This study builds on the paper by Arquette, Brown, and Burdekin (2008) and asks whether the factors which they find to be significant in influencing the differential between the share prices of Chinese securities traded on their home market in Shanghai versus share prices observed offshore in Hong Kong and New York have varying degrees of influence when compared across industries. This paper focuses on Chinese companies listed on both the Shanghai and Hong Kong Stock Exchanges and finds that the proxy variables of expected exchange rate change, relative market sentiment, and relative company sentiment are significant in determining the average discount observed and that their effects do indeed vary significantly from industry to industry.

Capital structure and companies’ performance are important to corporate finance. Therefore, firms take different strategies to adjust capital structure to get a better firm performance. However still the studies mostly conducted in one country setting or neglect the angle from listed companies across countries. This thesis encompasses 2 developed countries (Germany and Sweden) and a developing country (China) to test the impact from capital structure to firm performance of period 2003-2012 with more than 1200 listed companies in Germany and Sweden and more than 1000 listed companies in China. The result shows capital structure has a significant negative effect to firm performance in China, whereas, significant positive effect in 2 European countries before financial crisis happened in 2008. I also find institutional factors and economic crisis will affect this relationship too.

Risk disclosure is an important issue, firstly to prevent future unexpected bankruptcies and economic scandals, secondly to create trust between a company and its stakeholders. Given the importance of the issue, previous literature has mainly focused on quantity of risk disclosures. In this dissertation, both quality and quantity of risk disclosures in the annual reports of 65 companies listed on the Nasdaq OMX Stockholm exchange are analyzed. The objectives are to describe the degree of risk disclosures and to understand whether the quality and quantity of this information can be explained by size, industry and/or performance of the company. By conducting a content analysis of the annual reports, we explored if the required risk information was disclosed (quantity) and how it was disclosed (quality). Afterwards, a statistical analysis was conducted in order to obtain a deeper understanding of the results from our content analysis. The findings of our study are that both quality and quantity of risk disclosures in our sample are only half as good as they should be according to requirements in the Swedish context. We found that there is a difference in quality and quantity of risk disclosures between two of the industry categories; Energy and Materials, where the first mentioned is the best and the second the worst. We did not find significant correlations between the quality and quantity of risk disclosure and the size or the performance for the whole sample. Still, we found some differences in both quality and quantity of risk disclosure information when looking at smaller parts of our sample. Size has a significant impact on both quality and quantity of risk disclosures within the Industrials and Information Technology companies. Among Information Technology companies, also performance has a significant impact on the quantity of risk disclosure.

The price difference of the Chinese dual-listed companies is a interesting issue. The price of the same asset should be consistent after risk-adjusted, but there is an obvious difference between A-share and H-share which the same company¡¦s shares listed in the Shanghai or Shenzhen Stock Exchange and Hong Kong Stock Exchange. This study found that not only liquidity, demand, required risk premium, and information asymmetry can lead to the price difference, but also manipulation, investor¡¦s preference, and the market emotion. This also verified the investors are more speculative in China than the investors in Hong Kong. Besides, this research analysis the price difference ratio form the viewpoint of valuation, the difference ratio provides a way to understand whether the stock is undervaluation or overvaluation. Finally, this study discussed the Taiwan Depository Receipts. The result indicated that most of the factors which influence the price difference between A-share and H-share also affected the price difference between TDR and the original share. The difference ratio between TDR and original share can also provide some information about the stocks are undervaluation or overvaluation.

This research primarily examines the trends of changing characteristics of corporate boards within New Zealand listed firms. Expressing in a quantitative framework, this research provides an insight of how board compositions have changed over the past decade, within which two major corporate governance legislative reforms have occurred. These two reforms are known as the Companies Act in 1993 and the New Zealand Corporate Governance Best Practice Code in 2003. This study aims to cover a full range of board characteristics mentioned in previous related literatures in order to give a more complete view. Sixteen variables are selected and examined: board size, board independence, multiple directorships, CEO compensation, chair and director fees, CEO duality, gender diversity, staggered board, directors' ownership, director tenure, directors' experience, committee existence, committee independence, CEO involvement on board committees, board and committee Meetings, directors' educational and industrial background. Within the above variables, board size, board independence and CEO duality receives the most attention from New Zealand investors and regulators. Tendencies of movements regarding these characteristics appear to collaborate with public expectations. Board size has decreased while independence has increased throughout the periods examined. CEO duality phenomenon sharply reduced during the periods after 2003 legislative reform. Committee independence has also grown according to the public recognition, especially for audit committees. CEO involvements on board committees are less than before. Boards within New Zealand listed firms desire more diversification of both gender and backgrounds of directors. These findings fill the gap of the evolution of corporate boards’ characteristics of New Zealand listed firms over the past decade.

