¡@¡@This paper studies the MNE¡¦s choice of the optimal transfer price with the consideration of the possibility of transfer pricing penalty. Because the transfer prices are determined in-house, there are opportunities for MNE to manipulate the prices and evade corporate income tax and trade taxes. To reduce these opportunities, most governments have implemented transfer pricing regulations based on the OECD guidelines. If the MNE¡¦s manipulation of transfer prices is too flagrant, an extra tax will be levied to penalize the MNE. As long as the tax rates are different in different jurisdictions, the MNE will pick transfer prices that balance between the gain from profit shifting and the loss coming from the possible penalty. ¡@¡@Three forms of probability are introduced to capture the possibility of being penalized when the MNE tries to manipulate the transfer prices. We find close form solutions under the linear and quadratic forms of probability. And numerical simulation is used to get the optimal transfer price under the exponential form of probability.

Yes / Despite growing concern in the social innovation (SI) literature about the tackling of grand challenges, our understanding of the role of multinational enterprises (MNEs) remains in its infancy. This article examines foreign MNE subsidiaries’ SI investments focusing on United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) in host countries. Using financial data from large listed subsidiaries of foreign MNEs operating in India, along with hand-collected data from firms’ disclosures of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activity for five years starting in 2015, we utilise the externalities framework propounded by Montiel et al. (2021). This neatly translates the 17 UNSDGS into actionable goals to examine the efforts of foreign MNE subsidiaries in increasing positive externalities as opposed to reducing negative externalities via SI related investment in host countries. The study also evaluates the effects of the local embeddedness of the foreign MNE subsidiaries on SI investment. We find that MNE subsidiaries tend to favour increasing positive externalities as compared to reducing negative externalities through their SI investments. Also, older subsidiaries tend to prioritize greater investments in SI projects related to reducing negative externalities and subsidiaries with higher MNE ownership tend to reduce investments in SI projects related to increasing positive externalities. We discuss possible interpretations of the exploratory results using the institutional logics perspective and conclude with implications for policy and future research.

Syfte: Studiens övergripande syfte var att bygga vidare på tidigare forskning genom att undersöka och studera hur indiska värdlandsmedborgarna (dvs. Host Country Nationals (HCN)) ser på svenska manliga och kvinnliga expats och hur deras uppfattningar påverkar utgruppskategorisering. Detta gjordes genom att testa Varma et al. (2011) modell för självkategorisering och om den var tillämplig även under andra kulturella betingelser än de som redan ingår i deras modell. Metod: Data inhämtades från 145 respondenter från två svenska multinationella organisationer (dvs. Multinational Enterprises (MNE)) belägna i södra Indien. Respondenterna svarade på en enkät som hade antingen en manlig eller kvinnlig profil, där de fick besvara påståenden om hur de skulle uppfatta expats och i vilken utsträckning de skulle vara villiga att ge den hypotetiska expat rollinformation och socialt stöd. Enkäten var utformad av Professor Varma och distribuerades till företag 1 som en webb-enkät och till företag 2 delade vi personligen ut enkäterna i Bangalore. Vi fick även möjligheten att samtala med expats på plats vilket gjordes för att få en djupare förståelse för våra resultat.  Resultat och slutsats: Som förutspåddes var kollektivism, etnocentrism, anpassning och lika värderingar negativt relaterade till utgruppskategorisering. Vidare var utgruppskategorisering negativt relaterat till socialt stöd och rollinformation. Däremot fann vi ett intressant fynd där indiska HCN inte skiljer mellan könen när det kommer till deras uppfattningar och utgruppskategorisering av expats.  Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Forskning bör undersöka hur HCN uppfattar sina indiska kvinnliga medarbetare jämfört med svenska kvinnliga medarbetare. För att vidare utforska om nationalitet går före kön i Indien. Vidare anser vi att fler kvalitativa studier bör göras kring HCN för att ta reda på om det finns ytterligare variabler som är med och påverkar HCNs kategorisering av expats. Uppsatsens bidrag: Denna studie utvidgar den befintliga litteraturen kring kvinnliga expats samt hittat en ny variabel, anpassning, som är med och förklarar utgruppskategoriseringen. / Purpose: This study's overall aim is to build on recent research, by examining and investigate the Indian host country nationals (HCN) perception on Swedish male and female expats and how their beliefs affects outgroup categorization. This is done by testing Varma et al. (2011) model for self -categorization and if it is applicable in other cultural condition than those already included in their model Method: Data were collected from 145 respondents from two Swedish Multinational Enterprises (MNE) located in Southern India. Respondents answered a questionnaire that had either a male or female profile, where they had to answer assertion about how they would perceive the expat and to what extent they would be willing to give the hypothetical expat role information and social support. The questionnaire was designed by Professor Varma and was distributed to company 1 through a web survey and was handed out in person to company 2 in Bangalore. We also had the opportunity to talk with the expats in Bangalore which was done to get a deeper understanding of our results. Results and Conclusion: As we predicted collectivism, ethnocentrism, adjustment and similar values was negatively related to outgroup categorization. Furthermore, the outgroup categorization was negatively related to social support and role information. However, an interesting finding where that Indian HCN does not distinguish between the sexes when it comes to their perceptions and outgroup categorization of expats. Suggestions for future research: Research should examine how HCN perceive their Indian female employees compared with Swedish female employees. To further explore if the nationality comes before gender in India. Furthermore, we believe that more qualitative studies should be done about the HCN to find out if there are additional variables that influence HCNs categorization of expats. Orginality/value: This study extends the existing literature on female expats and we found a new variable, adjustment, which influence the outgroup categorization.

