Med narrativ ges en mer begriplig och engagerande information av transparens än vad den traditionella numeriska transparensen bidrar med. Istället för att använda olika certifieringar, siffror och grafer som belyser transparensen består narrativ istället av berättelser och visualiseringar som öppnar upp till dialog med konsumenterna. Tidigare forskning säger att narrativ transparens är det som konsumenter eftersträvar, men hur gröna konsumenter skapar ett värde kring mottagandet av informationen är desto mindre uppmärksammat. Med det ökade gröna konsumtionssamhället ställer gröna konsumenter mer krav på modeföretagen. Därmed blir ökad transparens i värdekedjan en fördelaktig väg för modeföretagen att gå för att förbättra sin legitimitet gentemot intressenterna. Consumption Value Theory menar på att värdeskapande och tillfredsställande av ett visst behov är det som utgör grunden för konsumtion. Det blir därför viktigt för modeföretag att ha förståelse för konsumenters upplevda värde, för att kunna erhålla en fördel på marknaden. I denna studie följer därmed en undersökning om vilket värde narrativ transparensinformation har för gröna konsumenter i en modekontext. Med hjälp av semistrukturerade intervjuer faställdes en slutsats om att alla fem värden inom CVT-modellen går att kartlägga i samband med uppvisande av exempel på narrativ transparensinformation. En ytterligare slutsats som fastställdes var att narrativ bidrar till upplevelse av värde för gröna konsumenter genom att modeföretagen presenterar sin transparens på ett pålitligt, sammanhangsskapande, känslomässigt engagerande samt nyfikenhets- och kunskapsväckande sätt. Gröna konsumenters värden skapas dessutom av en association utifrån en specifik omständighet samt via social interaktion med andra individer eller grupper. En tydlig och tillräcklig narrativ transparensinformation motverkar att skepsis uppstår hos konsumenterna. Modeföretagen kan framföra sin transparens genom narrativ för att kunna nå ut till den gröna konsumenten på ett mer effektfullt sätt. / Narrative provides more comprehensible and engaging information of transparency than traditional numerical transparency. Instead of using different certifications, numbers and graphs that highlight transparency, narratives consist of stories and visualizations that open up for dialogue with the consumers. Previous research implies that narrative transparency is what consumers strive for, but how green consumers create value around this type of information has been less focused on. With the increased green consumer society, green consumers place more demands on fashion companies. Thus, increased transparency in the value chain becomes an advantageous way for fashion companies to improve their legitimacy in relation to their customers. Consumption Value Theory implies that the perception of value and the satisfaction of a certain need creates the basis for consumption. Therefore, it becomes important for fashion companies to have an understanding of consumers' perceived value, in order to obtain an advantage in the industry. This study follows an examination of the value of narrative transparency information for green consumers in a fashion context. With the help of semi-structured interviews, a conclusion was proposed that all five values ??within the CVT model can be located in relation to the presentation of narrative transparency information. Further, a conclusion was established that narratives contribute to the experience of value for green consumers, if the fashion companies present their transparency in a reliable, context-creating, emotionally engaging and curious and knowledge-inspiring way. The values ??of green consumers are also created by an association based on a specific circumstance and through social interaction with other individuals or groups. A clear and sufficient narrative transparency information counteracts that skepticism arises among consumers. Fashion companies can express their transparency through narrative in order to reach the green consumer in a more effective way.

Omfattande forskning förekommer inom området kultur och korruption men med motsägande resultat om kulturens faktiska effekt. Till viss del beror de varierande utfallen på analysnivån, studiens utförande eller användningen av förklarande variabler. Denna studie omfattar totalt 84 länder världen över och baseras på undersökningar och datagenerering från kulturforskaren Geert Hofstedes fyra ursprungliga kulturella dimensioner. Dimensionerna kombineras med data från ett korruptionsindex publicerat av den oberoende och ideella organisationen Transparency International. För att påvisa vilka kulturella faktorer som faktiskt kan förklara korruptionsgraden i länder utförs multipel- och enkel linjär regressionsanalys för att söka klarhet i den bristande konsensus som existerar inom den nationella kulturforskningen. Vidare utförs en klusteranalys för att söka samband som inte kunnat påvisas genom regressionsanalyserna. Studiens resultat framlägger bevis för att kultur till viss del verkar som påverkande faktor för korruptionsgraden i länder men att fler faktorer, exempelvis ekonomiska aspekter, bör tas i beaktande i vidare forskning.

Despite their long trajectory in the social sciences, few systematic works analyze how often and for what purposes focus groups appear in published works. This study fills this gap by undertaking a meta-analysis of focus group use over the last 10 years. It makes several contributions to our understanding of when and why focus groups are used in the social sciences. First, the study explains that focus groups generate data at three units of analysis, namely, the individual, the group, and the interaction. Although most researchers rely upon the individual unit of analysis, the method’s comparative advantage lies in the group and interactive units. Second, it reveals strong affinities between each unit of analysis and the primary motivation for using focus groups as a data collection method. The individual unit of analysis is appropriate for triangulation; the group unit is appropriate as a pretest; and the interactive unit is appropriate for exploration. Finally, it offers a set of guidelines that researchers should adopt when presenting focus groups as part of their research design. Researchers should, first, state the main purpose of the focus group in a research design; second, identify the primary unit of analysis exploited; and finally, list the questions used to collect data in the focus group.

