La présente étude vise à examiner les facteurs qui déterminent la nomination de femmes au conseil d'administration et à explorer le lien entre la diversité du genre dans le conseil et la performance de l’entreprise. En utilisant des données sur la composition du conseil d'administration et la performance financière des sociétés appartenant à l'indice boursier SBF120 entre 2007 et 2012, nous trouvons que la nomination de femmes administrateurs est fortement associée aux caractéristiques du conseil et à la structure de propriété. En effet, la propriété managériale, la propriété institutionnelle, la propriété familiale, la taille du conseil, et l'indépendance du conseil sont tous fortement corrélés avec la représentation des femmes au sein du conseil d'administration d'une entreprise. En outre, nos résultats montrent que l’impact de la diversité du genre se manifeste dans deux directions contradictoires : elle affecte positivement la performance comptable et influence négativement la performance du marché. Apparemment, les administratrices sont l’objet d’une évaluation biaisée par le marché qui sous-estime leur présence dans les conseils d’administration. Ce qui est encore plus intéressant, c’est que nos analyses montrent une double nature de la représentation des femmes au sein des conseils d’administration des entreprises françaises cotées. Autrement dit, l'effet de la présence de femmes dans le conseil d’administration sur la performance de l’entreprise varie en fonction de l'affiliation des administratrices avec l’actionnaire majoritaire. / The current study aims at examining the factors that determine the appointment of women to the board of directors and at exploring the link between board gender diversity and financial performance. Using data on the board composition and the firm performance of companies belonging to the SBF120 stock market index between 2007 and 2012, we find evidence that the appointment of women directors is strongly associated with ownership structure and board characteristics. Indeed, managerial ownership, institutional ownership, family ownership, board size, and board independence are all strongly correlated with the representation of women directors on a firm's board. Furthermore, our results show that the impact of gender diversity manifests in conflicting directions, positively affecting accounting performance and negatively influencing market performance. Apparently, female directors are subject to a biased evaluation by the market, which undervalues their presence on boards. More surprisingly, our analyses show a twofold nature of female representation in the French market. That is, the effect of female directorship on firm performance varies with the affiliation of women on the board.

This dissertation focused on an increasingly prevalent phenomenon in today’s global business environment—strategic alliance portfolio. Building on resource-based view, resource dependency theory and real options theory, this dissertation adopted a multi-dimensional perspective to examine the performance implications, strategic antecedents of alliance portfolio configuration, and its strategic effects on firms’ decision-making on their continuing foreign expansion. The dissertation consisted of three interrelated essays, each of which dealt with a specific research question. In the first essay I applied a two-dimensional construct that embraces both alliance relations’ and alliance partners’ attributes to illustrate alliance portfolio configuration. Based on this framework, a longitudinal study was conducted attempting to explore the performance properties of alliance portfolio configuration. The results revealed that alliance diversity and partner diversity have different relative contributions to firms’ economic performance. The relationship between alliance portfolio configuration and firm performance was shaped by degree of multinationality in a curvilinear pattern. The second essay attempted to identify the firm level driving forces of alliance portfolio configuration and how these forces interacting with firms’ internationalization influence firms’ strategic choices on alliance portfolio configuration. The empirical results indicated that past alliance experience, slack resource and firms’ brand images are three critical determinants shaping alliance portfolios, but those shaping relationships are conditioned by firms’ multinationality. The third essay primarily employed real options theory to build a conceptual framework, revealing how country-, alliance portfolio-, firm-, and industry level factors and their interactions influence firms’ strategic decision-making on post-entry continuing expansion in foreign markets. The two empirical studies were resided in global hospitality and travel industries and use panel data to test the relevant theoretical models. Overall, the dissertation advanced and enriched the theoretical domain of alliance portfolio. It particularly shed valuable insights on three fundamental questions in the domain of alliance portfolio research, namely “if and how alliance portfolios contribute to firms’ economic performance”; “what determines the appearance of alliance portfolios; and “how alliance portfolios affect firms’ strategic decision-making”. This dissertation also extended the international business and strategic management research on service multinationals’ foreign expansion and performance.

