This dissertation comprised of three essays provides justification for the need to pursue research on multinationality and performance with a more fine-grained approach. Essay one is a conceptual response to an article written by Jean-Francois Hennart in 2011 which questions the need and approach toward future research in this domain. I argue that internalization theory does not render multinationality and performance research meaningless and identify key areas where methodological enhancements can be made to strengthen our research findings with regard to Hennart’s call for more content validity. Essay two responds to the need for more-fine grained research on the consequences of multinationality by introducing non-traditional measures of performance such as social and environmental performance and adopting a more theoretically relevant construct of regionalization to capture international diversification levels of the firm. Using data from the world’s largest 600 firms (based on sales) derived from Bloomberg and the Directory of Corporate Affiliates; I employ general estimating equation analysis to account for the auto-correlated nature of the panel data alongside multivariate regression techniques. Results indicate that regionalization has a positive relationship with economic performance while it has a negative relationship with environmental and social performance outcomes, often referred to as the “Triple Bottom-Line” performance. Essay three builds upon the work in the previous essays by linking the aforementioned performance variables and sample to corporate reputation which has been shown to be a beneficial strategic asset. Using Structural Equation Modeling I explore economic, environmental and social signals as mediators on relationship between regionalization and firm reputation. Results indicate that these variables partially mediate a positive relationship between regionalization and firm reputation. While regionalization positively affects the reputation building signal of economic performance, it aids in reputation building by reducing environmental and social disclosure effects which interestingly impact reputation negatively. In conclusion, the dissertation submits opportunities for future research and contributes to research by demonstrating that regionalization affects performance, but the effect varies in accordance with the performance criterion and context. In some cases, regional diversification may produce competing or conflicting outcomes among the potential strategic objectives of the firm.

Sverige har haft tydliga problem med sin styrning av välfärdssektorn till följd av incitament som kan hämtas ur NPM. Detta främst i form av en mål- och resultatstyrning som centraliserat makten med återkommande rapporteringskrav. För att komma till bukt med problemen inrättades åtgärder för att främja en ny styrning. I nuläget har styrformen tillitsbaserad styrning och ledning sett dagens ljus vilket innefattar en styrning, kultur och arbetssätt med fokus på verksamhetens syfte och brukarens behov. Studien avsåg ge en grundlig bild kring upplevelser av styrning och ledning inom en kommunal vård- och omsorgsförvaltning i förhållande till ett ideal av tillitsbaserad styrning och ledning. Detta för att producera kunskap om hur styrning och ledning upplevs inom en kommunal vård- och omsorgsförvaltning och för att bidra till utvecklingen av tillitsbaserad styrning och ledning inom densamma. I studien genomfördes kvalitativa intervjuer med fyra enhetschefer vilkas upplevelser ställts i förhållande till en idealtyp av tillitsbaserad styrning och ledning. De sammanvägda upplevelserna av styrning och ledning motsvarar ett ideal av tillitsbaserad styrning och ledning i hög grad. Mot denna bakgrund indikerar studien på att det finns incitament som går att härleda från ett ideal av tillitsbaserad styrning och ledning. Vidare framkommer att det finns incitament som kan härledas från NPM. Respondenternas svar indikerar även på att förvaltningen ses som värderingsstyrd med uppfattningar om gott ledarskap, något som skapar förutsättningar att försätta utveckla den tillitsbaserade styrning och ledningen inom densamma. Slutligen har studien, baserat på respondenternas svar, resulterat i en rad upplevda utvecklingsområden för den fortsatta utvecklingen av styrformen inom förvaltningen. Resultaten skall enbart ses som indikationer på hur styrning och ledning upplevs samt hur styrformen kan utvecklas inom förvaltningen. Allt eftersom svaren i många meningar går och inte speglar en övergripande upplevd bild. / Sweden has had clear problems with its governance of the welfare sector because of incentives that can be obtained from NPM. This mainly in forms of performance management that has centralized the authority with recurring reporting requirements. To overcome these problems, measures were taken to promote a new governance. At present, the form of trust-based governance has seen the light of day. This includes a governance, culture and working method with focus on the purpose of the organisation and the needs of the user. The following study was intended to provide a thorough picture of experiences regarding governance within a municipal healthcare administration, in relation to an ideal of trust-based governance. This with an intention to produce knowledge about how governance is experienced within a municipal healthcare administration and to contribute to the development of governance within it. The study was based on qualitative interviews with four first line managers, whose experiences where compared to an ideal of trust-based governance. The results show that the combined experiences of governance largely correspond to an ideal of trust-based governance. Under those terms the study indicates that there are experiences which can be deduced from an ideal of trust-based governance. Furthermore, there are incentives which can be deduced from NPM. The interviewees responses indicate that the administration is regarded as value-driven with perceptions of good leadership, which creates conditions for developing the trust-based governance within it. Finally, the study, based on the responses, has resulted in several experienced aspects for the continued development of the trust-based governance within the administration. The results should only be indications of how governance is experienced and how the form of governance can be developed. All because the responses in many sentences differ and not reflects an overall perceived image.

