Corporate social responsibility has become a popular topic used throughout society. However, the topic of the employee perspective in CSR is rarely studied and even less studied is the impact CSR has on the IT industry. An industry currently facing a challenge where the demand for labor is higher than the supply due to its rapid growth. With characteristics of high, intense work that easily results in burn-out, the importance of CSR in this industry is crucial for survival. Additionally, through the use of CSR IT companies have the opportunity to stand out from their competitors and gain competitive advantages, such as attracting high-quality employees in the labor market. Therefore, the thesis will research to what extent IT companies in Sweden use the employee perspective in CSR in their operations, and the influence competition has on this decision to implement CSR. This resulted in the following research question:  How does corporate social responsibility initiatives towards employees affect the IT companies’ position and competitive advantages on the labor market?  To answer this research question, a qualitative study was conducted with employees from various medium to large-sized IT companies in Sweden. They were interviewed regarding their view of the company’s CSR for employees as well as their competitors, and how it affected them. The goal of the study was to understand if there is a correlation between competition in the labor market and the IT companies’ CSR for employees and its impact on the employees. To achieve this, stakeholder theory was used to analyze and draw comparisons to the results from the study. The main findings show that a correlation is present and that employees wish for further developed CSR practices for employees which are uniquely adapted to the company. It was also shown that CSR for employees could lead to competitive advantages in the labor market depending on the company’s execution of CSR for employees. Where competitive advantages can be financial gain while competitive disadvantages can be employee attrition. The results of the thesis are presented through a conceptual model that shows how employees’ perception of the IT company’s CSR is linked to the company’s position in the labor market. The implications of this thesis are many as it supports and extends previous research in the area of CSR and stakeholder theory. Furthermore, it can assist companies and managers to further develop their strategies with well-implemented and communicated CSR activities for employees. Additionally, the study opens the possibility for further research into specific areas in the IT industry and their relation to the employee perspective in CSR, as well as investigate what the size of the company has on its CSR practices for employees.

The purpose of my dissertation is to examine whether competition among audit partners affects audit quality. While prior research on audit market competition focuses on audit firm-level or office-level analyses, I argue that audit partners, as the primary decision makers in providing audit services, are likely to engage in competitive actions in the audit market. Further, I use spatial distance among audit partners to measure partner-level competition. I conjecture that spatial distance could better reflect the dynamics of audit market competition than the Herfindahl index, the traditional proxy for competition used in most extant studies. Drawing on the spatial economics theory and the social comparison theory, I hypothesize a negative association between competition measured by spatial distance and the quality level delivered by the incumbent audit partner. Using newly available data of U.S. audit partners, this study provides evidence that audit quality is higher (lower) when the spatial distance between the incumbent partner and the closest competing partner is larger (smaller). In addition, the results reveal that the effects of competition measured by spatial distance on audit quality is mainly a partner-level phenomenon rather than an office-level one. Overall, this study highlights the importance of studying competitive dynamics among audit partners.

This study introduces industry competition factors to fraud models to examine how competition associates with fraud risk. I argue that industry competition eclipses many firm-level determinants in their association with fraud risk, and that the cost of poor information elevates fraud risk as competition increases. I find that fraud risk is higher for firms in industries with 1) more substitutable products and services, 2) greater threats of new entry, and 3) larger incumbent pools of competitors, and that substitution exceeds every firm-level variable except size in its relevance with fraud risk. Cross-sectionally, I provide evidence that industry-wide non-adoption of advanced cost analytics (i.e. using obsolete, distortionary standard costing practices) may exacerbate the fraud-risk effects of competition, especially product substitution: a one standard deviation increase in substitution associates with over double the fraud risk for firms in industries typified by obsolete costing practices. I also find that different strategies vary in their fraud-offsetting associations dependent on the type of competition most prevalent in an industry. Together, these findings shed light on how the effects of industry competition may subsume or surpass most firm-level fraud determinants and provide evidence of previously unidentified drawbacks of obsolete cost accounting systems. / Doctor of Philosophy / Elements of industry competition help explain a firm's fraud risk. I find that bringing competition variables into firm-level fraud models helps explain a large portion of the firm's fraud risk, and that the effects of competition more strongly associate with fraud risk than most firm-level attributes. The results also indicate that the effects of competition on fraud risk may be even worse in industries where obsolete cost accounting practices remain widespread: the effects of price competition in such industries associates with significantly greater fraud risk than in other industries. Additional findings include the implied fraud-risk-reducing effects of different business strategies, depending on which type of competition is most intensive around a firm. Altogether, this study sheds light on the importance of including industry competition effects when assessing fraud risk, especially when a firm's or its peers' cost accounting system quality is poor and price competition is high.

