This dissertation examines the impact of major hurricanes on changes in GDP for counties in four states – Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Texas. The analysis examines the effectiveness of intergovernmental financing for major hurricanes between 2000 and 2014. It also examines whether institutional proximity of the disaster management function to the Governor's Office and the career status of the director affect the speed of recovery from the disaster. The analysis also assesses the impact that a counties's prior experience at dealing with disasters has on the speed of recovery.

This thesis focuses on e-government implementation and related institutional adoption and diffusion factors in Omani public sector organisations. With the advancement of the Internet and supporting Information and Communication Technologies, e-government has emerged as an effective means of delivering government services to citizens. While most early e-government efforts were concentrated on developed countries, in the recent past, it has also become popular in many developing countries. Most notably are the Middle Eastern countries that have continued to invest significantly into e-government initiatives in the last five years. However, compared to the West, the progress of e-government implementation and diffusion has been laggard in the Middle East region. The Sultanate of Oman is one such example, where, although large investments have been made since 2003 to facilitate the implementation of its electronic services, limited progress has been made in terms of realising fully functional e-government. The aim of this thesis is to examine the institutional factors influencing the development and implementation of e-government in the context of Oman using case study based research. From an institutional perspective economic, political and social as well as technological issues signify the most fundamental pressures that organisations face when initiating e-government implementation led change. Using institutional theory as a conceptual lens, this thesis aims to provide a better understanding of the internal and external pressures that influence the success of e-government projects. This research identified nineteen different factors influencing the progress of the national e-government project, e-Oman, from a public sector organisational perspective. Further, a conceptual model for examining e-government implementation has been developed and evaluated empirically within the context of Oman. By doing so, this research contributes to the body of knowledge by identifying the institutional factors that contributes to the success of e-government implementation and explaining its paradoxes.

In face of the rapid globalization, more and more emerging market MNEs (EMNEs) are assigning expatriates to establish and manage overseas tasks in order to gain the competitive advantages in global markets. Consequently, the issue of expatriate management within the context of EMNEs has become an important concern in the field of IHRM. The purpose of the thesis is to delineate how expatriate management of Chinese MNEs that shaped by unique Chinese informal institutional environment may impact upon the expatriate effectiveness (work adjustment and job performance) in foreign countries. The thesis uses a qualitative research and collects empirical data from 11 Chinese expatriates working in 3 different Chinese MNEs’ Nordic divisions. The empirical results reveal the fact that Harmony is positively related to work adjustment through indoctrinating the specific corporate value, Group Orientation (family attachment) has positive relationship with job performance, Top-down control has negative relationship with work adjustment because of the hierarchy pressure, and Guanxi has no link with expatriate effectiveness under the given regulations and staffing policies. In the context of EMNEs, the influences of four different informal institutional factors are able to intervene the IHRM practices so as to increase or decrease the expatriate effectiveness.

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Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:55:23Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:04:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / O presente trabalho propõe um estudo das melhores práticas de Sistemas de Indicadores de Desempenho Institucionais em Organizações Públicas de Pesquisa, Desenvolvimento e Inovação (P&D&I), preferencialmente em organizações militares. Nos setores públicos, em especial nas organizações militares de pesquisa, desenvolvimento e inovação, tem se verificado a mobilização no sentido de estabelecer uma gestão contemporânea, baseada num Sistema de Indicadores de Desempenho, financeiros e não financeiros, estratégicos, táticos e operacionais, como uma ferramenta de controle organizacional na execução dos planos estabelecidos, no cumprimento da missão da organização, segundo um processo de melhoria contínua. Dentre as abordagens utilizadas para desenvolver um Sistema de Indicadores de Desempenho, desde a década de 90, destaca-se o Balanced Scorecard (BSC), baseado nos trabalhos desenvolvidos por Kaplan e Norton em 1986. O BSC coloca a estratégia e a missão e não o controle no centro da concepção do sistema de indicadores, por meio de um sistema gerencial contínuo de definição e avaliação, e disponibiliza informações tanto de caráter financeiro como não financeiro, em formatos lógicos. A proposta desta pesquisa é entender as experiências internacionais e nacionais de Sistemas de Indicadores de Desempenho Organizacionais, aplicáveis às organizações públicas de P&D&I, preferencialmente militares, e identificar suas melhores práticas. Ao final da pesquisa, é conduzida uma comparação entre as experiências analisadas, em operação ou planejadas, e são oferecidas algumas sugestões para a construção de um Sistema Institucional de Indicadores de Desempenho para uma organização pública de P&D&I, em especial militar. O estudo proposto insere-se no contexto atual de Sistemas de Indicadores de Desempenho Institucionais das organizações, com enfoque na abordagem estratégica do BSC, possuindo um papel inovador no desenvolvimento desta abordagem no Brasil, e em particular nas organizações públicas com forte atuação em pesquisa, desenvolvimento e inovação. O resultado desta pesquisa possibilita o desdobramento da aplicação do estudo realizado em outras organizações públicas, preferencialmente militares, que atuam em pesquisa, desenvolvimento e inovação, e o aprimoramento dos Sistemas de Indicadores de Desempenho Institucionais atualmente já implantados, adequando-se às normas e diretrizes aplicáveis. / Dissertação (Mestrado) / IPEN/D / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN-CNEN/SP

