<p>Disertacija se bavi efektima liderstva, LMX i transformacionog liderstva na razliĉite organizacione i poslovne performanse preduzeća u Bosni i Hercegovini. Od poslovnih performansi su kao kljuĉne posmatrane finansijske i performanse uspje&scaron;nosti razvoja novog proizvoda, a kao organizacione performanse posmatrani su: zadovoljstvo poslom, organizaciona posvećenost, organizaciona komunikacija i meĊusobno povjerenje na poslu. Pored toga, u disertaciji su obrazloţeni i neki drugi organizacioni ishodi koji su u uzroĉno-posljediĉnoj vezi sa liderstvom: organizaciono pona&scaron;anje, organizaciona kultura, motivacija i stres. Istraţivaĉki dio disertacije je zasnovan na podacima koji su dobijeni iz dva istovremeno sprovedena istraţivanja. Prvo istraţivanje je obuhvatilo anketiranje N=334 menadţera srednjeg nivoa iz 103 preduzeća u Bosni i Hercegovini. Od metoda statistiĉke obrade podataka kori&scaron;teni su: deskriptivna statistika, korelaciona analiza, regresiona analiza i hijerarhijska regresiona analiza za ispitivanje moderatornog dejstva. Osnovni zakljuĉci ovog istraţivanja su: (1) Lideri u B&amp;H preduzećima imaju visoka oĉekivanja u pogledu performansi, a malo podr&scaron;ke i osjećanja za zaposlene. Kazne su ĉe&scaron;će nego nagrade, LMX je oko prosjeka, distanca moći iznad prosjeka, a organizaciona posvećenost ima nisku prosjeĉnu ocjenu. (2) Zaposleni u B&amp;H preduzećima ne vole visoku distancu moći, preferiraju dobre meĊuljudske odnose, kako sa nadreĊenim tako i sa kolegama. Pored toga, zaposleni visoko cijene nagraĊivanje i strategijske sposobnosti lidera. Insistiranje lidera na visokim performansama, kao i primjena sistema kaţnjavanja, ne daju pozitivne efekte. (3) Zadovoljstvo poslom, zadovoljstvo organizacionom komunikacijom i meĊusobno povjerenje na poslu su oko prosjeka. Zaposleni su vi&scaron;e zadovoljni aspektima posla koji su vezani za socijalne odnose u preduzeću nego postojećim i potencijalnim naknadama. Generalno posmatrano,<br />zadovoljni su organizacionom komunikacijom, naroĉito sa onom koju realizuju sa menadţerima srednjeg nivoa, a meĊusobno povjerenje je ne&scaron;to intenzivnije kada su u pitanju namjere i akcije kolega nego namjere i akcije menadţmenta preduzeća. (4) Vlasniĉka struktura i nacionalno porijeklo preduzeća nisu znaĉajni moderatori posmatranih odnosa. Moderatorni efekat pokazao se samo u malom broju sluĉajeva. (5) Lideri treba da smanje distancu moći, smanje visoka oĉekivanja u smislu performansi, smanje kazne, a da pobolj&scaron;aju svoj odnos sa zaposlenima, da njeguju dobre odnose meĊu zaposlenima, da povećaju nagrade, i da se usavr&scaron;avaju u svojim strate&scaron;kim znanjima, razmi&scaron;ljanjima i akcijama.<br />TakoĊer, da bi disertacija dala sveobuhvatne informacije o efektima liderstva na organizacione i poslovne performanse preduzeća u Bosni i Hercegovini, pored prethodno navedenog istraţivanja menadţera srednjeg nivoa, uraĊeno je i dodatno, uporedno istraţivanje na uzorku od 127 top menadţera u isto toliko preduzeća, po principu jedno preduzeće jedan top menadţer. Uvaţavajući ĉinjenicu da moderno poslovanje nameće liderima potrebu kreiranja i stalnog uvoĊenja promjena u postojeći naĉin poslovanja, &scaron;to u svojoj su&scaron;tini predstavlja transformaciono liderstvo, ovo istraţivanje je imalo za cilj da utvrdi obim i intenzitet efekata transformacionog liderstva vrhunskih menadţera na poslovne performanse B&amp;H preduzeća. Kao poslovne performase posmatrane su finansijske performanse i performanse razvoja novog proizvoda. Rezultati ovog istraţivanja pokazuju da transformaciono liderstvo ima pozitivan uticaj na postizanje visokog nivoa finansijskih performansi i performansi razvoja novog proizvoda. TakoĊer, istraţivanje je pokazalo da lideri i top menadţeri najvi&scaron;eg nivoa u preduzećima u Bosni i Hercegovini imaju veći fokus na zadatke nego na ljude. U tom smislu, preporuka za njih jeste da vi&scaron;e paţnje posvećuju kreiranju i uvoĊenju promjenama u postojeći model poslovanja, na budućnost i dugoroĉne planove, ali i na svoje zaposlene kao glavne nosioce svih poslovnih procesa.</p> / <p>The dissertation deals with the effects of leadership, LMX and transformational leadership on the various organisational and business performance of enterprises in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Of business performance, key financial and success of new product development performance are considered to be key, while as organisational performance we consider: job satisfaction, organisational commitment, organisational communication and mutual trust at work. In addition, the dissertation also explains other organisational outcomes that are in a cause-and-effect relationship with leadership: organisational behaviour, organisational culture, motivation and stress. The research part of the dissertation is based on data obtained from two simultaneously conducted research. The first survey