A organização cooperativa é uma, dentre várias, forma de se coordenar a atividade econômica. No setor agropecuário, particularmente, desempenha um papel relevante na economia de vários países, atuando como importantes players em diversos segmentos do agronegócio. A cooperativa difere de outros tipos organizacionais em grande parte devido à sua peculiar estrutura de propriedade e natureza econômica complexa, delineados por princípios históricos que fazem dela uma forma organizacional ímpar, uma simbiose entre propósitos social e o econômico. A motivação do presente trabalho é trazer ao conhecimento do leitor, ao menos em parte, as diferentes abordagens nas quais as teorias sobre o modelo de empreendimento cooperativista têm se baseado para responder questões fundamentais acerca das organizações cooperativas agropecuárias no decorrer da história, tais como: o que são cooperativas? Por que elas se formam? O que as fazem organizações únicas? Quais são as vantagens e desvantagens deste modelo organizacional frente aos demais? Enfim, no presente trabalho busca-se mostrar como a organização cooperativa, deixando questões ideológicas de lado, vem sendo estudada e debatida à luz da teoria convencional da firma e sua análise marginal e, mais recentemente, da moderna teoria das organizações formulada no âmbito da Nova Economia Institucional. / The cooperative organization is one of several means of coordinating economic activity. In the agricultural sector, notably, it plays an important role in the economy of several countries, acting as important players in a number of segments of agribusiness. The cooperative differs from other organizational types largely because of its peculiar structure of ownership and complex economic nature, outlined by historical principles that make it a unique organizational form, a symbiosis between social and economic purposes. The aim of the present work it is to bring to the reader's knowledge, at least in part, the different approaches on which theories of the cooperative model of enterprise have been based to answer fundamental questions about cooperative organizations throughout history, such as: what are cooperatives? Why do they form? What makes them unique organizations? What are the advantages and disadvantages of this organizational model with regard to others? Finally, the present paper seeks to show how the cooperative organization, ideological issues aside, has been studied and debated in the light of the conventional theory of the firm and its marginal analysis, and more recently, those covered by the modern theory of organizations formulated within the scope of the New Institutional Economics.

Magister Artium (Social Work) - MA(SW) / Generally, studies on social work supervision, in the university setting, has focused mainly on students’ experiences. Research on the experience of the supervisor, or agency, providing guidance is scant. This study argues that the narrow focus on students’ experiences is disproportionate, and marginalises all the other stakeholders involved in fieldwork education. In addition, the existing studies create blind spots for programme evaluation, as they are not holistic. This current study proposes a broader analysis. Global and national standards for social work training involve the theory and practice component of the Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) programme. The practice component requires students to conduct fieldwork training at social work organisations, under the supervision of a qualified and experienced social worker. International and local studies on the supervision of BSW students reveal that social workers often consider themselves to be underprepared to supervise students. In addition, social workers often lack post-qualifying training to undertake student supervision, specifically, which is further exacerbated by the dearth of policies, or legislation, stipulating post-qualifying training and experience for the supervision of BSW students. The purpose of this current study was to explore the perceptions and experiences of social workers, related to fieldwork supervision in the BSW degree, at a selected university in the Western Cape (WC), South Africa (SA). A qualitative research approach was used, as it is attentive to the personal experiences, from the insider’s perspective, and aims to understand multiple realities. This approach is relevant to the current study, as it focuses on exploring and describing the perceptions and experiences of the participants, which the qualitative method underscores. A case study design was utilised, as it is descriptive, and is an in-depth study of a single instance of a social phenomenon. The case, in this instance, is the BSW programme at a selected university. Purposive sampling was used, as the participants, who are most representative of the study, were selected in the sampling process. The sample for this study comprised of twenty four participants: 11 semi-structured interviews were conducted and 13 questionnaires were completed by registered social workers. The following data verification methods were used: http://etd.uwc.ac.za ii member checking (See Annexure J); triangulation; researcher reflexivity; peer debriefing and an on-going dialogue, regarding the researcher’s interpretations of the data, as this aided the accuracy of the findings. Coding was applied by the researcher to create categories within the data, and thematic analysis to further identify the emerging themes and sub-themes, which were subsequently funnelled. Typologies are interpreted and developed, and the data, finally presented. Four themes and sixteen sub-themes emerged from the data (See Chapter 4). The focus of theme four was on continuous professional development (CPD), which reiterates the importance of post-qualifying training of social workers who supervise BSW students, and the importance of this study. This study recommends CPD of all social workers who provide fieldwork supervision in the BSW programme. There is also a need for emotional support for students and essentially fieldwork supervision needs to be viewed as indispensable to academia. An implication of the lack of CPD could be detrimental to students and could lead to stagnation in the field of social work and ultimately affect the standard of the profession.

