Práce se snaží reagovat na aktuální otázku, týkající se modernizace veřejné správy a s ní spojenou aplikaci metod managementu kvality ve veřejné správě. Zvláštní pozornost je věnována Modelu CAF (Common Assessment Framework), který byl vyvinut jako nástroj sebehodnocení speciálně pro veřejný sektor. V České republice byl tento model doposud aplikován především na úrovni samosprávných a ústředních správních úřadů. Vzhledem k možnosti implementovat tento model v nejrůznějších částech veřejného sektoru, se práce snaží upozornit na vhodnost využití Modelu CAF i v oblasti vzdělávání. Pro jeho snazší aplikaci ve školách jsou uvedeny i praktické příklady důkazů, které jsou důležitým podkladem pro hodnocení v Modelu.

This thesis examines the informational efficiency of the European carbon market based on the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS). The issue is approached from three different perspectives. I explore whether the volatility embedded in carbon options is a rational forecast of subsequently realized volatility. Then, I investigate if, and to what extent, new information about the structural and institutional set-up of the market impacts the carbon price dynamics. Lastly, I examine whether the European carbon market is relevant for the firm valuations of covered companies. First, perhaps because the market is new and derivatives’ trading on emission allowances has only started recently, carbon options have not yet been extensively studied. By using data on options traded on the European Climate Exchange, this thesis examines an aspect of market efficiency which has been previously overlooked. Market efficiency suggests that, conditional upon the accuracy of the option pricing model, implied volatility should be an unbiased and efficient forecast of future realized volatility (Campbell et al., 1997). Black (1976) implied volatility and implied volatility estimates directly surveyed from market participants are used in this thesis to study the information content of carbon options. Implied volatility is found to be highly informative and directionally accurate in forecasting future volatility. There is no evidence, however, that volatility embedded in carbon options is an unbiased and efficient forecast of future realized volatility. Instead, historical volatility-based forecasts are shown to contain incremental information to implied volatility, particularly for short-term forecasts. In addition, this thesis finds no evidence that directly surveyed implied volatility estimates perform better as a forecast of future volatility relative to Black’s (1976) estimates. Second, the market sensitivity to announcements about the organizational and institutional set-up of the EU ETS is re-examined. Despite their importance for the carbon price formation, demand-side announcements and announcements about the post-2012 framework have not yet been researched. By examining a very comprehensive and updated dataset of announcements, this thesis adds to the earlier works of Miclaus et al. (2008), Mansanet-Bataller and Pardo (2009) and Lepone et al. (2011). Market participants are found to rationally incorporate new information about the institutional and regulatory framework of the emissions trading scheme into the carbon price dynamics. However, they seem to be unable to accurately assess the implications of inter-temporal banking and borrowing on pricing futures contracts with different maturities. The impact of macroeconomic conditions on the market responsiveness is investigated by splitting the dataset into subsamples according to two alternative methods: 1) a simple split into pre-crisis and full-crisis time periods, and 2) according to a Bai-Perron structural break test. Evidence is found that in the context of economic slowdown and known allowances oversupply, the relationship between the carbon price and its fundamentals (institutional announcements, energy prices and extreme weather) breaks down. These findings are consistent with the arguments in Hintermann (2010), Keppler and Mansanet-Bataller (2010) and Koop and Tole (2011) that carbon price drivers change in response to the differing context of the individual trading periods. Third, the role of carbon performance in firm valuation is understudied. Since companies were not obliged to disclose their carbon emissions prior to the launch of the EU ETS, there exists little empirical evidence of the effect of carbon performance on market value. Earlier studies of the European carbon market have only focused on the impact of ETS compliance on the profitability and competitiveness of covered companies (e.g. Anger and Oberndorfer, 2008). There is also little research on how the newly available emissions data has altered the carbon performance of companies. This thesis addresses these gaps in the literature by examining the stock price reactions of British and German firms on the day of verified emissions release under the EU ETS over the period 2006 – 2011. An event study is conducted using a Seemingly Unrelated Regressions model to deal with the event clustering present in the dataset. Limited evidence is found that investors use information about the carbon performance of companies in their valuations. The information contained in the carbon emissions reports is shown to be somewhat more important for companies with high carbon-intensive operations. This thesis finds no conclusive evidence that the cap-and-trade programme has been able to provide regulated companies with enough incentives to de-carbonize their operations. The market does not punish companies which continue to emit carbon at increasing rates or reward companies which improve their carbon performance. In brief, the results of the thesis suggest that the market is not fully efficient yet. Inefficiently priced carbon options may allow for arbitrage trades in the market. The inability of investors to incorporate rules on inter-temporal banking and borrowing of allowances across the different trading periods leads to significant price reactions when there should be none. A recessionary economic environment and a known oversupply of emission allowances have led to a disconnect between the carbon price and its fundamental drivers. And, lastly, the signal embedded in the carbon price is not strong enough to invoke investor action and turn carbon performance into a standard component of investment analysis.

