The implementation of smart contract technology with their plausible applications in a business to business are explored. The thesis work shows how Blockchain technology works on the concept of decentralized system which is beneficial to eliminate the need for central authority. The thesis focuses on elimination of challenges pertaining to the selected departments in an organization. The thesis resolves challenges pertaining to lack of transparency, traceability and significant time-delays while in the process of decision making. The influence of blockchain technology and smart contract technology to eliminate these challenges are discussed. Logic of the smart contract and working of the blockchain pertaining to a specific industrial case study are demonstrated. Methodology to set up a smart contract interface in a business to business setting is investigated in this thesis. An observation study has been done in order to show how transparency, traceability and time delay in decision making is achieved by using smart contract interface. This thesis also shows how the blockchain and smart contract technology tries to implement coordination theory.

Sustainability is a fairly new emerging business concept for manufacturing industry and this thesis will focus on smartphone manufacturing industry. In 2015 there were 1.86 billion smartphone users and it is estimated to increase to 2.87 billion in 2020. Currently the average lifetime of a smartphone is 21 months and According to Consumer Technology Association the technical life expectancy of a smartphone is 4.7 years. The European Commission approximated that from 17–20 kg of electronic waste is produced per person per year and that smartphones are contributors for increase of electronic waste. Also the smartphone manufacturing process has an impact on the people who are involved with manufacturing and resource extraction process.  Related social problems include conflict minerals, issues in manufacturing campuses, health problems and excessive worktimes. There has been suspicion that large manufacturing companies use labour market in areas that have a high risk of poverty or lack of national authority that can protect labour rights. To investigate these emerging issues that has an impact on smartphone manufacturing sustainability, a sustainability ranking criteria for individual smartphones devices and their manufactures was developed. Furthermore, the aim of the research is to develop a ranking system using life cycle perspective and to evaluate sustainability of a smartphones upcycling, recycling, and social aspects. This aim will be accomplished by the following objectives: Develop evaluation system for smartphones using Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA) to evaluate sustainability; Comparing sustainability of smartphones Fairphone 2, iPhone 7, Samsung Galaxy S7 and LG G5, using developed Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA); Conducting general sustainability- focused survey about consumer demand for sustainable and ethical electronics. The method used in this research to assess smartphone sustainability was Multi-Criteria Analysis(MCA), based on eco-design trends and three pillars of sustainability, – economic, environmental and social. Eco-design will be supported using EcoDesing Roadmap by Conrad Luttropp and Göran Brohammer. In parallel with MCA method a survey was developed to briefly assess consumer’s behaviour in terms of choosing sustainable electronics. For better understanding about the consumer value on purchase decision, a survey was made considering the technical and sustainable aspects. The results of this survey will be used as indicator. Furthermore, results from this research (Table 1 MCA evaluation results) revealed that majority of chosen smartphones where lacking sustainable products aspects. This MCA ranking system also confirm that for sustainable designed smartphone it is equally important to have well established environmental management system for overall manufacturing process and afterlife of smartphone. Continuing, after conducting deeper analysis with combined results from MCA, survey revealed that general public are willing to pay more for sustainable products, but consumers lack information about the overall manufacturers` sustainability, as well Indicating that communication between manufacturers and consumers are very weak or even one way. The conclusion of the study about Smartphone sustainability assessment using multi-criteria analysis and the consumer survey has provided better understanding about the lack of transparency and complex logistics manufacturing process of smartphone. The lack of qualitative data and transparency from the manufactures side is a major issue that creates lot of uncertainties about smartphone manufacturing process and social issues for workforce that is involved in this manufacturing process.

