The existence of complexity, uncertainty and ambiguity in current business environment promotes corporates need to establish good risk governance. Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) has been considered as a way to achieve good risk governance to deal with both upside (e.g. exploit opportunities) and downside (e.g. reduce insolvency) of risk and uncertainty. ERM holistically treats all risk to achieve organisation objective in normal, volatile and crisis situations. The thesis tackles issues in the implementation of ERM and how it has been adopted and implemented in Indian and UK insurance market. Mixed research methods have been employed from a qualitative stand point to explore the research issues, consisting of two surveys in UK and India, over 50 interviews and two case studies in the Indian and UK insurance markets. The research revealed that there is an ambiguity in the understanding of the definitions of ERM and risk appetite across both countries. Major issues in ERM implementation in Indian insurance market are fraud, under-risk reporting and insufficient resources to develop an appropriate risk culture. In the UK insurance market issues are related to customer complaints, fines/penalties, over-risk reporting and lack of capital efficiency. Regulatory risk seen as a major risk in both market, though, in the Indian market lack of regulation is the issue whereas in the UK insurance market lack of clarity in insurance regulation has been emphasised. From intuitional theory and strategic change perspective, the research presents cross-country comparative case studies highlighting four emerging ERM strategies based on the different state of development and maturity of companies: ‘Rudimentary’, ‘Anticipatory’, ‘Resilient’ and ‘Transformatory’ strategies. The case studies highlight the issues within the two insurance companies both internally and externally in a nascent and a mature market. Before companies can adopt a transformatory strategy, both companies require a fundamental understanding of strategic change that eventually can pave the way to good risk governance. Adopting the cognitive lens of strategic change will not only enhance company specific risk-based capabilities but it will improve industry risk-based capabilities through development of professional competence.

Diss. Univ. Fribourg, 2008.

Diss. Univ. Fribourg, 2008.

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität St. Gallen, 2006.

There is a strong perception that large infrastructure projects (LIPs) implemented in developing economies fail to meet their original estimations and specifications more than those implemented in developed economies. This situation results in weak infrastructural development in developing economies, which, has been associated with the poor industrial development in these countries. A literature review confirms that LIPs implemented in Nigeria failed to meet their original estimations and specifications more frequently than LIP implemented in countries such as UK or USA. The root causes identified in the review were mostly related to lack of project governance. Thus, a study of six LIP cases implemented in Nigeria was carried out. Data was generated from 30 senior management staff; 5 from each LIP; using interviews and questionnaires and a weak positivist philosophy was used in analysing this data. The analysis focused on identifying three factors; the adherence level to PGPs; the adherence to Project Management (PM) common practices; and impact of external factors on LIPs. The analysis shows that in projects with strong governance there was a tendency to use more project management tools and techniques and they performed better in meeting the original estimations of time, cost and performance against specification. The analysis also indicates that political, economic, socio-cultural and technological (PEST) factors have adverse effect on adherence to PGPs in Nigeria. This indicates that adhering to PGPs can help in improving the outcome of LIPs implemented in Nigeria, if PEST factors are controlled.

This paper examines how managers at the top of a public institution, central bank executives, allocate their working time. Using detailed Information from personal diaries of the six members of the European Central Bank's Executive Board over a period of two years, we codify and analyze more than 3,700 reported activities and compare the results with recent findings on the time use of CEOs in the private sector. We report four additional observations. First, the daily schedule of central bankers is dominated by routine tasks; variations in economic uncertainty have, on average, no significant effect on the number of activities. Second, there are sizable differences in the scope of activities across board members. Third, the change in publication rules of diary entries from 'on request' to 'regular' was associated with a significant decline in reported activities. Fourth, nationality matters: Board members interact disproportionately often with fellow nationals. / Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Series

There is a strong perception that large infrastructure projects (LIPs) implemented in developing economies fail to meet their original estimations and specifications more than those implemented in developed economies. This situation results in weak infrastructural development in developing economies, which, has been associated with the poor industrial development in these countries. A literature review confirms that LIPs implemented in Nigeria failed to meet their original estimations and specifications more frequently than LIP implemented in countries such as UK or USA. The root causes identified in the review were mostly related to lack of project governance. Thus, a study of six LIP cases implemented in Nigeria was carried out. Data was generated from 30 senior management staff; 5 from each LIP; using interviews and questionnaires and a weak positivist philosophy was used in analysing this data. The analysis focused on identifying three factors; the adherence level to PGPs; the adherence to Project Management (PM) common practices; and impact of external factors on LIPs. The analysis shows that in projects with strong governance there was a tendency to use more project management tools and techniques and they performed better in meeting the original estimations of time, cost and performance against specification. The analysis also indicates that political, economic, socio-cultural and technological (PEST) factors have adverse effect on adherence to PGPs in Nigeria. This indicates that adhering to PGPs can help in improving the outcome of LIPs implemented in Nigeria, if PEST factors are controlled.

