Graduation Semester and Year

2007

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in Management Science

Department

Information Systems and Operations Management

First Advisor

Gregory Frazier

Abstract

If the reader would imagine a 500 piece picture puzzle of which only one single piece is available for research, then it is obvious that any conclusions concerning the puzzle as a whole would at the very best be limited to what the researcher could extrapolate from that single piece of the puzzle. This study contends that to comprehend the puzzle it must be viewed as a whole picture, admittedly comprised of different pieces, but nonetheless only accurately understandable in regard to interaction and interconnectivities when viewed from a macro perspective. Accordingly, concentrations should be viewed from a holistic, macro perspective instead of the current view that is isolationist and micro in both nature and practice. Only then can such characteristics as efficiency or effectiveness-seeking be understood in relation to the evolution of concentrations. Contributions of this exploratory study include an empirically tested taxonomy of cluster concentrations which should preclude miscommunication, and provides practitioners tools for identification of concentration types. This study also conceptualizes the cyclical relationship of efficiency and effective-seeking characteristics in regard to concentrations, and further, provides a graphical illustration of those relationships. A previously unrecognized concentration, Balanced Concentration, is identified. Finally, this study identifies predictors of concentration types and types of infrastructure, and then utilizes these predictors and types of infrastructure in an analysis of differences between developed/developed and developed/developing borders. Further, analysis of borders differences in two time periods, 1990 and 2002, is performed.

Disciplines

Business | Management Information Systems

Comments

Degree granted by The University of Texas at Arlington

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