Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-13T17:08:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 UbiraciMSM.pdf: 2917234 bytes, checksum: 41d4e2d86894576356127de3941e6c83 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2000-08-31 / Petr?leo Brasileiro SA - PETROBRAS / Through an integrated approach, using litho, chrono and biostratigraphic data, the relative importance of climate variations and tectonics were recognized in rift sediments of the onshore Potiguar Basin, Northeast Brazil. Concepts of sequence stratigraphy were applied as a template to integrate sedimentological and geochemical data (oxygen isotopes), as well as quantitative palynologic methods to address and recognize the main depositional patterns produced in a rift basin. The main objective was to address the relative importance of climate changes and tectonics to the resultant stratigraphic architecture. The results of computer simulations of sedimentary basin fills of rift basins were quite useful to test working hypothesis and mimic the process of filling a half graben during a rift event. The studied section includes a neovalanginian-eobarremian (Lower Cretaceous) rift interval from the Pend?ncia Formation, located in the southwestern portion of Umbuzeiro Graben, in the offshore Potiguar Basin. The depositional setting is interpreted as progradational deltaic system entering a lake from its flexural margin. Sismoestratigraphyc and well logs analyses allowed to interpret two regressive intervals (Green and Yellow Sequences), separated by a broad transgressive interval (Orange Sequence), known as the Livramento Shale. The depositional history encompass three stages: two tectonically active phases, during the deposition of the Green and Yellow Sequences, and a tectonically quiescent phase, during the deposition of the Orange Sequence. Paleoclimatic interpretation, based on quantitative palynology and geochemical data (��18O), suggests a tendency to arid conditions during the tectonically active phases and wet conditions during the tectonically quiescent phase. Stratigraphic modeling and backstripping techniques, supported by paleoclimatic/paleoecologic interpretations provide a powerful methodology to evaluate the tectonic and climatic controls on tectonic lakes / A partir da integra??o de dados lito, bio e sismoestratigr?ficos, paleoclim?ticos e geoqu?micos (��18O), e utilizando os conceitos da estratigrafia de seq??ncias, bem como das t?cnicas de modelagem estratigr?fica e descarregamento sedimentar, foi poss?vel diferenciar os efeitos tect?nicos e clim?ticos na sedimenta??o de um rifte continental. A se??o estudada compreende o intervalo neovalanginiano-eobarremiano (Cret?ceo Inferior) da Forma??o Pend?ncia, na por??o SW do Graben de Umbuzeiro, Bacia Potiguar emersa, constitu?dos predominantemente por dep?sitos delt?icos e lacustrinos. A an?lise da arquitetura deposicional do intervalo de estudo atrav?s da se??es s?smicas e perf?s el?tricos de po?os da ?rea, permite interpretar dois grandes intervalos regressivos (Seq??ncias Verde e Amarela), separados por um n?vel transgressivo (Seq??ncia Laranja) de express?o regional, conhecido como Folhelho Livramento . No geral, a evolu??o do intervalo de estudo compreende duas fases de maior atividade tect?nica durante a deposi??o das Seq??ncias Verde e Amarela, separadas por um per?odo de quiesc?ncia durante a deposi??o da Seq??ncia Laranja. Os dois per?odos de maior atividade tect?nica mostram uma evolu??o paleoclim?tica com tend?ncia de aridez em dire??o ao topo do intervalo (lago cada vez mais raso), enquanto o per?odo de quiesc?ncia registra uma tend?ncia de condi??es cada vez mais ?midas. A simula??o de modelos estratigr?ficos (programa STRATA vers?o 2.14), bem como a utiliza??o da t?cnica de descarregamento sedimentar (programa BASS vers?o 1.0) foram de grande utilidade para um melhor entendimento da evolu??o tectono-sedimentar da ?rea de estudo, permitindo uma maior seguran?a na separa??o dos efeitos tect?nicos e clim?ticos no registro estratigr?fico das seq??ncias deposicionais