included a survey of N = 334 mid-level managers from 103 enterprises in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The statistical methods used are: descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, regression analysis and hierarchical regression analysis for moderate effect testing. The basic conclusions of this research are: (1) Leaders in Bosnia and Herzegovina have high expectations in terms of performance, with little support and feelings for employees. The penalties are more frequent than the rewards, the LMX is around the average, the distance of power above the average, and the organisation&#39;s commitment has a low average grade. (2) Employees in Bosnia and Herzegovina do not like a great distance of power, preferring good interpersonal relationships, both with their superiors and their counterparts. In addition, employees highly value and reward strategic abilities of leaders. Insistence of leaders on high-performance, as well as the application of the punishment system, do not yield positive effects. (3) Job satisfaction, satisfaction with organisational communication and mutual trust in work are around the average. Employees are more satisfied with aspects of work related to social relations in the company<br />than the existing and potential benefits. Generally speaking, they are happy with organisational communication, especially with middle-level managers, and mutual trust is more intense when it comes to the intentions and actions of colleagues than the intentions and actions of enterprise management. (4) Ownership structure and national origin of enterprises are not significant moderators of observed relationships. The moderate effect has only been demonstrated in a small number of cases. (5) Leaders should reduce the distance of power, reduce high performance expectations, reduce punishment, improve their relationship with employees, nurture good relations among employees, increase rewards, and improve their strategic knowledge, thinking and action.<br />Also, in order for the dissertation to provide comprehensive information on the effects of leadership on organisational and business performance of enterprises in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in addition to the aforementioned research of mid-level managers, an additional parallel study was carried out on a sample of 127 top managers in the same companies, on the principle of one company one top manager. Bearing in mind the fact that modern business imposes on leaders the need to create and permanently introduce changes to existing business practises, which in essence represents transformational leadership, this research was intended to determine the scope and intensity of the transformation leadership effects of top managers on business performance of enterprises in Bosnia and Herzegovina. We consider financial performance and performance of new product development as business performance. The results of this research show that transformational leadership has a positive influence on achieving a high level of financial performance and the performance of developing a new product. Also, research has shown that leaders and top managers of the highest level in enterprises in Bosnia and Herzegovina have a greater focus on tasks than on people. In this regard, the recommendation to them is to pay more attention to the design and implementation of changes in the existing business model, the future and long-term plans, but also to its employees as the main carriers of all business processes.</p>

創新是複雜、昂貴、且高風險的活動，並且存在外部性，研發合作為促使企業從事創新的重要機制。本研究目的在於延伸過去理論性架構與實證研究，建立研發合作—創新—財務績效價值鏈。以下為研究問題： 1.吸收能力、知識外溢、與不確定性是否會影響研發合作的頻率？ 2.研發合作是否可以提高研發投資、研發產出、與財務績效？ 3.不同的研發合作型態如何影響研發合作的決定因素？ 4.不同的研發合作型態如何影響研發合作的績效？ 5.研發合作與財務績效的關係是否會受到研發投資與研發產出的中介影響？ 本研究採用 two-industry, n-firm-per-industry Cournot 競爭模型探討研發合作、研發投資（創新之投入面）、研發產出（創新之產出面—非財務績效）、與財務績效的關係，並以台灣高科技產業為研究對象進行實證分析。對於台灣高科技產業的研發合作與創新活動，研究結果提供學術界與企業界更完整且廣泛的觀點。 實證結果支持公司擁有較高吸收能力的員工是從事研發合作的決定因素之一。另外，知識外溢的提高，亦將促使高科技公司進行研發合作。而在高度吸收能力與知識外溢下，公司採行一般合作之頻率較其他合作模式高。 另外，實證結果也發現研發合作的確鼓勵台灣高科技產業的公司進行更多研發的投資，並且持續創造較高的研發產出與財務績效。相對於其他合作型態，一般合作可以創造較高的研發產出與財務績效，因此為較佳的合作模式。而由於市場競爭的本質，使得水平合作公司之研發投資較垂直合作與一般合作少。最後，僅有研發投資並不足以提升公司的績效與維持競爭優勢，研發合作公司的創新能力與研發產出才是獲利力的決定因素。 / Innovation is complex, costly, and risky and incurs externalities. R&D cooperation is thus a proper mechanism to encourage firms to innovate. The purposes of this dissertation are to extend the prior theoretical framework and empirical studies to establish a research framework for the R&D cooperation—innovation—financial performance chain. The research questions are as follows: 1.Do absorptive capacity, knowledge spillovers, and uncertainty affect the intensity of R&D cooperation? 2.Does R&D cooperation result in higher R&D investments, R&D outputs, and financial performance? 3.How do different R&D cooperation types influence the determinants of R&D cooperation? 