Research shows that the warming of the climate over the last century is extremely likely due to human activities. Furthermore, there is a need for an understanding how business activities counteract or contribute to climate change. In particular, the digitalization industry is often introduced as an important player in climate challenge. However, research also concludes that the digitalization industry’s impact on the climate is ambiguous, since it in some cases contributes to climate change and in other cases counteracts it. In order to understand the interplay between greenhouse gas emissions and digital solutions, it is necessary to outline and quantify the emissions from particular digitalization projects and furthermore the industry itself. The thesis takes off in a single case study at a Swedish digitalization consultancy company in order to investigate how both internal greenhouse gas emissions and greenhouse gas emissions from customer projects can be quantified as accurate and as often as possible. The findings disclose that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions can be tracked with an extremely short time step, practically continuously, especially if the tracking is integrated with the company’s ERP1 . Furthermore, the findings show that greenhouse gas emissions from customer projects can be quantified if interpreting and implementing the GHG Protocol with a soft system methodology (SSM) approach. The thesis contributes with (1) a general interpretation of the Corporate Standard (part of the GHG Protocol) in the context of digitalization; (2) a specific example of that interpretation and implementation; (3) a practical interpretation and implementation of the Project Protocol in the context of digitalization and its avoided or caused greenhouse gas emissions; and (4) a general and an in-depth analysis on the topic of quantifying a Swedish digitalization company’s greenhouse gas emissions and feasible approaches to assumption making. / Forskning slår fast att uppvärmningen av klimatet under det senaste århundradet med extremt hög sannolikhet är orsakad av människan. Det finns ett behov att förstå hur affärsverksamheter motverkar eller bidrar till klimatförändringarna. En del av denna affärsverksamheten sker inom digitaliseringsindustrin, vilken ofta presenteras som en central spelare i klimatfrågan. Å andra sidan visar forskning även på en osäkerhet gällande digitaliseringsindustrins påverkan på klimatet eftersom den i vissa fall bidrar till klimatförändringar medan den i andra fall motverkar dem. För att förstå samspelet mellan växthusgasutsläpp och digitala lösningar är det nödvändigt att överskåda och kvantifiera utsläpp från specifika digitaliseringsprojekt och, vidare, från själva industrin. Uppsatsen grundar sig i en fallstudie på ett svenskt digitaliseringskonsultbolag för att undersöka hur både interna utsläpp och utsläpp från kundprojekt kan kvantifieras så precist och så frekvent som möjligt. Resultaten pekar på att växthusgasutsläppen kan spåras och följas med extremt kort tidssteg, i stort sett kontinuerligt, i synnerhet om spårningen kan integreras med företagets affärssystem. Dessutom visar resultaten på att växthusgasutsläpp från kundprojekt kan kvantifieras om GHG Protocol tolkas och implementeras med hjälp av en “soft systems” metod (SSM). Uppsatsen bidrar med (1) en generell tolkning av Corporate Standard (en del av GHG Protocol) i en digitaliseringskontext; (2) ett specifikt exempel på en sådan tolkning och implementering; (3) en praktisk tolkning och implementering av Project Prototcol (en del av GHG Protocol) in en kontext av digitaliseringsbranschen och dess undvikta eller orsakade utsläpp; och (4) en generell och djupgående analys angående kvantifiering av ett svenskt digitaliseringsbolags växthusgasutsläpp och gångbara inställningar till att göra antaganden.

