Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Transparency value'

This thesis is a qualitative case study on how Swedish companies operating in global valuechains percieve their level of transparency concerning social- and environmental aspects, andhow they manage this work. The thesis contributes to existing literature since it draw attentionto the role of transparency concerning social- and environmental aspects and study howcompanies operating in global value chains actually perceive their level of transparency. Theanalysis and results in this thesis is based on interviews with sustainability experts within fivedifferent Swedish companies operating in global value chains. The companies in this studydiffer in size and belong to different industries. The result shows that companies in this studydo not perceive transparency as an issue in itself; rather the ability to control the chains has animpact on the level of transparency. The level of control seems to depend on resources andstakeholders pressure, and differ depending on industry and size of the company. In thisstudy, the larger companies have more resources to control their chains than the smallercompanies and therefore they have a higher level of transparency.

Business Administration/Accounting<br>D.B.A.<br>This paper examines the informational role a Property & Casualty (P&C) insurers’ loss accrual (an estimate of expected losses) provides in a merger. This accrual is the largest liability for an insurer and an accurate evaluation of this liability is important in valuing a merger. Our focus is on one specific aspect of the loss accrual. This is the loss accrual’s transparency (or how easy is it to be modeled) and used in a valuation exercise. We propose a two-stage methodology to examine how transparency affects the valuation of acquirers in mergers. In the first stage, we use an event study to measure the acquirer’s cumulative abnormal stock return following the merger announcement. This is a measure of how the market values the transaction.  In the second stage, we then investigate whether, and to what extent, the merger parties’ loss accrual transparencies are related to the market’s valuation of the acquirer.<br>Temple University--Theses

Economic theory and empirical research suggests product market competition can result in both positive and negative capital market effects. Specifically, research suggests competition reduces agency costs, but also reduces profitability. I examine the relation between product market competition and firm value in an international setting, focusing on how the relation varies with firm- and country-specific characteristics. I document lower values for firms in more competitive industries. However, the negative relation between competition and firm value is less pronounced for firms with higher firm-level liquidation risk, stronger country-level investor protection mechanisms, and higher firm-level transparency. These findings are consistent with an agency cost benefit resulting from product market competition.<br>Ph. D.

To measure the performance of research and development organizations has long been a difficult task and still is partly due to the complex nature of its processes and activities, but also since the outcome in many cases can be seen first after many years. Also, the outcome is dependent on efforts from several other business functions within an organization. There has been a shift in how organizations view R&amp;D, from being technology-push centered, where R&amp;D had full responsibility of all innovations, to collaborating with innovation across functions within a company. Historically, R&amp;D has been considered to be impossible to manage and control, but as the development has taken place R&amp;D is now aligned with an organization’s business strategy. There is a vast amount of literature on performance measurement systems with focus on R&amp;D to access, however, the focus of that research has been on evaluating performance of an entire R&amp;D department or a specific project and not as much can be found on how to evaluate R&amp;D related activities, which is what this thesis centers on. The research in this thesis has been done by conducting a case study at Sandvik Materials Technology’s R&amp;D department in Sandviken, Sweden. Three case study objects have been studied within the case study and these objects are the OCTG project, non-destructive testing and hydraulic &amp; instrumentation tubing. The case study consisted of interviews with employees at various functions within the company, an extensive literature review as well as a review of internal documentation. The result from the case study has been the design of a performance measurement  ramework and its application to the three case study objects, illustrating that it is possible to measure the performance of R&amp;D related activities, thus, enabling a more transparent view of what value R&amp;D contributes with. The framework is created in a way that allows for other organizations with similar settings as the one currently in place at Sandvik Materials Technology to utilize it. Implications from the findings have an impact both from an industrial and research perspective, but also from a sustainability perspective. The industrial implication is that a framework for evaluating and illustrating the performance of a R&amp;D organization on an activity level has been designed. Considering the research aspects, this research contributes to the identified gap in the existing body of knowledge, providing additional knowledge on performance measurement systems on an activity level. From a sustainability perspective the framework enables monitoring and supervising of important processes, which could stimulate employees to undertake necessary actions, potentially leading to reduced negative impact on the environment since a lesser amount of resources and energy is consumed.<br>Att mäta prestationen av forskning- och utvecklingsorganisationer har länge varit en svår uppgift, vilket det fortfarande delvis är på grund av de komplexa processer och aktiviteter som existerar. Detta beror även på att resultatet av forskning och utveckling (FoU) ej synliggörs förrän långt senare. Vidare är resultatet av FoU beroende av insatser från andra funktioner inom en organisation. Det har skett ett skifte i hur organisationer ser på forskning och utveckling, från att tidigare varit drivna av att utveckla teknologier med fullständigt ansvar för innovationer till att nu arbeta med innovation över funktionsgränserna som existerar i en organisation. Historiskt sett har FoU setts som omöjligt att styra och kontrollera men i takt med att skiftet har skett så är forskning och utveckling nu i linje med en organisations affärsstrategi. Litteratur på ämnet prestationsmätningssystem med fokus på FoU finns att tillgå, men fokus i de studierna har varit att utvärdera prestationen av hela FoU-organisationer eller specifika projekt. Desto mindre finns på ämnet hur man utvärderar FoU-relaterade aktiviteter, vilket är fokus i denna studie. Studien i detta arbete har utförts som en fallstudie på Sandvik Materials Technology’s forsknings- och utvecklingsenhet i Sandviken, Sverige. Tre fallstudieobjekt har studerats inom fallstudien och dessa objekt är OCTG-projektet, oförstörande provning och hydraulik- och instrumentrör. Fallstudien har bestått av intervjuer med anställda på diverse funktioner inom företaget och en extensiv genomgång av litteratur har gjorts samt en genomgång av intern dokumentation. Resultatet från fallstudien blev skapandet av ett ramverk för prestationsmätning och en tillämpning på de tre fallstudieobjekten, vilket syftar till att illustrera möjligheten att mäta prestationen av FoU-relaterade aktiviteter. Detta leder till en mer transparent syn på vilket värde forskning och utveckling bidrar med. Ramverket har skapats på ett sätt som möjliggör organisationer med liknande struktur som existerar på Sandvik Materials Technology att utnyttja det. Implikationerna från resultaten har en inverkan både ur ett industriellt perspektiv och ur ett forskningsperspektiv men även ur ett hållbarhetsperspektiv. Den industriella implikationen är att ett ramverk för utvärdering och synliggörande av prestationer av en forsknings- och utvecklingsorganisation på en aktivitetsnivå har skapats. Vid betraktande av forskningsperspektivet så bidrar denna studie till att fylla det identifierade gapet i kunskapsbanken genom att tillföra ytterligare kunskap av prestationsmätning på en aktivitetsnivå. Ramverket möjliggör övervakning och kontroll av viktiga processer, vilket kan motivera anställda att vidta nödvändiga åtgärder, som kan leda till reducerad negativ inverkan på miljön då en mindre mängd resurser och energi används.

Thesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2010.<br>Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.<br>Includes bibliographical references (p. 75-76).<br>Value chain transparency, such as publishing member biographies and profit distribution, can be a powerful tool in increasing consumer trust and consumer loyalty. This thesis provides a methodology for integrating value chain transparency into Ecommerce site design and makes preliminary findings of the positive influence this strategy has on consumer buying behavior. The design and implementation of integrating value chain information within an E-commerce site is demonstrated through the development of theargantree.com. The Argan Tree is a cooperative of 18 women based in southwestern Morocco who produce argan oil. theargantree.com connects these producers to consumers in the U.S. to sell this oil for its culinary and cosmetic benefits. The implications of this study can transform the cooperative landscape, which is often marked by low wages, a lack of accountability, and difficulty competing in high-end markets. By equipping these organizations with the Internet-based strategies proposed, cooperatives can overcome these challenges and serve as organizations capable of real poverty-alleviation. While the direct application of this thesis is aimed at producer cooperatives of under-privileged populations, the underlying theories and findings can support any retail organization.<br>by Zahir Dossa.<br>M.Eng.

Dissertação de Mestrado em Gestão e Políticas Públicas<br>Este trabalho visa discutir o papel das ISC enquanto entidades de auditoria pública, e qual o seu contributo para a good governance. Das diversas pesquisas bibliográficas efetuadas, apurou-se que a good governance é tida como uma forma de governação, boa, que assenta em participação pública, em transparência, responsabilização, respeito, cumprimento da lei e satisfação das necessidades das populações, onde se basearia a força do desenvolvimento social. Face aos objetivos de trabalho definidos, foi assim produzido e aplicado um guião de entrevista a vários intervenientes qualificados de auditoria pública, tendo-se recolhido opinião, experiências e visão sobre o modo como a good governance acontece hoje em Portugal, nomeadamente quanto à transparência da governação, quanto acautela os riscos da atividade pública e quanto permite a aplicação da accountability. A utilização e aplicação de auditoria pública, facilitará o processo de criação de valor e confiança pública de toda uma comunidade. De acordo com a literatura de referência e com os entrevistados, a auditoria de contexto público tem um papel determinante na concretização da good governance. De resto, vários organismos internacionais de referência (OCDE, ONU, FMI, Banco Mundial, entre outros) perseguem e fomentam a prática da good governance, não só, mas também, com recurso ao reforço de práticas e procedimentos de auditoria pública, fazendo relevar o papel complementar entre a produção de auditorias de compliance e de auditorias de performance. Das entrevistas aos intervenientes qualificados nestas matérias, foram obtidos importantes contributos, em especial de reforço da prática da good governance através da auditoria pública e dos relatórios produzidos por esta, reforçando assim a cidadania.<br>This paper aims to discuss the role of SAIs as public audit entities, and is contribution to good governance. From the various bibliographical studies carried out, it was found that good governance is considered as a good form of governance, based on public participation, transparency, accountability, respect, compliance with the law and meeting the needs of the population for social development. In view of the defined work objectives, an interview guide was produced and applied to a number of qualified interviewees which used public audit. Their opinions, experiences and insights were collected on how good governance occurs; how it is transparent and of much to guard against the risks of public activity and how much it allows the application of accountability today in Portugal. The public audit outcome will be to create public value and trust for an entire community. According to the reference literature and the interviewees, the public context audit plays a decisive role in the achievement of good governance. In addition, several international reference organizations (OECD, UN, IMF, World Bank, among others) pursue and foster good governance not only, but also through the reinforcement of public auditing practices and procedures, regarding the complementary role between the production of compliance audits and performance audits. From the interviews with the qualified actors in these matters, important contributions were obtained, in particular to reinforce the practice of good governance through public auditing and the reports produced by it, thus reinforcing citizenship.<br>N/A

Recent events in the business world have focused attention on the importance of high quality financial reporting. Of particular interest is where the collapse of prominent companies such as Baring Plc. was due to the company's involvement with derivative instruments. In Australia, some derivative instruments are not recognised in the balance sheet. However, the Australian accounting standard AASB 1033 Presentation and Disclosure of Financial Instruments requires extensive disclosures to overcome the lack of guidance with regard to the recognition and measurement. Therefore, AASB 1033 may be regarded as a high quality disclosure standard. This thesis investigates the transparency or information quality of derivative disclosures of Australian firms in the extractive industries using 1998 to 2001 financial reports. The extractive industries play a major role in the Australian economy, where they generated exports worth more than A$30billion in 2000 to 2002 (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, 2003a and 2003b). Further, firms in the extractive industries extensively use derivative instruments for hedging purposes (Berkman, Bradbury, Hancock and Innes, 1997). The objective of this study is, first, to examine the relationship between the transparency or disclosure quality of derivative information and firm characteristics. Second, this study investigates the value relevance of derivative disclosures in particularly hedge information, net fair value information and risk information. Quality is measured based on a disclosure index developed from AASB 1033 Presentation and Disclosure of Financial Instruments. A finding of concern is that the majority of firms in this study provide less than complete information and therefore enforcement power is required to ensure compliance (Kothari, 2000) Prior studies have related disclosure quality of accounting information with firm characteristics but no attempt has been made to relate those characteristics with the disclosure quality of derivative instruments. The current study contributes to the literature by examining the relationship between firm characteristics and the quality of derivative disclosures. Firm characteristics investigated are size, profitability, price-earnings ratio, market-to-book ratio, research and development activity, auditor, debt-to-equity ratio and type of extractive firm. This study finds that the variables, firm size, price-earnings and debt-to-equity ratios are associated with the disclosure quality of derivative information. To a lesser extent, the variables, market-to-book ratio and profitability, are also associated with disclosure quality. High disclosure quality has been argued to lead to a reduction in the cost of debt (Sengupta, 1998) and equity (Botosan, 1997), resulting in higher security prices (Miller and Bahnson, 2002). The results of this study indicate that high quality derivative information, as represented by the disclosure index, is value relevant. Market participants do consider hedge information and risk information components as important for decision-making. However, examining the specific information disclosed in the financial statements indicate that some of the disclosed information such as the unrealised gain or loss on financial assets and liabilities and off-balance sheet derivative financial instruments are not significant. These results contribute to the value relevance literature as this study focuses on the extractive industries which have been neglected in the literature. This study provides important information for standard setters and regulators for future directions in developing accounting standards and is particularly relevant for the impending adoption of International Accounting Standards.

