When people multi-task with inputs that demand attention, processing, andencoding, sensory interference is possible at almost any level. Multiple Resource Theory (MRT) suggests that such interference may be avoided by drawing from separate pools of resources available when using different sensory channels, memory processes, and even different response modes. Thus, there should be advantages in dividing tasks among different sensory channels to tap independent pools of attentional resources. For example, people are better with two tasks using the eye and ear, than when using two auditory or two visual inputs. The majority of the research on MRT involves visual to auditory comparisons, i.e., the prime distance senses. The unstated implication is that the theory can be easily applied to other sensory systems, such as touch, but this is untested. This overlooks the fact that each sensory system has different characteristics that can influence how information processing is allocated in a multiple-task environment. For example, vision requires a directed gaze that is not required for sound or touch. Testing MRT with touch, not only eliminates competing theories, but helps establish its robustness across the senses. Three experiments compared the senses of touch and hearing to determine if the characteristics of those sensory modalities alter the allocation of processing resources. Specifically, it was hypothesized that differences in sensory characteristics would affect performance on a simple targeting task. All three experiments used auditory shadowing as the dual task load. In the first and third experiments a target was placed to the left or right of the participant and the targeting cue (either tactile, auditory, or combined) used to locate the target originated from the side on which the target was located. The only difference between experiments 1 and 3 was that in experiment 1 the auditory targeting cue was delivered by headphones, while in experiment 3 it was delivered by speakers. Experiment 2 was more difficult both in auditory perception and in processing. In this study the targeting cues came from in front of or behind the participant. Cues coming from in front of the participant meant the target was to the left, and conversely if the cue came from behind it meant that the target was to the right. The results of experiments 1 and 3 showed that when the signals originated from the sides, there was no difference in performance between the auditory and tactile targeting cues, whether by proximal or distal stimulation. However, in experiment 2, the participants were significantly slower to locate the target when using the auditory targeting cue than when using the tactile targeting cue, with nearly twice the losses when dual-tasking. No significant differences were found on performance of the shadowing task across the three experiments. The overall findings support the hypothesis that the characteristics of the sensory system itself influence the allocation of processing resources. For example, the differences in experiment 2 are likely due to front-back reversal, a common problem found with auditory stimuli located in front of or behind, but not with tactile stimuli.

Persons with visual impairments often rely on navigational electronic aids, which typically employ speech commands for guidance through novel routes. However, navigational speech commands may interfere with the perception of acoustically rich environmental information, resulting in potentially detrimental effects. We investigated the sense of touch as a means to convey navigational commands instead. The somatotopic representation of the body surface within the central nervous system makes spatial information intuitive to our skin, suggesting that the tactile channel should be equivalent to, if not better than, the auditory channel at processing directional commands. Additionally, based on Wickens’ Multiple resource theory, the tactile channel should mitigate the sensory load in the auditory channel in travelers with visual impairments. We tested the ability of blind users to process directional commands conveyed via a tactile navigational belt. 14 blind participants were tested with the tactile belt under conditions of either low or high acoustic sensory load, simulating different outdoor environments. For comparison, the same participants were tested also with a conventional auditory device. Consistent with previous studies, we found navigation with the tactile belt to be less efficient than navigation with the auditory aid in the absence of environmental sounds. However, we found also – for the first time, to our knowledge – that tactile performance was less compromised under conditions of high acoustic sensory load. These results will help to inform the further investigation and development of tactile displays to benefit blind travelers. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