4.How do different R&D cooperation types influence the performance of R&D cooperation? 5.Is the effect of R&D cooperation on financial performance mediated by R&D investments and R&D outputs? In this dissertation I apply the two-industry, n-firm-per-industry Cournot competition models to theoretically examine the relationship between R&D cooperation, R&D investments (input perspective of innovation), R&D outputs (output perspective of innovation—non-financial performance), and financial performance. I then use Taiwan’s high-technology industry as a research sample and empirically test my research hypotheses. The results provide academia and practitioners with a more comprehensive view of R&D cooperation and innovation activity among Taiwan’s high-technology industries. The empirical results support the argument that absorptive capacity has a positive impact on the frequency of R&D cooperation in high-technology industry. In addition, an increase in knowledge spillovers also tends to increase intensity to collaborate in R&D. Under high absorptive capacity and knowledge spillover, generalized R&D cooperation is preferred to other cooperative models. The empirical results also show that R&D cooperation does encourage Taiwan’s high-technology firms to invest more resources in R&D, and leads to higher R&D outputs and financial performance under the characteristic of high knowledge spillovers. Relative to other cooperation types, generalized cooperation leads to higher R&D outputs and financial performance and is a superior cooperative model. Due to the nature of market competition, horizontal cooperative firms are not willing to invest too much in R&D relative to vertical cooperation and generalized cooperation. Finally, simply investing in R&D alone is not enough to achieve breakthrough performance and sustain a competitive advantage. The ability to innovate and generate R&D outputs determines the profitability of the cooperative company.

Legislation demands that health and safety of humans at work must be secured. Today, far from every company has a functioning systematic management of occupational health and safety (OHS) in place to fulfill its legal obligations. Instead, other day-to-day tasks appear to have greater priority. The overall aim of this thesis was to investigate prerequisites and possibilities for manufacturing companies to prioritize and manage OHS, with focus on professional roles, company size, safety culture, and financial performance. Four papers (I–IV) are included in this thesis, based on three data collections. A questionnaire measuring the priority accorded to work environment was completed by 249 representatives of 142 manufacturing companies (I &amp; II). Focus group interviews were conducted with 66 workers at a large steel-manufacturing company, discussing their experiences and perceptions of safety and risks at work (III). A questionnaire measuring OHS management practices, safety culture, and priority given to work environment was completed by 280 representatives of 197 manufacturing companies (IV). Information regarding the companies’ financial performance was retrieved from a credit bureau database. The main findings of the four papers demonstrated that profitability was considered as the most prioritized interest in the companies (I), and that trade-offs between productivity and safety is an obstacle to working safely (III). Managers generally perceived their companies to prioritize work environment factors more than the safety delegates did (I &amp; IV). Perceptions of work environment priority did, however, not differ depending on company size (II &amp; IV). Responsibility for safety was perceived to rest on the individual to the largest extent, and risk-taking was believed to originate from a combination of individual factors and external circumstances in the work environment (III). Larger company size, positive safety culture, and low risk in creditworthiness were found to be associated with better OHS management practices in companies (IV). Correspondingly, smaller company size, negative safety culture, and high risk in creditworthiness were found to be associated with worse OHS management practices. In summary, structural, social, and financial aspects seem to be important in companies’ possibilities for prioritizing and managing OHS. Recommendations for industry and future research are discussed. / Arbetsmiljölagen kräver att människors hälsa och säkerhet på arbetet ska tryggas genom att risker kontinuerligt ska bedömas och åtgärdas. Många företag saknar idag ett fungerande systematiskt arbetsmiljöarbete (SAM) som uppfyller lagens krav fullt ut. Istället tycks andra dagliga aktiviteter ha högre prioritet. Det övergripande syftet med denna avhandling var att undersöka förutsättningar och möjligheter för tillverkande företag att prioritera och arbeta med säkerheten och arbetsmiljön; med särskilt fokus på yrkesroller, företagsstorlek, säkerhetskultur