No description available.

Sustainability has become a major concern for society, adding pressure on companies to become more sustainability-driven, while at the same time attending to the questions of economic growth and financial performance. Although the existing literature has provided frameworks that highlight the need for balancing environmental, social, and economic impact, there is still limited knowledge about how company representatives perceive and deal with the implicit trade-offs. In this study, we approach this issue by exploring how owners and managers of start-up companies, which operate under constant resource and capital constraints, perceive and deal with the potential trade-offs between sustainability, growth, and profitability. A qualitative research design with semi-structured interviews is used to explore how in their decision-making, owners, and managers of start-ups talk about and attempt to resolve these trade-offs. The primary findings from the study are that: (1) start-up representatives have limited knowledge about sustainability concepts, (2) they do not perceive a trade-off between sustainability and growth, but (3) they do recognize and contend with the trade-off between sustainability and profitability.

Mass mortality events (MMEs) are die-offs that result in increased carrion biomass and sometimes the impairment of functional roles. Concurrently, several vulture species are declining. Carrion is a basal resource in ecosystems and its recycling by vultures is considered an ecosystem service. However, the consequences of simultaneously increasing carrion loads and declining vulture populations are unknown. I developed a theoretical framework predicting that, with increasing carrion biomass, carrion food web diversity would increase horizontally and vertically, respectively increasing and decreasing carrion recycling efficiency. Using a manipulative experiment, I investigated the role of bottom-up and top-down forces affecting plant communities during an MME. I selected 5 sites to establish 6 treatments crossing different levels of carrion addition and nutrient addition, and control with vertebrate scavenger and herbivore access. I transplanted six cherrybark oak (Quercus pagoda) seedlings to each plot, protecting half of them from herbivory. Carrion biomass shifted dominance of plant functional groups to favor annual plants, an effect reduced by scavenger access. Herbivore access affected plant community response to carrion and limited growth and survival of transplanted seedlings regardless of treatment. Nutrient addition did not affect plant communities, growth, and survival suggesting that MME effects on plants are likely mediated primarily by top-down forces. To determine if behavioral plasticity of vultures affects carrion recycling efficiency, I monitored turkey (Cathartes aura) and black (Coragyps atratus) vulture behavior. Both species increased group size, but only black vultures increased individuals feeding per group and activity overlap between species increased with increasing carrion biomass. As a result, estimated carrion consumption by vultures increased with carrion biomass suggesting behavioral plasticity may alleviate some of the effects of vulture declines on carrion recycling. Finally, vultures compete with invertebrate scavengers so declining vultures may release their populations to compensate for the loss. However, in one of my experiments, variation in vulture visitation was negatively correlated with the abundance of blowflies parasitized by Entomophthora sp. Our observations may suggest that vultures were more likely mediating carrion decomposition affecting parasitism, which may limit blowflies from compensating for declining vultures.

Executive compensation and its potential importance in aligning shareholder and management interests has been an extensively researched area within corporate finance. We study executive compensation while addressing several unresolved issues in the literature. In essay one, we examine CEO compensation following spin-offs. We find that CEOs are rewarded for undertaking a spin-off. Change in compensation for CEOs of spin-off firms following spin-offs is significantly higher than that for matching firms. We also find that the increase in compensation following spin-off is negatively associated with the change in firm size following the spin-off. Unlike mergers and acquisitions through which increases in executive compensation seem to be more related to size than performance, we show that CEO compensation increases following spin-offs even though spin-offs reduce firm size. In the second essay, we study changes in CEO salaries and their relation to firm performance. We document that changes in CEO salaries, which are a more permanent form of compensation change, are related to long term measures of performance. We find that CEO salaries change much more in relation to long term stock returns than short term stock returns. We also study the asymmetry in the relation between salary changes and firm performance. We find that while short term negative returns are related to changes in CEO salaries; only long term positive returns are significantly associated with CEO salary changes. This asymmetric relation is also present between total CEO compensation changes and stock returns. In essay three, we examine managerial decision horizons for target and acquirer firms in mergers and acquisitions. We find that acquirer CEOs have longer decision horizons than target firm CEOs in stock financed mergers. Acquirer CEOs in cash financed mergers and acquisitions also have longer decision horizons than target CEOs. Acquirer CEOs in both stock and cash financed mergers have significantly higher proportions of equity based compensation and significantly lower proportions of cash based compensation than target CEOs. In logistic regressions, measures of decision horizons for target and acquirer CEOs are not significantly related to the odds of stock financing in mergers and acquisitions. Our results do not offer strong support to the implications from the Shleifer and Vishny theory on the rationale for stock financed acquisitions.