The transition in robotics from tools to teammates has begun. However, the benefit autonomous robots provide will be diminished if human teammates misinterpret robot behaviors. Applying mental model theory as the organizing framework for human understanding of robots, the current empirical study examined the influence of task-role mental models of robots on the interpretation of robot motion behaviors, and the resulting impact on subjective ratings of robots. Observers (N = 120) were exposed to robot behaviors that were either congruent or incongruent with their task-role mental model, by experimental manipulation of preparatory robot task-role information to influence mental models (i.e., security guard, groundskeeper, or no information), the robot's actual task-role behaviors (i.e., security guard or groundskeeper), and the order in which these robot behaviors were presented. The results of the research supported the hypothesis that observers with congruent mental models were significantly more accurate in interpreting the motion behaviors of the robot than observers without a specific mental model. Additionally, an incongruent mental model, under certain circumstances, significantly hindered an observer's interpretation accuracy, resulting in subjective sureness of inaccurate interpretations. The strength of the effects that mental models had on the interpretation and assessment of robot behaviors was thought to have been moderated by the ease with which a particular mental model could reasonably explain the robot's behavior, termed mental model applicability. Finally, positive associations were found between differences in observers' interpretation accuracy and differences in subjective ratings of robot intelligence, safety, and trustworthiness. The current research offers implications for the relationships between mental model components, as well as implications for designing robot behaviors to appear more transparent, or opaque, to humans.

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Article Excerpt: The Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020, enacted on Jan. 1, 2021, contained the first-ever federal requirement for certain legal entities to identify and report their beneficial owners, also known as the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA). The CTA was designed to “prevent wrongdoers from exploiting United States corporations and limited liability companies for criminal gain, to assist law enforcement in detecting, preventing, and punishing terrorism, money laundering, and other misconduct.” As trusted advisors, CPAs should consider informing clients of the new reporting requirements and advise them on the best option to pursue, even if they do not file the reports for their clients [...]

This study provides an understanding on how Relationship Quality is conceptualised in business-to-business marketing relationships. It investigates the relationships of Jordanian Banks with their small and medium sized enterprise (SMEs) customers in terms of Commitment, Satisfaction, Trust, Communication, Transparency, Understanding, and Cooperation. It examines the antecedents and outcomes of the quality of corporate customer relationships by developing a conceptual model which empirically tests this relationship. This research builds and validates a research model based on the literature survey and uses a mixed methods approach. Qualitative data were gathered through in-depth interviews to achieve the goal of refining the initial research model. The second stage is a quantitative empirical study that uses a questionnaire and tests the empirical model generated in the first stage. This integration of methods provides a more complete view of this emerging area of marketing theory. Using Structural Equation Modelling; research findings support the use of a secondorder relationship quality construct consisting of Trust, Commitment, and Satisfaction as a direct outcome of a relationship and is named ¿Attitudinal Loyalty¿. Antecedents including; Transparency, Communication, Understanding and Cooperation were found to have a positive impact on relational outcome in a business-to-business context in Jordan. The importance of Transparency emerged as one of the most significant determinants of Relationship Quality, which is considered to be a new finding and not common among previous studies. Communication appears to make the biggest contribution overall and have direct and indirect relationships with other variables. It is therefore a major source of success in a business relationship. This research has several implications for the theory and practice. An important issue is the affects on change management. It requires the establishment of business communications to strengthen existing relationships and to form new ones. This implies developing an interactive approach with other parties. This study gives the banking industry an insight for developing their marketing strategy. It also provides a tool to assess the portfolio of relationships, which helps in targeting specific customers. Furthermore, Transparency in the flow of information imposes cultural change. Studying the Jordanian market can help to provide an insight into an emerging economy. Several qualitative findings showed that the relationship between banks and their small and medium enterprises is interesting. All this enriches and adds to the originality of this work and contributes to existing theory by investigating how relationships between partners can be enhanced. / Al-Balqa ' Applied University

