Capacity remuneration mechanisms (CRMs) are “climbing” regulatory agendas in all liberalised power sectors, especially in the European Union. CRMs are introduced to improve system reliability and to minimise power shortages to an economically efficient extent. These schemes will have a central role in future power systems. This PhD thesis provides an in-depth review of CRM design elements and recommendations to increase their efficiency and effectiveness, particularly in view of the challenges that these mechanisms have to confront in the current power sector environment, characterised by the pursuit of decarbonisation. The attention is focused here on the interaction with regional market integration, the need for properly-designed performance incentives, and the interaction with renewable technologies. The research is based on empirical evidence collected from international experiences, which is complemented, where applicable, by a model-based analysis to examine specific design elements. The outcomes of this PhD thesis can be summarised as follows. The participation of cross-border resources in national CRMs must be guaranteed in order to fully seize the benefits of regional market integration. However, this participation requires a strong commitment from power systems (and governments) in the regional market and the implementation of network codes and market rules that deter system operators from blocking exports when the latter are the outcome of an efficient market clearing. Where short-term markets are coordinated through market coupling, the algorithm must include a conditional nomination rule that ensures that, during regional scarcity conditions, available resources are assigned to those consumers that paid for them in the CRM market. CRMs must rely on robust performance incentives that foster the actual delivery of the committed capacity. High penalty rates may increase the cost of the capacity market, but the overall cost of electricity supply may decrease. Renewable technologies should be allowed to participate in CRMs and should be exposed to the market signals provided by these mechanisms. If renewable and conventional technologies must compete in the same markets, they should do it subject to the same rules. Obviously this participation must be coordinated with renewable support schemes, discounting CRM revenues. / <p>QC 20160411</p>

This interpretive study explores the effect of employee share ownership (ESO) plans (SIP, EMI and SAYE) on employee attitudes and behaviours at work by taking into account the role of Psychological Ownership (PO), characterised by feelings of "mine" and "ours". The key concepts and relationships specified in positivist causal models of ESO and PO were translated into a set of interview questions and were used to explore with 37 ESO plan participants and 9 ESO plan managers whether the causal models fit with the way they explain for themselves their experiences of and reactions to employee share ownership. In doing this, the study has responded to suggestions made in the research literature to compare the attitudinal effects of different types of employee ownership, avoid the manipulation of large, readily available data sets, and to provide insights into the causal processes surrounding ESO. Overall, three main themes can be identified from employees responses, which appeared to have some influence on whether or not the share plan was felt to have an impact. First, employees interest in making money, and expectations of whether they would, played a large part in their explanations of ESO s impact. A number of employees felt the share plan helped retain them in the organisation. However, this did not appear to be because the plan was making then more committed, in the sense that they would feel more emotionally attached, or a greater sense of identification with the company. Instead, the plan was retaining employees by causing them to make an assessment of the costs associated with leaving (continuance commitment). Second, many of the ESO outcomes featured in the academic literature were already felt to be experienced by employees at work and ESO was felt to only be able to add in a small way to what was already being experienced. Finally, in some situations ESO represented something quite meaningful to employees. ESO was sometimes interpreted as being a sign that the company valued employees, wanted them to feel part of the company, or that the employees were important to the company. The offer to participate in ESO was interpreted in some cases as being an acknowledgement of hard work, and an indication of how the company wanted employees to feel. This was found to enhance ESO s capacity to impact how employees felt at work. However, with regards to most outcomes explored in this study, employees reported little or no impact from ESO. Findings suggested that the ESO plans, even when they were felt to lead to feelings of PO, provided little incentive to work harder. PO was also found to play little or no part in employees explanations of how share plans had an impact or why they did not. Employees felt they had a long wait before making a financial return and no tangible day to day benefits of ESO. This led the plans, and the potential gains that could be made, to be perceived as very long term, and easily forgotten. Finally, this study highlights a mismatch between the causal models of ESO and PO, the conventional wisdom of ESO, the views of the ESO managers, and the interpretations of the employees who were interviewed and raises the question of whether ESO achieves what it is intended (and often believed) to achieve.