och finansiella nyckeltal. Fyra delstudier (I–IV) ingår i denna avhandling, vilka är baserade på tre datainsamlingar. En enkät som mätte arbetsmiljöprioritering besvarades av 249 representanter vid 142 tillverkande företag (I &amp; II). Fokusgruppintervjuer genomfördes med 66 arbetare på ett stort ståltillverkningsföretag, där deras erfarenheter och uppfattningar om säkerhet och risker i arbetet diskuterades (III). En enkät som mätte SAM, säkerhetskultur och arbetsmiljöprioritering besvarades av 280 representanter vid 197 tillverkande företag (IV). Information om företagens finansiella nyckeltal hämtades från ett kreditupplysningsföretag. De viktigaste resultaten från de fyra delstudierna kan bland annat sammanfattas med att lönsamheten uppfattades vara det mest prioriterade intresset vid företagen (I), och att avvägningar mellan produktivitet och säkerhet ansågs vara ett hinder för att kunna arbeta på ett säkert sätt (III). Chefer uppfattade generellt att arbetsmiljön prioriterades mer på företagen än vad skyddsombuden gjorde (I &amp; IV). Uppfattningar om arbetsmiljöprioritering skiljde sig dock inte åt beroende på företagsstorlek (II &amp; IV). Ansvaret för säkerheten på arbetet ansågs främst vila hos den enskilda individen, och risktagande betraktades komma ur en kombination av individuella faktorer och yttre omständigheter i arbetsmiljön (III). Att vara ett större företag, ha positiv säkerhetskultur och hög kreditvärdighet visade sig ha samband med att också ha ett bättre utvecklat SAM (IV). På motsvarande sätt, att vara ett mindre företag, ha negativ säkerhetskultur och låg kreditvärdighet befanns ha samband med att också ha ett sämre utvecklat SAM. Sammanfattningsvis verkar därmed strukturella, sociala såväl som ekonomiska aspekter vara väsentliga för företags möjligheter att prioritera och arbeta med säkerheten och arbetsmiljön. Detta ger uppslag till rekommendationer för industrin samt vidare forskning. / Das Arbeitsschutzgesetz verlangt, dass die Sicherheit und Gesundheit (SG) von Menschen am Arbeitsplatz gewährleistet werden muss, indem Risiken kontinuierlich überprüft und behoben werden. Vielen Unternehmen fehlt heutzutage eine systematische Handhabung von SG, die den gesetzlichen Anforderungen vollständig entspricht. Stattdessen scheinen andere alltägliche Tätigkeiten eine höhere Priorität zu haben. Das übergeordnete Ziel der vorliegenden Abhandlung war es zu untersuchen, welche Voraussetzungen und Möglichkeiten herstellende Unternehmen besitzen, SG am Arbeitsplatz zu priorisieren und handzuhaben – unter besonderer Berücksichtigung von Berufsrollen, Unternehmensgröße, Sicherheitskultur und Finanzleistungen. Die vorliegende Abhandlung besteht aus vier Teilstudien (I–IV), die auf drei Datensammlungen basieren. Die Priorisierung von SG wurde mit einem Fragebogen untersucht, der von 249 Vertretern aus 142 herstellenden Unternehmen beantwortet wurde (I &amp; II). Fokusgruppeninterviews wurden mit 66 Arbeitern eines großen Stahlherstellers durchgeführt, in welchen die Arbeiter ihre Erfahrungen und Wahrnehmungen von Sicherheit und Berufsrisiken diskutierten (III). Ein weiterer Fragebogen enthielt Fragen zur systematischen Handhabung von SG, Sicherheitskultur und Priorisierung von SG und wurde von 280 Vertretern aus 197 herstellenden Unternehmen beantwortet (IV). Angaben zu den Finanzleistungen der Unternehmen wurden einem öffentlichen Register entnommen. Die wichtigsten Ergebnisse der vier Teilstudien können unter anderem damit zusammengefasst werden, dass die Rentabilität des Unternehmens als höchste Priorität wahrgenommen wurde (I) und dass Kompromisse zwischen Produktivität und Sicherheit als Hindernis für eine sichere Arbeitsweise beurteilt wurden (III). Manager waren im Allgemeinen häufiger als die Sicherheitsbeauftragten der Unternehmen der Auffassung, dass SG priorisiert werden (I &amp; IV). Der Unterschied in der Wahrnehmung der Prioritätensetzung hing jedoch nicht von der Unternehmensgröße ab (II &amp; IV). Sicherheit am Arbeitsplatz wurde in erster Linie als die Verantwortung des einzelnen Mitarbeiters angesehen und das Eingehen von Risiken als eine Kombination aus individuellen Faktoren und äußeren Umständen im Arbeitsumfeld beurteilt (III). Ein großes Unternehmen zu sein, eine positive Sicherheitskultur zu haben und niedriges Risiko in der Kreditwürdigkeit, erwies sich mit einer besser entwickelten systematischen Handhabung von SG in Zusammenhang zu stehen (IV). Dementsprechend erwies es sich, dass kleine Unternehmen, eine negative Sicherheitskultur und hohes Risiko in der Kreditwürdigkeit, mit einer schlechter entwickelten systematischen Handhabung von SG in Zusammenhang stehen. Zusammenfassend scheinen also strukturelle, soziale und finanzielle Aspekte grundlegend dafür zu sein, ob ein Unternehmen die Möglichkeit hat, SG zu priorisieren und zu handhaben. Dies dient als Vorlage für Empfehlungen für die Industrie und zukünftige Forschung.