Forward-looking financial disclosure (FLFD) is potentially uninformative if it does not change from the previous year, especially after a significant change in firm performance. This study uses a sample of UK narrative statements of the annual reports over the period from 2005 to 2011. It employed the automated content analysis technique to measure change in FLFD over years to answer three research questions. First, to what extent does change in firms’ earnings performance drive managers to change FLFD over years? Second, what are the other drivers of the change of FLFD from year to year? Third, do investors use information revealed by the change in FLFD? The study finds a positive association between change in FLFD and change in firm earnings performance. However, it finds weak evidence that firms with larger changes in their earnings performance are likely to change their FLFD more than those with smaller performance changes. In addition, when we distinguish between well-performing and poorly performing firms, it finds that the change in FLFD is more positively associated with poorly performing firms compared to well-performing firms. Furthermore, it finds that change in FLFD is positively (negatively) associated with firm size, (competitive environment), (litigious environment), and (percentage of managerial ownership). In addition, the role of the auditor in overseeing narrative reporting is not appearing for all sample firms or for well-performing firms, however, it is observable only in poorly performing firms. Finally, the study uses firm value three months after the release of the annual report to examine investors’ responses to the changes in FLFD. It finds that the value of a firm decreases as long as it changes its FLFD from the previous year. However, when we distinguish between well and poorly performing firms, it finds that the change in FLFD has no effect on the value of well-performing firms, while, it negatively affects poorly performing firms. The results suggest that FLFD in UK narratives includes some content about firm performance. However, it neither affects the value of well-performing firms nor enhances investors’ valuation of poorly performing firms.

The purpose of this research is to assess the impact of Chinese acquisitions on Italian target firm performance, and explore which characteristics of the acquirer can determine a change of it. First, a Paired-Samples T-test has been applied to appreciate the difference between pre-and post-acquisition performance on 27 sample companies. Secondly, through an OLS regression, the impact of the Chinese acquirers’ characteristics on the performance of Italian target companies has been estimated for the year 2018. In addition, two interviews with managers from one sample company were carried out to complement the quantitative findings with qualitative insight. The results show that the performance of Italian target companies did not change significantly after the acquisition-at least not in the time span of 3 years used for the analysis- in terms of: profitability, solvency and growth. However, job creation slightly increased following the takeover. Furthermore, our findings indicate that, among the Influential factors examined, Chinese acquirers’ prior M&Aexperience in developed countries and the level of relatedness have a significant and positive impact on the performance of Italian target sampled companies. Whereas, being acquired by a Chinese SOE or POE seems to not affect the performance. Lastly, another influential factor raised by our respondents resulted to be the integration strategy implemented by the Chinese acquirer.Indeed, choosing the appropriate integration strategy for the two entities can be crucial for the acquisition success, and ultimately, for the future performance of the target.

This article conceptualizes and operationalizes ‘subjective entrepreneurial success’ in a manner which reflects the criteria employed by entrepreneurs, rather than those imposed by researchers. We used two studies to explore this notion; the first qualitative enquiry investigated success definitions using interviews with 185 German entrepreneurs; five factors emerged from their reports: firm performance, workplace relationships, personal fulfilment, community impact and personal financial rewards. The second study developed a questionnaire, the Subjective Entrepreneurial Success–Importance Scale (SES-IS), to measure these five factors using a sample of 184 entrepreneurs. We provide evidence for the validity of the SES-IS, including establishing systematic relationships of SES-IS with objective indicators of firm success, annual income and entrepreneur satisfaction with life and financial situation. We also provide evidence for the cross-cultural invariance of SES-IS using a sample of Polish entrepreneurs. The contribution of our research being that subjective entrepreneurial success is a multi-factorial construct, that is, entrepreneurs value various indicators of success with monetary returns as only one possible option.