Recent events in the business world have focused attention on the importance of high quality financial reporting. Of particular interest is where the collapse of prominent companies such as Baring Plc. was due to the company's involvement with derivative instruments. In Australia, some derivative instruments are not recognised in the balance sheet. However, the Australian accounting standard AASB 1033 Presentation and Disclosure of Financial Instruments requires extensive disclosures to overcome the lack of guidance with regard to the recognition and measurement. Therefore, AASB 1033 may be regarded as a high quality disclosure standard. This thesis investigates the transparency or information quality of derivative disclosures of Australian firms in the extractive industries using 1998 to 2001 financial reports. The extractive industries play a major role in the Australian economy, where they generated exports worth more than A$30billion in 2000 to 2002 (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, 2003a and 2003b). Further, firms in the extractive industries extensively use derivative instruments for hedging purposes (Berkman, Bradbury, Hancock and Innes, 1997). The objective of this study is, first, to examine the relationship between the transparency or disclosure quality of derivative information and firm characteristics. Second, this study investigates the value relevance of derivative disclosures in particularly hedge information, net fair value information and risk information. Quality is measured based on a disclosure index developed from AASB 1033 Presentation and Disclosure of Financial Instruments. A finding of concern is that the majority of firms in this study provide less than complete information and therefore enforcement power is required to ensure compliance (Kothari, 2000) Prior studies have related disclosure quality of accounting information with firm characteristics but no attempt has been made to relate those characteristics with the disclosure quality of derivative instruments. The current study contributes to the literature by examining the relationship between firm characteristics and the quality of derivative disclosures. Firm characteristics investigated are size, profitability, price-earnings ratio, market-to-book ratio, research and development activity, auditor, debt-to-equity ratio and type of extractive firm. This study finds that the variables, firm size, price-earnings and debt-to-equity ratios are associated with the disclosure quality of derivative information. To a lesser extent, the variables, market-to-book ratio and profitability, are also associated with disclosure quality. High disclosure quality has been argued to lead to a reduction in the cost of debt (Sengupta, 1998) and equity (Botosan, 1997), resulting in higher security prices (Miller and Bahnson, 2002). The results of this study indicate that high quality derivative information, as represented by the disclosure index, is value relevant. Market participants do consider hedge information and risk information components as important for decision-making. However, examining the specific information disclosed in the financial statements indicate that some of the disclosed information such as the unrealised gain or loss on financial assets and liabilities and off-balance sheet derivative financial instruments are not significant. These results contribute to the value relevance literature as this study focuses on the extractive industries which have been neglected in the literature. This study provides important information for standard setters and regulators for future directions in developing accounting standards and is particularly relevant for the impending adoption of International Accounting Standards.

<p>Aim of the Thesis: To investigate from a company’s perspective if the pressure for companies to produce quarterly reports has turned away their attention from working towards long-term value creation. The companies investigated are listed on the large-cap section on the Swedish stock exchange (OMX Nordic Exchange Stockholm AB).</p><p>Methodology: A quantitative approach has been used and empirical data has been collected through questionnaires. The data has been analyzed and presented with descriptive statistics.</p><p>Theoretical Perspectives: A literature review has been conducted and resulted in a theoretical framework illustrating the concepts of quarterly reporting, long-term value creating, short-termism and forecasting.</p><p>Empirical data: The empirical data was collected by distributing questionnaires to the companies listed on the large-cap section of the OMX.</p><p>Conclusion: Companies listed on the large cap section of the OMX do not perceive that the pressure to produce quarterly reports affects them in a negative way. The study also showed that many companies lack awareness of the risks associated with short-termism.</p>

In the first chapter, we analyze the role of market development, risk premium, and transparency as factors influencing the value of cash in firms listed as American Depository Receipts. Based on the method by Pinkowitz and Williamson (2002), our primary results are as follows. The market value of cash is greater on average for ADR firms than for U.S. firms, and within the ADR sample the value of cash is greater for firms based in less developed countries after 2007 financial crisis but not before. Together, the results suggest that the market development is especially important during more volatile periods. Further, the value of cash is negatively associated with the market risk premium. In addition, the relation between insider trading law execution and the value of cash is statistically insignificant for all periods, but corporate-level transparency as measured by the number of analysts is weakly negatively related to ADR firms’ cash value before 2007 after controlling for the fixed effects. The second chapter attempts to assess the relative importance of superior information and hedging in institutional trading in equity index futures in the Taiwan Futures market for the sample period of January to June 2012. Based on the methodology by Llorente, Michaely, Saar, and Wang (2002), we find that, for the market as a whole, significant informed trading or hedging frequently occur, and the opening minutes tend to be associated with a greater portion of trading motivated by hedging. More important to our purpose, for foreign institutions the absolute value of institutional order imbalance tends to be greater on days when the overall market’s informed trading is greater in the cases of regular contract on Taiwan composite index futures and electronic index futures, but for the dealer and domestic fund groups trading is not correlated with the overall market’s informed trading or hedging. An additional analysis of the relation between past institution trades and current returns provides some evidence implying institutions are informed, but the evidence can also be interpreted as their trades, which account for more than half of the overall trading, having an impact on subsequent trades.

Submitted by Espen Schie (schie.espen@gmail.com) on 2016-10-16T12:10:49Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2015-16_S2-26278-16-Espen_Schie FGV.pdf: 3207969 bytes, checksum: cbdb1bbe909765f1d984b14ff8673810 (MD5)<br>Rejected by Ana Luiza Holme (ana.holme@fgv.br), reason: Dear Espen, Unfortunately, your thesis is different from the guidelines that must be the FGV thesis. I will send to you by email the model for you to follow. All work must be done using the standards defined by ABNT or APA (American Psychology Association): http://bibliotecadigital.fgv.br/site/bkab/normalizacao. best. Ana Luiza Holme 37993492 on 2016-10-17T11:50:41Z (GMT)<br>Submitted by Espen Schie (schie.espen@gmail.com) on 2016-10-19T19:30:04Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2015-16-c334442-Espen_Schie FGV.pdf: 3181725 bytes, checksum: 340993a2fe39d6fd701b7e2e6f30b164 (MD5)<br>Rejected by Ana Luiza Holme (ana.holme@fgv.br), reason: Dear Espen, The title of your thesis is different from the oficial document of your examining board. It can't be different, please change to the original title, below: SOVEREIGN WEALTH FUNDS' INVESTMENT IMPACT ON LISTED TARGET FIRMS Also the number of pages should appear only in the introduction but count from the cover. example introductio page 10 Best. Ana Luiza Holme 37993492 on 2016-10-19T19:36:19Z (GMT)<br>Submitted by Espen Schie (schie.espen@gmail.com) on 2016-10-19T20:43:46Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2015-16-c334442-Espen_Schie FGV.pdf: 3181048 bytes, checksum: bc89d43276d78eef9b4ddfb0ce178087 (MD5)<br>Rejected by Ana Luiza Holme (ana.holme@fgv.br), reason: Dear Espen, The title of your thesis is a little bit different from the title send by Nova de Lisboa, it can't be different, because the oficial document from your examining board has to be the same as the post in the Biblioteca Digital. Could you please change to "SOVEREIGN WEALTH FUNDS' INVESTMENT IMPACT ON LISTED TARGET FIRMS" Warm regards. Ana Luiza Holme 37993492 on 2016-10-20T12:29:36Z (GMT)<br>Submitted by Espen Schie (schie.espen@gmail.com) on 2016-10-21T06:15:53Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2015-16-c334442-Espen_Schie FGV.pdf: 3180995 bytes, checksum: c83f0592de725c5a2798d3968f68831d (MD5)<br>Rejected by Ana Luiza Holme (ana.holme@fgv.br), reason: Dear Espen, The title of your thesis is different from the official document from your examining board, it can't be different. and you can't change the title after the examining board. Please change the title to the title below, if the title below is incorrect please let me know by email. Title: SOVEREIGN WEALTH FUNDS' INVESTMENT IMPACT ON LISTED TARGET FIRMS Best. Ana Luiza Holme 37993492 on 2016-10-21T12:33:42Z (GMT)<br>Submitted by Espen Schie (schie.espen@gmail.com) on 2016-10-21T19:36:52Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2015-16-c334442-Espen_Schie FGV.pdf: 3180826 bytes, checksum: b7715d967a8cc190a4fdc71eb15f0345 (MD5)<br>Approved for entry into archive by Ana Luiza Holme (ana.holme@fgv.br) on 2016-10-21T19:47:19Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2015-16-c334442-Espen_Schie FGV.pdf: 3180826 bytes, checksum: b7715d967a8cc190a4fdc71eb15f0345 (MD5)<br>Made available in DSpace on 2016-10-24T10:40:01Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2015-16-c334442-Espen_Schie FGV.pdf: 3180826 bytes, checksum: b7715d967a8cc190a4fdc71eb15f0345 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-10-29<br>This is a study on the share price effect of Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) investment announcements. The study examines the short- and the long-term impact of SWF investments on publicly traded companies, performed with an event study methodology to estimate the abnormal returns of the stock prices of the acquired firms around the dates when the announcements become publicly available. The announcements included in this study were made between 1990 and 2015. First, the results are compared to the level of transparency, as measured by the LTMI Index, to examine how the changes in stock prices react to the event. Then, the study presents six extensions with portfolios for IFSWF membership, SWF funding source, open market transactions and privately negotiated deals, domestic and foreign targets, deal value and acquired target stake. The results of the study provide empirical evidence of short-term significant cumulative abnormal returns and that SWFs with high transparency tend to generate more and positive cumulative abnormal returns, while SWFs with low transparency generate negative cumulative abnormal returns. Moreover, the long-term results suggest negative cumulative abnormal returns, though mostly insignificant, and show a tendency to mean revert.<br>Este é um estudo sobre o efeito do preço das ações sobre investimentos anúnciados pelos fundos soberanos (SWFs). O estudo examina o impacto a curto e a longo prazo dos investimentos dos fundos soberanos em empresas de capital aberto, através de estudo de evento para estimar os retornos anormais dos preços das ações das empresas adquiridas em torno das datas em que os anúncios são públicos. Os anúncios incluídos neste estudo foram feitos entre 1990 e 2015 sendo que, em primeiro lugar, os resultados são comparados com o nível de transparência, medida pelo índice de LTMI, de forma a analisar possíveis alterações nos preços das ações face ao anúncio. Posteriormente, o estudo apresenta seis extensões: portfólios da IFSWF, fonte de financiamento dos SWFs, com investimentos privados e públicos, investimentos em empresas nacionais e estrangeiras, valor do negócio e percentagem adquirida. Os resultados do estudo fornecem evidência empírica dos retornos anormais acumulados significativos a curto prazo e que, os fundos soberanos com elevada transparência, tendem a gerar maiores retornos anormais acumulados ao passo que os SWFs com menor transparência geram retornos anormais acumulados negativos. Além disso, os resultados a longo prazo sugerem retornos anormais cumulativos negativos, embora na sua maioria insignificantes, apresentando uma tendência da reversão da média.

