalities of LTE, and resource allocation algorithms in mobile communication systems. A mathematical model based on an objective and no-reference quality assessment metric for video streaming, namely Pause Intensity, is developed in this work for the evaluation of the continuity of streaming services. The analytical model is verified by extensive simulation and subjective testing on the joint impairment effects of the pause duration and pause frequency. Various types of the video contents and different levels of the impairments have been used in the process of validation tests. It has been shown that Pause Intensity is closely correlated with the subjective quality measurement in terms of the Mean Opinion Score and this correlation property is content independent. Based on the Pause Intensity metric, an optimised resource allocation approach is proposed for the given user requirements, communication system specifications and network performances. This approach concerns both system efficiency and fairness when establishing appropriate resource allocation algorithms, together with the consideration of the correlation between the required and allocated data rates per user. Pause Intensity plays a key role here, representing the required level of Quality of Experience (QoE) to ensure the best balance between system efficiency and fairness. The 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) system is used as the main application environment where the proposed research framework is examined and the results are compared with existing scheduling methods on the achievable fairness, efficiency and correlation. Adaptive video streaming technologies are also investigated and combined with our initiatives on determining the distribution of QoE performance across the network. The resulting scheduling process is controlled through the prioritization of users by considering their perceived quality for the services received. Meanwhile, a trade-off between fairness and efficiency is maintained through an online adjustment of the scheduler’s parameters. Furthermore, Pause Intensity is applied to act as a regulator to realise the rate adaptation function during the end user’s playback of the adaptive streaming service. The adaptive rates under various channel conditions and the shape of the QoE distribution amongst the users for different scheduling policies have been demonstrated in the context of LTE. Finally, the work for interworking between mobile communication system at the macro-cell level and the different deployments of WiFi technologies throughout the macro-cell is presented. A QoEdriven approach is proposed to analyse the offloading mechanism of the user’s data (e.g. video traffic) while the new rate distribution algorithm reshapes the network capacity across the macrocell. The scheduling policy derived is used to regulate the performance of the resource allocation across the fair-efficient spectrum. The associated offloading mechanism can properly control the number of the users within the coverages of the macro-cell base station and each of the WiFi access points involved. The performance of the non-seamless and user-controlled mobile traffic offloading (through the mobile WiFi devices) has been evaluated and compared with that of the standard operator-controlled WiFi hotspots.