Thesis (M. Hous. M.)--University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.Hous.M.)--University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print.

Research (e.g., Strike, Gao, & Bansal, 2006) has pointed out that international firms diversifying geographically can be both socially responsible and socially irresponsible. However, the research has failed to provide a strong theoretical explanation based on a major theory. I propose to address this gap by testing two competing perspectives based on institutional theory, i.e., the institutional-transfer approach and the institutional-void approach. Based on relevant literature, I propose a contingency model predicting the different effects of geographic diversification (GD) on corporate social performance (CSP) by focusing on the institutional differences between developed and developing countries. Moreover, arguing that the institutional approaches should also consider the effects of internal firm resources, I also predict the moderating effects of firm slack resources (the slack) on the relationship between the diversification and CSP. Adopting the approach that considers the slack in a continuum of managerial discretion, i.e., low- and high-discretion slack resources (George, 2005), I argue that high-discretion slack can strengthen the relationship between GD and CSP while low-discretion slack can weaken this relationship. To test the above hypotheses, I analyze the data of multinational enterprises (MNEs) listed on the New York Stock Exchange from 2000 to 2015. The whole sample contains 477 MNEs or 1,560 firm/year observations. Through analyzing empirical data, I have obtained evidence that there is a positive relationship between GD and corporate social responsibility (CSR) when MNEs diversify into developed countries. On the other hand, the results show a negative relationship between GD and CSR and a positive relationship between GD and corporate social irresponsibility (CSIR) when MNEs diversify into developing countries. Moreover, low-discretion slack can weaken the relationship between GD and CSR in developing countries. Theoretically, this thesis makes four contributions to the literature. First, it contributes to the GD literature by focusing on CSP. Second, it enriches institutional theory by testing the predictive validity of its two approaches (i.e., institutional-transfer approach and institutional-void approach) on the GD-CSP relationship. Third, it enriches the understanding of CSP research. Finally, it reveals that different types of slack resources could affect the GD-CSP relationship. In addition to the theoretical contributions, this thesis provides findings with practical implications for managers, governments, and stakeholders. First, managers should be aware of the institutional environments where their firms diversify. Second, managers should maintain an appropriate utility to different kinds of slack resources in their firms. Third, the government should reinforce its supervision on MNEs' diversification strategies, especially in developing countries. Fourth, stakeholders should stay alert that MNEs from developed countries can also perform CSIR behaviors.

This thesis explores how a computer could facilitate emotional support, focusing on the user group of informal carers. Informal carers are people who provide regular mental or physical assistance to another person, who could not manage without them, without formal payment. They save the UK £132 billion per year. However, many carers find themselves isolated by their caring commitments and may suffer from mental and physical health problems. Good emotional support can help reduce the negative effects of stress. We explore how an Intelligent Virtual Agent (IVA) could provide suitable emotional support to carers; how this emotional support should be adapted to the situation and personality of the carer; and how to add emotional context to support messages. To do this, we create a corpus of emotional support messages of different types and devise an algorithm that selects which type of emotional support to use for different types of stress. We investigate whether to adapt emotional support to personality, developing a novel method of measuring personality using sliders. We explore the identity of the support-giver and find that this affects the perceived supportiveness of an emotional support message. We investigate how emoticons add emotional context to messages, developing a proposed set of emoticons that depict core emotions that people use online. We find that gift emoticons can be used to enhance emotional support messages by representing an effort to 'cheer up' the carer. Finally, we explore how emotional support messages could be used by an IVA in six interviews with carers. Overall, we find that an IVA that helps a carer keep in contact with their personal social network and offers emotional support messages would be well-received by carers, but further work needs to be done to implement it within the framework of existing social media.

