This thesis examines retail bank workers’ informal learning practices in a major Canadian bank under conditions of rapid organizational restructuring and ongoing automation during the mid- to late-1990s. Based on a national survey of bank workers’ learning practices and ethnographic fieldwork in three branches, the thesis’s key findings are as follows. The poor learning environment in the branches, combined with the bank’s adoption of a formal study training policy, are at odds with both empirical surveys of adults’ informal learning practices and with adults’ preferred ways of learning at work – which are predominantly informal in nature. There is also evidence that informal on-the-job learning is being displaced and crowded out by work-related formal study via the “substitution effect” (Livingstone, 2010, 424). The heavy formal study pressures are heightened by the lack of trade unions and job security, and the vulnerable position of many women workers, particularly those without higher education.

This paper examines the impact of financial sector foreign direct investment (FSFDI) on economic growth by estimating a panel data model for 11 Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs) between 1996 and 2003 in a cross-country growth accounting framework. The analysis concentrates on the efficiency channel linking FSFDI to economic growth. The results clearly indicate that there can be a relationship between FSFDI and economic growth. Approaching a medium degree of financial M&A is rewarded by higher economic growth after two periods. Beyond it, FSFDI seems to spur economic growth depending on a higher human capital stock. FSFDI-induced knowledge-spillovers to domestic banks can be an explanation for this phenomenon. Above a certain threshold, the crowding-out of local physical capital caused by the entry of a foreign bank seems to hamper economic growth. The value of the paper lies in (1) providing novel data on FSFDI in CEECs, (2) analyzing the impact of FDI on a sectoral level and (3) in modeling the hitherto only qualitatively discussed relationship between foreign banks and economic development into a structural, econometric model that combines two streams of economic research: the FDI-growth-literature and the finance-growth-literature. (author's abstract) / Series: EI Working Papers / Europainstitut

The main purpose of the study is to examine the cointegration relationships among economic growth, foreign direct investment and financial sector development in 4 East Asian countries, namely Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand between the years 1971-2008 by autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach. In the existing literature, there is no study examining the causal relationships among economic growth, foreign direct investment and financial sector development by applying ARDL methodology for these East Asian countries. The contribution of this study to the literature, the cointegration relationships are constructed to observe the direct linkage among these variables by ARDL approach. If cointegration relationships exist among these variables, then the effect of each regressor on the dependent variable is also investigated. The results of the study indicate that foreign direct investment and financial sector development could be long run forcing variables of economic growth. Additionally, economic growth and financial sector development could be long run forcing variables of foreign direct investment. However, there is not sufficient evidence that economic growth and foreign direct investment together are long run key determinants of financial sector development in a country as obtained in this study.

Darbo tema yra aktuali tuo, kad tarptautinės reitingų agentūros, įvertindamos skolų krizę Europoje, pastaruoju metu daugeliui šalių mažino valstybės kredito reitingus ar blogino jų perspektyvas. Nors po prieš trejus metus patirto nuosmukio Baltijos šalių reitingai ir stabilizavosi, jų aukštesnių reikšmių išlaikymas Baltijos valstybėms yra svarbus užsienio investicijų pritraukimo ir šių šalių finansų sektoriaus vystymosi veiksnys. Vis dėlto, reitingų gerėjimas gali turėti ir priešingą poveikį.Todėl svarbu išsiaiškinti situaciją Baltijos šalyse. Tiriamojo darbo objektas yra Baltijos šalių ilgalaikio ir trumpalaikio skolinimosi užsienio valiuta reitingai bei ilgalaikio ir trumpalaikio skolinimosi nacionaline valiuta reitingai. Šio darbo tikslas - atlikus teorinę valstybės kredito reitingų ir jų įtakos šalies finansų sektoriaus vystymuisi ir užsienio investicijų srautams analizę, nustatyti valstybės kredito reitingų įtaką finansų sektoriaus vystymuisi ir užsienio investicijų srautams Baltijos šalyse. Darbo tikslui pasiekti buvo suformuluoti uždaviniai: atlikti teorinę valstybės kredito reitingų ir jų įtakos šalies finansų sektoriaus vystymuisi ir užsienio investicijų srautams analizę, išanalizuoti Baltijos šalių finansų sektoriaus išsivystymo lygį bei užsienio investicijų srautų ir kredito reitingų šiose šalyse pokyčių tendencijas, reitingus įtakojusius veiksnius, nustatyti valstybės kredito reitingų įtaką finansų sektoriaus vystymuisi ir užsienio investicijų srautams Baltijos... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The topic of the work is relevant due to the fact, that international credit rating agencies, assessing the debt crisis in Europe, recently downgraded credit ratings or their outlook for many countries. Despite the fact that sovereign credit ratings of Baltic states have stabilized after the decline occured three years ago, higher ratings are the essential factor for Baltic states, seeking to attract foreign investment and promote their financial sector development. Though, the improvements of ratings may have the opposite effect. Therefore, it is important to clarify the situation in Baltic states. The object of the research work – the Baltic states‘ short and long term in foreign and local currency ratings. The purpose of this paper is to establish the impact of sovereign credit ratings on the financial sector development and international capital flows in the Baltic states, doing theoretical analysis on sovereign credit ratings and their impact on the financial sector development and international capital flows in a country. In order to achieve an objective, the following tasks have been fomulated: to accomplish above-mentioned theoretical analysis, to analyse the level of financial sector development, changes in trends of international capital flows and sovereign credit ratings in the Baltic states, reveal the main factors, which affected ratings in these countries and ascertain the influence of these ratings on the financial sector development and international capital... [to full text]

