Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability are concepts that have become increasingly more relevant, where it is no longer accepted by society that companies only prioritize the interests of shareholders without also looking to the interests of society. This has led to large companies being obligated to make sustainability reports in order to report their impact on society. This does not apply to small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) and therefore we have chosen to investigate how SMEs that have a clear sustainability profile are affected by sustainability in their decision-making. There has been some research on why one chooses to be more sustainable as an SME, but there has been little research on how this affects the SMEs who work with sustainability in their day-to-day business decisions when they have more than the shareholders to answer to. To investigate this phenomenon, we have done five case studies where we have interviewed five people who are involved in the decision-making in different SMEs. The purpose is to understand how small and medium-sized enterprises that have a clear sustainability profile work with sustainability and how that in turn affects their decision-making. To descriptively describe how decisions are made in relation to sustainability we have used several theories to capture the overall multifaceted reality that these SMEs are faced with in their decision-making. This in turn has made it possible for us to describe this reality by understanding to what extent the companies work with sustainability, how that in turn affects the reference points the companies have and how the interpretation of risk becomes a determining factor in how a SME makes its decisions.  What we have seen is that decisions are governed by aspects such as the extent to which sustainability permeates the company which in turn affects the reference point that is chosen when weighing the utility of different decisions. We have also seen how companies interpret risk affects to what extent they choose to compromise in their sustainability work. Industry aspects have also been an affecting factor as some companies are more dependent on other stakeholders for their operations which creates a complicated balance between how you weigh the financial against the sustainable. / Corporate social responsibility (CSR) och hållbarhet är något som har blivit alltmer relevant, där det inte längre accepteras av samhället att företag bara prioriterar aktieägarnas intressen utan att man också ser till samhällets intressen. Detta har lett till att stora företag har blivit tvungna att göra hållbarhetsrapporteringar för att redovisa deras påverkan på samhället. Detta gäller inte små och medelstora företag (SME) och därför har vi valt att undersöka hur SME som har en tydlig hållbarhetsprofil påverkas i sitt beslutsfattande när det kommer till hållbarhet. Det har forskats en del om varför man väljer att vara mer hållbar som SME men det har forskats lite kring hur detta påverkar SMEs med en hållbarhetsprofil i sina dagliga beslut när man har fler intressenter att svar till. För att undersöka detta fenomen har vi gjort fem fallstudier där vi har intervjuat fem personer i en beslutsfattande position i olika SMEs. Syftet är att förstå hur små och medelstora företag som har en tydlig hållbarhetsprofil arbetar med hållbarhet och hur det påverkar deras affärsbeslut. För att deskriptivt beskriva hur beslut tas gentemot hållbarhet har vi nyttjat flera teorier för att på en övergripande nivå fånga den multifacetterade verklighet som dessa SME ställs inför i sina beslut. Detta har gjort att vi har kunnat beskriva denna verklighet genom att förstå i vilken utsträckning man arbetar med hållbarhet, hur det i sin tur påverkar de utgångspunkter man har och hur tolkningen av risk blir avgörande för hur dess SME tar sina beslut. Det vi har sett är att beslut styrs av aspekter som i vilken utsträckning hållbarhet genomsyrar företaget vilket i sin tur påverkar mot vilken referenspunkt företaget värderar sina beslut. Detta påverkar i sin tur hur man upplever nyttan av olika beslut. Vi har också sett att hur man tolkar risk leder till i vilken utsträckning man är villig att kompromissa i sitt hållbarhetsarbete. Branschaspekter har också haft en påverkan då vissa företag är mer beroende av andra intressenter för sin verksamhet vilket skapar en mer komplicerad balansgång mellan hur man väger det finansiella mot det hållbara.

