In order to extend ecological footprint analysis (EFA) to electronic products, new methods had to be developed which associate the world average bioproductive space per capita and year - the fair Earth share - with an individual product. The problem analysed in this thesis is the need for an environmental assessment tool for electronic products, which uses natural capital accounting. This need arose because so far, electronic products were mainly assessed using life cycle analysis with a focus on toxicity. Since the ecological footprint (EF) is a sustainability indicator, the sustainability discussion and in particular its relevance and implications with regard to the EF is reviewed. The electronic products assessed in this thesis are a personal computer (PC) in an exploratory study, and three mobile phones (two main case studies and one updated case study). To establish the land areas used by the mined materials used in electronic products, a database was developed based on site specific data found in the literature, and on approximations from the density of materials and their overburden. A life cycle energy approach was used to determine the burdens from producing and using a mobile phone. In order to estimate energy requirements for materials for which no data was available, the relationship between abundance and rucksack / overburden values was used in a regression analysis. Direct land use data and results from the energy analysis were used as an inventory for the subsequent EFA. An EF time series was applied to represent a more accurate picture of PC and phone use. This was also necessary since the EF reflects the instantaneous rate (a snapshot) of resource consumption. Key results are that the EF of electronic products are much larger than their actual size and that different electronic products have different EF. Our methodology proved sensitive enough to reveal differences even in small electronic products, given the high benchmark of a fair Earth share, and useful in monitoring space-efficient technology.

This paper aims to examine what kind of relation social actions have to the sharing behavior on social media. The technology is developing rapidly and contributes to an information-rich society, which has many positive aspects. In contrast, a lot of shared information is old, biased, incorrect, or come from extreme sources, because people do not take the time to investigate the origin of the information. These negative aspects and the sharing behavior it leads to are examined in this paper to find out if they are related to the simplicity of sharing. The procedure for investigating this has been through two different methods. The first is a survey that was shared on Facebook, to get an understanding of what is primarily given and why. Based on the results from the survey interview questions were developed to be addressed to a number of Facebook users, to understand how they act on social media. Analysis of the results was carried out with the help of Uses and Gratification Theory as it focuses on how people consciously choose the media that satisfies their needs. The study concluded that people's past experiences create expected feelings, which then form the basis for the decision to perform an action, for example, to share information.

I examine whether and to what extent tax uncertainty affects a firm's dividend payouts. Based on the argument that tax uncertainty impairs the persistence and predictability of after-tax cash flows, I hypothesize and find that firms with greater tax uncertainty exhibit a lower probability of dividend payouts. The effect of tax uncertainty is stronger in the presence of financial constraints and weaker for firms that distribute dividends to alleviate agency conflicts. Furthermore, I find a negative effect of tax uncertainty on dividend levels, which is moderated by the costs of dividend reductions. These results are economically meaningful as a one standard deviation higher tax uncertainty leads to a 9.9 percentage point lower probability and a $23.6 million reduction in dividend payouts. Taken together, my findings document a real effect of tax avoidance and contribute to the understanding of interactions between uncertain tax avoidance and a firm's financial ecosystem. / Series: WU International Taxation Research Paper Series

Share in a limited liability company as a subject of legal relations; equity certificate The master thesis analyses the issue of the transfer of a share in a limited liability company including the possibility to incorporate a share into an equity certificate. The main purpose of this study is to introduce in detail the different phases of the tranfer of a share, an equity certificate and draw attention to several interpretative problems related to the new law of business corporations. Besides the applicable law, which is purposefully subjected to the comparison with legal regulation before the recodification of private law, the work examines the legal literature, including periodicals, and still aplicable case law of the Czech courts. The thesis is divided into five chapters. The first chapter looks briefly at a share in a limited liability company and its definition as a subject of legal relations. The second chapter deals with the modes of the transfer of a share and the preconditions of its realization in the form of obtaining the relevant permissions. This section also outlines possible consequences of not giving the necessary consents with the transfer. The core of the third chapter represents the share transfer agreement, its formal and subject matter requirements. There are also mentioned...

The private limited liability company, as the most frequently used type of business corporation in the Czech Republic, has recently undergone significant changes concerning its legal regulations due to the recodification of private law. This thesis focuses on the share in the limited liability company and the equity instrument (the share certificate), by which the share can be represented, along with the transfer of the share. The treatises aims to identify interpretational disputes arising from the recently enacted civil and corporation codes and, while using resources available at the moment, attempts to adumbrate possible outcomes and solutions. The work itself is divided into five chapters. First chapter provides general description of the notion of the share in the limited liability company and defines its nature. Further, possible variations of issue of shares in the limited liability company such as issue of different classes of shares and the option of ownership of multiple shares in one company are examined. In the second chapter, the concept of the share as a thing in itself (personal property) and the selected implications of this concept are discussed. The focus is aimed on topics, which appear to be highly questionable. Third chapter introduces the institute of the equity instrument...

