Submitted by Kamila Costa (kamilavasconceloscosta@gmail.com) on 2015-09-04T09:56:49Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - André R R Costa.pdf: 1308389 bytes, checksum: 56543d17c47b4d482173448cf0c6039b (MD5) Dissertação - André R R Costa.pdf: 1308389 bytes, checksum: 56543d17c47b4d482173448cf0c6039b (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Divisão de Documentação/BC Biblioteca Central (ddbc@ufam.edu.br) on 2015-09-30T20:09:18Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - André R R Costa.pdf: 1308389 bytes, checksum: 56543d17c47b4d482173448cf0c6039b (MD5) Dissertação - André R R Costa.pdf: 1308389 bytes, checksum: 56543d17c47b4d482173448cf0c6039b (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Divisão de Documentação/BC Biblioteca Central (ddbc@ufam.edu.br) on 2015-09-30T20:15:16Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - André R R Costa.pdf: 1308389 bytes, checksum: 56543d17c47b4d482173448cf0c6039b (MD5) Dissertação - André R R Costa.pdf: 1308389 bytes, checksum: 56543d17c47b4d482173448cf0c6039b (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-09-30T20:15:16Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - André R R Costa.pdf: 1308389 bytes, checksum: 56543d17c47b4d482173448cf0c6039b (MD5) Dissertação - André R R Costa.pdf: 1308389 bytes, checksum: 56543d17c47b4d482173448cf0c6039b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-05-11 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This study analyzed the soybean agribusiness in the Brazilian Western Central as the exposure to price risk and the financial performance of the leading companies in the production chain. Specifically, calculated the hedge effectiveness for soybean futures contracts traded on the CME Group maturing in March, for the period 2004 to 2013. Also, compared the efficiency of the main companies in the Brazilian Western Central, classified in ranking, and examined the financial performance in qualitative analysis of the reports. To calculate the hedge effectiveness, applied four great reason methods to build portfolios, the simple or naîve, static, static with error correction (ECM) and dynamic GARCH-BEKK. For spot prices, chosen the municipalities with higher production in each state, Sorriso in Mato Grosso state, Rio Verde in Goiás state and Maracaju in state of Mato Grosso do Sul. For analysis of efficiency and financial performance used the Data Envelopment Analysis method - DEA and the structure of traditional ROA DuPont formula, classifying the performance in rankings and reporting the qualitative analysis from the notes. The sample for performance analysis were eight companies chosen from Melhores & Melhores, anual report from EXAME magazine, year 2013. Used data from 2011 to 2013. Among the findings, concluded that the soybean futures contracts traded at CME Group maturing in March expressed low efficiency to reduce the variance of portfolios. Concerning the financial performance, Coamo and Cargill were in the positive spectrum of the sample and Caramuru and Louis Dreyfus expressed unfavorable performance. / O presente trabalho analisou o agronegócio da soja do Centro-Oeste brasileiro quanto à exposição ao risco de preços e ao desempenho econômico-financeiro das principais empresas da cadeia produtiva. Especificamente, calculou-se a efetividade de hedge dos contratos futuros de soja negociados no CME Group com vencimento em março, para o período de 2004 a 2013. Também, analisou-se a eficiência das principais empresas do setor atuantes na região Centro-Oeste, classificando-as em ranking. E, examinou-se o desempenho econômico-financeiro pela análise qualitativa das notas explicativas. Para calcular a efetividade de hedge, usaram-se quatro métodos de razão ótima para constituir portfolios, o simples ou naîve, o estático, o estático com correção de erros e o dinâmico GARCH-BEKK. Para os preços à vista, escolheram-se os municípios com maior produção em cada estado, Sorriso no Mato Grosso, Rio Verde em Goiás e Maracaju no Mato Grosso do Sul. Para a análise de eficiência e desempenho econômico-financeiro, usou-se o método análise envoltória de dados – DEA e a estrutura da fórmula ROA DuPont tradicional, classificando os desempenhos em rankings e articulando relatório de análise qualitativa das notas explicativas. A amostra para análise de desempenho compôs-se de oito empresas, escolhidas do anuário Maiores & Melhores da revista EXAME, de 2013, usando dados do período de 2011 a 2013. Entre as conclusões, sublinha-se que os contratos futuros de soja com vencimento em março negociados no CME Group expressaram baixa eficiência para reduzir a variância dos portfolios. Quanto ao desempenho, Coamo e Cargill localizaram-se no espectro positivo da amostra e Caramuru e Louis Dreyfus expressaram os desempenhos desfavoráveis.

