Den globala “miljökrisen” är ett frekvent ämne som genomsyrat världsdebatten under senare år. Koldioxidutsläppen ökar, samtidigt som jordens begränsade reserver töms i allt större utsträckning. Klimatförändringar är ett fenomen som står oss nära och som påverkar oss individer starkt. Under rådande pandemi (Covid19) kan man se resultatet av hur klimatförstöring påverkat vår planet, vilket till stor del beror att den miljöförstörande industrin står stilla. Covid19 pandemin visar verkligen hur relevant studien är och hur viktigt det är med miljöförbättringsåtgärder när det gäller framtida generationers överlevnad. Då kommuner, regioner och landet som stort tar sitt ansvar och arbetar aktivt mot de olika uppsatta miljömålen kan vi successivt minska på det globala avtrycket.  I detta arbete har kommunerna en framträdande roll, och ifall kommunen inte arbetar med ett aktivt klimatarbete kommer inte morgondagens miljökrav att uppnås. Uppsatsens syfte är att undersöka hur miljöarbetet i två närliggande kommuner med liknande stor areal och befolkning skiljer sig åt. Syftet är att se hur olika strategier påverkar kommunernas val av miljösatsningar inom dess fastighetsorganisation/fastighetsbestånd. Uppsatsen har utgått ifrån relevant teori, kurslitteratur, genomförda intervjuer med miljöstrateg och förvaltare i respektive kommun.  Resultatet visar att skillnaderna mellan kommunernas strategier och miljösatsningar är stora. Kommun 1 anställda saknade ett reviderat miljömålsprogram att sträva efter vilket resulterade i att kommunens miljöarbete stod stilla.  Trots de två respondenternas stora vilja till förändring inom området miljö, saknades detta i organisationen. Kommun 2 som bedrev sin förvaltning genom det allmännyttiga bolaget låg i framkant när det gäller dessföre i sitt miljöarbete. Dessutom hade bolaget blivit prisat för sitt miljöarbete då individerna i bolaget arbetade aktivt med miljösatsningar inom dess fastighetsbestånd. / The global “environmental crisis” is a frequent and highly discussed topic that has permeated the world debate in recent years. Carbon dioxide emissions are increasing, while the earth’s limited reserves are being increasingly depleted. Climate change is a phenomenon that is close to us and affects us on an individual level. During the current pandemic (Covid-19) climate destructive industries have shut-down, and now one can clearly see the result of climate change. Covid-19 truly shows how relevant this study is and how important it is with environmental improvement measures regarding future generations survival. In order to reduce our global imprint, municipalities, regions and the country as a whole needs to take responsibility and actively work towards achieving the set environmental goals. In this work, municipalities have a prominent role, and if the municipalities do not actively work with reducing our imprint, tomorrow's environmental requirements will not be met. The purpose of the thesis is to investigate how the environmental work in two neighbouring municipalities' with similar large area and population differ. The purpose is to see how different strategies affect the municipalities' choice of environmental initiatives within their property holdings. The results show major differences between the municipalities strategies and environmental initiatives. Municipality 1 lacked a revised environmental target program to strive for which resulted in the municipality's environmental work standing still. Despite the the two respondents' great desire to make a change in the environment, this was lacking in the organization.  Municipality 2, which carried out its management through the public utility company, was at the forefront of its environmental work. In addition, muncipality 2, had been praised for its environmental work as it actively worked with environmental investments in their property portfolio.