Success in International Collaboration in Science and Technology (ICST) depends on various factors, different players have different perspectives. Governments participate in collaboration in order to meet their country's policy goals. Scientists and researchers establish their contacts through their personal channels or scientific networks in order to pursue their own academic interest. There are two significant approaches in ICST Policy making which are "top-down" and "bottom-up" approaches. Both approaches are important. One approach can not fit all. Each approach has its own advantages and disadvantages. A balance between these two approaches is necessary. The objective of this research is to develop a strategic policy model for international collaboration in science and technology to bridge the gap between "top-down" and "bottom-up" approaches. A strategic policy model was developed in which the characteristics of ICST proposals and expert judgments are quantified to determine the relative importance the country's international S&T vision and objectives and specific sectors, and to evaluate the proposals accordingly. Four international evaluation criteria are proposed in this research: strategic importance (SI), potential impact (PI), human resource development (HRD), and matching fund from international partners (MF). Each proposal is evaluated with respect to each criterion and related sub-criteria. The value of each ICST proposal is then calculated by incorporating all of the elements at each level of the model. The output of this model is the ranking of the ICST proposals coming from the "bottom-up" approach that satisfy the national priorities and organizational requirements represented by the "top-down" approach. The model facilitates the national policymakers to make better decisions about participating in ICST research, and the researchers to have a better understanding of the entire international scientific collaboration system by identifying research opportunities to fit in.