Titel: Hållbarhetsinformation i VD-ordet- En kvantitativ studie av företag på OMX Stockholm Large CapFörfattare: Magnus Olsson och Karl AmbrosiussonBakgrund: VD-ordet är ett frivilligt avsnitt i årsredovisningen där företagsledningen och den verkställande direktören har möjlighet att uttrycka sig om det gångna året och framtiden. VD-ordet är en av de mest lästa delarna i årsredovisningen. Denna uppsats fokuserar på i vilken utsträckning hållbarhetsinformation framhävs i VD-ordet. Hållbarhetsredovisning är sedan 2016 ett krav för större företag och 2017 års årsredovisningar är de första som måste innehålla en hållbarhetsrapport.Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att utforska om lagändringen med krav på hållbarhetsrapportering har påverkat i vilken utsträckning hållbarhetsinformation presenteras i VD-ordet. Syftet är vidare att förklara om företagets storlek är en faktor som påverkar mängden hållbarhetsinformation som presenteras i VD-ordet.Metod: Kvantitativ innehållsanalys har tillämpats för att mäta i vilken utsträckning hållbarhetsinformation används i VD-ordet genom att räkna hur ofta begrepp som förknippas med hållbarhet förekommer.Slutsats: Mängden hållbarhetsinformation i VD-ordet har ökat mellan 2016 och 2017, men lagändringen har inte medfört någon extra påverkan. Resultatet visar också att ett företags storlek inte påverkar mängden hållbarhetsinformation i VD-ordet hos de undersökta företagen. / Title: Sustainability information in the CEO letter- A quantitative study of companies at OMX Stockholm Large CapAuthors: Magnus Olsson and Karl AmbrosiussonBackground: The CEO letter is a voluntary section in the annual report where the management together with the CEO have the opportunity to express themselves about the past year and future expectations. The CEO letter is one of the most read parts in the annual report. This essay focuses on to what extent the CEO letter presents sustainability information. A Sustainability report has been a requirement for bigger companies since 2016 and the annual reports of 2017 are the first reports that have to contain a sustainability report.Purpose: The purpose of this essay is to find out if the new sustainability reporting requirements has affected the extent of sustainability information presented in the CEO letter. The purpose is further to explain whether the size of the company is a factor that affects the amount of sustainability information presented in the CEO letter.Method: Quantitative content analysis has been applied to measure the extent to which sustainability information is used in the CEO letter. It’s used by counting the frequency of concepts associated with sustainability.Conclusion: The result shows that the amount of sustainability information in the CEO letter has increased between 2016 and 2017, but that the change in the law did not have any additional impact on the amount of sustainability information. The result also shows that size of the companies doesn’t affect the amount of sustainability information in the CEO letter for the investigated companies.

本研究探討過度自信經理人於經濟衰退階段時之併購行為。本研究蒐集S&P1500大企業於1993年至2016年的資料，對過度自信經理人於景氣衰退階段的併購機率、宣告效果、長期股價表現進行分析。因為過度自信經理人低估景氣衰退所造成的高度不確定性，同時高估本身能夠透過併購所創造的公司價值，我們預期過度自信經理人相較非過度自信經理人更容易在景氣衰退的階段進行併購。然而實證結果過顯示過度自信經理人的併購機率於2008年金融海嘯後大幅下降，減少併購的幅度顯著高於非過度自信經理人。此結果和過去文獻一致，說明在財務資源不足的情況下，過度自信經理人會比非過度自信經理人更不願意投資。因為過度自信經理人高估自家公司權益價值，認為資本市場低估其權益價值，就算面對能為公司創造價值的投資案時也不願意向外發行股票籌資，因而導致他們在經氣衰退時較非過度自信經理人投資更保守。 / The study examines the behaviors of overconfident CEOs during recessions using firms included in S&P 1500 Index from 1993 to 2016. We propose that overconfident CEOs would undertake more M&As than non-overconfident CEOs during recessions for their biased beliefs lead them to underestimating the risk they would incur in recessions and overestimating the synergy they can create through M&As. However, we found that, during and after the 2008 Recessions, overconfident CEOs reduce significantly more in undertaking M&As than non-overconfident CEOs. The results are consistent with past literatures and suggest that decrease in financial resources caused by recession lead overconfident CEOs, who overestimate the value of their own equity and are unwilling to issue new equity, to reducing more in undertaking M&As than non-overconfident CEOs after and during recession.