Tato práce odpovídá na otázky, proč vznikly nadnárodní společnosti a proč se jim tak daří. Základní teorie vzniku a chování nadnárodních společností v souvislosti se změnami globálního ekonomického prostředí vysvětlují motivy investic v zahraničí. Konkurenční výhody nadnárodních společností oproti národním podnikům spočívají v jejich know-how, možnosti podnikat ve více zemích a v jejich ekonomické síle. Tato práce dále uvádí, jaké jsou možnosti regulace činnosti nadnárodních společností tak, aby byly minimalizovány negativní aspekty a zdůrazněny pozitivní aspekty jejich působení.

In this study, we have identified a gap in the existing literature regarding post-entry management of infrastructural and institutional voids, risks, and distances related to establishing foreign operations in uncertain markets. It is in existing literature well-established how firms internationalize their operations, what entry modes they use, and what the drivers for internationalizing one's operations are. There is further a vast amount of literature discussing eventual challenges concerning risk and cultural/psychic distance in relation to internationalization. Our aim with this study has been to combine existing literature with our findings to investigate the means of how Swedish MNEs overcome post-entry infrastructural and institutional voids, risks, and distances when entering uncertain markets. A thematic content analysis was used on fifteen years worth of annual and sustainability reports from three Swedish MNEs respectively along with a comparative analysis. Our analysis indicates that the three Swedish MNEs, in general, experience the same kind of voids, risks, and distances and take similar actions to overcome those challenges.

The purpose of this study is to examine whether European production firms, that reshore parts of their manufacturing processes back to the originating country of the firm, perform financially differently than prior to the reshoring process. The performances of the firms are quantified by the financial indicators of return on equity, return on assets, and net profit margin. It also examines if these three performance indicators are affected differently depending on the scale of the reshoring operation relative to the total size of the firm. To effectively analyse the aforementioned, the study performs a paired-sample T-test for the three metrics, comparing the pre and post reshoring. Three OLS-regressions are also conducted to gain further insights into how a reshoring process has affected the performance indicators of a company. Based on a sample of 34 European companies that have performed a reshoring, the results of the conducted tests show no significant difference in performances for the sampled companies’ ex-ante or ex-post a reshoring of manufacturing activity. This suggests that firms that are planning to make a reshoring move cannot expect a certain outcome of that decision, either positive or negative, in terms of this paper's chosen variables.

Les oscillations jouent un rôle de premier plan dans la mise en place des réseaux cérébraux sains et pathologiques. En particulier, au niveau clinique, les activités oscillatoires sont d'une grande importance diagnostique en épilepsie. Par ailleurs, les méthodes non-invasives d'électrophysiologie sont particulièrement adaptées pour la compréhension des réseaux cérébraux à grande échelle. Cependant, la majorité des études en épilepsie a été dirigée vers les pointes intercritiques, qui sont des activités transitoires. Une question qui reste donc en suspens est le lien entre les pointes épileptiques et les activités oscillatoires épileptiques. Cette thèse a visé à résoudre deux problématiques complémentaires autour de cette question. La première problématique est la séparation adéquate entre les activités oscillatoires et transitoires. Il s'agit d'une tâche difficile surtout lors d'un grand chevauchement temporel, qui peut résulter en la contamination d'une activité par l'autre. Nous avons évaluée trois méthodes de filtrage : le filtre FIR (méthode classique), la transformé d'ondelette stationnaire et le filtrage parcimonieux par matching pursuit (MP, basé sur un dictionnaire). Sur des simulations, la SWT a donné de très bons résultats pour la reconstruction des transitoires et le MP pour les oscillations ; de plus, les deux méthodes ont donné un faible taux de faux positifs en détection automatique des oscillations. La SWT et le FIR ont donné les meilleurs résultats de filtrage sur les signaux réels, en particulier lors de la localisation de source. / The Oscillatory activities play a leading role in the development of healthy and pathological brain networks. In particular, at the clinical level, the oscillatory activities are of great importance in the diagnostic of epilepsy. In addition, the non-invasive electrophysiology methods are particularly suitable for understanding the large-scale brain networks. However, most studies in epilepsy have been directed to the interictal spikes, which are transitional activities. One issue that remains unresolved is the relationship between epileptic spikes and epileptic oscillatory activities. This thesis resolves two complementary problems. The first one is the suitable separation between the oscillatory and transitory activity, which is quite sensitive to the presence of the overlap in the time-frequency domain. This can lead to a contamination between the activities. We did evaluate three filtering methods: the FIR (classic methods), the stationary wavelet SWT and the parsimonious filter with the matching pursuit MP. The SWT gave good results in the reconstruction of transient activity and the MP in the reconstruction of oscillatory activity both for simulated data; also they provide a low false positive in automatic detection of oscillatory activity. The SWT and FIR gave the best results on real signals especially for source localization. In the simulated data, the MP is optimal since the atoms of the dictionary resembles to the simulated signals, which isn't guaranteed for real signals. The second problem is the comparison between network connectivity of transient and oscillatory activity, as measured in surface recordings (MEG) and invasive recordings SEEG.

