@phdthesis{Dietz2011, author = {Dietz, Sebastian}, title = {Autoregressive Neural Network Processes - Univariate, Multivariate and Cointegrated Models with Application to the German Automobile Industry}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus-22524}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Passau}, year = {2011}, abstract = {Prediction of economic variables is a basic component not only for economic models, but also for many business decisions. Nevertheless it is difficult to produce accurate predictions in times of economic crises, which cause nonlinear effects in the data. In this dissertation a nonlinear model for analysis of time series with nonlinear effects is introduced. Linear autoregressive processes are extended by neural networks to overcome the problem of nonlinearity. This idea is based on the universal approximation property of single hidden layer feedforward neural networks of Hornik (1993). Univariate Autoregressive Neural Network Processes (AR-NN) as well as Vector Autoregressive Neural Network Processes (VAR-NN) and Neural Network Vector Error Correction Models (NN-VEC) are introduced. Various methods for variable selection, parameter estimation and inference are discussed. AR-NN's as well as a NN-VEC are used for prediction and analysis of the relationships between 4 variables related to the German automobile industry: The US Dollar to Euro exchange rate, the industrial output of the German automobile industry, the sales of imported cars in the USA and an index of shares of German automobile manufacturing companies. Prediction results are compared to various linear and nonlinear univariate and multivariate models.}, subject = {Nichtlineare Zeitreihenanalyse}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Pescher2011, author = {Pescher, Christian}, title = {Social Networks in New Product Forecasts and Marketing}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus-24348}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Passau}, year = {2011}, abstract = {Consumers interact with each other and within their social networks. Influentials have an overproportional influence on other consumers' preferences and choices, thus having relevant implications for product development, marketing planning and strategic marketing. An important question that previous research has not analyzed yet, is whether and how to capture their influence on other consumers in preference-based market forecasts. This study analyzes these aspects for a representative sample of the German mobile phone market. It finds that assigning higher weights to the preferences of influentials significantly increases forecast accuracy. Other chapters of this thesis analyze the role of brokers in consumer networks and the decision process seeding points in viral marketing campaigns.}, subject = {Marketing}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Karoly2007, author = {Karoly, Andrea}, title = {Investment Strategies under Uncertainty: Theory and evidence of preemption in case of geographical market entrance}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus-12000}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Passau}, year = {2007}, abstract = {This thesis develops an equilibrium framework for strategic exercise of geographical market entry option. The theoretical model analyses the impact of asymmetries of the competing firms such as follower entry barrier and asymmetric profitability on the optimal market entry timing and firm values. The duopoly model shows the existence of three types of equilibrium strategies and expresses the critical level of asymmetry which separates the equilibrium regions. The analysis proves that the softer competition does not force the stronger firm to enter the market at his preemption point and as a consequence the rent equalisation between the firms does not occur. However, it is also shown that the critical level of asymmetry is mitigated or strengthened by common economic factors such as the host market profit volatility and the interest rate. Extending the duopoly model to the oligopoly case the results present that each additional competitor delays the first market entrance compared to the duopolist leader preemption point. Hence, one additional competitor accelerates the first market entry if the number of competing firms excluding him is odd and has the reverse impact if it is even. It is further observed that continuation may disappear in some subgames of the market entry game in an oligopoly as a result of which no closed loop market entry strategy set exists. The equilibrium results of the theoretical models are tested empirically by applying the Cox proportional hazard model on entry behaviour of 61 retailers into 6 Eastern European countries from 1989 until 2005. The results explain why retailers entered certain markets earlier and why some firms succeeded more in seizing the entry opportunity. The results show that driven by the development of demand potential on the host market and by the intensity of competition, foreign retailers had a limited period of time - defined as the "window of opportunity" - to carry out their market entry.