<p>This thesis includes three essays on several important topics in empirical finance: Chief Executive Officer (CEO) risk-taking incentives, the cost and syndicate structure of bank loans and corporate investments with internal funds. This thesis contributes to these aspects of finance literature and the three essays are presented in Chapter 2, 3 and 4.</p> <p>The first essay investigates how implicit contractual relationship between creditors and borrowers attenuates the conflict of interest between creditors and shareholders that arises from CEO compensation contracts when a corporation can be considered a nexus of explicit and implicit contractual relationships among stakeholders. We find that bank loans for firms with CEOs who are provided with risk-taking incentives have higher spreads and shorter maturities. A relationship between the lender and its borrower mitigates the influence of incentives for CEO risk-taking on loan spread and loan maturity. Such a relationship is especially beneficial for informationally opaque firms. The results are robust to the endogeneity of relationships and the simultaneous determination of loan spread, loan maturity and collateral requirements. Our results highlight the importance of the interaction between explicit and implicit contractual relationships to a firm’s borrowing cost.</p> <p>The second essay investigates the effects of a borrowing firm’s CEO risk-taking incentives on the structure of the firm’s syndicated loans. The conflict of interest between creditors and shareholders arising from CEO risk-taking incentives is a major concern of borrower moral hazard for syndicate lenders, which require intensive monitoring by lead arrangers in a syndicate. When CEO risk-taking incentives are high, syndicates are structured to facilitate better due diligence and monitoring efforts. These syndicates have a smaller number of total lenders and are more concentrated, and lead arrangers will retain a greater portion of the loan. Moreover, we examine the factors that affect the link between CEO risk-taking incentives and syndicate loan structure. CEO risk-taking incentives have a lesser effect on the syndicate structure when lead arrangers have a good reputation and have a prior lending relationship with a borrowing firm. By contrast, CEO risk-taking incentives have a greater influence on syndicate structure when borrowing firms are informationally opaque, are financially distressed or have low growth prospects.</p> <p>The third essay studies corporate investments with internal funds when firms face real investment friction using a sample of U.S. oil companies from 2003 to 2011 before and after the 2008 financial crisis. We show that firms’ capital expenditures are more sensitive to their lagged cash holdings than to their contemporaneous cash flows. By making investments with realized cash holdings, firms can avoid the investment adjustment costs that are incurred when investing with uncertain cash flows. We also show that cash flow policies are affected by liquidity constraints following the 2008 financial crisis: firms build up more cash reserves from cash flows, cut back payouts and raise more debt to maintain cash holdings.</p> / Doctor of Business Administration (DBA)

Our understanding of enterprise restructuring in a transition context is predominantly drawn from the ex-communist countries of Europe. Those countries have their own cultural values, social structures, were subject to the Soviet political and economic managemet styles and had their own political and economic reasons to move to the free market system. Without doubt, these factors had influenced their enterprise restructuring and its determinants. Given this influence, our understanding of enterprise restructuring and its determinants can be considered limited especially when one takes into consideration the fact that mnay developing countries with centrally planned economic systems had moved to the free market system almost at the same time as the ex-communist countries. Very important, the restructuring behaviour of their state and privatised enterprises and the determinants of their behaviour have been neglected by researchers. This neglect was, indeed, a stimulus to carry out a research study on enterprise restructuring and its determinants in Algeria. The aim of this research study was to develop an understanding of the kind of restructuring taking place in the state enterprises slated for privatisation in Algeria and the factors that stimulated or hindered their restructuring from 1990 to 2005. Algeria is a country that combines a mixture of historical backgrounds. It has a history of more than one hundred years of French colonial rule and has a deep rooted link with the Arab and Islamic cultures. It is also a country which had followed, after gaining independence from the colonial rule in 1962, its own style of socialism where the private sector,in light manufacturing and some service industries, was tolerated and workers of the state-owned enterprise were given the power to share the decision makings with management. More significantly, Algerial was and still is a country where almost 90 percent of its foreign revenues come from hydrocarbons export. Its move to the free market in 1989 came as a result of the sharp drop in the price of oil and therefore a sharp decrease in its foreign revenues. It was a move imposed by the IMF in return for the extension of its debts repayment and the provision of fresh loans. With these socio-cultural, political and economic characteristics of Algeria, it was expected that the restructuring behaviour of the enterprises under investigation and the determinants of this behaviour would exhibit some differences from those experienced in the transition countries of Europe. The investigation was carried out on three enterprises operating in different industries: Saidal in pharmaceuticals, the SNVI in heavy vehicles and Eriad Alger in wheat processing and manufacturing. The data was collected and analysed using qualitative and quantitative research strategies. Semi-structured and unstructured interviews were used to collect data on the restructuring actions and their determinants. They were carried out with senior managers at the head offices, divisions and functional departments of the enterprises; managers at the trade union (UGTA); managers at one state-owned consultancy organisation called CNAT; managers at the ministry of industry; two visiting managers at the trade union (UGTA); and a small number of workers of the three enterprises under investigation. A survey using a self-completion questionnaire was also used to investigate the characteristics of the top management teams of the three enterprises. Primary documents such as state, private company and media reports and secondary document such as journal articles and books were also used. The findings drawn from the study reveal that Saidal was the only enterprise that restructured effectively despite the strong competition in its market. This was possible through the determination of Saidal's president general manager and his top management team to restructure and through the enterprise partnership with many multinational firms. The findings also indicate that controllable and uncontrollable factors had significant impact on the restructuring behaviour of the three enterprises. The controllable factors were the corporatisation of the state enterprise and the underdevelopment of the institutional environment. Corporatisation was an important incentive that encouraged effective restructuring but this was possible only when the enterprise was financially healthy, as was the case with Saidal. The financial autonomy of Saidal reduced the intervention of the government administration in its internal affairs. Government intervention was strong when the enterprise was perceived by the government as strategically important, as was the case with the SNVI, or when the government intended to totally privatise the enterprise, as was the case with Eriad Alger. The underdevelopment of the institutional environment, especially corruption, the shortage of technical skills and the lack of adequate market information hampered competition and slowed down effective restructuring. The uncontrollable factors were the trend in the market and the cultural values. The growing market for pharmaceuticals in Algeria was a stimulus for attracting foreign investment in Saidal which consequently encouraged effective restructuring. As for the cultural values, the family and friendship ties, the social responsibility stemming from religious belief, the regional belonging and the legacy of French colonial rule in Algeria played a significant role in the selection and recruitment of managers and workers, in slowing down the progress of shedding workers surplus and in slowing down foreign participation in privatisation. Future research on enterprise restructuring and its determinants in Algeria should be carried out on a larger sample of enterprises with different ownership using quantitative and qualitative research strategies. Research should also explore enterprise restructuring and its determinants in other developing countries which moved to the free market system and in countries which share similar cultural and social structures with Algeria. It is time for researchers to move away from exploring effective and ineffective enterprise restructuring and concentrate more on exploring how partnership with foreign firms, the shortage of technicla skills, the lack of market information and the cultural values, be it religious beliefs, customs of the legacy of colonialism, affect the restructuring behaviour of state, privatised and private enterprises and the determinants of this behaviour.