No description available.

A lógica do business case em que as organizações consideram aspectos sociais e ambientais apenas se trazem retorno econômico, historicamente, tem sido predominante e praticamente não questionada tanto na literatura quanto na prática. Recentemente, contudo, diante da piora de questões sociais e ambientais complexas, tem havido a conclamação para que as empresas adotem uma postura de não somente reduzir o impacto que geram como também tomar ações no sentido de que contribuam efetivamente com soluções para tanto. Ao assumirem tal postura, porém, as empresas precisam tomar decisões no cotidiano organizacional que envolvem lidar com paradoxos, isto é, situações em que ocorrem simultaneamente elementos contraditórios, ainda que relacionados. Isto porque, no caso da sustentabilidade corporativa, frequentemente, não é possível alinhar os três pilares da sustentabilidade, conciliar objetivos de curto, médio e longo prazo e atender simultaneamente o interesse de diversos stakeholders. Diante de tamanho desafio à prática organizacional, pesquisadores da área da sustentabilidade corporativa começaram a investigar a adoção de uma perspectiva integrativa da sustentabilidade, que pressupõe reconhecer a existência desses trade-offs, de forma a tentar gerenciá-los e acomodá-los. A presente pesquisa contribui para a literatura de sustentabilidade corporativa no que tange ao gerenciamento desses trade-offs ao propor como objetivo entender como as empresas significam e lidam com os trade-offs relacionados à sustentabilidade corporativa. Para atender tal objetivo, empregou-se uma estratégia de pesquisa baseada em estudos de casos múltiplos de dez empresas com modelos de negócios sustentáveis de dois setores diferentes. Como lente teórica de análise, adotou-se a perspectiva do sensemaking. A partir da análise das dez empresas estudadas, identificou-se 65 incidentes que envolviam um ou mais trade-offs em relação à sustentabilidade corporativa. Analisou-se, então, os incidentes com uma abordagem indutiva, gerando-se três resultados principais. Primeiro, identificou-se 13 vetores diferentes que abrangem os trade-offs relacionados à sustentabilidade corporativa, agrupados em quatro diferentes categorias. Segundo, propôs-se um modelo que ajuda a explicar como é o processo de construção de significado pelo qual as empresas passam ao se engajarem na acomodação dos trade-offs relacionados à sustentabilidade corporativa. Por fim, identificou-se 14 estratégias que as empresas podem se utilizar para acomodar os trade-offs agrupados em seis diferentes categorias. / The logic of business case in which organizations consider social and environmental aspects only if they bring economic returns has historically been predominant and practically unquestioned in both literature and practice. Recently, however, faced with the worsening of complex social and environmental issues, there has been a call for companies to struggle not only to reduce the impact they generate but also to take actions in order to effectively address solutions. When assuming such a position, however, companies need to make decisions in the organizational practice that involve dealing with paradoxes, that is, situations in which contradictory, yet related, elements occur simultaneously. This is because, in the case of corporate sustainability, it is often not possible to align the three pillars of sustainability, to reconcile short-, medium- and long-term objectives while simultaneously meeting the interests of various stakeholders. Faced with such a challenge to organizational practice, researchers in the area of corporate sustainability have begun to investigate the adoption of an integrative perspective of sustainability, which presupposes recognizing the existence of these trade-offs in order to accommodate and manage them. This research contributes to the corporate sustainability literature regarding the management of these trade-offs by proposing as aim to understand how companies make sense and deal with the trade-offs related to corporate sustainability. In order to achieve this, a research strategy based on multiple case studies of ten companies with sustainable business models from two different sectors was employed. As a theoretical lens of analysis, the sensemaking perspective was adopted. From the analysis of the ten companies studied, 65 incidents that involved one or more trade-offs in relation to corporate sustainability were identified. The incidents were then analyzed with an inductive approach, producing three main results. First, 13 different vectors that encompass trade-offs related to corporate sustainability were identified, grouped into four different categories. Second, a model has been proposed that helps to explain how the process of sensemaking occurs in companies engaged in the accommodation of trade-offs related to corporate sustainability. Finally, 14 strategies that companies can use to accommodate trade-offs were identified, grouped into six different categories.