A distributed quantum computer holds the potential to emulate a larger quantumcomputer by being partitioned it into smaller modules where local operations (LO)can be applied, and classical communication (CC) can be utilized between thesemodules. Finding algorithms under LOCC restrictions is crucial for leveraging thecapabilities of distributed quantum computing, This thesis explores probabilisticexact LOCC supermaps, that maps 2-qubit bipartite unitary operations to its inver-sion and complex conjugation. Presented are LOCC unitary inversion and complexconjugation supermaps that use 3 calls of the operation, achieving success proba-bilities of 3/128 and 3/8, respectively. These supermaps are discovered through anexamination of the Kraus Cirac decomposition and its interaction with single qubitunitary inversion supermaps. These results can be used for time reversal of as welland noise reduction in closed distributed quantum systems / En distribuerad kvantdator har potentialen att emulera en större kvantdator genom att delas upp i mindre moduler, där lokala operations (LO) kan appliceras och klassisk kommunikation (CC) användas. För att effektivt kunna använda algoritmer på en distribuerad kvantdator måste de anpassas för LOCC restriktioner. Denna avhandling studerar probabilistiskt exakta LOCC superavbildningar, somavbildar 2-qubits bipartita unitära operationer till deras invers och komplexkonjugat. I avhandlingen presenters en LOCC unitär inversion- samt en komplexkonjugatsuperavbildning vilka använder 3 anrop av operationen och lyckas med sannolikhet 3/128 respektive 3/8. Dessa superavbildningar hittades genom att studera Kraus Cirac-uppdelningen och dess interaktion med 1-qubits inversionsuperavbildningar. Förhoppningsvis kan dessa resultat användas till att invertera tiden samt brusreducering på distribuerade kvantsystem.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the causes of welfare state expansion, specifically the causes of welfare state expenditure of active labor market policy (ALMP). ALMP aims at reducing unemployment and increasing participation in the labor market. The field of political economy has long asked the question of why certain welfare states are characterized by generous social policy, while others are not. Several theories have been presented over the years, each providing new perspectives. The two theories that could be considered to be the most prominent are the Power Resource Theory, which centers on the importance of power resources of major classes, and the Varieties of Capitalism, which is more focused on the different needs of capitalists.The specific interest of this paper is the varying orientations of ALMP. It is argued that ALMP should not be understood as a homogenous concept, but instead as a category of policy which consists of a range of tools from which a government can choose. Analyzing the expenditure of these tools separately is thus of great importance for the development of a deeper understanding of the welfare state.Using regression analysis, I analyze which of the theories mentioned above is most strongly correlated to increased expenditure of ALMP. I use a total expenditure of ALMP, as is customary within the field, but I also include two other measures for specific tools of ALMP; incentive reinforcement programs and training programs.The results indicate that when looking at the total expenditure of ALMP the VoC approach appears to better explain the cause of welfare state expenditure. However, when including the measures for the specific tools of ALMP, the classic notion of VoC is confirmed only regarding incentive reinforcement programs, and contradicted regarding training programs. Moreover, the classic notion of PRT is confirmed regarding the expenditure of training programs, albeit with quite limited evidence. Also, the classic notion within PRT finds little support in the analysis of total expenditure of ALMP and the expenditure of incentive reinforcement programs. Only making a distinction between large and small welfare states is thus argued to be a simplification. Welfare states with similar levels of social expenditure might in fact differ significantly regarding actual policy preference.It is concluded that the continued disaggregation of ALMP is necessary in order to further the research field. Acknowledging the highly heterogeneous nature of ALMP is essential when understanding its expenditure.

No description available.

O principal objetivo da pesquisa é construir um mapa, informado pelas \"Teorias Ambientais\", das práticas do dirigente da pequena empresa relacionadas ao ambiente organizacional. Os objetivos específicos são: compreender as especificidades da pequena empresa de tecnologia da informação, como o dirigente compreende o ambiente organizacional e quais são as práticas relacionadas a ele. Pretendeu-se adotar uma postura subjetivista-interpretativa. O quadro teórico de análise é a etnometodologia. De acordo com as teorias ambientais estudadas, o ambiente organizacional é composto por grupos de interesse e instituições que fornecem recursos e legitimidade para a organização. As práticas relacionadas ao ambiente são atendimento das demandas dos grupos de interesse, alteração do ambiente organizacional e conformidade institucional. A pequena empresa apresenta algumas especificidades que podem ser compreendidas mediante três dimensões: dirigente, organização e contexto. Foi realizado um estudo de caso em uma pequena empresa da área de tecnologia da informação de Campinas-SP. Mediante análise da conversação e observação do cotidiano da empresa, puderam-se compreender as principais práticas dos dirigentes relacionadas ao ambiente organizacional. Foi construído um mapa representativo destas práticas, com base na Teoria da Dependência de Recursos e na Teoria Institucional. A empresa apresenta práticas de conformidade institucional, especialmente aos contextos tecnológico, político-legal e sócio-cultural. Mecanismos normativos e miméticos limitam a escolha da tecnologia para desenvolvimento dos softwares, e mecanismos coercitivos forçam a empresa a se adequar ao sistema político-legal e aos valores e normas sociais e culturais. No entanto, há tentativas de alteração destes contextos institucionais, mesmo que bastante restritas. A principal prática