Die StuFo-Expo gibt mir die Möglichkeit meine Forschung im Rahmen meines Promotionsprojektes zugänglich für eine breite, fachübergreifende Öffentlichkeit zu machen. Zudem erhalte ich die Chance, Forschungsthemen, -ergebnisse und -methoden fachübergreifend kennenzulernen. Es ist ein einzigartiges Projekt, welches Studierende miteinander vernetzt und wichtige Fähigkeiten der Studierenden fördert. Das Thema meiner Forschung ist die Wertrelevanz latenter Steuern. Ich untersuche die Fragestellung ob latente Steuern bei der Vorhersage der zukünftigen Unternehmensentwicklung zusätzliche Informationen für verschiedene Stakeholder liefern. Dafür analysiere ich die knapp 1.800 verfügbaren Jahresabschlüsse aller im DAX Prime Standard gelisteten Firmen zwischen 2007 und 2018. Das von mir eingereichte Poster zeigt, dass latente Steuern dabei helfen, die Entwicklung des Marktwertes des Eigenkapitals bis zu zwei Jahren im Voraus zu prognostizieren. Dabei tragen aktive latente Steuern als wahrscheinliche zukünftige Steuerrückzahlungen positiv zum Unternehmenswert und deshalb zum Marktwert bei und passive latente Steuern als wahrscheinliche zukünftige Steuerzahlungen negativ zum Unternehmenswert und deshalb zum Marktwert bei. Ferner kann ich nachweisen, dass die ergänzende Berichterstattung über latente Steuern eher negativ von Marktteilnehmern bewertet wird. Mögliche Gründe hierfür sind die hohe Komplexität der Informationen und die fehlende Überleitbarkeit dieser Informationen auf Bilanz- und Gewinn- und Verlustrechnungszahlen. Auch zeigen Interviewstudien, dass das Vertrauen in latente Steuern und die dazugehörige Berichterstattung gering ist, da Stakeholder vermuten, dass latente Steuern zumindest teilweise für Bilanzpolitik genutzt werden. / The StuFo-Expo gives me the opportunity to make my research accessible to a broad, interdisciplinary public as part of my doctoral project. I also get the chance to get to know research topics, results and methods across disciplines. It is a unique project that connects students with one another and promotes important student skills. The topic of my research is the value relevance of deferred taxes. I am investigating the question of whether deferred taxes provide additional information for various stakeholders when predicting future corporate development. To do this, I analyze the almost 1,800 available annual financial statements of all companies listed in the DAX Prime Standard between 2007 and 2018. The poster I submitted shows that deferred taxes help forecast the development of the market value of equity up to two years in advance. Deferred tax assets as probable future tax repayments contribute positively to the company value and therefore to the market value, and deferred tax liabilities as probable future tax payments contribute negatively to the company value and therefore to the market value. I can also prove that the supplementary reporting on deferred taxes is rated negatively by market participants. Possible reasons for this are the high complexity of the information and the lack of transferability of this information to balance sheet and income statement figures. Interview studies also show that trust in deferred taxes and the associated reporting is low, as stakeholders suspect that deferred taxes are at least partially used for accounting policy.

Master’s thesis is devoted to information transparency of the municipal authorities. The main idea of this paper – to investigate information work of the self-governing authorities as an activity which is aimed at the creation of the open communication between the municipal authorities and population. The author has developed recommendations for implementation of the information work in the Municipal Administration in accordance with the Federal Law. This research has realized in the urban district Reftinsky (Sverdlovsk region). / В магистерской диссертации рассматривается концепт информационной открытости муниципальной власти. Цель исследования – изучить информационную работу органов местного самоуправления как процесс, направленный на формирование поля информационного взаимодействия муниципальной власти с населением. Автор разработал рекомендации по организации информационной работы в Администрации муниципалитета в соответствии с требованиями федерального законодательства. Исследование реализовано в городском округе Рефтинский Свердловской области.