The thesis is focused on the process of trading in credit derivatives on the global financial markets. The first part deals with the history and the development of credit derivatives from the very beginning to the present and all factors that influenced and affected them during that time. Various derivative instruments are explained, in terms of their purpose, suitability for use and the risks arising from them. Mainy focus of the thesis is put on the selected stock markets (CME Group Inc., Eurex AG, NYSE Liff Holdings LLC). This section begins with their history, then it describes their structure and purpose. It explains stock market membership conditions and settlement of exchange contracts principles. The final part clarifies the role of credit derivatives in the financial crisis and the reasons that led to it. In the final part of the thesis organizations that regulate credit derivatives are described, in addition to regulation methods and aids, specifically in terms of new regulatory measures under Basel III and the organization of ISDA, which are also included. At the very end the possibilities of securitization and credit risk diversification are explained as well as methods of credit instruments valuation, which are demonstrated on an example of Credit Default Swap.

Cette thèse est constituée de trois essais visant à comprendre dans quelles mesures la performance sociale des entreprises exerce une influence sur leurs politiques financières.Nous souhaitons ainsi contribuer à la littérature portant sur les conséquences sur les marchés financiers de l’engagement RSE des entreprises. Puisque les décisions financières sont affectées par les problèmes d’agences, ou ont un impact sur eux, nous soutenons que l’analyse de l’effet de la performance sociale des entreprises sur leurs décisions financières est une piste de travail intéressante pour comprendre si une performance sociale élevée est compatible avec la maximisation de la richesse des actionnaires. Ainsi, dans notre premier essai, nous étudions l’impact de la performance sociale sur la valeur des actifs liquides. Nous montrons que les investisseurs attribuent une valeur supérieure aux disponibilités détenues par des entreprises ayant une performance sociale élevée. Ce résultat est cohérent avec l’idée selon laquelle une performance sociale élevée conduit à une utilisation efficace de la trésorerie. En outre, nous exposons que l’impact positif de la performance sociale sur la valeur des actifs liquides n’est observé que pour des entreprises se situant dans des pays dans lesquels la protection des investisseurs est élevée. Ainsi, nous soulignons que la qualité des institutions joue un rôle important dans la relation entre la performance sociale et la valeur de marché des entreprises.Dans un second essai, nous étudions l’influence de la performance sociale sur la politique de dividendes. Dans un contexte international, nous révélons que les entreprises socialement responsables ont plus tendance à verser des dividendes que les autres et à payer des dividendes plus élevés. Cet essai semble montrer que la politique de dividendes est un moyen de résoudre les problèmes d’agence potentiels associés aux politiques de RSE. En ce sens,nous observons que la relation positive entre performance sociale et niveau de dividendes est vraie seulement lorsque la qualité de la gouvernance est élevée. Enfin, notre troisième essai se penche sur l’impact de la performance sociale à la fois sur la structure financière, sur le choix de la source de financement et sur la taille des émissions d’actions. Nous montrons que la performance sociale a un impact négatif sur le niveau d’endettement. Nous observons également que les entreprises socialement responsables émettent des actions plus souvent que les autres. De plus, en se basant sur la littérature montrant un effet négatif de la performance sociale sur l’asymétrie d’information, nous soulignons que les entreprises socialement responsables émettent de plus gros volumes d’actions. Nous révélons également que ces entreprises sont moins sensibles aux conditions de marché lorsqu’elles décident d’avoir recours à l’émission d’actions. En définitive, nos résultats suggèrent que la performance sociale est un déterminant significatif des politiques financières des entreprises et que les entreprises semblent prendre en compte les conséquences financières de leurs politiques de RSE dans leurs prises de décisions financières. / This thesis consists of three essays investigating the impact