We are witnessing a time of unprecedented human impact on the natural environment. Coral reefs, one of the most biologically diverse and productive ecosystems, are at the forefront of enduring these human impacts. Despite widespread recognition of coral reef degradation, counter measures have not reached a scale to offset the threat. The magnitude of this and other environmental issues call for a deeper understanding of the role the private sector can play in sustainable development. In response to environmental pressures and the shortcomings of global-scale governance, private sustainability governance initiatives have developed. In the last decade, these initiatives have flourished, resulting in a diversity of formats including third-party certification, consumer product transparency systems, and industry roundtables. In many industries, these programs compete to define the transformation and evolution of sustainability governance in an industry. This dissertation draws on a case study of the marine cultured-pearl industry to highlight the early adoption dynamics of private sustainability governance initiatives. The marine cultured-pearl industry provides an illuminating case study for the adoption of private governance, based on the potential strength of the positive environmental impact and farm presence in ecologically vulnerable coral reef areas. Yet despite these strengths, no formal sustainability initiatives have developed. This research project explores the early adoption of private governance initiatives through a mixed-methodological, case-study approach. The first study, a quantitative survey of US jewelry consumers, examines the impacts of environmental messages on perceptions of luxury value. The second study assesses the effect of networked legitimacy on producer perceptions in private governance initiatives. The final study investigates the impact of value chain structure on competing private governance initiatives. The research results provide evidence of a strong business case for the development of industry-wide sustainability initiatives and highlights distinctions between the rival private governance initiatives. The US jewelry consumer research shows that consumer messages featuring sustainability standards to protect coral reefs outperform third-party certification on luxury attributes. The marine cultured-pearl producer research highlights the legitimacy advantages of consumer product transparency when compared to third-party certifications. The value chain research indicates that, when compared to third-party certifications, consumer product transparency systems have characteristics that provide an advantage in addressing producer upgrading opportunities. Results from each of the three studies highlight the potential advantages of consumer product transparency systems over third-party certification initiatives in this and other settings. These results helped inform participatory action research to assess alternative pathways for private sustainability governance.

<p>Sedan 2005 har tillämpning av den internationella standarden IFRS/IAS varit obligatoriskt för alla svenska noterade bolag i deras koncernredovisning. Trots det relativt nya införandet av standarden sker hela tiden ändringar och tillägg i rekommendationerna. I januari 2009 kommer en ny reviderad version av standarden IAS 1 ”Utformning av finansiella rapporter”. Den nya versionen innebär att även de transaktioner som tidigare enbart redovisats direkt mot eget kapital, och som inte är hänförliga till ägarna, nu ska redovisas över resultaträkningen. Detta innebär bland annat att fler orealiserade värdeförändringar kommer att inkluderas i resultaträkningen. Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka hur revisorer ser på införandet av IAS 1 och ställa det i relation till IASB:s officiellt uttalade grundintentioner. För att besvara vår forskningsfråga har vi valt att använda oss av en kvalitativ forskningsstrategi och intervjua kvalificerade revisorer på tre av Sveriges större revisionsbyråer. I empirin redovisar vi resultaten av den genomförda undersökningen. Vår slutsats är att revisorernas synpunkter skiljer sig i en del frågor från IASB:s officiella uttalanden, samt att syftet med den nya resultaträkningen inte till fullo har tillfredställt den generella användargruppens behov. Däribland märks särskilt de mindre företagen som mest upplever reglerna som omständliga och svåra att tillämpa. Det återstår att se i framtiden, om de potentiella positiva effekterna av den nya standarden även kommer att bli märkbara för företagen.</p><br><p>Since 2005 the international IFRS/IAS standards have been applied, and they are required for all Swedish public companies in their consolidated financial statements. The introduction of the new standards is still relatively new, but there are constant changes and amendments to them. In January of 2009 a new and revised version of IAS 1 will come into force. This new version means that transactions, that before were reported in the balance sheet but not applicable to the owners, now will be reported in the statement of income and expense. One of the effects that will come from this change is that more unrealized value changes will be included in the statement of income and expense. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the accountants view on the changes of IAS 1 and put that in relation to the published statements made by the IASB concerning their intentions of the changes. To answer our research question we have chosen to use a qualitative strategy and interview accountants from three of the larger accounting firms in Sweden. The results of the interviews will be presented in the empirical chapter. Our conclusion is that the accountants’ views are different from the published statements made by the IASB, in some areas of their intention. The new statement of comprehensive income have not fully satisfied the needs of general users, among which especially for smaller companies that mostly find the rules as being difficult and hard to apply. The future will show whether the potential positive effects of the new standards will be noticeable for the Swedish companies.</p>

In this dissertation, the examination of energy sector development is presented. The purpose is to understand and highlight the importance of financing access for innovation activities, along with the business transparency necessary for firm value and the impact of corruption on capital investments in energy companies. Globally, long-term energy confidence is dependent on energy security and supply. Based on our empirical estimations, we expect there to be an increasing need for understanding financing innovations in the European energy industry. We expect more support for corporate governance integrity within Russia, as Russia is the main energy supplier for the European energy sector. It is expected that corruption will be a dominant issue for countries that are rich in natural resources. The main empirical findings and concluding comments are as follows:  The EU energy sector requires substantial financial support for promoting innovations, especially among ‘younger’ energy companies and those in the newest EU countries.  We expect to see increased discussion and long-term development of corporate governance integrity (transparency and disclosure, in particular) among Russian energy firms based on the long-term investment attractiveness of sustained energy production and supplies to countries that are energy dependent.  We conclude that investment activities in natural resource exploitation are directly linked with the presence of corruption, and that tightening up on corruption should facilitate FDI (foreign direct investment) in the primary industry and enable the effective use of received natural resource gains. To summarise, in this assessment, we empirically studied the EU, Russian and global energy industries, focusing on the issue of the development of energy within three key areas: the examination of financing for innovation, corporate governance integrity and corruption within primary FDI inflows.

Wie sollten Zentralbanken Geldpolitik gestalten und der Öffentlichkeit kommunizieren, um die Ökonomie bestmöglich zu stabilisieren? Diese Dissertation, bestehend aus drei selbständigen Essays in dynamischer Makroökonomik, widmet sich in erster Linie dem normativen Aspekt von Geldpolitik. Das Hauptresultat im ersten Essay ist, dass bei idiosynkratischen Risiko die öffentliche Bekanntgabe von Informationen zu aggregierten Risiko einen negativen Effekt auf die soziale Wohlfahrt haben kann: durch die Veröffentlichung von Informationen zu nicht-versicherbaren aggregierten Risiko werden die Versicherungsanreize der Individuen verzerrt und damit das individuelle Konsumrisiko erhöht. Als eine Anwendung, analysieren wir die Situation einer Zentralbank, die die Möglichkeit hat, Veränderungen in ihren Inflationszielen anzukündigen und dokumentieren, das der negative Effekt der verzerrten Versicherungsanreize konventionelle positive Aspekte der Ankündigung überwiegt. In zweiten Essay untersuchen wir optimale Geldpolitik in Falle von nominalen Rigiditäten und einer Transaktionsfriktion. In einem Standardmodell, Money-in-the-Utility function, zeigen wir, dass das langfristige Optimum durch die Friedmansche Regel gegeben ist. Daraus folgt für die kurze Frist, dass das Primat von Geldpolitik auf die Stabilisierung der Zinsen und nicht auf Inflationsstabilisierung ausgelegt sein sollte. Im dritten Essay untersuche ich, ob die Existenz und die Terminierung von Realkasseneffekten eine wichtige Rolle für die Determiniertheit des allgemeinen Preisniveaus spielen. Als wichtigstes neues Resultat zeige ich, dass auch bei Zinspolitik ein eindeutiges Preisniveau bestimmt werden kann, wenn die Geldmenge zu Beginn der Periode in Transaktionen verwendet wird. Unter diesen Umständen, hat prädeterminiertes reales Geld die Funktion einer Zustandsvariable und die Zinspolitik sollte passiv sein, um eindeutige, stabile und nicht-oszillierende Gleichgewichtssequenzen zu erreichen.<br>How should central banks conduct and communicate their policies to serve the goal of stabilizing the macroeconomy? This thesis -- consisting of three self-contained essays on dynamic macroeconomics -- is mainly intended as a progress report on exploring the normative aspect of monetary policy. The main result of the first essay is, that in the presence of idiosyncratic risk, the public revelation of information about uncertain aggregate outcomes can be detrimental. By announcing informative signals on non-insurable aggregate risk, the policy maker distorts agents'' insurance incentives and increases the riskiness of the optimal allocation that is feasible in self-enforceable arrangements. We consider a monetary authority that may reveal changes in the inflation target, and document that the negative effect of distorted insurance incentives can very well dominate conventional effects in favor for the release of better information. In the second essay, we study optimal monetary policy with the nominal interest rate as the single policy instrument. Firms set prices in a staggered way without indexation and real money balances contribute separately to households'' utility. The optimal deterministic steady state under commitment is the Friedman rule for a broad range of parameters. Optimal monetary policy in the short run is then characterized by stabilization of the nominal interest rate instead of inflation stabilization as the predominant principle. In the third essay, I examine whether the existence and the timing of real balance effects contribute to the determination of the absolute price level. As the main novel result, I show that there exists a unique price level sequence that is consistent with an equilibrium under interest rate policy, if beginning-of-period money yields transaction services. Predetermined real money balances can then serve as a state variable, implying that interest rate setting should be passive -- a violation of the Taylor-principle.

La question du niveau optimal de transparence sur les marchés financiers a trouvé un terrain de débat exemplaire : celui de la propriété économique des sociétés cotées. La conception de nouveaux produits financiers et le développement de stratégies activistes ont provoqué une remise en question des règles de déclaration de franchissements de seuils de contrôle. Cette thèse analyse les conséquences économiques des évolutions réglementaires, évalue la pertinence des déclarations de l’acquéreur, et propose un nouveau cadre conceptuel intégrant la possibilité de comportements stratégiques des acteurs concernés. Selon nos résultats empiriques, les informations contenues dans les annonces sont pertinentes, même lorsque le blockholder s’engage à rester passif. Notre modèle théorique suggère que les blockholders utilisent le délai de déclaration de manière stratégique, et qu’un raccourcissement de ce délai serait favorable aux actionnaires minoritaires<br>The debate on the optimum level of transparency in financial markets found a major point of controversy: the ownership of public companies. The design of new financial products and the development of shareholder activism called the blockholding disclosure rules into question. This thesis analyzes the economic impact of changes in regulation, measures the value relevance of the content of blockholding announcements, and introduces a new conceptual framework allowing strategic behavior of the involved economic agents. According to our empirical results, the information disclosed by blockholders are value relevant, even when the blockholder commits to remain passive. Our theoretical model suggests that blockholders make a strategic use of the reporting window, and predicts that a shortening of the legal time period would be favorable to minority shareholders

