This thesis discusses the empirical aspects of financial stability and presents evidence that suggests that stock market bubbles and volatility are related, and that financial crises are also triggered by events related to non-financial sectors. Financial crises are predominantly related to boom episodes and asset price bubbles, which can seriously impact the financial system when they burst. This thesis draws upon the findings of previous papers and argues that the risk of financial instability (systemic risk) is formed during the boom phase and materialises on the eruption of crisis. In so doing, this study considers stock market bubbles as a potential source of risk for financial stability. The severe impact on the economy in the wake of the recent financial crisis has not only demonstrated the way in which trouble in a relatively small market can escalate into a serious crisis exerting economy-wide effects, but is also an example of the important role financial stability plays in the functioning of modern economies. Chapter 1 addresses factors that contribute to financial crises and policy tools to mitigate their effects. The Global Financial Stability Map (Map), summarising and graphically presenting underlying factors that may lead to a systemic threat, shows the complex interactions among different factors that affect each other and, in combination, are relevant to financial stability. In this connection, the importance of countercyclicality is addressed and the weaknesses of the Value at Risk (VaR) measure are discussed. Chapter 2 examines whether longer periods of low volatility influence the formation of bubbles, which are defined as the difference between current prices and an adaptive moving average of an alternate history of asset prices, and whether stock market bubbles increase the likelihood of stock market crashes. The regression analysis employed confirms that longer episodes of low realised volatility exerts a significant influence on the formation of stock market bubbles, which, in turn, significantly increase the likelihood of stock market crises. This relationship is referred to as volatility paradox. Furthermore, the bubble is incorporated to inflate Value at Risk, in order to generate a countercyclical capital buffer for extreme events. It is shown that the inflated VaR covers the majority of the extreme negative returns. This leads to the conclusion that the information content of bubbles should be taken into account while measuring risk in stock markets. The recent financial crisis revealed that even relatively small markets of the economy are capable of jeopardising financial stability, and the objective of Chapter 3 is to assess the contribution of both financial and non-financial sectors of an economy to systemic risk. For this purpose, the marginal systemic risk contribution, measured by ΔCoVaR of 10 sectors, is estimated for the US, the UK, and Germany, through the employment of quantile regressions. The estimated ΔCoVaRs are tested for significance and dominance in order to classify sectors as systemically relevant and to obtain a formal ranking of the sectors in terms of contribution to systemic risk. The outcomes reveal a weak link between VaR and CoVaR and significant externalities of sectors. Chapter 3 discusses the role of low volatility in excessive risk-taking and lending behaviour during booms as well as the deleveraging behaviour during bust episodes. It argues that countercyclical tools, which reduce such behaviour, can successfully mitigate financial crises. This line of argumentation is related to the countercyclical capital buffer discussed in Chapter 2, which is aimed at dampening the upward movements of asset prices. Taking into account the finding that real economy sectors also have significant effects on systemic risk, Chapter 3 proposes the application of macroprudential policy tools individually to those sectors in which bubbles emerge. Chapter 4 compares the realised volatility levels between international stock markets. Although the volatility patterns are fairly similar, the pairwise t-test reveals a significant difference between the volatility levels of national stock markets. A two component GARCH-MIDAS model is applied to decompose conditional volatility into a short-run and a long-run volatility component and to link macroeconomic variables directly with stock market volatility. The outcomes of the GARCH-MIDAS model indicate that stock market volatility is associated with macroeconomic variables, and that stock market volatility depends upon different variables in different countries. Realised volatility is found to explain a considerable proportion of conditional volatility. The Granger causality test reveals no significant causal relationship of volatility with illiquidity or with sentiment.

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This research addressed the benefits of the introduction of a customer reward programme in the German agribusiness industry. It analysed whether such a reward programme improves a company’s competitive advantage. Customer loyalty, revenues, profit contribution and acquisition of customer information were identified as relevant parameters to contribute to the research objective. The samples were taken from customers of a world leading company in the agribusiness industry with about 28.000 employees. Interviews were conducted to gather information on above mentioned parameters. 2.500 customers and leading marketing people of the sample company delivered relevant information during these interviews. On top of that databases and official government statistics were used. Regarding customer loyalty a net promoter score was calculated for members and non-members of the customer reward programme of the sample company. A Likert scale was used to calculate a net promoter score to make a judgement on customer loyalty. Using a Likert scale for this kind of analysis presents a novelty to the research community. For the other parameters (revenue and profitability) a significance test was performed for members and non-members as well. For profitability considerations market shares had to be analysed. The analysis of market shares was done for the sample company but also for main competitors with a significant association between membership in a customer rewards programme and size of the market share. The customer information parameter was analysed using qualitative interviews with leading marketing people of the sample company and official databases. As a result significant associations between membership in the programme and the individual parameters were identified. This led to the conclusion that the introduction of a customer reward programme is worthwhile in the German agribusiness industry and it was concluded that there is most likely a general pattern behind these findings. Based on the research results a company is advised to introduce a customer reward programme especially if competitors have already done so.

