This research examines institutional transformation of the board of directors in Canada to a collaborative model in which the board, in addition to its monitoring function, provides a service role by acting as a sounding board to management and providing advice and counsel to management on strategic issues. This thesis also examines how director search, likely initiated by the ‘Enron’ scandals, led to some boards adopting a new model of practice that directors deemed more efficacious and possessing legitimacy, bringing together the old and the new institutionalism in institutional change processes. Legitimacy was drawn from guidance from a professional association for directors that outlined how boards could become strategic asset to the firm that was consistent with a stewardship model of governance that saw boards collaborative with management. It is also argued in this thesis that following the Enron scandal, directors searched for a model of practice that would be more efficacious such that their fears of liability were reduced. In searching for and adopting a new model of practice, the collaborative board, it is also argued that adoption requires coupling to the technical core (enacted), as opposed to symbolic, if it is to be effective. This research studies directors and senior management of public firms of the TSX Composite by way of survey methods. The findings provide support that the board is evolving in Canada to a new collaborative model and that the model of practice appears to be enacted (coupled) as opposed to symbolic (decoupled). Further, the results did not find that collaborative boards are impaired in their monitoring function and support is found that the board’s monitoring role may actually be enhanced. These results are discussed as well as future research directions and limitations of the study.

This research examines institutional transformation of the board of directors in Canada to a collaborative model in which the board, in addition to its monitoring function, provides a service role by acting as a sounding board to management and providing advice and counsel to management on strategic issues. This thesis also examines how director search, likely initiated by the ‘Enron’ scandals, led to some boards adopting a new model of practice that directors deemed more efficacious and possessing legitimacy, bringing together the old and the new institutionalism in institutional change processes. Legitimacy was drawn from guidance from a professional association for directors that outlined how boards could become strategic asset to the firm that was consistent with a stewardship model of governance that saw boards collaborative with management. It is also argued in this thesis that following the Enron scandal, directors searched for a model of practice that would be more efficacious such that their fears of liability were reduced. In searching for and adopting a new model of practice, the collaborative board, it is also argued that adoption requires coupling to the technical core (enacted), as opposed to symbolic, if it is to be effective. This research studies directors and senior management of public firms of the TSX Composite by way of survey methods. The findings provide support that the board is evolving in Canada to a new collaborative model and that the model of practice appears to be enacted (coupled) as opposed to symbolic (decoupled). Further, the results did not find that collaborative boards are impaired in their monitoring function and support is found that the board’s monitoring role may actually be enhanced. These results are discussed as well as future research directions and limitations of the study.

This thesis researches the development process of financial certificate in Taiwanese banking. In recent years, financial certificate is an important phenomenon in the workplace of finances. Previous studies focused on the impact of the certification, discuss the formation of financial certificate less. In this article, the view of institutional change regards the banking certificate institution as long duration to consider state, the different period of capital and other actor that have different mechanisms of their interactions in institutional formation process. The research method of this thesis adopt analysis of historical documents and interview to understand the formation of financial certification. Study found that the development of the banking certificate can be divided into three stages: the first stage is incubation. Financial employees in the era of state-owned banking had quasi-public servant status, and rely on the apprenticeship training skills through examinations. In the financial liberalization policy, the new banks joined the market so that employee turnover was high; with college increasing rapidly, in the past through internal training structure had become break down. At the same time, the state proposed the Asia Pacific Financial Center from the traditional conservative financial policy to active, established Taiwan Academy of Banking & Finance (TABF) to handle related business of financial certificate, and created the precedent of certification. The second stage is after that establishment of financial holding companies. The finances boundaries are broken. The banking business is more and more complexity. Securities certificate institution having long been customary in securities industry is further stable. The number of banking certificate increased sharply in this stage. The third stage is Institutionalization. TABF develop new certificate continuously, make kinds of banking business certificated, but employees tend to lukewarm response, examinees turned down sharply. At this time, certification is an institutionalization action to pursuit of legitimacy, rather than respond to real needs. This article affirms the view of new institutionalism, and point out the initial of institutional formation indeed response to new financial development. However, at a later stage the action of institutionalization is only for pursuing legitimacy.

This paper summaries the institutional change of traditional institutionalism and new institutionalism, and discuss North¡¦s books: 1981, Structure and Change in Economic History¡B1990, Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance¡B2005, Understanding the Process of Economic Change, figuring out the idea of north¡¦s institutional change? And how does his study influence new institutionalism of politics? Finally, I¡¦ll compare the institutional perspective of North, traditional institutionalism and new institutionalism. This paper researched by historical document analysis and comparative analysis. Studying North¡¦s institutional research in different period to outline his institutional perspective, especially in his late period. North focused on mental model of human being in his latest book, that¡¦s a rare way to research institutional change. By this paper, I hope to outline whole North¡¦s perspective of institutional change, and do a good comparison of North, traditional institutionalism and new institutionalism.