of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) performance on several firms’ financial decisions. We aim to contribute to the growing literature on the capital market consequences of CSR activities. Since many financial decisions affect or are affected by agency problems, we argue that analysis of the impact of CSR commitment on firms’ financial policies is an interesting way to observe whether and how high CSR performance and shareholder wealth maximization are compatible.Thus, in our first essay, we study the impact of CSR performance on the value of cash holdings. We find that investors assign a higher value to cash held by high CSR firms. This result is consistent with the idea that investors expect that high CSR performance leads to an efficient use of cash holdings. In addition, we show that the positive impact of CSR performance on the value of cash holdings is observed only for firms operating in countries with high investor protection. Hence, we underline that country-level governance seems to shape the relationship between CSR performance and market value. In the second essay, we investigate the influence of CSR performance on dividend policies. In an international context,we reveal that high CSR firms are more likely to pay dividends, and to pay larger dividends.This essay provides evidence that dividend policy is a means to reduce potential agency problems related to CSR activities. In this way, we also show that the positive relationship between CSR performance and dividend payout is observed only when corporate governance is effective. Finally, our third essay investigates the impact of CSR performance on capital structure, debt-equity choice and the size of equity issuances. We find that CSR performance is negatively related to leverage. We also highlight that high CSR firms issue equity instead of debt more frequently. Moreover, consistent with recent papers that show a negative effect of CSR performance on information asymmetry, we highlight that high CSR firms issue larger amounts of equity than other firms. We also show that these firms are less dependent on market conditions for their equity issuances. Overall, our results suggest that CSR performance is a significant determinant of firms’ financial policies, and that firms seem to take the financial consequences of their CSR policies into account in their financial decisions.

The paper explores the driving forces behind corporate cash holdings by analyzing past literature and extending this research to the behavior of firms after the 2008 recession. I look at the cash to assets and net debt to assets ratios from October 1980 to October 2011 to obtain an understanding of the past and current state of cash holdings. A comprehensive literature review is done on agency costs and transactional motives to give the reader an overview of the costs and benefits of holding cash. This provides the foundation for the precautionary motives for companies today to keep cash as a risk management tool.

Kadastriniai (geodeziniai) matavimai – veiksmai, kuriais identifikuojamas nekilnojamasis daiktas, atliekamas tikslus suformuotų žemės sklypų plotų nustatymas, parengiamas žemės sklypo planas, bei suformuojama ir parengiama nustatytos formos nekilnojamojo daikto kadastro duomenų byla. Straipsnyje analizuojami Panevėžio rajono sodininkų bendrijų sodų ir asmeninio ūkio žemės sklypų kadastro duomenų pokyčiai tarp Nekilnojamojo turto registre įregistruotų sklypų kadastro duomenų ir geodezinių matavimų metu nustatytų duomenų. Apžvelgiamas kadastrinių matavimų teisinis reglamentavimas, aptariamas Panevėžio rajono sodininkų bendrijų sodų, asmeninio ūkio, bei namų valdų žemės sklypų privatizavimas, pateikiami konkretūs preliminarių ir kadastrinių matavimų metu nustatytų kadastro duomenų pavyzdžiai. / Cadastral (surveying) measurements - the action, which identified the immovable object, the establishment of a precise determination of surface area, a plot plan, and formed fixed shape and a real estate cadastre data file. The article analyzes the Panevezys District Gardening community garden and private agricultural land plots cadastral data changes between the real estate register land cadastre data and geodetic measurements in the data. Overview of the legal regulation of cadastral measurements, discussed in Panevezys District Gardening community garden, private farm, house and land holdings of land privatization, and the specific preliminary and cadastral measurements of the time set for the cadastral data.

