Church financial leaders were affected by the economic crisis after the 2008 recession. In a 2009 group study conducted nationwide with church financial leaders, 57% stated that the economy had a negative effect on their church budgets. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore successful strategies that some church financial leaders used to ensure financial sustainability during economic crises. Resource dependence theory was the conceptual framework. Data were collected from 6 church financial leaders at 4 churches in the northeastern region in the United States; church financial leaders were selected through purposeful sampling to participate in semistructured interviews. Data were also collected from church documents, such as financial records and budget statements. These data were analyzed to identify emerging themes using Yin's 5-phase process: compiling, disassembling, reassembling (and arraying), interpreting, and concluding. The 3 themes that emerged from the data analysis were (a) provide strategies to acquire external resources, (b) specify plans to establish internal strategic factors, and (c) provide strategies to improve financial and strategic management. Findings and recommendations of the study could contribute to positive social change by providing church financial leaders with successful strategies to ensure financial sustainability during economic crises and by increasing church revenue and improving social programs, which help improve the needs of staff, members, and people in the community.

More companies have responded to the call for action, increasing their attention to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Corporate governance structures have proven to have an effect on how well companies are able to facilitate a sustainable trajectory, all influenced by values and norms. Sweden is part of what many views as the ‘next supermodel’ regarding social welfare and sustainability awareness based on a collectivist mindset. In contrast, the US fundamentally believes in the American dream of free enterprise, which has resulted in a more shareholder oriented view.   This study aims to research whether board composition mechanisms such as board gender diversity, board independence, inclusion and CEO duality impact the CSR initiatives, measured through ESG score, of Swedish and US Large Cap companies listed on OMXS and S&P 100. Moreover, it strives to investigate plausible reasons for differences between Sweden with the Nordic corporate governance model and the tier-1 model corporate governance model the US have. Even if ESG is a well-studied area, previous research does not find any consensus since earlier studies find negative, positive and non-significant results. Furthermore, many studies tend not to go beyond firm-level factors and overlook country-level factors such as national culture.   The study consists of 165 Large Cap companies, where 83 are Swedish and 82 are from the US. The chosen research method is quantitative, based on unbalanced panel data from 2020-2022. ESG score is used as the dependent variable, and the independent variables are the proportion of women board of directors, the critical mass of women directors, the proportion of independent directors, inclusion and CEO duality. The control variables consist of board size, asset size, return on assets, leverage, board-specific skills, and the number of employees. To control for country-level factors, GDP is applied. The regression also applies fixed effects for year and sector.   The data analyses are done with two robust and one standard GLS model with random effects, where the regression analyses are divided into two parts. Part I combines Swedish and US Large Cap companies, and Part II separates the two countries. The results for Part I show no significant relationship between ESG score and either board gender diversity, the critical mass, inclusion or CEO duality. The degree of board independence shows a significant positive effect on ESG scores. Part II conveys that there are fundamental differences between Sweden and the US. For example, while board independence shows a significant positive relationship in Sweden, it presents a non-significant negative relationship in the US. In addition, GDP shows significance in both models indicating that country-level factors matter, and it is evident that the explanatory power of the regressions differ. Thus, it is evermore likely that other factors, such as national culture, potentially impact companies’ corporate social responsibility.

No description available.

