A travers la création d'un cadre juridique attractif et sécurisé, l'OHADA a permis d'augmenter de manière considérable les investissements étrangers en Afrique de l'Ouest. Les usages, règles juridiques créées et pratiquées par les professionnels, compliquent le processus d'uniformisation souhaité par l'organisation. Compte tenu de cette complexité, liée notamment à la diversité économique et sociale africaine, le législateur OHADA a entrepris de lutter contre ces usages à travers la mise en place d'un Droit écrit. Si les résultats de cette initiative sont mitigés, on peut se demander si elle est opportune. / Through the creation of an attractive and securised legal framework, the OHADA gave a significant raise to foreign investments in West Africa. As rules created and practised by professionnals, usages make the standardization process hoped by the organization more complex. Considering such intricacy, especially related to the africain economic and social diversity, the OHADA legislator started to struggle against these usages by creating staturory rules. The results of such initiative are mixed. One would even question wether it is relevant.

of Dissertation Title: Distribution Agreement in the International Business Law Author: Mgr. Gabriela Navrátilová Tutor: Prof. JUDr. Monika Pauknerová, CSc, DSc. Legal Field: Law Institution: Charles University 1. The dissertation is divided in two parts, the first part is interested in the distribution agreement from the practical and theoretical point of view. Explication of the title distribution agreement is the substantive suppose for the understanding this institute in the field of the international business law. 2. The first part is based on the definitions of the title distribution agreement, legal provisions of each member states of the European Union, comparison and franchising agreement, with which the distribution agreement is compared. This part is divided into the divisions about distribution agreement (A), franchising agreement (B) and comparison of distribution franchising agreement. 3. Division about distribution agreement specified the legal provisions on the distribution according to the legal system of the Czech Republic, EU with the specialization on the article 4 Regulation Rome I, it investigates the rules decisive for the application of the conflicting rules of law - direct method. After that there is the legal analyze of the distribution agreement as the two or more...

Esse trabalho analisa atividades contábeis não previstas na legislação falimentar brasileira e propõe que elas sejam atribuídas ao administrador judicial. A primeira atividade é a verificação da capacidade de continuidade da recuperanda; a segunda, a avaliação da capacidade de cumprimento do plano de recuperação; e, a terceira, a emissão de recomendação para que o processo de recuperação prossiga, seja extinto ou convolado em falência. A partir disso, os objetivos são discorrer sobre os potenciais benefícios das atividades propostas para o processo de recuperação e examinar se há impacto na remuneração do administrador judicial ou perito, caso essas atividades sejam adicionadas à legislação. Para atingir tais finalidades, inicialmente é realizada uma pesquisa bibliográfica, destacando-se os trabalhos de Santos (2009) e Moro Junior (2011), os quais abordam atividades similares às propostas no presente estudo, atribuindo-as ao perito contador. Esses estudos motivam a ampliação dos objetivos dessa pesquisa, a fim de contemplar os impactos também na remuneração do perito. Em seguida, efetua-se a análise documental do processo de recuperação judicial da empresa Beta e são coletadas informações que evidenciam a importância das atividades sugeridas para os envolvidos no processo. Consideram-se tais dados na elaboração do roteiro de entrevista da última etapa da pesquisa, na qual são feitas entrevistas com os diferentes agentes envolvidos nos processos de recuperação judicial. Constata-se a existência de um conflito de interesse entre as atividades realizadas pelo administrador judicial e pelo perito, após o deferimento do processo, e as atividades propostas, sendo assim, não devem ser atribuídas a esses agentes. Verifica-se a necessidade da análise da documentação inicial da empresa, principalmente para auxiliar o juiz quanto à decisão do deferimento ou não do processamento da recuperação. O aumento na remuneração do responsável por essa atividade pode ser factível, dependendo de sua previsão na legislação e de quem a executará. Não há um consenso sobre os benefícios ou impactos gerados pela análise da capacidade da empresa de cumprir o plano de recuperação, apesar de sua necessidade ser identificada na pesquisa documental, é entendida, pela maioria dos entrevistados, como uma tarefa exclusiva dos credores. Grande parte das opiniões dos entrevistados permanece a mesma ao se estudar a emissão de recomendação para que o processo prossiga, seja extinto ou convolado em falência. Essa atividade é apontada como necessária, de forma complementar, à primeira, de análise da documentação inicial, contudo, não foi possível identificar a sua necessidade pela pesquisa documental. / This research studies financial activities that are not foreseen in Brazilian legislation, and it proposes to allocate them to the trustee. The first activity is the analysis of the company\'s capability to recovery; the second is the analysis of the company\'s ability to fulfill the recovery plan; and the third is a recommendation for the process proceed, be extinguished or transformed into liquidation. The purposes are to discuss the potential benefits of the proposed activities for the reorganization process, and to check if there would be an impact on the remuneration of the trustee or the accountant, if these activities were added to the legislation. To achieve these intentions, was conducted a literature search in which we identified the Santos (2009) and Moro Junior (2011) researchers addressing similar activities to the proposed ones. Both treat the activities as being a responsibility of the accountant and not the trustees. These events led to the expansion of this research objectives to also study the impacts in the accountant\'s remuneration. In sequence, was made the documentary analysis of the reorganization proceedings of Beta company. The information collected showed the importance of the proposed activities for creditors and others involved in the process. These data were considered to draft the interview guide, used in the last stage of this research. The interviews were conducted with agents involved in reorganization processes. It has been found a conflict of interest between the activities performed by the trustee or the accountant after the approval of the process and the activities proposed. Therefore, they should not be attributed to these agents. It is verified a demand for the initial documentation analysis mostly to assist the judge when it has to approval or not the reorganization process. There is an increase in the remuneration of the agent responsible for this activity. This increase depends on its legal provision in the legislation and on who will perform it. There is no consensus about the benefits and impacts generated by the the analysis of the company\'s ability to fulfill the recovery plan. The necessity of this activity was acknowledged in the documentary research, but most of the interviewees understand it as a particular task of creditors. Most of the interviewees\' opinions remain the same in the study of the recommendation for the process proceed, be extinguished or transformed into liquidation. This activity is seen as necessary as a complement to the first one, the analyze the initial documentation. However, it was not possible to identify their need in the documentary research.