Submitted by Fabielle Cheuczuk (fabielle.cheuczuk@unioeste.br) on 2018-06-15T13:44:02Z No. of bitstreams: 2 DISSERTAÇÃO ANDRESSA PDF.pdf: 1224997 bytes, checksum: 797d1a8c4314c8901596836856333467 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-06-15T13:44:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 DISSERTAÇÃO ANDRESSA PDF.pdf: 1224997 bytes, checksum: 797d1a8c4314c8901596836856333467 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-02-20 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / The sustainability topic has been much discussed, and the perception of the strategic position of the banking institutions for the sustainable development, has made that these organizations worried about the social and environmental aspects, besides the economic ones. Several initiatives were created in the financial sector focused on sustainability, and an important step was the creation of the Corporate Sustainability Index (ISE) by São Paulo Stock Exchange at 2005, whose objective is to be a theoretical portfolio of assets of companies with practices sustainable development, becoming a reference measure. The ISE is based on the concept of Triple Botton Line, that is, the economic, social, environmental, and other pillars that were introduced in the methodology of the index. Financial reports and the one with the most possibility of comparisons represent the economic pillar because it is mandatory disclosure. Since the creation of the index, banking institutions have actively participated in portfolio composition, showing that in addition to acting as drivers of change for sustainable development, they are concerned with adhering to sustainable practices. The objective of this study was to verify if the banking institutions participating in ISE have a higher economicfinancial performance than non-participants. In order to meet this objective, were verified the banks listed in Bm&fBovespa and, subsequently, the Corporate Sustainability Index (ISE) portfolios in the period from 2012 to 2016, to identify the participating banks in each of the periods. The sample consisted of 4 participating banks of ISE and 16 non-participating banks, totaling 20 banks analyzed for a period of 5 years, considering the years 2012 to 2016. Were calculated a total of 18 annual economic and financial indicators, which were submitted to technical Multivariate statistical analysis of Factorial Analysis aiming to identify the indicators with greater impact to carry out the performance analysis. The “Return on Invested Capital” Factor, and Participation of Loans and Profitability of Assets, which can be replaced by the Total Returned Capital Profitability Factor, identified five important indicators for the analysis of the performance of the sample banks: Financial Independence, Return on Total Investment and Net Margin that can be replaced. The original variables, which are the indicators, as well as the factors by which these indicators can be replaced, were tested using a non-parametric hypothesis test, the Mann-Whitney test, to verify which of the groups of sample had superior economic-financial performance. In conclusion, the ISE participating banks have a higher economic-financial performance than non-participants, because present higher return of total investment, highest net margin, highest net income, and highest financial independence than the institutions non-participants, indicating that about economic pillar, the participating banks of ISE have highest rating. / O tema da sustentabilidade tem sido muito discutido, e a percepção da posição estratégica das instituições bancárias para o desenvolvimento sustentável, fez com que essas organizações passassem a se preocupar com os aspectos sociais e ambientais, além dos econômicos. Diversas iniciativas foram criadas no setor financeiro voltadas à sustentabilidade, e um importante passo foi a criação do Índice de Sustentabilidade Empresarial pela Bolsa de Valores de São Paulo no ano de 2005, cujo objetivo é o de ser uma carteira teórica de ativos de empresas com práticas sustentáveis reconhecidas, tornando-se uma medida de referência. O ISE é baseado no conceito de Triple Botton Line, ou seja, nos pilares econômico, social, ambiental, além de outros que foram introduzidos na metodologia do índice. O pilar econômico é representado pelos relatórios financeiros e aquele com mais possibilidade de comparações por ser de divulgação obrigatória. Desde a criação do índice, as instituições bancárias têm participado ativamente da composição das carteiras, mostrando que além de atuarem como indutoras de mudanças para o desenvolvimento sustentável, preocupam-se em aderir às práticas sustentáveis. O objetivo desse estudo foi verificar se as instituições bancárias participantes do ISE possuem um desempenho econômico-financeiro superior às não participantes. Para atender tal