Without doubt a well-developed financial sector is related to efficient resource allocation and growth, but there is modest consensus on the direction of that link, on the notion of what is meant by "well developed", on which subset of the financial market is crucial and thus which organisational set-up provides optimal returns for both architects and market participants alike. With sluggish growth, torn down market barriers and systemic change in the EU accession countries the direction, magnitude, sustainability, institutional set-up of the finance-growth nexus (and which), becomes one of the core issues of both macroeconomic theory and practice. This paper reviews the economic theory available, provides a well structured overview of 54 empirical studies conducted since 1964, sets the stage for constructing a data base encompassing the major three segments of financial markets (stock, bond and bank credit) and provides the methodological background for combining cross-country production function and time-series approaches in order to answer the following questions: (1) What is the direction of the finance-growth nexus, (2) which segment of the financial sector drives whatever nexus there is, and (3) what are the features of a growth supportive financial architecture. / Series: EI Working Papers / Europainstitut

The ability of banks to implement regulations is important in several aspects. From the Finance Inspection ́s Point of view a successful implementation is important to protect the financial system and the consumers. For the banks it is important from a cost-benefit perspective, but also to keep customers satisfied and to maintain the right to continue banking. In spite of the advantages of successful implementation, the research in this area is limited. The aim of the study is therefore to explain how banks can implement new regulations. To fulfil the aim of the study we have adopted a qualitative view. Two case studies have been made in which empirics has been collected through eight semi-structured interviews. The respondents were bank employees who had been highly involved in the implementation of MiFID II and MiFIR. The empirics were thereafter analyzed with guidance from the theoretical frame of reference. The conclusion of the study is that the banks implementation of regulations is influenced by different factors: the cooperation between banks, the aim of the bank, the corporation culture, and the structure of the organization. The analyze has been used as a start point to create a model for how banks implement regulations. Implementation can be divided into interpretation and introduction. A major challenge is to translate the regulations and integrate them into the business activity. In order to make the employee practice the regulations, different steering mechanisms are used, for example education, information and monitoring. / Bankers förmåga att implementera regelverk kan utifrån flera perspektiv anses viktigt. Utifrån finansinspektionens perspektiv är en lyckad implementering viktigt för att skydda det finansiella systemet och konsumenterna. Medan det utifrån bankernas egna perspektiv är viktigt, dels ur ett kostnadsperspektiv och dels för att bibehålla nöjda kunder samt rätten att bedriva bankverksamhet. Trots fördelen med en lyckad implementering är tidigare forskning på området begränsad. Studiens syfte är därför att förklara hur banker implementerar nya regelverk. För att uppfylla studiens syfte har ett kvalitativt tillvägagångsätt tillämpats. I undersökningen har två fallstudier genomförts där empiri samlats genom åtta semistrukturerade intervjuer. Respondenterna bestod av bankanställda som varit högt uppsatta i implementeringen av MiFID II och MiFIR. Empirin har sedan analyserats med hjälp av den teoretiska referensramen. Utifrån analysen har sedan en modell för hur banker implementerar regelverk skapats. Studiens slutsats är att bankers implementering av regelverk påverkas av samarbete mellan banker via branschorganisationer, bankernas målsättning, företagskulturen, regelverkets komplexitet och till viss del av organisationsstrukturen. Implementering kan delas upp i tolkning och införande där en stor del handlar om att översätta regelverket och integrera det i affärsverksamheten. För att sedan få anställda att tillämpa regelverket används olika former av styrmekanismer, så som utbildning, information och uppföljning.