[pt] Finanças corporativas compreendem políticas de investimento, financiamento e dividendo cujo objetivo é maximizar o valor do acionista. Em particular, os resultados de empresas produtoras de commodities e, consequentemente, o valor para seus acionistas estão sujeitos a alta volatilidade, decorrentes da variação dos preços destes produtos no mercado global. Entretanto, o risco dessa variação pode ser mitigado ao se explorar o amplo mercado de derivativos que, em geral, está disponível para commodities. Este trabalho propõe calcular o acréscimo de valor que uma empresa produtora de commodities pode fornecer ao seu acionista pelo uso de uma política ótima de gestão de derivativos, por meio da compra ou venda de contratos a termo. Para tanto, busca maximizar o retorno aos acionistas via dividendos em um ambiente avesso a risco. O modelo assume que o preço da commodity segue um processo de Markov de estados discretos. Como o modelo é aplicado em vários estágios, o problema torna-se bastante complexo, sendo necessário usar um método de decomposição para obter a solução, sendo assim, utilizou-se o método conhecido como programação dual dinâmica estocástica. Os resultados demonstram que, ao comercializar contratos forward, uma empresa aumenta o valor percebido pelo acionista, medido pelo pagamento de dividendos, para qualquer nível de aversão a risco. A média de acréscimo de valor, considerando diferentes níveis de aversão a risco e uma premissa de precificação não viesada, é superior a 320 por cento quando comparado a empresas que não possuem acesso a tais instrumentos. Além de medir o acréscimo de valor, analisou-se também quais os fatores determinantes para a política ótima de gestão de derivativos. Foi possível identificar que a política de gestão de derivativos é muito determinada pelos preços, que por sua vez estão associados ao estado da cadeia de Markov vigente em cada estágio. / [en] Corporate finance comprises investment, financing and dividend policies aimed at maximizing shareholder value. In particular, the results of commodity producers and, consequently, the value to their shareholders are subject to high volatility, resulting from the variation of prices of these products in the global market. However, the risk of this variation can be mitigated by exploiting the broad derivatives market that is generally available for commodities. This work proposes to calculate the value increase that a commodity-producing company can provide to its shareholders through the use of an optimal derivatives management policy, by buying or selling forward contracts. To this end, it seeks to maximize shareholder returns via dividends in a risk-averse environment. The model assumes that the commodity price follows a discrete state Markov process. Since the model is applied in several stages, the problem becomes quite complex, and it is necessary to use a decomposition method to obtain the solution, so we used the method known as stochastic dynamic dual programming. The results show that by trading forward contracts, a company increases the value perceived by the shareholder, measured by the payment of dividends, to any level of risk aversion. The average value increase, considering different levels of risk aversion and an unbiased pricing assumption, is higher than 320 per cent when compared to companies that do not have access to such instruments. In addition to measuring the value increase, we also analyzed which factors determine the optimal derivatives management policy. It was possible to identify that the derivatives management policy is very determined by the prices, which in turn are associated with the state of the Markov chain in force at each stage.

Am 28.11.2023 hat der Senat der Technischen Universität Bergakademie Freiberg eine institutionelle Forschungsdaten-Policy verabschiedet, die allen Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftlern der Hochschule eine wichtige Orientierungshilfe für den Umgang mit Forschungsdaten bietet.

Forest and forestland are important roles and sources of livelihood for the population living in or near forests and in mountainous areas of Vietnam. The objectives of this paper analysed the change in forest resource, and policy of forestry in Vietnam. In recent several years, forest area rapidly covered an average rate of 240,000 ha/year and had about 13.39 million hectares in 2010. It has contributed to the use of bare land, job creation and improvement of livelihoods for 25% of Vietnam’s population living in mountainous areas. Those results were the purpose of reforestation program and the production of wood industry in Vietnam. In this addition, government policies and regulations have provided a solid foundation for development of the forest plantations and conservation of forest ecosystems though forest land allocation and lease to organizations, households, and individuals. Therefore, the forest utilization has motivated by both environmental and commercial factors in Vietnam based on dividing into three forest categories special use, protection and production forests. However, the development strategy of forest management plan is the difficulties associated with conflicting land claims and boundary disputes due to the value of the established forest. / Rừng và đất rừng đóng vai trò quan trọng và là nguồn sinh kế cho người dân sống trong hoặc gần rừng ở các khu vực miền núi của Việt Nam. Mục tiêu của nghiên cứu này phân tích sự thay đổi về tài nguyên rừng và chính sách về lâm nghiệp. Trong một vài năm gần đây, diện tích rừng bao phủ nhanh với tốc độ trung bình 240.000 ha/năm và có khoảng 13,39 triệu ha trong năm 2010 này đã góp phần vào việc sử dụng đất trống, tạo việc làm và cải thiện đời sống cho 25% dân số sống ở khu vực miền núi của Việt Nam. Kết quả này là mục đích của chương trình trồng rừng và sản xuất gỗ công nghiệp tại Việt Nam. Bên cạnh đó, chính sách và các quy định của chính phủ đã cung cấp một nền tảng vững chắc cho việc phát triển diện tích trồng rừng và bảo tồn hệ sinh thái rừng mặc dù rừng và đất rừng đã được giao và khoán cho các tổ chức, hộ gia đình, cá nhân. Vì vậy, việc sử dụng rừng đã thúc đẩy bởi hai yếu tố môi trường và thương mại ở Việt Nam, dựa trên phân loại rừng: rừng đặc dụng, rừng sản xuất và rừng phòng hộ. Tuy nhiên, chiến lược kế hoạch quản lý phát triển rừng có những khó khăn liên quan đến xung đột khiếu nại đất và tranh chấp biên giới do giá trị của rừng được thành lập.