objetivo, inicialmente, foram verificados os bancos listados na Bm&fBovespa, e posteriormente, as carteiras do Índice de Sustentabilidade Empresarial (ISE) no período de 2012 a 2016, para identificar os bancos participantes em cada um dos períodos. A amostra foi composta por 4 bancos participantes do ISE e 16 bancos não participantes, totalizando 20 bancos analisados, por um período de 5 anos, considerando os anos de 2012 a 2016. Foram calculados 18 indicadores econômico-financeiros anuais, que foram submetidos à técnica estatística multivariada de Análise Fatorial visando identificar os indicadores com maior impacto para realizar a análise de desempenho. Foram identificados 5 indicadores relevantes para a análise do desempenho dos bancos da amostra, sendo: Independência Financeira, Retorno do Investimento Total e Margem Líquida que podem ser substituídos pelo Fator “Retorno sobre o Capital Investido”, e Participação dos Empréstimos e Lucratividade dos Ativos, que podem ser substituídos pelo Fator “Lucratividade do Capital Total Investido”. As variáveis originais, que são os indicadores, bem como, os fatores pelos quais esses indicadores podem ser substituídos, foram submetidos a um teste de hipóteses não paramétrico, o Teste de Mann-Whitney, para verificar qual dos grupos de bancos da amostra possuía desempenho econômico-financeiro superior. Concluiu-se que os bancos participantes do ISE possuem um desempenho econômico-financeiro superior aos não participantes, pois apresentaram maior retorno do investimento total, maior margem líquida, maior lucro líquido, e maior independência financeira do que as instituições não participantes, indicando que quanto ao pilar econômico, os bancos participantes do ISE têm resultados mais positivos.

Os modelos de análise e decisão de concessão de crédito buscam associar o perfil do tomador de crédito à probabilidade do não pagamento de obrigações contraídas, identificando assim o risco associado ao tomador e auxiliando a firma a decidir pela aprovação ou negação da solicitação de crédito. Atualmente este campo de pesquisa tem ganhado importância no cenário nacional - pela intensificação da atividade de crédito no país com grande participação dos bancos públicos neste processo - e internacional - pelo aumento das preocupações com potenciais danos à economia derivados de eventos de default. Tal quadro fez com que fossem construídos e adaptados diversos modelos e métodos à análise de risco de crédito tanto para consumidores como para empresas. Estes modelos são testados e comparados com base na acurácia de previsão ou de métricas de otimização estatística. Este é um procedimento que pode não se mostrar eficiente do ponto de vista financeiro, ao mesmo tempo em que dificulta a interpretação e tomada de decisão por parte da firma quanto a qual o melhor modelo, gerando uma lacuna pelo desprendimento observado entre a decisão de qual o modelo a ser adotado e o objetivo financeiro da empresa. Tendo em vista que o desempenho financeiro é um dos principais indicadores de qualquer procedimento gerencial, o presente estudo objetivou preencher a esta lacuna analisando o desempenho financeiro de carteiras de crédito formadas por técnicas de aprendizagem estatística utilizadas atualmente na classificação e análise de risco de crédito em pesquisas nacionais e internacionais. A pesquisa selecionou as técnicas: análise discriminante, regressão logística, redes bayesianas Naïve Bayes, kdB-1, kdB-2, SVC e SVM e aplicou tais técnicas junto à base de dados German Credit Data Set. Os resultados foram analisados e comparados inicialmente em termos de acurácia e custos por erro de classificação. Adicionalmente a pesquisa propôs o emprego de quatro métricas financeiras (RFC, PLR, RAROC e IS), encontrando variações quanto aos resultados produzidos por cada técnica. Estes resultados sugerem variações quanto a sequência de eficiência e consequentemente de emprego das técnicas, demonstrando a importância da consideração destas métricas para a análise e decisão de seleção de modelos de classificação ótimos. / Analysis and decision credit concession models search for relating the borrower\'s credit profile to the nonpayment probability of their obligations, identifying risks related to borrower and helping decision firm to approve or deny the credit request. Currently this search field has increased in Brazilian scenario - by credit activity intensification into the country with a large public banks sharing - and in the international scenario - by growing concerns about economy potential damages resulting from default events. This position leads the construction and adaptation of several models and methods by credit risk analysis from both consumers and companies. These models have been tested and compared based on prediction of accuracy or other statistical optimization metrics. This proceed is eventually not