More than ever, business leaders are focused on growing revenues, containing costs and providing a higher level of customer support, whilst reducing the cost of business support activities, such as information technology costs. One method of achieving these apparently contradictory goals is through the use of thin-client computing. There has certainly been a contradicting view held by many industry pundits such as Gartner and International Data Corporation on whether this is indeed the case. This dissertation is a case study that focuses on what thin-client technology's impact is on the Total Cost of Ownership in the desktop computing environment relative to the traditional use of laptops and PCs, now commonly referred to as fat-clients. The factors and elements that contribute to a Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for desktop computing will be explored. This study endeavors to douse the contradictory philosophies that claim for and against a lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) in deploying thin-clients. The literature review presented outlines the contradictions in philosophies. Research will be undertaken on National Ship Chandlers, which is in the largest ship chandler in Africa. National Ship Chandlers was migrated from a fat-client to a thin-client environment in 2002. National Ship Chandlers management seeks to understand whether they have realised a lower Total Cost of Ownership as a result of the migration. In this context, this study seeks to clarify which of the computing environments, thin-clients or fat-clients yield a lower Total Cost of Ownership within an outsourced desktop environment. In so doing it may assist in bringing clarity to the ongoing feud on the contradicting philosophies and technology claims. There has been no significant academic research undertaken on the Total Cost of Ownership of thin-clients in relation to fat-clients in an outsourced desktop environment. Both qualitative and quantitative research techniques are employed. The conclusions from this will be evaluated and presented. Based on these findings recommendations will be made to National Ship Chandlers management on a strategic direction for their desktop computing environment. This study reveals that for an outsourced desktop computing environment using thin-clients, National Ship Chandlers could realise an approximate 23% saving over a fat-client implementation. This excludes the benefits that can be realised from aspects of information security, ease of the operational platform and greater system availability. Thin-client technology has provides CEOs and CIOs compelling reasons to deploy as a desktop computing architecture and will continue to grow its' market-share into the future. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2006.

In March 1994, the Jamaican Parliament passed the Employee Share Ownership Plan (ESOP) Act, to facilitate widespread employee share ownership by granting tax incentives to companies that offer shares to their employees (GOJ 1994). The primary aims of the legislation were to (a) strengthen Jamaica's economy by enabling workers to acquire an ownership stake in their employer and (b) improve the economic performance of Jamaican companies by encouraging employees to identify more closely with the goals of their employers (GOJ 1993). Former Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley, who introduced the ESOP legislation into Parliament, explained that organizational rather than ideological goals were the primary aims of the legislation. He explained that "in due course larger goals such as broadening the base of ownership and giving workers a wider stake in the national economy will also be achieved through ESOPs. But the first objective must be to increase productivity at the company level" (Manley 1995:17). Prior to the passage of this legislation, several employee ownership schemes had been implemented by Jamaican companies on a limited and ad hoc basis without the support of legislation (GOJ 1993). Despite the introduction of these earlier schemes, however, the concept of employee ownership is still a new one to Jamaica and little research has been conducted on how the pre-legislation employee ownership schemes were implemented or how they affected the implementing companies. Although consultants to the government examined these companies and used them as models in drafting the ESOP legislation, the consultants performed no academic studies to examine the organizational impact of the employee share schemes (Golding; Maharaj Interviews). Similarly, several academic studies have been conducted on employee ownership in the US, the UK, and a few other countries, but no formal academic studies of employee ownership have been conducted in Jamaica. These omissions are unfortunate given the interest in ESOPs expressed by the Jamaican government and the desired political, economic, and organizational effects of introducing employee ownership schemes.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2007. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 201-206). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Thesis (LL. M.)--University of Toronto, 2004. / Adviser: A. Douglas Harris.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of Economics. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