de alteração do ambiente organizacional é a estratégia de expansão - investimento direto, atendimento de outros \"nichos\" e diversificação. Mesmo que relativamente modesto, comparado às estratégias das grandes empresas do segmento de desenvolvimento de software, o crescimento representa, dentro do \"nicho\" específico que a empresa atua, redução da dependência e maior controle sobre os recursos que ela precisa para sobreviver. A idéia de \"mapa\" é coerente com a concepção weberiana de \"tipo-ideal\"; é uma forma de entender a realidade, um esquema de interpretação. / The main objective of this research is to construct a map, supported by \"Environmental Theories\", of the practices of small company managers related to the organizational environment. The specific objectives are the comprehension of the specificities of the information technology small company, how the manager understands the organizational environment and which practices are related to it. A subjective-interpretative position was adopted and the theoretical frame of analysis is ethnomethodology. According to the environmental theories studied, the organizational environment is composed of interest groups and institutions that supply resources and legitimacy to the organization. The practices related to the environment are the meeting of the interest groups\' demands, alteration of the organizational environment and institutional conformity. The small company presents specificities that can be understood by means of three dimensions: manager, organization and context. A case study was performed in an information technology small company in Campinas-SP. By means of a conversation analysis and observation of quotidian routine of company, it was possible to understand the managers\' main practices related to the organizational environment. A representative map of these practices was constructed on the basis of the Resource Dependence Theory and Institutional Theory. The company presents practices of institutional conformity, especially to the technological, legal-political and socio-cultural contexts. Normative and mimetic mechanisms limit the choice of the technology for software development, and coercive mechanisms force the company to adjust to the legal-political system and the values and social and cultural norms. However, although restricted, attempts have been made to modify these institutional contexts. The main practice of organizational environment alteration is the expansion strategy - direct investment, seeking for other \"niches\" and diversification. Although relatively modest, in comparison with large companies\' strategies in the software development segment, growth represents, inside of the \"specific niche\" the company acts in, a dependence reduction and greater control of the resources required for the company to survive. The idea of \"map\" is coherent with the weberian conception of \"ideal-type\"; it is a way to understand reality, a scheme of interpretation.

本研究是以Foa等人(1993)的「資源」觀點，來分析婦女在離婚時所可能擁有的生活資源與其離婚後適應的關係，分為自己提供給自己的資源，即個人的條件和特質；和別人所給與的資源兩大類。並採質化研究深入訪談為資料的主要蒐集方法，由分析的資料來看，離婚對女性的衝擊始於婚姻出現狀況開始，而隨時間過去，婦女離婚後生活的適應在型態上也會有一些差異，所以資源在不同階段所能發揮的作用也不相同。研究者依適應型態的不同將離婚適應分成四階段，1.「離」、「合」之間的混亂階段；2.離婚後需立即面對的主要適應議題與離婚資源的關係；3.適應議題的轉變與離婚資源的關係；與4.成長等四個階段。此四階段並無明確的時間區隔，只是發生的順序不同。文中還比較了不同人際關係所提供的資源在具體性上的差別以及其引申的意涵。 研究發現：1.離婚適應是一個長期的動態歷程，包含與生活相關的各向度，所以離婚者可獲得的資源如何，影響其離婚後生活適應的品質。2.以資源影響適應的觀點而言，資源當然對適應有益，但當適應牽涉到生活的各層面時，同一資源對不同向度的生活適應，便可能產生負面的影響。3.既然離婚適應是一個長期的歷程，同一項資源在不同的時間點上，特別是在人際關係所提供的資源方面，人際間的互動，可能隨著時間的消逝，而在心理層面有所改變，則這些改變就可能影響其所提供的資源，並進而影響婦女離婚後的生活適應。 / Based on Foa’s “Resource” perspective in 1993, this research analyzes the relationships between the resources women potentially own during the course of getting divorced and their adaptability to the post-divorced life style. The resources are grouped into two major sources: self-resources, i.e. personal qualifications and characteristics, and external-resources provided by others. This research relies on in-depth qualitative interviews as its main source of input data collection methodology. According to input data analyses, women’s post-divorced life styles have very different adaptive patterns. Therefore, “resources” also display different functions in divorce process. Based on different adaptive patterns, the researcher proposes four phases of divorce adaptability: 1) the chaotic phase of “marriage” or “divorce”; 2) the relationships between adaptation issues and resources during the phase immediate after divorce; 3) the relationships between the transformation of adaptation issues and resources; and 4) growth. There is no fixed timeframe for the four phases. The only distinction is the sequence of occurrence. Furthermore, this research compares the “concreteness” of resources provided by various inter-personal networks and its implications. This research discovers that: 1) the post-divorced adaptation is a long-term, dynamic process, covering all aspects of life. As a result, the resources available to divorcee will directly affect the quality of her post-divorced adaptation. 2) From the perspective of resources affecting adaptability, resources are certainly positive. However, when the adaptation involves with all aspects of life, the same resource might have negative effect on some certain dimensions. 3) Because divorce adaptation is a long-term process, the same resources, especially those provided by inter-personal networks, would likely fade away as a result of changes in personal interactions, and might psychologically affect the resource function, which in turn will affect women’s post-divorced life adaptability.