effective when analyzed by a financial standpoint, in the same time that affects the understanding and decision of the enterprise about the best model, creating a gap in the decision model choice and the firm financial goals. Given that the financial performance is a foremost indicator of any management procedure, this study aimed to address this gap by the financial performance analysis of loan portfolios formed by statistical learning techniques currently used in the classification and credit risk analysis in national and international researches. The selected techniques (discriminant analysis, logistic regression, Bayesian networks Naïve Bayes , 1 - KDB , KDB - 2 , SVC and SVM) were applied to the German Credit Data Set and their results were initially analyzed and compared in terms of accuracy and misclassification costs. Regardless of these metrics the research has proposed to use four financial metrics (RFC, PLR, RAROC and IS), finding variations in the results of each statistical learning techniques. These results suggest variations in the sequence of efficiency and, ultimately, techniques choice, demonstrating the importance of considering these metrics for analysis and selection of decision models of optimal classification.

Na medida em que se toma conhecimento do processo de reestruturação gerencial e profissionalização do setor sucroalcooleiro, surge a necessidade de verificar se os novos modelos de gestão de RH adotados suportam o crescimento e mantém a competitividade das usinas, contribuindo de forma efetiva para a criação de valor. Neste caso, como as organizações têm adotado práticas diferenciadas e poucos são os estudos que mostram, efetivamente, se sua aplicação reflete um bom desempenho financeiro, avaliar a relação do papel da gestão de RH no desempenho financeiro pode contribuir para esclarecer sua abrangência, tanto em termos dos desafios quanto em termos dos benefícios organizacionais gerados por esta mudança. Para tanto foi realizada uma pesquisa qualitativa descritiva com o estudo de três casos específicos. Os dados foram coletados por meio de fontes primárias, questionários e entrevistas semi-estruturadas, e também, por meio de fontes secundárias complementares. O embasamento teórico foi feito a partir da abordagem de cinco temas centrais: evolução do conceito de RH, a administração de RH em mudança, a administração estratégica de RH, a gestão de RH e o desempenho organizacional e, por fim, o agronegócio sucroalcooleiro. Os resultados da pesquisa evidenciaram papéis de gestão de RH divergentes, que diferenciam as usina pelo nível de instrução e/ou grau de adoção de determinadas práticas. No entanto, ao se fazer as análises das relações entre os papéis de gestão de RH apresentados pelas usinas e seu desempenho financeiro observou-se que a usina B, que possuía a maior orientação estratégica entre as demais, obteve os melhores resultados financeiros na safra 2007/08. Desta forma, conclui-se que, existe uma relação positiva entre a gestão de RH e o desempenho financeiro das usinas, e além disso, as usinas com maior orientação estratégica apresentam resultados melhores. / As we noted the process of management restructuring and professionalization of sugaralcohol sector, there is a need to ascertain whether the new management adopted HR support growth and maintain the competitiveness of plants, contributing effectively to the creation of value. In this case, as the organizations have adopted different practices and there are few studies that show, actually, if your application reflects a good financial performance, evaluate the role of HR management in financial performance may help to clarify its scope, both in terms of the challenges in terms of the benefits generated by this organizational change. For this was a descriptive qualitative research to the study of three specific cases. Data were collected through primary sources, questionnaires and semi-structured, and also through additional secondary sources. The theoretical basis was made from the approach of five central themes: evolution of the concept of HR, administration of HR change in the strategic management of human resources, management of HR and organizational performance and, finally, the sugar-alcohol sector agribusiness. The survey results showed the roles of HR management divergent to distinguish the plants by level of education and/or degree of adoption of certain practices. However, when doing the analysis of relations between the roles of HR management provided by mill and its financial performance showed that the plant B, which had the greatest strategic guidance from the others, received the best financial results in 2007/08 season. Thus it appears that there is a positive relationship between HR management and financial performance of plants, and moreover, the plants with more strategic orientation have better results.