Syfte: Denna uppsats behandlar en undermedveten kognitiv bias vilken benämns som ”anchoring effect” eller förankringseffekten. Effekten uppenbaras då människor tenderar att lägga för mycket tillit till den första informationen som görs tillgänglig vid olika typer av beslutsfattande. Teoriramen för detta forskningsområde är tämligen utbredd med drygt 40 år av studier som på senare tid börjat undersöka förankringseffektens påverkan vid förhandlingar. Dessutom finns utbredda konstateranden för att betydande kunskap inte lindrar effekten i någon större omfattning. Däremot föreligger bristande forskningsslutsatser kring hur kunskapsvarians vid förhandlingar  påverkar förankringseffekten. Till följd av detta avser studien att undersöka nedanstående syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur förankringseffekten påverkar utfallet i en förhandlingssituation, när kunskapsvarians råder mellan parterna gällande det aktuella förhandlingsområdet. Metod: I studien genomfördes ett experiment med totalt 44 deltaganden. Experimenten utgjordes av prisförhandlingar gällande en fiktiv bostad, där varje enskild deltagare fick genomgå två förhandlingar vardera. Den första förhandlingen avsåg en lägenhetsförsäljning och den andra en villaförsäljning där parterna agerade säljare respektive köpare. I experimentgruppen förelåg det kunskapsvarians då tredjeårsstudenter från fastighetsmäklarprogrammet mötte studenter med annan utbildningsbakgrund. I kontrollgruppen ställdes motsatsvis deltagare från samma utbildning mot varandra för att skapa mindre skillnader i kunskap beträffande det aktuella förhandlingsområdet. Resultat & slutsats: Resultatet i denna studie tyder på att deltagare vars kunskap stod dem till förfogande, alstrat förmånligare överenskommelser i jämförelse med deltagare med låg kunskapsnivå. Detta trots att deltagarna vars kunskapsnivå var låg, erhållit fördelen av förankringseffekten då de fick lägga det första budet. Resultatet indikerar därmed att förankringseffekten kan lindras till följd av kunskapsvarians vid förhandlingar. Förslag till vidare forskning: Vidare forskning bör utgå från liknande förhandlingsexperiment där forskaren i första hand eftersträvar att generera större kunskapsskillnader mellan parterna i förhandlingen. En större omfattning av denna studie torde således resultera i ökade statistiska klarheter vilket torde vara gynnsamt för det aktuella forskningsområdet. Uppsatsens bidrag: Studiens bidrag är att forskningsresultaten tyder på en lindring av förankringseffekten vid kunskapsvarians inom förhandlingar. Detta till skillnad från tidigare studier där olika kunskapnivåer inte visats ha någon större betydelse. I och med att ingen tidigare studie undersökt detta förhållande har denna studie lyckats identifiera ett tydligt forskningsgap som bidragits till. / Aim: This paper is about a subconscious cognitive bias referred to as "Anchoring Effect". The effect is revealed by the fact that people tend to put too much trust in the first information that is made available in different types of decision-making situations. The theory framework for this research area is fairly widespread with over 40 years of studies, and lately the research has begun examining the anchoring effect in different types of negotiation dyads. In addition, there are widespread findings that significant knowledge does not mitigate the effect in any notable degree. However, there is a lack of research findings regarding how differences in knowledge within negotiations might affect the anchoring effect. Therefore, this study intends to investigate the following: The purpose of this study is to investigate how the anchoring effect is affecting the outcome of a negotiation, when the parties have different levels of knowledge regarding the negotiated area. Method: This study has conducted an experiment with a total of 44 participants. The experiments have involved simulated price negotiations regarding a condominium and a residence property. Each participant performed two negotiations each, one for respective dwelling place. In the experimental group, there was a difference in knowledge when third year students from a real estate brokering program negotiated with students from other programs. In contradistinction to the experimental group, the control group included students with similar education background in order to create minor knowledge differences within the negotiated area. Result & Conclusion: The result of this study shows undeniably that the experiment participants with greater knowledge have generated more favourable agreements, compared to the participants with lower relevant knowledge. Even though the participants with lower knowledge had the advantage of presenting the initial offer in the experimental group. Thus, a mitigation of the anchoring effect has been identified as a result of differences in knowledge within the negotiations. Further research: Further research should be based on similar negotiation experiments with focus on creating greater differences in knowledge between the participants. This in combination with a larger replica of our study should enable increased statistical clarities with fruitful outcomes in this research field. Contribution of the thesis: The theoretical contribution of our study is primarily the fact that the anchoring effect tends to be mitigated by variance in knowledge within negotiations. Considering that no previous studies have examined this before, we argue that a clear research gap have been identified and that our findings has contributed to the theoretical framework.