Tenter de saisir le pacte d’actionnaires face à la mutation du droit des sociétés incite àpoursuivre une démarche par étapes successives : une première est destinée à éprouverla viabilité d’une mise en relation des deux phénomènes, une seconde à explorer lesimplications de ce rapprochement. La démarche conduit, en un premier temps, àprendre appui sur ce qui apparaît comme un élément commun – la logique contractuelle– pour éclairer la capacité du pacte d’actionnaires à constituer une figure d’unedialectique renouvelée de la loi et du contrat.Dans le cas du pacte, le rattachement à l’ordre contractuel a à voir avec la nature mêmede cet instrument et apparaît comme un facteur crucial de son universalité. Cettedernière se manifeste aussi bien dans la capacité à transcender la distinction entre ledroit romano-germanique et le droit anglo-saxon que dans le polymorphisme dontl’étendue et les limites sont perceptibles au gré d’une approche typologique. Dans le casdu droit des sociétés, la contractualisation, si elle n’entretient pas un rapport deconsubstantialité, n’en est pas moins significative de l’évolution contemporaine en lamatière. Constitutive d’une modalité de la mutation du droit des sociétés, cette tendanceest plus particulièrement illustrée par trois mécanismes introduits au cours des vingtdernières années – la SAS, les actions de préférence et la fiducie – qui représentent unecapacité multiforme d’évidement à l’égard du pacte.En un second temps, par-delà l’absence d’incompatibilité entre le pacte et la mutation dudroit des sociétés, une quête peut être poursuivie afin d’explorer les implications de larelation qui est susceptible d’unir ces deux phénomènes et qui dessinent une doubleplasticité du pacte.La plasticité intrinsèque, qui regarde de manière prioritaire les parties au pacte, paraîttrouver dans le droit boursier un révélateur pertinent. Ce cadre particulier permet nonseulement de mettre à profit l’impératif de transparence comme palliatif à l’obstacle queconstitue la confidentialité du pacte, mais également, dans un contexte de contraintesrenforcées, d’éprouver la faculté du pacte d’incarner des orientations caractéristiquesd’une gouvernance d’entreprise efficace. La plasticité extrinsèque procède d’uneconception plus extensive. Celle-ci repose à la fois sur un phénomène spécifique aupacte, qui tient à son effectivité renouvelée par des voies réglementaire etjurisprudentielle, et sur son inscription dans un processus plus global d’altruismecontractuel, qui offre au pacte une capacité inédite de constituer un instrument derégulation paradigmatique d’une conception renouvelée du droit des sociétés. / The attempt at giving account of the shareholders’ agreement in view of the contrastingevolution of law ruling commercial and financial companies supposes several steps ofresearch. First of all, it calls for assessing the viability of correlating the two phenomena;secondly it means exploring the implications of this kind of parallel investigation; yetboth should remain inconclusive without a careful scrutiny of their common ground –the logic of contractual arrangements – so as to elucidate the ability of shareholders’agreements to offer a valid scheme of a renewed dialectical process of law versuscontract.From the standpoint of shareholders’ agreements, their very nature makes for theproximity to the contractual sphere, as a crucial factor of their universality. Thisaccounts for their capacity to bridge the gap between Roman-Germanic and Anglo-Saxonlegal tradition, as well as for its polymorphism whose extent and limitations must beworked out by way of a typological approach. In the perspective of legislation pertainingto companies, the process of contractualization corresponds to an obviouscontemporary trend, even if this is not tantamount to consubstantiality.Constituting one of the modalities of mutation to which corporate law has been subject,the above tendency is illustrated by three mechanisms introduced over the last twentyyears – the “Société par actions simplifiée”, the preferred shares and the trust – all ofwhich represent multifarious ways of substituting to shareholders’ agreements differentinstruments of legal practice.In a second phase, beyond the statement of at least partial compatibility betweenshareholders’ agreements and the mutations of legislation, a quest may be pursued inorder to explore the relationship virtually linking together these two phenomena, whichcan be described as encompassing a double plasticity, appearing under two distinctaspects. The intrinsic plasticity, concerning foremost the parties to the agreement,seems to find an adequate expression in stock exchange regulations. This framework notonly allows to take advantage of the imperative requirement of transparency, in guise ofa counterpoise to the requirement of confidentiality, but also, in a context of reinforcedstatutory rules, to test the capacity of shareholders’ agreements to establish an efficientcorporate governance. The extrinsic plasticity proceeds from a more overall conception.Resting upon a specific trait of shareholders’ agreements, it results in a renewedeffectivity in terms of regulation and of jurisprudence, as well as in a more globalprocess of contractual altruism, which afford to shareholders’ agreements anunprecedented capacity of paradigmatic regulation and a renewed conception of law.

