Corporate Governance (CG) nowadays is on the agenda of most developed and developing countries, including Jordan, and is receiving considerable attention in the business world as well as in the area of academic research, which is an indication of its importance for business development and society as a whole. The knowledge base about CG in developing countries appears to be limited, but it is growing in size and importance. This study therefore aims to investigate current CG practices and barriers to the development of good CG practices in firms. In order to accomplish the research objectives, a mixed research methodology was adopted. The findings of the study contribute to knowledge by providing empirical data to test and extend the theory of CG. The results suggest that most big and old firms are applying best practice of good CG. Regarding factors inhibiting the practice of effective CG, the results indicate that weakness of the legal environment for firms and lack of knowledge of BODs about CG principles are the most important factors. The empirical results find that constitution, compliance and conscience will affect firm’s performance positively. Separation between the position of CEO and Chairman, the existence of independent NEDs, the use of board subcommittees and a strong disclosure regime also help firms to improve performance. On the basis of the empirical results, the study recommends that the government needs to reform the relevant legislation. These suggestions may strengthen the internal governance of firms, thereby increasing performance and maximise shareholders’ wealth.

« Si les Vallées d’Andorre jouissent de certains privilèges et franchises et ont une organisation judiciaire distincte de celle de la France, elles ne constituent ni un État, ni une personne de droit international ». La lecture de cet arrêt rendu par la Cour de Cassation le 6 janvier 1971 laisse entrevoir les nombreuses difficultés rencontrées par les micro-États dans l’affirmation de leur souveraineté. L’Europe est le théâtre à la fin du XIXe d’une véritable refonte des États. Nombreux furent les vestiges de l’époque féodale qui disparurent absorbés dans de grands ensembles à caractère étatique à l’origine des grand États européens. L'État en droit international est une personne souveraine, c’est ce qui le singularise par rapport aux autres sujets de droit international. Il bénéficie d’une souveraineté interne qui fait de lui l’autorité suprême sur son territoire et d’une souveraineté internationale qui ne le subordonne à aucune autre autorité. Cette souveraineté lui confère une personnalité juridique et une capacité juridique qui lui permettent d’être reconnu comme un sujet de droit, distinct des habitants qui le composent. De facto, un micro-État dispose des mêmes caractéristiques qu’un État mais s’identifie comme tel par l’exiguïté de son territoire et la faiblesse de sa population. Nombreux furent les auteurs qui s’essayèrent dans l’élaboration d’une définition précise et qui échouèrent tant les critères démographiques et de superficies peuvent s’apprécier différemment. Pour cette présente étude seront pris comme critères, les États européens de moins de 500 km2 avec une population de moins de 100.000 habitants. La question qui se pose dès lors, laquelle n'a jamais fait l'objet d'une thèse de doctorat sur ce sujet, est celle de savoir : dans quelle mesure les micro-États européens sont ils arrivés à résister à une évolution historique européenne qui a amené de grosses entités étatiques à disparaître ? / « If the Valleys of Andorre enjoy certain privileges, franchises and a judicial system different from that of France, they are neither a state nor a person of international law ». The reading of this decision by Cour de Cassation, January 6th, 1971, shows the many challenges faced by micro-states in claiming their sovereignty and their legal status. Europe is considered to be the oldest continent in the world because of its history. Designed over the centuries, after wars and monarchical alliances, it gathers many people who have both a common heritage and many cultural differences. Fragmented during many centuries into various estates and other entities with official status. At the end of the nineteenth century, Europe was modified. The estates of feudal period disappered and gave birth to large groups which became the states today. The State in international law has a sovereign status, that makes it different from the other public international entities. Moreover, the states has an internal sovereignty that makes it be the autority over its territory and an international soverignty that subordinates any authority from other states. The sovereignty confers legal personality that allows it to be recognized as a matter of right in itself, separate from the people who compose it and benefiting from international legal capacity and heritage. The micro-state has the same characteristics as a state but it has a small territory and low population. There were many writers who tried to give a precise definition of micro-states but they failed because of the different number of the populations and the different areas. For this research work, we will take into account the European states which have less than 500 km2 with a population under 100.000. The question which has never been the matter of doctoral thesis is that : « micro-states, micro-sovereign states ? Are constitutional and institutional garantees developed on national and international stages by micro-states sufficient to ensure their sovereignty, independence and integrity ? How do the european micro-states resist to the european historical developement which led the large states entities to disappear ? » If the protection of large states was necessary for their construction, micro-states had to defend their full sovereignty. In order to assert their existence in a world of globalization, they are guaranteed a sovereignty reinforced by the constitutionalism which is not recognized by the other states. But this was compensated by international agreements and international organisations.

The thesis analyses and assesses tax systems in the Czech Republic, Austria, Estonia, Latvia and Ukraine. Each structural components of corporate income tax and also taxation of profit shares paid to partners are compared. The comparison of taxation concepts are drawed mainly from the national perspective but the cross-border aspects are described as well. Based on all findings the conclusions about advantages and disadvantages of the tax systems are set.