The purpose of the study is to compare the valuation process and the selection of value-influencing factors for single-unit residentials properties between Spain and Sweden in a sales context, and to examine how the process is influenced by data availability about comparable properties. This to provide a basis for increased understanding, well-informed purchasing decisions and lessons learned between the markets. The study was conducted through interviews with nine real estate agents, distributed over Spain and Sweden, and the results were put in relation to previous research on the subject. The results were analyzed in the perspective of Resource Dependence Theory and Efficient Market Hypothesis.  It was found that the processes are largely similar, both anchored in comparable properties. The choices of value-influencing factors proved to be relatively similar. A major difference emerged: Spanish real estate agents have access to lower quality and quantity of data on comparable properties, particularly in terms of sales prices, and therefore rely more on listing prices that do not necessarily reflect actual market values. It was found that Swedish real estate agents rely on data and are more dependent on it compared to their Spanish counterparts. With this dependence, it was also found that external actors exert greater control over the Swedish real estate agents' processes. As it was established that the Spanish real estate market is less transparent than the Swedish one, a lower degree of market efficiency was found to prevail in the Spanish real estate market compared to the Swedish market. / Studiens syfte är att jämföra mäklares värderingsprocess och val av värdepåverkande faktorer hos småhus med bostadsändamål i försäljningssyfte mellan Spanien och Sverige, och undersöka hur processen influeras av datatillgång om jämförelseobjekt. Detta för att ge utrymme för ökad förståelse, välinformerade köpbeslut och lärdomar marknaderna emellan. Studien genomfördes via intervjuer med nio mäklare, fördelade över Spanien och Sverige, och resultaten ställdes i relation till den tidigare forskningen i ämnet. Resultaten analyserades ur perspektivet av Resource Dependence Theory och Efficient Market Hypothesis.  Det kan fastslås att värderingsprocesserna liknar varandra i sin helhet, båda sker med stöd av jämförelseobjekt. Valen av värdepåverkande faktorer visade sig vara relativt lika. En stor skillnad uppdagades, att spanskverkande mäklare har tillgång till sämre kvalitet på och lägre kvantitet av data om jämförelseobjekten, framförallt i form av försäljningspriser, och därför i högre grad använder sig av utropspriser som inte nödvändigtvis reflekterar ett faktiskt marknadsvärde. Det kan konstateras att de svenskverkande mäklarna förlitar sig på data och är beroende av den i större omfattning än de spanska. Med denna beroendeställning kan det även konstateras att externa aktörer besitter större kontroll över de svenskverkande mäklarnas process. Då det konstaterades att den spanska fastighetsmarknaden var mindre transparent än den svenska kunde en lägre grad av effektiv marknad fastställas råda på den spanska fastighetsmarknaden än på den svenska.

This thesis examines product innovation processes in small established enterprises. The research questions are: (1) what motivates small established enterprises to innovate, (2) how do small established enterprises perform product innovation, and (3) how do small established enterprises manage resource scarcity in their product innovation processes? To answer the research questions, a multiple case study approach was chosen with three small established enterprises as cases and different product innovation processes as embedded units of study. The data collection method used was observation during a period of five months, complemented by interviews and secondary data. Product innovation in small established enterprises seems to be motivated by solving existing customers’ problems and the need for a sustained steady cash flow. A steady cash flow is also found to be a prerequisite during the product innovation processes. Product innovation seems to occur when there is a risk of decreased cash flow and/or when existing customers can be satisfied with new products that increase their loyalty so as to secure future sales, cash flow, and the enterprise’s survival in the long run. Promising innovation ideas alone do not result in product innovation. An innovation idea must also have supportive existing customers for product innovation to occur. Product innovation processes in the studied small established enterprises are found highly context dependent, intertwined in operational processes and made possible by a small organic organization and closeness to existing customers. The product innovation processes are further found to follow a flexible and informal overall scheme optimized for decreasing market and technology uncertainty and risk, dealing with resource scarcity, and facilitating fast and easy commercialization to avoid or moderate dips in cash flow. The design processes within the innovation processes can be linearly structured or cyclical and experimental, depending on the experienced novelty. To manage resource scarcity during the product innovation processes, the studied small enterprises used many different bootstrapping methods in combination. These methods can be divided into three categories according to their overall functions: for using existing resources more efficiently, for increasing resources and to secure a fast payback on resources invested in NPD. The studied small enterprises were due to their resource scarcity further found to favor an innovation strategy, only involving new products done with known technology and targeting existing markets. This way to innovate, which creates new products in a resource-efficient way that are accepted by the enterprises’ existing markets, seems to prevent unsuccessful product innovation, while at the same time excluding technologically radical innovation and innovation targeting new markets.

