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Presence of a free market economy has strongly increased competition among companies, this case has led them to find new techniques on how to sell their products or services while public sector have stopped engaging in business by privatizing their production companies. Nowadays in developing countries, all government expenditure depending fully in private sector for products or services, a good example is within stationery items, construction of roads, cleaning works, transportation and so forth. These procurements have been associated with many scandals such as favourism in awarding of procurement contracts to some companies. Therefore, there is need for developing countries to rectify and control ministerial tender board acts in awarding contracts that will ensure fair competition, transparency and accountability by establishing good corporate governance codes. The aim of this thesis is to assess efficiency and effectiveness of Public Procurement Process as case study in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs of Tanzania.This study has targeted interviews and observation which have shown there is ineffective of the public procurement process that are injected by the public procurement Act No. 21 of 2004 and others are caused by inadequate budget to pay suppliers on time, limitation of skills and knowledge to the ministerial staffs and PMU staffs. Furthermore, researchers have recommended that there is a need to amend the public procurement Act No. 21 of 2004 and accommodate some key points that will enhance efficiency and effectiveness of the procurement process that will increase revenue collection and emphasing training of user PMU staffs. However, this Act is not panacea – solution of everything but it must be dynamic to accommodate new issues as it will be raised new techniques and principles that will insure accountability and efficiency on procurement.

This thesis asked two research questions: 1) how are the Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB) and ClimateWise designed to achieve their objectives and 2) what explains the emergence of these unique initiatives? In answer to the first question, the thesis argues that the CDSB and ClimateWise adopt an “unconventional” approach to environmental co-regulation that embraces what I call “cognitive governance” within accounting (CDSB) and insurance (ClimateWise) markets. Many scholars describe environmental co-regulation as a voluntary agreement between transnational corporations (TNCs) and environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs) to enforce best practice standards that improve corporate environmental performance without the use of state authority. Cognitive governance employs a more unconventional approach to co-regulation by trying to embed financial knowledge that links a firm’s environmental performance to financial risks throughout the global economy vis-à-vis an expansion of state authority. More specifically, the CDSB and ClimateWise use best practice standards to leverage accounting and insurance knowledge in generating a technical and political consensus that supports expanding public regulation to govern financial risks related to climate change. In answer the second question, the thesis argues that this unconventional co-regulatory strategy adopted by the CDSB and ClimateWise emerged in response to three factors. First, financial firms (in addition to corporate emitters in the case of the CDSB) had material interests in using public regulation to govern climate change risks. Second, these actors realized that collaboration was needed to generate a technical and political consensus among constituencies willing to support public regulation governing climate change risks. Third, ENGOs existed that had interests in using their technical expertise and political capacity to help generate this needed consensus through co-regulation. The thesis makes three contributions to the advancement of scholarly knowledge in the fields of international political economy (IPE) and global environmental politics (GEP). First, IPE and GEP scholars have have largely overlooked the emergence of environmental co-regulation in financial markets, and in particular, have yet to analyze the CDSB and ClimateWise. This study addresses this gap by revealing an effort to mobilize the accounting and insurance industry in strengthening global climate governance. Second, scholars have also tended to view co-regulation through a “post-Westphalian” lens that sees co-regulation as designed to pre-empt or generate an alternative to public regulation. The CDSB and ClimateWise’s strategy, and the factors that explain the creation of these initiatives, challenge this perspective. Third, analysis of this strategy also contributes to emerging scholarship on the influence of “cognition” in shaping market actors’ behavior in conditions of uncertainty.

Abstract Most businesses in Taiwan are family-owned, and family members are the key managers and members of the board. Since the power of management and operation is mixed, some decisions based on self-interest may result in loss of the company and its shareholders, even financial crisis. The poor corporate governance issue in Taiwan was hidden for several years, and finally revealed since 1998, from Kuangsan Enterprise Group, American Furniture, Tong Lung Metal Industry Co., Ltd., Wan You Papers, Victor Taichung Machinery, to the recent cases of ProComp and Mosel Vitelic Inc., while most of which involved embezzlement to safeguard the stocks. The mixed power of management and operation has led to bankruptcy of companies, and significant loss in investors. Therefore, to generalize a set of simple method to different companies with poor corporate governance, and provide an effective method to all investors, this study first selected listing companies with at least two independent directors and one independent supervisor, then chose 60 companies that showed no poor governance, and then compared with 10 companies with poor governance for analysis. This study then found the commonalities as predicting factors on poor governance, so as to minimize investment loss. Suggestions on the corporate governance bylaws were also proposed to present systematic methods, make the bylaws more comprehensive, and overcome internal and external barriers during implementation. This study also analyzed the existing structure of the board, established a set of simple analytic tool based on percentage of seats, shareholding percentage, employee turnover rate, allocation of financial supervisors, and pledged shares of the directors and supervisors to promote the operating stability. The investors could utilize this tool to analyze the possibility of poor governance of the investment target, and minimize the loss.