近年來企業社會責任蓬勃發展，落實企業社會責任的企業更具競爭優勢，因此越來越多企業投入企業社會責任領域。其中，公益活動是覆蓋CSR範圍最廣、企業參與程度最高的，即將企業社會責任視為企業的機會，從中創造與利害關係人的共享價值。 網路時代，常在新聞和社交媒體曝光的科技業的CEO，幾乎可以說是企業形象的代言人。本研究認為讓科技業CEO親自代言企業公益活動，應該更具說服力。同時，台灣的高科技產業，不僅是最早開始重視社會責任概念，也是表現最佳的產業。本研究選擇科技業的公益活動組合為研究主體，以了解消費者對於「何種類型的企業公益活動、於何地舉辦、由何種形象的企業執行長代言」所組成的公益活動適配組合之偏好程度。以及，何種公益適配組合對於不同的消費者來說是最有效的。藉由上述研究，獲得一個一般性的公益活動組合原則。 本研究主要使用聯合分析法進行分析，搭配單因子變異數分析和人口統計變數。最後，獲得以下結論： 1.對整體消費者而言，最重視的屬性依序為「公益活動地點」、「公益活動類型」、「企業執行長形象」。上述三個受測體最喜愛的水準分別為「台灣」、「環境保育－實踐綠色生產」和「守信細心的臉書－馬克·祖克柏」。 2.將消費者依生活型態分為四群：社交創新、流行時髦、務實進取及居家樂活。對不同生活型態的消費者而言，在公益活動類型的選擇上明顯各有所好；對企業執行長形象的偏好有略有差異性，但是在公益地點的偏好相同，皆最喜歡自身所在的台灣，最不喜歡距離遙遠的北歐。其中，社交創新集群，最重視企業執行長形象、公益活動類型和生活型態的一致性，視郭台銘和創新加速器為最適配的組合；流行時髦、務實進取及居家樂活集群，則喜歡「守信細心的臉書－馬克·祖克柏」，搭配較傳統的公益活動－實踐綠色生產及社區關懷。 / Recently, corporate social responsibility has become so flourish, in that implementation of corporate social responsibility embedded enterprises with more competitive advantage. And CSR is regarded as opportunities for enterprises, from which to create and share the value of stakeholders. That’s why more and more companies steps into the field of corporate social responsibility. Among all CSR activities, corporate philanthropies are the most extensive ones, for it involving the highest degree of business participation. In the age of Internet, we can often see the exposure of CEOs of the technology industry in news and social media, so they are sometimes be seen as the corporate image. Therefore, this research assumes that CEO could be a convincing spokesman for corporate philanthropies. Furthermore, Taiwan's high-tech industry is not only the first to pay attention to social responsibility, but also the best practice benchmark among all sectors. Therefore, this study attempt to find out an optimal combination of corporate philanthropies in the technology industry - "what type of corporate philanthropies, where, by what kind of image of the executive CEO endorsement," attracting customers most. And what kind of corporate philanthropies combination is the most efficient fit for consumers with different lifestyles? Through the research above, this study tries to establish general principles for compositions of corporate philanthropies. To analyze the preferences of consumers with different lifestyles, the researcher uses the conjoint analysis mainly, with ANOVA analysis and demographic variables. In conclusion, we obtain the best optimal compositions as follows: 1. For consumers as a whole, the most important attributes are "location of a cause ," type of philanthropy "and "CEO image" in descending order. The personal levels of each attribute are "Taiwan," "Environmental Conservation - Green Production" and "Careful- Mark Zuckerberg." 2. Consumers are divided into four groups according to lifestyles: (1)Innovative group: Taiwan, Star-ups accelerator, and Terry Gou. (2)Fashionable group, pragmatic group and contented group: Taiwan, Green production, and Mark Zuckerberg.