Engineering is inherently a process of constant change. The process of managing engineering changes is however, not a new topic and it is well defined and implemented in various other engineering management philosophies. Yet, on its own, it still remains a very challenging problem to organisations. This research examines the applicability of engineering change management to a large steel manufacturing company who identified the lack of an engineering change management system as the main contributing factor of numerous problems the company experienced over time. The study sets out to determine the high level understanding, the level- and sophistication of practical implementation and quality (identified problems with existing, or the lack of existing systems) of the engineering change management procedures. The study also compared how three surveyed companies relate in terms of their engineering change management systems and how the companies relate to the academic principals found in literature. Furthermore everyday user experience was measured to determine what aspects of engineering change is important and what needed improvement As part of the research, literature was reviewed and it was found that various authors, practitioners and academics agreed that engineering change management is increasingly important as an engineering management item. The literature revealed high-level requirements, models and constituents that are required for successful engineering change management. A questionnaire survey was developed as the experiment to measure how engineering change management was perceived practically. The aspects and phases listed from literature were examined and the perceptions, experience and feedback from the engineers that face engineering changes on a daily basis was determined. The general understanding and feeling towards their engineering change management was analysed and used to identify areas of common problems. The two other surveyed companies: a petrochemical company and a specialised product company provided means to determine if the process of engineering change management could be generalised and applied to the large steel manufacturing company. The analysis of the results of the survey provided valuable information that was used to conclude why some companies were able to achieve success with their engineering change management procedures and why others failed or struggled. The research effectively showed how engineering change management is perceived both negatively and positively in industry and identified common areas where improvement can be made. Furthermore, it can be concluded that engineering change management remained generic from a high-level and would thus be applicable to the large steel manufacturing company. The study also determined that engineering change management can effectively be used to mitigate and reduce the effects of uncontrolled changes that were listed by the large steel manufacturing company. / MIng (Development and Management Engineering), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Engineering is inherently a process of constant change. The process of managing engineering changes is however, not a new topic and it is well defined and implemented in various other engineering management philosophies. Yet, on its own, it still remains a very challenging problem to organisations. This research examines the applicability of engineering change management to a large steel manufacturing company who identified the lack of an engineering change management system as the main contributing factor of numerous problems the company experienced over time. The study sets out to determine the high level understanding, the level- and sophistication of practical implementation and quality (identified problems with existing, or the lack of existing systems) of the engineering change management procedures. The study also compared how three surveyed companies relate in terms of their engineering change management systems and how the companies relate to the academic principals found in literature. Furthermore everyday user experience was measured to determine what aspects of engineering change is important and what needed improvement As part of the research, literature was reviewed and it was found that various authors, practitioners and academics agreed that engineering change