We investigate the effect of house money on individual investors. Our empirical evidence suggests that house money effect shows up in real-world financial markets, not just in artificial laboratory experiments. The results reveal a strong house money effect and show that investors tend to buy up trend stocks once they have experienced a prior gain. Only when a significant gain is being considered, does an individual become more inclined to take a risk. When the influence of a significant gain gradually depreciates over time, the greater tendency to take risk also diminishes. We find that individual investors exhibit the disposition effect— reluctant to realize losses and more willing to realize gains. They frequently realize small gains and less frequently take large losses, such a behavior may hurt their wealth because their gains are lower than their losses. Analyses of portfolio holdings reveal that individual investors hold relatively few different stocks and focus on a small number of stocks with which they are familiar. Their investment choice is driven by familiarity bias which diminishes the strength of the house money effect. When evaluate an investment gain, investors’ reference points adapt over time and the currently-salient reference point is the highest stock price attained some time ago.

This paper aims at unveiling the true nature of the Czech hunting Act by modeling the competition for property rights characteristics among gamekeepers, the subsidized group, and other users of land based resources, the taxed group. We show that the subsidized gamekeepers' group seeking to decrease public opposition tries to obfuscate the true goal of its profit-oriented efforts by supporting relatively less revealing technically imperfect institutions. It does so by advertising artificially created qualities such as tradition and public interest. What hunters try to achieve technically is to shift the reference points of desire of the other users of land-based resources in order to disable them from perceiving total policy costs. As a result taxpayers' intrinsic advantage is undermined, and contrary to the efficient redistribution hypothesis a Pareto-inferior outcome is reached. Moreover taking full account of all costs of rent-seeking, including incomplete externality internalization, institutional rigidity and created moral hazard, total social costs, connected with the outcome of competition for property rights, are not minimized. Regarding empirical testing of the theoretical propositions, analyzing hunting statistics we prove that whereas the acknowledged public goals are not met, the technically imperfect Act 449/2001 Coll. creates moral hazard in favor of gamekeepers' private interests.

目前，隨著資料急速地增加，大規模可擴充性的高度分散式資料庫服務已逐漸成為一種趨勢。在資料如此分散的環境下，如何讓資料的查詢更有效率，建立一個好的索引扮演著相當重要的角色，加上越來越多的資料庫程式應用像是生物、圖像、音樂和視訊等等，皆是處理高維度的資料，而在這些應用程式中，經常需要做相似資料的查詢，但是在高維度的資料且分散式的資料做相似資料的查詢，需耗費大量的時間與運算成本。 基於在高度分散式的環境下，針對高維度的資料有效地做KNN的查詢。我們提出一個利用reference point[2,13]的作法RP-CAN( Reference Point-Content Addressable Network )來改善查詢的效率。RP-CAN 主要是結合CAN [14] 的路由協定和使用reference point建立索引的方式來幫助在高度分散式環境下有效率的對高維的資料做查詢處理。 最後會實作出我們所提出的RP-CAN索引並與RT-CAN[1]做比較。我們發現我們所提出的RP-CAN索引在高維度資料作KNN的查詢時比RT-CAN索引來的有效率。 / There has been an increasing interest in deploying a storage system in a highly distributed environment because of the rapid increasing data. And many database applications such as time series, biological and multimedia database, handle high-dimensional data. In these systems, k nearest-neighbors query is one of the most frequent queries but costly operation that is to find objects in the high-dimensional database that are similar to a given query object. As in conventional DBMS, indexes can indeed improve query performance but cannot deploy directly in highly distributed systems because the environment has become more complex. To efficiently support k nearest-neighbors query, a high-dimensional indexing strategy, is developed for the highly distributed environment. In this paper, we propose an efficient indexing strategy, RP-CAN( Reference Point-Content Addressable Network ), to improve the performance of the k nearest-neighbors query in a highly distributed environment. In the end of this paper, we designed an experiment to demonstrate that the performance of RP-CAN is better than RT-CAN in high dimensional space. Thus, our RP-CAN index could efficiently handle the high dimensional data.

