Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This study aimed to compare the performance, in terms of risk and return, of stocks of companies with recognized brand value with the actions of other companies listed on the stock market of emerging countries of Latin America: Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, as ranking of Morgan Stanley Capital International (2015). More specifically, it was analysed companies portfolio with most valuable brands - Valuable Brands Portfolio -, the portfolio of all companies listed on the stock exchanges of these countries - Total Market Portfolio -, and a portfolio with the companies on the stock exchanges that not belongs to the Valuable Brands Portfolio - Reduced Market Portfolio -. The valuable brands considered were those which are presented at the most valuable Latin America brands at Millward Brown's reports. The Carhart s four-factor model were utilized to analyze the performance of the three mentioned portfolios. The total sample included 732 stocks in the Latin American market, which the data for calculating the model factors were collected at Economatica, monthly, at period of 2004 to 2013, totalizing 120 observations of each action. Regarding the results, the return could not be analyzed because the intercept was not significant for any of the three portfolios, such as the results of Billet, Jiang and Rego (2014), Dutordoir, Verbeeten and Beijer (2015), Fehle et al. (2008), Oliveira (2009) and Oliveira et al. (2010). However, it was found that the Valuable Brands Portfolio presents lowest investment risk than the others portfolios, as in the studies of Billet, Jiang and Rego (2014), Dutordoir, Verbeeten and Beijer (2015), Fehle et al. (2008), Johansson, Dimofte and Mazvancheryl (2012), Madden, Fehle and Fournier (2006), Oliveira (2009) and Oliveira et al. (2010), suggesting that stocks of companies with valuable brands ensure lower risk investment to shareholders in these emerging markets. / Este estudo teve como objetivo comparar o desempenho, em termos de risco e retorno, das ações de empresas com marcas consideradas valiosas com as ações das demais empresas listadas nas Bolsas de Valores dos países emergentes da América Latina: Brasil, Chile, Colômbia, México e Peru, conforme a classificação do Morgan Stanley Capital International (2015). Mais especificamente, analisou-se o portfólio das empresas com as marcas mais valiosas da América Latina Portfólio Marcas Valiosas , o portfólio de todas as empresas listadas nas bolsas de valores destes países Portfólio Mercado Total , e o portfólio composto pelas empresas com ações cotadas nas bolsas de valores que não pertencem ao Portfólio Marcas Valiosas Portfólio Mercado Reduzido . Foram consideradas marcas valiosas aquelas que apareceram nos relatórios de marcas mais valiosas da América Latina da Millward Brown. O modelo de quatro fatores de Carhart foi utilizado para analisar o desempenho dos três portfólios supracitados. A amostra total contemplou 732 ações do mercado latino-americano, cujos dados para o cálculo dos fatores do modelo foram coletados no software Economática, mensalmente, no período de 2004 a 2013, totalizando 120 observações por ação. Quanto aos resultados, o retorno não pôde ser analisado porque o intercepto não foi significativo para nenhum dos três portfólios, como nos resultados de Billet, Jiang e Rego (2014), Dutordoir, Verbeeten e Beijer (2015), Fehle et al. (2008), Oliveira (2009) e Oliveira et al. (2010). No entanto, foi constatado que o Portfólio Marcas Valiosas apresentou menor risco de investimento que os demais portfólios, como nos estudos de Billet, Jiang e Rego (2014), Dutordoir, Verbeeten e Beijer (2015), Fehle et al. (2008), Johansson, Dimofte e Mazvancheryl (2012), Madden, Fehle e Fournier (2006), Oliveira (2009) e Oliveira et al. (2010), o que sugere que as ações de empresas com marcas valiosas garantem investimento de menor risco para os acionistas nesses mercados emergentes.