Fund investments are very popular in Sweden. However, we have the impression that despite this popularity, the average fund investor in Sweden does not pay much attention to the importance and possible link of fund’s asset composition features (e.g. Asset class, Holdings, and Geo-exposure) to fund’s performance. Instead, S/he relies on factors such as fees, risk levels, historical performance, etc. in her/his investment decisions. Similarly, academic studies mainly focus on attributes such as funds fees, size, and manager’s skill to explain fund’s performance. Thus there are limited premier academic studies on the relationship between fund’s performance and its asset composition features. The main purpose of this study is to investigate possible causal relationship between the performances of funds with their assets composition features. We study the whole population of 346 Swedish listed mutual funds older than five years for the period 2009-2013. The results of the study provides the investors and analysts with additional decision-making and investment-analysis tools to assist them in making more informed judgment on funds and their expected returns. The results are also useful for fund managers to improve their strategies by refining the combinations of their funds’ asset composition attributes in order to improve the absolute risk-adjusted performance of their funds. Our research philosophy has been based on positivism and objectivism along with functionalist paradigm and we have applied deductive approach to test the theories. We have used quantitative method and collected the funds’ data from public business databases and chosen Jensen’s alpha and Treynor ratio as funds’ risk-adjusted performance measures. We performed Correlation tests and Regression with robust techniques on our data to answer the research question from three aspects, namely asset class (equity, bond, and mixed assets); geo-exposures (Sweden, Global, Europe, and Nordic) and Top-ten holdings’ measures (asset concentration and Treynor of each fund’s passive top-ten sub-portfolio). We conclude that correlations between funds’ risk-adjusted performance and assets composition features are likely to exist. Stronger correlations are observed between the explanatory measures and fund’s relative risk-adjusted performance (fund’s Treynor) as compared to fund’s absolute risk adjusted performance (fund’s Jensen’s alpha). Asset concentration in top-ten holdings and bond asset class are more likely to be in casual relationship with fund’s risk-adjusted performance, whereas Treynor ratio of top-ten holdings’ passive sub-portfolio as well as fund’s geo-exposure do not seem to have strong explanatory power for funds’ absolute performance.

資料包絡分析法乃是利用數學規劃模式求取決策單位之相對效率，故本研究針對本文針對競爭激烈之金控環境下,14至15家金控子銀行進行推估其經營效率。 銀行經營效率評估，主要以財務比率法、資料包絡法及隨機生產（或成本）邊界法。財務比率法大多利用單一投入與產出之比值，不符合生產函數之理論架構；DEA已經針對投入與產出之關係，作一嚴謹的分析，而能推估數個投入與產出之效率指標，此一效率指標，較能評估各廠商之經營績效。本文運用Farrell對於多項投入及多項產出效率衡量的概念，去推估各金控子銀行從1999年至2004年的經營效率，並建議這些銀行如何去配置最佳技術效率組合。 本研究的結論得出公營金控公司子銀行的績效不如民營金控子銀行來的佳。且金控公司子銀行未來應加強創新，增進風險管理的能力，促使銀行、證券及保險平台的結合，以便提高競爭力。 / Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is a mathematical programming approach to accessing relative efficiencies within a group of Decision Making Units (DMUS). therefore this research controls the environment in view of this article in view of the competition intense gold next the bank to carry on,14 to 15 Financial company bankings pushes estimates its management efficiency. 　　The bank management efficiency appraised, mainly by Financial Ratio Approachs, Data Envelopment Approachs and The Stochastic production (or cost) Frontier Approachs. The financial ratio Approachs mostly uses the sole investment with to deliver the ratio, does not conform to theory of overhead construction the production function; DEA already aimed at the investment with to deliver the relations, made a rigorous analysis, but could push estimates several investments with to deliver the efficiency target. This efficiency target, comparatively can appraise management achievements various merchants. This article utilizes Farrell delivers the efficiency weight regarding many investments and many items the concept, pushes estimates various Jin K'ungtzu the bank from 1999 to 2004 management efficiency, and suggested how these banks do dispose the best technical efficiency combination. 　　This research conclusion obtains the public-operated gold to control the company sub- bank the achievements to be inferior to privately operated Financial company bankings comes good. Also the gold will control the company sub- bank future to be supposed to strengthen the innovation, will promote the risk management the ability, will urge the bank, the negotiable securities and insures the platform the union, in order to enhancement competitive ability.

Thesis (M.B.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1992.