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<p>In the ever so increasingly competitive business climate of the 21^st century, human resources are vital for corporate success. Employees need proper incentives to perform in goal-oriented manners. Incentive systems, especially Chief Executive Officer [CEO] remunerations, have been a popular topic since the 1990s, and this tendency has increased both during the 2002-2003 corporate scandal era, as well as the financial crisis which sparked in 2007. The recent tendency appears to lean towards companies cutting their executive bonuses as well as criticism and suspiciousness towards large bonus payments. While remuneration policies within the banking industry have been thoroughly debated and researched, another financial industry that is left largely untouched are the insurance companies. The focus of this research is therefore CEO remuneration in European insurance companies.</p><p>This descriptive study, of annual reports of stock-listed insurance companies, uses a purposive cluster sample to explore quantitative trends in CEO remunerations. In addition, a content analysis of five randomly selected companies out of the sample provides a deeper, complementary understanding of the justifications of the trends. The research questions are: <em>What trends on CEO remuneration can be found over the years 2005-2009 in annual reports of European insurance companies, concerning total remuneration, fixed salary and short-term bonus? What justifications do companies make for the remunerations</em><em> over the years 2005-2009</em><em>? </em></p><p>The quantitative part of the research inductively tests the assumption that CEO remuneration has decreased during the past few years 2008 and/ or 2009 due to the impact of the financial crisis. The content analysis part of the research deductively tests if agency theory concerns and issues concerning attraction and retention play a role in determining remuneration policies.<em></em></p><p>From this research, it is concluded that short-term variable pay is largely performance-based. Still, many other aspects serve as input factors when determining compensation levels. Based on the content analysis, it is revealed that interest alignment and attraction- and retention-issues are important determinants of remunerations. Subjective factors such as discretionary judgements also play a crucial role. The quantitative trends found in this study show that total remunerations have decreased markedly in 2008, and more vaguely in 2009. The financial crisis has had an impact on especially the short-term variable part of salaries, but also on base salary levels. Although not all companies that were investigated in the content analysis explicitly mention it in their annual reports, over the years 2005-2009, all of them become more concerned about remuneration policies and business risk factors. Over the investigated years, these companies also become more attentive to creating proactive and sophisticated value creating remuneration policies that are in line with international standards, in order to act legitimate towards stakeholders.</p>

Βασιζόμενη στην θεωρία της εικόνας και του αντιληπτού κινδύνου, η παρούσα μελέτη επιδιώκει να αξιολογήσει, εν μέσω της οικονομικής κρίσης που διανύει η Ελλάδα, την εικόνα της χώρας ως διεθνής τουριστικός προορισμός. Ειδικότερα, εξετάζονται σε ένα συνολικό μοντέλο οι σχέσεις μεταξύ εικόνας προορισμού, αντιληπτού κινδύνου, σχέσης τουριστών-προορισμού, και συμπεριφοράς τουριστών. Για την συλλογή των δεδομένων η έρευνα απευθύνθηκε σε εν δυνάμει τουρίστες δυο κύριων αγορών-στόχων για την Ελλάδα – την Ρωσία και το Ηνωμένο Βασίλειο – ενώ διερευνήθηκαν και οι πιθανές διαφοροποιήσεις μεταξύ των δυο δειγμάτων. Από τα συμπεράσματα της έρευνας υποστηρίζεται η γενική αρνητική επίδραση του αντιληπτού κινδύνου στην εικόνα, και αναδεικνύονται οι συγκεκριμένοι τύποι κινδύνου που συνδέονται με τις επιμέρους διαστάσεις της εικόνας. Ακόμη, επιβεβαιώνεται η επίδραση των εικόνων στην συμπεριφορά των τουριστών, η οποία μάλιστα στις περισσότερες περιπτώσεις διαμεσολαβείται από την σχέση τουριστών-προορισμού. Συνολικά το προτεινόμενο μοντέλο επιτυγχάνει να ερμηνεύσει περισσότερο από το μισό της μεταβλητότητας στην συμπεριφορά των τουριστών, δηλαδή την πρόθεση τους να επισκεφτούν και να συστήσουν την Ελλάδα. / Based on image theory and perceived risk theory, this study aims to evaluate the image of Greece as a international tourist destination, while the country suffers a financial crisis. Specifically, the study employs an overall model to examine the relationships among destination image, perceived risk, tourist-destination relationship and tourist behaviour. As it concerns the data collection, we address potential tourists of two main Greece’s target-groups – Russia and United Kingdom – while possible differentiations between the two groups were also investigated. The research’s results support the overall negative effect of the perceived risk on image, and reveal the specific types of risk that are associated with each image dimension. Moreover, they confirm the effect of image on tourist behavior, in most cases mediated by tourist-destination relationship. In conclusion, the proposed model explains more than the half of the variance of tourist behavior – namely their intention to visit and to recommend Greece.