Cette thèse explore les implications des stratégies hors marché des entreprises en termes de performance. Elle attire notamment l'attention sur la nature paradoxale des stratégies hors-marché ainsi que sur l'importance pour les entreprises de former des portefeuilles spécifiques de ce type de stratégie. En utilisant une approche fondée de la théorie de l'échange social et sur la théorie de la dépendance aux ressources, cette thèse tout d'abord analyse les conditions pour lesquelles les entreprises sont soumises à une extraction de “rente” de la part des politiciens. Elle explore ensuite l'impact de ces liens politiques sur la performance financière des entreprises. Elle distingue notamment différents types de liens politiques qui exposent les entreprises à différents niveaux d'incertitude quant à la continuité de leur échange avec les politiciens, et à différents niveaux de dépendance à leurs ressources à postériori. Enfin, cette thèse examine comment l'engagement communautaire des entreprises pourrait agir comme une stratégie complémentaire aux liens politiques, et comment cette complémentarité peut permettre d’obtenir de meilleurs retours financiers de ces liens politiques. Les hypothèses de cette thèse sont empiriquement testées sur des données longitudinales uniques couvrant différents types de liens entre l’ensemble des politiciens britanniques et toutes les sociétés cotées en bourse au Royaume-Unis, sur une période allant de 2002 à 2011. En prenant une position critique sur la valeur que les entreprises peuvent tirer des stratégies hors-marché, cette thèse contribue à la littérature en management stratégique, en particulier à celle portant sur les stratégies hors-marché des entreprises et leurs implications en termes de performance financière / This dissertation looks into performance implications of firms’ non-market strategies. It draws attention to the double-blade nature of firms’ non-market strategies, as well as the importance for the firm of forming a right portfolio of such strategies. Using insights from social exchange theory and resource dependence theory, it first outlines the conditions under which firms will be subject to rent extraction by politicians. It then looks into the impact of political linkages on firms’ financial performance, differentiating between different types of political linkages; which expose a firm to different levels of uncertainty regarding the continuity of exchange with the politician, and different levels of ex-post dependency on the politician. Finally it investigates how community engagement might act as a complement to firms’ political linkages, and how such complementarity may help to achieve improved financial returns from those political linkages. The predictions of the essays are empirically tested using a unique longitudinal dataset covering various types of linkages between all politicians and all publicly listed companies in the UK, for the period from 2002 to 2011. Taking a critical stand on the value to be drawn from firms’ non-market strategies, this dissertation contributes to strategic management literature, particularly the literature on firms’ non-market strategies and their implications on financial performance

