Master´s thesis is focused on a presentation of entrepreneurial intention of corporate information strategy. The corporate information strategy is based on the analysis of current situation of the company and its environment which uses modern trends in IT business. It is about a complex solution which should help to the growth of turnover, strengthen of mark of company and stabilize the market position.

Following the 2017-2018 North Korea nuclear crisis and a decade of disinterest, scholarly attention to the EU’s involvement in the Korean conflict has steadily increased. This thesis compares EU actorness in the Korean conflict, spanning the periods 2011-2012 and 2018-2019, using parts of Rhinard’s and Sjöstedt’s (2019) new actorness framework. Following recent developments in Actorness studies and heeding calls for a greater focus on external factors, it situates the analysis within the Korean conflict's broader context. It concludes that while the EU has deepened its overall engagement in the Northeast Asia region – shifting focus from North to South Korea – the EU has shown little interest in getting involved, despite other actors perceiving further EU involvement favorably. Brussels has continuously been unable to define what role it wants to play. Internal disunity concerning how the EU should balance its troubled relationship with the US with commitments to Seoul has led to the embrace of a traditional passive status quo approach, hindering proactive engagement. The EU’s stance on North Korea remains hardened, making all further cooperation and engagement entirely conditional on progress in the denuclearization talks with the US. The analytical variables borrowed from Rhinard and Sjöstedt’s actorness framework address key concerns in previous actorness studies, allowing for a detailed analysis even when no comprehensive EU-DPRK relations are found.

Student Number : 0312394F - MPH research report - School of Public Health - Faculty of Health Sciences / Introduction: Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) was first isolated from human blood in 1983 at the Pasteur Institute, Paris. Currently there is no cure for HIV and control efforts emphasize prevention. One of the components of the Global Strategy put forward to preventing HIV transmission is HIV Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) (Ginwalla, Grant & Day:2002). Taxi drivers are part of the Ugandan population at special risk of acquiring this virus. It was therefore necessary to carry out a study in this group of people to assess how much they knew about HIV/VCT services. Study Objectives To establish the level of knowledge amongst the taxi drivers about the availability and accessibility of HIV VCT services in Kampala. To identify factors that influence the taxi drivers in Kampala, Uganda to access the VCT services. Methods and materials A cross-sectional descriptive study design was used to carry out the study amongst 400 taxi drivers who consented to participate and operated within and around the city of Kampala during 2004. A structured questionnaire to record variables that included, age, sex, marital status, level of education, level of knowledge of VCT, factors that enhance VCT uptake, factors that inhibit VCT uptake, history of having ever had VCT, and knowledge of spouse or sexual partner’s HIV serostatus, was used. Data was entered into EPI-INFO 6 computer program and descriptive and analytic investigation using proportion or percentages to compare the level of knowledge generated was used. Findings/Results A total of 399 taxi drivers with 52.8% of them aged between 26 – 35 years participated in the study. 68.8% lived within 6 km of the city centre. All were married and 78.8% had one spouse. 0.75% were lady drivers. 55% of the participants had attained secondary school level of education. 69% of the taxi drivers knew that HIV/AIDS was the commonest health problem in the country and 57.4% of the participants mentioned HIV testing as the only way one would ascertain their serostatus. 94.2% had heard about HIV/VCT mainly from the media and as much as 98.7% of the taxi drivers knew a place where such services could be got. 82.2% confirmed that these places were accessible and 85.9% said that the services were not expensive. However, 57.3% of the participants preferred getting these services where they were known in order to get genuine results and subsequent support. The 26% who opposed this idea sighted confidentiality as the main obstacle. Despite the knowledge level about HIV/VCT amongst the participants, 68.3% of the communal taxi drivers were willing to go for the service and only 16.1% had actually taken the test. Out of the 399 participants 59.6% felt that they could share their serostatus with their spouses. Conclusion The taxi drivers are knowledgeable about HIV/VCT services and these findings lie within the overall range of knowledge of the population in urban Uganda. The HIV/VCT services are accessible and affordable to the taxi drivers but the fear to receive the unexpected results and the consequences of having positive results hinder the taxi drivers from seeking the VCT services. The majority of taxi drivers preferred to go to HIV/VCT service points where they were known. This factor could have contributed to the small number of taxi drivers that had taken the test. Probably few suitable service points to go to had been identified by these taxi drivers. Recommendations The government and other organizations that provide care in the field of HIV should organize sensitization seminars for taxi drivers to address issues aimed at allaying their anxiety or fear to receive positive results. Also, there is a need to intensify counselling services for the taxi drivers by establishing counselling centres close to the two taxi parks in the City. HIV/VCT service centres should be integrated with other health services so that people who seek either of the services can gain from both. This will encourage more taxi drivers to come to these centres.