The symplectic formalism applied to the phase-space representation of bosonic quantum systems provides us with a powerful mathematical tool for the characterisation of Gaussian states and transformations. As a consequence, quantum information protocols involving the latter are very well understood from a theoretical point of view. Nevertheless, it has become clear in recent years that the use of non-Gaussian resources is necessary in order to perform various crucial information-processing tasks. An illustration of this fact can for instance be found in situations where a Gaussian no-go theorem precludes the use of Gaussian transformations in order to achieve a task involving Gaussian states, such as quantum entanglement distillation, quantum error correction, or universal quantum computation. In the first part of this thesis, we develop a new method based on the generating function of a sequence, which gives rise to an elegant description of intrinsically non-Gaussian objects. Building on the generating function of the matrix elements of Gaussian unitaries in Fock basis, our approach gives access to the multi-photon transition probabilities via unexpectedly simple recurrence equations. The method is developed for Gaussian unitaries effecting both passive and active linear coupling between two bosonic modes. It predicts an interferometric suppression term which generalises the Hong-Ou-Mandel effect for more than two indistinguishable photons impinging on a balanced beam splitter. Furthermore, it exhibits an unsuspected 2-photon suppression effect in optical parametric amplification of gain 2, which originates from the indistinguishability between the input and output photon pairs. Finally, we extend our method to Bogoliubov transformations acting on an arbitrary number of modes. In the second part of this thesis, we introduce a class of Gaussian-dilatable bosonic quantum channels (characterised by a Gaussian unitary in their Stinespring dilation) called passive-environment channels. These channels are interesting from a quantum thermodynamical viewpoint because they correspond to the coupling of a bosonic system with a bosonic environment that is passive in the Fock-basis (that is, no energy can be extracted from it by using unitary transformations) followed by discarding the environment. Making use of the generating function, we provide a description of these channels in terms of Gaussian bosonic channels. We then introduce a new preorder relation called Fock-majorization, which coincides with regular majorization for passive states but also induces another relation in terms of mean boson number, thereby connecting the concepts of energy and disorder of a quantum state. We prove various properties of Fock-majorization, showing in particular that the latter can be interpreted as a relation indicating the existence of a heating or amplifying map between two quantum states. This new preorder relation happens to be relevant in the context of passive-environment bosonic channels. Indeed, we show that these channels are Fock-majorization-preserving, so that any two input states that obey a Fock-majorization relation are transformed into output states respecting a similar relation. As a consequence, it also implies that passive-environment channels are majorization-preserving over the set of passive states of the harmonic oscillator. The consequences of majorization preservation are discussed in the context of the so-called entropy photon-number inequality. Most of our results being independent of the specific nature of the system under investigation, they could be generalised to other quantum systems and Hamiltonians, providing new tools that may prove useful in quantum information theory. In the last part of our thesis, we lay out a resource theory of local activity for bosonic systems. We introduce a notion of local-activity distance, and compare it with the work that can be extracted from a quantum state under local unitaries assisted by passive global unitaries. With this framework, we hope to connect the area of continuous-variable bosonic channels together with quantum thermodynamics. / Le formalisme symplectique appliqué à la représentation des systèmes bosoniques dans l'espace des phases donne accès à un outil mathématique puissant pour la caractérisation des états gau-ssiens et transformations gaussiennes. Les protocoles d'information quantique impliquant ces derniers sont d'ailleurs très bien compris d'un point de vue théorique. Toutefois, il s'est avéré clair durant ces dernières années que l'utilisation de ressources non-gaussiennes est nécessaire afin d'effectuer des tâches cruciales de traitement de l'information. En effet, certaines tâches — telles que la distillation d’intrication quantique, le codage quantique ou encore le calcul quantique — impliquant des états gaussiens ne peuvent être effectuées avec des transformations gaussiennes. Dans la première partie de cette thèse, nous développons une nouvelle