No description available.

No description available.

none

La crise financière récente a réveillé l’intérêt du monde académique pour les préceptes qui sous-tendent le comportement économique “rationnel”. En réponse au besoin d’une meilleure compréhension des fondamentaux du capitalisme, cette thèse prend une perspective historique sur XV quelques considérations managériales essentielles, parmi lesquelles la coordination principal-agent, la redistribution des bénéfices et la maximisation de la fiabilité et de l’efficience. Elle le fait par le biais de multiples analyses longitudinales de la Compagnie Néerlandaise des Indes Orientales (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, la VOC), qui opéra pendant la première vague de mondialisation et fut une pionnière des principes managériaux modernes. Se basant sur une combinaison de données quantitatives et qualitatives, et instruite par la théorie de l’agence et par l’institutionnalisme, cette thèse fait deux contributions théoriques larges. En premier lieu, en soulignant la réactivité de la Compagnie à l’évolution des exigences d’un monde en mutation, elle enrichit l’état des connaissances sur la VOC, qui était jusqu’à présent fortement orienté vers la contextualisation historique et minimisait l’importance de l’action managériale. En deuxième lieu, elle démontre que la gestion de la VOC, bien que guidée par des objectifs organisationnels modernes par essence, tels que le contrôle, la maximisation des revenus, ou l’optimisation opérationnelle, était formatée par des situations politiques et culturelles prémodernes. Ceci confirme de nouveau la thèse selon laquelle les racines de l’action économique “rationnelle” se trouvent d’avantage dans le pragmatisme et la construction sociale que dans une logique économique autonome. Sous cet angle, la lutte de la VOC pour réconcilier les objectifs de long terme et les exigences de court terme éclaire les problématiques stratégiques d’industries dynamiques ou émergeantes, et alimente le débat sur les facteurs, culturels ou politiques, qui ont contribué à l’état actuel du capitalisme occidental. / The recent financial crisis has reinvigorated an academic interest in the precepts upon which “rational” economic behavior is based. Answering to the need for a better understanding of capitalism’s fundaments, this dissertation takes a historical perspective on a number of core managerial issues, including raising capital, controlling agents and improving reliability / efficiency. It does so by means of multiple longitudinal analyses of the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie – VOC), which operated during the first wave of globalization and pioneered modern management principles. Together, the chapters cover all of the Company’s three important domains of activity: the Asian branch, the metropolitan upper echelons and the shipping between Europe and Asia. Using a combination of quantitative and qualitative data and drawing on agency theory and institutionalism, the dissertation depicts the VOC as an actively governed organization that consciously addressed trade-offs and dilemmas. Elaborating how social and organizational processes contributed to the modernization of international business, the dissertation suggests that the roots of capitalism and “rational” economic coordination, which are often assumed to obey an autonomous economic logic, can be found in pragmatism and social construction. As such, the VOC’s struggle to reconcile long-term goals with short-term exigencies speaks to current strategic issues in dynamic or emerging industries and feeds into the debate on the factors (culture or political) that have contributed to the current state of western capitalism.

Growing public awareness of corporate social responsibility (CSR), particularly corporate involvement in environmental, social, and governmental (ESG) issues, has led to extensive discussions on the factors that may influence corporate ESG performance. Prior literature has pointed out that ownership structure can be a crucial factor regarding a firm’s attitude and engagement in ESG. However, fewer studies have focused on the association between different types of ownership structures and ESG performance for countries with highly concentrated ownership of firms, such as Sweden. Therefore, it seems necessary to gain insight into how different types of ownership affect the ESG performance of firms in the Swedish context. The purpose of this study is to understand how ownership structure, and more specifically, the presence of founding, non-founding, institutional, foreign ownership, as well as the use of dual-class shares and the presence of multiple large shareholders, will affect the ESG performance of Swedish firms. The results show that controlling ownership, dual-class shares, founding-family ownership, and multiple large shareholders have a significant negative effect on a firm's ESG performance.

This study examines the effect of ownership structure on dividend policy of 284 firms listed on the OMX Stockholm Exchange in Swedenfrom 2010-2015. Specifically, the purpose of the study is to investigate therelationship betweendifferentinvestor types and dividend policies of firms, measured as dividend yield and dividend payout ratio.Also, the study aims to predict dividend behaviours based on ownership structure which may be useful inthe future since ownership structures of listed Swedish firms havebeen changing over time, with an increased consolidation of ownership and a sharpincrease in institutional ownership. The sample consistsof 1046 observations and was gathered from Thomson Reuters’ Datastream and Eikon databases. This is the first study to examine the relationship between ownership structure and dividend policy in Sweden.The dividend policy is measured using two dependent variables; dividend payout ratio anddividend yield and a multiple regression has been used in orderto test the hypotheses whether any relationships exist between 17 different types of ownership structure used as independent variables, four additional control variables and dividend policy.The findings indicated significant positive relationships between institutional ownership and dividend yield and dividend payout, with one exception being private equity which exhibited a negative relationship with dividend yield. Furthermore, market capitalization, return on assets and price to book value are positively related to dividend payout while debt/equity ratio showed a negative relationship with dividend yield. The results contradict those of the most recent research conducted in Turkey (Al-Najjar & Kilincarsla, 2016) but adds supportin the debateto existing theories of dividends’ relevance to the value of firms developed by Gordon (1963), Lintner (1962) and Walter (1963). Limitations of the study include the geographical delimitation to Sweden which creates some constraints to wider generalization ofthe results to other geographical settings. Furthermore, the datacollected from Thomson Reuters Eikon hadmissing values, showed signs of heteroscedasticity and relevant investor variables such as family ownership were unavailable.

Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att testa sambandet mellan en koncentrerad aktieägarandel och låg utdelning bland aktieföretag på den svenska börsen. Vad som är unikt för just denna studie är att den genomförs på den svenska börsen samt den skattesats som skiljer sig mellan Sverige och exempelvis Finland där tidigare studier av samma karaktär genomförts. Metod: Studien har genomförts med en kvantitativ metod och en deduktiv ansats. Den finansiella data som används i studien har hämtats via databasen ”Retriever”, information om aktieägande har manuellt hämtats från ”Ägarna och makten” (Sundqvist, 2015). Resultat och slutsats: Slutsatsen innefattar en saknad av direkt samband mellan koncentrerat ägande och låg utdelningsnivå vilket besvarar syftet. Vad som kan lyftas fram som en eventuell förklaring är den skattemässiga aspekten gällande utdelning och kapitalvinst. Tidigare forskning som påträffat samband i andra länder har en skattesats som skiljer sig mellan utdelning och kapitalvinst vilket innebär skattemässiga fördelat att välja det ena framför det andra. Detta var en av de aspekter som var av stort intresse innan studien startade. Studiens bidrag: Denna studies teoretiska bidrag påvisar att sambandet mellan ägarkoncentrationen och företagens utdelning inte är självklart på den svenska börsen. Istället finner vi att det är huvudsakligen företagens finansiella nyckeltal som ligger till grund för företagens utdelning. Förslag till vidare forskning: Resultatet av denna studie föder ytterligare nyfikenhet kring möjligheter att forska vidare. Exempel på intressanta ämnen är Agnblads (2001)teori om det utländska ägandets påverkan på det framtida ägandet i Sverige. Även agentteorin och dess olika påverkan på företagen går att fördjupa sig i och studera på den svenska marknaden då ägandet är koncentrerat och en stor del maktfördelning sker. / Aim: The aim of this study is to test the relationship between ownership concentration and dividends in listed Swedish firms. Method: This study has a quantitative method and a deductive approach. The financial data has been collected via the database ”Retriever”, information about the ownership of the companies was manually collected from the book ”Ägarna och makten” (Sundqvist, 2015). Result and conclusions: The result of the study is that dividends may variate due to the independent variables. However, there is not a significant relationship between ownership concentration and dividends. Contribution of the thesis: The contribution of this study provides further information regarding ownership concentration and dividends, we find that the financial ratios of the companies have a larger impact on the dividends than the ownership concentration. Suggestions for future research: The result of this study adds alot of curiosity to the future studies about this subject. Our suggestions to future research is to elaborate Agnblads (2001) theory about foreign ownership and how it might affect companies in Sweden. We also propose to research further about the Agency-theory and which effects it has on the Swedish listed firms since we have a concentrated ownership.

Corporate governance (CG) is a popular topic that gets more concerns today, especially infast developing countries. Numbers of projects and studies relating to CG and their effectson financial performance of companies have been done in many countries, but still this kindof topic is quite new in Vietnam.This paper tries to find out if there is any relationship between board size & composition,board activity, and ownership concentration and firm performances. Based on collectinginformation of listed companies in Vietnam, I use statistical analysis and quantitativemethod to get the paper’s objectives.Based on CG theory and the role of CG structures such as board of directors, ownershipstructure, and this paper also make a review on the compliance of listed companies with CGrules at Vietnamese market recently.Our empirical findings show that independent directors enhanced firm performance;inversely, the dual position of CEO and Chairman has a positive relation with firm value.Besides, age of director and the number of directors meeting play important roles in firmvalue. However, no significant impact of board size, board gender diversity, top tenshareholders concentration and levels of state ownership on firm performance. Lastly,regression model of market performance shows that the duality of CEO and Chairman andthe number of independent directors are significant impact on firm value.