The overall goal for manufacturing companies is to earn profit and increase shareholders’ value. To ensure that companies in fact are profitable, managers usually evaluate the company’s resources based on both financial and operational performance, to analyse if the resources are contributing with a financial return. One of the most critical resources and competitive advantages that manufacturing companies have is time. Time, however, is an intangible resource and challenging to measure financially. There are, therefore, few practical instruments available to support managers’ decisions when it comes to linking lead-time with financial performance, assisting managers to prioritize the lead-times that are of strategic value (i.e. strategic lead-times). The purpose of this research was, therefore, to analyse strategic lead-times within new product development, purchasing, and production, as well as the implications that strategic lead-times have on manufacturing companies’ financial performance. To fulfil this purpose, the following two research objectives were formulated: (1) to analyse strategic lead-times within new product development, purchasing, and production, and (2) to analyse the implications of strategic lead-times on manufacturing companies’ financial performance. The research presented in this thesis has been conducted within a research project (KOPtimera). To fulfil the research objectives and the research purpose, a combination of conceptual analytical research and case study research was used, utilizing a number of data collection techniques: literature reviews, interviews, focus groups, workshops, document studies, and observations. In general, it is concluded that strategic lead-times, as defined in the research, have high implications for manufacturing companies’ financial performance and that the length of the strategic lead-times will impact who owns the risk in the manufacturing system, who controls the system and where variants are possible to create. The research further presents the implications that strategic lead-times have on financial performance, as well as indicates that it is possible to evaluate lead-time performance through financial performance, using readily available and accepted financial performance measures. Based on the implications identified, also a framework (the FinaSt framework) was developed. This FinaSt framework takes into consideration that not only the extension, but also the existence of strategic lead-times has implications for manufacturing companies’ financial performance, and that these implications can be either direct or indirect. The results contribute to the literature focused on valuing lead-times and provide useful knowledge for managers, allowing them to gain a better understanding for strategic lead-times’ implications on manufacturing companies’ financial performance, thus allowing for better decision support when evaluating supply chain designs and prioritizing alternatives based on profitability (i.e. return on investment). / Tillverkande företags övergripande mål är att vara lönsamma genom att skapa vinst till sina ägare. För att säkerställa att företagen är lönsamma brukar företagsledare utvärdera företagets resurser baserat på deras finansiella och operationella resultat, och således undersöka om resurserna bidrar med en ekonomisk avkastning. En av tillverkande företags mest kritiska resurs och konkurrensfördel är ledtid. Ledtid är emellertid en immateriell resurs och utmanande att mäta finansiellt, vilket är en bidragande orsak till att det finns få praktiska verktyg och beslutsstöd för att värdera ledtid finansiellt och underlätta för företagsledare att prioritera de ledtider som är av strategisk betydelse för företaget (d.v.s. strategiska ledtider). Syftet med denna forskning var således att analysera strategiska ledtider inom produktutveckling, inköp och produktion, samt de implikationer som strategiska ledtider har på tillverkande företags finansiella resultat. För att uppfylla detta syfte formulerades följande två forskningsmål: (1) att analysera strategiska ledtider inom produktutveckling, inköp och produktion, och (2) att analysera de implikationer som strategiska ledtider har på tillverkande företags finansiella resultat. Forskningen som presenteras i denna licentiatuppsats har genomförts i ett forskningsprojekt (KOPtimera). För att uppfylla forskningsmålen och syftet har en kombination av analytisk konceptuell forskning och fallstudier använts, där litteraturstudier, intervjuer, fokusgrupper, arbetsmöten (workshops), dokumentstudier och observationer använts för datainsamling. Slutsatserna är att strategiska ledtider, som de definieras i denna forskning, i hög grad påverkar tillverkande företags finansiella resultat, och att längden på strategiska ledtider påverkar riskfördelningen och styrbarheten i tillverkningssystemet samt var varianter skapas. Forskningsresultatet visar på de implikationer som strategiska ledtider har på tillverkande företags finansiella resultat och indikerar att det är möjligt att värdera ledtidsprestation genom redan tillgängliga finansiella nyckeltal. Baserat på de identifierade implikationerna utvecklades ett ramverk (FinaSt-ramverket). Detta ramverk tar i beaktning att inte enbart längden på strategiska ledtider utan också själva förekomsten av strategiska ledtider har implikationer för tillverkande företags finansiella resultat, och att dessa implikationer kan vara direkta eller indirekta. Resultatet bygger vidare på och bidrar till den litteratur som fokuserar på att värdera ledtid samt tillhandahåller kunskap för en ökad förståelse för strategiska ledtider och den betydelse som strategiska ledtider har på tillverkande företags finansiella resultat. Resultatet kan således bidra till bättre beslutsstöd vid utvärdering och prioritering av olika försörjningskedjealternativ, genom att tillhandahålla stöd för att basera beslutet på lönsamhet.