Souvent prônée au regard de l’abondant discours politique et juridique dont elle fait l’objet, mais en même temps fréquemment et subtilement « torpillée », « combattue », la transparence des élections est l’une de ces notions-méridien des temps modernes.La présente thèse lève ainsi le voile sur ce que, quelle qu’en soit la forme, cette notion est tout logiquement reprise − et tant bien que mal consolidée ou en voie de consolidation − dans l’ordre juridique interne des différents États, notamment africains et tente de faire prendre conscience que, à l’analyse, une telle consécration, ou le cas échéant une telle consolidation, apparait bien plus embarrassée. En sus de cela, d’un point de vue de théorie et de pratique juridiques, naissent des incertitudes, au double regard de sa nature et de sa portée juridiques, instaurant ainsi un climat d’insécurité juridique dont il devient donc impérieux de sortir. Sans doute est-ce parce que, assez récente dans un domaine lui-même en quête d’autonomie : le droit électoral, cette notion se révèle très redoutable à cerner. Cette modeste contribution tente-t-elle justement de répondre à l’ensemble de ces préoccupations. Dans cette perspective, le travail pionnier de la Cour constitutionnelle du Bénin qui a érigé la transparence électorale en un principe à valeur constitutionnelle mérite d’être poursuivi. Elle est donc davantage un « construit » qu’un « donné ». En tout état de cause, un tel approfondissement assurerait une cohérence au droit public et renforcerait la sécurité juridique. Cette exigence est donc un terreau fertile à l’éclosion et au triomphe de la démocratie libérale. À y voir de près, elle est à même de réaliser la révolution juridique chère à Montesquieu et que n’a pu, malheureusement, pérenniser le principe de séparation des pouvoirs : la modération du pouvoir politique dans l’État<br>Often advocated in view of the abundant political and legal discourse of which it is the object, but at the same time and often subtly "torpedoed", “fought”, transparent elections are one of these meridian notions of modern times.Whatever form it may take, this Thesis is lifting the veil on this notion which is logically repeated, and somehow not well consolidated or being consolidated - in the internal legal order of the various States, particularly African States and which tries to make people aware that, in the analysis, such a consecration, or if any such consolidation, appears more embarrassed. In addition to this, a point of view of legal theory and practice, uncertainties arise, the double view of its nature and scope of legal, thus creating a climate of legal insecurity that it becomes imperative to quit Without any doubt, this recently field is seeking itself autonomy, and this concept , electoral law proves to be very formidable to understand. This modest contribution, consequently tries to answer all these concerns. In this perspective, the pioneering work of the Constitutional Court of Benin which erected electoral transparency principle to a value worth pursuing. Therefore, it is more of “a constructed” than a "given”. In any event, such a deepening should ensure coherence to public law and enhance legal certainty. This requirement is a fertile ground for the emergence and triumph of liberal democracy. A close look at it, it is able to perform the legal revolution dear to Montesquieu who could not, unfortunately, perpetuate the principle of separation of powers: the moderation of political power in the state

Abstract Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate how the socio-cultural forces, authenticity and transparency, have become integral parts of newly established fashion companies’ business model in Sweden. Previous researches have focused on how to redesign conventional fashion companies´ business models. From an academic approach, the problem discussion emphasize on lacking research in how newly established fashion companies have made authenticity and transparency integral parts in their business model. The purpose has been answered by asking the following questions; How have authenticity and transparency influenced the innovators of newly established fashion companies in Sweden? Which parts of the business model have been altered in order to demonstrate the company´s authenticity and transparency? Method: This study is based on qualitative research method with an abductive approach. The empirical data collection has been performed through seven interviews, five emails and two face-to-face deep interviews. The theoretical framework and literature review have primary been based on previous researches in the research area. Conclusions: This study shows that newly established fashion companies in Sweden have made authenticity and transparency integral parts in their business model. This is strongly influenced by the companies’ founder, their characteristics and ability to understand and translate socio- cultural forces and integrate them into their business model. The design of the clothes and fabric selection, production techniques and supply chain, marketing strategies and communication tools in the business model have been altered in order to demonstrate the company´s authenticity and transparency. These changes have been implemented in order to meet consumers’ newfound desire for authenticity and transparency. Cues of craftsmanship, traceability in the production techniques and supply chain, creating storytelling in the marketing strategies have been added in order to enhance the consumers’ experience of the company´s authentic and transparent attributes<br>Program: Textilt management, fashion management

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:25:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Salim Augusto Amed Ali.pdf: 1908550 bytes, checksum: 7095064d1ba3cd28c835632bfe5ac730 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-08-16<br>Fundo Mackenzie de Pesquisa<br>This study aimed to gather the perceptions of three audiences in specific, about their understanding on the generation of value through the activity of Investor Relations in Brazilian listed companies. The first group, consisting of 16 professionals and experts in Investor Relations and the second group, comprised of 11 investment analysts and portfolio managers, were personally interviewed using structured interview, survey-type. The third group of individual investors answered a questionnaire via Internet, totaling 457 valid responses. The findings show that in the perceptions of the three groups, IR adds value to the company. They also pointed out several activities and structures presents in Investor Relations that are considered more relevant in the sense of adding value to the company. Reflecting these activities and structures, it was possible to divide them into five groups: Communication, Activities, Meetings with the Market, Strategy and Metrics of Direct Measurement. The Communication was of higher importance, noting that IR and the company must be transparent, providing the information in a quick, clear, reasoned way, and the IR website and electronic media were identified as the main means. Activities undertaken by IR, shows relevance the contact with foreign investors; the explanation of profit distribution policy; relevant future events, as new investments; the diversification of the shareholder bases; comparative analysis of the sector in which the company operates; and actions to promote the liquidity of shares. Regarding Meetings With the Market, public meetings, individual (with sell side, buy side and institutional) and road shows, were revealed as relevant. About the Strategy in IR, it became clear that it must be drawn on the Executive Board, and the area should be subordinated to the CEO. Finally, Metrics of Direct Measurement point to three main items, namely the amount of "houses" covering the company's stock, the average market valuation compared to the valuation prepared by the company itself, and decrease in volatility of stock price compared with peer companies in the industry. The article seeks to contribute to, in future searches, build more objective and justified proxies for the quality of IR, in an attempt to quantify the value that the IR area adds to the public companies.<br>A presente dissertação objetivou coletar a percepção de três públicos em específico acerca do entendimento dos mesmos quanto à geração de valor por meio da atividade de Relações com Investidores em companhias abertas brasileiras. O primeiro grupo, formado por 16 profissionais e especialistas em Relações com Investidores, e o segundo grupo, formado por 11 analistas de investimento e gestores de carteiras, foram entrevistados pessoalmente por intermédio de entrevistas estruturadas do tipo survey. O terceiro grupo, dos investidores individuais, respondeu a questionário via internet, totalizando 457 respostas válidas. Os achados mostram que na percepção dos três grupos, RI agrega valor à companhia. Os mesmos ainda apontaram diversas atividades e estruturas presentes em Relações com Investidores que se demonstram mais relevantes no sentido de agregar valor à companhia, bem como aquelas que se demonstram menos relevantes. Espelhando essas atividades ou estruturas, foi possível dividi-las em cinco grupos: Comunicação, Atividades, Reuniões com o Mercado, Estratégia e Métricas Diretas de Mensuração. A Comunicação foi a de maior relevância, apontando que RI e a companhia devam ser transparentes, apresentando as informações de modo rápido, claro e fundamentado, sendo o website de RI e as mídias eletrônicas apontadas como os principais meios. Nas Atividades realizadas por RI tomam relevância o contato e atendimento aos investidores estrangeiros; a política de distribuição de resultados; eventos futuros relevantes, como novos investimentos; a diversificação da base acionária; as análises comparativas do setor em que a companhia atua e; as atividades que favoreçam a liquidez das ações da empresa. Nas Reuniões com o Mercado, as reuniões públicas, individuais (com sell side, buy side e institucionais) e road shows, se evidenciaram como relevantes. Quanto à Estratégia em RI, evidenciou-se que a mesma deve ser traçada na Diretoria Executiva, e a área subordinada ao Presidente Executivo. Por fim, as Métricas Diretas de Mensuração apontam três itens como principais, quais sejam a quantidade de casas cobrindo a ação da empresa, o valuation médio de mercado comparado ao valuation elaborado pela própria companhia e a diminuição na volatilidade no preço da ação comparado com as companhias pares do setor. O estudo busca contribuir para que em futuras pesquisas seja possível a construção de proxies objetivas e mais justificadas para a qualidade do RI, na tentativa de quantificar o valor que a atividade de Relações com Investidores agrega à companhia aberta.

The apparel and footwear industry’s contribution to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is one of the fifth largest per industry, equal to that of livestock, after electricity and heat, oil and gas, agriculture, and transportation (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2017). For industry-wide emissions reduction, investing in renewable energy and energy efficiency programs across highest impacting life cycle phases offer the most effective solution. However, identifying the highest impacting life cycles phases shows varied results depending on the particular type of business model under examination. This paper responds to the lack of existing data and empirical research on how to accurately measure, report and reduce carbon emissions across the highly complex and globally interconnected apparel value chain. This is done through a single case study investigation of an Icelandic fashion brand. A hybrid approach of a standard Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and the Sustainable Global Value Chain (SGVC) functions to produce a Hotspot Identification Tool (HIT) to establish a holistic portrayal of business operations in relation to emission impacts and level of controllability across Scopes. The conceptual analysis and qualitative results identify the most relevant emission hotspots to lie within the company’s privately owned manufacturing facilities, as well as the procurement phase, due to its direct connection with and influence on material production, user phase, and end-of-life. The main obstacle in this pursuit is identified as restriction of resources in terms of time, capital and expertise. It is suggested that this be overcome by joining a Multi-Stakeholder Initiative where resources and expertise is pooled in a pre-competitive manner to reach common objectives. The investigation further suggests a need for global fashion brands to leverage their influential position on down- and upstream activities across the value chain, i.e. with their supply chain partners and consumers. I argue that fashion brands play an integral role in supporting local efforts to build a decarbonisation pathway towards climate neutral economies on a global scale.

This theoretical master’s dissertation explores the cleavage between how audiences and journalists perceive transparency and objectivity through the following research questions: “Can transparency be understood independently of objectivity, or can it be included in a model of objectivity?”, “What are the underlying interests with normative concepts like objectivity and transparency, and what drives the process of replacing objectivity with transparency?” and “Can transparency replace objectivity’s dominance as ethical ideal in journalism?”. The questions are studied through a comparative research design of the main concepts transparency and objectivity and by employing a methodology that consists of secondary data analysis of qualitative data and qualitative meta-analysis. The theoretical framework consists of pragmatic objectivity, the process model of journalists’ roles, paradigm building and boundary maintenance and is applied to the secondary empirical material (academic articles). The results show that transparency is compatible with pragmatic objectivity, and I argue that unifying the ethical ideals is a way forward in order to resolve the contestation between the ethical ideals. The results also show that transparency has not reached the status of a normative role in contemporary news journalism. Furthermore, there are indications that transparency in contemporary news journalism has not replaced objectivity’s dominance, as the journalistic community is generally unwilling to give any genuine insight into its methodology. From a boundary maintenance perspective, the results also show that objectivity is in the process of being defended by journalists, as it is a highly practiced and valued ethical ideal in journalistic communities.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2009.<br>Title from electronic title page (viewed Jun. 26, 2009). "... in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication." Discipline: Journalism and Mass Communication; Department/School: Journalism and Mass Communication, School of.

Transparency within the supply chain has become a key priority for textile brands in response to the growing stakeholder concerns around social and environmental impacts of the textile value chain. Textile industry is extremely labour dependent and adds massively to the environmental degradation, adding on to this the highly complex and scattered global supply chain network makes it more difficult for brands to implement transparency in their supply base. Due to the low-cost labour in developing countries, the majority of the textile suppliers is located in South Asia, where the cultural values have been found to be in sharp contrast to the Global West. Many prior studies have also highlighted the lack of supplier’s top management support as the linking barrier to sustainable initiatives. Hence, this research was designed to investigate the behaviour and attitude of top management executives towards various transparency dimensions, i.e., Traceability, Sustainability conditions (Social and environmental) and Purchasing practices, in order to understand the underlying behavioural barriers. The semi-structured interview with 9 top management executives across India and Sri Lanka revealed three major themes: (a) Transparency as business imperative, (b) Distrustful relationship with brand and (c) Tendency to externalise responsibility. The Schwartz theory of cultural orientation was used to examine the role of cultural value in explaining the identified behaviour of top management executives.

