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- All Subjects: competition
- Creators: Berliner, David C.
- Resource Type: Text
Description
In competitive Taekwondo, Electronic Body Protectors (EBPs) are used to register hits made by players during sparring. EBPs are comprised of three main components: chest guard, foot sock, and headgear. This equipment interacts with each other through the use of magnets, electric sensors, transmitters, and a receiver. The receiver is connected to a computer programmed with software to process signals from the transmitter and determine whether or not a competitor scored a point. The current design of EBPs, however, have numerous shortcomings, including sensing false positives, failing to register hits, costing too much, and relying on human judgment. This thesis will thoroughly delineate the operation of the current EBPs used and discuss research performed in order to eliminate these weaknesses.
ContributorsSpell, Valerie Anne (Author) / Kozicki, Michael (Thesis director) / Kitchen, Jennifer (Committee member) / Electrical Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
The traditional action-response perspective has largely ignored the role of language in competitive dynamics. In this study, I treat language (i.e., word response) as an alternative way to react to rivals when a firm is attacked, in addition to no reaction and action-based reaction. Word response is a specific and public announcement of a focal firm’s potential move in reaction to a competitor’s word or action attack. To explore the underlying mechanism behind word responses, I aim to answer two major questions. The first question is under what situations are responders motivated to use words as competitive responses? For this question I emphasize characteristics of the action, the market, and the actor, using measures such as action type, market dependence of the responder, multimarket contact of the responder in the market, and the competitive aggressiveness of the actor. The second question is what kinds of responders are more likely to use words as competitive responses? For this question, I focus on responder characteristics, such as firm reputation, CEO tenure, and CEO duality. According to Porter’s competitive signaling theory, I argue that responders can use words in reaction to an attack in order to test the waters, deter rivalry, and demonstrate toughness because word responses require few resources, can be accomplished quickly, are reversible, while at the same time still carrying some commitment. Besides incorporating language into the action-response perspective, my dissertation also further integrates the upper-echelons perspective with competitive dynamics research, providing a more realistic and complete understanding of competitive engagement. I test my theory in the consumer electronics (CE) industry with 20 major global CE manufacturers between 2007 and 2014.
ContributorsGao, He (Author) / Cannella, Albert A. (Thesis advisor) / Yu, Tieying (Committee member) / Mesquita, Luiz (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
School choice reforms such as charter schools, vouchers, open enrollment, and private and public school tax credit donation programs have expanded throughout the United States over the past twenty years. Arizona’s long-standing public school choice system enrolls a higher percentage of public school students in charter schools than any state besides Washington D.C. A growing number of Arizona’s charter schools are managed by for-profit and nonprofit Education Management Organizations (EMOs). Advocates of school choice argue that free-market education approaches will make public schools competitive and nimble as parents’ choices place pressures on schools to improve or close. This, then, improves all schools: public, private, and charter. Critics are concerned that education markets produce segregation along racial and social class lines and inequalities in educational opportunities, because competition favors advantaged parents and children who can access resources. Private and for-profit schools may see it in their interest to exclude students who require more support. School choice programs, then, may further marginalize students who live in poverty, who receive special education services, and English language learners.
We do not fully understand how Arizona’s mature school choice system affects parents and other stakeholders in communities “on the ground.” That is, how are school policies understood and acted out? I used ethnographic methods to document and analyze the social, cultural, and political contexts and perspectives of stakeholders at one district public school and in its surrounding community, including its charter schools. I examined: (a) how stakeholders perceived and engaged with schools; (b) how stakeholders understood school policies, including school choice policies; and (c) what influenced families’ choices.
Findings highlight how most stakeholders supported district public schools. At the same time, some “walked the line” between choices that were good for their individual families and those they believed were good for public schools and society. Stakeholders imagined “community” and “accountability” in a range of ways, and they did not all have equal access to policy knowledge. Pressures related to parental accountability in the education market were apparent as stakeholders struggled to make, and sometimes revisit, their choices, creating a tenuous schooling environment for their families.
We do not fully understand how Arizona’s mature school choice system affects parents and other stakeholders in communities “on the ground.” That is, how are school policies understood and acted out? I used ethnographic methods to document and analyze the social, cultural, and political contexts and perspectives of stakeholders at one district public school and in its surrounding community, including its charter schools. I examined: (a) how stakeholders perceived and engaged with schools; (b) how stakeholders understood school policies, including school choice policies; and (c) what influenced families’ choices.
Findings highlight how most stakeholders supported district public schools. At the same time, some “walked the line” between choices that were good for their individual families and those they believed were good for public schools and society. Stakeholders imagined “community” and “accountability” in a range of ways, and they did not all have equal access to policy knowledge. Pressures related to parental accountability in the education market were apparent as stakeholders struggled to make, and sometimes revisit, their choices, creating a tenuous schooling environment for their families.
ContributorsPotterton, Amanda U (Author) / Powers, Jeanne M. (Thesis advisor) / Berliner, David C. (Committee member) / Fischman, Gustavo E. (Committee member) / Glass, Gene V (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017