FEDERALISM AND MILITARY RULE IN NIGERIA This thesis examines the practice of federalism under military rule in Nigeria. The primary objective is to determine to what extent federalism is practicable under military governance. The argument is that military rule and federalism are two fundamentally different concepts of political organisations, and that it is a misnomer to call a military government federal because of the inherent contradictions between the two. The thesis is divided into twelve chapters. Chapter 1 deals with the introduction. Chapter 2 provides the theoretical framework. It examines the concept of federalism. Chapters 3, 4, 5 and 6 provide the empirical background to the study. They trace the development, basis, as well as the status of Nigerian federalism under civil rule. They also examine the contradictions between federal ism and mil i tary rule. Chapter 7 discusses the advent and legality of military government in Nigeria. Chapters 8, 9 and 10 look at the machinery of the military administration, while Chapter 11 analyses the federal-state fiscal and financial relations. The concluding Chapter 12 summarises the broad issues of the preceding chapters and highlights the effects of military rule on the Nigerian Federation in particular and on the study of federalism in general. The conclusion that emerges from this study is that federalism and military rule are incompatible. Nigeria's 5 military government has in practice subverted the federal principle. It has been operating a quasi-federal rather than a truly federal system of government. It is argued that a return to a civilian federal system, adjusted to meet the country's needs is essential if Nigeria is to have an accountable, stable democratic government and respect for human rights.

This thesis asked two research questions: 1) how are the Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB) and ClimateWise designed to achieve their objectives and 2) what explains the emergence of these unique initiatives? In answer to the first question, the thesis argues that the CDSB and ClimateWise adopt an “unconventional” approach to environmental co-regulation that embraces what I call “cognitive governance” within accounting (CDSB) and insurance (ClimateWise) markets. Many scholars describe environmental co-regulation as a voluntary agreement between transnational corporations (TNCs) and environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs) to enforce best practice standards that improve corporate environmental performance without the use of state authority. Cognitive governance employs a more unconventional approach to co-regulation by trying to embed financial knowledge that links a firm’s environmental performance to financial risks throughout the global economy vis-à-vis an expansion of state authority. More specifically, the CDSB and ClimateWise use best practice standards to leverage accounting and insurance knowledge in generating a technical and political consensus that supports expanding public regulation to govern financial risks related to climate change. In answer the second question, the thesis argues that this unconventional co-regulatory strategy adopted by the CDSB and ClimateWise emerged in response to three factors. First, financial firms (in addition to corporate emitters in the case of the CDSB) had material interests in using public regulation to govern climate change risks. Second, these actors realized that collaboration was needed to generate a technical and political consensus among constituencies willing to support public regulation governing climate change risks. Third, ENGOs existed that had interests in using their technical expertise and political capacity to help generate this needed consensus through co-regulation. The thesis makes three contributions to the advancement of scholarly knowledge in the fields of international political economy (IPE) and global environmental politics (GEP). First, IPE and GEP scholars have have largely overlooked the emergence of environmental co-regulation in financial markets, and in particular, have yet to analyze the CDSB and ClimateWise. This study addresses this gap by revealing an effort to mobilize the accounting and insurance industry in strengthening global climate governance. Second, scholars have also tended to view co-regulation through a “post-Westphalian” lens that sees co-regulation as designed to pre-empt or generate an alternative to public regulation. The CDSB and ClimateWise’s strategy, and the factors that explain the creation of these initiatives, challenge this perspective. Third, analysis of this strategy also contributes to emerging scholarship on the influence of “cognition” in shaping market actors’ behavior in conditions of uncertainty.

This thesis seeks to address corporate governance from both a practical as well as an academic perspective. It searches for solutions to self-interest and agency costs, problems that it is posited are innate to the anthropomorphism of the corporation and to the separation of management and ownership of widely held, publicly traded, corporations. / Practically, this dissertation is anchored in experience, garnered from empirical research, based on in depth and general surveys, as well as detailed interviews. It examines the workings of corporations, including their boards of directors, of gatekeepers, of checks and balances and of shareholders and the relative importance and rationale for the roles that they play. Based on the academic and empirical efforts it is posited that self-interest and the funneling syndrome, (a process whereby information required for decision making is constrained and managed by those in control), almost always predetermines the outcome of the corporate formal decision making process involving the board of directors. This facilitates abuse. When it occurs and there appears to be no accountability, confidence essential to the capital markets, quite understandably, suffers. / A hypothesis is advanced to explain the complexity of a potential failure of corporate governance through a relatively simple formula. It draws conclusions as to what is required to help address the challenges raised by the breakdown in effective corporate governance and to help instill greater investor confidence. A self-assessment mechanism to help quantify how effectively a corporation is dealing with corporate governance, both on an absolute basis (comparing itself year over year) and on a relative basis (compared to one's peers) is proffered. This tool of more effective corporate governance, seeks to identify the causes for breakdowns in corporate governance and to assist a board of directors in dealing more proactively with this challenge.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Victoria University (Melbourne, Vic.), 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.