El agua es el recurso vital para todos los seres vivos que habitamos este planeta, y aunque aproximadamente tres cuartas partes de la superficie del planeta están cubiertas por agua, de ésta solo el 2.5% es agua dulce (CONAGUA, 2015), sin embargo, no toda es apta para consumo humano. Derivado del creciente aumento demográfico, el agua se ha vuelto un elemento de suma importancia para la salud y la vida, haciendo de éste problema una crisis hídrica, aunque el principal problema no es la escasez, sino la falta de gestión y de gobernanza del agua para una población en constante crecimiento (WGF, 2009). Es por ello que, en las últimas décadas, en los foros mundiales sobre medio ambiente y agua, se ha propuesto a la Gestión Integrada de los Recursos Hídricos (GIRH) como una respuesta a dicha crisis, ya que la GIRH considera que los múltiples usos del recurso hídrico son interdependientes y que se deben considerar como un conjunto (GWP, 2013). Dentro de las principales medidas de la GIRH para proteger y conservar el agua, resaltan los aspectos de gobernabilidad y gobernanza hídrica (OCDE, 2011). Dentro de la gobernanza del agua la –integridad y transparencia– se contemplan en el noveno principio (OECD/OCDE), y son de los más importantes, es decir los conceptos de acceso a la información, transparencia y la rendición de cuentas, están directamente relacionados con la –buena gobernanza– del agua (OCDE, 2015). En este sentido, la – integridad– se considera como un aspecto fundamental para la implementación de la GIRH (WGF, 2009), por su capacidad de democratizar y eficientar el servicio hídrico. En contraparte, la falta de integridad es el principal problema de una buena gobernanza hídrica–. En los últimos 10 años, en México y el mundo, se han visto avances importantes en temas de integridad, transparencia, así como de rendición de cuentas, y esto se debe, a que es un problema de índole global (Transparency International, 2008) que alcanza sensiblemente a la gestión de recursos hídricos en todas sus modalidades. En México y sus municipios, la gestión de los recursos hídricos de uso público–urbano se presenta en tres modelos, con características particulares cada uno: 1. Ayuntamientos 7 | P á g i n a (Regidor con Comisión de Agua, Dirección o Coordinación del Agua), 2. Comités Comunitarios y 3. Organismos Operadores de Agua (Anzures, 2016). En un municipio se pueden presentar uno o dos de los modelos de gestión o los tres simultáneamente; teniendo en cuenta que el primer modelo siempre está presente en todos los municipios, aunque dependiendo de la configuración de los modelos de gestión presentes en un municipio, las actividades del Regidor con Comisión de Agua cambian con cada configuración; los modelos de gestión del agua se describen así: 1.- En el primer caso del Ayuntamiento, específicamente de los –Regidores con Comisión de Agua–, los recursos financieros en este modelo de gestión, no son administrados directamente por el Regidor con la Comisión de Agua, es el Ayuntamiento a través de la Tesorería Municipal quien administra los recursos (Gob–EDOMEX, 1992/2017), tanto los propios (recaudados en el cobro de agua y otros servicios), como los recursos gestionados ante diversos programas estatales y federales (asignados). La aplicación de estos últimos recursos los ejerce la Dirección de Obras Públicas Municipales, pero también existe la adjudicación de contratos a empresas privadas, si se trata de obras hidráulicas nuevas (trabajo de campo: Jaimes, 2013–2015). En el mantenimiento preventivo y correctivo de los sistemas hidráulicos, los recursos financieros en este modelo, son ejercidos por el Regidor con Comisión de Agua y por su personal. Por lo tanto, en este modelo de gestión, la falta de integridad se presenta más en los actores que administran y ejercen los recursos financieros del municipio. Sin embargo, falta claridad en cuanto a las formas de falta de integridad y del tamaño territorial de esta forma de gestión del agua (trabajo de campo: Jaimes, 2013–2015). 2.- La segunda modalidad de gestión del agua, es la que se da por medio de –Comités Comunitarios–, y se presenta en aquellos municipios donde los gobiernos municipales, no tuvieron históricamente, la capacidad financiera ni técnica para administrar los recursos hídricos para llevarlos a la población (coinciden en gran parte con los municipios de alta presencia indígena); en este caso, los actores de la comunidad administran y deciden todo (autogestión) lo relacionado con sus recursos propios (Anzurez, 2016), y solo cuando no tienen la capacidad de enfrentar alguna situación operativa que requiera conocimiento especializado, es cuando acuden al representante del ayuntamiento (trabajo de campo: Jaimes, 2013–2015). 8 | P á g i n a En este modelo, en ocasiones la falta de integridad hídrica se presenta en los actores a cargo de los Comités de Agua (Presidente, Secretario, Tesorero y Vocales), ya que éstos no tienen la –obligación legal– de presentar ante ninguna autoridad reconocida, la rendición de cuentas (aunque lo hacen ante la Asamblea General del Pueblo) de los recursos monetarios del Comité; sin embargo, en dichas Asambleas no están claros los informes y terminan varias veces con problemas internos, comunitarios por la opacidad de la gestión hídrica de los Comités (García, 2016); sin embargo, hay notables excepciones. 3.- Finalmente, el tercer modelo y más reciente de gestión de los recursos hídricos en los Municipios, se da a través de los –Organismos Operadores de Agua–, que son Organismos descentralizados del Gobierno Municipal, con las atribuciones de una persona moral, incluso con la capacidad de adquirir deudas y créditos. Por sus siglas son identificados comúnmente como APAS, ODAPAS y otros, quienes administran sus recursos bajo la supervisión financiera del Órgano Superior de Fiscalización del Estado de México (OSFEM), por tal motivo son sujetos a revisión y rendición de cuentas ante el Estado. Es decir, los ODAPAS están obligados por ley a rendir cuentas y a transparentar sus finanzas mediante reportes financieros mensuales a la autoridad competente (trabajo de campo: Jaimes, 2013–2015). Aún en este modelo de gestión del agua existen acciones de falta de integridad por parte de los actores que administran los ODAPAS, y se presentan principalmente en la interacción de actores gubernamentales (del Organismo) con los actores o usuarios de los servicios del ODAPAS. Se detecta que el principal problema de falta de integridad que afecta al sistema de gestión, se debe a siguen dependiendo de manera directa del representante del gobierno municipal (el Presidente Municipal), quien es el responsable de establecer los puestos y los sueldos de los actores gubernamentales del Organismo Operador (trabajo de campo: Jaimes, 2013–2015). En este sentido, hasta que se normen y se establezcan los límites y separación política de las interacciones entre Presidente municipal y ODAPAS, menor será el riesgo de acciones de falta de integridad. De igual forma se detecta que las demás faltas de integridad que se dan en las relaciones directas en los trámites entre actores y funcionarios, se podrán resolver en gran medida a través del uso de herramientas digitales, implementadas en los ODAPAS. 9 | P á g i n a Si bien existen estas tres formas o modelos de gestión del agua, al parecer existen municipios donde no solo existen, sino que conviven los tres modelos mencionados, por lo que es importante contextualizar cada caso. Es a partir del estudio de casos reales que se puede plantear y sugerir metodologías para gobernanza hídrica para mejorar las políticas públicas y la buena gobernanza hídrica con énfasis en integridad y transparencia (aquí se tomó el municipio de Valle de Bravo). Es importante ubicar el presente trabajo dentro de la línea de investigación de Gestión Integrada de los Recursos Hídricos (GIRH) sobre Gobernanza del Agua, dirigidos por el Dr. Tonatiuh Romero y Dr. Carlos Díaz, por lo tanto, está soportado en investigaciones previas especializadas desarrolladas en el CIRA–UAEMex, tanto de Doctorado como de Maestría en Ciencias del Agua (Hinojosa, 2014; Campuzano, 2015; Anzurez, 2016; García, 2016; Gómez, 2016; Bernal, 2017). Es por ello que en el presente trabajo, como continuación de la línea de investigación, se propuso identificar los aspectos o factores críticos de integridad hídrica, dentro de la gobernanza del agua del Organismo Operador de Agua, caso del ODAPAS de Valle de Bravo con su contexto, la cual sirva como una guía sobre el uso de herramientas metodológicas, para determinar las prácticas de gobernanza del agua (presencias y ausencias), en materia de integridad y transparencia para los tomadores de decisiones enfocados en buscar una buena gobernanza hídrica municipal para los ODAPAS. Para lograr lo anterior, se hace uso de las herramientas teórico metodológicas desarrolladas para la gestión integrada de recursos hídricos (GIRH), donde los Organismos Operadores se entienden como un sistema y donde todas sus áreas son interdependientes, tal y como lo establece teóricamente Palerm (Fall, 2015), y lo hace metodológicamente la –Guía de planeación estratégica participativa para la gestión integrada de los recursos hídricos de la cuenca Lerma–Chapala–Santiago, capítulo Estado de México– (Díaz–Delgado, C. et al., 2009), la cual junto con el trabajo de campo de observación participativa, es decir, de trabajo como Subdirector del Área Técnica a largo de tres años dentro del Organismo Operador, se identificaron los factores críticos y sus aspectos positivos y negativos de gobernanza dentro de la gestión de los recursos hídricos, con un enfoque de integridad y transparencia. 10 | P á g i n a El presente trabajo de investigación está dividido en cuatro capítulos; en el primero definido como –Marco teórico–conceptual– se incluyen los conceptos operativos que conforman el marco teórico, donde se discuten y se definen las bases teóricas que son necesarias para identificar las prácticas de gobernanza del agua con énfasis en integridad, transparencia y rendición de cuentas, en el Organismo Operador de Agua (Valle de Bravo); así como la GIRH, gobernanza y gobernabilidad, integridad, transparencia; también se definen los modelos de gestión del agua en México y se establecen los criterios de un Organismo Operador, así como sus aspectos positivos y negativos, como modelo de gestión, con el fin de identificar las prácticas de gobernanza hídrica en el ODAPAS del caso de estudio. En el segundo capítulo denominado –Método y materiales–, se definen los materiales empleados, al igual que el método que regirá esta investigación, así como la metodología a seguir para cada uno de los objetivos que se establecieron en el protocolo de tesis y su aplicación al caso de estudio. Se elabora un diagrama metodológico general, donde se aprecia el seguimiento particular de cada objetivo específico, destacando el trabajo de campo participativo (trabajo de campo: Jaimes, 2013–2015), que ha sido fundamental para identificar con mayor precisión los aspectos del ODAPAS de Valle de Bravo. En el tercer capítulo, –Caso de estudio: Agua potable en Valle de Bravo–, se contextualiza y se define la espacialidad del trabajo de investigación con la caracterización del caso de estudio: contexto socio–histórico de la región, aspectos demográficos, físico–geográficos, marco legal vigente, hidrología y caracterización del agua potable en el municipio de Valle de Bravo, además que es el capítulo donde se aplicó la metodología GIRH (CIRA– UAEMex), para identificar los factores críticos que tienen mayor peso en el sistema, los cuales fueron fundamentales para desarrollar la discusión y la presentación de resultados. En el cuarto y último capítulo de –Resultados–, se presentan los resultados obtenidos con esta investigación, respecto a cada objetivo específico definido, además se incluye una discusión referente a dichos resultados, la cual sirvió para generar una serie de sugerencias, en relación a las prácticas de gobernanza hídrica identificadas en el caso de estudio. Es importante precisar que este documento de investigación todavía tiene alcances más específicos, los cuales se podrán trabajar en el Doctorado de Ciencias del Agua (DCA), para desarrollar un trabajo que se pueda replicar en otros ODAPAS.<br>Beca Conacyt