The investigation of employee stock ownership is undertaken using microeconomic theory and the in-depth empirical analysis of two metropolitan newspapers with long histories of extensive employee ownership. Economic theory suggests that there are four important considerations beyond current tax incentives in employee and employer decisions to institute employee stock ownership: (1) preference for ownership in the employing firm by employees, (2) expected incentive effects on productivity and information flows in the firm, (3) the potential for participation in the oversight of the firm by stock owning employees, and (4) job and portfolio mobility considerations of employees. A review of existing studies of firms with employee stock ownership suggests that the four important considerations suggested by economic theory have not been empirically documented to a great extent; particularly expected effects on information flows and actual production in organizations. An in-depth investigation of the importance of the four non-tax considerations in two metropolitan newspapers is undertaken using financial data. The results indicate the importance of the four theoretical considerations in determining the impact of employee stock ownership on the operation of a firm. In the analysis of newspapers the study suggests that important externalities to a locality may be involved in the ownership structure of the local news media. The microeconomic investigations at a theoretical and empirical level suggests several macroeconomic implications for public policy aimed at increasing employee ownership of stock through tax incentives to firms that adopt employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs). Reaching macroeconomic policy. goals of increased production, employment and employee firm attachment as a result of increased employee stock ownership depends upon the inducement of changes in the internal operations of firms with stock plans as suggested and documented by this microeconomic investigation. / Ph. D.

Employee ownership describes the situation where employees own an equity stake in an employing organisation. Psychologists have found that employee ownership positively relates to several attitudes that contribute to organisational effectiveness, including: Organisational Commitment, Job Satisfaction, Organisational Justice, and Psychological Ownership. Contrarily, economists point out that employee owned firms exhibit reduced value maximisation compared to investor owned firms, and suggest that employee influence in decision making produces suboptimal outcomes. This thesis investigated whether the psychological effects related to employee ownership are affected by the level of employee control over the organisation. Experiment 1 investigated if individuals display differing preferences for three factors related to formal and psychological ownership: equity, control, and information, and it was found that greater levels of each factor were preferred. Experiment 2 investigated which of two types of control, operational control or governance control, were preferred for different employee ownership conditions. Higher levels of control were preferred in all cases with governance control preferred overall. Experiment 3 investigated if the preference for governance or operational control changed as the at-risk component of employee remuneration changed. As at-risk remuneration increased, greater levels of control were preferred, and perceptions of organisational justice decreased. Overall it appeared that full organisational control produces the best outcomes in terms of organisational commitment, satisfaction, organisational justice, and psychological ownership, although acceptable outcomes are still possible with decreased levels of control.

Employee ownership describes the situation where employees own an equity stake in an employing organisation. Psychologists have found that employee ownership positively relates to several attitudes that contribute to organisational effectiveness, including: Organisational Commitment, Job Satisfaction, Organisational Justice, and Psychological Ownership. Contrarily, economists point out that employee owned firms exhibit reduced value maximisation compared to investor owned firms, and suggest that employee influence in decision making produces suboptimal outcomes. This thesis investigated whether the psychological effects related to employee ownership are affected by the level of employee control over the organisation. Experiment 1 investigated if individuals display differing preferences for three factors related to formal and psychological ownership: equity, control, and information, and it was found that greater levels of each factor were preferred. Experiment 2 investigated which of two types of control, operational control or governance control, were preferred for different employee ownership conditions. Higher levels of control were preferred in all cases with governance control preferred overall. Experiment 3 investigated if the preference for governance or operational control changed as the at-risk component of employee remuneration changed. As at-risk remuneration increased, greater levels of control were preferred, and perceptions of organisational justice decreased. Overall it appeared that full organisational control produces the best outcomes in terms of organisational commitment, satisfaction, organisational justice, and psychological ownership, although acceptable outcomes are still possible with decreased levels of control.

No description available.

This study consists of two essays. In the first essay, I examine the effect of employee blockholdings on the values of corporate cash and capital expenditures. I find that when employees hold large equity stake in their companies, corporate cash holdings are worth less to outside shareholders and capital expenditures contribute less to shareholder value. The negative effect of employee block ownership on the values of cash and capital expenditures is concentrated in companies with fewer anti-takeover provisions, in companies which pay their employees abnormally high wages, and in companies where managers have little equity ownership. Our findings support the hypothesis that employee blockholdings can serve as a protection for managers from the market for corporate control and allow managers to extract private benefits at the expense of shareholders. In the second essay, I examine how labor power affects the informativeness of companies’ reported earnings. Using a sample of firms in 42 countries for the period of 1990 to 2009, I find that strong union laws provide managers greater incentives to manipulate reported earnings to hide firm true performance from labor, leading to lower value relevance of earnings in these countries. Further analysis shows that firms use more negative accruals in countries with more powerful labor unions. Overall, these findings support the hypothesis that managers intentionally distort reported earnings to shelter corporate income from labor so that they can improve their bargaining position against powerful labor unions