- Protection of forced heir and disinheritance The purpose of this thesis is to describe the current legislation concerning protection of forced heir and disinheritance and to highlight the recent and most important changes. The protection of forced heir shows intergenerational solidarity in law of succession opposed to another basic principle of law of succession - decedents autonomy of will. The institute of forced heir grants right to inherit a forced share to descendent's children in case the descendent forgets to include them in his disposition mortis causa. Disinheritance is the only legal option to break the protection of forced heir. The descendent might, only in compliance with the conditions set by the civil code, deprive the forced heir of his right to inherit the forced share completely or partially. The thesis is composed of five chapters. Chapter One introduces the basic terms, such as protection of forced heir, disinheritance and the institute of incapacity to inherit as one of the reasons for disinheritance. Chapter Two is subdivided into five parts and provides the historical background and development of the institutes of forced heir and disinheritance. Each part concentrates on different period, starting at legislation in ancient Rome and Common Civil Code through Czech Civil Code...

This paper examines to what extent political candidates’ characteristics listed on the ballot affect election outcomes in municipal councils in Sweden. We exploit data on candidates’ name, age, sex, occupation, party affiliation, and candidates’ position listed on the ballots for 3757 elected candidates of 59 municipalities. The data on 19 September 2010 elections to municipal councils in Sweden has been considered in this paper. A probit regression approach has been employed for identifying occupational effects whereas the main outcome variable is binary, namely whether a candidate is elected by preference votes threshold or not. Candidates with occupations such as mayor, political official, parliament member, farmer, head, entrepreneur and teacher are found to have electoral advantage. In contrast, salesman, retired, student, pensioner, and assistant are found less likely to be person selected. The results remain robust in case of occupations related to political incumbency such as political officials, mayor and parliament member even if demographic effects (gender and age), ballot position effects, party effects and municipality effects are added into regression analysis. The same results also hold regarding the alternative outcome variable, personal vote share. Male candidates are found to have electoral advantage over female candidates. The findings also suggest that there are higher chances to be person selected if a candidate’s name is listed within top three ballot positions. Finally, statistically significant and negative effects are found for the left-wing candidates with occupations such as retired, student, ombudsman, graduate, and businessman. On the other hand, candidates with occupations such as salesman, engineer, graduate, administrator, manager, driver, economist, consultant, self-employed, and lawyer have electoral disadvantage being placed on right-wing party list. However, mayor and political officials from both groups of parties always have electoral advantage. To sum up, our findings support the hypothesis that occupations play a significant role in the elections to municipal councils in Sweden. The findings of the study have implications for our understanding of voting behavior in low-information elections in Sweden.

This thesis aims to characteristics of deprivation by population aged over fifty years in Czech Republic. It contains basic descriptions of two surveys that dealing with deprivation and so SHARE and EU-SILC. Then follow the characteristics of indicators of material deprivation in SHARE and in EU-SILC and the characteristic of social deprivation indicator from SHARE. The aim of the thesis is to explore indicators of material and social deprivation in Czech Republic and find the position of Czech Republic in international comparison. In the thesis were analysed percentages of deprived people in every single variable of material or social deprivation, development of material deprivation and factors that affect both indicators. Part of the thesis is also comparison of indicator of material deprivation by EU-SILC and by SHARE. At the end is quantified the summarizing indicator that according to SHARE indicates the risk of social exclusion and it is also analysed.

This study is concerned with investigating whether corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives provide a means to build brand equity, specifically emotional connections known as share of heart, in bottom of the pyramid (BOP) markets. Research has found that brand experiences, positive product outcomes and nostalgia are antecedents to share of heart; however, this presupposes developed markets in which categories have already achieved primary demand.In underdeveloped BOP markets, market expansion is challenging and necessitates investments into social initiatives to increase the welfare of the community. The study proposes the use of CSR initiatives to encourage brand building as consumers were found to form an emotional attachment with brands, which brings about loyalty and intentions to purchase.A correlation study was carried out to determine whether a relationship existed between CSR and emotional attachment and whether this predicts greater intentions to purchase. The research confirmed that CSR is an antecedent to EA; however, the results revealed that certain conditions have to be met before consumers can connect with brands emotionally. The findings also indicated that CSR awareness fosters positive CSR beliefs, whereas consumers‟ emotional attachment towards the brand explains their intention to purchase the brand. Copyright / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

In the United States, the federal Empowerment Zone (EZ) program aimed to create and retain business investment in poor communities and to encourage local hiring through the use of special tax credits, relaxed regulations, social service grants, and other incentives. My dissertation explores whether the Round II Urban EZs had a beneficial impact on local communities and what factors influenced the implementation and performance of the EZs, using three modes of inquiry. First, linear regression models investigate whether the federal revitalization program had a statistically significant impact on the creation of new businesses and jobs in Round II Urban EZ communities. Second, location quotient and shift-share analysis are used to reveal the industry clusters in three EZ communities that experienced positive business and job growth. Third, qualitative analysis is employed to explore factors that influenced the implementation and performance of EZs in general, and in particular, Miami-Dade County, Florida. The results show an EZ’s presence failed to have a significant influence on local business and job growth. In communities that experienced a beneficial impact from EZs, there has been a pattern of decline in manufacturing companies and increase in service-driven firms. The case study suggests that institutional factors, such as governance structure, leadership, administrative capacity, and community participation have affected the effectiveness of the program’s implementation and performance.