This dissertation consists of three essays on strategic and tactical issues in product design. The first essay presents a dynamic investment game in which firms that are initially identical develop assets which are specialized to different market segments. The model assumes there are increasing...

This thesis contains three separate essays that deal with word of mouth. In the first essay, "Promotional Chat on the Internet," we analyze the firms' incentives to anonymously supply positive reviews of products in chat rooms and other recommendation sites. This, in turn, lowers the credibility...

This thesis consists of five related essays which explore new approaches to help design successful and profitable new products. The primary focus is the front end of the process where the product development team is seeking improved input from customers and improved ideas for developing products...

Essay One: Explaining the Start and Fizzle of Organizational Change: Co-evolving Process and Content The theme that sustaining efforts to change is difficult appears in many guises throughout the organizations. The tendency for change processes to run out of energy and momentum is widely...

Essay One The Impact of Shortages on Push-Pull Production Systems This paper explores the impact of endogenous customer demand on supply chain instability. It investigates how a semiconductor manufacturer's hybrid push-pull production system responds to customer demand, when inventory...

The recent surge in the globalization of markets in various industries has brought global brands to the attention of consumers worldwide. Just as information connects consumers across geographical borders in seconds, globalization is a common stream among many industries, which leads consumers...

Technology transitions require the formation of a self-sustaining market through alignment of consumers' interests, producers' capabilities, infrastructure development, and regulations. In this research I develop a broad behavioral dynamic model of the prospective transition to alternative fuel...