O presente estudo tem por objetivo mensurar e avaliar a prontidão para exportar das Indústrias Paulistas utilizando, para isso, o referencial teórico presente na literatura sobre Estratégia e Marketing Internacional e o software CORE (Company Readiness to Export) desenvolvido pela Michigan State University. Como anseios adicionais, espera-se aferir a aplicabilidade deste software à realidade brasileira e levantar hipóteses sobre as políticas públicas passíveis de serem implementadas no sentido de fomentar a exportação de indústrias do Brasil. Este trabalho apoiou-se em pesquisa descritiva, realizada em uma amostra aleatória composta de 393 empresas industriais sediadas no Estado de São Paulo. As principais conclusões apontam para a falta de prontidão da indústria paulista para a atividade exportadora e, simultaneamente, sugerem estratégias e ações alternativas para superar essas dificuldades. O método de análise de dados incluiu a elaboração de modelos de regressão linear e múltipla para detectar a influência das variáveis independentes avaliadas (porte, setor, ação internacional, presença de capital estrangeiro) sobre a variável dependente Prontidão para Exportar. / This study has the objective of measuring and evaluating the readiness to export of Manufacturing Companies from São Paulo (Brazilian State) using the theoretical mainframe present in the literature about International Strategy and Marketing and the software CORE (Company Readiness to Export) developed by Michigan State University. As secondary aims, it is expected to gauge the applicability of this software to the Brazilian context and to raise hypothesis over public policies capable of being implemented in order to foment the Brazilian manufacturers exports. This work is sustained in a descriptive research, conducted on a random sample composed of 393 manufacturing companies based in São Paulo State. The main conclusions point to the lack of readiness to export of manufacturing companies based in São Paulo State and, simultaneously, suggest strategies and alternative actions to overcome these difficulties. The data analysis method included the elaboration of multiple and simple regression models to detect the influence of the independent variables (size, industry, international action, presence of international capitals) over the dependent variable Readiness to Export.

This master’s thesis studies the European Union’s (EU) foreign policy in the Eastern Partnership before and after the EU Global Strategy (EUGS) and investigates whether or not there has been a policy shift towards the paradigm of resilience. Previous research disagrees on the implications of the EUGS and I argue that more empirical research on the matter is needed. The purpose of this thesis is thus to empirically investigate whether or not a shift in EU foreign policy towards a paradigm of resilience has indeed taken place in practice after the launch of the EUGS. Two sources of data are used in the study: the first and principal are the annual action programmes for the Eastern Partnership used by the EU for planning and delivering of external assistance; the second is a set of semi-structured elite interviews conducted with respondents representing the Eastern Partnership and the EU respectively. The results are mixed, showing a slight trend towards resilience-building but no ground-breaking paradigm shift has occurred. I argue that the resilience-building focus and principled pragmatism approach presented by the EUGS rather should be seen as an attempt by the EU to be honest with the foreign policy it is already conducting.