management is increasingly important as an engineering management item. The literature revealed high-level requirements, models and constituents that are required for successful engineering change management. A questionnaire survey was developed as the experiment to measure how engineering change management was perceived practically. The aspects and phases listed from literature were examined and the perceptions, experience and feedback from the engineers that face engineering changes on a daily basis was determined. The general understanding and feeling towards their engineering change management was analysed and used to identify areas of common problems. The two other surveyed companies: a petrochemical company and a specialised product company provided means to determine if the process of engineering change management could be generalised and applied to the large steel manufacturing company. The analysis of the results of the survey provided valuable information that was used to conclude why some companies were able to achieve success with their engineering change management procedures and why others failed or struggled. The research effectively showed how engineering change management is perceived both negatively and positively in industry and identified common areas where improvement can be made. Furthermore, it can be concluded that engineering change management remained generic from a high-level and would thus be applicable to the large steel manufacturing company. The study also determined that engineering change management can effectively be used to mitigate and reduce the effects of uncontrolled changes that were listed by the large steel manufacturing company. / MIng (Development and Management Engineering), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

La tesi si focalizza sul ruolo dell’esperienza come fattore chiave sia nelle scelte di acquisizione sia in relazione alla performance post-acquisizione. Partendo da una review della letteratura sul tema pubblicata tra il 1980-2015 e utilizzando un dataset composto da 826 acquisizioni completate negli anni 2007-2013 da acquirenti operanti in diversi settori produttivi e localizzati in 61 paesi, il presente lavoro propone tre articoli empirici. Il primo articolo, ancorato all’impianto teorico dell’apprendimento organizzativo, declina il costrutto di esperienza in esperienza in acquisizioni internazionali, esperienza in acquisizioni domestiche ed esperienza internazionale con l’obiettivo di esaminare l’influenza dei diversi tipi di esperienza sulla crescita geografica realizzata attraverso acquisizioni. Utilizzando la prospettiva resource-based view congiuntamente al concetto di liability of foreignness, il secondo articolo analizza le scelte di estensione del raggio d’azione: mantenendo il focus sulla relazione tra correlazione di business ed estraneità del mercato target, si investigano gli effetti di moderazione delle precedenti esperienze in diversificazione produttiva e internazionalizzazione. Infine, il terzo articolo, basato sul concetto di apprendimento esperienziale, esplora il legame tra esperienza e performance post-acquisizione analizzando l’effetto congiunto di esperienza e performance pre-acquisizione. / This thesis focuses on the role of experience as a driver of acquisition behavior and as a factor affecting post-deal performance. Building on a review of the literature published between 1980-2015 on the role of experience in the context of acquisitions and using a full dataset of 826 acquisitions completed between 2007-2013 by acquirers operating in different industries and located in 61 countries, three empirical papers are proposed. The first paper draws on organizational learning theory and disentangles the construct of experience into cross-border acquisition experience, domestic acquisition experience, and international experience with the aim to examine how different types of experience impact on the geographic scope of acquisitions. Building on resource-based view and liability of foreignness, the second empirical paper analyzes corporate scope growth decisions with a focus on the relationship between acquirer-to-target relatedness and market unfamiliarity and on the moderating effects of prior diversification and international experience. Finally, the third paper investigates the experience-performance link with experiential learning as theoretical underpinning and, specifically, analyzes the joint effect of experience accumulation and prior firm performance on post-acquisition performance.