This study evaluates the adoption of Open Source Software (OSS) by IT Small to Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the UK. The growing popularity and acceptance of OSS continues to draw much attention in research and practice. However, researchers and IT practitioners within the UK SME sector still face challenges in understanding the issues that influence the acceptance, adoption, and diffusion of OSS. While previous research studies have focused mainly on the software development model and the unique characteristics of OSS, the area of OSS adoption by UK SMEs has largely been ignored. Furthermore, there is a lack of widely-acceptable theories that explain the adoption of OSS, implying that there is limited understanding of OSS adoption by UK SMEs. This gap in research has led this thesis to evaluate existing adoption theories and then apply the 'Decomposed Theory of Planned Behaviour' to model the adoption of OSS by SMEs. Based on the emerged conceptual model, an innovative and structured qualitative research design that uses a case study strategy was developed to evaluate the adoption of OSS across 10 UK SMEs in the IT industry. The analysis of the standardised data from the case study interviews led to the definition of the 16 factors of an emergent theory of OSS adoption by IT SMEs. The analysis of that empirical model has led to important conclusions including the following five issues, summarily. (1) The participant IT SMEs were drawn to different benefits, and experienced different challenges, in using OSS, suggesting that there is subjectivity and complexity in the factors influencing OSS adoption. (2) As in most Information and Communication Technology (ICT) adoption, ITcapability was identified to be essential for successful adoption of OSS, and therefore, it presents potential for important cooperative and collaborative support with OSS communities. (3) The emergent theory from this research study provide researchers and practitioners with variables for surveying critical-success-factors and a reference model for understanding the adoption of OSS. (4) The emergent theory and other general findings from this study are likely to have relevance in other areas of Information Systems research and practice, owing to the factors and theoretical framework that are common to OSS and general ICT acceptance, adoption, and diffusion. (5) This study appears to be the first that has focused on developing a widely-acceptable theory of OSS adoption by IT SMEs in the UK, suggesting that this innovative research study is a novel contribution that has important implications for theory and practice in OSS and general ICT acceptance, adoption, and diffusion.