Purchase is an important link in business management. Practically, it covers the applications of various theories such as psychology, financial management, international trade, the science of law and other social sciences. However, owing to the relative conservative nature of purchase and the environment under which the ordinary enterprises lay particular stress on sales performance, the real effect of purchase is usually overlooked by enterprises when they receive good profits. In terms of the purposes of business growth and acquirement of market competitive advantages, no matter whether the core competitive power of a company is service, sale or production, or whether a company is of profit-making or non profit-making nature, a purchasing system with economic effect is an indispensable and basic appeal for the operation and management of the company. The primary purpose of this study is to carry out academic study on the differences between theories and practices in the purchasing system and its implementation. The study tries to prove that the excellent ¡§system¡¨ highly praised by the society is not only constructed on a single basis of ¡§formal rules¡¨ with the theory of new institutional economics. It is believed that there are still other factors affecting the result of implementing the system. Through researches, analysis, and comparison between the system and its practical implementation, this thesis finds that the study results are consistent with the three aspects of the new institutional economics: ¡§informal limits¡¨, ¡§formal rules¡¨ and ¡§institutional changes¡¨. That means all drawbacks come from the failure of ¡§informal limits¡¨ such as people¡¦s code of conduct, norms of conduct, customs, culture, habits, etc. and loopholes found in the ¡§formal rules¡¨ under limited norms. Meanwhile, if the root causes of such system failure can¡¦t be found from the informal limits, even though we impose more restrictive conditions on the purchasing system and force it to produce an institutional change, the formal rules after such change are still insufficient to become the main tool for eliminating all drawbacks or an effective method for solving the corrupt practices.

This dissertation explores the transformation of American financial organization and governance over the postwar period. Through a case study of Citigroup, it seeks to explain how and why the global financial services supermarket became the dominant form of business organization in American finance and society. My core claim is that generational change in the late 1950s and 1960s swept into power a group of Interwar generation elites bearing with them a concept for the large financial firm and a vision of market order whose roots traced back to the Gilded Age. The timing and pattern of organizational and institutional change was, however, contingent on battles won and lost over particular features of their institutional environment.

The recent rediscovery of institutions in the study of international development has drawn considerable attention to macro arrangements, but sparked much less interest in mid-range, sectoral institutions and how they are reshaped under dynamic domestic and nondomestic constraints. This study joins the few examples of this latter research focus by offering a typology of sectoral institutional pathways in contemporary late developers. The typology incorporates four variables: pre-existing institutions, international norms, technocratic engineering, and coalition politics. It is argued that from careful pairings of these variables, for which the sectoral effects of internationalization and the intensity of domestic political competition are used as the main criteria, it is possible to deduce distinct ideal-typical pathways: insulated accommodation, insulated innovation, negotiated accommodation, and negotiated innovation. The typology models the complexity of institutional trajectories, but it cannot predict concrete institutional profiles. Its value is in providing guidance for empirical analysis. The bulk of the study is devoted to applying this framework to the evolution of Turkey’s fiscal, financial and agricultural regimes of governance from 1980 to 2007. This comparative exercise unlocks several empirical mysteries at once: the failure of Turkish governments in the 1990s to readjust the novel fiscal and banking regimes to preempt the perils of democratic instability and rapid financial integration; the surprising persistence of populist-corporatist forms of market governance in agriculture despite the neoliberalism of the 1980s and 1990s; the stark divergence in reform outcomes across these regimes during the intense restructuring efforts of the 2000s; some odd instances of institutional complementarity; and the exotic twists in the fortunes of Turkish peasants and bankers throughout the entire period. A separate chapter extends the typology to four non-Turkish cases to gain comparative insight into the different types of reshaping: Chinese banking, South Korean corporate governance, Mexican agriculture, and Argentine labor markets. Among the main findings of the study are the need to get beyond dichotomous notions of institutional continuity and change, the problematicity of the quest for good institutions via externally-inspired reforms, and the value of mid-range institutional analysis for understanding shifts in collective fortunes and preferences under processes of macro-transformation.