Magister Artium (Development Studies) - MA (DVS) / Formal microfinance institutions have been an important tool in the fight against poverty in developing countries, but their reach for rural people and urban slum poor are limited. Following this, Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) are established as an alternative, informal mechanism for saving and borrowing that do not require external capital or ongoing financial or administrative support from a founding organization or government bodies. Thus, this study aimed to assess the effects of women participation in VSLA on poverty reduction with a case study in Hawassa city, Ethiopia. Using a mixed qualitative and quantitative research methodology, the study tried to focus on examining the effects of VSLAs contribution to economic and social wellbeing of households, and decision makings, and women participation in community activities. The study used 254 samples (127 VSLA participants, and 127 non-participants) and collected data using questionnaire and focus group discussion. The study used propensity score matching (PSM) to estimate the impact of women participation in VSLA on average monthly household income, and the result indicated the average effect of women participation in VSLA on average monthly household income of participant women is positive and significant at 5% significant level, ranging from 169.63 Birr/month (nearest neighbor matching) to 141.55 Birr/month (Kernel matching), on average. Besides, comparison between participants and non-participants using hypothesis testing shows that women participation in VSLA has a significant positive association with improvements in household diet, health, children's education, and women’s involvement in household decisions. However, although hypothesized, no significant association is found in relation to women participation in community activities. Findings from the focus group discussions are also consistent with the results from the PSM and hypothesis testing. Following the findings, the study recommends government and nongovernmental organizations to provide regular, timely and need based capacity building trainings for VSLA participants; Link VSLA participants with formal microfinance institutions; conduct regular monitoring and follow ups by either the city or sub-cities Women Children Affairs Department/offices or concerned government body; different concerned stakeholders in the city including government, nongovernmental organizations, microfinance institutions and others need to work in coordinated manner to solve the recurrent challenges of VSLA participants in Hawassa city; and finally government and/or nongovernmental organizations need to take best practices and lessons from existing VSLAs and expand the VSLA initiative to address more impoverished women in the city.

La tesi analizza la competitività nel commercio internazionale con un approccio multidimensionale. Il lavoro verte su tre livelli: a) una analisi di indicatori di produttività in aziende agroalimentari che operano con maggiore successo nel mercato estero; b) il ruolo delle agenzie di promozione a supporto delle aziende esportatrici; c) le barriere non tariffarie e le vertenze a livello dell’organizzazione mondiale del commercio (WTO) in materia sanitaria e fitosanitaria. Il lavoro condotto nelle tre prospettive microeconomica, istituzionale e internazionale, sottolinea il legame del commercio estero quale fattore di miglioramento della competitività delle aziende, evidenzia inoltre il ruolo importante delle istituzioni ed agenzie di supporto che accompagnano le aziende nel processo di internazionalizzazione, infine viene messo in luce la modifica dei rapporti internazionali per quanto attiene le barriere non tariffarie e le vertenze in campo sanitario e fitosanitario fra i Paesi aderenti al Wto, evidenziando una riduzione della centralità di Stati Uniti ed Unione Europea. / The thesis analyzes the competitiveness in international trade with a multidimensional approach. The work focuses on three levels: a) an analysis of productivity indicators in the agro-food and beverage companies that operate with greater success in the foreign market; b) the role of promotion agencies in support of exporting companies; c) and finally, non-tariff barriers and trade concerns at the level of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in sanitary and phytosanitary matters. The work, conducted in the three perspectives (microeconomic, institutional and international), underlines the link between foreign trade as a factor in improving the competitiveness of companies, also highlights the important role of the institutions and support agencies that accompany companies in the internationalization process, and finally it sheds light on the change in international relations, regarding non-tariff barriers and sanitary and phytosanitary trade concerns between the WTO members, highlighting a reduction in the centrality of the United States and European Union.