In the ever so increasingly competitive business climate of the 21st century, human resources are vital for corporate success. Employees need proper incentives to perform in goal-oriented manners. Incentive systems, especially Chief Executive Officer [CEO] remunerations, have been a popular topic since the 1990s, and this tendency has increased both during the 2002-2003 corporate scandal era, as well as the financial crisis which sparked in 2007. The recent tendency appears to lean towards companies cutting their executive bonuses as well as criticism and suspiciousness towards large bonus payments. While remuneration policies within the banking industry have been thoroughly debated and researched, another financial industry that is left largely untouched are the insurance companies. The focus of this research is therefore CEO remuneration in European insurance companies. This descriptive study, of annual reports of stock-listed insurance companies, uses a purposive cluster sample to explore quantitative trends in CEO remunerations. In addition, a content analysis of five randomly selected companies out of the sample provides a deeper, complementary understanding of the justifications of the trends. The research questions are: What trends on CEO remuneration can be found over the years 2005-2009 in annual reports of European insurance companies, concerning total remuneration, fixed salary and short-term bonus? What justifications do companies make for the remunerations over the years 2005-2009? The quantitative part of the research inductively tests the assumption that CEO remuneration has decreased during the past few years 2008 and/ or 2009 due to the impact of the financial crisis. The content analysis part of the research deductively tests if agency theory concerns and issues concerning attraction and retention play a role in determining remuneration policies. From this research, it is concluded that short-term variable pay is largely performance-based. Still, many other aspects serve as input factors when determining compensation levels. Based on the content analysis, it is revealed that interest alignment and attraction- and retention-issues are important determinants of remunerations. Subjective factors such as discretionary judgements also play a crucial role. The quantitative trends found in this study show that total remunerations have decreased markedly in 2008, and more vaguely in 2009. The financial crisis has had an impact on especially the short-term variable part of salaries, but also on base salary levels. Although not all companies that were investigated in the content analysis explicitly mention it in their annual reports, over the years 2005-2009, all of them become more concerned about remuneration policies and business risk factors. Over the investigated years, these companies also become more attentive to creating proactive and sophisticated value creating remuneration policies that are in line with international standards, in order to act legitimate towards stakeholders.

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Vilka ekonomiska frågor ligger närmast de svenska brevskrivarnas hjärtan? Två svenska professorer, Becker och Jonung undersökte detta 1998. Denna studie undersöker i ett världsunikt data set innehållande 536 brev adresserade till statsminister Fredrik Reinfeldt under hans mandatperiod 2006-2014. Genom undersökningen ges en övergripande bild av brevskrivarnas mest centrala frågor rörande ekonomi. Utgångspunkten ligger i att undersöka skillnader i fördelningen av brev mellan denna och tidigare studie. Med hypotestest påvisas skillnader och där dess eventuella bakomliggande faktorer undersöks vidare. Detta görs genom en granskning av media och arbetslöshetens påverkan på brevskrivarna. Svaren blev tvetydliga, media har visserligen en påverkan, men i princip negligerbar. För arbetslösheten återfanns inget samband. Detta kopplas samman med den bedömning författarna gjorde angående att de flesta av brevskrivarna är pensionärer. / What economic issues are closest to the Swedish correspondents´ hearts? In 1998 two Swedish professors, Becker and Jonung, examined what these issues could conceivably be. This study examines a unique data set consisting of 536 letters addressed to the Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt during his length in office, 2006-2014. By doing so, a general view of correspondents´ most central economic issues appears. The aim of this study is to compare these two, to see if changes in correspondents´ opinions has emerged. Differences between the studies have been shown through hypothesis testing, and it´s underlying factors are examined further. This is done through an examination of media and employment. Results indicate that media has a slightly positive effect on correspondents´ opinions, something that could not be concluded by the rate of unemployment due to the fact that most incoming letters probably are written by senior citizens.