Submitted by Julia de Lamare (ju_delamare@hotmail.com) on 2016-03-10T14:23:56Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação Julia de Lamare - versão final 10.03.2016.pdf: 1781385 bytes, checksum: 5e0a14bc6abef953bdd67e2359263eaf (MD5)<br>Approved for entry into archive by BRUNA BARROS (bruna.barros@fgv.br) on 2016-03-16T13:15:30Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação Julia de Lamare - versão final 10.03.2016.pdf: 1781385 bytes, checksum: 5e0a14bc6abef953bdd67e2359263eaf (MD5)<br>Approved for entry into archive by Marcia Bacha (marcia.bacha@fgv.br) on 2016-03-18T13:37:12Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação Julia de Lamare - versão final 10.03.2016.pdf: 1781385 bytes, checksum: 5e0a14bc6abef953bdd67e2359263eaf (MD5)<br>Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-18T13:37:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação Julia de Lamare - versão final 10.03.2016.pdf: 1781385 bytes, checksum: 5e0a14bc6abef953bdd67e2359263eaf (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-02-15<br>Environmental regulation lacks transparency. Agencies responsible for environmental protection, in most of the cases, only publish the final versions of the regulatory measures adopted, without further details on supporting, technical justifications, alternatives considered and possible contributions from social participation, among other issues. As a consequence, the environmental management faces accountability issues. To overcome this scenario, the regulatory impact analysis is presented as an instrument able to add clarity, objectivity and efficiency to environmental decision making. The incorporation of the tool, however, should be performed with particular caution, in view of three major peculiarities of Environmental Law. Firstly, the sector not only handles with risk, but also with uncertainty, in which due to the absence of information, it is impossible to make probability calculation about possible outcomes. Secondly, environmental regulation deals with non-tradable assets to which traditional cost-benefit analysis is not easily applicable. Finally, the environmental regulatory authority is shared by various agencies at all levels of government, increasing the odds of technical failures.<br>A regulação ambiental carece de maior transparência. Os órgãos de proteção do meio ambiente, em regra, apenas publicam as versões finais das medidas elaboradas, sem explicitar as justificativas técnicas que as embasaram, as alternativas consideradas e as possíveis contribuições decorrentes de participação social, entre outras questões. Em consequência, tem-se um cenário desfavorável à realização de controle pelos mais diversos atores. Para superá-lo, a análise de impacto regulatório é apresentada como instrumento apto a agregar clareza, objetividade e eficiência ao processo decisório ambiental. A incorporação da ferramenta, no entanto, deve ser realizada com cuidado especial, tendo em vista a existência de três principais peculiaridades do direito do meio ambiente. Primeiro, o setor lida não só com situações de risco, mas também com casos de incerteza, em que a ausência de informação impossibilita o cálculo de probabilidade de ocorrência de possíveis resultados. Em segundo lugar, a regulação ambiental recai sobre bens não transacionados em mercados, o que dificulta a obtenção de seu valor de troca, aspecto relevante para a análise de custo-benefício como tradicionalmente conhecida. Por fim, o meio ambiente apresenta desenho regulatório absolutamente fragmentado, composto por variados órgãos normatizadores, deliberativos e fiscalizadores em todos os níveis da federação, o que eleva o risco de deficiências na formação técnica das autoridades reguladoras.

Šiame magistro baigiamajame darbe autorė analizuoja informacijos apie aplinką viešumo bei prieinamumo teisinius, praktinius bei etinius aspektus. Šio darbo tikslas yra atskleisti visuomenės narių nuomonę apie gerai reglamentuotą informacijos apie aplinką skleidimą bei gavimą. Tyrimas pradedamas teisiniu aspektu. Pabrėžiamos įstatymais reglamentuojamos teisės į informaciją apie aplinką. Atskleidžiami visuomenės narių ypatumai dėl teisės kreiptis į valstybės institucijas gauti informaciją bei valstybės institucijų pareigas skleisti ir viešinti informaciją, ne tik kurios reikalauja visuomenė, bet ir iniciatyviai. Antrajame skyriuje nagrinėjamas informacijos apie aplinką viešumo bei prieinamumo aspektas. Atskleidžiama viešumo bei prieinamumo turinių (esmių) problematika, analizuojamos prieinamiausios visuomenei informacijos priemonės. Trečias šio magistro baigiamojo darbo skyrius yra skirtas ekologinei etikai. Supažindinama su pagrindinėmis dabartinės ekologinės etikos vertybėmis, atskleidžiamos šių vertybių esminis indėlis žmogaus pasąmonei. Ketvirtasis skyrius skirtas visuomenės narių nuomonės apie informacijos apie aplinką viešumą bei prieinamumą analizei: atskleidžiamos pagrindinės problemos dėl informacijos apie aplinką, pateikiamos prieinamiausios žmonėms informavimo priemonės, įvertinamas informacijos viešumas, remiantis respondentų pasisakymais, analizuojamos aplinkosauginės vertybės bei pabrėžiamos pagrindinės problemos, lemiančios tų vertybių užmiršimą... [toliau žr. visą tekstą]<br>In this master thesis the author analysis the environmental information publicity and accessibility by legal, practical and ethical aspects. The aim is to reveal the members of the public opinions about the well – regulated environmental information dissemination and acquisition. Initiations legal aspect. Emphasis is placed on the law governed the right to information about the environment. Members of the public disclosure of the characteristics of access to public authorities access to information and obligations of public authorities to disseminate and publicize information that is not only required by the public, but also proactively. The second chapter examines the information about the environment publicity and accessibility. Disclosed in publicity and availability of content (substantially) the problem, analyze the most affordable media to the public. The third master's final work of this section is intended for environmental ethics. Introducing the major current environmental ethical values. These values are revealed substantial contribution to the human subconscious. The fourth section is dedicated to members of the public opinion on environmental information transparency and accessibility analysis: there are the key problems of environmental information, the most affordable media for people, and public access to information based on the views expressed by respondents, analysis of environmental values and focused on the main issues determining the values of... [to full text]

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2011.<br>ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The effectiveness of monetary policy depends importantly on the expectations of the private sector, as it is largely through this channel of the transmission mechanism that policy changes are transmitted to long-term interest rates. This has increased the emphasis on the role of central bank communication as a monetary policy tool. Successful communication is essential both to enhance the effectiveness of monetary policy and to build support for the institutional framework within which monetary policy is implemented. While the large and growing literature on central bank communication over the past decade has delivered strong support for the important role of central bank communication, there is less agreement about what the optimal communication strategy is. Furthermore, research has been limited mainly to studies of communication between central banks and the financial markets. In an evaluation of progress in the literature, Blinder et al. (2008) highlight the need to examine the interaction between central banks and the rest of the private sector (the general public) as well. The objective of this PhD dissertation is to evaluate the South African Reserve Bank’s (SARB’s) use of communication as a monetary policy tool. Special focus is given to communication with the inattentive general public, who set prices in the labour market and the market for goods and services. Different aspects of the SARB’s communication were studied, including the consistency of the South African Reserve Bank’s communication, the transmission of this communication via the media to the general public, and the process by which the general public gathers and processes the information on inflation. An evaluation of the SARB’s communications (its original messages) provided some evidence that the SARB has succeeded in communicating consistently over the inflation targeting period. This was followed by an assessment of the role of the media in transmitting the original communications to the general public. The results suggest that South African media reports generally show a lack of critical assessment of monetary policy decisions and that the inter-meeting communication by the SARB is ineffective at influencing these. An important challenge is for the SARB to consider how it can participate more actively in the economic discussion at this level and how it can build productive strategic relationships with the media. The final section of this dissertation explores the process by which the general public forms its inflation expectations, relying on epidemiological models to describe the spread of inflation information and to estimate the speed at which the general public, in aggregate, updates their inflation expectations. This estimate of the speed of adjustment will be valuable to future research that aims to build a Phillips curve in a new way for South Africa. A well-modelled Phillips curve will both improve the monitoring of the impact of monetary policy and inform future policy design and implementation.<br>AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doeltreffendheid van die monetêre beleid is beduidend afhanklik van die verwagtinge in die privaat sektor, aangesien beleid hoofsaaklik deur hierdie kanaal langtermyn rentekoerse beïnvloed. Hierdie bewustheid het die klem op die rol van sentrale bank kommunikasie as ‘n monetêre instrument versterk. Suksesvolle kommunikasie is noodsaaklik om beide die effektiwiteit van monetêre beleid te verseker sowel as om ondersteuning vir die institusionele raamwerk waarbinne die monetêre beleid geïmplimenteer word, te bou. Hoewel daar ‘n groot en groeiende literatuur is wat die belangrikheid van sentrale bank kommunikasie oor die afgelope dekade beklemtoon, is daar nie eenstemmigheid oor wat die optimale kommunikasie strategie behels nie. Daarbenewens is meeste studies beperk tot die kommunikasie tussen monetêre owerhede en die finansiële sektor. In ‘n evaluering van die literatuur het Blinder et al. (2008) die noodsaaklikheid beklemtoon om die wisselwerking tussen monetêre owerhede en die res van die privaat sektor (die publiek) te bestudeer. Die doel van hierdie proefskrif is om die Suid-Afrikaanse Reserwebank (SARB) se gebruik van hierdie kommunikasie instrument te evalueer. Spesiale aandag word geskenk aan kommunikasie met die onoplettende publiek wat pryse bepaal in die arbeidsmark en markte vir goedere en dienste. Verskillende aspekte van die SARB se kommunikasie strategie word bestudeer, insluitende die konsekwentheid van kommunikasie, die oordrag van hierdie kommunikasie via die media aan die publiek, asook die proses waarmee die publiek informasie rakende inflasie versamel en verwerk. ‘n Evaluering van die SARB se kommunikasie (die oorspronklike boodskappe) lewer bewys dat die SARB daarin geslaag het om konsekwent te kommunikeer tydens die inflasie teikeningsperiode. Dit word gevolg deur ‘n evaluering van die rol van die media om oorspronklike informasie suskesvol aan die publiek oor te dra. Die resultate dui daarop dat berigte in die Suid Afrikaanse media oor die algemeen aan kritiese evaluering van die monet.re beleidsbesluite ontbreek en die SARB se kommunikasie tussen monetêre beleidsvergaderings is ook oneffektief gevind. ‘n Belangrike uitdaging vir die SARB is dus om te bepaal hoe dit op hierdie vlak tot die ekonomiese debat kan toetree en hoe dit produktiewe strategiese verhoudings met die media kan bou. Die laaste afdeling van die proefskrif bestudeer die proses waarvolgens die publiek hul inflasieverwagtinge formuleer deur gebruik te maak van epidemiologiese modelle wat die verspreiding van inflasie verwagtinge, asook die spoed waarteen die publiek oor die algemeen hul inflasieverwagtinge opdateer, beskryf. Die snelheid waarmee die publiek hul verwagtinge opdateer behoort veral van waarde te wees vir toekomstige studies wat poog om ‘n Phillips kurwe met ‘n nuwe aanslag vir Suid Afrika te skort. ‘n Goed geformuleerde Phillips kurwe sal monitering van monetêre beleide se impak verbeter, en sal ook as ‘n goeie riglyn vir toekomstige beleidsontwerp en -implimentering dien.

The abuse of power, dominance of certain shared perspectives, and reduction of personal values into so-called organizational core values are problems that plague traditional organizational direction setting. The purpose of this study was to explore how power intersects with the knowledge formation process, shared perspectives, and participatory processes within organizational direction setting. The study used an ethnographic case study approach to focus on a church that went through a yearlong direction setting process. The church had lost its senior pastor and wanted to determine its direction before hiring a new pastor. The researcher was a participant in that process. His field notes and other documentation provided one source of data. The researcher also interviewed 20 people who participated in the process. In terms of the intersection of power and knowledge formation, the study revealed that the discursive practices of the facilitator along with the voices of those in privileged groups, the outspoken, and those who had engendered trust in others carried considerable weight during the process. At the intersection of power with shared perspectives, there were two major perspectives representing subgroup cultures: a traditional perspective that resisted change and a progressive perspective that wanted change. The progressives dominated the church’s privileged groups and exerted extensive influence on the direction setting process. The organizational symbols of church staff and worship music style served to galvanize some people in the battle over which perspective would prevail. Transparency functioned as a bridge that brought some on either side of the conflict closer together. The research revealed two major types of power related to the intersection of power with participatory processes: the power of pain and intimidation. Both minimized the participation of some women, youth, and traditionalists. All three intersections featured deployments of power that influenced the construction of directional knowledge. This knowledge helped to inform the rules of “appropriate” conduct within the organization’s emerging truth regime. The study revealed that, in this case, robust directional knowledge would have accommodated personal, subgroup, and widely shared values in a state of dynamic equilibrium. The researcher concluded with a discussion of implications for organizational leaders.