Optionsprogram har sedan 1990-talet blivit en allt mer tillämpad form av ekonomisk kompensation i företag. Orsaken till varför denna kompensationsform blivit allt mer populär är för att undvika intressekonflikter som kan uppstå mellan aktieägarna och VD eller övriga anställda.Informationsassymmetri är grundproblemet i denna intressekonflikt, som uppstår i situationer då VD eller andra anställda innehar information om företaget som aktieägarna inte har tillgång till. För att undvika intressekonflikter och för att skapa en intressesammanslagning används optionsprogram för att säkerställa att VD eller anställda arbetar i enlighet med aktieägarnas vilja. Inom vetenskaplig forskning har detta område studerats flitigt och där bland annat nyttan av optionsprogram har ifrågasatts. Forskning på området har också visat att marknaden reagerar positivt när ett optionsprogram introduceras.I denna studie har därför utgångspunkten varit att undersöka vilket utfall optionsprogram har haft och vilka skillnader som går att finna beroende på till vilka optionsprogrammen riktat sig till. I uppsatsens syfte ingår explicit att hitta brister i optionsprogrammen som kan leda till förbättringar. För att göra undersökningen hanterbar har en avgränsning gjorts till företagen på Stockholmsbörsens Small-Cap lista. Därefter har information om optionsprogrammen inhämtats tillsammans med aktiekursdata med hjälp av Aktiespararnas analysprogram.Resultatet av undersökningen visar att de implementerade optionsprogrammen haft ett negativt utfall överlag. Detta innebär att det går att ifrågasätta om intressesammanslagning verkligen sker och om marknadens positiva reaktion är försvarbar i denna kontext. I utfallet för de olika målgrupperna framkom att optionsprogram riktade till flera personer presterar bättre än optionsprogram riktade till ett fåtal personer. I forskningsfrågan gällande programutformning framkom att den traditionella varianten utan prestationskrav var den vanligast förekommande och som också medför svagheter jämfört med nyare varianter.Ett förslag på forskning som i framtiden kan vara av intresse att göra inom ämnesområdet är en undersökning av utfallet efter att nya programutformningar implementerats och vilka svagheter eller styrkor som är inneboende hos dessa.