由於運用特徵價格模型探討影響不動產價格之變數，國內外相關之文獻數量甚為豐富，但對於影響議價空間比率之變數，較少有研究者探討，由於議價空間比率影響賣方及買方之訂價或出價策略與對成交價格之預期，另對於估價人員採用市場比較法時，僅得待售案例時之情況調整亦有所幫助，故本研究試圖從蒐集相關不動產成交案例，探討有關影響其議價空間比率之變數。 因本研究之資料範圍鎖定成屋且透過仲介成交之案件，故透過與仲介經紀從業人員之訪談並與文獻回顧相關理論作相互印證，廣納可能之變數，並搜集台北市、縣成屋實際委託價格及交易資訊。將訪談蒐集所得之交易價格資料及變數，運用Excel 及SPSS統計軟體，透過敘述統計、相關係數分析、折線圖分析、特徵估價法之多元廻歸模型等方法，分析影響議價空間比率之因素，及其影響之程度。 實證結果發現：影響議價空間比率之顯著變數如下： （一）區位變數有：樹林、林口、新莊為正相關，議價空間比率顯著較高，大安區為負相關，議價空間比率相對較低。 （二）成交時間變數有：97年第四季因金融風暴，該季議價空間比率顯著較高。 （三）物件個別屬性變數有：是否1樓、屋齡、平均委託單價與議價空間比率為正相關，透天產品與議價空間比率為負相關，透天產品議價空間比率顯著較低。 （四）總體因素變數有：北市北縣拍賣移轉件數與議價空間比率為正相關，北縣市買賣移轉件數與議價空間比率為負相關。 本研究建議買賣交易人或投資者應針對交易標的所在區位、交易時間點、標的物個別條件以及總體指標需深入了解，賣方在訂價或買方在出價斡旋時，將更能提高交易成功之機率。物件位於相對偏遠地區，由於條件相對較差，賣方在開價上需預留較大議價空間，並有讓價準備，而買方可多收集相關成交資訊，以減少因資訊不充足而支付較高之價格貼水。 另外，當市場上發生重大事件導致房屋市場變動時，此時仲介角色更具挑戰性， 應提供賣方相關分析資訊，協助使其提早瞭解市場變動情況，避免損失加劇。對於一樓產品，買賣雙方價格認知差異較大，應提供相近條件之成交行情，若是店面或商用產品，可再提供租金收益資訊，易使雙方對於價格較有共識，並促進交易價格之合理性。 而不動產估價師執行台北縣、市之估價案件時，若採用市場比較法，收集之比較案例為待售尚未成交之物件，可參考各區位議價空間比率之平均數，再評估上述顯著變數之正負相關性，酌予上下調整，以增進待售價格情況調整之精確度。 / Although there are abundant sources of references regarding the use of Hedonic pricing models to study the relationship between real estate pricing variables and real estate price volatility, relatively few were dedicated to the research of price concession variables. Price concession variables determine sellers' asking prices and buyers' bid prices, or the expected deal price of a bid/ask strategy and even provide useful indications to real estate evaluators taking the market comparison approach when there are no actual deals to compare. Therefore, in this research we aimed to collect samples of actual real estate deals made to determine the variables that affect degrees of price concession by analyzing the degrees of price concession in proportion to bid/ask prices. In this research, we confined our area of study to completed constructions transacted through real estate agencies. Through interviews with real estate agents and reviews of past theoretical references, we attempted to gather all possible variables from the time buyers and sellers approach real estate agencies to the time a deal is made; we also gathered data of bid prices, asking prices and deal prices of completed constructions situated in the various administration districts within Taipei City and Taipei County. Interview results, pricing data and the possible variables we had identified were analyzed using Excel and SPSS; our statistical analysis included descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, line charts and multiple regression of the Hedonic pricing model. The purpose of our analyses was to determine factors that influence the degree of price concession as well as the extent of such influence. Our research results found the following variables that significantly influence the degree of price concession: (1) Location variable: Shulin, Linko and Hsinchuang districts are positively correlated, suggesting a higher degree of price concession; Daan district is negatively correlated, suggesting a lower degree of price concession. (2) Timing variable: The degree of price concession during the fourth quarter of 2008 was significantly higher because of the global financial crisis. (3) Object-specific variables: Whether the property is situated on the first floor and aging variables are positively correlated to the degree of price concession; whether the property is an independent house is negatively correlated to the degree of price concession, suggesting a lower degree of price concession for independent house properties. (4) Macro factors: The number of court auctions in Taipei City and County is positively correlated to the degree of price concession; the number of property sales in Taipei City and County are negatively correlated to the degree of price concession. Through this research, we advise that property buyers, sellers and investors should gain further insights into the location, timing, characteristics and the overall environment relating to the properties they wish to close deals for. These insights will help buyers and sellers set bid/ask prices that are more likely to close deals, thereby reducing the cost of prolonged negotiations. Properties located in remote areas are have a disadvantage; sellers should reserve more room for negotiation and be prepared to make price concessions, while buyers should gather more information related to the deal of similar properties to avoid paying higher premiums due to lack of information. Furthermore, the role of real estate agencies becomes more challenging in the occurrence of major events which cause volatility within the real estate market. Real estate agents should provide sellers the relevant data analysis to facilitate early anticipation of market changes, thereby preventing further losses. For properties located on the first floor, since there are relatively wider discrepancies between sellers' and buyers' expectations, real estate agents should provide more information related to the deals of similar properties to reconcile their differences. If the properties are for retail or commercial purposes, real estate agents may also provide information on rental or revenue to reconcile the understanding between buyers and sellers and give more rationality to deal prices. For real estate evaluators attempting to evaluate properties situated in Taipei City and County using the market comparison approach but lacking deal references, they may consider taking the average degree of price concession across all administrative districts and adjust upwards or downwards based on correlations to the above significant variables and produce a more accurate indicator for the properties pending sale.

