No abstract on disk

Hao He. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 84-86). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract / Chapter Chapter 1. --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter Chapter 2. --- Literature Review --- p.3 / Chapter 2.1 --- Recent Work on Synchronicity --- p.3 / Chapter 2.2 --- Recent Work on Corporate Governance --- p.5 / Chapter 2.3 --- Motivation´ؤWhy Stock Return Synchronicity Matters --- p.6 / Chapter Chapter 3. --- Theory and Hypotheses --- p.9 / Chapter 3.1 --- Derivation of Dependent Variables --- p.9 / Chapter 3.1.1 --- Corporate Governance Mechanisms --- p.9 / Chapter 3.1.1.1 --- Static Corporate Governance Mechanisms --- p.9 / Chapter 3.1.1.2 --- Dynamic Corporate Governance Mechanisms --- p.11 / Chapter 3.1.2 --- Regional Governance Mechanisms --- p.12 / Chapter 3.2 --- Quantification of Dependent Variables --- p.14 / Chapter 3.2.1 --- Quantifying corporate Governance Mechanisms --- p.14 / Chapter 3.2.1.1 --- Quantifying Static Corporate Governance Mechanisms --- p.14 / Chapter 3.2.1.2 --- Quantifying Dynamic Corporate Governance Mechanisms --- p.15 / Chapter 3.2.2 --- Quantifying Regional Governance Mechanisms --- p.19 / Chapter 3.2.3 --- Quantifying Control Variables --- p.22 / Chapter Chapter 4. --- Data --- p.23 / Chapter 4.1 --- Sample --- p.23 / Chapter 4.2 --- Definitions of Main Synchronicity Measures --- p.25 / Chapter 4.3 --- Methdology --- p.26 / Chapter Chapter 5 --- Empirical Results --- p.27 / Chapter 5.1 --- Results on Corporate Governance Mechanisms --- p.27 / Chapter 5.1.1 --- Results on Static Corporate Governance Mechanisms --- p.27 / Chapter 5.1.2 --- Results on Dynamic Corporate Governance Mechanisms --- p.29 / Chapter 5.1.2.1 --- Results on President-Changing Variables --- p.29 / Chapter 5.1.2.2 --- Results on General manager-change Variables --- p.31 / Chapter 5.2 --- Results on Regional Governance Mechanisms --- p.34 / Chapter Chapter 6. --- Conclusion --- p.36 / Reference --- p.38 / Tables and Figures --- p.41

I | P a g e Abstract This thesis primarily focuses on the construction of a firm-specific index measuring the quality of corporate governance in the most liquid Czech and Croatian companies. The index is made by following OECD recommendations on construction of composite indicators. It allows comparison of best practices implementation on the overall level, and it also provides with a comprehensive analogy in terms of various governance domains performance. These domains are represented by four sub-indices: Board, Conflict of Interest, Shareholders' Rights, and Transparency and Disclosure. Initial assumption, stating that the Czech companies should have higher overall Corporate Governance Index score than the Croatian companies, is approved. Moreover, the Czech companies have stronger performance in three sub-indices: Board, Conflict of Interest, and Transparency and Disclosure, whereas the Croatian companies have negligible advantage solely with regard to the Shareholders' Rights Sub-index.

In recent years, countries across the globe have come to realise the importance of an official corporate governance regime, which provides a platform for market integrity and efficiency, as well as facilitating economic growth. Formulating effective corporate governance measures is a complex task for legislators. The purpose of this paper is to provide an in depth analysis and comparison of the corporate governance legislative frameworks in Australia and Jordan. In 2004, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), in conjunction with national and international governmental organisations, finalised a universal set of corporate governance principles. Although non-binding, the OECD Principles 2004 are a serious attempt to strengthen every aspect of corporate governance and, accordingly, have been utilised in this paper as an international benchmark.The ultimate objective of this paper is to formulate a number of detailed and specific recommendations to the Jordanian Government. Jordan’s legislative framework for corporations received a significant shake-up a decade ago when the Jordanian Government began the process of implementing a privatisation program under the guidance of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Despite a number of positive developments since this program was initiated, the Jordanian Government has continually failed to recognise the importance of promoting good corporate governance. There can be no doubt that the Jordanian companies’ legislation is in desperate need of reform. The vast majority of the provisions are ambiguous and lack the necessary detail to regulate the complex sphere of company law. In this writer’s opinion, the relevant authorities in Jordan must act immediately to bring the country’s legislative regime into line with internationally recognised standards and practices. Chapter 1 of the paper sets out an introductory explanation of corporate governance and corporate structure. Chapter 2 provides a brief account of the history of company law in Jordan and a description of the different types of company structures permitted under the relevant Jordanian legislation. Chapter 3 provides a detailed discussion of the corporate governance principles formulated by the OECD. The process began in 1999 and was completed in 2004 after extensive revision and consultation. Chapter 4, the core part of the paper, presents a comparative analysis of the implementation of the OECD principles in Australia and Jordan. Chapter 5 provides an explanation and analysis of two important shareholders’ remedies in the Australian companies’ legislation that do not exist in Jordan. Finally, Chapter 6 provides a summary of analysis and sets out a list of recommendations to the Jordanian Government.