O presente estudo tem por objetivo mensurar e avaliar a prontidão para exportar das Indústrias Paulistas utilizando, para isso, o referencial teórico presente na literatura sobre Estratégia e Marketing Internacional e o software CORE (Company Readiness to Export) desenvolvido pela Michigan State University. Como anseios adicionais, espera-se aferir a aplicabilidade deste software à realidade brasileira e levantar hipóteses sobre as políticas públicas passíveis de serem implementadas no sentido de fomentar a exportação de indústrias do Brasil. Este trabalho apoiou-se em pesquisa descritiva, realizada em uma amostra aleatória composta de 393 empresas industriais sediadas no Estado de São Paulo. As principais conclusões apontam para a falta de prontidão da indústria paulista para a atividade exportadora e, simultaneamente, sugerem estratégias e ações alternativas para superar essas dificuldades. O método de análise de dados incluiu a elaboração de modelos de regressão linear e múltipla para detectar a influência das variáveis independentes avaliadas (porte, setor, ação internacional, presença de capital estrangeiro) sobre a variável dependente Prontidão para Exportar. / This study has the objective of measuring and evaluating the readiness to export of Manufacturing Companies from São Paulo (Brazilian State) using the theoretical mainframe present in the literature about International Strategy and Marketing and the software CORE (Company Readiness to Export) developed by Michigan State University. As secondary aims, it is expected to gauge the applicability of this software to the Brazilian context and to raise hypothesis over public policies capable of being implemented in order to foment the Brazilian manufacturers exports. This work is sustained in a descriptive research, conducted on a random sample composed of 393 manufacturing companies based in São Paulo State. The main conclusions point to the lack of readiness to export of manufacturing companies based in São Paulo State and, simultaneously, suggest strategies and alternative actions to overcome these difficulties. The data analysis method included the elaboration of multiple and simple regression models to detect the influence of the independent variables (size, industry, international action, presence of international capitals) over the dependent variable Readiness to Export.

台灣產險業在西元1991年後，配合台商產業外移擴張及政府南進與西向政策，紛紛於東南亞及中國大陸設立辦事處以服務台商。雖然產險業於海外設立據點已有十九年，但礙於各國保險法令規定及保險業投資限制，致使產險業在國際市場之經營迄今仍無重大突破。 本研究將針對目前產險業在海外東南亞據點及未來最大之保險市場-中國作完整探討，對各國目前經濟成長、保險市場、外資投資保險法令、及台商在該國的投資狀況分析及歸納，以做為台灣產業未來在當地經營發展之參考。 本研究文以日本產險業三井住友保險集團為比較模式，利用多國籍企業與海外市場進入模式，探討保守的日本保險公司如何在海外經營日商業務；進而以購併方式取得海外當地業務，以達到該公司全球策略願景。 台灣產物保險業應根據海外各據點之資源及條件，運用本身的競爭優勢以及自己的需求到不同地區做投資佈局；台灣產險業未來全球佈局的考量應是市場重於成本。 / In view of Taiwanese enterprises’ expansion to world market since 1991 and government’s policy toward Southeast Asia and policy toward West Mainland China, Taiwan non-life insurance companies decided to go abroad to set up office for serving their clients. Although Taiwan non-life insurance companies have 19 years experience in exploring world market, however, they still have no breakthrough in overseas business. In this study, I will bring out my view for the operation of non-life insurance companies in Southeast Asia and Mainland China which will be the biggest market in the future. The analysis for countries economic growth, local insurance market, laws of foreign insurance company entry, Taiwanese enterprise investment is also presented in the study. In order to study Multination Enterprise & Overseas Market Entry Model, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Group is taken as a model to analyze how the conservative non-life Japanese insurance company expand their international business and write local accounts by merging to achieve their global perspective. By the analysis, we can find that Taiwan non-life insurance companies shall utilize their advantage and resource to explore their strategy in different countries. Basically, they shall center on market instead of cost when they build global strategy.