Submitted by Ana Carolina Talarico (anacarolinatalarico@gmail.com) on 2013-09-28T21:57:38Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese_Ana Carolina Talarico_final.pdf: 794527 bytes, checksum: 95b4f034f3aec69307fc529b693d1ae7 (MD5) / Rejected by Eliene Soares da Silva (eliene.silva@fgv.br), reason: Ana, bom dia. Por gentileza, insira o Resumo e Palavras-chave neste trabalho, que são itens obrigatórios. Faça uma nova submissão que aprovarei o trabalho. Att, Eliene 3799-3492 on 2013-09-30T14:54:10Z (GMT) / Submitted by Ana Carolina Talarico (anacarolinatalarico@gmail.com) on 2013-09-30T15:13:49Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese_Ana Carolina Talarico_final.pdf: 797494 bytes, checksum: 72af978f7e500f338279f3aba5ecab61 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Eliene Soares da Silva (eliene.silva@fgv.br) on 2013-09-30T15:49:27Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese_Ana Carolina Talarico_final.pdf: 797494 bytes, checksum: 72af978f7e500f338279f3aba5ecab61 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-09-30T15:49:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese_Ana Carolina Talarico_final.pdf: 797494 bytes, checksum: 72af978f7e500f338279f3aba5ecab61 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-09-25 / Companies are moving to a more international structure; going into new markets and having an increased competition in all fronts. Therefore, the practices that lead companies to a more efficient and competitive position are praised. The management of the workforce comes as one of the main concerns of companies, aiming at performance enhancing and at creating better environments that both attract and maintain the professional talents. In an increasingly international environment, companies tend to look for the specialists and best professionals, regardless of their nationality. This new structure with several different nationalities working together poses new challenges for companies. Understanding if and how a more diverse has a relationship with financial performance is the starting point for better managing this new corporate structure. / As empresas estão mudando para uma estrutura mais internacional; entrando em novos mercados com competição mais acirrada. Portanto, as práticas que levam as empresas a serem mais eficientes e competitivas são exaltadas. O gerenciamento da força de trabalho é uma das maiores preocupações das companhias, com foco em melhorar a performance e criar melhores ambientes de trabalho, que atraem e mantem os talentos. Em um ambiente cada vez mais internacional, as empresas buscam os melhores profissionais, independente de sua nacionalidade. Essa nova estrutura com diferentes nacionalidades trabalhando junto é um novo desafio no mundo corporativo. Entender se e como uma empresa com maior diversidade tem relação com a performance financeira é o ponto de partida para um melhor gerenciamento dessa nova estrutura.

The economics of football during the last decades has gone through a dramatic transformation. The most considerable change for both European and Swedish football clubs, is the ongoing increase of total revenues. Despite increasing revenues, several clubs experience financial problems and difficulties. This has led to a point where clubs require a proper business strategy with economics playing a big part. The previous research on the field has been dedicated to the link between sport performance and economics, but above all on English and Spanish football clubs. The purpose of this study is to examine and analyze the impact of a potential correlation between sport performance and club economy. Different economic variables were examined during the period of 2010-2016 in Swedish elite league for men, Allsvenskan. In the study, the results show a link between club economy and sport performances, which previous studies have already proved. Player salaries measured highest among the examined variables, although none showed a strong correlation.