Hlavním cílem této diplomové práce je kritická analýza strategie společenské odpovědnosti (CSR) firmy Lush Cosmetics Limited (Lush) a objevení vztahu mezi CSR aktivitami a konkurenceschopností. Teoretická část práce představuje teorie soutěže a koncept společenské odpovědnosti. Následuje diskuze studií vztahu dlouhodobé konkurenceschopnosti firmy and složek CSR. Analytická část zjišťuje CSR aktivity společnosti Lush pomocí hybridu Porterovy analýzy hodnotového řetězce a obsahové analýzy hlavních komunikačních kanálů společnosti. Teoretické závěry z první kapitoly posloužily jako základ pro konstrukci online dotazníkového šetření na téma zákaznické percepce CSR a společnosti Lush. Autor kriticky hodnotí CSR strategii Lushe, diskutuje průsečíky mezi CSR, zákazníky a konkurenceschopností, a taktéž poukazuje na možná zlepšení.

Syfte: Syftet är att beskriva och analysera skillnaden mellan företagens finansiella prestation och utländska direktinvesteringar utifrån valda nyckeltal. Metod: Forskningen syftar till att vara objektiv och använda databasen Orbis för att mäta kvantitativa metoder och hålla sig inom den deduktiva ansatsen. Studien bygger också på en totalundersökning eftersom samtliga företag noterade på Nasdaq OMX Stockholms Small-Cap lista var inkluderade i studien. Detta möjliggjorde att slutsatser kunde dras då urvalet är representativt. Studien använder sig av sekundärdata utifrån databasen Orbis. Där en samling av uppgifterna är baserade på en tvärsnittsdesign. Statistisk analys av sekundärdata utfördes i form av deskriptiv statistik, korrelationstester samt Mann-Whitney U-tester. Empiri: Studien påvisar att utländska direktinvesteringar ökar ett företags finansiella prestationer inom variablerna Tobin’s Q, ROA samt helheten av ett företag till en mindre effekt, studien kan inte påvisa någon statistiskt säkerställd skillnad mellan ROE, EPS, EBITDA och utländska direktinvesteringar. Slutsats: Studien visar att utländska direktinvesteringar delvis har en positiv påverkan på de finansiella prestationer ett företag presterar. / Purpose: The purpose is to analyze and describe the difference between companies financial performance and foreign direct investments based on selected key figures. Method: The research aims to be objective, use the database Orbis to measure quantitative methods, and adhere to a deductive approach. The study is also based on a total survey because all companies listed on Nasdaq OMX Stockholm's Small-Cap list were included in the study. This enabled conclusions to be drawn as the sample is representative. The study uses secondary data based on the database Orbis. Where a collection of data is based on a cross-sectional design. Statistical analysis of the secondary data was performed in the form of descriptive statistics, correlation tests, and Mann-Whitney U-tests. Empirical: The study demonstrates that foreign direct investment increases a company's financial performance within the variables Tobin’s Q, ROA, and the whole of a company to a lesser effect, the study cannot demonstrate any statistically significant difference in the relationship between ROE, EPS, EBITDA, and foreign direct investment. Conclusion: The study shows that foreign direct investment positively impacts a company's financial performance.

While both the concept of Private-Public Partnerships and the research on the topic is not new, PPPs from a market expansion perspective has not been covered to any notable extent, something this thesis aims to rectify. With the importance of relationships in business in emerging markets, the Institutional Network Approach serves as the backdrop for the study, highlighting the interplay between MNE and surrounding institutions. Through three case studies of Swedish MNEs active in PPP-projects in emerging markets, the aim is to develop a model suitable for analyzing MNE engagements in PPP-projects, but also to see if the gains from PPP engagements can constitute a feasible emerging market expansion tool.   The outcome of the study revealed that the studied MNEs primarily sought legitimacy and credibility in their projects, goals which according to MNEs also were acquired, and that the new model to a large extent captured aspects that were identified as important in the firms’ reports from the projects. It was concluded that in order for the PPP to serve as reliable market expansion tool, the firm has to be of MNE-size in terms of resources and ambitions, because smaller firms would struggle to be awarded, or handle, PPP-projects of this size. Previously stated credibility and legitimacy (from the CSR-aspects of the PPP), as well as the long-term collaboration resulting in solid relationships between MNE and institutions, are other benefits.