Submitted by Robson Campos (rcampos@uol.com.br) on 2016-02-22T12:19:25Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Master's Thesis_CIM2_RobsonCampos_Final Version_uploaded281215.pdf: 956324 bytes, checksum: efa8185ebe5e8bc92dbd2d369654082e (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Janete de Oliveira Feitosa (janete.feitosa@fgv.br) on 2016-02-25T14:14:37Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Master's Thesis_CIM2_RobsonCampos_Final Version_uploaded281215.pdf: 956324 bytes, checksum: efa8185ebe5e8bc92dbd2d369654082e (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Marcia Bacha (marcia.bacha@fgv.br) on 2016-02-29T12:18:56Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Master's Thesis_CIM2_RobsonCampos_Final Version_uploaded281215.pdf: 956324 bytes, checksum: efa8185ebe5e8bc92dbd2d369654082e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-02-29T12:19:07Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Master's Thesis_CIM2_RobsonCampos_Final Version_uploaded281215.pdf: 956324 bytes, checksum: efa8185ebe5e8bc92dbd2d369654082e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-10-28 / One of the challenges presented by the current conjecture in Global Companies is to recognize and understand that the culture and levels in structure of the Power Distance in Organizations in different countries contribute, significantly, toward the failure or success of their strategies. The alignment between the implementation and execution of new strategies for projects intended for the success of the Organization as a whole, rather than as an individual part thereof, is an important step towards reducing the impacts of Power Distance (PDI) on the success of business strategies. A position at odds with this understanding by Companies creates boundaries that increase organizational chasms, also taking into consideration relevant aspects such as, FSAs (Firm-Specific Advantages) and CSAs (Country-Specific Advantages). It is also important that the Organizations based in countries or regions of low Power Distance (PDI) between its individuals be more flexible and prepared to ask and to hear the suggestions from Regional and Local Offices. Thus, the purpose of this study is to highlight the elements of effective strategy implementation considering the relevant aspects at all levels of global corporate culture that justify the influences of power distance when implementing new strategies and also to minimize the impacts of this internal business relationship. This study also recognizes that other corporate and cultural aspects are relevant for the success of business strategies so consider, for instance, the lack of alignment between global and regional/local organizations, the need for competent leadership resources, as well as the challenges that indicate the distance between the hierarchical levels ─ Headquarters and Regional Office ─ as some of the various causes that prevent the successful execution of global strategies. Finally, we show that the execution of the strategy cannot be treated as a construction solely created by the Headquarters or by only one Board and that it needs to be understood as a system aimed at interacting with the surroundings.

This dissertation comprised of three essays provides justification for the need to pursue research on multinationality and performance with a more fine-grained approach. Essay one is a conceptual response to an article written by Jean-Francois Hennart in 2011 which questions the need and approach toward future research in this domain. I argue that internalization theory does not render multinationality and performance research meaningless and identify key areas where methodological enhancements can be made to strengthen our research findings with regard to Hennart’s call for more content validity. Essay two responds to the need for more-fine grained research on the consequences of multinationality by introducing non-traditional measures of performance such as social and environmental performance and adopting a more theoretically relevant construct of regionalization to capture international diversification levels of the firm. Using data from the world’s largest 600 firms (based on sales) derived from Bloomberg and the Directory of Corporate Affiliates; I employ general estimating equation analysis to account for the auto-correlated nature of the panel data alongside multivariate regression techniques. Results indicate that regionalization has a positive relationship with economic performance while it has a negative relationship with environmental and social performance outcomes, often referred to as the “Triple Bottom-Line” performance. Essay three builds upon the work in the previous essays by linking the aforementioned performance variables and sample to corporate reputation which has been shown to be a beneficial strategic asset. Using Structural Equation Modeling I explore economic, environmental and social signals as mediators on relationship between regionalization and firm reputation. Results indicate that these variables partially mediate a positive relationship between regionalization and firm reputation. While regionalization positively affects the reputation building signal of economic performance, it aids in reputation building by reducing environmental and social disclosure effects which interestingly impact reputation negatively. In conclusion, the dissertation submits opportunities for future research and contributes to research by demonstrating that regionalization affects performance, but the effect varies in accordance with the performance criterion and context. In some cases, regional diversification may produce competing or conflicting outcomes among the potential strategic objectives of the firm.

The thesis explores the use of the term European Strategic Autonomy in the Common Security and Defence Policy (CFSP) of the European Union. The security environment around Europe has become increasingly unstable in the last 15 years. The EU Commission has tried to take account of the deteriorating geopolitical landscape by publishing an EU Global Strategy document in 2016 to share its vision for a stronger Europe. The document calls for strategic autonomy without properly defining it. Since then, many policy papers have captured the term and used it as a popular buzzword. Because it has not been properly defined on the political level, European Strategy Autonomy (ESA) was subject to speculations and national interpretations which did not help to advance the debate. Based on an extensive literature review the paper provides a comprehensive understanding by giving an historic overview and presenting different configurations of ESA in the contemporary context. A comparative case study, including France, Germany, and the Czech Republic has been conducted to assess their interpretation of the notion. The result of the case studies showed inherently different perceptions underlaid by different motivations and identifies the political layer to be the biggest challenge for moving forward with the topic....