University of Macau / Faculty of Law

This research investigates organisational capabilities and cultures of both partners as potential explanatory factors of co-operative R&D projects outcomes. Contributions to theory are (1) a justification for the existence of organisational capabilities and 'world views', (2) a parsimonious typology of 'world views' and (3) a method to measure organisational capabilities. The survey covers 514 projects in the electronics industry, in Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Finland. It obtains 120 full answers, each of which coupling responses from a matched pair of project managers having co-operated on the same R&D project. The survey refers to the organisation's capabilities, to those of the partner, to its 'world view', and to project outcomes. None of the traditional explanatory factors (geographic distance, difference in nationality, size or legal status, strategic compatibility) has any significant influence on any of the outcomes being studied (save one). The explanatory factors introduced by the research (organisational capabilities and 'world views') have a significant influence on almost all outcomes being considered of the co-operative R&D projects: attainment of concrete results, compliance with budget and schedule, creation and transfer of knowledge, learning (modification of capabilities). Cultural diversity, 'absorptive capacity', and teaching effects, selective according to the capability in question, are evidenced. Commonalities between partners are shown to be more important than distance. These results validate empirically organisational capabilities and 'world views' as descriptors of inter-organisational capabilities, and their operationalisation.

The United Kingdom Combined Code is today the most fundamental corporate governance code applicable in United Kingdom. The nation of United Kingdom encourages governance practices by implementing the Directive 2006/46/EC on a voluntary basis before being mandatory. While corporate governance is applicable to many corporations, pension providers may be seen as one of the ideal market sector for governing, since they act as institutional investors representing a major shareholder group. Institutional investors may even improve corporate governance practices as they represent a major part of public sector capital. Owning large amount of shares, their function is to supervise in the firms’ corporate governance activities in order to monitor the transparency and disclosure procedures. To be able to monitor other companies' activities, pension providers must set up an example for enforcing corporate governance practices themselves and follow them respectively.   This descriptive case study observes the corporate governance structures represented in annual reports of five large chosen pension providers during the years 2007 to 2009 capturing the financial crisis occurring in 2008, in United Kingdom. The purpose of the study is to examine if strong corporate governance is incorporated in the following pension providers, Aberdeen Asset Management plc, Aviva plc, Prudential plc, Royal London Mutual Insurance Society Limited and Standard Life plc. The focus is on board composition and established committees. The scope of this study answers the following research question: How do the five pension providers, Aberdeen, Prudential, Royal London, Standard Life and Aviva, comply with or explain deviations found in their respectively annual reports from 2007-2009 in accordance with the Combined Code 2008 and the Annotated Combined Code 2005?   Fundamental for pension providers is to work on a long-term basis with value creation as goal. Still the core focus of corporate governance remains, to create a system offering protection for all stakeholders. As the result shows, all of the five chosen corporations strongly implement national corporate governance practices throughout 2007-2009 on both board composition and established committees. Still, they suffered short-term negative fluctuations from the United Kingdom financial crises in 2008, but recovered shortly afterwards. Even though these fluctuations occurred, all of the corporations have long-term value as one of their main objectives. The long-term value can partly be sustained by strong corporate governance practices as it a main objective in corporate governance.

Topic:When an MNC seeks to enter a foreign country, it must choose the most appropriate entry mode for that specific market, such as exporting, licensing, a turnkey project, franchising, joint ventures or wholly-owned subsidiaries. There are many factors which affect the choice of entry modes. Influential factors contributing to the entry mode decision can have different degrees of impact for each particular country. As a consequence, an MNC has to use different entry modes in order to adapt to the specific situations it faces in its international expansion strategy. Research Problem: Our research problem is to find the answer to two specific research questions while investigating in a particular MNC: Starbucks. The relevant questions are: (1.) What factors affected Starbucks’ entry mode decisions? (2.) Which entry mode strategies did Starbucks use foreign markets and why? Method: We collected data through a qualitative method. We regarded that a qualitative research method would provide us the necessary data to understand entry mode decisions. We collected data through literature, books, journals, and Internet resources. We have decided to focus our qualitative research on exploring Starbucks’ entry mode decision in some specific markets. In particular, we have concentrated on Spain, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Conclusions: The choice of entry mode is a critical decision made by MNCs. The choice is influenced by several factors; we have divided these into internal and external factors. We have found both groups are important in the decisions made by Starbucks. However, the degree of influence is different in each case. Moreover, it is possible that some influential factors in the choice of entry mode can differ by case. Finally, we have found external factors have been critical in affecting Starbucks’ choice of entry modes. Starbucks has sought to adapt to those external factors and local needs and requirements by using different entry modes.