Este estudo objetiva definir uma metodologia para cálculo do potencial de expropriação de fluxo de caixa dos acionistas controladores sobre os acionistas minoritários e correlacionar esse potencial com os mecanismos de Governança Corporativa (GC) comumente citados, de forma a verificar se tais mecanismos realmente influenciam nos níveis de expropriação das empresas de capital aberto no Brasil. Para tanto, apresenta três etapas: 1) definição de uma metodologia para cálculo do potencial de expropriação de fluxo de caixa dos acionistas controladores; 2) mensuração do potencial definido para as empresas que realizaram operações de alienação/venda de controle acionário no Brasil nos anos de 2004 a 2010 conforme prerrogativas da Instrução CVM nº 361/2002, a qual exige que as empresas publiquem, dentre outros dados, o preço ofertado pelo controle; e 3) correlação do potencial de expropriação calculado com os mecanismos de Governança Corporativa mais citados para analisar a efetividade destes no combate à expropriação. Por meio de deduções algébricas para a definição do potencial de expropriação e análise multivariada de dados (regressões múltiplas) para a análise da correlação entre este e os mecanismos de GC destacam-se os seguintes resultados: 1) a definição de uma próxi viável para o cálculo do potencial de expropriação e 2) a expropriação de fluxo de caixa é determinada pelo free float das ações ordinárias, pelo porte do ativo, pelo Return on Equiy (ROE), pela composição da Diretoria Executiva e da presidência do Conselho de Administração e pelos Níveis de GC da Bovespa. As relações entre o potencial de expropriação e as suas variáveis determinantes são: o potencial de expropriação é menor quanto menor for o free float, quanto maior for o porte do ativo, em empresas nas quais o Diretor Executivo e o Presidente do Conselho são a mesma pessoa e nas empresas com níveis de GC da Bovespa, sendo baixa a representatividade dessas duas últimas devido ao baixo número de empresas na amostra com tais características. Tais relações contrariam a teoria corrente, principalmente quanto à influência do free float, que é apontado como uma forma de minimizar o problema da expropriação, sendo até mesmo exigido em níveis diferenciados de governança como forma de limitar o risco da empresa, porém consistente com os resultados obtidos no decorrer da dedução do potencial de expropriação. / This study means to define a methodology to calculate the expropriation potential of cash flow by controlling shareholders over minority shareholders and to correlate this potential with Corporate Governance (CG) mechanisms commonly cited in order to verify if these mechanisms influence levels of expropriation of Brazilian publicly traded companies. For both, has three steps: 1) definition of a methodology to calculate the expropriation potential of cash flow by controlling shareholders; 2) mensuration of the defined potential for companies that sold or alienated their control in Brazil in the years 2004 to 2010 as prerogatives of CVM Instruction nº 361/2002, which requires that companies publish, among other data, the price offered by the control; and 3) correlation of expropriation potential with Corporate Governance mechanisms more cited to analyze their effectiveness to reduce the expropriation. By means of algebraic deductions and multivariate analysis (Multiple Regression) for correlation analysis of it and the Corporate Governance mechanisms, highlight the following results: 1) the viable definition of a proxy to calculate the expropriation potential and 2) the cash flow expropriation is determined by the free float of ordinary shares, by Return on Equity (ROE), by asset size, by the composition of Executive Direction and the Chairman of the Board and by CG levels according Bovespas Classification. The relations between the expropriation potential and its determinants variables are: the expropriation potential is lower than lower the free float, than higher the Return on Equity (ROE), than lower the asset size, in companies that the Executive Director and the Chairman of the Board are the same person and in companies that has the Corporate Governance level by Bovespa, but the representative of these last two variables is low, because there are few companies with these characteristics. These relations contradict the current theory, especially regarding the influence of free float, which is targeted as a way to minimize the expropriation problem, being required even at levels of Corporate Governance as a form to limit the companys risk, but it is consistent with the results of expropriation potential deduction.

Esta tese parte de uma interrogação sobre a articulação, entre os antigos Tupi da costa brasílica, entre o profetismo e o domínio político. Para tanto, ela revisita discussões caras à história da antropologia, como aquelas promovidas por Pierre e Hélène Clastres, o primeiro fortemente engajado no projeto de uma antropologia política. Cruzando os dados do passado com as etnografi as sobre povos ameríndios do presente, esta tese propõe uma refl exão sobre a ação política ameríndia, tendo em vista as maneiras pelas quais podem se constituir (e estender) pessoas e grupos, líderes e unidades sociopolíticas, mas também os mecanismos que impedem, a todo o momento, que estes se estabilizem, se enrijeçam, congelem assimetrias. / This thesis focus on the relationship, among the ancient Tupi of the brazilian coast, between prophetic movements and the political domain. In so doing, it returns to some classic discussions that play an important part in anthropology\'s history, as those which were carried by Pierre and Hélène Clastres; the fi rst one hardly engaged on the foundation of a political anthropology. Comparing data of past societies with recent ethnographies of contemporary indigenous peoples, this thesis proposes a refl ection on Amerindian political agency, stressing the ways people and groups, leaders and sociopolitical units, can be made (and thus be extended), as well as regarding the mechanisms that offer resistance to the stabilization of these people and groups, which could result in a fixed asymmetry.