This study identifies the characteristics of seven key principles of good/corporate governance at three levels: as notions that originated in business; in their applications to sport through systematic review; and in relation to the interpretations given to them in the Olympic Movement. The aims of this study are, thus, to establish and utilise the IOC s definitions/interpretations and operationalisations of corporate and/or good governance developed in a western framework and apply to a non-western NOC, the Korean Olympic Committee (KOC). This study adopts critical realist assumptions which give rise to the hypothesis that both the regularities of the Korean society and its unobservable social structures have an impact on the corporate governance of the KOC. It also uses Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to examine each interviewee s discourse in order to identify the knowledge embraced by it and to interpret social practice(s) and the exercise of power. CDA is employed in relation to four selected events follows: the KOC/KSC merger, budgetary planning, the recruitment of staff in terms of gender and disability equity and the processes used for selecting the KOC President and the Chef de Mission. The unobservable deep structure is shown to be real domain in Korean society by the social practices exhibited in the four events. The government and, in particular, the State President represent the highest and most influential authority in decision-making on Korean sports policy. That power relationship coupled with the pre-existing structure of the KOC/KSC s financial dependency on the government has resulted in a situation where the government has been able to interfere greatly in the KOC/KSC s overall decision-making on sports policy including the election of the President of the KOC. The KOC/KSC President is the most influential stakeholder in the decision-making within the organisation including the selection of Chef de Mission. As the pre-existing structure of cultural expectations determines that women should usually quit their jobs after marriage and that people with disabilities are incapable of working, the strongly male with abilities-dominated organisational culture has resulted in a social phenomenon whereby few females or people with impairments have succeeded in being promoted to senior positions. From the macro-level perspective, the first KOC/KSC merger accomplished on the orders of the State President shows the dominance of economic power as suggested in Marxist influenced forms of analysis. The incumbent KOC President, who is at the pinnacle of the business elite, contributed to the KOC/KSC merger, which illustrates the aspect of elitism. In connection with the budgetary process, this may be viewed as evidence of the existence of a neo-corporatist structure in which the state plays a central role and acts in a unitary way with the involvement of a limited number of actors. With respect to the meso-level perspective, the aspect of clientelism is exhibited since the government habitually appoints its political aides to be the heads of various sporting organisations. Concerning political governance, it becomes obvious that the government has direct control over KOC/KSC s policy. In terms of systemic governance, the relations among the domestic stakeholders of the KOC are more likely to follow a hierarchical type of governance, as the government has adopted the highest position and the National Federations are under the control of the KOC/KSC. With reference to Lukes (1974) second dimension of power this can be evidenced in the context of the non-decision making roles of women and the disabled. The IOC s interpretations of the key principles of corporate governance in a western framework are applied to the KOC. Accountability, responsibility, transparency and democracy are established but the KOC s governance practices are not equivalent, while effectiveness and efficiency are interpreted as the same ways of the IOC s. In general, power centralisation is apparent throughout the Korean cultural context. The KOC s power structure and organisational culture is likely to be concentrated to the KOC President within the organisation and broadly, the Korean government enjoys its power centralisation decision-making in the Korean context which gives rise to a peculiarly Korean way of interpreting and applying the principles of corporate governance. In such circumstances, nevertheless, where the KOC is making an effort to align its practices with the IOC s recommendations as much as possible, the indication is that the KOC is on course to reflect the IOC s governance practices.

Governments are becoming increasingly aware of SMEs as economical role players. As a result many initiatives were introduced to address the unique challenges of the SME sector. One of these initiatives was the introduction of a global accounting framework for SMEs by the International Accounting Standards Board entitled the IFRS for SMEs. South Africa became the first country to formally adopt the contents thereof as the Statement of GAAP for SMEs. The adoption of a formal accounting framework by SMEs is however challenged by, amongst other factors, the informal nature of SMEs, limited global focus, the involvement of owner–managers and different classifications of SMEs worldwide. Owing to these unique attributes it is possible that SMEs have alternative informational needs and as a result the impact of environmental factors on the adoption of the Statement of GAAP for SMEs was considered. Culture is considered the most important environmental factor affecting the accounting environment. The Value Survey Model of Hofstede was utilised to determine cultural dimensions of accounting students (n = 301) in South Africa and the United Kingdom (UK). The cultural dimensions were extended to the accounting values of Gray after which a distinct set of accounting values was identified for i) the adoption of formal, global and prescriptive accounting standards, ii) based on principles iii) by an informal SME sector. The results also revealed distinct cultural differences within South Africa as well as between South Africa and the UK. Thereafter the contents of the Statement of GAAP for SMEs/IFRS for SMEs were evaluated against reporting practices of the SME sector in South Africa. Firstly, an assessment of the contents was conducted amongst SME accountants (n = 157) using a five–point Likert–type scale. Secondly, financial statements compiled by the SME sector in South Africa were analysed to determine the relevance of the contents of the illustrative financial statements contained in the Statement of GAAP for SMEs. The analysis entailed a consolidation of a sample of SME financial statements from South Africa (n = 100). The study revealed that the accounting environment of the SME sector is affected by a wide range of environmental and related factors. These factors were summarised and discussed and recommendations for future research were made.<br>Thesis (Ph.D. (Accounting))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

碩士<br>國立交通大學<br>高階主管管理學程碩士班<br>92<br>Financial statements have been the most important tools management uses to communicate with the market all the time. But with the change of economics, the importance of intangible assets increase recently. And it seems that traditional financial reporting fails to address the important value drivers in the New Economy. The information of Value Reporting covers financial and non-financial metrics of performance measurements, historical and future data. It provides a better reporting to the users and motivates enterprises to re-evaluate the information they submitted, the revised information is able to show how short-term and long-term value creative and value retain activities that managers perform to enhance the possibility of value achievement in order to improve the transparent problems. Moreover, it also develops a specific report along with industry instead of traditional one. To illustrate and examine the relationship of corporate value and the development of financial reporting, literature review and case study were employed. The results are as following: First, because of the change of economics, companies should provide more forward-looking and non-financial information to help users’ decision making. Second, Value Reporting is extremely related to the investment judgement of investors.

碩士<br>長榮大學<br>經營管理研究所<br>103<br>Motivated by fair value relevance studies, this study examines weather accounting information based on fair value is more value relevant than accounting information based on historical cost. Using data from Taiwan stock markets during 2005-2013, this study finds that assets measured by fair value are more value relevant than assets measured by historical cost. Furthermore, this study does not find that the value relevance of fair value accounting information increases for companies with the high level of accounting transparency. This study finds that the value relevance of fair value accounting information increases for companies with high level of accounting transparency and companies have more independent directors or with more institution investors or companies audited by Big 4. Finally, this study does not finds that companies with high level of accounting transparency and companies have audit committee increases the value relevance of fair value accounting information.

Tax avoidance that reduces transfers from shareholders to the government is traditionally viewed as value enhancing to shareholders. The agency perspective of tax avoidance, however, suggests that opportunistic managers may exploit the obfuscatory nature of tax avoidance to mask rent extraction. To shed light on these conflicting views, I use a self-constructed opacity index and multiple measures of tax avoidance to examine how corporate transparency relates to tax avoidance. I find that more transparent firms, which potentially have less severe agency problems, avoid more tax relative to their opaque counterparts. This result suggests that in a large section of the economy, tax avoidance is mainly engaged in by managers to enhance shareholder wealth. Further, I find that investors place a value premium on tax avoidance, but the price premium decreases with corporate opacity. This is consistent with the notion that corporate transparency facilitates the monitoring of managerial actions and thus alleviates outside investors’ concern with the hidden agency costs associated with tax avoidance.<br>text

碩士<br>國立高雄第一科技大學<br>財務管理所<br>92<br>This study investigates the agency problems between the largest shareholders and minority shareholders. We use voting rights and board ratio to measure control rights in Taiwan. At the same time, we bring up new ways to measure the separation of ownership and control. We find that control rights frequently exceed cash flow rights in the electronics industry. Obviously, there is still agency problems in Taiwan. Furthermore, the firm value falls when the control rights exceed cash flow ownership through the use of pyramid and cross-shareholding. However, the firm value increases with the cash flow ownership and the transparency and disclosure about annual reports.

碩士<br>長榮大學<br>經營管理研究所<br>104<br>Cash, best for filling temporary financing gap, is the most liquid asset in company account. However, the cash holding rate has double edges for company development. After the positive incentives it creates, negative effects usually ensue. Namely, with a high cash holding rate, the company may face high opportunity costs of investment or other related agency problems. This research found that the double-edged effects of cash holding rate can be reduced by introducing the intermediate variable of information transparency. The higher the information transparency rate is, the more the company information is disclosed to the market, and the less probably the related agency problems occur. This research, therefore, explored how information transparency interacts with cash holding, and how they positively affect the corporate value. It indicated that the more information transparency is, the more positively the cash holding will affect the company value. The research also in further divided the study population into electronic and non-electronic companies. The empirical finding indicated that for the electronic company, the interactive effect between information transparency and cash holding rate shows significantly positive correlation with corporate value. This result is consistent with that of the study population. Interestingly, this interactive effect on non-electronic companies fails to show such a significant result. Turning to the experiment that the study population was grouped into family and non-family business, the interactive effect shows significant result on non-family business rather than on family business.

碩士<br>南台科技大學<br>會計資訊系<br>98<br>Many fraud events such as the Asian financial crisis, Enron, WorldCom, Taiwan’s Boda case etc. make the investing public lose confidence. In 2003, Taiwan’s SEC has evaluated information transparency of all listed companies. The screening system can reduce information asymmetries between investors and companies and protect investors’ interests. If firms’ information transparency is better, they can gain more capital from capital market so they will hold less cash. Therefore, we predict that information transparency is negatively related to cash holdings. However, more cash holdings will worsen the agency problem in firms with worse information transparency. It will lead to less firms’ value. We use data from Information Disclosure and Transparence Ranking System to test our hypotheses. Our results show that the higher information transparency scores, the more cash holdings and firms’ value. However, the better TCRI scores, the less cash holdings and firms’ value are higher. This study also explored the impact of information transparency on the relationship between dividends and firm value. The results show that company's dividend payment can enhance the value of the company in firms with worse information transparency.

碩士<br>國立臺中科技大學<br>會計資訊系碩士班<br>106<br>This study’s focus is on the effects of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and information transparency (IT) on corporate value of the listed companies in Taiwan. The analyses are based on data from 2007 to 2014. The empirical results are consistent with our hypotheses that both CSR and IT are significantly positive correlated to corporate value.

碩士<br>銘傳大學<br>會計學系碩士班<br>96<br>The purpose of this study is to discuss the information transparency and family factor effect the relationship between accounting information with abnormal return. This study adapt the Securities and Futures Information Center(SFI) announced the first to the fourth result of evaluation of information system to divided samples into transparent and non-transparent to test the influence of information transparency on earnings return. Research sample contains publicly traded over the counter(OTC) companies from 2003 to 2006. The empirical results are summarized as follows： (1)The higher information disclosure level companies have higher associations between earnings and stock price. (2)Family firms have lower associations than non-family firms between earnings and stock price. (3)Family firms can not effect evaluation of earnings quality in transparent company. For investors’perceptions, family firms have lower disclosure quality, but if these firms be valued as higher information disclosure level companies, the earnings quality still can be trust and get higher stock return.