虛擬社區即指原本各自獨立的電腦，因某種秩序或某種共通性被逐一串連，而創造出的網路上的新世界。在匿名的環境中人們更容易傾吐心聲，表達真實感受，殊不知個人隱私正點點滴滴被記錄與分析，也成了目標行銷的一大利器。本研究的主要重點，即在探討目前虛擬社區蒐集的個人資料內容與用途，同時援用相關法令以分析該關係行銷作法是否可能違反若干隱私權保護原則，以及試圖尋找關係行銷與網路隱私權的平衡點，讓廠商與消費者兩造各取所需互蒙其利。 　　透過對Blizzard、AOL、Geocities、Liberty Financial、Amazon等五個個案的分析，發現儘管虛擬社區分屬不同行業，提供的服務也相去甚遠，但所蒐集的顧客資料其實大同小異，唯可以蒐集目的來劃分關係行銷層次。且虛擬社區在維護方面無甚弊病，然在蒐集與利用部份，泰半違反隱私權保護原則（即蒐集限制、目的明確化、利用限制等原則）。 　　針對目前仍具爭議性的問題，本研究乃站在客觀的角度加以描述，並加入來自各方廣泛的討論內容；在整理分析過後，試圖提出適當建議，例如虛擬社區在資訊中介者與資訊統合者之間的定位問題，研討虛擬社區應當如何調整與第三者公司的合作關係，以及如何建立管理機制，讓關係行銷與隱私權保護能兩者得兼。 第一章 緒論 1 第一節 研究背景 1 第二節 研究動機 4 第三節 研究目的與研究問題 7 第二章 文獻探討 8 第一節 虛擬社區 8 第二節 顧客輪廓資料與關係行銷 14 第三節 隱私權概說 17 第四節 電腦處理個人資料保護法 27 第三章 研究方法 34 第一節 觀念架構 34 第二節 研究變數與衡量 36 第三節 研究設計 41 第四節 研究限制 45 第四章 個案研究 47 第一節 個案描述與分析 47 第二節 問題與討論 73 第五章 命題發展 78 第一節 個案觀察 78 第二節 命題推論 87 第六章 結論與建議 93 第一節 研究結論 93 第二節 研究建議 96 參考文獻 99

“Taiwan's birth rate at world record low”, opening the newspapers in Taiwan, we often could see the similar titles once in a while, the total fertility rate is 1.03‰ in 2010 which means each woman only give birth to 1.03 child a life. The population is one of the key factors to form the country. The low birth rate phenomenon occurred not only in Taiwan, but also in many developed countries. Demographers, governmental and international institutions have feared that lowest-low fertility might prove to be persistent in both developed and developing countries. Demographers in the mid-1990s could not have predicted that fertility would fall so rapidly to such levels. Not only did fertility but also other indicators related to fertility and the family adjusted suddenly and we are approaching the recent fertility decline from a broader perspective that considers the traditional and cultural legacies which affect the everyday life of ordinary citizens. The article would take the experience of OECD countries and discuss the phenomenon of the fertility measures and observe the plausible approaches of education authorities deal with low birth rate in developed countries and Taiwan.

<p>The aim of this thesis is to describe and understand the introduction of entrepreneurship and enterprise projects in primary and secondary schools in the North of Sweden and to identify and analyse the driving forces and actors behind this process. In particular the influence and significance of education policy at supranational, national and subnational level for the introduction of entrepreneurship and enterprise in education are analysed. The main questions of the study have been:</p><p>• How and why have entrepreneurship and enterprise education come to the schools in the northern region of Sweden, in particular within the framework of the PRIO1 project?</p><p>• How were important stakeholders involved at the subnational level and how did they reason and act in relation to the introduction of entrepreneurship and enterprise in the schools?</p><p>• How are the concepts of entrepreneurship and enterprise education presented in policy documents at different policy levels?</p><p>The study wants to report on changes in education policy during recent years. Especially the emergence of international policy convergence and new forms of governance are among the factors that are considered. Drawing on a conceptual framework of structure and agency, the analyses in the empirical studies are informed by a combination of theoretical fields. Important contributions are rendered from the education policy literature. The first method consists of a policy study of documents produced by organisations at different levels (supranational, national and subnational). The purpose of this analysis is to capture the ideas and arguments that have been used but also to understand the context and driving forces for the introduction of entrepreneurship and enterprise in education. Starting from the supranational level, the analysis focuses mainly on two organisations, OECD and EU. These organisations were chosen because they are widely regarded as leading organisations in setting the supranational policy agenda for education. The document study consists of a selection of OECD documents that have been released during the period 1970 - 2006, as well as a selection of EU documents. The EU documents cover the last 15 years. Attention is paid to several documents at the national and subnational level as well. The second method is an interview study. The interview study aims to focus on some of the key stakeholders (agents/actors) that have been participating in the formation (initiation, financing and realisation) of a county wide project “PRIO1”, Priority Enterprise in Västerbotten, in the North of Sweden. In order to understand why and how these actors at the subnational level have become involved in the process, there exists a need to hear their arguments. The document study shows that there is interplay between the different levels, but intertextual aspects have also become visible. The policy drive and policy scope show the concatenation but also the complexity of the policy development. Education is increasingly related to economic policies, in particular through labour market policies. Although the concepts of Entrepreneurship and Enterprise have developed within the economic sector, they are penetrating the education and training systems of many countries. From the results presented in this study, it seems that lifelong learning has become the guiding principle for the amalgamation of education and the world of work, while learning is no longer equated with just schooling. The opening of the school towards the surrounding world is a characteristic development in all this, but it is also a process that certainly is stipulated by agencies and actors at different levels, as is shown in this study. The interviews with some stakeholders at the subnational level show that the promotion of entrepreneurship and enterprise in education is related to arguments for economic and societal development. The interviews also reveal some of the “bottom-up” aspects of the policy process. One of the important results of this study is that the education policy studies have to include the level beyond the national borders. The interplay between the different policy-levels (supranational, national and subnational) needs more attention in order to understand the transformation of the education system.</p>