本研究以民國91年至民國101年台灣進行公司分割之上市櫃公司為研究對象，探討市場對於企業宣告從事上下游分割之反應，以及公司治理對此反應之影響。研究結果顯示： 一、台灣公司宣告分割期間，異常報酬並不明顯。 二、分割後母子公司在產業鏈中具上下游關係者，其累積異常報酬較不具上下游關係者差。 三、內部人持股比例高、財務槓桿高，對分割之宣告效果有負面影響。 可見台灣許多企業雖期望透過公司分割落實代工與品牌分家，然而市場對於這些分割活動未必能給予正面評價。同時，內部人對對公司控制力大或者公司財務槓桿高，在宣告分割時小股東以及債權人可能擔心此分割活動將損及其利益。 / This study examines the effect of companies declaring their spin-offs and the impact of corporate governance variables on the effect with Taiwan listed spin-off companies during year 2002 to 2012 as samples. The empirical results can be summarized as below: 1. There is no significant abnormal returns (AR) while Taiwan companies declaring their spin-offs. 2. Spin-offs that parent companies and its subsidiaries are suppliers and downstream customers have lower abnormal returns. 3. “High insider shareholding percentage” and “high financial leverage” have negative impact on the effect of spin-offs declaring. According, although many Taiwan companies intend to separate their brand and OEM/ODM business through spin-offs, it is not necessary to result in positive effects on their share prices. Meanwhile, minority shareholders and creditors might worry about the spin-off affairs damage their benefit if the insiders have large control power to the companies or the companies have high financial leverages.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:50:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 6831.pdf: 1954754 bytes, checksum: eede2cf4da25c4f99b932a80fa9dde89 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-11-20 / This paper presents a model which aims to stimulate the creation of academic spin-offs by Brazilian Scientific and Technological Institutions (STI), based on experiences of the University of Georgia, University of California, Polytechnic University of Valencia and University of Porto - institutions with high rates of business creation and environment articulate entrepreneur. This model consists of a set of actions or activities that aim to strengthen the entrepreneurial ecosystem. The research that led to the model took place in six stages: Characterization of North American Universities (Phase I); Ecosystem Analysis Entrepreneurs (Phase II); Research (Phase III); Development Model to Business Creation (Stage IV); Model Validation by Expert Panel (Stage V) and Settings (Stage VI). The first version of the model was based on the Babson Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Project, stimulus bill entrepreneurship, developed by Daniel Isenberg. The project unfolded in a model that shows that an environment to encourage entrepreneurship is not made up of only one element, but by a group of structures that working together strengthen this ecosystem. The initial model constructed by this research we used the six elements specified by Isenberg, namely: policies, financial resources, culture, supporting institutions, human capital and markets. The first version of the created model was then validated by the Expert Panel for Technical. The second version of the model, now validated - Model for Spin-offs Creation of Academic Based on Ecosystem Entrepreneurs - consists of three basic elements: the institutional arrangements, policies and entrepreneurial culture. The institutional arrangements are formed by agencies that facilitate technology development, the Technology Transfer Office (TTO), the Center for Entrepreneurship (CE), the Business School (BS), the Incubators and Science Parks (I / SP), the Junior Enterprise (EJ) and Entrepreneurs Network (RE). In addition to the institutional arrangements, the model is composed of other permeable layers, which are the policies that regulate the actions in this ecosystem and the entrepreneurial culture that disseminates the concept within the institution. Permeable layers are justified because they represent a border that information, knowledge and financial resources circulate between these elements that make up the entrepreneurial ecosystem and the external environment. And in that ecosystem also move new ventures. The model provides guidance in three of STI ripening stages: initial, intermediate and mature. The first STI fits into one of these stages and then uses the appropriate guidance to its stage. / Este trabalho apresenta um modelo que visa estimular a criação de spin-offs acadêmicas por Instituições Científicas e Tecnológicas (ICTs) brasileiras, fundamentado em experiências das Universidades da Geórgia, da Califórnia, Politécnica de Valência e do Porto - instituições com altas taxas de criação desse tipo de empresa e com ambiente empreendedor bem articulado. Este modelo é constituído por um conjunto de ações ou atividades que objetivam fortalecer o ecossistema empreendedor. A pesquisa que deu origem ao modelo ocorreu em seis etapas: Caracterização das Universidades Norte-Americanas (Etapa I); Análise de Ecossistemas Empreendedores (Etapa II); Pesquisa de Campo (Etapa III); Desenvolvimento do Modelo de Estímulo à Criação de Empresas (Etapa IV); Validação do Modelo por Painel de Especialistas (Etapa V) e Ajustes/Redefinição do Modelo (Etapa VI). A primeira versão do modelo baseouse no Babson Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Project, projeto de estímulo ao empreendedorismo, desenvolvido por Daniel Isenberg. O projeto desdobrou-se em um modelo que revela que um ambiente para fomentar o empreendedorismo não é formado por apenas um elemento, mas por um grupo de estruturas que trabalhando em conjunto fortalecem esse ecossistema. O modelo inicial construído por essa pesquisa utilizou-se dos seis elementos especificados por Isenberg, que são: políticas, recursos financeiros, cultura, instituições de apoio, capital humano e mercados. A primeira versão do modelo criado foi então validado pela Técnica de Painel de Especialistas. A segunda versão do modelo, agora validado - Modelo de Estímulo para a Criação de Spin-offs Acadêmicas Baseado em Ecossistemas Empreendedores - é composto por três elementos-base: os arranjos institucionais, as políticas e a cultura empreendedora. Os arranjos institucionais são formados por órgãos que facilitam o desenvolvimento tecnológico, o Escritório de Transferência de Tecnologia (ETT), o Centro de Empreendedorismo (CE), a Escola de Negócios (EN), as Incubadoras e Parques Tecnológicos (I/P), as Empresas Juniores (EJ) e a Rede de Empreendedores (RE). Além dos arranjos institucionais, o modelo é composto por outras camadas permeáveis, que são as políticas, que normatizam as ações nesse ecossistema e a cultura empreendedora que dissemina o conceito dentro da instituição. As camadas permeáveis justificam-se porque representam um contorno em que informações, conhecimentos e recursos financeiros circulam entre esses elementos que compõem o ecossistema empreendedor e o ambiente externo. E nesse ecossistema também movem-se novos empreendimentos. O modelo oferece orientações em três estágios de amadurecimento da ICT: inicial, intermediário e maduro. A ICT primeiro se encaixa em um desses estágios e em seguida utiliza as orientações adequadas à sua fase.

A lógica do business case em que as organizações consideram aspectos sociais e ambientais apenas se trazem retorno econômico, historicamente, tem sido predominante e praticamente não questionada tanto na literatura quanto na prática. Recentemente, contudo, diante da piora de questões sociais e ambientais complexas, tem havido a conclamação para que as empresas adotem uma postura de não somente reduzir o impacto que geram como também tomar ações no sentido de que contribuam efetivamente com soluções para tanto. Ao assumirem tal postura, porém, as empresas precisam tomar decisões no cotidiano organizacional que envolvem lidar com paradoxos, isto é, situações em que ocorrem simultaneamente elementos contraditórios, ainda que relacionados. Isto porque, no caso da sustentabilidade corporativa, frequentemente, não é possível alinhar os três pilares da sustentabilidade, conciliar objetivos de curto, médio e longo prazo e atender simultaneamente o interesse de diversos stakeholders. Diante de tamanho desafio à prática organizacional, pesquisadores da área da sustentabilidade corporativa começaram a investigar a adoção de uma perspectiva integrativa da sustentabilidade, que pressupõe reconhecer a existência desses trade-offs, de forma a tentar gerenciá-los e acomodá-los. A presente pesquisa contribui para a literatura de sustentabilidade corporativa no que tange ao gerenciamento desses trade-offs ao propor como objetivo entender como as empresas significam e lidam com os trade-offs relacionados à sustentabilidade corporativa. Para atender tal objetivo, empregou-se uma estratégia de pesquisa baseada em estudos de casos múltiplos de dez empresas com modelos de negócios sustentáveis de dois setores diferentes. Como lente teórica de análise, adotou-se a perspectiva do sensemaking. A partir da análise das dez empresas estudadas, identificou-se 65 incidentes que envolviam um ou mais trade-offs em relação à sustentabilidade corporativa. Analisou-se, então, os incidentes com uma abordagem indutiva, gerando-se três resultados principais. Primeiro, identificou-se 13 vetores diferentes que abrangem os trade-offs relacionados à sustentabilidade corporativa, agrupados em quatro diferentes categorias. Segundo, propôs-se um modelo que ajuda a explicar como é o processo de construção de significado pelo qual as empresas passam ao se engajarem na acomodação dos trade-offs relacionados à sustentabilidade corporativa. Por fim, identificou-se 14 estratégias que as empresas podem se utilizar para acomodar os trade-offs agrupados em seis diferentes categorias. / The logic of business case in which organizations consider social and environmental aspects only if they bring economic returns has historically been predominant and practically unquestioned in both literature and practice. Recently, however, faced with the worsening of complex social and environmental issues, there has been a call for companies to struggle not only to reduce the impact they generate but also to take actions in order to effectively address solutions. When assuming such a position, however, companies