méthode basée sur la fonction génératrice d'une suite qui donne lieu à une description élégante d'objets intrinsèquement non-gaussiens. Se basant sur la fonction génératrice des éléments de matrice d'unitaires gaussiens dans la base de Fock, notre approche donne accès aux probabilités de transition multi-photon via des équations de récurrence étonnamment simples. La méthode est développée pour des unitaires gaussiens produisant des couplages linéaires passifs et actifs entres deux modes bosoniques. Elle prédit un terme d'interférence destructive qui généralise l'effet Hong-Ou-Mandel pour plus de deux photons indistinguables pénétrant dans un diviseur de faisceau équilibré. De plus, elle met en évidence un effet inattendu de suppression de deux photons dans un amplificateur paramétrique optique de gain 2. Cette suppression résulte de l’indistinguabilité entre les paires de photons d’entrée et de sortie. Finalement, nous étendons notre méthode à des transformations de Bogoliubov agissant sur un nombre de modes arbitraire. Dans la seconde partie de cette thèse, nous introduisons une classe de canaux quantiques bosoniques gaussiens-dilatables (caractérisés par un unitaire gaussien dans leur ``Stinespring dilation") appelés canaux à environnement passif. Ces canaux sont intéressants du point de vue de la thermodynamique quantique puisqu’ils correspondent au couplage d’un système bosonique avec un environnement bosonique qui est passif dans la base de Fock (en d’autres termes, il est impossible d’en extraire de l’énergie avec des transformations unitaires), suivi du rejet de l’environnement. Grâce à la fonction génératrice, nous fournissons une description de ces transformations en termes de canaux quantiques bosoniques gaussiens limités par le bruit du vide. Nous introduisons ensuite une nouvelle relation de pré-ordre appelé ``majorization" de Fock, qui coïncide avec la ``majorization" usuelle pour les états passifs mais induit une autre relation en terme du nombre moyen de bosons, connectant ainsi les concepts d’énergie et de désordre d’un état quantique. Dans ce contexte, nous prouvons des propriétés variées de la ``majorization" de Fock et montrons en particulier que cette dernière peut être interprétée comme une relation indiquant l’existence d’une transformation d’amplification entre deux états quantiques. Cette nouvelle relation de pré-ordre s’avère appropriée dans le contexte des canaux bosonique à environnement passif. En effet, nous montrons que ces canaux conservent la ``majorization" de Fock, de sorte que n’importe quels deux états d’entrée obéissant une relation de ``majorization" de Fock sont transformés en états de sortie vérifiant une relation similaire. En particulier, cela implique que les canaux à environnement passif préservent la ``majorization" pour l'ensemble des états passifs de l’oscillateur harmonique. Les conséquences de la préservation de la ``majorization" sont examinées dans le contexte de la ``entropy photon-number inequality". Étant indépendants de la nature spécifique du système étudié, la plupart de nos résultats peuvent être généralisés à d’autres systèmes et hamiltoniens quantiques, donnant lieu à de nouveaux outils qui pourraient s’avérer utiles en théorie de l’information quantique. Dans la dernière partie de notre thèse, nous mettons en place une théorie de l’activité locale pour les système bosoniques. Nous introduisons une notion de distance en terme d'activité locale et la comparons avec le travail qui peut être extrait d'un état quantique avec des unitaires locaux assistés par des unitaires globaux passifs. Le but à long terme est de se baser sur cette théorie afin de connecter les domaines des canaux bosoniques à variables continues et de la thermodynamique quantique. / Doctorat en Sciences de l'ingénieur et technologie / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Syfte: Företagens sociala ansvar diskuteras alltmer frekvent och CSR har vuxit fram som en viktig fråga för företagen och dess intressenter. Som en respons på detta har frågan kring företagens ansvar att betala skatt också lyfts fram som en del i det sociala ansvaret. Då tidigare studier visat på motstridiga resultat har det diskuterats om företagets lönsamhet har någon påverkan på sambandet mellan CSR och skatteundandragande, och att denna modererande variabel kan vara en orsak till de tidigare motstridiga resultaten. Syftet med denna studie är därför att undersöka om företagets lönsamhet har någon påverkan på sambandet mellan CSR och skatteundandragande, baserat på företag på den europeiska marknaden. Metod: Studien använder en positivistisk forskningsfilosofi med en hypotetisk-deduktiv ansats. Studien har en kvantitativ forskningsstrategi och en longitudinell design som genomförts med data över tio år på 460 publika europeiska företag, för åren 2007-2016. Studien bygger på sekundär data från databasen Thomson Reuters Datastream. Data har analyserats i statistikprogrammen SPSS och STATA. Resultat & slutsats: Studiens resultat ger bevis på att lönsamheten har en viss modererande effekt på sambandet mellan CSR och skatteundandragande. Företag som visar på en hög lönsamhet visar istället på ett större positivt samband mellan CSR och skatteundandragande, vilket tyder på att de ser skatt och CSR som två åtskilda aktiviteter. Resultatet gällande olika institutionella strukturers påverkan på sambandet, visar att det finns skillnader beroende på vilken institutionell struktur företaget befinner sig inom. Studiens slutsats är därför att lönsamheten har en modererande effekt på sambandet mellan CSR och skatteundandragande, samt att lönsamma företag visar större tendenser för skatteundandragande aktiviteter än mindre lönsamma. Examensarbetets bidrag: Studien bidrar till den empiriska forskningen för europeiska företag, gällande sambandet mellan CSR och skatteundandragande. Den bidrar även till att öka den empiriska forskningen på ämnesområdet samt huruvida företagets institutionella tillhörighet påverkar ovan nämnda samband. Resultatet bidrar med värdefull teoretisk information till den motstridiga forskningen gällande sambandet mellan CSR och skatteundandragande. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Ett förslag till fortsatt forskning är att använda andra mått för skatteundandragande, då begreppet anses vara så brett. Ytterligare ett förslag är att utföra en liknande studie där CSR delas utifrån dess olika dimensioner för att se om det finns skillnader mellan dem. Ur ett populationsperspektiv finns det ett gap gällande den globala forskningen, ett förslag är därför att genomföra en liknande studie, där börsnoterade bolag från hela världen inkluderas. Där företagen sedan fördelas utifrån den institutionella struktur som de tillhör, för att analysera resultatet utifrån institutionell nivå i ett globalt perspektiv. / Aim: Companies social responsibility has been discussed more frequently and CSR has grown to be an important question for companies and their stakeholders. As a response to this the question regarding companies’ responsibility to pay tax has also been lifted as a part of their social responsibility. Earlier studies has showed contradictory results regarding the relation between CSR and tax avoidance, and arguments regarding companies results has emerged as an moderating variable to the relation. The purpose of this study is to examine the correlation between CSR and European companies’ effective tax rate, and if the influence of profitability has any effect on this relation. Method: The study is assumes a positivistic research philosophy with a hypothetical-deductive approach. The study has a quantitative strategy and a longitudinal design, implemented with ten-year data of 460 public European companies, for the time period 2007-2016. The study is based on secondary data from the database Thomson Reuters Datastream. The data has been analyzed in two statistical programs, SPSS and STATA. Result & Conclusions: The result of the study gives some evidence that profitability has a moderating effect on the relationship between CSR and tax avoidance. Companies that has high profitability shows a greater positive relationship between CSR and tax avoidance, which indicates that they view tax and CSR as substitutes or as two opposite activities. The result regarding different institutions influence on this relationship, shows that there are differences depending in which institution the company is located. The conclusion from this study is therefore that profitability have a proven moderating effect on the relationship between CSR and tax avoidance, companies with high profitability does show greater tendencies to use more tax avoidance when their CSR-activities are higher, then does companies with less profitability. Contribution of the thesis: The study contributes to the empirical research for European companies, regarding the relationship between CSR and tax avoidance. It also contributes to the empirical research in this area of research, and whether or not the companies sectorial or institutional belonging effect the relationship between CSR and tax avoidance. The result contributes with valuable theoretical information to the contradictory research regarding the relationship between CSR and tax avoidance. Suggestions for future research: One suggestion for future research is to use other measurements for tax avoidance, when the description of tax avoidance is so wide. Another suggestion is to do a similar study where CSR is divided into its separate dimensions to see if there is differences between them, regarding the relation towards tax avoidance. From a population perspective there is a gap regarding the global research on this subject, one suggestion is therefore to perform a similar study, where public companies from all over the world is included. Then group the companies depending on which institution the belong to, to analyse the results from an institutional level from a global perspective.