碩士<br>國立彰化師範大學<br>會計學系<br>92<br>After Enron scandal, issues on corporate governance are gradually getting more and more attention. Introducing independent directors (supervisors) and enhancing corporate information transparency have become two imperative topics. In this study, two objectives are raised: (1) to examine the effect of independent directors and independent supervisors on corporate information transparency; (2) to examine the effect of independent directors (supervisors) and corporate information transparency on firm value. The data was gathered from those firms listed on Stock Exchange of Taiwan in 2002. After deleting the omitted data, our final sample consists 553 observations. Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), path analysis and t test as well as M-W test are used to analyze our data sets. The results indicate that independent directors and independent supervisors indeed facilitate firms to enhance information transparency. It also shows that both the independent directors and the corporate information transparency are significantly relevant to firm value. The other finding is the proportion of independent directors has the most impact on the firm value. Although independent supervisors don’t have any direct impact on the firm value, they can increase firm value indirectly by their positive impact on their corporate information transparency.

碩士<br>淡江大學<br>管理科學學系企業經營碩士在職專班<br>103<br>Information transparency disclosed are more and more paid attention by market participants. In order to reduce the negative impacts of information asymmetry, Taiwan authority built the evaluation system of information disclosure for the firms listed in TWSE and OTC since 2003. By employing the firms listed in the TWSE and OTC as our samples, we explore whether information asymmetry and voluntary information disclosure would affect firm value after controlling corporate governance and financial statements variables. The results reveal that the firms with high degree of information transparency and voluntary information disclosure would have higher firm value; on the contrary, the firms with lower degree of information transparency might not weaken firm value.

碩士<br>輔仁大學<br>會計學系碩士班<br>100<br>Abstract：This study using Ohlson(1995) model examines the effect of information transparency on income smoothing and value relevance. Find that when Information Disclosure and Transparence Ranking System(IDTRS) evaluate companies’s disclosure level is A+ and A, the more income smoothing, the more value-relevance increase of earnings; in contrast, the more value-relevance loss of equity book value .In other hand, companies’s disclosure level was A+ and A is trend to informativeness earning management. When Information Disclosure and Transparence Ranking System(IDTRS) evaluate companies’s disclosure level is B and C, the more income smoothing, the more value-relevance loss of earnings; in contrast, the more value-relevance increase of equity book value. In other hand, companies’s disclosure level was B and C is trend to opportunistic earning management.

碩士<br>銘傳大學<br>會計學系碩士在職專班<br>103<br>Intellectual capital is nowadays a crucial factor of companies gaining its advantages and raising its value. With increasing the information transparency, it can even more reflect the real value of companies. This paper uses the data of all the public traded company listed on TWSE during 2011 to 2013 as research subjects. The Olson model is used to analyze in this research. We define Value Added Intellectual Coefficient (VAIC) which includes Value Added Capital Coefficient (VACA), Value Added Human Capital Coefficient (VAHU) and Structure Capital Coefficient (STVA) as the proxy variable of the intellectual capital and information transparency as the moderator. The result shows that VAHU has the most significant influence on the value of companies. Furthermore, the research indicates that the information transparency can positively moderate the relation between VAIC and the value of companies. The higher information transparency, the more relevance between VAHU and the value of companies.

博士<br>國立雲林科技大學<br>管理研究所博士班<br>100<br>The purpose of this study is to investigate the information content of information transparency. Using Ohlson’s Model (1995), first this study tests information transparency as the other information which affects the market value of enterprise. Second this study tests information transparency as the moderator which affects the investor attitudes toward accounting information. Then, this paper includes the life stages as an enterprise attribute to reexamine the relationship between enterprise equity value and information transparency. In addition, using Tucker and Zarowin’s model (2006), this study exploits the impact of information transparency on current returns and future earnings. The results of both the equity evaluation model developed by Ohlson (1995) and future earnings response coefficient (FERC) processed by Tucker and Zarowin’s (2006) indicate the informativeness of information transparency. Information transparency can be considered as additional information that affects enterprise equity value and as a moderator that moderates the relationship between accounting information and equity value. After incorporating an additional enterprise attribute, this study finds that enterprises in a growth stage have greater positive relationship between information transparency and equity value than that of those in the maturity or decline stage and enterprises in the decline stage have greater positive relatioship between information transparency and equity value than that of those in the maturity stage. From future earnings response coefficient perspective, the results show that firms with relatively more infomative disclosures bring more future information and this information is incorporated into the current stock return. In other words, information content exists in information transparency.

碩士<br>國立臺北大學<br>會計學系<br>97<br>Since the 1997 Asian Financial Storm, there are many corporate scandals occurred domestically and overseas and this gave rise to the emphasis of corporate governance. Among the points of attention, Disclosure of Information is one of the important items. Taiwan has promoted and enforced Information Disclosure Appraisal System since 2003 to encourage as well as step up corporate information disclosure to promote the faith of investors in capital market. In Taiwan, there are studies in the information disclosure appraisal system. However, most of them focused in the ranking of information disclosure and the relationship to stock prices, and there is only limited number involved in relevance between the change of appraisal ranking and transparency of voluntary information disclosure and the corporate value. In this research, it is intended to discuss the change of ranking and transparency of voluntary information disclosure and the corporate value relevance of those who won high recognition in 3rd, 4th and 5th appraisal. It is hoped that this research will bring competent agency contribution in their implementation and modification of the Appraisal system, as well as providing decision makers as reference. In this research, the Ohlson Appraisal Model is adopted, the transparency ranking result of appraisal system, changes of ranking and transparency of voluntary disclosure and the book value per share (EPS) multiplied results as non-accounting information representing variable to discuss the relationship with stock price, so as to find out if it can increase the stock price increase interpretation of stock book value (EPS), so as to verify if there is close relationship between these 3 variables and the corporate value. Empirical results showed the companies with higher transparency of appraisal results; their EPS has higher capacity in interpreting their stock price, and there existed with significant positive correlation. The change in transparency grading, whether rise or drop, after regression, the relationship between it and the stock prices are not reaching significant level. Companies with better voluntary disclosure transparency, their EPS can better explain stock price and there is positive correlation existed.

碩士<br>東海大學<br>會計學系<br>99<br>Establishing audit committee is an important developmental orientation of corporate governance in the world. In recent years, most of the studies related to the audit committee focus on the issues of the relationship between audit committee and earning quality, or study on the factors of establishing audit committee voluntarily. Therefore, this study examines the relationship between audit committee (audit committee expertise) and firm value and using information transparency as a mediator variable in order to examine whether audit committee (audit committee expertise) will affect firm value through information transparency. This study uses path analysis to analysis the relationship among audit committee, audit committee expertise, information transparency and firm value. The empirical results show that there is a positive relationship between audit committee and firm value. It means that if companies establish audit committees, investors are willing to pay higher price to buy their stocks and then improving firm value. Audit committee has direct and indirect effects on firm value at the same time. In other words, audit committee will strengthen the firm value through information transparency indirectly. Audit committee expertise has an insignificant effect on firm value. The results indicate information transparency have no mediating effect on the relationship between audit committee expertise and firm value.

No<br>The purpose of this paper is to present a critical viewpoint on the negative aspects of market, price and cost transparencies to consumers in terms of its costs. It adopts an inter-disciplinary approach from the marketing, economics and accounting literature. The paper explores market transparency in the ever-changing world and uses brand names like Starbucks and iPhone to illuminate instances where imperfect markets are supported by consumers. Recognizing the role that the Internet plays in promoting price transparency, it espouses how extant information can add costs and risks to the consumer’s value judgement. Finally, the paper advocates that arbitrary judgements existing in cost accounting make it difficult to compare unit cost. This could result in consumers paying extra money to benefit from cost transparency. This paper argues that three main issues may arise in providing unit cost to the consumers. First, transparency entails built-in costs, whether they are in taxes or product prices. Second, in accounting, unit cost information is currently not equitable between businesses. Finally, the paper argues that extra time and effort in making sense of unit cost information lead to questions about the viability of transparent costing. The arguments for transparency have been widely discussed, supported and promoted by many. While negative aspects are known to businesses, few consider the consumer’s perspective. By amalgamating evidence and arguments from different disciplines, this paper lends value, providing a critical perspective where transparent unit cost revelation can be more costly and less viable than what is assumed.

CEMS<br>The lack of resources and a clear fundraising strategy have been identified as the main reasons preventing Transparency International Canada from achieving its vision and mission and developing TI Canada into a stronger chapter. Therefore, our team developed a fundraising strategy and a concrete work plan on how to generate additional funding in the short and long run. This was achieved by profoundly analyzing TI Canada’s current fundraising situation, drawing a detailed picture of the ideal situation and identifying the gaps in between. Eventually, different deliverables for the various stakeholders were developed recommending concrete, prioritized steps on how to close these gaps.

碩士<br>國立雲林科技大學<br>資訊管理系碩士班<br>95<br>To disclose the corporate financial information has become the common way by companies on the internet. It differs from traditional way to provide a new channel to communicate with investors and shareholders. Recently the scandal of corporation financial operation made the corporate to get into financial distress. People pay more and more attention about corporate governance, corporate value and information transparency. And the relationship between information transparency and information quality has become the popular issue. Therefore, to investigate the impact of the corporate governance, corporate value and information quality on information transparency and to discuss the relationship between information quality and information transparency are the important issues. A range of studies have shown that corporate governance could improve managerial control, and guarantee the shareholders’ wealth. In addition, corporate value could impact the investors’ decisions. This study extends prior research on information transparency and information quality by investigating the impact of corporate governance, corporate value, and other determinants. And the study investigates the relationship between information transparency and information quality with a simultaneous equations model. In empirical analysis, the listed companies of Taiwan would be the subjects. By empirical results, there are 5 hypotheses being supported in listed companies. The results suggest that the extent of information transparency is influenced by a firm’s corporate governance attributes and company characteristics; the extent of information quality is influenced by market value. The proportion of non-executive directors on the board is found to be significantly positive associated with the information transparency and company size is a significant factor associated with the level of information transparency. The proportion of return of asset higher, the information transparency is lower. The study also finds that the level of information quality has a significantly positive impact on information transparency, the information quality; however, the information transparency has no significant influence on the information quality. The proportion of growth have a significantly negatively impact on information quality. Higher market value has a significant positive influence.

碩士<br>國立高雄應用科技大學<br>商務經營研究所<br>97<br>This study applies Ohlson’s(1995) equity valuation model to examine the relationship between equity market value with corporate governance and information transparency features that financial statements cannot reveal. Using a sample companies of Information Disclosure and Evaluation System is degree B、C or C- to become degree A+ or A companies and the corresponding companies listed companies in electronic sector trading on the TSE(Taiwan Stock Exchange), this research discusses whether corporate governance and information transparency affects the value relevance of equity market value. The following three points can be concluded from the study： 1、The enterprises turning the degree B of the Information Disclosure System into degree A or more, or turning the degree A into degree B or less, the empirical findings implementing the Ohlson’s equity valuation model indicate that the EPS and book value per share will keep positive relationship with stock’s price. These results show that the theory concept and the practice both are met reasonably. However in our study only EPS is significant, but book value per share is not. 2、The enterprises turning the degree B of the Information Disclosure System into degree A or more, these enterprises’ information is trend to be more transparency. Therefore, by the increasing confidence in company’s information can assist investors to get necessary information. As with corporate governance variables, through using the factor analysis method, we choose such variables as the independent board, the institution investors, management participation, and the structure of board ownership. The empirical results reveal that the independent board and the institution investors both are significant and positive relationship. 3、The stakeholders such as investors and government unit may use the company’s relevant information of the Information Disclosure System to estimate the conditions of operation. However, to assist stakeholders to obtain the sound long-term decision- making, it is necessary to understand the structure of internal shareholders’ ownership or external institution’s viewpoint.