need to make decisions in the organizational practice that involve dealing with paradoxes, that is, situations in which contradictory, yet related, elements occur simultaneously. This is because, in the case of corporate sustainability, it is often not possible to align the three pillars of sustainability, to reconcile short-, medium- and long-term objectives while simultaneously meeting the interests of various stakeholders. Faced with such a challenge to organizational practice, researchers in the area of corporate sustainability have begun to investigate the adoption of an integrative perspective of sustainability, which presupposes recognizing the existence of these trade-offs in order to accommodate and manage them. This research contributes to the corporate sustainability literature regarding the management of these trade-offs by proposing as aim to understand how companies make sense and deal with the trade-offs related to corporate sustainability. In order to achieve this, a research strategy based on multiple case studies of ten companies with sustainable business models from two different sectors was employed. As a theoretical lens of analysis, the sensemaking perspective was adopted. From the analysis of the ten companies studied, 65 incidents that involved one or more trade-offs in relation to corporate sustainability were identified. The incidents were then analyzed with an inductive approach, producing three main results. First, 13 different vectors that encompass trade-offs related to corporate sustainability were identified, grouped into four different categories. Second, a model has been proposed that helps to explain how the process of sensemaking occurs in companies engaged in the accommodation of trade-offs related to corporate sustainability. Finally, 14 strategies that companies can use to accommodate trade-offs were identified, grouped into six different categories.

[pt] O processo decisório na logística humanitária compreende diversos tipos de prioridades que por vezes estão relacionados com situações de vida ou morte. Neste grau de importância, os objetivos a serem perseguidos pelos tomadores de decisão na situação de um desastre e as restrições do problema devem ser estabelecidos para se alinhar com os anseios das vítimas e com as limitações existentes. Este estudo visa analisar de que maneiras as prioridades conflitantes num problema repleto de incertezas como em um desastre podem impactar o resultado do atendimento humanitário no que tange à sua eficiência, efetividade e equidade (3E). A dissertação apresenta o papel de alguns objetivos e restrições conflitantes (trade-offs) na tomada de decisão durante a fase de preparação para um desastre. Para tal, modelos de otimização estocástica são propostos utilizando-se dos conceitos de desempenho via 3E e sensibilidade ao risco, através da medida CVaR. Os resultados sugerem que a inclusão da aversão ao risco pode levar a um sistema mais efetivo em média. Outro ponto importante é que o modelo de minimização de custos incluindo o custo da falta forneceu uma resposta com melhor desempenho do que na maximização de equidade ou de cobertura de forma independente. Além disso, a restrição de orçamento (eficiência) quando mal dimensionada pode tornar um problema de maximização de cobertura (efetividade) desnecessariamente ineficiente. Conclui-se que a priorização da maximização conjunta da eficiência e da efetividade com restrição de inequidade e sensibilidade ao risco torna o modelo mais preciso quanto ao atendimento das vítimas do desastre. / [en] The decision-making process in humanitarian logistics comprises several types of priorities that are sometimes related to life or death situations. In this degree of importance, the objectives to be pursued by decision-makers in the event of a disaster as well as the constraints of the problem must be established to align both with the needs of the victims and with the existing limitations. This study aims at analyzing how conflicting priorities in an uncertainty-filled problem such as a disaster can impact the performance of the solution with respect to its efficiency, effectiveness and equity (3E). The dissertation presents the role of some decision-making trade-offs within disaster preparedness phase. For this, stochastic optimization models are proposed using the concept of 3E-performance and risk sensitivity, through the measure CVaR. Results indicate that the inclusion of risk aversion may lead to a more effective system on average. Another important point is that the cost minimization model including the shortage penalty provided a better performing response than in equity or coverage maximization independently. In addition, budget constraint (efficiency) when poorly dimensioned can make a problem of maximizing coverage (effectiveness) unnecessarily inefficient. It is concluded that the prioritization of the joint maximization of efficiency and effectiveness with restriction of inequity and risk sensitivity makes a model more precise as regards the care of the disaster victims.