This research explores the relationship between the organisational culture and financial performance of a South African investment bank by means of quantitative research. The Denison Organizational Culture Survey was used to measure the organisational culture of the investment bank and was administered to a sample of 327 employees. Income statement ratio analysis was selected as a means to assess the financial performance. The results indicate that very few of the financial measures selected could be shown to be correlated with the organisational cultural traits or subscales. Correlations between the cultural dimensions of team orientation, agreement, customer focus and vision were found with certain financial measures. Although these correlations were above the 0.50 level, the levels of significance were not sufficient in all cases to draw conclusions with confidence. The only cultural trait that was found to be correlated with financial measures was the consistency trait. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M.Com. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

This study explores the financial performance measurement of South Africa's Top Companies. It aims to find a conclusion on the research problem, that is 'Do South Africa's Top Companies use the available arsenal to measure their financial performance?' Commerce and industry are the cornerstones of the economy of a country. This study purports to contribute to the ways and means of minimising the risk of business failures due to the resultant effects on the economy. The sample comprises of sixty companies. The sampling frame is the first hundred companies of the Financial Mail 200 Top Performers for 2004. The arsenal that is available to measure financial performance is researched in the financial literature. Mainly, this covers ratio analysis and interpretation, and the bankruptcy prediction models. To arrive at a conclusion on the research problem, a research instrument is developed from the host of financial ratios in the literature, including the bankruptcy prediction models. The research instrument comprises of popular ratios that are also found to be 'logical', as well as the ratios that make up the Z-Score bankruptcy prediction model. The instrument is called the Ratio Map and Z-Score and is applied to test the financial strengths/weaknesses of the Top Companies. In addition to the Ratio Map and Z-Score, the measures applied by the Top Companies as 'highlights' are analysed. This is done to determine the extent at which the measures unearth the strengths/weaknesses of the Top Companies. The conclusion drawn is that the Top Companies do not utilise the available arsenal to measure their financial performance. The supporting evidence is that the most frequently applied 'highlights' measures by the Top Companies cover only one area of the many financial fields of a company, that is, share performance. On the other hand, the analyses per Ratio Map and Z-Score have not revealed major material weaknesses in the financial position of the Top Companies. It is proposed that: ïf  More information be given in the notes to the financial statements to facilitate meaningful analysis; and ïf  A follow-up research study be done to assess the trends of the Top Companies. / Business Management / D.Comm. (Business Management)

Cette thèse examine la responsabilité sociale des entreprises (RSE) par les entreprises de secteurs controverses. Dans le premier chapitre, on évalue les stratégies en RSE pour 565 entreprises de secteurs controverses de 1991 à 2013 en estimant la relation compensatoire entre Irresponsabilité Sociale des Entreprises (ISE) et RSE. On montre que ces entreprises tendent à compenser pour leur ISE en s'engageant dans des domaines stratégiques de RSE tels que la protection de l'environnement et le respect des communautés locales avec un manque d'engagement dans d'autres activités telles la gouvernance d'entreprise. Dans le deuxième chapitre, on examine si l'engagement RSE de 499 entreprises de secteurs controverses est susceptible de diminuer leur risque financier. Nos résultats montrent qu'un engagement RSE stratégique réduit le risque idiosyncratique et total pour certaines industries controversées et que le manque d'engagement dans les activités de gouvernance augmente leur risque. Le troisième chapitre examine la divulgation sociétale en tant que mécanisme de reddition de comptes dans le contexte d'un incident environnemental majeur. L'étude de cas des stratégies RSE utilisées par l'entreprise Canadienne En bridge, durant sa réponse a l'incident de déversement de parole en 2010 révèle que ses rapports RSE sont souvent optimistes et ne réussissent pas a décrire son incapacité à faire face aux problèmes de sécurité ayant entrainé l'incident; et ont aussi sous-estime le volume du déversement et la difficulté du nettoyage, ainsi mettant en question l'effet des activités RSE compare à l'effet de facteurs contextuels dans la protection de l'entreprise durant la crise. / This thesis is composed of three chapters that examine corporate social responsibility (CSR) within firms in controversial sectors. In the first chapter, we evaluate patterns of investment in CSR for 565 US publicly traded companies in eight controversial sectors between 1991 and 2013 by assessing the relationship between CSR and Corporate Social Irresponsibility (CSI). We show that firms in controversial sectors compensate for their CSI by engaging in strategic CSR areas such as environmental protection and community development with a lack of engagement towards other areas, such as corporate governance. In the second chapter, we determine whether engagement in specific CSR activities for 499 US companies in controversial sectors decreases their financial risk. We show that engaging in specific CSR activities considered as strategic reduces idiosyncratic and total risk for some controversial industries; and that poor engagement in corporate governance activities increases firm risk. In the third chapter, we investigate CSR reporting as an important mechanism for stakeholder accountability in the context of an environmental crisis. We perform a case study analysis of the CSR strategies used by the Canadian oil company Enbridge in its response to the July 2010 Kalamazoo spill and revealed that Enbridge's CSR reports were frequently optimistic and failed to describe the company's inability to deal with known safety problems that led to spill; and underestimated both the volume of the spill and the difficulty of the cleanup, thus making it difficult to distinguish the effects of the CSR efforts from the effects of other contextual and external factors.

