Keeping the controllers of a corporation accountable for their actions has been a primary concern of corporate governance. In Canada almost all provinces have joined the trend to adopt a statutory oppression remedy basically identical to the oppression remedy in the Canada Business Corporations Act. Of the fifty state jurisdictions in the United States, only thirteen have resisted the movement to a statutory oppression remedy. Canadian courts, until recently, have for the most part been content to rely on the original English "lack of probity" test for the application of the oppression remedy. American courts also originally followed the English "lack of probity" test blending with it at times their version of fiduciary duty. In the United States discontent arose over the vagueness and uncertainties associated with the "lack of probity" test. Although over thirty years ago this discontent appeared in law journal articles, it was not until legislative reform that the New York Court of Appeals adopted a different test, the "reasonable expectations" of shareholders. There are two primary aspects to the needed legislative guidance: a provision making the courts' intervention mandatory if the "reasonable expectations" of the minority have been violated and a provision allowing for the majority to buy out the minority when the oppression remedy can be invoked. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Most of the thesis will concentrate on the two jurisdictions in which the franchise method is already well established, the European Economic Community (EEC) and the United States (US). The first chapter of this thesis is a general introduction to the franchise method and its main characteristics and features. Also included, is an introduction to the different types of franchise specific legislation. In the second chapter, the development of the approach taken towards the franchise method in the EEC is examined. The chapter includes an analysis of the Court of Justice's (COJ) well-known Pronuptia judgment, the EEC individual exemptions for franchise agreements issued by the EEC Commission and the Commission's franchise regulation. The first part of the third chapter, deals with the antitrust law in the US to the extent it concerns franchise agreements. The second part of the third chapter examines franchise legislation to protect franchises in the US, both at the federal and at the state level. The study in both parts of the third chapter is done through concentrating in the status of territorial exclusivity. The fourth and last chapter presents broad comparisons and general conclusions. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

The purpose of this study is to develop a model of ethical decision making which will provide a generic and comprehensive philosophical and psychological theoretical foundation for the extension of current theoretical knowledge of ethical behaviour in organizations. In addition, the study's purpose is to provide information which might enhance the practitioner's ability to make ethically right, good, and authentic decisions. The primary data for the study are 14 theoretical models of ethical decision making developed in or having relevance ot administrative contexts. The study employs an interpretative-theoretical methodology of model construction which is both rigorous and deliberative. This methodology consists of four sequential phases: exploration, analysis, classification, and explanation. The five questions posed are as follows: (1) What is the purpose of ethical decision making? (2) What are the theoretical foundations of ethical decision making? (3) What are the elements of ethical decision making? (4) What are the moderators of ethical decision making? (5) What is the process of ethical decision making? The study concludes that there are two general purposes of ethical decision making in administrative contexts, member utility and organizational utility. Member utility refers to the enhanced effectiveness of organizational members who are able to avoid ethical transgression; organizational utility refers to the general enhancement of the organization in terms of efficiency and effectiveness as mediated through the organizational culture and climate. The theoretical foundations for ethical decision making are philosophical and psychological. Seven elements of ethical decision making are identified in the model. These elements are the recognition of the ethical issue, alternative generation, ethical evaluation of the alternatives, ethical judgement, intention, overt ethical/unethical behaviour, and ethical evaluation of behaviour. The moderators of ethical decision making are eclectic and have been grouped into five distinct categories of influencing variables. They are: individual, issue specific, significant other, situational, and external moderators. The moderators influence the decision maker and the ethical decision-making process. The model proposes that the process that ought to be employed by decision makers is open and rational. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

This thesis examines the environmental issues facing the Canadian pulp and paper industry and the potential application of biotechnology to solve some of these problems and contribute to a sustainable growth in the future. Biotechnology can offer a wide scope of applications including: (1) Plant biotechnology: silvicluture, reforestation, replacement of chemical pesticides with biological control agents. (2) Biopulping and biobleaching: reduce the amount of polluting chemicals used in the production of pulp. (3) Effluent treatment: micro-organisms can be selected to treat mill effluent more effectively. (4) By-product conversion: wood waste can be hydrolyzed by enzyme to sugar, then fermented to ethanol that can be used as a renewable transportation fuel. One of the federal government's objective outlined in the Green Plan is to stabilize the total carbon dioxide emission in Canada. The substitution of gasoline by biomass ethanol would contribute significantly to this goal. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

The paper will assess the relevance of a rising debt to equity ratio for the fragility of the Canadian, U.S., and Japanese economies. In addition, it will also attempt to ascertain the significance of the nonfinancial corporations' liquidity and profits, as well as, the effects of moral hazard, adverse selection, and investor's confidence to the fragility problem. A series of Granger causality tests are performed in addition to the general statistical analysis of each country. The basic finding is that, despite a somewhat different banking structure, a rising debt to equity seems to be an important factor for the long-run stability of both the Canadian and U.S. economies. Whereas, in Japan, this seems to be less of a factor due to the relatively close ties between the banking and nonfinancial corporate sectors. Moreover, the lack of the moral hazard and adverse selection problems, coupled with the relatively smaller use of the securities market, the higher liquidity ratio, and the cooperative attitude of the Japanese workers and consumers, constitutes additional reasons as to why rising debt to equity has played less of a significant role in Japan.

Chile's recent experience with the liberalization of foreign trade provides a singular case study because of: the high level and many types of tariff protection before the reforms; the extraordinary effect of rapid trade policy liberalization; and the current structure that the country's economy has assumed. The protection of Chile's manufacturing began after the Great Depression and gradually increased after the second World War. However, from 1973 a profound economic reform radically changed the traditional protectionism shielding the Chilean economy. This paper analyzes the adjustment of industrial firms to both trade liberalization and policy reforms for stabilization, during the military regime. The study is conducted using two hypotheses that link manufacturing firms to their location in the region and to the final destination of their production. The main conclusions of the study suggest the advantages and disadvantages that the present industrial structure of the region might face as a consequence of its specialization. They summarize changes of both internal and external conditions that have been favourable to regional industrial growth. Internally there has been industrial specialization according to the comparative advantage of the Biobio region in natural resources. External influences have driven a shift to capital intensive sectors, which have grown rapidly relative to other manufacturing sectors, and have replaced labour-intensive sectors as the dominant component of the regional industrial base. The overall result is that the structure of manufacturing in the Biobio region has changed in a process of restructuring different from that anticipated and predicted by free trade theorists.

Abstract not available.

Fair Trade is a market-based development tool with much potential to improve the lives of small-scale, impoverished producers in the developing world; however, despite the movement's admirable goals, its effectiveness is limited. Low consumer demand is one of the most significant limitations. This thesis discusses the Fair Trade movement and the current challenges it faces---in particular, those posed by the current mainstreaming trend. Most significantly, it examines factors affecting demand for Fair Trade and other ethical trade products. Drawing on a study of coffee consumers in one rural and two urban centres in Manitoba, this thesis presents some preliminary conclusions about consumer views and ethical coffee purchasing trends. Findings suggest that ethical coffee consumption is positively associated with higher education and the ability to distinguish between different ethical certifications, and negatively assicated with distance from ethical coffee purchasing outlets. Ethical coffee purchasing behaviours also suggest that Fair Trade's mainstreaming trend may not effectively increase the demand for Fair Trade products.

No description available.

No description available.