<p>This thesis examines <em>dynamic IT capabilities:</em> firms’ abilities to integrate, build, and reconfigure information technology resources concurrently with organizational business process and managerial processes in pursuit of performance advantages in a changing or uncertain environment. Research in dynamic IT capabilities has increased with the recognition that organizational survival and growth requires organizational change to resolve a range of management challenges that emerge over time. In prior research, specific constructs of dynamic IT capabilities have been the subject of independent empirical investigation. This has resulted in conflicting conceptualizations of dynamic capabilities that obfuscate theoretical definition, empirical grounding and measurement. We seek to contribute conceptual coherence to the discourse on dynamic IT capabilities in three respects. First, we advance a theoretical framework to tease apart the common versus idiosyncratic elements of firms’ dynamic capabilities to <em>exploit</em> IT in practice. Our empirical findings serve to integrate conflicting (common versus idiosyncratic) conceptualizations of dynamic IT capabilities. Second, we advance a theoretical framework of firms’ dynamic capabilities to <em>explore</em> for IT innovations that are likely to improve firm performance. To that end we examine CIOs’ use of external advice networks to mindfully identify rewarding IT innovations. In so doing we clarify the concept of mindfulness. We find mindful external advice seeking is atypical in practice, contrary to assumptions of the technology diffusion and institutional literatures. Our empirical findings elucidate the significance of IT governance in motivating mindful search for rewarding IT innovations. Third, we demonstrate the importance of qualitative and configurational methodologies in investigating such complex phenomena as dynamic IT capabilities. We also propose promising future research directions, theoretical grounding and analytical techniques that, by building on the concepts advanced in this study, can further advance our understanding of how firms acquire and realize dynamic IT capabilities in support of sustained performance advantages.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

An increasing number of researchers are recognizing the importance of the role played by employees in maintaining the effectiveness of an information security policy. Currently, little research exists to validate the relationship between the actions (behaviors) taken by employees in response to exceptional situations (antecedents) regarding an organization’s information security policy, the impact (consequences) those actions have on an organization, and the motives that prompt those actions. When these exceptional situations occur, employees may feel compelled to engage in behaviors that violate the terms of an information security policy because strict compliance with the policy could cause the organization to lose revenue, reputability or some other business advantage. To address this issue, this research study investigated how to design an effective information security policy for exceptional situations in an organization. In order to achieve this goal, this study explored how an information security policy should be designed with the critical components of clarity, comprehensiveness, ease of use and flexibility, in addition to including provisions for the work contingencies of employees. The aim of this proposed study was to demonstrate how the application principles of the prima-facie, utilitarian and universalizability design theories can aid in designing an information security policy that includes these essential elements. The research study explored the effectiveness of the policy's design and the effect it had on employee compliance with the policy in exceptional situations. A survey questionnaire was administered to a control group and an experimental group consisting of full-time and part-time employees who worked in various departments of a single organization. The survey employed a five-point Likert-type scale. The data gathered from the questionnaire was analyzed. Inferential statistics used the general linear model (GLM), including the t-test, analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), regression analysis, and factor analysis with the latest SPSS version computer statistical analysis program. This study built to develop a model for designing an effective information security policy for exceptional situations in an organization. Based on the analysis of fit the model for designing an effective information security policy for exceptional situations in an organization was determine to be a success model. This study should provide many opportunities for future research, as well as providing information security practitioners and academics a solid roadmap for designing effective information security policies within an organization to apply during exceptional situations.

