Societies have established various forms of governance to protect the natural environment from the adverse effects of human activity. While direct “command and control” regulation has achieved significant improvements in environmental protection, concerns for its efficiency have led governments to seek alternative approaches to achieve environmental policy objectives. Commentators describe a shift from “government” to “governance” as policy makers and regulators seek to harness wider social forces beyond government, while risk-based regulation is pursued to target constrained regulatory resources for maximum effect. However, robust evidence for the effectiveness of different forms of regulation is lacking. This thesis addresses this gap, providing an evidence base for instrument selection and a data-informed critique of regulatory reform practice. Research followed a case study strategy, gathering qualitative data through 58 in-depth semi-structured interviews, analysed using the NVIVO™ Computer Aided Qualitative Data Analysis System (CAQDAS), with senior policy makers at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, England (Defra) and senior executives in businesses and trade associations in 5 UK sectors. (1) A new typology of regulatory instruments has been compiled, validated with sector experts, refined for policy end-users, and published as part of Defra’s guidance on instrument selection. (2) The critical case of instrument selection in practice at Defra has been examined for the first time, revealing factors affecting choice, the use of coregulation to develop evidence and the importance of retaining policy maker skills for new forms of regulation. (3) A multiple-case study of senior business representatives found five strongly preferred voluntary regulation, seven expressed significant doubts about its effectiveness, and 19 expressed no general preference. While voluntary approaches were valued for flexibility and lower burdens, direct regulation offered stability and a level playing field. They sought inter alia coherent, evidence based regulatory frameworks, delivered through positive regulatory relationships. This research progresses the better and smarter regulation debate on the use of alternatives to direct regulation and has already been used to inform policy making in practice.

This thesis explores the implications of democratisation on the regulation of health care providers. It examines the reforms in relation to two regulatory policies in the pharmaceutical market of the National Health Insurance (NHI) in South Korea – the separation of prescribing and dispensing (SPD) and the pharmaceutical pricing policy – conducted in two periods – the 1980s under the authoritarian regime and the 1990s under the democratised regime. The misuse and overuse of drugs had long been recognised as a problem for the NHI, and the tight regulation of the SPD and pharmaceutical pricing as potential solutions. Democratisation seems unlikely to tighten the government’s regulation of the SPD and pharmaceutical prices. On the one hand, the Korean authoritarian regime was known as being capable of conducting top-down regulation of societal groups, and democratisation as having liberalised the government-society relationship. On the other, pharmaceutical regulation is a sophisticated and detached issue, which restricts the ability of laypeople to mobilise and exert bottom-up pressure for regulation. Nevertheless, the authoritarian government failed to tighten, and even loosened these regulations, whereas the democratised government tightened them. This thesis explains this puzzle by focusing on the features of the agenda-setting process and the articulation of policy issues therein. In the 1980s, the SPD and the pharmaceutical reimbursement pricing policy were administrative issues, discussed exclusively between bureaucrats and the central associations of health care providers, which resulted in loose regulation. In contrast, in the 1990s, reform-oriented professionals and NGOs raised these issues and put them on the political agenda, which motivated the government to conduct tighter regulation. This thesis suggests some general implications of democratisation on the politics of regulation. The hierarchical and exclusive authoritarian policy network aims to realise policy goals set by ruling elites; however, for other policy issues, societal partners can utilise this network to promote their preferred policies. Democratisation, which promotes competitive elections and political rights, allows previously excluded policy actors to participate in policy-making networks. These new actors include professionals and activists who are able to understand regulatory issues and articulate them in ways that are salient to politicians and the general public, which will motivate the government to tighten the regulation governing its traditional policy partners.