This thesis documents a study of the factors affecting the sustainable growth and performance of the Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs). Despite the increased interest of governments, analysts, central bankers, academics and SWF managers and the unprecedented growth in the last two decades, SWFs research is still in its infancy. Two main problems are: current debate between sponsoring and investee countries about governance and transparency of major SWFs including Oman SWF; and how these SWFs can manage their sustainable growth, performance and success rate. These two issues are addressed in this thesis. . An extensive review of the industry and academic literature was done in order to find the relevant facts about the domain of SWFs. The case study research strategy was adopted and primary data were collected by questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews from employees and other stakeholders of Oman SWF. Norway SWF was analysed for the purposes of data triangulation, comparison and validation. The theoretical framework comprising factors affecting growth, performance and success rate was proposed and tested using multiple evidences from secondary data, interviews and statistical analyses of the questionnaire responses. The literature reveals that existing theories of trade, finance, economics and management are able to resolve conflicting issues within SWFs and between sponsoring and investee countries. Results reveal that qualitative factors such as governance, policy and planning and quantitative factors such as structure, investment strategy and decision making ultimately affect the long term growth and success rate of global SWFs. It is also found that external or investee country laws do not affect the SWFs as much as issues within the SWFs. Findings suggest that Oman SWF has issues of concern in many aspects such as governance, transparency, accountability, investment strategy, organisational structure, asset allocation, updating laws and policy mechanisms; thus requiring overall restructuring and transformation of Oman SWF into a professional organisation. This thesis makes a significant contribution by linking theories to SWFs, an extensive literature review, a theoretical proposition comprising factors affecting the growth of SWFs, methodological combination and creating further research streams in the SWF domain.

Abstract Title: Nonprofit transparency in practic. A study concerning how transperancy is motivated in fundrasing organisations. Author: Julia Heiming & Alexandra Strand Tutor: Josef Pallas Purpose: The purpose with this thesis was to examine whether transparency exists and how it appears in nonprofit organizations, first and foremost in their fundraising. Moreover, the investigation display a more thoroughly and complex image of transparency compared to the external, which is more requested nowadays. The key questions to be answered are; How does nonprofit organizations consider themselves to be transparent?, What sort of transparency exists within the participating nonprofit organizations?, Does the collaborators have an insight in the operation managers’ decisions?, Do the operation managers have an insight in the work of their employees’, concerning their collection processes?, Does the collection organizations have an oversee concerning their branch and what is said about them?, Does external stakeholders have an opportunity to get insight in the organizations’ collecting processes? Method/Material: The results are based on a qualitative study built on nine different semi structured interviews with three nonprofit organizations. The interviews are based on a model made by Esaiasson, Gilljam, Oscarsson and Wängnerud which later on was analyzed with Heald’s four different types of transparency. Main results: The primary result of the survey proved that all the four different types of transparency more or less exist within the participating organizations. Transparency inwards is the type that the organizations proved to focus on the most. However, the organizations did also focus on the remaining three types. In account of this survey a broader picture of transparency has been disclosed, not only the public view has been displayed. As a nonprofit organization one should be aware of all four different varieties of transparency when openness towards different types engender trust towards the nonprofit organizations, which in return can generate donations. Number of pages: 65 Course: Media and Communication studies C University: Division of Media and Communication, Department of Information Science, Uppsala University Period: Fall 2014 Keywords: Transparency, Nonprofit sector, Nonprofit organizations, Non-Governmental Organizations, Collection processes.

The Iraq ‘Chilcot’ Inquiry is the last in a string of public inquiries tasked with understanding how the British state went to war with Iraq. In so doing, the inquiries have become defined by the problem of striking a balance between publicity and secrecy. While exposing foreign policy decision-making to public scrutiny should be the norm in a liberal democracy, this must be balanced by state secrecy, which is justified in exceptional circumstances when there is a threat to national security. Striking the right balance acts to maintain and legitimise a distinction between liberal and illiberal regimes by justifying exceptions as the mitigation of existential threats to liberal values. In contrast to the balance metaphor, this thesis shows how the inquiries are a site of contestation between two technologies of government: the public gaze and official secrecy. Drawing on Foucault, I demonstrate how both technologies support the liberal ‘security dispositif’: the exercise of freedom without too little or too much government. Each technology secures this liberal governmentality in a different but mutually supportive way. The public gaze seeks constitutes security of the liberal subject by exposing, criticising and disciplining statesmen and statecraft. Official secrecy, meanwhile, constitutes security of the state by protecting the value of privileged information used to support a necessary minimum of government. In this context, the balance metaphor may be recognized as the discursive framework that, in any moment, legitimises either the exercise of publicity in response to insecurity engendered by secrecy or vice versa. The balance metaphor thereby supports a further distinction between the responsible liberal self and the illiberal other. I show how the Iraq Inquiry legitimizes British official secrecy while re-inscribing the conditions of possibility for waging liberal war.