First Essay: Using a sample of 15,835 completed M&A transactions in U.S. from 1985 to 2015, we document three main empirical results. First, consistent with the notion that the disciplinary effect of competition on corporate management, acquiring firms in competitive industries experience significantly positive announcement returns, while the abnormal returns of acquiring firms in non-competitive industries are insignificant. Second, market competition is correlated to the shareholder value in different types of M&A transaction. Horizontal and vertical integrations have positive announcement returns, while conglomerate integrations have negative announcement returns, irrespective of the condition of market competition. Third, the return of small acquiring firms is higher than the return of large acquiring firms, and this size effect is more profound in non-competitive industries. Second Essay: This paper examines the long-term performance of the reverse merger (RM) transactions in Taiwan stock market. Shell companies tend to conduct private placements to raise equity capital in the year following RM transactions. Based on the intended use of capital, issuers of private placements are classified into three categories: investment, recapitalization, and general corporate purposes. We find that shell companies in the investment category experience better long-term performance in the subsequent three years, which is consistent with the view that RM firms with strategic plans to increase in investments in capital expenditures are signaling profitable investment opportunity. However, shell companies in the recapitalization or general corporate purposes categories experience no or poor subsequent underperformance, suggesting that RM deals in these two categories are speculative in nature and short-sightedness that destroy the long-term shareholder wealth.

This paper analyzes regulation of abuse of dominant position under the law of the European Union and under the Czech law. Both the European and Czech competition laws are not only very similar, as the Czech Act on Protection of Competition is inspired by the European competition law, but after the so called modernization of the European competition law, including the decentralization of its enforcement, the Czech authorities are entitled (and obliged at the same time) to apply the European competition law. Given the special relation between the two legal orders, this paper does not attempt to compare the two, but rather to analyze them it their mutual relation, which is the basic view for the submitted analysis. Firstly, a basic introduction to the problems of competition economics is presented, including characteristics of the basic functions and principles thereof. An explanation of the economic background and different models of competition follows, particularly of those important for understanding the specifics of dominant undertakings' behaviour and motivation. Models of monopoly, oligopoly and monopolistic competition are briefly described in opposition to the model of perfect competition and also some other important approaches to this issue are addressed, including the basic views of the...

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-05T19:14:42Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 30 / Nenhuma / Um extenso corpo de pesquisa tem identificado diversos fatores sobre os determinantes da estrutura de capital. Várias características das empresas, tais como tamanho, oportunidades de crescimento, lucratividade, escudos fiscais, proporção de ativos fixos, por exemplo, têm sido relacionados como fatores que influenciam a estrutura de capital. No entanto, há poucas evidências empíricas sobre o efeito das condições de mercado sobre a estrutura de capital. (HARRIS; RAVIV, 1991). Brander and Lewis (1986, 1988) e Maksimovic (1988) foram pioneiros ao analisar o uso da estrutura financeira como uma variável estratégica em mercado de produtos competitivos. O propósito desta investigação foi justamente verificar a interação entre a estrutura de capital e a estratégia competitiva em mercado de produtos e insumos. Para isso, foi realizada uma análise dos determinantes da estrutura de capital e da estratégia por meio de um modelo de dados em painel. Além disso, foi estimado um modelo de equação simultânea com uma amostra / An extensive body of research has identified several factors on the determinants of capital structure. Several firm characteristics such as size, growth opportunities, profitability, tax shields, or the proportion of fixed assets, have been shown to affect capital structure. Nevertheless, there is little empirical evidence on the effect of market conditions on the capital structure. (HARRIS; RAVIV, 1991) Brander and Lewis (1986, 1988) and Maksimovic (1988) pioneered the analysis of the use of financial structure as a strategic variable in product market competition. The purpose of this research was to precisely determine the interaction between the capital structure and the strategy in factor-product market. An analysis of the strategy and capital structure determinants using a panel data model was conducted. Moreover, a model of simultaneous equation was estimated with a sample of 207 Brazilian firms. The Least Square (LS), Two-stage Least Squares (2SLS) and Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) have been used

In Chapter 1, the staggered nature of the adoption of interstate bank branching deregulation in the United States is utilized as an exogeneous shock to investigate the managerial incentives involved in corporate socially responsible (CSR) activities. Using Kinder, Lydenberg, and Domini Research & Analytics, Inc. for our CSR measures, we find a significant negative relation between the extent of deregulation and CSR practices, which implies that deregulation-led rising competition in product market makes the non-financial firms more concerned about protecting interests of shareholders than other stakeholders. Specifically, firms with low pricing power tend to significantly reduce their CSR activities. Our results are robust using alternative empirical specifications and CSR measures. Chapter 2 investigates the interaction between price stability and financial stability for “Fragile Five” countries. In the first step, we investigate the causation linkage between price stability and financial stability indicators. In the second step, we analyze the effect of financial stability instruments, lending rate and required reserve ratio, on price stability. We then test the price stability instrument policy rate on financial stability. Empirical findings, in the first step, indicate that there is no meaningful relationship between policy objectives in the short run, while the relation between financial stability and price stability occurs in the longer time frequencies. However, the situation is not valid for all economies. In the second step, we measure the effects of monetary policy tools employed by the central bank of each of the Fragile Five countries. The findings from the analysis that investigates the effects of each policy instrument imply that the policy rate instrument implemented to achieve the inflation target does not affect the financial stability goal. Similarly, the reserve requirement ratio instrument to achieve the financial stability goal does not affect the price stability goal. On the other hand, results give some implication about the negative effects of the lending rate instrument on the inflation targeting objective.