La dépendance aux ressources naturelles entraîne de nombreux défis pour les décideurs publics. Fort de ce constat, se pose avec acuité la question suivante: dans quelle mesure les gouvernements des pays d’Afrique sub-Saharienne sont à même d’employer leurs leviers de politiques fiscales et monétaires afin de limiter les effets négatifs de la dépendance aux ressources naturelles et d’entraîner un cercle économique vertueux? Le second chapitre de la thèse distingue les mécanismes de court terme et de long terme de la dépendance aux ressources naturelles en utilisant une approche en deux temps: d’abord les variables explicatives sont cointégrées pour établir les relations de long terme puis un modèle à correction d’erreur est estimé pour capter les relations de court terme de retour à l’équilibre.Sur le long terme, l’effet négatif de la dépendance est confirmé. Cependant, les pays dotés d’institutions de mauvaise qualité sont plus vulnérables car non seulement ils subissent l’impact de long terme mais la dépendance aux ressources affecte négativement le processus de retour à l’équilibre sur le court terme. Enfin, les résultats montrent que dans le cadre d’institutions de qualité supérieure, la dépendance aux ressources naturelles peut avoir un impact positif sur la reprise économique. Dans un troisième chapitre, un modèle pvar compare les intéractions macro-économiques dans la zone monétaire franc CFA, ancré à l’euro, par rapport aux pays comparables hors zone franc CFA. En prenant en compte la forte présence de matières premières dans leurs exportations, les résultats montrent que la zone franc CFA ne subit pas de perte de compétitivité de par son appartenance à une zone monétaire. En revanche, les investissements directs de l’étranger n’entraînent pas des effets positifs sur la croissance de la même ampleur que ceux observés hors de la zone franc CFA. Le quatrième chapitre contribue à la littérature associée à la gestion optimale des ressources fiscales, notamment dans le cadre d’un boom des matières premières. Les résultats montrent que dans le cadre d’un accès réduit aux marchés de capitaux, les périodes de boom de matières premières sont des opportunités capitales pour stimuler la croissance via l’investissement public, alors que les contraintes fiscales sont temporairement relâchées. Toutefois, l’efficacité de ces accroissements d’investissement est conditionnelle à un niveau d’endettement public soutenable. / This thesis belongs to the literature on natural resource dependence and brings a new perspective by focusing on the sub-Saharan African region. This dependence introduces numerous challenges for policy makers both in terms of fiscal and monetary policy. The main research question explored in this thesis is the following : to which extent sub- Saharan African governments can rely on fiscal and monetary policies to mitigate the adverse impacts of commodity dependence and trigger positive spillover and achieve sustainable growth? The second chapter of the thesis unfolds short-term versus long-term mechanisms of the resource curse by using a two-step analysis: an error-correction model is performed after co-integrating the explana- tory variables. Main findings highlight the crucial role of institutions. On the long run, the negative impact of the dependence is confirmed independently of the institution quality. However, countries with weak institutions are more vulnerable to the curse because the re- source dependence not only negatively impacts long-term growth but also adversely impacts the recovery process. Finally, in a strong in- stitutional environment, results points to a potential positive impact of natural resources during recovery process. In the third chapter, a panel vector auto-regressive model compares macro-economic interactions in the pegged CFA monetary union versus a comparable sample. Considering their export structure dominated by raw commodities, results suggests that the CFA zone members do not suffer from a loss of competitiveness from belonging to the monetary union. However, foreign direct investments fail to generate the same spillover effect in the CFA zone compared to non-CFA countries. The forth chapter provides insights on the optimal management of fiscal resources, especially during a windfall period. Growth elasticities of different government choices regarding revenue allocation is performed. Results show that in a con- text of limited access to capital, resource windfall are considered as a crucial opportunity to scale up investment. In fact, below a level of public capital stock (estimated around 750 USD per capita), public investment during a boom has a four-fold higher impact on growth than above the threshold. This scaling up is conditional on low levels of public debt: countries featuring unsustainable public debt levels should prioritize the restoration of stronger foreign reserves

「合作策略」已是近年來實務界頗為流行的風潮,也因此引起學術界的廣 泛討論;然而過去的研究多未將環境特質與各種合作策略間的關係加以釐 清;本研究的目的,即嘗試以資源依賴論為基礎,將廠商所面對的產業環境 對其合作策略型態選擇的影響作一有系統的整理,期能找出每一種產業環 境下最適當的合作策略。自變數包括產業成長率、需求波動性等，中介變 數為廠商所面對的互賴關係,應變數則為合作策略之型態。由於相關課題 尚無十分成熟的架構,同時許多變項資料難以結構化或量化的問卷訪談蒐 集,本研究係採個案撰寫的方式進行,依不同的產業環境特色,分別選擇汽 車業、水泥業、旅行業與微電腦業為研究對象,在觀察各產業的產業環境 特性與具代表性的合作策略型態後,歸納產業環境與一般廠商可採行的合 作策略間之關聯,並利用中介變項推論其可能原因,將此類現象化約為較具 一般性的通則。本研究之發現為:當廠商間的競食性互賴與共生性互賴均 強時,以採用「垂直分工」型的合作較佳,以汽車業為代表;二者均弱時,「 聚沙成塔」型的合作較佳,以微電腦業為代表。前者強而後者弱時,以「波 動網路」型合作較適合,此以旅行業為代表;反之,當後者強而前者弱時,則 以「免戰協議」型的合作為佳,水泥業是代表性之產業。