This study examines the relationship between company management guidance, and ex-ante crash risk over the duration of 2008(Jan 2006-Dec 2009) financial crisis using the implied volatility skew, which is based upon ex-ante volatility implied by the pricing model developed by Black-Scholes (1973). The study finds that over the duration of this crisis period, management guidance decreases with a rise in ex-ante crash risk. Further, the study provides evidence on the relationship of management guidance and earnings volatility, and how that is affected by a firm's industry product concentration based on the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) score.

Objective: The promotion of self-management support for people with LTCs is a health policy priority across the UK (LTCAS 2008; DoH 2012). Self-management support is designed to change and improve care for people with LTCs, who form an increasing proportion of the population requiring healthcare and treatment. For health organisations models of care, which support self-management, require greater emphasis on person-focused rather than disease-focused manifestations of health and represents a new model of care delivery requiring changes in practice. Current research demonstrates that health policies are increasingly complex, involve multiple organisations and often fail to translate into effective practice (Noyles et al. 2014). The deficit between what works and what happens in practice is referred to as the “implementation deficit” (Pressman and Wildasky 1984) and traditionally it has been difficult to breakaway from the idea that the policy process is best viewed from the top-down (Barett and Fudge 1981). However, there remains a need to understand the processes of implementation, which takes account of the variation, the multiple layers and interactions which takes place between policy-maker and -implementer as policy becomes practice (Hupe 2011). Implementation of self-management is a contemporary focus in UK health policy and this thesis explains what processes are used to implement self-management policy for people with LTCs into everyday practice in one health board. Methods: A case study approach was used to investigate the policy process with data collected using thirty-one semi-structured interviews with policy-makers and regional and local policy-implementers plus eight hours of observation of national and regional policy meetings. To provide context to the implementation process data also included thirteen policy documents. Data analysis used the retrospective application of NPT as a theoretical framework with which to explore the implementation processes. NPT is an emerging theory that is being promoted as a means of understanding implementation, embedding and integration of new ideas in healthcare (McEvoy et al. 2014). The application of NPT focuses on four mechanisms, termed work (May and Finch 2009: 547), which promote incorporation of new ideas in practice. These areas of work are coherence, cognitive participation, collective action and reflexive monitoring (Mair et al. 2012). Findings: The findings suggest that there are a number of important influences operating behind or as part of the policy implementation process. These included the need for a shared understanding, getting stakeholders involved to drive forward policy, work promoting collaboration and participation was the most detailed and important in the process of policy implementation; the course of policy was affected by factors which facilitated or inhibited stakeholders acceptance of self-management; and NPT fosters key analytical insights. Conclusion: Understanding the process of policy implementation in healthcare and how practice changes as a result of policy is subject to a wide range of influences. What emerges are five key recommendations relating to understanding policy implementation. (1) understanding the concept of self-management is important in promoting policy implementation. This understanding benefits from dialogue between policy-makers and -implementers. (2) stakeholder involvement supports implementation particularly the role of clinical leadership and leadership through existing networks but also value in establishing new organisational structures to create a receptive context. (3) develop participation and collaboration through use of the patient voice which helped simplify the policy message and motivate change. (4) other resources help policy implementation and where these are evident then policy is implemented and where they are absent then implementation is not embedded. Lack of evidence was a particular area of constraint. (5) NPT has shown that social context is important, and provides for this. But in addition there is evidence that historical perspectives and previous experience are also important influence on receptivity to implementation. This research contributes to the development of theory and practice in the area of implementation science. The exploration of the policy implementation has revealed the action and work which policy-makers and -implementers are engaged in while implementing policy. It has tested the utility of NPT in a real-life setting using all four mechanisms.