Bakgrund: Miljöredovisningen är ett sätt för företagen att beskriva sitt miljöarbete. Den har fått allt större betydelse för företagen i takt med att miljöfrågorna blivit allt viktigare hos intressenter och allmänheten. Det gäller för företagen att visa att man tar ett miljö- och samhällsansvar för att skapa trovärdighet och förtroende i samhället.   Syfte:                                  Att ge läsaren en bild över hur och varför miljöredovisningen ser ut som den gör och vad företagen, som associeras med betydande miljöpåverkan, väljer att fokusera på i sina miljöredovisningar.  Metod:                               En kvalitativ studie som grundar sig i legitimitetsteorin och institutionell teori har utförts. Vi har undersökt litteratur, vetenskapliga artiklar, miljöredovisningar samt fört intervjuer med personer som har behörig kompetens.  Slutsats:                             Studien visar på hur viktig miljöredovisningen är för företagen som associeras med betydande miljöpåverkan. Företagen belyser det viktiga i att kunna vara transparent och visa intressenter och allmänheten att man tar miljöfrågor på största allvar. Studien visar även på hur yttre faktorer påverkar utformningen av miljöredovisningen så som förväntningar och institutionella tryck. Studien visar även på vad företagen fokuserar på i sina miljöredovisningar så som; energieffektivisering, minskning av utsläpp, miljökostnader, miljöinvesteringar, upprättandet av miljömål, miljöstrategier och miljöaktiviteter. / Background:                    The environmental reports are a way for companies to describe their environmental efforts. The environmental reports have become increasingly important for the companies, as the environmental issues have become a priority issue to the general population. Companies now have to show that they can take an environmental and social responsibility in order to build credibility and trust of the society.  Purpose:                            In order to give the reader a picture of how and why environmental reports looks like they do and what companies associated with a negative impact on the environment, chooses to focus on in their environmental reports.  Method:                             A qualitative study based on the legitimacy theory and the institutional theory is conducted in this thesis. A review and examination of literature, scientific articles, environmental reports and engaging interviews with people who have qualified skills in the subject was made.  Conclusion:                       This study demonstrates the importance of the environmental reports for the companies associated with significant environmental impacts. It highlights the importance of being transparent and demonstrates to stakeholders and the public the importance of taking environmental issues seriously. The study also shows how external factors like expectations and institutional pressures affects the general design of the environmental reports. The study also shows what companies are focusing on in their environmental reports such as; energy efficiency, emission reduction, environmental costs and the establishment of environmental goals and strategies.

The increasing use of the internet has created a new opportunity for companies to disseminate different types of information to their current and potential investors via the internet. This type of voluntary disclosure, Corporate Internet Reporting (CIR), can improve the disclosure quality and the transparency to satisfy all users’ needs. Furthermore, corporate governance has attracted considerable global attention, especially after the collapses that have occurred in the financial markets. Recently, a growing interest has evolved in exploring corporate governance in emerging markets due to the increased demand for transparency by stakeholders. To provide new insights, this study aims to explore the extent of CIR, examine its relationship with some corporate governance and firm characteristics variables, and to determine the impact of CIR on firm financial performance. These associations are investigated by employing a quantitative method dependant on a multi-theoretical framework. The study uses a self-constructed disclosure index, which includes 196 items, to measure the CIR of 170 Saudi listed companies. The findings indicate that the level of CIR is, on average, moderate compared to their counterparts in developed countries. Further, the empirical results reveal that firms which are large in size, with low liquidity rate, distribute dividends, have board which is meet less frequently and have less independent members in the audit committee are more likely to have high CIR level. In addition, the results indicate that firm growth, leverage, industry type, audit type, board size, board independence, role duality, block holder ownership, directors ownership, institutional ownership, government ownership, audit committee size and audit committee frequency of meeting appear to be insignificant predictors for CIR total. However, the findings show that the significance of these variables varies among the CIR components: content, presentation, timeliness, usability and audit. Finally, it is statistically evident that CIR has no significant impact on firm financial performance in Saudi listed companies. These findings suggest that further effort is required to enhance the awareness of good corporate governance and that other variables may be more relevant to CIR in the Saudi context.