摘要 1980年代至90年代初期，東亞各國成為全球經濟重要的發展區域之一，泰國、馬來西亞、印尼、菲律賓等繼亞洲四小龍之後成為亞洲地區成長迅速的新興開發中國家。然而，自1995年起，東南亞各國經濟開始出現衰退現象，1997年7月泰國更出現泰銖貶值，匯價劇跌，造成泰國股市的崩盤，傳染性的匯率貶值壓力延伸至菲律賓、馬來西亞、印尼與新加坡，甚至連東北亞的韓國，日本、台灣與香港也受波及，使得整個東亞地區幾乎都遭受到金融風暴的衝擊。 因此本研究針對1984至2002年的東亞國家，採用資料包絡分析法探討亞洲金融風暴對東亞各國效率的影響，利用Malmquist指數計算分析生產力變動的來源，以研究東亞各國在歷經金融風暴後如何調整其生產力及效率。 本研究依東亞各國受金融風暴影響的程度分為金融風暴國以及非金融風暴國兩大群組，實證結果顯示，東亞地區國家之整體技術效率值以及純技術效率值於金融風暴發生後有提升的現象，相較於金融風暴國於風暴前後之整體技術效率值以及生產力變動有顯著差異，非金融風暴國則未發生此一現象。本研究利用國內固定資本形成毛額作為投入要素與實質國內生產毛額作為產出項所構成的效率前緣曲線圖，分析解釋前述現象，發現金融風暴國在風暴前確實有投資過剩的問題，風暴後金融風暴國效率的提升來自於調整其生產規模、減少不當投資。 此外，本研究發現中國大陸的生產力在金融風暴後有逐年衰退的趨勢，其主要原因是來自於規模變動的不利影響，意味著中國大陸在展現高度經濟成長的同時，似乎已產生供給過剩的現象，是否會為日後的經濟發展帶來隱憂，甚至成為二次亞洲金融風暴的起源，值得注意。 / Abstract From the1980s to early 1990s, East Asia became one of the most important areas in developing the global economy. Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Philippine’s economy grew up fast and became the newly developing country following the Four little Dragons in Asia. However, since 1995, the economy of various countries in Southeast Asia began to decline. In July 1997 Thailand’s Thai Baht and exchange rate depreciated dramatically and crash of the Thai stock market. Then the Tai Baht currency depreciation rapidly spread to Philippine, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore; even South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong were involved in the crisis. As a result, the whole East Asia nearly all suffered this financial storm. Today, most of Asian countries are recovered from the Asia crisis. In order to analyze how East Asian countries to overcome the Asian financial crisis and adjust their productivity and efficiency, this study uses a panel data of 15 East Asian countries through 1984 to 2002 to apply data envelopment analysis (DEA) to assess the effects of the Asia financial crisis and measure the Malmquist productivity index to analyze the sources of the change in efficiency. The study breaks down the East Asian countries into two groups, Asian-crisis countries and non-Asian-crisis countries, depending on the extent to which they were affected by the Asian financial crisis. The major findings of this paper are as follows. The full samples denote that after crisis era the overall technical efficiency and the pure technical efficiency are higher than that of before crisis era. The further analysis demonstrates that such phenomenon only can be found in Asian-crisis group. This study constructs a two dimensions efficiency frontier curve graph by using gross fixed capital formation and gross domestic product as input and output proxy to analyze the efficiency change to help to explain the above phenomenon. The frontier efficiency curves find that the Asian-crisis countries indeed have over investment problem before the crisis, and the improvement of efficiencies after crisis is due to successful downsizing, such as reducing production scale and improper investments. In addition, this study illustrates that the productivity change in China has a tendency of declining over the last couple of years. The main reason comes from the unfavorable change in scale efficiency. The high economic growth accompanies over supply in China which reveals the similar phenomenon in Asia-crisis countries before the crisis. Therefore, it is worth to take a notice that whether the growth phenomenon in China becomes the source of the second Asian financial crisis in the future.