[pt] O fenômeno da inovação e a forma como ele contribui para o desempenho das firmas depende de várias variáveis, como as características da firma, as suas estratégias, a indústria e o ambiente. O Brasil não é reconhecido como tendo um ambiente amigável para a inovação, ao contrário da maioria dos países europeus, e isto pode ser uma das razões pelas quais o país está travado em seu desenvolvimento econômico. Considerando o que foi mencionado acima, esta tese tem como objetivo contribuir explorando a relação entre P e D interno e externo, desempenho de inovação e desempenho financeiro nas firmas de manufatura brasileiras e de alguns países europeus e comparar as duas realidades para tirar lições sobre como as firmas brasileiras podem evoluir no seu desempenho de inovação e no seu desempenho financeiro. A estratégia para atingir esse objetivo foi propor um modelo teórico e algumas hipóteses baseadas em uma extensa revisão bibliográfica dos campos de gestão de inovação e estratégia e testá-los através de modelagem de equações estruturais (SEM), utilizando a estimativa bayesiana. Para testar o modelo no contexto brasileiro, utilizou-se uma amostra de 2.810 firmas de manufatura que realizaram atividades de inovação entre 2009 e 2011 da pesquisa de inovação brasileira PINTEC 2011. Para o contexto europeu, tomou-se uma amostra de 2.745 firmas de manufatura de 14 países (Bulgária, República Checa, Chipre, Espanha, Croácia, Portugal, Hungria, Eslovênia, Noruega, Lituânia, Romênia, Itália, Eslováquia e Estônia) da Pesquisa de Inovação da Comunidade (CIS) 2010, que considerou os anos de 2008 a 2010. No caso do Brasil, uma relação positiva direta entre alianças estratégicas e desempenho de inovação foi detectada. O P e D interno, por outro lado, não influenciou diretamente o desempenho da inovação, no entanto, moderou positivazmente a relação entre alianças estratégicas e inovação, o que é consistente com a teoria da capacidade absortiva. Ao contrário da teoria, o desempenho de inovação teve uma influência negativa no desempenho financeiro futuro. Esta relação negativa pode ter sido causada pelo atraso de dois anos entre as proxies desses dois construtos do modelo, que não permitiu identificar um aumento nas receitas obtidas pelos novos produtos e serviços, mas permitiu capturar o efeito negativo do redirecionamento de recursos do marketing e vendas para atividades de inovação, como P e D interno, e dos custos gerenciais das alianças estratégicas. Para os países europeus, a análise empírica detectou uma relação positiva entre o P e D interno e externo (de alianças estratégicas) e o desempenho de inovação separadamente. Contrariamente às expectativas, não se encontrou uma moderação do P e D interno na relação entre as alianças estratégicas e o desempenho de inovação. Isso provavelmente foi provocado pela baixa capacidade absortiva das firmas nos países europeus estudados em comparação com os países mais inovadores da Europa e mundialmente. O desempenho de inovação não influenciou o desempenho financeiro. Isso pode ter sido causado pela ausência de um intervalo de tempo entre a medida das proxies desses dois construtos, o que não permitiu identificar um aumento nas receitas de novos produtos e serviços, que leva algum tempo para ser percebido. Os resultados de ambos os modelos sugeriram que, se o principal objetivo é uma melhoria imediata nos níveis de desempenho da inovação, as firmas de manufatura devem se concentrar em P e D interno ou externo. No entanto, se o objetivo principal é o longo prazo, começar por fortalecer o P e D interno é mais efetivo para melhorar a capacidade absortiva das firmas e ao mesmo tempo alcançar um desempenho de inovação satisfatório. Esta estratégia permitirá que elas adotem estratégias mais complexas, equilibrando o P e D interno e externo, de forma efetiva no futuro, quando o nível de capacidade absortiva se tornar alto. / [en] The innovation phenomenon and how it contributes to the firms performance is contingent on several variables, such as the firm s characteristics, its strategies, the industry and the environment. Brazil is not recognized as having a friendly environment for innovation, in contrast with most of the European countries, and this issue may be one of the reasons why the country is stuck in its economic development. Considering all mentioned above, this dissertation aims to contribute by exploring the relationships among internal and external R and D, innovation performance and financial performance in the Brazilian and in some European countries manufacturing firms and compare both realities to learn lessons about how Brazilian firms may evolve in their innovation and financial performance. The strategy to achieve this goal was to propose a theoretical model and some hypotheses based on an extensive literature review of the innovation management and strategy fields and test them through structural equation modeling (SEM), using Bayesian estimation. In order to test the model in the Brazilian context, a sample of 2,810 manufacturing firms that conducted innovation activities from 2009 to 2011 of the Brazilian innovation survey PINTEC 2011 was used. For the European context, the sample had 2,745 manufacturing firms of 14 countries (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Spain, Croatia, Portugal, Hungary, Slovenia, Norway, Lithuania, Romania, Italy, Slovakia and Estonia) of the Community Innovation Survey (CIS) 2010, which considered the years of 2008 to 2010. In the case of Brazil, a positive direct relationship between strategic alliances and innovation performance was detected. Internal R and D, on the other hand, did not influence innovation performance directly, however, it positively moderated the relationship between strategic alliances and innovation, which is consistent with the absorptive capacity theory. Contrary to the theory, innovation performance had a negative influence on the future financial performance. This negative relationship may have been