Community colleges are challenged to find their next set of leaders who can respond to the diverse challenges of leading the institution. This study examined the impact of institutional and personal factors on faculty aspirations to leadership roles within the community college through the utilization of the Social Cognitive Career Theory framework. A case study research design utilizing mixed-methods investigated the perceived and preferred organizational culture(s) and the manner in which institutional and personal factors influence faculty aspirations to assume leadership roles at Southcentral Kentucky Community and Technical College. The findings of the research indicate that affecting change and being asked to lead are personal factors of influence that motivate faculty to aspire to formal leadership positions within the community college. On the other hand, the challenge of formal leadership roles, family and work-life balance might dissuade faculty aspirations of faculty to formal leadership roles. The study reveals that organizational culture was a positive factor of institutional influence. This study advances the field of educational leadership in that a number of personal and institutional factors influence the aspirations of faculty as they consider movement into formal leadership position within the community college. The findings identify the need for research across multiple institutions and the need to expand Social Cognitive Career Theory to include personal-cognitive barriers of race and gender.

This research paper makes an attempt at closing the gap in literature by testing agency considerations as an influencing factor for dividend policy of IPO firms. Dividend data of 642 firms from seven countries are used to make statistical interferences about the time it takes an IPO to issue dividend, influenced by different institutional factors of countries. An OLS is used to make these interferences. The results presented here indicate that there is a robust effect of legal enforcement on the time it takes before an IPO firm in a certain country pays its first dividend.

Este estudo avaliou estrutura de capital das companhias abertas brasileiras, no período de 2005 a 2012, verificando o papel das fontes de financiamento nas quais tais companhias se baseiam. Para tanto, a proporção das dívidas em três fontes distintas foram avaliadas: as instituições financeiras, o mercado de capitais e as fontes com taxas de juros subsidiadas, esta representando um fator institucional da economia brasileira. Foi utilizada uma amostra de noventa e cinco empresas dentre as cento e cinqüenta maiores empresas com ações negociadas na BM&FBOVESPA. Por meio de modelos com dados em painel, os resultados mostram que as fontes de financiamento exercem influência na formação da estrutura de capital das empresas via alavancagem e maturidade das dívidas. Em relação à alavancagem, empresas que tem maior proporção de seus recursos captados no mercado de capitais são mais alavancadas. O mesmo não acontece com as empresas que tem maior proporção de recursos subsidiados. Foram encontradas evidências de que as firmas com maior proporção de recursos no mercado de capitais são as maiores, menos rentáveis, com maior proporção de ativos tangíveis, menos arriscadas e com menores oportunidades de crescimento. Em relação à maturidade das dívidas, recursos de diferentes maturidades são captados em diferentes fontes: os recursos de menores maturidades são captados via instituições financeiras e os recursos de maiores maturidades são captados no mercado de capitais e nas fontes com taxas de juros subsidiadas (leia-se BNDES). Comparando-se os recursos do mercado de capitais com os recursos subsidiados, verificou-se que as companhias tem se utilizado do mercado de capitais para seus financiamentos de maior maturidade. Os recursos subsidiados tem sido utilizados para maturidades intermediárias. Os resultados podem ser justificados devido ao crescimento do mercado de capitais brasileiro nos últimos anos, a partir de 2009, dada a Instrução CVM Nº 476/09, apontando evidências de que as companhias estão alterando a forma como se utilizam das fontes de financiamento para compor sua estrutura de capital. / This study evaluated the capital structure of Brazilian listed companies, in the period from 2005 to 2012, verifying the role of sources of financing in which this companies rely for their funding. Therefore, the proportion of debt in three distinct sources were evaluated: financial institutions, capital markets and sources with subsidized interest rates, this representing an institutional factor of the Brazilian economy. A sample of ninety five companies, among the one hundred fifty largest companies listed on the BM&FBOVESPA, was used. Using models with panel data, the results show that the sources of financing exert influence on the capital structure of firms in two ways: via leverage and debt maturity. Regarding leverage, firms that have a higher proportion of their funds raised in the capital market are more leveraged. The same is not true for companies that have a higher proportion of subsidized resources. Were found evidence that firms with higher proportion of funds raised in the capital market are larger, less profitable, with higher proportion of tangible assets, less risky and lower growth opportunities. Regarding maturity of the debt, resources of different maturities are raised in different sources: resources of smaller maturities are raised through financial institutions and resources of larger maturities are raised in the capital markets and sources with subsidized interest rates (read BNDES). Comparing the features of the capital market with subsidized resources, it was found that the companies has used the capital market for their financing of longer maturity. Subsidized resources have been used for intermediate maturities. Results can be justified due to the growth of the Brazilian capital market in recent years, from 2009, given to Instruction CVM Nº 476/09, pointing out evidence that companies are changing the way they use the sources of financing to compose its capital structure.

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