Earnings Management är ett begrepp som syftar till diskretionär redovisning som innebär manipulering av ett företags resultat. Resultatmanipulering kan ske både uppåt och nedåt. När manipulering sker uppåt syftar det till att höja det redovisade resultatet medan manipulering nedåt syftar till att sänka resultatet vilket benämns Big Bath Accounting. Det finns flera forskare som har studerat detta område över tid och som har kommit fram till motstridiga resultat. Vissa forskare menar att Earnings Management och Big Bath Accounting förekommer i stor utsträckning då företag erbjuder bonusprogram som baseras på företagets resultat samt om VD-byte har skett. Andra forskare är av en annan uppfattning. De finner inga statistiska bevis för att Earnings Management och Big Bath Accounting förekommer vid bonusprogram och VD-byten. Vissa av dessa forskare menar även att Earnings Management har avtagit avsevärt eller till och med försvunnit under de senaste åren. Tidigare forskning visar även motstridiga bevis kring användningen av Earnings Management under finanskriser samt bonusprogram. Studiens syfte var således att undersöka faktorer som ligger till grund för Earnings Management och Big Bath Accounting samt incitament som kan påverka ledningen till resultatmanipulering. Resultat från tidigare forskning ligger till grund för studiens teoretiska referensram som mynnade ut i tre hypoteser. Dessa hypoteser testades via multipel regressionsanalys samt en tidsserieanalys. Studiens urval omfattade företag på den svenska marknaden på OMX Stockholmsbörsen Large Cap under åren 2007-2015. Det ursprungliga urvalet omfattades av 747 observationer men då ett visst bortfall ägde rum kvarstod 547 observationer för hypotesprövning ett och två samt 567 observationer för hypotesprövning 3. Resultatet visade på ett statistiskt samband mellan resultatmanipulering och bonusprogram, dock fann vi inget säkerställt samband mellan resultatsänkande periodiseringar och VD-byten. Däremot fann vi stöd för vår tredje alternativhypotes att finanskrisen påverkade Earnings Management under åren 2008-2009. Vår slutsats blev således att de faktorer som ligger till grund för Earnings Management och Big Bath Accounting samt incitament som kan påverka ledningen till resultatmanipulering är bonusprogram och finanskrisen. / Earnings Management is a term aimed at discretionary accounting which involves manipulation of a company's results. Earnings Management can be done either upwards or downwards. When manipulation occurs downwards with the aim of lowering the result, it´s called Big Bath Accounting. There are several researchers who have studied this area over time and have come up with conflicting results. Some researchers believe that Earnings Management and Big Bath Accounting occur to a large extent when companies offer bonus programs based on company performance and whether CEO turnovers has occurred. Other researchers have a different opinion. They do not find any statistical evidence that Earnings Management and Big Bath Accounting occurs when the CEO has changed and companies have bonus programs. Some of these researchers also believe that Earnings Management has diminished significantly or even disappeared in recent years. Previous research also shows conflicting evidence about the use of Earnings Management during financial crises and bonus programs. The purpose of the study was thus to investigate factors that underlie Earnings Management and Big Bath Accounting as well as incentives that may affect the management of a company to apply the theory. Results from previous research form the basis of the theoretical framework of the study, which emerged in three hypotheses. These hypotheses were tested by multiple regression analysis as well as a time series analysis. The study's selection was limited to companies in the Swedish market on the OMX Stockholm Stock Exchange's Large Cap in 20072015. The original sample was comprised of 747 observations, but when a certain loss occurred, 547 observations remained while testing hypothesis one and two and 567 observations remained while testing hypothesis three. The result showed a statistical correlation between performance manipulation and bonus programs, but we found no statistical correlation between profit-decreasing accruals and CEO turnover. On the other hand, we found support for our third alternative hypothesis that the financial crisis affected Earnings Management during 2008-2009. Our conclusion thus became that the factors underlying Earnings Management and Big Bath Accounting as well as incentives that could affect the management of a company to apply the theory are bonus programs and the financial crisis.

Årsredovisningar är ett ofta förekommande objekt inom redovisningsforskningen. Årsredovisningarna är en viktig kommunikationskanal mellan företaget och dess olika intressenter. Rapportens ändamål är primärt att ge intressenterna information om företagets resultat och finansiella ställning. Årsredovisningarnas karaktär har genom åren utvecklats och berikats med bland annat bilder och kompletterande textuella avsnitt. I denna studie har den narrativa delen av årsredovisningar ’VD:n har ordet’ studerats. Avsnittet utgör en viktig del av årsredovisningens frivilliga element, och är en av de mest lästa delarna. Samtidigt är ’VD:n har ordet’, till skillnad från flertalet andra delar i årsredovisningen, oreglerad. Detta ger företaget och den verkställande direktören stora möjligheter att kommunicera ut legitimitetskapande budskap till dess intressenter. Tidigare forskning visar att aktiviteter kopplade till