Syfte: CSR är idag ett väl använt och diskuterat begrepp. Även företagsskatt är ett omdiskuterat ämne där många av de metoder som företag använder sig av för att kraftigt minska skatten kan ifrågasättas. Då skatt kan ses som ett sätt att bidra till samhället i stort har studier av CSR, som är ett socialt ansvarstagande, blivit intressant att studera i förhållande till skatt. Motstridiga studier leder dock till att ett behov finns att undersöka faktorer som kan påverka förhållandet. Ägarstruktur kan ha en påverkan på hur arbetet med företags sociala ansvarstagande ser ut samt hur skatteaggressivt det är. Den föreliggande studien undersöker därför om insiderägande är en faktor som har en modererande effekt på förhållandet mellan CSR och skatteaggressivitet. Metod: Studien utgår från en positivistisk forskningsfilosofi med en hypotetisk-deduktiv ansats. Studien har en kvantitativ strategi och en longitudinell design som genomförts med data över tio år från 273 publika europeiska företag, för åren 2008–2017. I studien har sekundärdata använts inhämtad från databasen Thomson Reuters Eikon. Insamlat datamaterial har analyserats i statistikprogrammet SPSS. Resultat & slutsats: Resultaten visar att insiderägande har en modererande effekt på sambandet mellan CSR och skatt. Genom undersökningen framkommer det att det är nivån av insiderägande som bestämmer riktningen på förhållandet mellan CSR och skatteaggressivitet. Slutsatsen som kan nås är att ägarstruktur är en faktor som bör tas i beaktning vid studier av sambandet mellan skatt och CSR. Examensarbetets bidrag: Undersökningen lämnar ett unikt bidrag till redovisningsforskningen då den är den enda att studera ägarstrukturens påverkan på CSR och skatteaggressivitet genom att titta på insiderägande. Studien lämnar också ett praktiskt bidrag till myndigheter och organisationer om de ägarstrukturer som kan påverka företags inställning till hållbarhetsredovisning och skattebeteende. Utöver detta breddas den empiriska forskningen på europeiska bolag och sambandet mellan CSR och skatt. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Förslag till vidare forskning ges i form av studier på vilken typ av aktier som innehas av insiders, det vill säga om innehavet innebär röststarka aktier eller inte. Förslag ges också till att studera olika grupper av insiders då det kan finnas skillnader inom en bred definition av insiders i huruvida personen i stor utsträckning associeras med företaget. Det ges även förslag på att inte mäta CSR som ett samlat begrepp utan istället studera dimensionerna som separata beroende variabler då det kan finnas skillnader som inte upptäcks då begreppet mäts som en helhet. / Aim: CSR is an often-used term and a well-discussed topic. Corporate tax is also an often debated subject where many of the methods used by companies to greatly reduce tax can be questioned. Since tax can be seen as a way to contribute to society at large, studies of CSR, which is a way for companies to take social responsibility, have become interesting to study in relation to tax. Contradicting studies, however, lead to the need to investigate factors that may affect the relationship. Ownership structure can have an impact on corporate social responsibility and how tax-aggressive a company is. This study therefore investigates whether insider ownership is a factor that has a moderating effect on the relationship between CSR and tax aggressiveness. Method: The study is based on a positivistic research philosophy with a hypothetical-deductive approach. The study has a quantitative strategy and a longitudinal design using ten-year data of 273 public European companies, for the years 2008-2017. In the study, secondary data has been used retrieved from the Thomson Reuters Eikon database. Collected data has been analyzed in the statistical program SPSS. Result & Conclusions: The results show that insider ownership has a moderating effect on the relationship between CSR and tax. This study shows that it is the level of insider ownership that determines the direction of the relationship between CSR and tax aggressiveness. The conclusion that can be reached is that ownership structure is a factor that should be taken into account in studies examining the relationship between tax and CSR. Contribution of the thesis: This study provides a unique contribution to the field of accounting research as it is the only one to study the impact of ownership structure on CSR and tax aggressiveness by examining insider ownership. The study also provides a practical contribution to government institutions and organizations about the ownership structures that can affect companies’ attitude towards sustainability reporting and tax behavior. In addition to this, empirical research on European companies and the relationship between CSR and tax are broadened. Suggestions for future research: Further research is needed in the form of studies on the type of shares held by insiders, i.e. if the holding contains voting shares or not. Further research is also needed to study different groups of insiders as there may be differences within a broad definition of insiders as to whether the person is largely associated with the company or not. In addition, there are also suggestions for more research that does not measure CSR as one variable. By studying the dimensions that make up CSR as separate variables there may be differences that are not detected when it is measured as one variable.

This thesis investigates what effects control enhancing mechanisms that are associated with vote differentiation have on dividend payout policy among Swedish listed firms. The data collected for this study is for the period 2005-2007 and the sample consists of 109 companies where 61 of these have shares that are vote differentiated, and the remaining 48 companies have the one share –one vote structure. The variables in the regressions are dividend payout ratio, a dummy for vote differentiation, growth in earnings, size, Tobin’s Q and ownership structure. Three separate hypotheses are applied for reaching a scientific answer to the thesis question. The results indicate that dividend payout policy is significantly negatively affected by the presence of vote differentiation and that vote concentration among the five largest shareholders is generally higher in such firms. The results do also indicate that dividend payout is determined by firm size, growth and investment performance which are in line with earlier studies. From the results, parallels have been drawn between investment performance, ownership concentration, vote differentiation and dividend payout policy. Firms that have vote differentiated shares tend to overinvest instead of paying out dividends when this presumably would be a more appropriate decision considering the aspect of efficiency. As a final conclusion based on the findings, the thesis confirms the argument on that vote differentiating among shares should be reconsidered for better reforms.