Globally competitive industries need to keep up with the rigorous technical innovations to ensure that they reach their targets in terms of customer satisfaction. In order to do this, businesses need to ensure that they have the correct skills and capabilities in order to meet their demands. Organisations encounter difficulties as they constantly need to replace lost skills, and once these skills have been replaced, they need to spend additional money to train and equip new employees adequately to perform the jobs that they are employed to do. These days, many companies find themselves in financial turmoil which emerges from large turnover rates. There has been a severe exodus of skilled employees in the utility industry. During the past twelve months, this industry has lost 1 479 critical skills. Scarce skills are expensive to retain and it is important that employee well-being take top priority to keep up with changing labour demographics. This upkeep relates to huge emphasis being placed on customer satisfaction. In order to keep customers happy, companies first need to keep their employees happy. Efforts made by the organisation to improve situational circumstances for its employees, will promote positive individual and organisational outcomes. Two dimensions contribute greatly to a positive employment relationship which is conducive towards promoting positive individual and organisational outcomes, namely a fulfilled psychological contract and fairness in allocating monetary rewards. Money should not be used as a Band-Aid; not everything can be remedied with money. However, money is important, although it is not the most important factor. Fulfilment of the different dimensions of the psychological contract, including, but not limited to opportunities for personal growth and career advancement, and a management-supportive work environment are vital towards establishing and maintaining a positive employment relationship. The aim of the study was to investigate the role of psychological contract breach, job satisfaction and turnover intention in the utility industry and to determine the outcomes thereof. A mixed method approach was used to gather data. In the qualitative study, managers and staff (N = 15) were interviewed and a thematic content analysis was performed. In the second phase of the study, the quantitative part, questionnaires were distributed to employees (N = 251) across all levels of the organisation. The measuring instruments used were the Psychological Contract Inventory, Job Satisfaction Scale and Turnover Intention Scale. The results of Article 1 (Chapter 2) showed that a total of 60% of participants made reference to the importance of money. Emphasis was also placed on other aspects, where 53% of participants made mention of leadership being an important driver of job satisfaction. Other themes also regarded as important toward curbing skills loss were the importance of personal excellence and the need for effective communication as drivers of job satisfaction. Article 2 (Chapter 3) found that a fulfilled balanced psychological contract displayed a strong, positive relationship with job satisfaction and that job satisfaction had a negative impact on turnover intention. These findings support the negative impact of psychological contract breach on job satisfaction and, in relation to this, job dissatisfaction positively impacted turnover intention. It was further found that psychological contract breach of the balanced contract had an indirect positive impact on turnover intent via job satisfaction. Recommendations for future studies were made. / MCom (Labour Relations Management), North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2014

1 Abstract The name of this diploma thesis is "Remuneration of members of governing bodies of joint-stock companies". The goal of this work is to examine current legal framework of this topic both in legal norms of Czech Republic and in normative and recommendative acts of relevant international organizations (European Union, OECD), consequently to assess real application of these norms and eventually to appraise possibilities of enforcement of the respective principles in real-life practice. First chapter focuses on principles of integrity of business affairs and defines basic terms. Second chapter centers primarily around legal problematic of Contract on Execution of Function of Member of a Board of Directors in a joints stock company and its practical implementation. Third chapter analyses and describes - within framework of both current and historic legal norms - possibilities of various forms of remuneration, which can be however also denied under certain circumstances. Fourth chapter deals with Principles of Corporate Governance. Fifth and final chapter provides for a reflection of real life practice, i.e. how respective joints stock companies interact with legal regulation, respectively how will they interact with it. Proper remuneration policy is a complex issue, which has a free right of owners...

Remuneration of members of governing bodies of joint-stock companies The topic of this diploma thesis is the remuneration of members of the governing bodies of joint-stock companies under the Czech Business Corporations Act. Taking into consideration the tradition in the Czech Republic, I focused on joint-stock companies with the dualistic board system comprising of board of directors and supervisory board. This thesis mainly deals with the questions regarding the mandatory agreement on remuneration in the contract on performance of the office, the role of the general meeting and the new institute of subsidiary gratuitous office performance. In total, this thesis comprises of the introduction, six chapters, and the conclusion. The introduction is followed by the definition of basic terms, especially the definition of board member remuneration. The second chapter briefly introduces the corporate governance and focuses on the remuneration as a corporate governance instrument, which should contribute to the resolution of the agency problem between the shareholders and the management. The third chapter outlines the statutory regulation of remuneration within the contract on performance of the office and especially deals with the possibility of the agreement on remuneration outside the contract on performance of...

1 Abstract Remuneration of members of governing bodies of joint-stock companies Remuneration of members of governing bodies of joint-stock companies is very topical. The aim of this thesis is to analyse the topic and its fundamental aspects, to compare legislation before and after the re-codification of Czech private law and to compare Czech and British law relating to remuneration. The first chapter defines the basic terms, aims and methodology of this thesis and describes relevant economic concepts (e.g. principal-agent problem, fragmentation of ownership of joint stock companies). The second chapter focuses on the issue of concurrent engagement as a director and as an employee of the company. This issue had been object of legal uncertainty in the past. The third chapter focuses on entitlement to remuneration. After the re-codification, the director is not entitled to remuneration unless otherwise stipulated by the parties. The right to be remunerated can be based on a service contract, internal directive or a resolution of the company. In certain cases, the member can be entitled to remuneration at the prevalent market rate. This is being compared in the thesis to the British regulation where decision-making about remuneration may be entrusted to the board of directors itself. On the other hand, the...