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Bakgrund Idag inkluderas arbetet med CSR i företagens verksamheter och de upprättar också hållbarhetsredovisningar vilket är en följd av ökade påtryckningar från samhället och företagets intressenter, däribland aktieägare. Tidigare studier konstaterar att informationen i hållbarhetsredovisningar varierar väldigt mycket vilket försvårar möjligheten att som läsare kunna utvärdera olika hållbarhetsredovisningar och jämföra mellan olika företag. Till exempel måste aktieägarna tolka och värdera CSR-aktiviteterna på rätt sätt för att det ska skapa ett värde för dem. Företagets arbete med CSR kan skapa värde genom att det ökar förtroendet hos intressenterna och vid negativa händelser skyddar det företaget.   Syfte Vårt syfte är att bidra med förståelse för hållbarhetsredovisningens användbarhet vid en jämförelse mellan olika företag samt vilken information som är viktig för aktieägare att utvärdera i hållbarhetsredovisningar.   Genomförande Vi har genomfört vår studie i linje med den kvalitativa metoden. Vi har samlat in empiri via sex semistrukturerade intervjuer. Analysen av det empiriska resultatet i förhållande till de teorier och de tidigare studierna som presenterats i vår teoretiska referensram har lett till fram till vår slutsats.   Resultat Studien visar att transparens, trovärdighet och väsentlighet är viktiga faktorer för aktieägare att utvärdera i hållbarhetsredovisningar. Aktieägare bör dessutom utvärdera risker, samt sannolikheten att dessa kommer inträffa och vad det kommer att få för konsekvenser. Vår studie visar att hållbarhetsredovisningarna är användbara vid en jämförelse mellan olika företag eftersom utvärderingen sker utifrån helhetsperspektiv, vilket gör att aktieägarna kan bortse att hållbarhetsrapporterna redovisar olika slags information. / Background Today companies include CSR in their operations and establish sustainability reports which is a consequence of increased pressure from society and company stakeholders, including shareholders. Previous studies find that the information in sustainability reports varies, which complicates the ability of readers to evaluate different sustainability reports and compare it between companies. For example, to receive value from the CSR-activities, shareholders must in a correct way interpret and value the activities. Companies' work with CSR can create value for shareholders by increasing the trust of stakeholders which leads to protection of the company when negative events occur.   Purpose Our purpose is to contribute to understanding the use of sustainability reports when comparing between different companies and what information that is important for shareholders to evaluate in sustainability reports.   Methods We conducted our study in line with the qualitative method. The empirical data was gathered through six semi-structured interviews. Analyses of the empirical result in relation to theories and previous studies presented in our theoretical framework led to our conclusions.   Results This study shows that transparency, credibility and essential are important factors for shareholders to evaluate in sustainability reports. Shareholders should also evaluate risks, as well as the probability that these will occur and what it will have for consequences. Our study shows that sustainability reports are useful when comparing different companies because the evaluation is based on the comprehensive picture, which allows shareholders to ignore the fact that the companies report different types of information.

Our research contributes to knowledge on strategic organizational responses by addressing a specific type of institutional complexity that has, to date, been rather neglected in scholarly inquiry: conflicting institutional demands that arise within the same institutional order. We suggest referring to such type of complexity as "intra-institutional" - as opposed to "inter-institutional." Empirically, we examine the consecutive spread of two management concepts - shareholder value and corporate social responsibility - among Austrian listed corporations around the turn of the millennium. Our work presents evidence that in institutionally complex situations, the concepts used by organizations to respond to competing demands and belief systems are interlinked and coupled through multiwave diffusion. We point to the open, chameleon-like character of some concepts that makes them particularly attractive for discursive adoption in such situations and conclude that organizations regularly respond to institutional complexity by resorting to discursive neutralization techniques and strategically producing ambiguity. (authors' abstract)

This thesis is focused on settlement with shareholders leaving a limited liability company. The process of dealing with leaving shareholder is based on determination of so-called settlement amount, which expresses the reward belonging to the shareholder for his business share. Settlement amount is defined by czech law and there are also several precedents issued by courts, which help to specify interpretation of the law. The aim is to define how a company should settle with a shareholder in order to do it fairly and honestly.

Cette thèse a pour objectif de démêler la nature de la relation entre « actionnariat salarié » et « création de valeur », dans le cadre de la gouvernance actionnariale et partenariale. Les principaux résultats dégagés montrent que la relation entre « actionnariat salarié » et « création de valeur actionnariale » est curvilinéaire prenant la forme de U-inversé : elle est positive pour des niveaux faibles d’actionnariat salarié et négative si le pourcentage de droits de vote revenant aux salariés dépasse 3%. Aussi, un effet positif de l’ « actionnariat salarié » sur la « part de la valeur créée allouée aux salariés » est constaté, et ce uniquement pour un actionnariat salarié significatif. Au dessous du taux de 3%, le pourcentage du capital et le pourcentage des droits de vote détenus par les salariés ne montrent aucune influence significative. Quant à l’étude de l’influence de certains mécanismes de contrôle sur la relation étudiée, les principaux résultats dégagés se résument comme suit : Au-delà du seuil stratégique légal de 33%, la concentration du capital semble avoir un effet de modération positif sur la relation actionnariat salarié - création de valeur actionnariale et la relation actionnariat salarié - part de la valeur créée allouée aux salariés. La propriété managériale, si elle dépasse le seuil stratégique légal de 33%, semble modérer négativement la relation actionnariat salarié - création de valeur actionnariale et positivement la relation actionnariat salarié - part de la valeur créée allouée aux salariés. La participation de salariés actionnaires au conseil modère négativement la relation entre « actionnariat salarié » et « création de valeur actionnariale » ; alors qu’elle modère positivement la relation entre « actionnariat salarié » et « part de la valeur créée allouée aux salariés ». / The present thesis investigates the nature of relationship between the employee stock ownership and the wealth creation, in the framework of the shareholder governance and the stakeholder governance. Results indicate a non linear relation between both the employee stock ownership and the shareholder value creation taking an inversed-U form. In fact, a positive relation associates these variables for low levels of employee stock ownership. Starting from a level of 3%, the relation became negative. Results notice also a positive impact of employee stock ownership plan on the share of value allocated to employees when the percentage of employee stock ownership is significant. Under than 3% the employee stock ownership and the voting rights held by the employees presents a non significant impact. The principal results on the influence of certain mechanisms of control on the studied relationship between the employee stock ownership plan and the wealth creation are summarized as follows : Beyond the legal strategic level of 33%, the concentration of capital seems to have a positive moderating effect on the relation employee stock ownership plan – shareholder wealth creation and the relation employee stock ownership plan - share of the wealth allocated to the employees. The management ownership if exceeds the legal strategic level of 33% seems to exert a negative moderating effect on the relation between employee stock ownership and shareholder wealth creation but a positive one on the relation between the employee stock ownership and the share of the wealth allocated to the employees. The presence of the employees’ shareholder in the board of directors moderates negatively the relationship between the employee stock ownership plan and the shareholder wealth creation and positively that between the employee stock ownership plan and the share of the wealth allocated to the employees.