Sustainability is an increasing subject of interest amongst customers, society and corporate leaders. As firms are adapting towards a more sustainable business, opportunities towards a leading position where both long-term corporate social responsibility and financial performance is of interest. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate firm’s Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) rating and its effect on their financial performance. The study is conducted on firms located in the European region. A related purpose is to investigate individual sectors to understand whether this relationship is different depending on the sector characteristics in which the firms operate in. This thesis uses secondary data for several firms over a time-period ranging from 2008-2017. In order to investigate several entities over this time-period, the data was constructed as panel data. To investigate the objective, panel regressions was performed. The compounded dataset, including firms from all sectors, shows that the Environmental rating has statistical significance on financial performance. The individual sectors that shows significance with any of the ESG-rating, indicates an often-negative relationship between ESG and financial performance. This thesis contributes as an ongoing analysis in the field of ESG and financial performance. The understanding from this and future studies assist customers, investors and corporate leaders when choosing to adapt towards more socially responsible activities. Further research in the European region is of interest, continuing investigating positive or negative aspects of ESG and a firm’s financial performance. / Hållbarhet är ett ämne av växande intresse hos både kunder, samhället och företagsledare. När företag anpassar sig till en mer hållbar affärsverksamhet, öppnar sig möjligheter till en ledande position där både långsiktigt socialt ansvarstagande och finansiell prestanda är av intresse. Syftet med detta examensarbete är att undersöka företags miljömässiga, sociala och bolags styrande betyg och deras inverkan på deras finansiella prestanda. Studien utförs på företag som är verksamma inom den Europeiska regionen. Ett relaterat syfte är att undersöka enskilda sektorer för att skapa en förståelse om detta samband är annorlunda beroende på karakteristiken av sektorn som företagen verkar inom. Detta examensarbete använder sig av sekundärdata från flera företag under en tidsperiod som sträcker sig från 2008–2017. För att kunna undersöka flera entiteter över denna tidsperiod, konstruerades datan som paneldata. För att undersöka syftet utfördes panelregressioner. I den sammansatta datan, som innehåller företag från alla sektorer, visas det att det miljömässiga betyget har statistisk signifikans för den finansiella prestandan. De enskilda sektorerna som visar signifikans för någon av ESG-betygen, indikerar ett ofta negativt samband mellan ESG och finansiell prestanda. Detta examensarbete bidrar till en pågående analys inom ESG och finansiell prestanda. Förståelsen ifrån denna och framtida studier hjälper kunder, investerare och företagsledare när dem väljer att anpassa sig till mer socialt ansvarstagande aktiviteter. Ytterligare forskning inom den Europeiska regionen av är intresse, fortsättningsvis att undersöka positiva eller negativa aspekter av ESG och företagens finansiella prestanda.

D. Tech. (Logistics management, Faculty of Management Science), Vaal University of Technology / Nowadays, the business environment is characterised by faster technological development, customer satisfaction, shorter product life cycles, and more intense global competition. This new competitive landscape has forced firms to acquire new ways to achieve competitive advantage actively since a firm's competitive advantage is now dependent on operating efficiency and productivity across functional areas of the firm. The most successful manufacturers seem to be those that have carefully linked their internal processes to external suppliers and customers in unique supply chains. The manufacturing sector represents 15 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) of the South African commercial industry. Competitive challenges in the modern business environment have resulted in the need for firms to collaborate their business processes strategically across other business units within the supply chain. Supply chain network theory, dynamic capabilities theory, and the resource-based view theory are discussed to better understand the importance of firms' supply chain capabilities, supply chain agility, and firm performance. The primary objective of this research study was to investigate the association between supply chain capabilities (supply chain network design, supply chain information competency, and supply chain integration) and supply chain agility on firm performance in the manufacturing sector of the Gauteng province in South Africa. It also aimed to ascertain the kind of relationships between supply chain network with supply chain agility, supply chain network with firm performance, supply chain information competency with supply chain agility, supply chain integration with supply chain agility, supply chain integration with firm performance, and finally supply chain agility with firm performance. Structured questionnaires were distributed to various manufacturing firms in the Gauteng province. The data were collected from manufacturing firm managers and owners. SPSS 25.0 was used to analyse the data, and AMOS 25.0 used to perform the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and path analysis. The structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to assess the proposed model fit and to test the statistically significant relationship between the various hypotheses. The research study results revealed that supply chain technologies and supply chain vi agility positively influence firm manufacturing performance. This study contributes new knowledge to the existing literature by providing a research framework that can enhance manufacturing firms' performance and also offer practical recommendations based on the research findings for manufacturing firms and future research. Furthermore, as one of the first studies to address the association between supply chain capabilities and supply chain agility on firm performance in the Gauteng province, this study generates new insights and information, as well as outlines the strategic reasons for manufacturing firms' managers and owners to improve on their organisational relationships. Hence, the study found that firms have realised significant supply chain coordination through supply chain capabilities and supply chain agility and that firms have been able to attain strategic goals, reduce risks and improve internal and external coordination of operational processes. Keywords: supply chain network design; supply chain information competency; supply chain integration; supply chain agility; firm performance.