Chen(2010)提出如何用勝率函數來判斷給定的連續條件分配是否相容，以及 相容時如何求對應的聯合分配。本研究提出，在二維有限的情形下，如何用勝率 矩陣來判斷給定的條件機率矩陣是否相容，以及相容時如何求對應的聯合機率矩 陣。又給定的條件機率矩陣不相容時，我們介紹了四種修改勝率矩陣的方法，同 時在使用幾何平均法調整勝率矩陣的過程中，也發現選取最佳參考點以獲得最佳 近似聯合機率矩陣之方法，並且給予理論證明。最後以模擬的方式發現，在修改 勝率矩陣的四種方法中，以幾何平均法所得到的近似聯合機率矩陣，其條件機率 矩陣最常接近所給定的條件機率矩陣。 / Chen (2010) provides the representations of odds ratio function to examine the compatibility of conditional probability density functions and gives the corresponding joint probability density functions if they are compatible. In this research, we provide the representations of odds ratio matrix to examine the compatibility of two discrete conditional probability matrices and give the corresponding joint probability matrix if they are compatible. For incompatible situations, we offer four methods to revise odds ratio matrices to find near joint probability matrices so that their conditional probability matrices are not far from the two given ones. That is, we provide four methods so that the sums of error squares are small. For each method, the sum of error squares may depend on the same reference point of two odds ratio matrices. We first discover by example that only the geometric method out of these four methods has a pattern to get the best reference point so that the sum of error squares is smallest. We then prove this finding in general. In addition, through simulation results, the geometric method would provide the smallest sum of error squares most often among these four methods. Hence, we suggest using geometric method. Its strategy to find the best reference point is also given.

The relationship between spawning stock biomass (SSB) and 3 spatial distribution metrics (SDMs), measuring range, concentration, and density, using fisheries independent survey data for 10 demersal Northwest Atlantic fish populations (9 species), show metrics of density offer the best correlate of SSB. The concave, positive relationship between high density area (HDA) and SSB indicates that a decline in HDAs beyond a spatial threshold is associated with disproportionately large SSB declines in 6 populations. HDAs might indicate highly productive areas and/or positive fitness consequences, enhancing the ability of individuals to successfully spawn, locate prey, and evade predators. HDAs can help to assess the status of a population’s spatial structure and serve as a spatial reference point. By comparing spatial reference point locations relative to existing biomass reference points (based on MSY), scenarios are described wherein spatial reference points contribute to biomass reference points and to a precautionary approach to fisheries management.

In this thesis I apply the concepts of Behavioral Economics to the analysis of the individual health care behavior. In the first chapter I provide a theoretical explanation of the link between loss aversion and health anxiety leading to infrequent preventive testing. In the second chapter I analyze this link empirically based on the general population questionnaire study. In the third chapter I theoretically explore the effects of motivational crowding-in and crowding-out induced by external or self-rewards for the self-control involving tasks such as weight loss or smoking cessation.<p><p>Understanding psychological factors behind the reluctance to use preventive testing is a significant step towards a more efficient health care policy. Some people visit doctors very rarely because of a fear to receive negative results of medical inspection, others prefer to resort to medical services in order to prevent any diseases. Recent research in the field of Behavioral Economics suggests that human's preferences may be significantly influenced by the choice of a reference point. In the first chapter I study the link between loss aversion and the frequently observed tendency to avoid useful but negative information (the ostrich effect) in the context of preventive health care choices. I consider a model with reference-dependent utility that allows to characterize how people choose their health care strategy, namely, the frequency of preventive checkups. In this model an individual lives for two periods and faces a trade-off. She makes a choice between delaying testing until the second period with the risk of a more costly treatment in the future, or learning a possibly unpleasant diagnosis today, that implies an emotional loss but prevents an illness from further development. The model shows that high loss aversion decreases the frequency of preventive testing due to the fear of a bad diagnosis. Moreover, I show that under certain conditions increasing risk of illness discourages testing.