We study the effect of the size of the welfare state on family outcomes in OECD member countries. Exploiting exogenous variation in public social spending, due to varying degrees of political fractionalization (i.e. the number of relevant parties involved in the legislative process), we show that an expansion in the welfare state increases the fertility, marriage, and divorce rates with a quantitatively stronger effect on the marriage rate. We conclude that the welfare state supports family formation. Nevertheless, we also find that the welfare state decouples marriage and fertility, and therefore, alters the organization of the family. (authors' abstract) / Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Series

Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit ist es, auf der Grundlage des OECD-Musterabkommens für einen in Deutschland unbeschränkt einkommensteuerpflichtigen Gesellschafter die steuerliche Behandlung einer Beteiligung an einer ausländischen intransparent besteuerten Personengesellschaft zu untersuchen. Auf der Grundlage dieser Ergebnisse wird geprüft, ob und gegebenenfalls unter welchen Bedingungen die Beteiligung an einer intransparent besteuerten Personengesellschaft steuerlich vorteilhafter ist als die Beteiligung an einer transparent besteuerten Personengesellschaft oder an einer Kapitalgesellschaft. Zu Beginn der Arbeit wird als Basis für den weiteren Fortgang die Auslegung von Doppelbesteuerungsabkommen und die Einordnung ausländischer Personen- und Kapitalgesellschaften im Hinblick auf die Anwendung des deutschen Steuerrechts und des Abkommensrechts untersucht. Die folgenden Kapitel beschäftigen sich mit der steuerlichen Behandlung bei der Gewinnentstehung, beim Gewinntransfer, bei Verlusten, bei Leistungsbeziehungen zwischen Gesellschaft und Gesellschafter sowie bei Einkünften aus Drittstaaten. Im Schlusskapitel werden die Ergebnisse vergleichend gegenüber gestellt und es erfolgt ein Steuerbelastungsvergleich.

Bedienstete Internationaler Organisationen stehen in einem speziellen Rechtsverhältnis zu ihrem Arbeitgeber, das ihnen ermöglicht, belastende Maßnahmen von speziell für Personalrechtsangelegenheiten errichteten internationalen Verwaltungsgerichten (Administrative Tribunals) überprüfen zu lassen. Anläßlich einer konkreten Streitigkeit (ESA) um Gehaltskürzungen befaßt sich der Beitrag sowohl mit prozeduralen als auch mit materiell-rechtlichen Fragenstellungen und erörtert, wie weit hier bereits allgemeine Rechtsgrundsätze existieren.

The purpose of this study is to answer the research question of how a service company (ServiceCo) could achieve a transfer price of its services. This is of particular interest, due to the growth of service firms that have rapidly increased and surpassed the manufacturing firms, as well as the dominant logic shifting towards services. However, the problem with this field of study is that transfer pricing with regards to the service industry, is a rather unexplored phenomenon in which the guidelines and theories are mostly directed towards manufacturing firms. This study uses a single case study approach where ServiceCo’s organizational characteristics were analyzed in order to attain the information required to understand how ServiceCo could achieve a transfer price of its services. Furthermore, this study uses the Eccles (1983) MAP and the OECD Guidelines, as well as incorporating Porter’s (1985) value chain. This study assesses that ServiceCo, in its current state, uses a sub-optimal transfer pricing method of its services. Therefore, a change in the transfer pricing method was suggested to ServiceCo. Given the organizational characteristics of ServiceCo, the results led to the conclusion that ServiceCo could benefit from a residual analysis in the profit split method, in which an actual full cost plus mark-up compensation could be used on its routine functions, and the residual profit could be split between the entities based on the intangible assets employed, functions performed and the risks carried.