As urban areas continue to expand into rural areas the world is experiencing a loss of productive agricultural land and diminishing natural habitats and associated ecosystems. The space where urban meets rural is known as the rural-urban fringe and what happens in these areas ultimately determines urban development patterns. Despite being such an important area, the rural-urban fringe is poorly understood and is often described as a “blurry” space – blurry in land patterns because it is where multiple uses collide and in how individuals interact in this space (since actors with often diverse opinions on how land should be used coexist there). Furthermore, there is no single body of scholarly literature that explains why and how decisions get made in rural-urban fringe areas. This thesis contributes to filling this gap in literature by helping to (i) understand and explain decision-making processes at the rural-urban fringe; (ii) create an analytical framework for understanding decision-making dynamics at the rural-urban fringe within two UNESCO Biosphere Reserves: the Cape Winelands Biosphere Reserve, South Africa and the Niagara Escarpment Biosphere Reserve, Canada; and (iii) construct a theory of decision-making for better outcomes at the rural-urban fringe. The analytical framework is divided into two parts with components drawn from problem-solving (including governance and management) and critical (critical political economy and resilience) theories. The premise is that each part contributes to a holistic understanding that they cannot accomplish on their own. The analytical framework is used as the analytical platform for consideration of the research data and is the basis on which the thesis’ theoretical contribution is built. Specifically, each case study is first examined within the context of existing governance and management processes. This reveals the character of key issues and dynamics and the resulting policy responses. The cases are then located within the broader analytical contexts of critical political economy and resilience. This reveals the historical and structural dynamics often overlooked or neglected in problem-solving approaches. The thesis reveals that in both case studies, government policy notwithstanding, decision-making within the rural-urban fringe is primarily determined by neoliberal ideologies of economic development and ‘return on investment’. What emerges from the application of the analytical framework to the two case studies is a theory of decision-making for better outcomes at the rural-urban fringe wherein "better" means a process for achieving outcomes in line with the stated goals of policies and plans, generally framed by the idea of sustainable development. The theory asserts that effective decision-making for environmentally sustainable and socially equitable outcomes at the rural-urban fringe requires six conditions to be in place: (1) sufficient economic resources; (2) adequate knowledge; (3) forgiving time scale; (4) capable state; (5) robust legal structure; (6) favorable global context. All six are important though at this stage it cannot be said with absolute certainty whether better-for-all decisions may emerge in the absence of one or more of these conditions. This theory makes a meaningful contribution to the scholarship on the rural-urban fringe and advances knowledge by articulating a new integrated approach to better decision-making that addresses the explanatory weaknesses identified by this thesis for each of the five bodies of literature considered.

The thesis is focused on Corporate Governance phenomenon mainly on companies with public shares. Starting from the wide description of problematic the thesis continues with analyzing most important trends in governance, world known standards and even Czech standards. Furthermore it concentrates on description of Public Limited company role in Czech law system with special intention on statutory body. The result is an analysis of the role of Management Board and Supervisory Board, especially their impact on governance, duties and responsibility. In the end reader may find the drafts of measures and case study of corporate governance in Japanese global corporatin MITSUI & Co, Ltd.

This thesis consists of three studies on corporate governance issues of Chinese listed companies. In the first study, I investigate the role of board secretaries in management earnings forecasts. Individuals in this senior executive position are responsible for coordinating information disclosure. I find that their legal and accounting expertise and foreign experience help improve management earnings forecast quality. The quality of forecasts, as indicated by forecast occurrence, frequency, precision and accuracy, is positively associated with board secretaries' duality role and equity holdings, whereas it is negatively associated with their political connections. The quality of forecasts is found to increase the compensation of board secretaries. Finally, I show that the equity holdings of board secretaries reduce litigation risks and increase corporate philanthropic giving. Based on the notion that women cooperate more with women than with men, my second study examines the gender interaction effect between female top managers and female board directors in Chinese firms. I show that this gender interaction is positively associated with the firm's accounting return but negatively associated with its stock price return. Earnings management, which can lead to overstated accounting numbers but unfavourable stock market reactions, partly explains the opposite results. Furthermore, I find that only the newly appointed female top managers engage in this earnings management. Overall, the findings suggest that the pressure on women to perform leads to 'women helping women', which is detrimental to shareholders' value. Women are underrepresented on corporate boards. By employing the large variation in socioeconomic development across provinces of China, the third study shows that the barriers to board gender diversity are deeply rooted in societal gender role attitudes. I find that corporate boards tend to be more gender diverse in a province where there is a smaller gender difference in educational achievement in STEM disciplines, where there is a stronger belief that women and men possess equal intrinsic abilities, or where female political leaders are present in the provincial government or communist party. However, I find little evidence that female labour force participation or childcare provision would affect board gender diversity. Collectively, the findings suggest that it is the gender equality attitudes rather than the supply of average female labour that contribute to gender-diverse corporate boards.