Shareholder is an essential part of a joint stock company. No joint stock company can exist without its shareholders. Although, due to the nature of a joint stock company shareholders are not entitled to direct exercise of executive functions in the company, they may influence the operation of the join-stock company using their shareholder's rights. In connection with participation in the company, shareholders have also other rights, in particular right to a profit share or to a liquidation share. Special rights are granted to a minority shareholders (or qualified shareholders), due to their weaker position in the company. In addition, shareholders must fulfill certain obligations towards the company, in particular to fulfill a contribution obligation and to behave loyally towards the company. The aim of this thesis is to describe in general all the rights and obligations of shareholders, i.e. to describe its legal status in the company pursuant to the Business Corporations Act. The Business Corporations Act is effective for a relatively short time (as of 1 January 2014) and though it is largely based on the repealed Commercial Code, the interpretation of certain provisions may raise more questions than answers. Therefore, this thesis also seeks to point out possible ambiguities of this new legislation and to offer a solution to them.

The squeeze-out has been introduced into Czech law in June 2005. Until now, 780 squeeze-outs have been executed, during that almost 22 billion CZK have been distributed among minority shareholders. The rights of different shareholders groups are in conflict during squeeze-out which makes the whole process quite controversial. Minority shareholders' basic right to participate in the company, which is usually accompanied by the profit participation right is taken from them. On the other side, the major shareholder gets the chance of more effective company governance or the chance to sell the company in the merger for much higher sale price. The whole process is honest only if the minority shareholders receive an appropriate compensation for the termination of their participation in the company.

Many organizations turn to agile methods and practices in their organization in order to retain competitiveness in today's rapidly changing environment and changing customer demands. Researchers claim agile practices, such as Agile Project Management to be most successful if implemented in the entire organization, in an all-or-nothing approach. However, as many traditional organizations are attempting to adopt agile principles such as APM, few studies have been made to what extent agile methods and practices can be successful in traditional organizations. This research investigates how a APM-team at SEB can function in accordance to agile philosophy, and further, if the legacy and traditional structures at SEB counteract the APM-team. The study is a single case study, investigating one APM-team at SEB through semi-structured interviews and organizational documents. In order to answer the research question, a model of analysis was derived in order to capture the important theoretical concepts. It was found that the investigated APM-team in SEB does not function fully in order with agile philosophies, and further that the traditional structures and legacy at SEB hinders the APMteam to work according to agile philosophies. It was also found that the APM-team experienced difficulties with the actual agile way of working, which could affect their ability to work in accordance with said practices. Further research is needed for a greater context to fully understand how traditional organizations can counteract agile initiatives.

This thesis examines the relationship between corporate liquidity and dividend policy. The corporate liquidity is measured by proven liquidity ratios and the dividend policy is divided into cash dividends and share repurchases. In order to examine the possible relationship between corporate liquidity and dividend policy, public European firms are examined. Denmark, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, and the UK are selected based on the similarities in the regulation and market structure in the countries. The thesis aims at furthering the knowledge on the role played by corporate liquidity for dividend policy. In our ambition to investigate the before-mentioned relationship we use a panel data set over five years extracted from Datastream. Any newfound evidence on the subject can help investors, creditors, and other stakeholders in evaluating firms based on their liquidity.  We used a deductive quantitative method to analyse the chosen relationship. The study concluded a significant relationship between corporate liquidity and dividend, although negative as opposed to our expectations. With regards to share repurchase, no significant effect was found from corporate liquidity. Free cash flow on the other hand appears to have a positive effect on the amount of share repurchases carried through. We discuss mentioned relationships and attribute them to the mature firms in this sample and the liquidity levels of mature firms.The theories supporting these findings are Agency Theory, Pecking Order Theory, Shareholder Theory, Stakeholder Theory, Liquidity Preference Theory.