M.Comm. (Financial Management) / Since the late 1990s South African companies have started to dual list their shares in different countries, mainly to source capital from larger and more developed economies. In addition to this the level of participation by foreigners in the buying and selling of South African shares has increased. This leads to the question: should a local or a global CAPM (capital asset pricing model) be used to value shares that are traded in integrated global capital markets? This study focuses on dual-listed South African shares as these shares are most likely to be traded by investors globally. This study replicated aspects of earlier studies conducted in the Unites States of America and the United Kingdom, which are developed economies. By applying the same principles within a South African context, valuable insights might be derived relating to companies from developing economies. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of using a global CAPM instead of a local CAPM to determine the cost of equity of South African companies. To this end, a sample of 26 dual-listed South African companies was selected using non-probability judgement sampling. Descriptive research was undertaken using quantitative analysis of secondary data. The cost of equity using the local and global CAPM was calculated for each of the selected dual-listed South African companies. The historical monthly returns of the dual-listed shares as well as each of the local and global risk factors during the period from 1 January 2005 to 31 December 2009 were used to calculate the local and global beta coefficients. The estimates of the local and global cost of equity were compared to ascertain whether there were significant differences for individual shares, as well as across different market sectors. While the results from similar previous studies on shares of developed countries by Koedijk and van Dijk (2004:474); Koedijk et al (2002:911); and Mishra and O‟Brien (2001:28) indicated insignificant differences between the local and global CAPM, this study indicated differences of 400 basis points and above for the sample of dual-listed South African companies. The findings in this study therefore suggest that the findings from studies conducted in developed economies cannot be generalised for companies in developing economies. In the South African market, shares across different sectors behave differently towards global risk factors; therefore this study highlighted the need for financial analysts to carefully consider using the global CAPM instead of the local CAPM when valuing shares that are traded in globally integrated capital markets. Using the incorrect cost of equity may result in incorrectly valuing a company as well as incorrect decision making.

This research study is aimed at finding empirical evidence to support a finding from an initial study that corporate governance disclosure is linked with financial performance for JSE listed companies. The study made use of a scorecard previously designed for the initial study to rate the governance disclosure of the various companies. 74 companies from the eight major sectors of the JSE were selected for the sample and financial data for the review period was extracted from MacGregor BFA. Governance was rated based on annual reports and any other information within the public domain. The financial performance measures used were, CAGR using opening and closing share prices, price to book and price/earnings ratio. Using mean disclosure scores, two portfolios were created to compare financial performance, the high and low disclosure portfolios. A simple correlation analysis was then conducted to assess the relationship of governance disclosure with the three different financial measures. The findings indicate a negative correlation between governance disclosure and returns whilst a positive correlat ion is established between governance and firm valuations. Copyright / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

The subject of this diploma thesis is a project of a building for handicapped people. This building is set into the historic center of the urban conservation area in Lipník nad Bečvou. The site for the building has a rectangular plan in view and is situated on the edge of the southern row of houses on the T.G.M. square and the western row of houses of Křížkovského street. The conditions for the building of the house in a view of the conservation care: - the house has maximally two floors - the plan in view must respect the street line - the roof must be inclined - wooden windows and doors - lime plaster The mass solution is based on the concept of the ending of both present street faces, whose heights are very different. The part of the building which faces towards the square, fulfils the condition of two floors building and thus in the long distance view from the square it does not eclipse the skyline of the bell tower and St. Jacob´s church. The higher part of the house follows the currently standing house in Křížkovský street, it makes a second plan impression and it does not disturb the long distance view. The southern orientation of the taller part contributes to a good sunlit of the inner space and the taller height enables a better use of the building plot. Both masses are connected by a part with the eastern orientation which is sunk in the view of the base line and so it enables to make he space for placing the ramp and two stanby parking places. The building is partly two-floored and partly four-floored with one floor in the underground. In the grand floor there is placed six parking places, technical background and storage rooms. The vertical transport is provided by both personal and freight lifts, the inner staircase a set forth ramp and one direction ramp for cars, which is controlled by trafic lights. In the first floor there are: 2 commercially useful spaces with backgrounds, a freight ramp for materials and workshop products transport and a waste storage. In the second floor there are a workshop with backgrounds (office, storage room, daily room, cloakroom and bathroom) and a flat (103 m2). In the third floor there are two flats (79 m2) and (49 m2). In the fourth floor there is a flat (79 m2). The construction of the house is monolytic, made of steel and concrete. It is made of basal belts, footing, peripheral supporting walls, bearers and ceiling boards. The dividing walls are concrete. The concrete construction is like a view from the inner space and from the other space. It is warmed with mineral fiberglass, which is covered with a retaining hydroisolation and cement facing with a lime plaster. This everything is hung on an aluminium profiles grid. In the ground floor, the fillings of the slots are aluminium eloxed in an anthracite grey colour. In the other floors They are made of wood with a wooden facing. The roof construction is made of a wooden bond which is put on a steel and concrete construction. The roof case is ventilated and there are aluminium eloxed folded templates.