CSR har en positiv påverkan på intressenternas inställning gentemot företaget. CSR är ett rymligt begrepp som innefattar relationen och ansvarstagandet mellan företag och samhälle. Det har visat sig ha stor betydelse för företagen att lyckas signalera dessa aktiviteter till intressenterna. Denna studie syftar till att ge en bättre inblick i hur svenska företag använder ’VD:n har ordet’ för att lyfta fram CSR. Vidare undersöks om det har skett en ökning av CSR-begrepp i ’VD:n har ordet’. Studien uppvisar att det inte finns något samband mellan företagens vinstmarginal och andel CSR-begrepp i ’VD:n har ordet’. Det går inte heller att urskilja ett samband mellan andel CSR-begrepp och andelen begrepp kopplade till resultat. Däremot kunde vi bevisa att det skett en linjär ökning av CSR-begrepp mellan år 2006 och 2015. Begrepp kopplade till resultat har minskat, om än inte linjärt. / Annual reports are a frequently used item in the accounting research. The annual reports are an important communication channel between the company and its various stakeholders. The purpose of the report is to give the stakeholders information about the company's earnings and financial position. The character of the annual reports has evolved over the years and has been enriched with, among other things, pictures and additional textual sections. In this study, the narrative part of the annual reports ‘CEO-letter’ has been studied. The section constitutes an important part of the annual report's optional elements, and is one of the most read sections. At the same time, the ‘CEO-letter’, unlike most other part of the annual report, is unregulated. This fact gives the company and the CEO a great opportunity to communicate legitimacy-creating messages to its stakeholders. Previous research shows that activities related to CSR have a positive impact on stakeholders' attitude towards the company. CSR is a spacious concept that includes the relationship and responsivities between the company and its society. It has been found to be of great importance for companies to successfully signal these activities to stakeholders. This study aims at giving a better insight into how Swedish companies use the 'CEO-letter' to highlight CSR. Further investigations are made if there has been an increase in the use of words related to CSR in the 'CEO-letters’. This study shows that there is no correlation between the company's profit margin and the share of CSR concepts in the ‘CEO-letter’. In addition, we could not discern a relationship between the share of CSR concepts and the proportion of concepts linked to results in the ‘CEO-letters’. On the other hand, we could prove that there has been a linear increase in CSR concepts over the past ten years. Furthermore, concepts linked to results have decreased, albeit not in a linear manner. Please note that the thesis language is in Swedish.

La présentation des exigences de profitabilité, de responsabilité sociale et de leur articulation dans les discours des dirigeants : le cas Carrefour. Notre recherche a pour objet d'analyser comment les dirigeants –au nom de leur entreprise- présentent et articulent, dans leurs discours, les deux exigences majeures du capitalisme d'aujourd'hui : celle de maximisation de la valeur pour l'actionnaire et celle de Responsabilité Sociale des Entreprises (RSE). La première, portée par les investisseurs institutionnels dans le cadre d'un « capitalisme financier », s'est constituée à l'adresse des entreprises cotées et de leurs dirigeants, et semble s'imposer au modèle français de gouvernement d'entreprise. La seconde, l'exigence de RSE -portée par les acteurs de la société civile- pousse les entreprises et leurs dirigeants à se préoccuper des dimensions sociales et environnementales de leur activité. Dans cette perspective, une étude empirique longitudinale a été menée sur les messages des Rapports Annuels et des Rapports de Développement Durable du Groupe Carrefour sur la période 1993-2007. Elle a permis d'observer une domination de plus en plus totale des critères du capitalisme financier sur les discours des dirigeants et de renforcer les thèses de la concomitance de l'émergence du discours de la maximisation de la valeur pour l'actionnaire et de la RSE et de la faible articulation des deux discours. / The presentation of requirements of profitability, social responsibility and their articulation in the CEO letters: Carrefour group case. Our research aims to analyze how leaders -in the name of their company- present and articulate, in their speeches, the two major requirements of today's capitalism: On the one hand, the requirement of maximizing shareholder value -driven by institutional investors through a "financial capitalism"- to public companies and their leaders seem to win the French model of corporate governance. On the other hand, the requirement for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) -originated by the actors of civil society- is forcing companies and their leaders to be concerned about social and environmental dimensions. In this perspective, an empirical study was conducted on the messages of the Annual and Sustainability Reports of Carrefour Group over the period 1993-2007. It was possible to observe a progressive domination of the criteria of financial capitalism in the speeches of CEOs and strengthen the arguments of the concomitance of the emergence of the discourse of maximizing shareholder value and CSR and the poor articulation of two discourses