Den teknologiska utvecklingen har skapat nya möjligheter för organisationer i deras externa kommunikation. Med framkomsten av sociala medier har organisationer fått en möjlighet att befinna sig på sina intressenters kanaler. Här finns utrymme för en kommunikationsprocess som tidigare inte varit möjlig och organisationer talar om den tvåvägskommunikation och den personliga relation man kan bygga upp på sociala medier. Organisationers kommunikationsarbete präglas ofta av tydliga strategier och styrdokument och policys. Styrdokument kring deras externa kommunikation är i regel väl utvecklade på flera plan. Ändå visar tidigare studier att organisationers arbete med sociala medier sker på ett mer experimentellt sätt. “Den sociala organisationen” syftar till att undersöka hur svenska organisationer på nationell nivå arbetar med sociala medier ur ett strategiskt perspektiv. Med hjälp av en kvalitativ intervjumetod studeras åtta stora svenska organisationer. Studien undersöker hur dessa åtta organisationer arbetar strategiskt med sociala medier. Vidare undersöks hur organisationerna arbetar för att utveckla sin kunskap om sociala medier samt till vilken grad organisationernas arbete på sociala medier styrs av styrdokument och policys. Huvudfrågan som denna studie ställer sig är: “Hur utmärker sig det strategiska kommunikationsarbetet via sociala medier i svenska organisationer?”. Denna huvudfråga söker författarna svara på med hjälp av ett antal arbetsfrågor som ska hjälpa dem att nå sitt syfte. De teorier som studien lutar sig emot är medialiseringsteori, med utgångspunkt framförallt ur Hjarvard’s och Schultz arbete inom området, samt tidigare forskning inom området gällande organisationers arbete med sociala medier. Dessa teorier och tidigare forskning bidrar till att studien kan koppla de teman som visar sig vid analysen av materialet. Resultaten visar att stora svenska organisationer fortfarande arbetar på ett relativt experimentellt sätt med sociala medier. Styrdokument finns i vissa fall, men de är i jämförelse med andra styrdokument mindre uppstyrda. Inom sociala medie-strategierna finns det också större utrymme för ändringar. Anledningen till detta är den ständiga förändring som sker i sociala medier vilket gör det svårt för organisationerna att skapa tydliga styrdokument som ska gälla över en längre tid. / Technological development has created new opportunities for organizations in their external communication. With the arrival of social media, organizations have been given an opportunity to be on their stakeholders' channels. This has created a possibility of a communication process that has not previously been possible and organizations talk about the possibilities with a two-way communication and the personal relationship you can build on social media. Organizations' communicational work is often characterized by clear strategies with documents and policies. Documents regarding their external communication are generally well developed on several levels. Nevertheless, previous studies show that organizations' work with social media takes place in a more experimental way. The social organization aims to investigate how Swedish organizations at the national level work with social media from a strategic perspective. Using a qualitative interview method, eight large Swedish organizations are studied. The study examines how these eight organizations work strategically with social media. Furthermore, it is examined how the organizations work to develop their knowledge of social media and to what extent the organizations' work on social media is based upon documents and policies. The main question that this study raises is: "How does the strategic communication work via social media in Swedish organizations' stand out? The authors seek to answer this main question with the help of a number of sub-questions that will help them achieve their purpose. The theories from which this study is based on are mediatization theory, based primarily on Hjarvard's and Schultz's work in the field, as well as previous research in the field of organizations' work with social media. These theories and previous research contribute to the study by linking the themes that emerge in the analysis of the material. The results show that large Swedish organizations are still working in a relatively experimental way with social media. Documents are present in some cases, but they are less strategic in comparison with other organizational documents. Within social media strategies, there is also more room for changes. The reason for this is the constant change that takes place in social media, which makes it difficult for organizations to create clear documents that will apply over a longer period of time.

The following dissertation contains two unique empirical studies that contribute to the overall literature in the field of Financial Economics in the areas of mutual fund investing and financial intermediation and regulation. The first Chapter, entitled “The Impact of Macroeconomic Stress on the U.S. Financial Sector”, examines the relative impact of macroeconomic stress on financial and non-financial U.S. firms. Empirical results show that macroeconomic shocks appear to have a larger impact on financial firms. Additionally, the sensitivity of financial firms to macroeconomic events can be traced to the influence of non-depository institutions, or “shadow banks”, like finance and investment companies, which are less regulated than depository institutions. The results coincide with several trends in the financial sector including increased competition, complexity and interconnectedness and highlight the need for governance mechanisms that account for the risks associated with these factors. The second chapter, entitled “Partial Adjustment Towards Equilibrium Mutual Fund Allocations: Evidence from U.S.-based Equity Mutual Funds”, examines the relative efficiency of equity mutual funds in terms of speed of portfolio adjustment by applying a partial adjustment model. Empirical results show that mutual fund managers are able and willing to quickly adjust their portfolios when results have been sub-optimal, implying that the cost of persistent poor performance is perceived as being high. Managers can offset about 106 percent of the deviation within one period. Additionally, results show that funds that typically engage in the costly production of specialized information, like emerging market and sector funds have more efficient speeds of portfolio adjustment than more passive funds, like market index funds. The results imply that actively managed funds may have efficiency advantages that have been previously ignored in the empirical literature.