This thesis explores issues related to bank switching costs, in the context of the New Zealand banking market. Switching costs comprise the range of economic costs faced by customers changing bank, including monetary switching costs, the loss of the relationship with bank staff, and needing to learn new systems. An important effect of switching costs is customers become locked in to their bank, which has implications for market competition, and this raises questions about the need for a regulatory response. The study comprised a mail survey to 2983 people drawn from New Zealand electoral rolls, with a response rate of 34%. The survey instrument was a questionnaire of 70 questions in four sections: banking relationships, switching behaviour, switching costs, and demographic information. Nine categories of switching costs were used: Learning, Search, Monetary Loss, Benefit Loss, Personal Relationship, Brand Relationship, Service Disruption, Uncertainty, and Hassle. These categories are found to be appropriate. Furthermore, the three higher order categories of Procedural, Financial and Relational found by Burnham, Frels and Mahajan (2003) are confirmed. Although prior studies have recognised different switching costs, there has been limited work to understand whether they differ in their impact on attitudes and behaviour around switching. Different switching costs are found to have different effects. The study also examined whether the experience of switching matches the perception, and found switching is easier than expected. Furthermore, customers who have switched banks have different perceptions of switching costs to those who have not. Customers are different, and their attitudes and needs should therefore vary. Prior research has found differences in attitudes towards financial issues based on the family life cycle, but the relationship between switching costs and family life cycle has not been explored. This thesis finds perceptions of switching costs and switching behaviour vary significantly between life cycle groups, which appears in part to be related to associated changes in the complexity of the banking relationship. Four recommendations for regulators are generated from the results of the study. These include recommending greater acknowledgement of the existence and effect of switching costs, and investigation of bank account number portability.

This thesis deals with different aspects of the Spanish Labor Market. The first chapter explores the impact of product market competition on job instability. Empirical results show that job instability rises with competition. The second chapter addresses the existence of network effects on immigrants' remitting behavior. Using a unique data base, I find positive network effects on the probability of remitting as well as on quantity remitted. The final chapter studies the role of the recent construction boom in explaining decisions to drop out of high-school. The construction boom is shown to increase the likelihood of dropping out of high-school. / Esta tesis trata diferentes aspectos del mercado laboral español. El primer capítulo explora el impacto de la competencia en el mercado de productos sobre la inestabilidad del empleo. Los resultados empíricos muestran que la inestabilidad en el empleo crece con el nivel de competencia. El segundo capítulo plantea la existencia de efectos de las redes sociales de inmigrantes sobre el envío de remesas. Mediante el uso de una base de datos exclusiva, he encontrado efectos positivos de las redes sociales sobre la probabilidad de enviar remesas así como sobre la cantidad enviada. El último capítulo estudia el papel del reciente boom de la construcción en el abandono escolar durante la educación secundaria. Se demuestra que el boom de la construcción ha incrementado la probabilidad de abandono escolar durante la educación secundaria.

This thesis explores issues related to bank switching costs, in the context of the New Zealand banking market. Switching costs comprise the range of economic costs faced by customers changing bank, including monetary switching costs, the loss of the relationship with bank staff, and needing to learn new systems. An important effect of switching costs is customers become locked in to their bank, which has implications for market competition, and this raises questions about the need for a regulatory response. The study comprised a mail survey to 2983 people drawn from New Zealand electoral rolls, with a response rate of 34%. The survey instrument was a questionnaire of 70 questions in four sections: banking relationships, switching behaviour, switching costs, and demographic information. Nine categories of switching costs were used: Learning, Search, Monetary Loss, Benefit Loss, Personal Relationship, Brand Relationship, Service Disruption, Uncertainty, and Hassle. These categories are found to be appropriate. Furthermore, the three higher order categories of Procedural, Financial and Relational found by Burnham, Frels and Mahajan (2003) are confirmed. Although prior studies have recognised different switching costs, there has been limited work to understand whether they differ in their impact on attitudes and behaviour around switching. Different switching costs are found to have different effects. The study also examined whether the experience of switching matches the perception, and found switching is easier than expected. Furthermore, customers who have switched banks have different perceptions of switching costs to those who have not. Customers are different, and their attitudes and needs should therefore vary. Prior research has found differences in attitudes towards financial issues based on the family life cycle, but the relationship between switching costs and family life cycle has not been explored. This thesis finds perceptions of switching costs and switching behaviour vary significantly between life cycle groups, which appears in part to be related to associated changes in the complexity of the banking relationship. Four recommendations for regulators are generated from the results of the study. These include recommending greater acknowledgement of the existence and effect of switching costs, and investigation of bank account number portability.