Cette thèse explore la relation entre la structure de propriété coopérative ou actionnariale avec les stratégies de marchés, et la performance et risque financiers. Elle couvre trois terrains d’études appartenant à des secteurs différents : (1) Les PME françaises, (2) le secteur viticole français et (3) les institutions financières américaines, en adoptant à chaque fois une approche comparative avec des données empiriques. Elle contribue à la littérature existante en ayant une vision transversale entre le marketing et la finance tout en considérant la structure de propriété via des échantillons de données représentatifs. Selon les résultats, les coopératives ont un niveau de performance financière plus faible (excepté les institutions d’épargne américaines) et un risque financier moins élevé (excepté les unions de crédit américaines) que les structures actionnariales. De plus, elles détiennent un niveau plus élevé de capitaux propres leur permettant d’amortir les chocs. En effet, les coopératives adoptent des stratégies de marché différentes. Le type de marque a été étudié dans le secteur viticole montrant que les coopératives optent pour des marques collectives alors que les entreprises actionnariales préfèrent les marques privées. Dans le secteur des institutions financières, dépendamment du type de structure, des segments de clientèles sont préférés et l’approche de relation client est différente. Quant à la relation entre la structure de propriété et les stratégies de marché d’une part et la performance et risque financiers d’autre part, les résultats montrent que les stratégies de marché peuvent influencer la performance financière. Néanmoins, le principal facteur qui affecte la réduction du risque est la structure de propriété coopérative indépendamment des stratégies de marché choisies. / This thesis explores the relationship between ownership structure (cooperative versus investorowned), market strategies as well as financial performance and risk. It tackles three databases in three different sectors: (1) French SMEs, (2) French wine sector (3) and financial institutions in the USA, along with a comparative methodology using empirical data. It contributes to the existing literature through a transversal approach between marketing and finance, in the framework of cooperatives with significant samples of data.Results show that cooperatives have lower levels of financial performance (except thrifts) with lower financial risk (except credit unions) compared to investor-owned firms; cooperatives have higher level of capitalization allowing them to face economic crises. Moreover, cooperatives adopt different market strategies. Research in the wine sector show that cooperatives tend to choose collective branding whereas investor-owned firms prefer private brands. As for financial institutions, business lines and relationship lending approaches vary according to ownership structures. In terms of the relationship between ownership structure and market strategies on one hand, and financial performance and risk on the other, results show that market strategies can affect financial performance while the main factor reducing the risk is cooperative structure.

Numerous studies have examined the relationship between a critical mass of women on corporate boards and firm performance. Despite convincing arguments that racially diverse board members contribute positively to the board's management oversight and strategy formulation responsibilities, literature examining race in the boardroom has been very scant and racial minority directors remain persistently under- represented on corporate boards. The purpose of this study was to examine whether a critical mass of 30% Black directors on boards and audit committees of public companies performed better than companies with less than 30% Black directors. The study was conducted using the mining and financial services companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Quantitative research methodology was utilized to test the financial ratios of ROA, ROE, Tobin's Q, Share Price, P: E Ratio and Dividend Payout with companies that had a minimum of 30% Black directors compared to companies with less than 30% Black directors. The study revealed that there was no relationship between either a critical mass of Black directors on boards and financial performance or between a critical mass of Black directors on audit committees and financial performance. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / ccgibs2014 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) är ett aktuellt ämne som syftar till att företag ska ta ett större samhällsansvar, både ur ett ekonomiskt, miljömässigt och socialt perspektiv. Den globalisering som råder i världen påverkar inte bara ett internt företagsklimat, det ger även effekter på omgivande samhälle och individer, vilket tillsammans med sociala påtryckningar skapar ett behov av CSR. Ansvaret till samhället innebär inte bara ekonomiska och lagliga aspekter, dock ska ett etiskt och filantropiskt perspektiv också antas. Idag är CSR ett frivilligt åtagande och för att kunna motivera företag till ett större ansvarstagande för sitt agerande ämnar denna studie att undersöka, ur ett nordiskt sammanhang, om ett företags hållbarhetsarbete genererar lönsamhet. Studien utgår från nordiska börsnoterade företag som ingår i Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI). Indexet representeras av de bäst presterande hållbarhetsföretagen i världen som kvalificerat sig till att ingå. Genom en deduktiv kvantitativ metod studeras sambandet mellan CSR och lönsamhet för att förklara vilken effekt variabeln Corporate Social