This study examines the effects of organizational ethical culture, idealism, relativism and guanxi orientation on the ethical decision-making processes of professional auditors in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). It is hypothesized that auditors perceiving a positive organizational ethical culture, possessing higher (lower) degrees of idealism (relativism), and possessing lower degrees of guanxi orientation will make more ethical decisions. The findings of the study indicate that certain aspects of organizational ethical culture had a significant effect on professional auditors’ behavioural intentions, but not on their ethical judgments. Idealism had a marginally significant impact on professional auditors’ behavioral intentions, but not on their ethical judgments. Relativism did not have a significant impact on ethical judgments or behavioral intentions. Guanxi orientation had a significant effect on professional auditors’ behavioural intentions, but not on their ethical judgments. This study also explores the potential effects of demographics on PRC professional auditors’ ethical decision-making processes and the results suggest that CPA firm type (local/regional vs. international) had a significant effect on professional auditors’ behavioural intentions. The overall findings suggest that organizational ethical culture, idealism, guanxi orientation, and CPA firm type play a significant role in PRC professional auditors’ ethical decision-making processes.

As corporate social responsibility and socially responsible investing practices have increased substantially over the past decade, the possible financial advantages have been examined in great depth. Utilizing firms from the S&P 500 I have investigated the possible outperformance of accounting based and market based measures. I did this by examining the relationship between ESG scores, a common measure of CSR level, and the following dependent variables: return on assets, total risk, systematic risk, and idiosyncratic risk. I obtained strong evidence that an increase in CSR levels are correlated with an increased return on assets.

This dissertation examines the impact of regulation and public policies on firm performance. Chapter 1, entitled “Political Contributions, Insider Trading, and CEO Compensation”, determines why CEOs from politically-connected firms receive higher pay compared to their non-politically connected peers. We investigate whether insider trading can explain high CEO pay. Using hand-collected firm-level lobbying data, we examine whether politically-connected CEOs engage in insider trading after sponsored bills are introduced and passed in the U.S. legislative bodies. Our results show that politically-connected CEOs commit insider trading, which yields higher compensation packages. In addition, we also find that lobbying benefits firm performance. Politically-connected firms receive more government contracts, which increases firm value. Overall, political contributions benefit both CEOs and shareholders. Chapter 2, entitled “The Impact of Incarceration on Firm Performance” conducts analyses on the impact of incarceration on firms based in the United States. Through time series Granger Causality Vector Autoregression (VAR) tests by state, we find that incarceration can influence labor markets measured by the state’s unemployment rate. We find that firms based in states with high incarceration underperform compared to firms based in states with low incarceration. This also holds true when examining prison reform data from the Pew Charitable Trust. Through differences in differences tests, we find that firms based in states with prison reform outperform firms based in states without prison reform. When controlling for firm and state macroeconomic factors, we find that increases in incarceration rates have a negative effect on firm performance.

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Dodd-Frank represents a federal intervention in corporate governance, which had previously been an issue for the states.The most prominent state in this respect is Delaware because of its favorable treatment of corporate interests.Although Delaware’s regulations are too lenient to encourage responsible risk management practices, the federal law is normally driven by populist outrage and anti-corporate sentiments that impair lawmakers’ abilities to write rational, efficient reforms.The climate of political pressure does not foster a thoughtful review of the best ways to affect risk management practices. This paper thus explores the role of leverage in the financial crisis, the shortcomings of Dodd-Frank’s capital requirements, the ways in which reform could have encouraged more responsible leverage positions, and the nature of federal corporate governance regulation.

Corporate Social Responsibility is particularly relevant in the mining industry globally given the industry’s extractive nature. In the mining industry, significant pressure comes from interest groups and nonprofit organizations that have a tendency to target mining companies for their alleged lack of consideration and accountability to the environment and in the communities in which they operate. A push for CSR in the mining industry is especially prevalent in South Africa where mining has dominated the country’s economy for so long. CSR can help rid South Africa’s mining industry of its long history of instability and conflict that characterized class and race relations in the country. While historically neither the profits nor the costs of the mining industry have been equitably distributed among stakeholders, CSR programs can be a powerful mechanism in restoring social justice in South Africa, as seen by the mining company Anglo American.