This study problematizes the down play of heroic perspectives in the currently rising critical and post-heroic leadership research. It argues that compromising either the critical or the post-heroic perspectives in favour of the other would constrict or mislead our understanding of the social influence of leadership processes. This study calls for maintaining the theoretical uniqueness of both perspectives in order to enhance new understandings and broader knowledge claims. Therefore, the study adopts a reflexive-ethnographic examination of the leader-follower and group dynamics, in an International Human Rights Based Organization. The overall aim is to develop an understanding of how individuals in an International Organization like Global Peace Organization (GPO) cope with the universal scope of their organization and the diversity in their work environment. This aim is fulfilled through examining self-narratives generated by the participants in their day to day interactions. To facilitate the coherence between the two leadership perspectives in this examination, a dialectical dimension is enhanced by extending the emerging tactics of reflexivity and intertextuality to the various stages of research. The critical perspective then reveals a context-driven approach in the self-narratives where participants use their particular worldviews to interpret dilemmas and conflicts originating in their work. Conflicts between participants and their leaders also reflect power interplays based on crafting a sense of we-ness / us in self-Other encounters. However, an added perspective on interpersonal relations suggests the significance of the single factor where the less secure participants tend to mask their resistance with creative impression-management strategies. This eventually transforms their insecurities into more positive attitudes and behaviours which repositions them as informal leaders in their groups.

Why do students choose to study particular courses and what is the impact of these choices on their later progression? Quite often the reason for the choice appears to be obvious and straightforward, and their after course trajectory is already determined. The education system has, what some may view as an easy to follow progression route when students reach the end of Key Stage 4, i.e. GCSE to A level, and then university for those who meet the criteria. With A levels considered by many to be the 'gold standard', there is probably no expectation by schools, parents and students that they will do anything else. But what about those who may not meet the criteria and A levels may not be the most appropriate progression route for them? This thesis examines the factors that influence the choices made by students who have decided to study a course other than A level. This is done through longitudinal case studies derived from the use of questionnaires, focus groups and individual interviews using BTEC L3 Science as a vehicle. Four educational establishments agreed to participate in the research to varying degrees, with one establishment providing the participants who provided the case studies. Many previous studies that have investigated student choice have often done so from either the perspective of structural factors or individual agency, but not usually both. Hemsley-Brown and Fosketts' 2001 Integrated Model of Educational Choice has been used to provide a theoretical framework as it allows consideration of both structural factors and individual agency. The model was used at two different points in the research, but in a different way at each point. The result was a series of individual stories that gave an insight into the factors that influence student choice and also how the balance of power in the decision making process shifted in favour of the student as they progressed through the course. At the start of the course structural factors such as the systems that exist within education had a significant role in the choice of course for the students, to the point where it was effectively a 'non-choice' for them. By the end of the course individual agency played a significant role and the students were able to adapt and make the systems work for them to enable them to make the best possible choices to meet their own needs.

Recent decades have seen a shift in Scotland in terms of the provision of housing and housing-related services from the public sector to the private sector. In statistical terms, the proportion of Scottish households in the private rented sector has doubled during the past ten years. This thesis unpacks anthropologically the private rented sector as a locally-found concept in Edinburgh, largely through the medium of ‘property management', another locally-found concept. Key questions concern how the private rented sector in Edinburgh is ‘managed' at the vernacular level, how the ethics of property management take shape in Edinburgh in the context of this ongoing shift from the public to the private sectors, and how the property relations within the sector relate to existing debates in economic anthropology. The primary ethnographic material, based upon fieldwork in 2014 and 2015, is of an Edinburgh letting agency as archetypal property managers, though other material either was produced in conjunction with Shelter Scotland or stemmed from the tracing of further connections within the field. Engaging with the broader anthropology of ethics, a core conclusion is that processes of property management rest ultimately upon practices of ethics that take place at the ‘ordinary' level. A parallel aim is to consider how anthropologists might produce ethnography of an economic ‘sector', such as the private rented sector. Borrowing from Actor-Network Theory, I propose occupying a range of different vantage points in a given economic sector within a socially defined locale, such as the city, by following the connections encountered in the field, and then by allowing actors to perform both the social and the economic by tracing their associations through the production of the ethnographic text.