The modern conceptualisation of the psychological contract recognises a tacit mental representation or schema, spanning all aspects of an employee’s perception of work. Reciprocity is a normative force in contract functioning. For over 500 years, the Czech Republic was subject to the rule of other nations. The failed totalitarianism of the most recent Soviet hegemony precipitated the Velvet Revolution and Czech adoption of the market economy in 1989. Some commentators have argued that unproductive work attitudes remain as a legacy of the command system. Following the phenomenological paradigm and constructivist epistemology, the research uses concepts from Personal Construct Psychology to compare the work constructs of Czech and non-Czech staff within the Czech and UK subsidiaries of the same company, examining antecedent effects of culture and individual experiences on psychological contract formation and development. The findings show that the two nationalities construe work along broadly similar lines, prioritizing its social qualities. Czech constructs seem to be simpler than those of non- Czechs, apparently lacking the value placed on personal ambition and achievement by the comparator group. Czechs do, however, appear to value independence much more than non-Czechs, with young Czechs also seemingly expecting social justice and the right to self-determination. The findings make a strong case for suggesting that these values have their origins in Czech culture and history, implying that both influence the work dispositions of Czechs and may plausibly be psychological contract antecedents. The conclusions call for a wider conceptualisation of the psychological contract, specifically in its anticipatory (pre-work) form, and suggest that existing theory might benefit from giving greater consideration and prominence to the social properties of work. Suggestions for further research and business applications are included.

This thesis examines management cognition of climate risks in the electricity sector in Ontario (Canada). Risk perception literature is combined with corporate adaptation and risk management literature to offer a broad conceptual framework of climate risk readiness among power producers and utilities. This research aims to move management cognition of climate change past prior contributions which considered climate risk as being solely physical in nature. In this work, eight exogenous and endogenous factors relating to climate risk are examined for their influence on how management may view a wider spectrum of climate change impacts. Using an inductive research approach, 20 in depth case studies explore how electricity executives/senior managers perceive those risks using construct elicitation (repertory grid technique). Findings are triangulated with a narrative analysis of their corporate reportage of climate risks, to gain deeper insight into the complex phenomena of climate risks for the sector. Findings show some similarities and some appreciable differences in both groups’ view of climate risks despite their legitimately contending positions in industry. Overall both power producers and utilities are predominantly concerned with risk analysis and assessment of climate related risks, and less with risk response, suggesting at present the sector remains in an analytical state. The potential benefits of this research approach will provide useful insights to multiple groups including managers and policy makers.

The traditional doctrine of project management, having evolved from operations management, has been dominated by a rationalist approach in terms of planning and control. There is increasing criticism that this prescriptive approach is deficient for the management of dynamically complex projects which is a common characteristic for modern-day projects. In response to this and the relative lack of scholarly literature, this study uses an emergent grounded theory design to discover and understand the softer, intangible aspects of project management. With primary data collected from twenty semi-structured personal interviews, this study explores the lived experiences of project practitioners and how they 'muddle through' the complex social setting of a knowledge intensive financial services organisation. The model which evolved from the research portrays the project practitioner as being exposed to multiple cues, with multiple meanings around five causal themes: environmental, organisational, nature of the task, role and knowledge capability. In response to these cues, the practitioner reflects upon their emotions and past experiences in order to make sense of the uncertain situation to determine their necessary course of action. As a coping strategy the project practitioner takes on the role of bricoleur, by making do by applying combinations of the resources at hand, in order to facilitate the successful delivery of their projects.

This thesis investigates how the personal value systems of executive teams in privately owned Chinese companies influence their organisation's prospects for sustainable competitive success. The research aim is to establish a relationship between managerial value systems, corporate culture, P-O fit and affective employee commitment. The research theory is based on an extensive and rigorous literature review. It was tested in an empirical study composed of semi-structured interviews and quantitative research for which a new research tool has been created, consisting of England's (1967b) Personal Values Questionnaire (PVQ), Cameron and Quinn's (1999) Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI), Posner et al.'s (1985) Shared Values Scale and Meyer and Allen's (1991) Affective Commitment Scale. The present study contributes to the existing knowledge base by testing and validating this instrument for research in China. It takes stock of the currently prevailing hierarchy of personal values among executive managers, and establishes a relationship between the identified value preferences and types of organisational culture, as well as between the strength of such systems and levels of employee-organisation value congruency and affective employee commitment. It was further found that in the majority of sample firms both executive management teams and employees characterised their corporate culture as multi-dimensional.

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