Yes / The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of corporate board attributes, ownership structure and firm-level characteristics on both corporate mandatory and voluntary disclosure behaviour. Multivariate regression techniques are used to estimate the effect of corporate board and ownership structures on mandatory and voluntary disclosures of a sample of Libyan listed and non-listed firms between 2006 and 2010. First, the authors find that board size, board composition, the frequency of board meetings and the presence of an audit committee have an impact on the level of corporate disclosure. Second, results indicate that ownership structures have a non-linear effect on the level of corporate disclosure. Finally, the authors document that firm age, liquidity, listing status, industry type and auditor type are positively associated with the level of corporate disclosure. Future research could investigate disclosure practices using other channels of corporate disclosure media, such as corporate websites. Useful insights may be offered also by future studies by conducting in-depth interviews with corporate managers, directors and owners regarding these issues. The evidence relating to the important role that corporate governance mechanisms play in shaping the expectations relating to the level of corporate voluntary and/or mandatory disclosures may be useful in informing investor decisions, as well as future policy and regulatory initiatives. This paper contributes to the existing literature by examining the governance-disclosure nexus relating to both mandatory and voluntary disclosures in both listed and non-listed firms operating in a developing country setting.

The thesis deals with financial accounting and taxation; i.e. areas with increased risk of unethical behaviour. It presents and critically evaluates the measures introduced by the European Union, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the authors of Taxparency project - the nongovernmental organisation Transparency International Česká republika and Lexperanto association. The introductory chapters of the thesis offer a brief excursion into the realms of philosophy, law and psychology. Their purpose is to provide a comprehensive summary of the most important findings from these disciplines for better understanding of the meaning and fundamentals of ethics. Subsequently, three key areas of financial accounting and taxation are discussed - non-transparent ownership structures, virtual offices and transfer prices - with the objective to determine the motives of entrepreneurs to use these practices. LuxLeaks case is mentioned as a practical example of unethical behaviour of entrepreneurs, tax advisers as well as of civil servants. The conclusion outlines the Taxparency project. The aim of the thesis is not only to introduce but also critically evaluate the project. Based on the results of a questionnaire survey, the possibilities of the project implementation in the conditions of the Czech Republic are analysed. The official websites of individual institutions and organisations became the main information source for the thesis.

企業的創新已經進入到應用專利權進行策略佈局的階段，因此綜合研發投入和專利產出的創新效率便成為關注企業競爭力的重要指標。而影響創新效率的關鍵在於企業決策者的策略意圖，但由於新興國家法規體制尚不完備，與決策者相關的公司治理因素成為創新效率的核心議題。為深入瞭解其中的連結，本研究以中國的上市公司為研究對象，並從外資投資者的角度探討股權結構與創新效率之間的關係。研究結果發現外資股對於創新效率有正向影響，若與國有股同時存在，原有的正向影響則會減弱；但當國有股私有化的程度愈高，外資股所受的干擾降低，對創新效率的正向影響便愈大；另外法人股的存在則更能增進外資股提升企業的創新效率。 / Nowadays, enterprises regard patents as a key strategy to enhance its innovation capability. Therefore, innovative efficiency (IE), measured as the relation between R&D expenditures and patents granted, becomes an important index to observe corporate competitiveness. Ownership structures could affect the outcome of IE as shareholders are ultimate decision makers. However, this may be a more serious issue in emerging countries, as they generally have weak legal environments and shareholders do not fully understand the details of firms’ innovation efforts. This study explores this issue based on a sample of Chinese listed companies and examines the extent to which ownership structures, especially foreign shareholders, are associated with the IE of publicly listed firms in China. The results indicate that IE is positively associated with the foreign shareholdings, while this relation turns negative when there are state shareholdings. As state shareholding have negative effects on IE and could interfere the role of foreign shareholdings in improving a company’s innovation activities, the results also suggest that the level of state shareholding privatization improves the association between IE and foreign shareholding. Moreover, the relation between IE and the foreign shareholding is more pronounced if institutional shareholdings exist.

從企業績效來看，在需持續創新、風險與產業技術複雜性較高的電子業，家族企業若聘用專業經理人經營，企業績效較差，反之，在產業技術變化性與風險較低的傳統產業，家族企業聘用專業經理人經營，反而企業績效較佳，這顯示，在面臨高度風險的環境時，家族企業中經營權與所有權的分離才會導致代理問題。同樣地，在電子業中，家族企業的控制權與所有權分離程度越高，企業績效越差，反之，在傳統產業中，家族企業控制權與所有權分離程度越高，企業績效反而越佳。這個結果顯示，在需持續創新、風險與產業技術複雜性較高的產業中，家族企業必須同時面臨兩種代理問題。 從企業對創新這類風險性投資的策略來看，本論文的研究結果顯示，經營權與所有權合一，企業所有者有能力及意願監督經營者，這將有助於企業投入較多的創新。反之，在控制權與所有權分離的情況下，因為投資的大部分是其他人的錢，企業的最終控制者能將創新的風險分散給外部股東，而較有意願投入創新。而家族控制者本身，因其規避風險的特質，而對上述兩類對創新有正向影響的治理機制有負向的調節效果（moderate）。但對家族成員而言，創新有助於企業的長期競爭優勢為了家族的永續發展，在經營企業上應該會採取長遠觀點（long-term perspective），而有意願投入創新，為了解開這個難題，本研究進一步將創新分為利用型創新（exploitative innovation）及開創型創新（explorative innovation）兩類，分析結果發現，家族企業雖然投入創新的數目較少，但在比例上有較多是較開創的創新，這個結果顯示，家族企業雖然害怕風險，但相對於非家族企業仍較具有長期經營的觀點並較具開創性。 / This dissertation concerns the effects of different governance structures on firms’ performance and innovativeness in business groups. In the first study, the ambivalent needs of control and growth of family firms in business group are explored. This study finds that in general, the excess control rights and controlling shareholdings will increase firms’ performance. In addition, family firms with such control structures will perform better in non-electronic industry while worse in electronic industry. Lastly, active control, namely family members control management and chairman at the same time, will perform better in electronic industry while worse in non-electronic industry. The second study focuses on comparing family and non-family group affiliated firms’ incentives to do innovations in different governance structures. Adopting behavior agent model, we propose that although family group affiliated firms are less innovativeness than non-family group affiliated firms in general, they have larger share of exploratory innovation than non-family firms. The empirical results support our hypotheses. However, in contrast to traditional agency perspective, the separations between ownership and control rights facilitate firms’ innovativeness. This finding may originate in pyramid ownership structure.