We show how the non-monotonic nature of common-sense reasoning can be formalised by circumscription. Various forms of circumscription are discussed. A new form of circumscription, namely naive circumscription, is introduced in order to facilitate the comparison of the various forms. Finally, some issues connected with the automation of circumscriptive reasoning are examined. / Computing / M. Sc. (Computer Science)

本研究採用Translog多產品成本函數與要素份額方程式，組成一個二要素投入(勞動與其他支出)與二產出(經紀業務與其他收益業務)之聯立估計模型，利用1999年至2003年共五年度108家資料齊全之專營期貨商混合橫斷面與時間序列資料，運用實證方法採用近似無關迴歸估模型，以反覆近似無關迴歸估計方式，估計台灣專營期貨商成本函數之參數估計值，並進一步計算出射線與產品別規模經濟指標與多樣化經濟指標，來探討台灣專營期貨商整體產業及個別業務之規模與多樣化經濟。 實證結果發現，在規模經濟方面，射線與產品別規模經濟指標之估計值均具有1%的統計顯著性，且皆小於1，表示台灣專營期貨商無論是整體產出或個別產出均具有規模經濟的特性，此隱含台灣專營期貨商享有規模經濟，亦即平均成本將隨產出之增加而有逐漸下降的趨勢。再進一步對台灣專營期貨商經營規模大小來作分析，其結果發現：無論是射線規模經濟值或各產品別規模經濟值均與台灣專營期貨商之規模大小無明顯的關聯。而在多樣化經濟方面，經紀業務與其他收益業務兩項業務具有弱成本互補性，因此，經紀業務與其他收益業務兩項業務間具有多樣化經濟之特性。 根據上述實證結果，針對主管機關、台灣期貨交易所及期貨業者，本研究分別提出相關建議如下： 一、主管機關：主管機關應在許可的範圍下，考量市場風險管理，逐步 放寬國內外法人進行期貨交易之相關限制（如僅能從事避險交易 等），並參考國外期貨市場交易與發展經驗，使台灣專營期貨商 之業務種類及範圍能夠進一步擴大，促使產出更為多元，進一步擴 大整體市場規模。 二、台灣期貨交易所：隨著金融國際化的腳步，如何使台灣期貨交易所 所推出之商品成為全球交易的標的，並藉以協助台灣專營期貨商開 拓全球化市場，擴大其經紀業務及其他收益之產出水準（如受託買 賣、交易顧問、財務操作收益等）及整體市場規模，乃為台灣期貨 交易所的一項重要課題。 三、期貨業者：由於台灣專營期貨商在經紀業務和其他收益業務間具有 多樣化經濟之特性，所以，期貨業者在經紀業務手續費不斷下降的 狀況下，應可藉由發展期貨顧問業務，提供高附加價值的期貨交易 服務，吸引期貨交易人至該期貨商從事期貨交易，並提升受託結算 客戶比重，藉以擴大產出水準，獲取最大的利潤。

Much of industry is seeking scope economies, but this requires more complex and flexible product realisation. Modelling technologies have potential to support the life cycle engineering of both Economies of Scope and Scale (EoSS) manufacturing systems. However when companies operate in dynamic environments it is not sufficient to model manufacturing systems in isolation. Rather a holistic modelling methodology is needed which can create structural and behavioural models of dependencies between the manufacturing systems, and the business and engineering environments in which they operate; so that a suitable balance between economies of scope and scale can be achieved. This thesis describes the conception and development of a step wised Extended Modelling Methodology (EMM) which facilitates reasoning, and related decision making, about EoSS manufacturing systems. The EMM was conceived from exploratory research in two SMEs, following which it was applied and case tested in a large manufacturing company. Little academic attention to date has been paid to theorising about the link between ‘Economies of Scope and Scale (EoSS) phenomenon' and ‘manufacturing systems design'. Hence many questions about EoSS manufacturing remain unanswered, such as: (1) academic communities need to know what EoSS actually means and how state-of-the-art modelling can support qualitative and quantitative analysis of EoSS system phenomenon; and (2) industry needs to know how they can benefit from EoSS, what attended costs they might incur, and what best balance between scope and scale economies can be achieved. With these general requirements in mind the thesis reports on the conception and industrial application of the EMM. This has: (A) developed new ideas about EoSS, which can be used to characterise EoSS phenomenon; (B) introduced a new way of visualising architectural aspects of EoSS at multiple-levels of abstraction; and (C) with reference to case studies has illustrated the use of multi-level modelling to enable predictions to be made about EoSS benefits and costs.

In der soziologischen Untersuchung des Zusammenhangs von Freiheit und sozialer Sicherheit kann es nur um individuelle Freiheiten in ihren institutionellen Bedingungszusammenhängen gehen. Es geht also um Autonomiegewinne im Wohlfahrtsstaat in den Selbstzurechnung der Leute. Es geht um Freiheiten im Kontext von Institutionen, welche die Lebensbedingungen dieser Leute strukturieren. Und es geht um in der Praxis angestellte Vergleiche durch die Leute: Vergleiche zwischen ihren Freiheitsansprüchen und den gegebenen Realisierungsmöglichkeiten, Vergleichen zwischen tatsächlich erreichbar erscheinenden Alternativen in der Gesellschaft. Damit setzt sich die soziologische Sichtweise ganz ausdrücklich von all den Versuchen ab, einen \"Begriff\" von Freiheit zu entwickeln, um die gegebenen Verhältnissen dann