caused by the two-years lag between the proxies of the two constructs of the model, that did not identify an increasing in revenues achieved by the new products and services, but captured the negative effect of the redirection of resources from marketing and sales to innovation activities, such as internal R and D, and of the managerial costs of the strategic alliances. For the selected European countries, the empirical analysis detected a positive relationship between internal and external R and D (from strategic alliances) and innovation performance separately. Contrary to the expectations, it did not find a moderation of internal R and D on the relationship between strategic alliances and innovation performance. This was probably caused by the low absorptive capacity of the firms in the European countries studied compared to the most innovative countries in Europe and in the world. Innovation performance did not influence financial performance. This may have been caused by the absence of a time-lag between the measurement of the proxies of these two constructs, which did not to allow to identify an increasing in revenues from new products and services, that takes some time to be perceived. All the results of both models suggested that, if the main goal is an immediate improvement in the innovation performance levels, manufacturing firms should focus on either internal or external R and D. However, if the main goal is the long-term, beginning to strengthen their internal R and D is effective to improve the firms absorptive capacity while achieving a satisfactory innovation outcome. This strategy will allow them to adopt more complex strategies, balancing internal and external R and D, effectively in the future, when the absorptive capacity level becomes high.

For more than 40 years, a tremendous number of studies have empirically explored the relationship between Corporate Environmental Performance (CEP) and Corporate Financial Performance (CFP). This study considers the relationship from a new perspective—via a qualitative research approach based on expert interviews. First, practitioners are queried for their view on the link between CEP and CFP and how to measure it. Since the vast majority see a positive relationship, this study contributes with a new form of evidence that it pays to be green. The chosen qualitative approach also allows a more detailed analysis of underlying cause-and-effect mechanisms. For instance, interviewed practitioners emphasize a direct and indirect impact from CEP on CFP. Second, the study conducts interviews with experts from research and associations (non-practitioners) and compares the viewpoints of the two interview groups. One prevalent difference refers to the fact that non-practitioners do not focus on the two impact levels. Moreover, business experts perceive the link between CEP and CFP as much less complex and reveal more pragmatically oriented considerations. The study then discusses how the interview results and identified differences can be used to direct future research and to support corporations in their move towards sustainability.

Syftet med denna kandidatuppsats är att undersöka hur mångfald i styrelsen påverkar den finansiella prestationen för svenska tillväxtbolag listade på First North Growth Market. Tillväxtbolag står för hälften av hela arbetssysselsättningen och produktionen i höginkomstländer och utgör därmed en betydelsefull roll i samhället. Under de rådande omständigheterna med Covid-19 pandemin, drabbas företagens ekonomi och riskerar likvidation. En avgörande faktor för att tillväxtbolag ska fortsätta växa och överleva ekonomiska svårigheter, är styrelsens sammansättning. Därav studiens fokus på mångfald i styrelsen och dess påverkan på den finansiella prestationen i form av ROA och Tobins Q för svenska tillväxtbolag. Vidare har denna studie tillämpat agentteorin och The Upper Echelon Theory för att skapa förståelse kring kopplingen mellan styrelsens sammansättning, den finansiella prestationen och beslutsfattandeprocessen.Studien grundar sig i en kvantitativ forskningsansats tillsammans med ett positivistiskt synsätt, vilket gör det möjligt för resultatet att generaliseras. Studiens datainsamling består av 40 svenska tillväxtbolag listade på First North Growth Market. Resultatet i denna studie visar att mångfald inom kön i styrelsen påverkar den finansiella prestationen i form av ROA positivt. Vidare finner studien inget signifikant samband mellan ursprung, utbildning och den finansiella prestationen. / The purpose with this bachelor thesis is to explore how board of director diversity affects the firmfinancial performance for Swedish high growth firms listed in First North Growth Market. High growth firms stand for half of the work employment and production in high income countries and constitute therefore a significant role in society. During the current circumstances with the Covid-19 pandemic, the companies’ finances are affected and risk liquidation. A crucial factor for high growth firms to continue to grow and survive financial difficulties, is the composition of the board. Thereby this study’s focus is on diversity in the board and its effect on the firm financial performance in terms of ROA and Tobins Q for Swedish high growth firms. Furthermore, this study has implemented agent theory and The Upper Echelon Theory to create an understanding about the connection between the board’s composition, the firm financial performance and the decision-making process.The study is based on a quantitative research approach together with a positivist research philosophy, which makes it possible for the result to be generalized. The study’s data collection consists of 40 Swedish high growth firms listed in First North Growth Market. The result in this study shows that ROA was positively correlated with diversity in gender in the board. Further, the study’s results find no significant correlation between ethnicity, education and the firm financial performance.