Performance (CSP) har på variabeln Corporate Financial Performance (CFP) under tidsperioden 2010-20162010–2016. Fortsättningsvis undersöks skillnaden i lönsamhet mellan företag som inkluderats i DJSI och matchade likartade nordiska företag som inte ingår i indexet. Undersökningen baseras på sekundärkällor ur ett naturvetenskapligt perspektiv. Studien erhåller ett resultat som påvisar att företag som ingår i hållbarhetsindexet tenderar att vara mer lönsamma än företag som inte ingår genom att redovisningsbaserade mått, bruttomarginal och avkastning på totalt kapital (ROA), har applicerats. Studiens slutsats blir att CSR-arbete kan öka lönsamheten i nordiska företag genom att bli inkluderade i DJSI, studien visar dock att placeringen i indexet inte har någon betydelse. Därav blir studiens bidrag att motivera företag till ett större åtagande av hållbarhetsarbete eftersom CSR kan generera högre lönsamhet. / Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a current topic which aims to encourage companies to be more responsible as an societal actor, both from an economic, environmental and social perspective. The consequences of the globalization may not only affect the internal business environment, it will also affect the surrounding society and individuals, which together creates a demand for CSR. As a societal actor, companies needs to include ethical and philanthropic responsibilities, and not only take economic and legal aspects into consideration. Currently, CSR is a voluntary commitment and to motivate companies to embrace the responsibility for the society, this study aims to investigate, from a Nordic context, whether companies’ sustainability work generates profitability.   The study is based on Nordic listed companies included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index World (DJSI), which is an index where the top performing sustainability companies can qualify for an inclusion. The correlation between CSR and profitability will be studied through a deductive quantitative method to explain what impact Corporate Social Performance (CSP) has on Corporate Financial Performance (CFP) during the years between 2010-2016. Furthermore, the differences in profitability between companies included in DJSI matched Nordic companies that are not included in the index will be investigated. From a scientific perspective, the survey is based on secondary sources. The results of the study indicates that companies included in the sustainability index tend to have an improved profitability than companies that are not included. This by applying the accounting-based measures gross margin and return on assets (ROA). The conclusion of the study is that CSR can improve profitability among the Nordic companies by an inclusion in DJSI, but the study shows that the placement in the index does not have an impact. Hence, the contribution of this study is to motivate companies to a greater commitment to sustainability because CSR can generate improved profitability.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Hotel, Restaurant, Institution Management and Dietetics / SooCheong Jang / Deborah D. Canter / In the last few decades, franchising has become a part of everyday life in the United States. Many firms in a variety of industries have adopted franchising as a method of doing business. Despite the importance of franchising, the literature on why firms initially choose to franchise and how franchising affects financial performance has been scant (Combs et al., 2004; Watson et al., 2005). The purposes of this study were 1) to examine how well agency theory, resource scarcity theory, risk-sharing theory, and specific knowledge theory justify the franchising decision, 2) to investigate whether franchising affects restaurant firms' market value and profitability, and 3) to investigate the relationship between the ownership mix, combination of franchised and company-owned outlets, and financial performance. For the statistical analysis, the data were collected from the Standard and Poor's COMPUSTAT database, Bond's Franchise Guide and 10 K reports. A logistic regression model was developed to identify a set of variables that best differentiated firms engaged in franchise contracts from those that were not. The statistical results indicated that: 1) Young and growing firms used franchise more to increase the flow of resources. This result supported resource scarcity theory. 2) The degree of geographic dispersion and involvement in foreign countries increased the probability of a firm's decision to franchise. These results supported agency theory. 3) The decrease of specific knowledge requirements increased the franchising probability. This result supported specific knowledge theory. T-tests and multivariate regression models were used to test how franchising affects firms' financial performance. The findings indicated that 1) franchised firms had better financial performance than non-franchised firms, 2) the relationship between ownership mix and financial performance was curvilinear and the inverted U-shaped relationship suggested the existence of optimal ownership mix that can maximize a firm's financial performance, and 3) ownership mix not only directly affected a firm's intangible assets, but also indirectly affected a firm's intangible assets through advertising. This study found that a purely company owned or a purely franchised chain did not produce the best financial performance. Restaurant companies could use both company-owned and franchised units to leverage the strengths of one another, which will yield a better overall financial performance than if either structure was to operate alone.