本篇論文主要是想探討在2008年全球金融危機發生後，美國與亞洲國家股票市場之間的相關性是否發生明顯的改變。藉由2005年至2012年美國、新加坡、台灣、日本和泰國的股票市場資料，來觀察各國股票市場的相關性是否產生不對稱的現象，首先檢定美國對其他四個國家有無產生蔓延效果，並藉由不同期間的資料來檢定蔓延效果以看出各國之間是否在極端的情況下產生尾端相關性，最後，再使用不同的關聯結構函數配適出最適合資料的模型。 / The main idea of this paper is to show whether or not that stock market between U.S and Asian country has been obviously changed after 2008 financial crisis. For the sake of observing if there is or not occurred inconsistence phenomenon in each country’s stock market, we use the information from U.S、Singapore、Taiwan、Japan and Thailand since 2005 to 2012. First, look in that if U.S has contagion affects to other four countries and, checkup the contagion effects through the information from different period to find the tail dependence in extreme situation. Finally, to dispose a model which is the most suitable for the information by using different Copula functions.

本篇論文以新光鋼鐵作為企業外匯避險實務之研究對象，從公司之經營策略及財務特性進行分析，並針對公司之長期避險策略與理念進行研究。 深受鋼鐵產業之產業特性影響，公司本業受景氣波動影響程度大。此外，為配合公司轉型，新光鋼鐵財務特性亦出現營運週期增加、存貨占公司資產比例偏高、速動比率偏低的現象，在因為企業轉型而使營運風險漸增的情形下，如何有效穩定公司現金流、降低風險為新光鋼鐵首要任務。新光鋼鐵銷貨成本約有六成以外幣結算，其中又以美元為大宗；對於毛利率偏低的產業而言，美元的變化對公司營運表現顯得格外重要，因此新光鋼鐵以長期匯率變化及市場觀察經驗，研擬出「比例式變動法」之動態避險準則，降低外匯變化對於公司營運之衝擊。本論文除介紹此動態避險準則外，同時亦著重公司長期體悟之避險心境法則。論文中以台灣過去所遭遇較嚴重之金融衝擊事件作為避險績效討論，分別為1997年亞洲金融風暴、2000年網路科技泡沫化、2008次級房貸事件及2013美國QE進場。在此重要事件中，新光鋼鐵因採取積極之避險策略，成功降低公司現金支付美元負債之支出，對企業維持長期競爭優勢具有一定幫助。從數據分析中發現，新光鋼鐵避險策略長期而言仍受匯率走勢之影響，然而在短期及市場極端狀況發生時，避險效果明確。對於多數台灣中小企業而言，避險之財務觀念仍未普遍，新光鋼鐵之避險邏輯及策略著實對於一般企業之風險控管運作，具有啟示效用。 / This study takes Hsin Kuang Steel for example to understand how corporates run foreign exchange hedging strategy. Hsin Kuang Steel operating business is severely affected by economic changes. Besides, as the company transforms the way they do business in recent years, the financial characteristics has changed, such as the increase in business cycle and inventory to asset ratio. In addition, they usually pay in US dollars, so it’s primary mission is to decrease its foreign exchange risk and stabilize cash flows. The company takes advantage of “dynamic hedging strategy” to hedge to minimize the effect of foreign exchange. We use 4 financial events to describe how effective the dynamic hedging strategy works, and also apply the multiple regression to test the the effectiveness of the hedging practice. During Asian Financial Crisis in 1997, Dot-com Bubble in 2000, Financial Crisis in 2008, and US Quantitative Easing in 2013, dynamic hedging strategy plays an important role in decreasing the cash outflow of US dollar debt. From the multiple regression analysis, we find that though Hsin Kuang Steel has high exposure to US dollars, the stock return has nothing to do with US exchange fluctuation both in short-term.