<p>Sverige har under många år varit ledande i e-förvaltningsarbetet och har utformat ett flertal handlingsplaner för införandet. E-förvaltningsarbetet har drabbats av svårigheter och problem under åren och år 2008 startades e-förvaltningsarbetet om med en ny handlingsplan. Även denna handlingsplan har utsatts för kritik såsom att det bara en vision som saknar riktlinjer hur e-förvaltningsarbetet skall realiseras. Ledande personer inom forskningsämnet anser att handlingsplanen inte är tillräcklig för att stödja och leda kommunerna i e-förvaltningsarbetet. Studien syftar till att undersöka hur handlingsplanen omvandlas till styrning och strategier i offentliga förvaltningar. Vi gick ut med en kvalitativ ansats och intervjuade respondenter på kommunal nivå. Empirin och analysen lyfter fram att förvaltningarna vill införa e-tjänster och till viss del arbetar mot e-förvaltning. Däremot är inte handlingsplanen förankrad i verksamheterna. Resultatet av studien visar sig att det inte sker någon omvandling av handlingsplanen till styrning och strategier på förvaltningarna. Däremot visar resultatet att förvaltningarna indirekt arbetar mot e-förvaltning men har inga egna riktlinjer för arbetet. Studien avslutas med riktlinjer som regeringen och förvaltningarna bör beakta för att e-förvaltningsarbetet skall ta fart.</p> / <p>Sweden has for many years been a leader in e<strong>-</strong>government work and has developed several action plans for the implementation. E-Government efforts have suffered from difficulties and problems over the years and in year 2008 the swedish government launched a new action plan for the e-government work. Although this action plan has been criticized as it is only a vision with no guidance of how e-government work should be realized. Leading researchers also criticized that the action plan is not sufficient enough to support and encourage municipalities in the work to become e-governments. The study aims to examine how the action plan translates into management and strategies in public administrations. We had a qualitative approach and interviewed respondents at the municipal level. Empirical data and analysis highlights that the municipalities want to implement e-services and they are working towards e-government. However, the action plan is not rooted in the municipalities. The results of this study show that there is no transformation or translation of the action plan to management and strategies in the public administration. However, the results show that public administrations indirect work towards becoming e-government but has no proper guidelines for that work. The study concludes with guidelines for the government and the municipalities which they should take in account so that e-government work picks up pace.</p>

Zugleich: Diss. Nr. 1926 Wirtschaftswiss. St. Gallen, 1996 u.d.T.: Das Konzept des Economic Value Added (EVA) : Massstab für finanzielle Performance und Bewertungsinstrument im Zeichen des Shareholder value : Darstellung und Anwendung auf Schweizer Aktiengesellschaften. / Literaturverz.

Agency theories suggest that governance matters more when agency conflicts are potentially more severe. However, empirical studies often do not control for the potential severity of agency conflicts. I show that the marginal benefit of governance varies with the free cash flow level, a proxy for the potential severity of agency conflicts. As the free cash flow level increases, higher governance quality becomes incrementally more value-enhancing, and lower governance quality becomes incrementally more value-destroying. This is consistent with the hypothesis that better governance helps resolve the agency conflicts in investment decisions when a firm has more free cash flows (Jensen, 1986). This study highlights the importance of controlling for the potential severity of agency conflicts in governance studies and provides an improved method to estimate the marginal benefit of a governance mechanism.