政治鬆綁之後的台灣社會，電視新聞逐步走向市場化，台灣電視台百家爭鳴競爭激烈，卻讓呼吸到自由空氣的媒體如今陷入生存窘境，對外部資源的依賴日益加深，掌握媒體生存資源的外部團體因此得以對媒體施展權力，介入新聞產製過程，影響或控制新聞內容。本研究旨在探討當前台灣的電視新聞面對哪些權勢消息來源，媒體與權勢消息來源如何互動，權勢消息來源如何發揮權力影響新聞產製，以及電視新聞如何因此改變工作常規與守門機制。 本研究透過參與觀察和深度訪談兩種方式，提出以下幾點研究發現： （一） 社會權力結構與系統擴大，權勢消息來源型態日趨多元，對媒體施壓手法複雜卻粗糙。 （二） 電視新聞以市場為導向，媒體主要壓力來源從過去的政治統治者轉移到握有經濟資本的廣告主，如今商業力量已大過傳統的政治控制。 （三） 強勢的權勢消息來源高高在上，使得記者難以與之互動，雙方權力失衡且缺乏「共舞」意願，「探戈」理論受到挑戰。 （四） 媒體購買公司興起，取代公關公司，成為與媒體溝通的重要角色。 （五） 媒體所有權人盤據組織內權力最高點，對媒體組織的影響力持續增強放大當中。 / Political democratization in Taiwan has brought about an era where market forces, not political factors, now dictate television journalism. As commercial competitive forces have intensified, many TV news stations in Taiwan are struggling to survive. Similarly, as TV stations have become increasingly dependent on external resources, these resources now are in a position to exert pressure on TV media by interfering with news production and content. The objectives of this thesis are to analyze: 1). the new power influencers that Taiwan’s TV news stations are facing 2). the interaction between TV media and these influencers 3). how the influencers use their power to interfere with the production of TV news 4). how the power influencers have changed both the routinized work flow of TV media and the role of TV media as gatekeeper Through first-person observations and in-depth interviews, the following research conclusions are drawn: 1. The market influencers that impact TV media have become more complicated as a result of the expansion and openness of Taiwan’s social structure and system. Moreover, the methods through which the influencers interfere with TV media are complex yet crude at the same time. 2. As market forces are now driving TV media, advertisers have replaced politicians as the primary influencer of TV media, and commercial forces now carry much more clout than political factors. 3. The “Tango Theory” faces a great challenge in TV media because of the power imbalance between TV journalists and those who wield power over them. 4. Conglomerates that acquire media companies have replaced public relations firms as the most important stakeholder in media communications. 5. The power of the “insiders” who wield the greatest influence over TV media is continuing to increase.

The aim of the study is twofold. First, to provide a picture of what happens when groups of citizens cooperate with municipalities and administrations to produce services essential to the community, i.e., elderly care or road maintenance. Second, to compare this picture with the picture of citizens’ involvement that the civil society theories describe. This is done by comparing four different cooperation projects. The empirical material has been gathered through four qualitative case studies – two elderly care cases and two road maintenance cases – and the analytical frame has been drawn mostly from organization theory, especially the resource dependence and the institutional perspectives. In the dissertation it is shown that in the projects with less complications the processes developed in a way that balanced, to some extent, the asymmetry in the dependence relation, i.e., the resources controlled by the groups became more interesting for the administrations and municipalities. These processes did also develop in a way that made it possible for the actors to come to an agreement of what problem the project was supposed to solve. These findings covariates with how interested the municipalities and the Road Administration organizations were to participate in the cooperation projects. It also covariates with the use of institutionalized cooperation forms. The short cut of an already defined and legitimated cooperation form implied that less transaction resources had to be invested in the cooperation itself – but as a result the actors did not communicate sufficiently and therefore did not develop a mutual understanding and trust. Another finding is that both the groups and the municipalities and administrations had pragmatic motives for their involvement in the cooperation projects, which led to an organizational form that was effective for the purpose of solving the identified problem with the elderly care/road maintenance, but not for the unintended consequences described by the civil society theories. As the group of citizens really involved was small, the consequences – greater solidarity and responsibility, and a decentralized democratic process, only comprised a few, mostly resourceful, citizens. Finally, the study shows that the groups’ contributions to the democratic process were limited by their involvement in actually solving the problem in question, i.e., to build and run an elderly home or to work with the improvement of the roads. The findings suggests that the picture of citizens’ involvement often put forward in the political debate in Sweden – as both a complement to the service provided by the public sector and a way to improve the democratic process – ought to be the subject of further research.