Notre recherche s'intéresse aux déterminants de la rémunération des plus hauts dirigeants exécutifs des entreprises françaises cotées au SBF 120. Ce sujet trouve tout son intérêt du fait de la survenue de scandales liés aux montants de rémunération des dirigeants et dans un contexte national marqué par un fort tabou quant à cette question. Pour traiter de notre problématique, nous mobilisons le cadre de la théorie de l'agence complété par des approches permettant de prendre en compte le rôle actif des dirigeants dans la fixation de leurs montants de rémunération (théorie du pouvoir managérial et théorie de l'enracinement). Notre démarche empirique s'inscrit dans une perspective exploratoire en contexte français. Une première étape a consisté, par une étude qualitative, à préciser notre angle de recherche afin de dégager des hypothèses par l'administration d'entretiens semi-directifs et de questionnaires auprès des dirigeants. Ceci a permis de faire émerger des relations entre la performance boursière et économique passées des entreprises (en « t »), le pouvoir du dirigeant, le contrôle du conseil et de l'actionnariat et le montant de rémunération en espèces des dirigeants (salaire et bonus) (en « t +1 »). Nos résultats montrent l'absence de relation entre la performance boursière et économique passées de l'entreprise et le montant de rémunération en espèces des plus hauts dirigeants exécutifs. Par ailleurs des mécanismes de contrôle du conseil et de l'actionnariat externes (administrateurs indépendants et investisseurs institutionnels) affecteraient positivement la rémunération en espèces des dirigeants / Our research focuses on the determinants of CEO remuneration for French companies listed on the SBF 120. This topic is of crucial importance because of the occurrence of scandals about the amounts of CEO compensation and in a national context characterized by a strong taboo on this issue. To address this problem, we mobilize the framework of the agency theory complemented by approaches that take into account the active role of CEOs in setting their remuneration amounts (managerial power theory and entrenchment theory). Our empirical approach is exploratory in the French context. A first step consists, thanks to a qualitative study, in clarifying our terms of research to generate hypotheses by administering semi-structured interviews and questionnaires with CEOs. This has led to the emergence of relationships between past corporate stock market and economic performance (in "t"), CEO power, the control of the Board of Directors and shareholders and the amount of CEO cash remuneration (salary and bonus) (in "t+1"). Our results show no relationship between corporate stock market and economic performance and the amount of CEO cash remuneration. We found a positive and significant relationship between the control of the Board of Directors and shareholders independent directors and institutional investors) and the amount of CEO cash remuneration. Finally, the CEO power positively and significantly affects their amount of cash remuneration

Topical Issues of Remuneration of Members of Governing Bodies of a Joint Stock Company Abstrakt Purpose of the thesis is to identify recommendation of changes in remuneration system of members of bodies of a joint stock company which are required by past financial crisis. Thesis evaluate the ways by which recommendations was reflected to Czech legal system. Because there is change of acts of private law, second goal of the thesis is to find and analyze changes in approach to remuneration and possible disputable questions in law. Thesis gather available specialized sources and case law regarding remuneration a analyze recommendation given by foreign authorities. Thesis is dividend to three chapters. First chapter explains basic concepts of remuneration for purposes of this thesis. Differences between past and new law is highlighted. Second part of first chapter describes remuneration law in past code and answers questions raised from case law. Second chapter pursues to analysis of financial crisis and main ways of reaction chosen by USA, OECD and EU. Last chapter describes main changes in remuneration in new law. Chapter evaluate how successfully are recommendations applied to the new law. Accent is on business corporation act and law of financial sector also. Conclusions are made in final chapter with few...

The diploma thesis analyses the influence of specific motivational program intended to strengthen sales in specific Business to Business segment. The analysis deals with three motivational programs intended to strengthen sales in corporate segment of Telefónica O2 Czech Republic, a.s. in a period of one and a half of the year. The diploma thesis evaluates and compares basic elements of the programs, feedback of the Account managers and Sales managers and analyses the impacts of each motivational program on the sales indicators and activity of Account managers.

This thesis examines short- and long-term decision making, CEO-remuneration and its effects on company performance measured as return on assets during a time-period containing market up- and downturns with regards to company resilience. We examined this in a Swedish context by looking at listed companies on the Stockholm stock exchange during the period 2004 to 2014. The research was conducted using a multiple regression analysis to capture relationships between the dependent variable, the independent- and control variables over the observed time-period. We measure short-term action as decreases in R&amp;D-spending, CapEx and number of employees, that can create short-term profits, whilst long-term actions is the opposite which are expected to generate a high level of company performance in the long run. In our observed population we find that companies who balance short- and long-term actions have a higher company performance, thus deviating from previous research. We also find that an increase in CEO-remuneration will not yield higher company performance when regarding firm size. The results of the study indicate that the companies in our sample have a goal alignment between the CEO and owners, although it shows tendencies of risk adversity in decision making. We find there is a more complex relationship between decision making, the CEO, and company performance than first expected.