This dissertation presents a case study of a grade one-two class in the suburbs of Vancouver. The twenty-two students are diverse in terms of academic ability, culture, language, age, and personality. Participatory Democracy is researched. Participatory Collaborative Action Research is the methodology. The researcher, classroom teacher, and the students themselves, are immersed in the research setting as partners. Participatory Democracy is an inclusive arrangement where classroom members contribute to decision-making affecting the classroom. Therefore, the research methodology and the research topic are the same activity in which reflection by the participants yields both data and learning outcomes. The research and the classroom community develop together. Within this social orientation, autonomy and responsibility are investigated. An analysis of each concept and their relationship is offered. Possibilities for shared authority are also examined. These and other elements are conceptually intertwined and not easily separated. Complexity Theory is presented as a way of framing classroom research. A Participatory Democratic classroom is conceived of as a dynamic adaptive system, similar to an organism or society. This community is understood ecologically. It is self-organizing and continually coevolving. The importance of a sense of community as a context for learning about social elements becomes evident. An understanding of autonomy, responsibility, shared authority, and their relationship is demonstrated by children through their friendships and sometimes through verbal expression. The students and teacher establish negotiated, dynamic boundaries in which students express their autonomy within the limits of responsibility to the community. Since participation depends on discourse, non-verbal active discourse is encouraged in this community as legitimate communication and a support for language development. Authority, understood as embedded in the community, with the teacher as its interpreter, is shared with students. Rule setting is complex and dynamic, not absolute. Rules are explained and negotiated. An effort to achieve consensus forms the basis of decision-making. Within a democratic community that promotes participation and appreciates the complexity of social structures, the teacher must promote a sense of community, negotiate curriculum, negotiate frames for behavior and learning, plan and assess collaboratively, and reflect on the constantly changing complexity of the classroom community. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

With the rising power of Internet and especially social media which includes different communities, blogs, portals(1) , etc., nowadays brand value, - its creation and control, is not in the hands of the companies anymore, but is shifted to the consumers. One aim of this paper is to investigate and try to prove the existence of social media influence on brand value. Another goal is to introduce a different vision of brand value in connection with Internet and the rise of social media's influence on consumer's minds. For the purpose of this research the terms brand value and brand equity would bear equal meanings. My theory, which I would like to introduce, was borrowed from biology and physics, namely from I.P. Pavlov's studies and his conditioned reflex theory(2) and the physics part is based on the dispersion of light theory which was first introduced, as we know, by Isaak Newton(3). I dare to say, that nowadays creation of brand value in consumer minds works the same way. When someone, man or woman, hears a brand name, a picture and a feeling, either positive or negative is immediately formed in the person's mind from personal experience with this brand. If not, then the brand is an unfamiliar one, thus we have to rely on a provided opinion, which was previously usually conveyed to us by family, relatives and close friends while recently, also by our growing virtual community. At the beginning of the thesis, I will present the theoretical background and data on World Wide Web and social media, followed by a concise description of some of the existing brand equity models, afterwards introducing my own vision on significant brand value components, elaborating on this theory with the help of relevant case studies and researches. Brand equity has generally been defined as "a brand's power derived from the goodwill and name recognition that it has earned over time, which translates into higher sales volume and higher profit margins against competing brands"(4). Further on in the second chapter I will bring together more definitions on brand equity/value to be able to propose a modified one, components of which will be discussed thoroughly in the same chapter. The main goal of my Master Thesis is to analyze the existence of a dependency between social media and brand value. A second goal is to assess whether the impact is a positive or a negative one or is a mixture of both.

Die Arbeit untersucht insgesamt 25 kostenfreie Social Media Analytics-Werkzeuge und liefert einen Beitrag zu einer systematischen Beurteilung dieser Anwendungssystemklasse im Rahmen des Social Customer Relationship Managements.:1 Einleitung 1.1 Motivation 1.2 Problemstellung 1.3 Vorgehen 2 Grundlagen 2.1 Social Media 2.2 Social CRM 2.3 Social Media-Analys 2.4 Softwareanalyse 2.5 Prototyping 3 Analyse von Social Media-Analyse-Tools 3.1 Kurzvorstellung der einzelnen Tools 3.2 Kernfunktionalitäten kostenfreier SMA-Anwendungen 3.3 Realisierbare Anwendungsfälle im SCRM 3.4 Vergleich mit Funktionalitäten einer kostenpflichtigen SMA-Anwendung 3.5 Betrachtung von Unterschieden 4 Entwicklung einer Auswahlhilfe 4.1 Vorüberlegungen 4.2 Implementierung 4.3 Beschreibung 5 Erkenntnisse 5.1 Ergebnisse 5.2 Defizite 6 Ausblick

Zugl.: Konstanz, Univ., Diss., 2004

Thesis (M. Hous. M.)--University of Hong Kong, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 115-119).

Thesis (M.B.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 111-115).