<p><p>In the second chapter I provide empirical support for the model predictions. I use a questionnaire study of a representative sample of the Dutch population to measure variables such as loss aversion, testing frequency and subjective risk. I consider the undiagnosed non-symptomatic population and concentrate on medical tests for four illnesses that include hypertension, diabetes, chronic lung disease and cancer. To measure loss aversion I employ a sequence of lottery questions formulated in terms of gains and losses of life years with respect to the current subjective life expectancy. To relate this measure of loss aversion to the testing frequency I use a two-part modeling approach. This approach distinguishes between the likelihood of participation in testing and the frequency of tests for those who decided to participate. The main findings confirm that loss aversion, as measured by lottery choices in terms of life expectancy, is significantly and negatively associated with the decision to participate in preventive testing for hypertension, diabetes and lung disease. Higher loss aversion also leads to lower frequency of self-tests for cancer among women. The effect is more pronounced in magnitude for people with higher subjective risk of illness.<p><p>In the third chapter I explore the phenomena of crowding-out and crowding-in of motivation to exercise self-control. Various health care choices, such as keeping a diet, reducing sugar consumption (e.g. in case of diabetes) or abstaining from smoking, require costly self-control efforts. I study the long-run and short-run influence of external and self-rewards offered to stimulate self-control. In particular, I develop a theoretical model based on the combination of the dual-self approach to the analysis of the time-inconsistency problem with the principal-agent framework. I show that the psychological property of disappointment aversion (represented as loss aversion with respect to the expected outcome) helps to explain the differences in the effects of rewards when a person does not perfectly know her self-control costs. The model is based on two main assumptions. First, a person learns her abstention costs only if she exerts effort. Second, observing high abstention costs brings disutility due to disappointment (loss) aversion. The model shows that in the absence of external reward an individual will exercise self-control only when her confidence in successful abstention is high enough. However, observing high abstention costs will discourage the individual from exerting effort in the second period, i.e. will lead to the crowding-out of motivation. On the contrary, choosing zero effort in period 1 does not reveal the self-control costs. Hence, this preserves the person's self-confidence helping her to abstain in the second period. Such crowding-in of motivation is observed for the intermediate level of self-confidence. I compare this situation to the case when an external reward is offered in the first period. The model shows that given a sufficiently low self-confidence external reward may lead to abstention in both periods. At the same time, without it a person would not abstain in any period. However, for an intermediate self-confidence, external reward may lead to the crowding-out of motivation. For the same level of self-confidence, the absence of such reward may cause crowding-in. Overall, the model generates testable predictions and helps to explain contradictory empirical findings on the motivational effects of different types of rewards. / Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Easterlin paradox referring to relatively stable levels of happiness and increasing in­ come over time, although these two seem to be correlated at one point in time has became a hot topic among economist researches in recent decades. The thesis ex­ tends the usual income analysis to reveal the nature of correlations between material prosperity and happiness. Series of 15 OLS, ordered probit and ordered logit models together with 35 quantile regressions provide a complex analysis of possible happi­ ness drivers. Results find significant correlations between material prosperity and happiness, and between happiness and social life. The relationship between income and happiness might be non-linear and influenced by various factors. Happiness is found to be dependent on relative income and socio-politic living environment which explains the Easterlin paradox. JEL codes D6, 124, 131 , J31 K ey words Happiness, Well-being, Life satisfaction, Public pol­ icy, Material prosperity, Reference point, Inequality

The current economic strategy of the European Union - the Europe 2020 Strategy - has defined five measurable Headline Targets to enhance economic growth and allowed the Member States to set their own national numerical values for these targets. This thesis analyses quality of this target setting process. First, it tries to figure out whether the targets have been set better than in the preceding Lisbon Strategy. Second, it examines whether the National Targets have been defined clearly and unequivocally. Third and the most important, based on original empirical analysis, the thesis evaluates whether the National Targets have been determined reasonably with respect to general capacities of individual European economies. The main results reveal that some learning from the Lisbon Strategy has been made, but the quality of the National Targets is insufficient and should be increased. JEL Classification E61, F55, O52 Keywords Europe 2020, strategy, European Union, national targets, empirical analysis, MULTIMOORA, Ratio System of MOORA, Reference point of MOORA, Full Multiplicative Form, Lisbon Strategy Author's e-mail PavlaBrizova@seznam.cz Supervisor's e-mail katerina.smidkova@cnb.cz