This thesis examines institutional change on Canadian First Nation reserves. Specifically, it looks at the factors that may affect a First Nation’s decision to adopt the Framework Agreement on First Nation Land Management, which allows First Nations to opt out of the 34 land code provisions of the Indian Act and develop individual land codes. The Framework Agreement is promoted as a way for First Nations to gain greater autonomy over their lands and to promote economic development. Using data from First Nation reserves and populations, a probit model was used to determine the effects of certain characteristics on the probability a First Nation will adopt the Framework Agreement. The results of this study indicate that proximity to an urban centre positively affects the probability that a First Nation will adopt the Framework Agreement.

The recent rediscovery of institutions in the study of international development has drawn considerable attention to macro arrangements, but sparked much less interest in mid-range, sectoral institutions and how they are reshaped under dynamic domestic and nondomestic constraints. This study joins the few examples of this latter research focus by offering a typology of sectoral institutional pathways in contemporary late developers. The typology incorporates four variables: pre-existing institutions, international norms, technocratic engineering, and coalition politics. It is argued that from careful pairings of these variables, for which the sectoral effects of internationalization and the intensity of domestic political competition are used as the main criteria, it is possible to deduce distinct ideal-typical pathways: insulated accommodation, insulated innovation, negotiated accommodation, and negotiated innovation. The typology models the complexity of institutional trajectories, but it cannot predict concrete institutional profiles. Its value is in providing guidance for empirical analysis. The bulk of the study is devoted to applying this framework to the evolution of Turkey’s fiscal, financial and agricultural regimes of governance from 1980 to 2007. This comparative exercise unlocks several empirical mysteries at once: the failure of Turkish governments in the 1990s to readjust the novel fiscal and banking regimes to preempt the perils of democratic instability and rapid financial integration; the surprising persistence of populist-corporatist forms of market governance in agriculture despite the neoliberalism of the 1980s and 1990s; the stark divergence in reform outcomes across these regimes during the intense restructuring efforts of the 2000s; some odd instances of institutional complementarity; and the exotic twists in the fortunes of Turkish peasants and bankers throughout the entire period. A separate chapter extends the typology to four non-Turkish cases to gain comparative insight into the different types of reshaping: Chinese banking, South Korean corporate governance, Mexican agriculture, and Argentine labor markets. Among the main findings of the study are the need to get beyond dichotomous notions of institutional continuity and change, the problematicity of the quest for good institutions via externally-inspired reforms, and the value of mid-range institutional analysis for understanding shifts in collective fortunes and preferences under processes of macro-transformation.

Multi-stakeholder dialogue and collaborations have been considered as ‘panacea’ for complex local to global problems confronting governments, businesses and society. And for over a decade now, they have also been increasingly promoted as mechanisms to achieve sustainability. There is, however, a dearth of empirical studies that give deeper insights into the practical dimensions and various implications of such processes for sustainability. This dissertation explores how multi-stakeholder organising processes for sustainability occur in local settings. It relies on a theoretical framework that combines institutional and social movements theoretical perspectives. Such a theoretical cross-fertilisation has been helpful in explaining: (a) how the macro institutional context of sustainable development influences micro interactions of individuals during collaborations; and (b) how those micro interactions may influence the sustainability movement organised at macro societal levels. The dissertation is philosophically based on the principles of critical hermeneutics. It draws on the works of Hans-Georg Gadamer and Jürgen Habermas to understand the nature of reality, society and human relationships. The study also uses literature on sustainable development, organising, dialogue, collaboration, stakeholder engagement, emotions and time. Three cases of multi-stakeholder dialogic collaborations organised to address sustainability of two regions in New Zealand were investigated through observations, interviews with participants and documentary research. These processes were developed in response to a regulatory change in New Zealand – the new Local Government Act (2002) which emphasises sustainable development of communities. The data across the three cases was analysed using principles of grounded theory and critical hermeneutics. Analysis reveals how various kinds of institutional pressures (engulfing cultural-cognitive, regulative and normative institutions connected with sustainable development) confront different stakeholders with varying intensities. Those pressures influence stakeholders to become involved in and commit to such collaborations. And as stakeholders participate in such processes, they are shown to engage with one another rationally and emotionally, and with different conceptions of time. The collaborations thus can be characterised by a complex fusion of rationality, emotionality and temporality. On the one hand, multi-stakeholder dialogic collaborations stimulate learning, facilitate relationship building and build social capital for implementing sustainable development. They thus prove themselves as potent governance mechanisms that can help to institutionalise sustainable development. On the other hand, multi-stakeholder dialogic collaborations for sustainability are highly messy, unpredictable, paradoxical and conflict-ridden processes of stakeholder engagement. They are shown to suffer from three major problematics: problematic of misunderstandings; problematic of stakeholders’ emotions; and problematic of stakeholders’ time. They thus, ironically and paradoxically, are also problematic solutions for sustainability.