Submitted by Fernando Souza (fernandoafsou@gmail.com) on 2017-08-31T11:18:50Z No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 3810025 bytes, checksum: b611fb5dbbb30abd5e31814b1e2dbe51 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Fernando Souza (fernandoafsou@gmail.com) on 2017-08-31T15:31:19Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 3810025 bytes, checksum: b611fb5dbbb30abd5e31814b1e2dbe51 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-08-31T15:31:19Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 3810025 bytes, checksum: b611fb5dbbb30abd5e31814b1e2dbe51 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-02-15 / With the aim of subsidizing students with disabilities and reduced mobility in achieving equality, equity of opportunity and space in academic society in their total or partial university experience, presented himself, as objective of our research, the creation of an evaluation instrument that has as result an indicator of the level of accessibility of the university academic centers of Higher Education Institutions (IES), having as a case study the Center of Legal Sciences (CCJ) of the Federal University of Paraíba (UFPB). The developed instrument measured the accessibility of the academic structure that configures university academic centers based on technical and instrumental parameters that make up the dimensions: architectural, communicational; methodological; instrumental; programmatic and attitudinal. As a result, a global indicator was presented – Indicator A6 – which testifies to how accessible the academic university center under study, contributing to the management, mobilization, debate and evaluation of the institutional actors, in view of the importance of promoting accessibility as an empowerment for admission, permanence and completion of higher education of those historically marginalized. / Com a finalidade de subsidiar os discentes com deficiência e mobilidade reduzida no alcance da igualdade, equidade de oportunidade e espaço na sociedade acadêmica em sua total ou parcial vivência universitária, apresentou-se, como objetivo de pesquisa, a criação de um instrumento de avaliação que tem por resultado um indicador do nível de acessibilidade dos centros acadêmicos universitários das Instituições de Ensino Superior (IES), tendo, como estudo de caso, o Centro de Ciências Jurídicas (CCJ) da Universidade Federal da Paraíba (UFPB). O instrumento desenvolvido mensurou a acessibilidade da estrutura acadêmica que configura os centros acadêmicos universitários com base em parâmetros técnicos e instrumentais que compõem as dimensões: arquitetônica; comunicacional; metodológica; instrumental; programática e atitudinal. Como resultado, foi apresentado um indicador global – Indicador A6 – que atesta o quão acessível está o centro acadêmico universitário em estudo, contribuindo para a gestão, mobilização, debate e avaliação dos atores institucionais, frente à importância de se promover a acessibilidade como empoderador para o ingresso, permanência e conclusão do ensino superior daqueles historicamente marginalizados.

Cette thèse porte sur l’aide à la décision dans un contexte décisionnel très complexe. Classiquement, pour résoudre de telles situations, on utilise des méthodes de structuration de problèmes. Cependant ces méthodes bien qu’appliquées dans le cadre multi acteur ou dans les décisions de groupe, n’aboutissent pas toujours à des résultats directement exploitables dans un modèle d’évaluation. Ou, lorsque c’est le cas, les données obtenues par structuration sont utilisées comme si elles provenaient d’un seul décideur, tendant à réduire par conséquent l'efficacité de la décision prise et son adhésion publique. Dans cette thèse nous nous sommes attelés à concevoir un modèle d’intégration d’outils conciliant le choix approprié d’outils de structuration pour les décisions de groupe et son exploitation efficace dans un modèle d’évaluation multicritère. En particulier nous nous sommes focalisés sur les modalités du passage des cartes cognitives aux arbres de valeurs. Ensuite nous avons appliqué notre démarche sur le cas pratique du projet ’’AIde à la Décision pour l'identification et l'accompagnement aux transformations sociétales induites par les nouvelles technologies de l'Hydrogène’’ (AIDHY). Enfin, la dernière partie de notre thèse est axée sur l’apport d’une modélisation multicritère pour appréhender formellement le problème d’évaluation des scénarios, formulé comme un problème de tri multicritère. Par conséquent, nous avons construit une méthode permettant d’observer et de paramétrer le comportement des invariants d’une acceptabilité sociale en général, par le biais d’une d’analyse de sensibilité à partir du cas de l’hydrogène énergie. / This thesis focuses on decision support in a very complex decision-making context. Typically, to solve such situations, methods of problem structuring are used. However, these methods although applied in the multi-stakeholder framework or group decisions do not always lead to results directly used in a valuation model. Even when this is the case, the data obtained by problem structuring are used as if they came from a single decision maker, thus tending to reduce the effectiveness of the decision and its popular support. In this thesis we attempted to develop a model that incorporates tools that reconcile the appropriate choice of tools for structuring group decision choice and its effective operation in a model of multi-criteria evaluation. In particular, we focused on how processing cognitive maps into value trees. Then we have applied our approach to the practical case of the ‘‘AIDHY” project. Finally, the last part of the thesis is focused on providing a multi-criteria modeling to formally approach the problem of evaluating scenarios, formulated as a multi-criteria sorting problem. Therefore, we constructed a method to observe and configure the behavior of invariants of social acceptability in general, through a sensitivity analysis based on the case of hydrogen energy.