Bakgrund: Hållbart företagande är ett stort samtalsämne i dagens samhälle. Företag förväntas ta ett socialt, ekonomiskt och miljömässigt medansvar. Stora företag tvingas hållbarhetsredovisa enligt svensk lag. Mindre företag inkluderas inte av denna lag, men trots det väljer flertalet SME företag att frivilligt upprätta en hållbarhetsredovisning. Innan lagkravet verkställdes fanns tidigare forskning kring varför större företag valde att frivilligt hållbarhetsredovisa, vidare definierar inte tidigare forskning SME företags motiv till frivillig hållbarhetsredovisning samt vilka intressenter företaget riktar sin information till.  Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka de motiv till att SME företag väljer att upprätta frivillig hållbarhetsredovisning. Genom att undersöka företagens motiv och drivkrafter för att genomföra denna typ av redovisning kan vi bättre förstå vilka faktorer som påverkar beslutsfattandet kring frivillig hållbarhetsredovisning. Metod: Vi har använt oss av en kvalitativ metod samt en fallstudie och genomfört tio intervjuer med representanter från mindre företag inom tre olika branscher. Vårt urval grundades på mindre svenska företag som valt att upprätta en hållbarhetsredovisning trots att de inte är skyldiga till detta enligt lag. För att analysera materialet har vi kodat vårt material och sedan sammanställt dem i en tabell. Slutsats: Det finns flera motiv till att SME företag frivilligt hållbarhetsredovisar, studien bevisar att det framförallt handlar om hållbarhetsarbete som en norm och vara transparenta för sina intressenter, även påtryckningar från lagkrav och konkurrensfördelar är motiv till frivillig hållbarhetsredovisning. / Background: Sustainable business is a big subject in modern society today. Companies are expected to take social, economic and environmental co-responsibility. Large companies are forced to report on sustainability according to Swedish law. Smaller companies are not included by this law, but despite this, the majority of SME companies choose to voluntarily prepare a sustainability report. Before the legal requirement was enforced, there was previous research on why larger companies chose to voluntarily report on sustainability, further previous research does not define SME companies' motives for voluntary sustainability reporting and which stakeholders the company directs its information to. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the motives for SME companies choosing to prepare a voluntary sustainability report. By examining the companies' motives and driving forces for carrying out this type of reporting, we can better understand which factors influence decision-making around voluntary sustainability reporting. Method: We have used a qualitative method as well as a case study and conducted ten interviews with representatives from smaller companies in three different industries. Our selection was based on smaller Swedish companies that have chosen to prepare a sustainability report even though they are not obliged to do so by law. To analyze the material, we have coded our material and then compiled them in a table. Conclusion: There are several motives for SME companies to voluntarily report on sustainability, the study proves that it is primarily about sustainability work as a norm and being transparent to their stakeholders, also pressure from legal requirements and competitive advantages are motives for voluntary sustainability reporting.

Purpose: The study explores the integration of blockchain technology with Digital Product Passports (DPP) to facilitate information transparency to address industry-wide concerns. Methodology: This research employed a qualitative exploratory design, utilizing detailed semi-structured interviews with individuals involved in the relative field. The research synthesized insights from industry reports, academic discourse, and empirical data to offer a holistic perspective on the subject matter. Findings: The study reveals a pressing need for standardized and transparent mechanisms for sharing information within the industry's supply chains. As an initial stage, adopting a Digital Product Passport contains many challenges. The research identifies three key categories of challenges (i.e. Technological, Organizational, and Regulatory challenges) and tries to investigate the role of blockchain technology in the supply chain to solve them. Implications: The integration of DPPs and blockchain holds the potential to revolutionize supply chain collaboration, enhance consumer trust, and facilitate the transition to a circular economy. The study underscores the importance of stakeholder collaboration, education, and the establishment of industry-wide standards to unlock the full transformative potential of these technologies. Value: This research contributes to the growing discourse on circular supply chains by explaining the role of DPPs and blockchain technology in promoting transparency, and traceability. The study offers a comprehensive framework for understanding the data requirements of digital product passports, bridging the gap in the existing literature. The findings serve as a foundation for informed decision-making by industry practitioners, policymakers, and researchers.