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Previous scholars have viewed expenditures on ESG (environmental, social, governance) in two distinct ways. In one way, it has been viewed as wasteful if it does not directly contribute to the business. The other perspective being that by addressing ESG-issues, one can improve businesses by improving society. In recent times, ESG has become an increasingly common topic due to the increased awareness and debates regarding the environment and sustainability. The increased attention toward ESG issues has resulted in increased ESG reporting by firms. As a result, shareholders and stakeholders can address more of their concerns by knowing how ESG-friendly a firm is. With the increased attention given to ESG in recent years, its actual effects on a firm becomes increasingly interesting. The relationship between ESG and firm performance and the relationship between ESG and stock return has been studied by several researchers over the years. The different studies have come to different conclusions regarding these relationships and the relationships are still inconsistent. In this paper, the relationship between ESG-scores and firm performance, as well as ESG-scores and stock returns in Swedish large-cap firms is examined. This study aims to investigate the relationship between ESG-scores and firm performance and the relationship between ESG-scores and stock returns. Furthermore, the study measures firm performance by measuring total asset turnover, net profit margin, and operating profit margin. Stock returns are measured with the use of historical yearly stock returns. The relationships are investigated with regression analysis. This study has a quantitative approach, where secondary data between the years 2016-2020 has been extracted from the database Refinitiv Eikon. The study finds that the relationship between ESG-scores and total asset turnover is negative, meaning that increased ESG-scores result in less efficient use of assets. The relationship between ESG-score and net profit margin is insignificant, and no conclusion can be drawn from that relationship. The relationship between ESG-scores and operating profit margin is positive, meaning that customers are willing to pay more for a firm's sustainable practices. The relationship between ESG-scores and stock returns is insignificantly negative; thus, we cannot draw any conclusions regarding the relationship, but it could indicate that ESG-scores are accounted for in the stock price.

The increased interest in sustainability issues in recent years due to climate change has led to an increased interest among capital investors to invest more sustainably. In addition, there has been an increased interest among stakeholders, regulators and citizens to know more about the positive impact of sustainability reporting on business results. Sustainable investments are often followed by high costs, which makes it interesting from an investor perspective to investigate whether this investment can have a positive impact on a firm's financial result. Among the sectors that play a major role in sustainability investment is the real estate sector, as buildings currently account for 36 percent of CO2 emissions and 40 percent of energy consumption in the EU. Therefore, it is interesting to investigate how sustainability performance affects real estate firm performance. In this study, sustainability performance is measured using ESG scores while company performance is represented by ROA, ROE and Tobin's Q. Several regression analyses have been conducted using data from Eikon on real estate companies from 15 European countries. In addition to the overall ESG scores, the various ESG pillars were examined separately. The data analysis provides evidence of a positive significant impact of the overall ESG result on all three performance measures. Furthermore, we find that environmental disclosure has a positive impact on ROE and Tobin's Q, social disclosure has a positive effect on ROA and ROE and Governance disclosure has a positive effect on Tobin's Q. By applying these results to the shareholder- and the stakeholder theory, we can conclude that our study provides limited support for the stakeholder theory as most of our hypotheses are supported. This implies that the positive impact of sustainability investments on firm performance can lead to value creation for all stakeholders, not just the shareholders. / De senaste åren har vi sett ett ökat intresse för hållbarhetsfrågor vilket kan kopplas till klimatförändringarna. Detta har i sin tur drivit på intresset bland kapitalplacerare att investera mer hållbart. Parallellt med detta har intressenter, tillsynsmyndigheter och medborgare ökat sitt intresse för kopplingen mellan hållbarhet och finansiella resultat. Investeringar i hållbarhet medför ofta högre kostnader vilket gör det intressant ur ett investerarperspektiv att undersöka om det kan ha en positiv inverkan på ett det ekonomiska resultatet. Fastighetssektorn innehar en nyckelroll i omställningen till ett mer hållbart samhälle då byggnader ansvarar för 36 procent av CO2-utsläppen och 40 procent av energiförbrukningen inom EU. Givet denna nyckelroll och det kostsamma arbete som ligger framför fastighetssektorn är det således intressant att undersöka hur hållbarhetsarbete påverkar fastighetsbolagens finansiella resultat. I denna studie mäts fastighetsbolagens prestationer inom hållbarhet med hjälp av ESG-poängmedan det finansiella resultatet representeras av ROA, ROE och Tobins Q. Flertalet regressionsanalyser har utförts på data hämtad från databasen Eikon. Urvalet består av 111 fastighetsbolag från 15 olika länder inom Europa. Utöver den övergripande ESG-poängen undersöktes även de olika ESG-pelarna separat. Dataanalysen visar på en positiv signifikant inverkan av det övergripande ESG-resultatet på alla tre prestationsmätningar ROA, ROE och Tobin’s Q. Vidare finner vi att miljöpelaren (E) har en positiv inverkan på ROE och Tobins Q, den sociala pelaren (S) har en positiv effekt på ROA och ROE och ägarstyrning (G) har en positiv effekt på Tobins Q. Genom att analysera dessa resultat med hjälp av aktieägar- och intressentteorin kan vi dra slutsatsen att vår studie ger begränsat stöd för intressentteorin då en majoritet av våra hypoteser stöds. Detta betyder att investeringar i hållbarhet kan resultera i värdeskapande för fler intressenter än enbart aktieägarna.