an diesem Begriff zu messen, sei es, um ihnen eine \"Legitimation\" zu liefern, sei es, um an ihnen \"Kritik\" zu üben. Es geht nicht darum, „dem Menschen“, oder \"der Gesellschaft“ von einer gleichsam außergesellschaftlichen Beobachterposition aus „Freiheit“ sans phrase als eine Eigenschaft zuzuschreiben, weder als Gegebenheit, noch als Kontrafaktizität. Dies ist keineswegs einfach Ausdruck einer arbiträren argumentationsstrategischen Wahl unter mehreren Möglichkeiten. Dem Zuschnitt des Themas liegt vielmehr die These zugrunde, dass es sich unter den Bedingungen modernen Denkens um die einzig mögliche Art der wissenschaftlichen Befassung mit \"Freiheit\" handelt. Indem ich die wissenssoziologischen Grundlagen dieser These skizziere, werde ich den Begriff der Freiheit, den seine traditionale philosophische Belastung für sozialwissenschaftliche Analysen weitgehend unbrauchbar gemacht hat, in die Frage nach institutionellen Bedingungen für individuelle Handlungsspielräume überführen. Dann werde ich soziale Sicherheit als Bedingung der Realisierbarkeit bürgerlicher Freiheiten einführen. Vor diesem Hintergrund lässt sich dann fragen, warum in den Diskursen, welche die Entwicklung moderner Wohlfahrtsstaaten begleitet haben, der Zusammenhang von Freiheiten und sozialer Sicherheit nur eine marginale Rolle spielt. Dann werde ich kurz auf die theoretischen Voraussetzungen für die Analyse der Wechselwirkungen von Freiheit und sozialer Sicherheit eingehen und auf dieser Grundlage eine Neuinterpretation des Verhältnisses von Arbeitsmarkt und Sozialpolitik anbieten. Schließlich werde ich zeigen, dass die konservative Sozialstaatskritik diese Interpretation ungewollt bestätigt und empirische Hinweise dafür sammeln, dass die Leute Autonomiegewinne im Wohlfahrtsstaat tatsächlich nützen.

Unter all den denkbaren Effekten von Sozialpolitik auf Politik untersuche ich hier die Möglichkeit, dass Sozialpolitik den Handlungsspielraum von Politik absichert; dass Sozialpolitik Erfolgsvoraussetzung von Politik ist. Es geht also um die Frage, in welcher Weise staatliche Sozialpolitik eine Voraussetzung für Politik ist, um die Frage der sozialpolitischen Selbstermöglichung von Politik. Solch ein Zugang muß den gewohnten Blick auf Staat und Sozialpolitik irritieren. Denn üblicherweise werden sozialpolitische Verpflichtungen des Staates als Beeinträchtigung, als Überforderung staatlicher Handlungsfähigkeit gesehen. Zuerst werde ich kurz auf die Entwicklung des sozialwissenschaftlichen Verständnisses der gesellschaftlichen Bedingtheit staatlicher Politik eingehen. Dann werde ich ein grundsätzliches Dilemma staatlicher Steuerung darstellen. Anschließend werde ich dieses anhand der aktuellen Schwierigkeiten mehrerer politischer Großprojekte veranschaulichen. Dann werde ich nach einem Theoriemuster zur Interpretation dieser Schwierigkeiten suchen, mit dem sich zeigen läßt, wie Sozialpolitik einpassbar ist. Und schließlich werde ich Konsequenzen diskutieren, die sich aus der Integration von Sozialpolitik in eine soziologische Theorie der Gesellschaft ergeben.

This thesis deals with the institute of Administrative Law called "measure of a general scope". It is a form of administrative activity, the general rules of which were adopted by Act No. 500/2004 Coll., The Administrative Code effective from 1. 1. 2006. During vacatio legis of The Administrative Code, the Act No. 127/2005 Coll., The Electronic Communication Act came into force. It was the first act, which empowered the administrative bodies to issue an act in the form of measure of general scope. The aim of the thesis is to clarify the position of other administrative measures and acts, to assess relevant legislation, to analyze case law, to draw attention to problematic areas and suggest possible solutions. The first chapter deals with the theory of abstract and concrete acts. This is necessary to understand the nature of measures of a general scope as an act that stands between laws and decisions. The second chapter is devoted to the nature of measures of a general scope in Czech law. The institute itself was adopted imperfectly and inconsistently by a negative definition. Therefore, the Supreme Administrative Court had to deal with the character of measures of a general scope. Nowadays, case law and jurisprudence agree on the definition of measures. There is a discrepancy, however, regarding...