The text deals with the question of defining what exactly right to information is. As the public debate concerning different institutes of the right to information and transparency goes on intensively and extensively in the Czech republic as well as worldwide, it has become the aim of the author to search for the roots of the right, of both its restrictive and extensive scope and its guiding principles. Such a research should be useful for the interpretation and the aplication of the relevant law and serve as a guide for the proper understanding of the rights' social and legal importance. The first part of the text after the introduction describes the term of the right to information, it's evolution in history, philosophical, political and legal basis and contemporary meaning. The following chapter concerns itself with the material sources of the right, i. e. the reason and meaning of the existence of the right. It explains the rights' commonly recognized width and depth and its liberal and conservative tendencies reaching from the current events into the even more informational based future. The conflict of the right with the other interests of modern society is covered and the different formal sources of the right are listed demonstratively. The third chapter examines the universally acknowledged...

The subject matter of this paper is an analysis of the current system of political parties funding in the Czech Republic. The aim of the thesis is to critically assess the current legal regulation and to point out potential shortcomings and possibilities for improvement. At a time when public confidence in political parties is characterized by a systematic and long-term downward trend, it is a recent and widely discussed topic. We may well ask whether the legal regulation of this issue does not provide room for improvement and innovation. The extensive topic is structured into two areas - the question of financial resources and the question of control and transparency. The paper is composed of five chapters. Chapter one deals with the political parties in general and with the law of political parties, especially with constitutional aspects. The second chapter examines the financing of political parties, its basic principles, models and division. In brief, it covers also the development of funding. The subject of the third chapter is a detailed description of the funding of political parties in the Czech Republic. In the fourth chapter the thesis deals with control, transparency and enforcement, at both the general and the specific level, when Czech regulation is subject to scrutiny. Chapter Five is...

This dissertation consists of two essays: one looks at the relation between firm focus and hedging in the REIT industry, and the other compares bank board structures in China and the US. The first essay presented in Chapter 2 examines the relation between corporate hedging and firm focus in the REIT industry by using a sample of REITs in 2005 and in 2007. We find 46.41% utilization rate in 2005 and 43.41% in 2007. Consistent with our hypothesis, we find that, relative to diversified firms, focused firms are more likely to engage in hedging. Focused firms also tend to be involved in greater amount of hedging. We also document a negative relation between hedging and transparency, although the evidence is not overwhelming. Consistent with previous literature, there is a strong firm size effect. The second essay presented in Chapter 3 examines the relation between bank performance and board structure by using a sample of 74 US banks and 53 Chinese banks for the period 2002 to 2006. Indeed, the empirical relation between board structure and performance is virtually non-existing in China. In particular, for the US sample, the board size is found to be significantly and negatively correlated with ROA, but a larger board also tends to be associated with lower costs. For Chinese banks, the evidence indicates that governance variables are not significantly correlated with performances with the exception of block ownership: there is strong evidence that the relation between block ownership and bank performance is negative. Additionally, we find substantial differences in board structure between the two countries; in particular the average board size and the proportion of outside directors for US banks are almost twice of those in China.

Tout au long de notre travail nous avons essayé, dans un premier temps, de mettre en exergue les progrès réalisés par les réformes législatives et la contribution de la justice administrative en matière de promotion de la transparence dans les marchés publics au Maroc., une comparaison à d'autres réglementations nous a, aussi, paru utile pour nous renseigner des écarts existants et en faire une occasion pour des leçons à tirer des expériences des pays jugés développés. Dans second temps, nous avons essayé de proposer des pistes de réflexion pour les grands problèmes qui demeurent entravant la promotion de la transparence en matière des marchés publics en particulier et de l'éthique dans la gestion de la vie publique en général. / Transparency in public procurement management is increasingly needed due to the growth of public expenditure.The mechanisms put in place to safeguard the principles of transparency and ethics are to be constantly refined.In Morocco, according to the official discourse, the country has decided to adopt the international standards of transparency in public procurement; insofar it constitutes the framework of the public action. Hence, it has undergone several reforms.Accordingly, it is within this context that our specific choice to study this subject emanates from.It is therefore important to understand the complexity and challenges of transparency in the management of public procurement.Public procurement is probably one of the areas where regulation is strongly binding.This regulation oversees, more likely than elsewhere, all the actors' behaviours and management practices.Indeed, the dominant logic in the purchasing function is a logic of legal security that overshadows the search for efficiency and economic performance.Throughout our work, we have tried, firstly, to highlight the progress of legislative reform and the contribution of administrative justice in promoting transparency in public procurement in Morocco. A comparison to other regulations seemed useful to inform us of any gaps and was an opportunity to learn from the experiences of the so-considered developed countries.Secondly, we tried to propose exploring the major problems that hinder the promotion of transparency in public procurement in particular and ethics in management of public life in general.