Das Ende des Nachkriegssystems der multilateralen Finanzorganisationen ist keines im eigentlichen Sinn des Wortes. Aber die Veränderungen im internationalen System sind evident und beschränken sich nicht auf Weltbank und Währungsfonds. Die entscheidende Verschiebung des globalen Machtgefüges findet außerhalb des multilateralen Systems der UNO statt. Es sind informelle Gruppen, die Gs in verschiedener Stärke: G-7/8 als westliches Auslaufmodell, der Newcomer G-20 und wenn Europa nicht aufpasst die G-2: Chinamerica.

After several scandals in the US, the focus on corporate governance has increased rapidly and led to implementations of “codes of best practice” in many countries. In 2002, the Swedish government appointed a committee with the purpose to develop a Swedish Code of Corporate Governance. The purpose with the code is to help the Swedish industry to regain its confidence in order to attract capital after the scandals that have occurred. The code shall be implemented by Swedish com-panies listed on the A-list on the Stockholm stock exchange and companies on the O-list with a market value above 3 billion SEK and shall be implemented by the 1:st of July 2005. The code is based on the principle “comply or explain” which means that companies do not have to comply with the requirements of the code as long as they explain their reasons why they deviate. The purpose of this thesis is thereby to examine to what extent Swedish companies prepare to comply or are already complying with the requirements of the code and the reasons for possible deviations regarding the level of compliance between the companies. In order to answer the purpose stated, the authors have chosen to use both a quantitative and a qualitative method. The authors have sent surveys to all companies obliged to implement the code in order to find out to what extent the Swedish companies prepare to comply or are already complying with the code today. In order to answer the second research question, why companies prepare to comply, or are complying to different degrees, hypotheses were stated and interviews with five companies listed on the Stockholm stock exchange were made. The authors found a high compliance rate among Swedish companies, with a mean of 88,49%. The companies on the A-list are complying to a larger extent than the ones on the O-list. Based on the hypotheses, the authors found that companies with higher turnovers are more likely to comply with the code to a larger extent than companies with lower turnovers. Additional reasons to a high degree of compliance rate with the code, are: the need for resources, the impact of media, the culture and personal values within the organization and the fact that the code does not imply any major changes for the organization. Reasons why companies do not prepare to comply or are already complying to a large extent are: the increased devotion of resources that the implementation requires, the high level of details and the complicated requirements of the code. These last-mentioned factors lead to difficulties to interpret the requirements of the code and increased bureaucracy, which thereby lead to a lower level of compliance.

Board involvement in Information Technology (IT) governance and the antecedents and consequences of such involvement are examined from both a theoretical and practical perspective. Practitioner and academic IT governance literature highlight the need for increased board involvement in IT governance; however, it seems that many corporate boards do not practice a formalized style of IT governance, while those that do, face significant challenges. A gap clearly is seen as in spite of the potential benefits of board IT governance and the costs of ineffective oversight, there has been little field-based research in this area, nor adequate application of theory. This research addresses this gap by developing and testing an exploratory multi-theoretic framework of board IT governance. Drawing upon strategic choice and institutional theories, and Ashby’s Law of Requisite Variety, a model of the antecedents (organization factors and board attributes) of board IT governance and its consequences (financial performance and operational performance) is both developed and tested. Unlike previous studies, board IT governance is designated as a central construct in this model rather than a secondary factor. Constructs of board IT governance and IT competency are explored and multi-item measures for both constructs are developed. Board IT governance is conceptualized as the extent of offensive and defensive board oversight activities, while IT competency is conceptualized as the extent of IT expertise (IT knowledge, experience and training) and IT governance mechanisms (structures, processes and relational mechanisms). Detailed interviews with board members enabled a preliminary examination of the theoretical framework. To further test the propositions in the theoretical framework and to validate the measures for the board IT governance and IT competency constructs, an online survey was administered to corporate directors across Canada. Exploratory Factor Analysis and Ordinary Least Squares multiple regression were used to analyze responses from 188 directors. The board IT governance and IT competency constructs were well supported by the data. In addition, the results show that the organizational factors explain 28% of the variance in board IT governance, and that board attributes explain 39% more of the variance, for a total explained variance in board IT governance of approximately 68%. The results also show that board IT governance has a positive impact on operational performance, explaining 19% of the variance in operational performance. However, the proposed impact of board IT governance on financial performance, and the impacts of ‘fit’ between role of IT and board IT governance approach on financial and operational performance were not supported by the survey results. Overall, this research makes a theoretical contribution by: focusing on the board’s role in IT governance; developing a multi-theoretical model of the antecedents and consequences of board IT governance; developing measures of board IT governance and board IT competency, and; empirically assessing the antecedents and consequences of board IT governance.