Thesis advisor: Philip Strahan / In my first essay, I find that CEOs with more control over the firm have smaller compensation packages and are less likely to have severance contracts. Despite lower pay, these CEOs have longer tenure and their boards' replacement decisions are less sensitive to their performance, which is consistent with the view that there is a trade-off between pay and dismissal risk. To mitigate endogeneity concerns, I use divorce as an exogenous shock to CEO equity ownership, and find that following a divorce, turnover risk goes up and pay increases significantly. My findings highlight the importance of turnover risk in studying executive compensation. The second essay shows that staggered boards are associated with higher private benefits of control. We find that companies de-staggering their boards experience a decrease in control premiums. Using two court rulings in 2010 with opposite decisions on the effectiveness of staggered boards, we show that our findings are not driven by the endogeneity of the corporate control. Finally, we find evidence that the stock market reactions to the court rulings are negatively associated with the changes in control premium. Overall, our results suggest that staggered boards decrease shareholder value via entrenchment. In my third essay, I study the impact of accounting practices on debt renegotiations and covenant violations. Firms that recognize losses in a timelier manner (i.e., have more conservative accounting practices) have less slack at any given time and are more likely to violate loan covenants. But the consequences of a covenant violation by such firms differ from those of firms with aggressive accounting practices. I also find that firms with more conservative accounting practices are more likely to renegotiate their loans with creditors. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2015. / Submitted to: Boston College. Carroll School of Management. / Discipline: Finance.

V této práci se zabývám firemní komunikací. Pro její plánování a rozvoj je třeba udržovat aktuální komunikační a informační strategii. Pro zjednodušení jsem systém firemní komunikace rozdělil na 4 subsystémy: Kultura, informační systém, komerční komunikace a firemní styl, z nichž každým se podrobně zabývám. Společným působením těchto čtyř disciplín vzniká unikátní identita organizace a toto jsou její základní kameny. Jedním ze způsobů, jak docílit silné identity, je budování promyšleného a stabilního firemního stylu. Firemní styl je úžeji vymezen jako vizuální tvář podniku, tzv. Corporate Design. Jeho základními elementy jsou: logotyp, barevnost a typografie. Přestože firmy si mohou být v těchto základních elementech podobné, odlišují se jejich aplikacemi na komunikační aktivity. Každá vizuální identita se stává unikátním otiskem složitého firemního organismu. Účelem aplikací není pouze marketingový úspěch či vizuální dokonalost; ten spočívá v jejich funkčnosti. Proto je při jejich tvorbě nutné respektovat daleko více kritérií.

Thesis--Bremen University, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.

Taking the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE) as its empirical focus, this study engages in a critical analysis of (capitalist) state regulation and corporate social responsibility as it relates to the Canadian extractive industry. Using a theoretical-analytical combination of Marx’s ideology theory and critical discourse analysis, the study explores discourses pertaining to the introduction, creation, and role of the CORE – the Canadian state’s most recent response to corporate harms and crimes within the industry – to uncover the factors that shaped this process. Further informed by critical criminological literature on corporate crime, the study found that dominant neoliberal capitalist narratives prevailed in determinations of which regulatory approach should be adopted by the state. Dominant voices sidetracked counter-hegemonic claims in debates about human rights and international development by prioritizing the economy, leaning on Canada’s “good” global reputation, downplaying the violence of the industry, and redirecting blame. Ideological assumptions about the nature of state regulation, corporations, and capitalist law and politics further influenced which knowledge claims “won out.” Despite the emergence of the CORE as a logical state response to corporate crime and impunity, however, debates about its role are ongoing. This not only reinforces the idea that (capitalist) dominance is never absolute but signals the ever-present nature of resistance and possibility for change.

A theory about how an organization's culture influences decisions made within that organization is described and a new, easily administered instrument for rapidly assessing an organization's culture is introduced. Then a series of studies is presented, some of which assess the reliability and validity of the instrument and others of which test some of the implications of the theory. The instrument is shown to be a reliable and valid measure of organizational culture, and the research results support the predictions of the theory on both a group and an individual level. Finally, the instrument is used as part of an organization development intervention. It is concluded that the theory and the instrument provide a promising foundation for further research on the role of organizational culture in organizational decision making and for use as a tool for organization development.

No description available.

M.Comm. / The concept of an organisation culture has emerged in the last decade due to theorist recognizing that organisations are more than mechanistic, rational goal driven systems with formal structures. Beyond formal structures are the hidden social frameworks people take for granted (Schultz, 1995: 5). Within these frameworks lies the unconscious life of an organisation, where beliefs, values and meanings are created, develop and influence the more visible life of the organisation.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Dallas, 2006. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 118-125).

Millions of individuals donate their time to volunteer work each year. Additionally, expectations of socially responsible practices on the part of organizations and the positive relationship between the social and financial performance of organizations are leading to a growing interest in corporate social responsibility among management and researchers. One method to achieving greater corporate social responsibility is corporate-sponsored volunteering. Many benefits have been associated with corporate volunteerism. However, an understanding of why these outcomes occur is lacking. Also lacking is an understanding of why individuals engage in corporate volunteerism. Although studies have identified several demographic variables associated with volunteering in general, few studies have examined variables beyond simple demographics, and fewer still have examined antecedents of corporate volunteering. In the current study, the theory of planned behavior, functional motives for volunteering and citizenship performance, and perceived locus of causality are used to integrate contextual, attitudinal, situational, and motivational variables in order to present and empirically test a framework to help explain why individuals participate in corporate volunteerism. Data were collected from 110 individuals employed in two organizations supporting corporate volunteerism in order to examine the antecedents of participation in this behavior. Results indicated that antecedents of intentions included in the theory of planned behavior and its extensions were related to intentions to participate in corporate volunteerism and, in some cases, actual participation in this behavior. Furthermore, functional motives for volunteering and citizenship performance were related to the regulations specified by the perceived locus of causality continuum. These motives, conceptualized as general orientations towards particular behaviors relevant to a contextual domain, were related to the situation-level decision-making antecedents of intentions in several cases. Finally, several of the relationships between the contextual-level generalized motivational constructs and intentions to participate in corporate volunteerism were mediated by the situational-level antecedents of the theory of planned behavior. Specifically, the relationship between social motives and intentions was mediated by subjective norms. The relationships between each of identified regulation, values, understanding, and organizational concern motives with intentions were mediated by attitudes toward corporate volunteerism. Perceived behavioral control also mediated the relationship between understanding motives and intentions.