}, subject = {Auslandsinvestition}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Winter2013, author = {Winter, Elisabeth}, title = {Equity Style Indices and Liquidity in Europe}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus-27186}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Passau}, year = {2013}, abstract = {Contributing to the still scarce European evidence this thesis examines in detail different aspects of equity styles and systematic liquidity in Europe and their role with respect to European stocks and mutual funds. First, a consistent set of European style indices is outlined from which risk factors like market excess return, size, valuation and momentum, but also novel idiosyncratic risk and systematic liquidity factors are derived. The daily 2002 to 2009 time period examined contains the recent financial crisis. As based on a stochastic discount factor GMM based analysis, liquidity is found to help to price European stocks and a decrease in common liquidity during the recent period of market stress reveals the role of liquidity as a state variable of hedging concern to investors. Moreover, the risk factors including liquidity and idiosyncratic risk are found to be relevant in mutual fund performance evaluation as indicated by significant risk exposures of a set of mutual funds with European investment focus. However, regarding different models the risk-adjusted net performance of these funds is mainly found to be indistinguishable from zero, being in line with equilibrium models of fund performance. Furthermore, the dynamic abilities of fund managers with respect to liquidity and risk factor timing are examined by conducting unconditional as well as time-varying analyses based on a Kalman filter approach. The results reveal dynamics in the risk exposures of mutual funds, but evidence on daily risk factor timing is weak with respect to established risk factors as well as liquidity. Finally, the evidence that both liquidity and idiosyncratic risk affect the cross-section of asset returns suggests that both risk factors capture different return characteristics. As motivated by models of price discovery processes, liquidity might capture transaction costs, while idiosyncratic risk seems to capture effects of price discovery.}, subject = {Liquidit{\"a}t}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Anderl2014, author = {Anderl, Eva}, title = {Three Essays on Analyzing and Managing Online Consumer Behavior}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus-27453}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Passau}, year = {2014}, abstract = {Over the last two decades, the Internet has fundamentally changed the ways firms and consumers interact. The ongoing evolution of the Internet-enabled market environment entails new challenges for marketing research and practice, including the emergence of innovative business models, a proliferation of marketing channels, and an unknown wealth of data. This dissertation addresses these issues in three individual essays. Study 1 focuses on business models offering services for free, which have become increasingly prevalent in the online sector. Offering services for free raises new questions for service providers as well as marketing researchers: How do customers of free e-services contribute value without paying? What are the nature and dynamics of nonmonetary value contributions by nonpaying customers? Based on a literature review and depth interviews with senior executives of free e-service providers, Study 1 presents a comprehensive overview of nonmonetary value contributions in the free e-service sector, including not only word of mouth, co-production, and network effects but also attention and data as two new dimensions, which have been disregarded in marketing research. By putting their findings in the context of existing literature on customer value and customer engagement, the authors do not only shed light on the complex processes of value creation in the emerging e-service industry but also advance marketing and service research in general. Studies 2 and 3 investigate the analysis of online multichannel consumer behavior in times of big data. Firms can choose from a plethora of channels to reach consumers on the Internet, such that consumers often use a number of different channels along the customer journey. While the unprecedented availability of individual-level data enables new insights into multichannel consumer behavior, it also makes high demands on the efficiency and scalability of research approaches. Study 2 addresses the challenge of attributing credit to different channels along the customer journey. Because advertisers often do not know to what degree each channel actually contributes to their marketing success, this attribution challenge is of great managerial interest, yet academic approaches to it have not found wide application in practice. To increase practical acceptance, Study 2 introduces a graph-based framework to analyze multichannel online customer path data as first- and higher-order Markov walks. According to a comprehensive set of criteria for attribution models, embracing both scientific rigor and practical applicability, four model variations are evaluated on four, large, real-world data sets from different industries. Results indicate substantial differences to existing heuristics such as "last click wins" and demonstrate that insights into channel effectiveness cannot be generalized from single data sets. The proposed framework offers support to practitioners by facilitating objective budget allocation and improving team decisions and allows for future applications such as real-time bidding. Study 3 investigates how channel usage along the customer journey facilitates inferences on underlying purchase decision processes. To handle increasing complexity and sparse data in online multichannel environments, the author presents a new categorization of online channels and tests the approach on two large clickstream data sets using a proportional hazard model with time-varying covariates. By categorizing channels along the dimensions of contact origin and branded versus generic usage, Study 3 finds meaningful interaction effects between contacts across channel types, corresponding to the theory of choice sets. Including interactions based on the proposed categorization significantly improves model fit and outperforms alternative specifications. The results will help retailers gain a better understanding of customers' decision-making progress in an online multichannel environment and help them develop individualized targeting approaches for real-time bidding. Using a variety of methods including qualitative interviews, Markov graphs, and survival models, this dissertation does not only advance knowledge on analyzing and managing online consumer behavior but also adds new perspectives to marketing and service research in general.}, subject = {Internet}, language = {en} }