O principal objetivo da pesquisa é construir um mapa, informado pelas \"Teorias Ambientais\", das práticas do dirigente da pequena empresa relacionadas ao ambiente organizacional. Os objetivos específicos são: compreender as especificidades da pequena empresa de tecnologia da informação, como o dirigente compreende o ambiente organizacional e quais são as práticas relacionadas a ele. Pretendeu-se adotar uma postura subjetivista-interpretativa. O quadro teórico de análise é a etnometodologia. De acordo com as teorias ambientais estudadas, o ambiente organizacional é composto por grupos de interesse e instituições que fornecem recursos e legitimidade para a organização. As práticas relacionadas ao ambiente são atendimento das demandas dos grupos de interesse, alteração do ambiente organizacional e conformidade institucional. A pequena empresa apresenta algumas especificidades que podem ser compreendidas mediante três dimensões: dirigente, organização e contexto. Foi realizado um estudo de caso em uma pequena empresa da área de tecnologia da informação de Campinas-SP. Mediante análise da conversação e observação do cotidiano da empresa, puderam-se compreender as principais práticas dos dirigentes relacionadas ao ambiente organizacional. Foi construído um mapa representativo destas práticas, com base na Teoria da Dependência de Recursos e na Teoria Institucional. A empresa apresenta práticas de conformidade institucional, especialmente aos contextos tecnológico, político-legal e sócio-cultural. Mecanismos normativos e miméticos limitam a escolha da tecnologia para desenvolvimento dos softwares, e mecanismos coercitivos forçam a empresa a se adequar ao sistema político-legal e aos valores e normas sociais e culturais. No entanto, há tentativas de alteração destes contextos institucionais, mesmo que bastante restritas. A principal prática de alteração do ambiente organizacional é a estratégia de expansão - investimento direto, atendimento de outros \"nichos\" e diversificação. Mesmo que relativamente modesto, comparado às estratégias das grandes empresas do segmento de desenvolvimento de software, o crescimento representa, dentro do \"nicho\" específico que a empresa atua, redução da dependência e maior controle sobre os recursos que ela precisa para sobreviver. A idéia de \"mapa\" é coerente com a concepção weberiana de \"tipo-ideal\"; é uma forma de entender a realidade, um esquema de interpretação. / The main objective of this research is to construct a map, supported by \"Environmental Theories\", of the practices of small company managers related to the organizational environment. The specific objectives are the comprehension of the specificities of the information technology small company, how the manager understands the organizational environment and which practices are related to it. A subjective-interpretative position was adopted and the theoretical frame of analysis is ethnomethodology. According to the environmental theories studied, the organizational environment is composed of interest groups and institutions that supply resources and legitimacy to the organization. The practices related to the environment are the meeting of the interest groups\' demands, alteration of the organizational environment and institutional conformity. The small company presents specificities that can be understood by means of three dimensions: manager, organization and context. A case study was performed in an information technology small company in Campinas-SP. By means of a conversation analysis and observation of quotidian routine of company, it was possible to understand the managers\' main practices related to the organizational environment. A representative map of these practices was constructed on the basis of the Resource Dependence Theory and Institutional Theory. The company presents practices of institutional conformity, especially to the technological, legal-political and socio-cultural contexts. Normative and mimetic mechanisms limit the choice of the technology for software development, and coercive mechanisms force the company to adjust to the legal-political system and the values and social and cultural norms. However, although restricted, attempts have been made to modify these institutional contexts. The main practice of organizational environment alteration is the expansion strategy - direct investment, seeking for other \"niches\" and diversification. Although relatively modest, in comparison with large companies\' strategies in the software development segment, growth represents, inside of the \"specific niche\" the company acts in, a dependence reduction and greater control of the resources required for the company to survive. The idea of \"map\" is coherent with the weberian conception of \"ideal-type\"; it is a way to understand reality, a scheme of interpretation.