Submitted by Cristiane Chim (cristiane.chim@ucpel.edu.br) on 2018-11-26T11:15:30Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Antônio Carlos Sampaio Dalbon.pdf: 1627301 bytes, checksum: af221913ef421a4cc84d58d583ae8278 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-11-26T11:15:30Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Antônio Carlos Sampaio Dalbon.pdf: 1627301 bytes, checksum: af221913ef421a4cc84d58d583ae8278 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-10-22 / This dissertation consists of an exploratory study that seeks to understand the process of institutional self-evaluation at the Federal University of Rio Grande, based on the social representations of the subjects that make up the Self Evaluation Committee (SEC). For that, the quantitative-qualitative methodology was used with the subjects that compose the SEC, participant observation, questionnaire and a semi-structured interview. The analysis of the research results was carried out from four main categories: emancipation, regulation, public education and participation. For the elaboration of this dissertation, it was necessary to structure the work in five chapters. The first chapter "Presentation" makes a synthesis of the theme institutional self-evaluation, which will be worked by the researcher. The second chapter, entitled "Institutional Evaluation - Concept and History," addresses some important points of evaluation, since its emergence more than 2000 years ago, when it was already used by China and Greece for screening examinations for public services and to check the suitability of those who applied for public office. Beginning in the 1960s, evaluation began to play a major role in the political agenda of governments, focusing on the structuring and management of the public sector, and particularly on education. In this chapter, the trajectory of the institutional evaluation in Brazil is also recorded, as well as the legislation that supports this process. In the third chapter, the theme "Education and Neoliberalism" is addressed, bringing to the debate the guidelines of the international organizations, referring to the non-financing of public universities, by the governments of low-income countries, against the recommendation to only finance basic and basic education, as their priorities. Also addressed are the emancipation and regulation themes, which permeate the evaluation processes. In the ford chapter "Institutional Self-Assessment: A Study from the Federal University of Rio Grande (FURG)". In chapter, some points are presented as: the research paths, where we talk about the methodology that was adopted to carry out this work; the profile of the research subjects, where the socio-occupational characteristics of the interviewees were identified; institutional self-evaluation: an analysis based on the social representations of the interviewees, where the interviews are analyzed from the categories mentioned above. And, finally, the fifth chapter "Final Considerations" bring the summary result of the research, since these results have already been detailed in the previous chapter. The contributions of the researcher are still inserted in the participant observation, because he is a natural member of the investigated group. / Esta dissertação consiste em um estudo exploratório que busca compreender o processo de autoavaliação institucional na Universidade Federal do Rio Grande, a partir das representações sociais dos sujeitos que compõem a Comissão Própria de Avaliação (CPA).Para tanto, utilizou-se a metodologia quanti - qualitativa realizada com os sujeitos que compõem a CPA, a observação participante, questionário e entrevista semiestruturada. A análise dos resultados da pesquisa foi realizada a partir de quatro categorias principais: emancipação, regulação, educação pública e participação. Para elaboração desta dissertação, foi necessário estruturar o trabalho em cinco capítulos. O primeiro capítulo “Apresentação”, faz uma síntese do tema autoavaliação institucional, que será trabalhado pelo pesquisador. O segundo capítulo, intitulado “Avaliação Institucional – conceito e história,” trata de alguns pontos importantes da avaliação, desde o seu surgimento há mais de 2000 anos, quando já era utilizada pela China e pela Grécia para exames de seleção para os serviços públicos e para verificar a aptidão daqueles que se candidatavam a funções públicas. A partir da década de 1960, a avaliação começa ter grande importância na agenda política dos governos, dedicando-se à estruturação e à gestão do setor público, e, particularmente, à educação. Neste capítulo, também se registra a trajetória da avaliação institucional no Brasil, bem como se fala da legislação que ampara este processo. No terceiro capítulo, aborda-se o tema “Educação e Neoliberalismo”, trazendo para o debate, as orientações dos organismos internacionais, referentes ao não financiamento das universidades públicas, por parte dos governos dos países de baixa renda, frente à recomendação de só financiar a educação fundamental e básica, como suas prioridades. Também são abordados os temas emancipação e regulação, que permeiam os processos avaliativos. No quarto capítulo “Autoavaliação Institucional: Um estudo a partir da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande (FURG)”. Neste capítulo, são apresentados alguns pontos como: os caminhos da pesquisa, onde se fala da metodologia que foi adotada para a realização deste trabalho; o perfil dos sujeitos da pesquisa, onde foram identificadas características sócio - ocupacionais dos entrevistados; autoavaliação institucional: uma análise a partir das representações sociais dos entrevistados, onde se realiza a análise das entrevistas a partir das categorias citadas acima. E, for fim, o quinto capítulo “Considerações Finais” traz o resultado sumarizado da pesquisa, visto que esses resultados já foram detalhados no capítulo anterior. Ainda são inseridas as contribuições do pesquisador, no tocante à observação participante, em virtude de o mesmo ser um membro natural do grupo investigado.