<p>This thesis will examine the effects of divorce on the benefit payable to a member of a retirement fund, where divorce has occurred before the member has reached retirement age. In&nbsp / particular, parametric (that is, piecemeal) amendments to the relevant legislation will be analysed in order to outline the development of the legislation relating to divorce and the consequent distribution of&nbsp / assets (including retirement savings). The previous and current legal position in South Africa relating to divorce and retirement savings will be set out and critically analysed to determine whether the current position can be regarded as an improvement upon the previous legal position, or whether other and/or new problems in this area have been created. Parametric amendments to&nbsp / relevant legislation have thus far been the subject of many cases in our courts and adjudicative tribunals. A systemic overhaul of a particular area of law is a useful tool in providing legal certainty&nbsp / and clarifying the laws applicable to that area. This thesis will therefore argue in favour of a systemic overhaul of the legislation applicable to the allocation of retirement benefits at divorce, as opposed to the ineffectual parametric (i.e. piecemeal) amendments that have been implemented thus far. An essential aspect of this study is a comparative study of South African legal principles&nbsp / relating to retirement benefits and divorce with the legal principles of this subject in the United Kingdom (UK).</p>

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

Due to a steady increase in the number of asylum-seekers in Sweden over the past few years, the topic of immigration has generated increased attention. As a consequence, the political parties have recently presented a range of policy changes. Several of the policy proposals addressed the current housing situation for asylum-seekers and refugees. The aim of this master’s thesis is to highlight the areas of asylum immigration policy and housing policy, in an attempt to reveal overlaps and interrelationships which influence the establishment of asylum-seekers and refugees in their host society. By using a comparative discourse analysis, the thesis investigates the concepts of migration and domestic immigrant policies in a European context, focusing on Italy, the United Kingdom and Denmark. This is followed by an in-depth study of Sweden. The Swedish perspective is enriched by qualitative expert interviews and statistical data on migration and housing. The results from the gathered research emphasises the great influence of domestic housing policies have on asylum-seekers and refugees’ establishment. Each analysed country has structural barriers that restrict asylum-seekers and refugees from becoming established on the housing market. These policy barriers operate on different governance levels, which mutually affect each other. In turn, this situation complicates a holistic approach to create an effective immigrant housing policy.

No description available.

Propõe-se uma análise de como os think tanks britânicos compreendem a atuação brasileira, associando a isso as representações produzidas por estes sobre o Brasil no período correspondente aos anos de 2001 à 2016. Seguindo a concepção construtivista, considera-se o uso dos think tanks como fonte discursiva, capaz de influenciar na formulação de agendas políticas e de Defesa de um Estado. A dissertação se desdobrará em três capítulos, abordando: (i) as formulações estratégicas do Reino Unido, o funcionamento burocrático da Defesa associado aos think tanks e suas percepções sobre os países emergentes; (ii) a definição do conceito de think tanks e a contribuição destes, na produção de conhecimento e debates no campo das ideias políticas ; (iii) os debates produzidos pelos principais think tanks britânicos a respeito da atuação internacional do Brasil. Acredita-se que a atuação internacional brasileira tenha despertado um maior debate no interior dos think tanks britânicos. / It is proposed an analysis of how British think tanks understand the Brazilian performance, associating to it the representations produced by them on Brazil in the period corresponding to the years 2001 to 2016. Following the constructivist conception, the use of think tanks As a discursive source, capable of influencing the formulation of political agendas and the Defense of a State. The dissertation will be divided into three chapters, covering: (i) the strategic formulations of the United Kingdom, the bureaucratic functioning of Defense associated with think tanks and their perceptions about emerging countries; (ii) the definition of the concept of think tanks and their contribution, in the production of knowledge and debates in the field of political ideas; (iii) the debates produced by the leading British think tanks regarding the international performance of Brazil. It is believed that the Brazilian international action has aroused a greater debate within the British think tanks.

The present thesis aims to increase our understanding of the causes of separatism. The inspiration for this topic comes from the fact that separatist conflicts can become extremely destructive, and thus a better understanding of why they emerge may help us prevent much human suffering by pointing to ways in which separatism can be avoided. More specifically, the thesis aims to explain the link between separatism and regional development disparities. The argument presented is that inter-regional economic conflicts (such as about inter-regional fiscal redistribution) easily emerge between regions at different levels of development, and that under certain conditions, particularly prolonged recessions and austerity, such conflicts can become an important driver of separatist aspirations. This can happen in both poorer and richer regions. The thesis further argues that this entire process can only be fully understood if we analyse society through a class prism. Given that regional development disparities often lie at the root of inter-regional economic conflicts, one of the ways of avoiding such conflicts – and thus also separatism – would be to equalize regional development levels. In order to do so, however, we first need to understand why regional disparities emerge and persist. Focusing on capitalist countries, the thesis argues that the disparities emerge as a natural consequence of the operation of oligopolistic markets, which are the dominant market form in capitalism. Regional development policies are explored at length, and it is argued that they are generally insufficient to overcome the tendency of markets to produce regional disparities. All the topics in the thesis are explored at the general level and for a larger number of countries, but the main in-depth case study is of regional disparities in the United Kingdom and how they relate to Scottish separatism.