Titel: Påverkar VD:ns aktieinnehav bolags finansiella prestation?  - En kvantitativ studie om sambandet mellan VD:ns nivå av aktieinnehav inom bolaget och dess finansiella prestation.    Författare: Carl-Oscar Backlund & Viktor Granström   Handledare: Jörgen Hellström   Problembakgrund och problemdiskussion Synen på VD:ns roll och dennes betydelse för ett bolag har ändrats mycket genom åren. I modern tid anses en VD vara ytterst ansvarig för bolagets verksamhet, med lagstadgade uppgifter, men också samtidigt vara ansiktet utåt mot media och press. Hur pass stark är korrelationen mellan bolaget prestation och dess VD? Många börsnoterade bolag väljer att knyta VD:ns finansiella kompensation till dess aktiekurs, och på så vis få VD:n att börja arbeta mer utifrån aktieägarnas intressen. Andra bolag väljer att tillämpa olika typer av incitamentsprogram. Huruvida VD:ns aktieägande inom ett bolag påverkar bolagets prestation är studerat ur ett internationellt perspektiv, men det saknas forskning på svenska bolag. Vidare finns det ett flertal faktorer som särskiljer den position svenska bolag befinner sig i gentemot utländska bolag.    Syfte  Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka huruvida det finns ett samband mellan VD:ns finansiella incitament och bolagets finansiella prestation. Studien avser bolag listade på Nasdaq OMX Stockholm. Vidare är syftet att redogöra för relevanta teorier inom ämnesområdet för att därefter avgöra ifall det återfinns stöd för dessa utifrån studiens resultat.   Metod Studien utgår ifrån en kvantitativ metod med en deduktiv forskningsansats där en tvärsnittsstudie tillämpas med hjälp av insamlade sekundärdata. Den data som samlats in är för bolag som varit listade på stockholmsbörsen under år 2019. Multipla regressionsmodeller har skapats för att undersöka huruvida samband existerar genom testande av hypoteser.    Teori Agentteorin, stewardship-teorin, entrenchment-teorin, och det resursbaserade synsättet ligger till grund för studiens teoretiska referensram tillsammans med tidigare forskning kring ämnet.    Empiri & slutsats Uppsatsens resultat tyder på att inga säkerställda samband mellan VD:ns nivå av aktieinnehav och den finansiella prestationen, operationaliserat som ROA och ROE kan återfinnas under räkenskapsåret 2019 på Stockholmsbörsen. Varpå studiens resultat genomförande finner stöd för stewardship-teorin, och därmed återfinns inget stöd för agentteorin respektive entrenchment-teorin på en 5% signifikansnivå.

The dissertation focuses on the creation of a new methodology of evaluation and remuneration for top managers in the environment of the Czech manufacturing industry. Based on a literature search, individual methods of evaluation and remuneration of this selected group of employees were defined. Due to the complexity of the issues addressed, it is also necessary to focus on the company's performance, which is monitored through the EBITDA indicator. This indicator is then the main pillar for the remuneration of managers. The methodology consists of two more pillars. The first is the macroeconomic indicator of gross domestic product, the second is the qualitative factor of the ethical aspect of the manager's work. The work aims to create a remuneration methodology that will be usable for the Czech environment, will combine the manager's remuneration with his performance and the performance of the company and could lead to a reduction in the cost of representation. The key to its creation was the acquisition of primary data through questionnaire surveys and pilot studies, which were evaluated by mathematical and statistical methods. The resulting methodology is applied to a specific company within the verification of the proposed methodology.

This cumulative dissertation investigates the role and implications of top managers in firms. By building on two influential contemporary phenomena – internationalization and digitalization – and by examining top managers from a multitude of conceptional and methodological angles, the dissertation provides novel insights to upper echelons research. The first study examines the association between top management team (TMT) internationalization and firm innovativeness and argues that the accumulation of international knowledge and resources in the TMT benefits firm innovativeness. The second study analyzes the association between CEO internationalization and firms’ strategic risk-taking, paying particular attention to various governance mechanisms that may influence this relationship. The third study explores the role and facilitating actions of top managers in response to the digital transformation. Overall, this dissertation contributes toward a more fine-grained understanding of top managers and their individual characteristics. Given the contemporary relevance of the topics under consideration, the presented findings are of significant value for both theorists and practitioners.:Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Scope of the dissertation and research gaps 1.2 Theoretical foundation 1.3 Empirical foundation 1.4 Research purpose and scientific contribution Chapter 2: Research article 1 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Theory and hypotheses 2.3 Methodology 2.4 Results 2.5 Discussion and conclusions 2.6 Limitations and future research Chapter 3: Research article 2 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Theory and hypotheses 3.3 Methodology 3.4 Results 3.5 Discussion and conclusion 3.6 Limitations and future research Chapter 4: Research article 3 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Theoretical background 4.3 Data and method 4.4 Findings 4.5 Discussion References