Nonmarket performance: Evidence from U.S. electric utilities

Building on a framework that assesses the attractiveness of ‘political markets’ – where firms transact over public policies with government policy-makers – we develop hypotheses regarding the success or performance of firms’ nonmarket strategies. We propose that the ability of firms to gain more favorable policy outcomes is increasing in the degree of rivalry among elected politicians; the firm’s recent experience with policy-makers; and the opportunity to learn from other firms’ recent experiences; and is decreasing in the degree of rivalry from competing interest groups and the resource base of regulatory agencies. Using data on regulatory filings for rate increases made by the population of U.S. privately-owned electric utilities over a 13 year period, we find empirical support for our arguments.Nonmarket strategy, lobbying, Electric utilities

Policy Risk and Private Investment in Ontario’s Wind Power Sector

Even though governments may adopt favourable regulatory policies for renewable power generation, their ability to encourage private sector investment depends also on the presence of regulatory governance institutions that provide credible long-term commitments to potential investors. In the case of Ontario we contend that, despite large market potential and comparatively strong regulatory incentive policies, weak regulatory governance is one factor that has accounted for the challenges in attracting and implementing large scale private investment in power generation at a reasonable cost. We find empirical support for our arguments in a unique survey of 63 wind power firms that assessed private sector opinions about the investment environment for renewable energy in Ontario. Compared to a range of factors, firms rated the stability of regulatory policy among the weakest aspects of Ontario?s business environment. However, policy stability ranked among the most important factors in firms? assessments of the attractiveness of alternative jurisdictions in their location decisions. Subsequent interviews revealed that firms have responded to this risk in Ontario by explicitly pricing it into wind project financial models – implying higher wind power prices for ratepayers – and by directing investment funds to other jurisdictions. We argue that policy stability in Ontario may be improved by devolving greater decision-making authority to regulatory agencies in the energy sector and by strengthening their institutional independence.

Mono-Type TFT Logic Architectures for Low Power Systems on Panel Applications

This paper introduces novel 7-T pseudo-CMOS for enhancement mode and 6-T pseudo-CMOS for depletion mode inverter circuit architectures. The designs are built around mono-type of TFTs and consume less power consumption than existing 4-T pseudo-CMOS circuits. In addition, they provide steep transfer curves, along with embedded control for compensation of device parameter variations. Analysis of the transient behavior for the various circuit architectures is presented, providing quantitative insight into capacitive loading taking into account the effects of overlap capacitances

Institutional complementarity and substitution as an internationalization strategy: the emergence of an African multinational giant

Research Summary: We examine the internationalization decisions made by one of Africa's most successful companies, South African Breweries, as it underwent a period of aggressive expansion. We see processes of both institutional complementarity and substitution at different phases and with different motives. At first it sought countries that played to its strength, namely the knowledge of doing business in environments of institutional uncertainty, but later it pursued an institutional diversification strategy whereby it attempted to minimize its institutional risk exposure. As it became larger, its aspirations increased too, and its over-exposure to emerging market institutional risk saw it engage in institutional substitution into advanced countries. Through this phased international process, it was able to develop its internal assets, and this enabled the moves into developed markets. Managerial summary: We demonstrate that firms can exploit their knowledge of ‘weak’ institutional settings and turn it into a source of advantage as they internationalize into locations with similar institutional ‘weaknesses.’ Using the case of one of Africa's most successful multinational enterprises, we illustrate the value gained from initially capitalizing upon institutional complementarity (utilizing the comparative advantage linked to institutional know-how) by exploiting the experience of the home country's environment into similar settings. Over time and through learning-by-doing, pressure arose to diversify the risk linked with over-exposure to institutional uncertainty and country risk, and this was associated with the process of institutional substitution into more advanced countries. We see emerging multinational learning and building its capabilities by leveraging its understanding of its home country institutional environment

Design of Pixellated CMOS Photon Detector for Secondary Electron Detection in the Scanning Electron Microscope

This paper presents a novel method of detecting secondary electrons generated in the scanning electron microscope (SEM). The method suggests that the photomultiplier tube (PMT), traditionally used in the Everhart-Thornley (ET) detector, is to be replaced with a configurable multipixel solid-state photon detector offering the advantages of smaller dimension, lower supply voltage and power requirements, and potentially cheaper product cost. The design of the proposed detector has been implemented using a standard 0.35 μm CMOS technology with optical enhancement. This microchip comprises main circuit constituents of an array of photodiodes connecting to respective noise-optimised transimpedance amplifiers (TIAs), a selector-combiner (SC) circuit, and a postamplifier (PA). The design possesses the capability of detecting photons with low input optical power in the range of 1 nW with 100 μm × 100 μm sized photodiodes and achieves a total amplification of 180 dBΩ at the output.Peer Reviewe

Risk propensity in the foreign direct investment location decision of emerging multinationals

A distinguishing feature of emerging economy multinationals is their apparent tolerance for host country institutional risk. Employing behavioral decision theory and quasi-experimental data, we find that managers’ domestic experience satisfaction increases their relative risk propensity regarding controllable risk (legally protectable loss), but decreases their tendency to accept non-controllable risk (e.g., political instability). In contrast, firms’ potential slack reduces relative risk propensity regarding controllable risk, yet amplifies the tendency to take non-controllable risk. We suggest that these counterbalancing effects might help explain observation that risk-taking in FDI location decisions is influenced by firm experience and context. The study provides a new understanding of why firms exhibit heterogeneous responses to host country risks, and the varying effects of institutions

Nonmarket performance: Evidence from U.S. electric utilities

Building on a framework that assesses the attractiveness of ‘political markets’ – where firms transact over public policies with government policy-makers – we develop hypotheses regarding the success or performance of firms’ nonmarket strategies. We propose that the ability of firms to gain more favorable policy outcomes is increasing in the degree of rivalry among elected politicians; the firm’s recent experience with policy-makers; and the opportunity to learn from other firms’ recent experiences; and is decreasing in the degree of rivalry from competing interest groups and the resource base of regulatory agencies. Using data on regulatory filings for rate increases made by the population of U.S. privately-owned electric utilities over a 13 year period, we find empirical support for our arguments

Gesture-based control of ImageJ using Leap sensors

This work forms part of our ongoing research into enhancing and improving microscopy and image processing technologies, and was one of two projects initiated to explore the potential of gesture-based interface control. This project focused on gesture-based manipulation of the ImageJ package, whose functionality can be extended through macros and plugins. In this case, additional plugins were developed to demonstrate the feasibility of interfacing ImageJ with a Leap Motion device