Ever since the 1960s, it has been argued that customer needs have to be a firm's core business purpose. One way for firm to achieve this, is through use of market orientation strategies. Recent research has found that shared leadership could have a positive effect on market orientation, as well as within top management teams. The ability that top management teams have to influence the organization, is further found to be effected by the level of discretion they operate within. This thesis seeks to explain the relationship between shared leadership within top management teams and market orientation, and how this relationship in turn might be contingent on perceived contextual discretion. This is done through a quantitative method, where a survey study is done on the top management teams in Swedish saving banks. The findings of this thesis show that shared leadership is positively related with market orientation, and that this relationship is not contingent on perceived contextual discretion. The variable of perceived contextual discretion was, however, found to have the effect of an independent variable with a strong positive direct effect on market orientation within the financial sector. One limitation of this thesis is that the statements for perceived contextual discretion has been developed only from concepts, and have not been tested in any previous study. This brings with it a risk that these statements did not measure the concept in the most optimal way. The theoretical contributions of this thesis are how perceived contextual discretion is found to have a direct effect on market orientation. This further imply that perceived contextual discretion has an effect on the level of market orientation within a firm.

The study investigates the financial sector development threshold levels that would influence FDI inflows. The threshold levels identified are 41.27% of stock market capitalisation for stock market turnover, 53.55% of GDP for stock market value traded, 121.53% of GDP for stock market capitalisation, 114.43% of GDP for domestic credit to private sector by banks, 144.06% of GDP for domestic credit provided by financial sector, 0.22% of GDP for outstanding domestic private debt securities and 41.26% of GDP for outstanding domestic public debt securities. The results show that higher stock market and banking sector development above the threshold level positively and significantly influence FDI inflows whilst the influence of lower stock market and banking sector development on FDI inflows was weak and less significant. Levels of private bond market development equal to or greater than the threshold level are found to have a positive but non-significant impact on FDI inflows whereas private bond market development levels less than the threshold has a weaker positive and non-significant influence on FDI inflows. On the contrary, public bond market development levels equal to or greater than the threshold level negatively influenced FDI inflows whilst levels of public bond market development less than the threshold positively but non-significantly attracted FDI inflows into emerging markets. / Business Management / Ph. D. (Management Studies)

nÃo hà / O presente artigo busca uma mÃtrica refinada e confiÃvel para mensurar riscos financeiros. RiskMetrics (1994) marcou o inÃcio dessa busca e desde entÃo vÃrios pesquisadores contribuÃram com inovaÃÃes e novos modelos para essa medida e aqui se apresenta mais um passo desse caminho, ao se agregar uma modelagem multivariada. Com essa modelagem à possÃvel capturar o efeito contÃgio e a interdependÃncia financeira global. O grupo de 10 paÃses presente no estudo representa 49,9% do PIB mundial e possuem representantes de 5 continentes. O modelo de volatilidade segue sugestÃo apresentada por Cappielo, Engle e Sheppard (2006) e modelos de Value-at-Risk (VaR) seguem Matos, Cruz, Macedo e Jucà (CAEN-UFC Workingpaper). AtravÃs desse procedimento à possÃvel calcular VaR levando em consideraÃÃo o efeito contÃgio e a interdependÃncia entre os mercados ao longo do tempo. Os resultados encontrados sÃo robustos contra problemas de variÃveis omitidas, heterocedasticidade e endogeneidade, alÃm de considerar quebras estruturais. De acordo com os resultados encontrados, a interdependÃncia apresenta um papel importante dentro do processo de mensuraÃÃo de risco de mercado, apesar de atà agora ter sido esquecida pelos pesquisadores. Isso se deve, principalmente, porque a integraÃÃo financeira a nÃvel global leva ao cenÃrio de dependÃncia crescente entre os mercados financeiros e, dessa forma, aumentando o contÃgio de um impacto que ocorre em um mercado nos outros. Convidamos outros pesquisadores a rever nossa metodologia, utilizando inclusive mais informaÃÃes e incluindo outros paÃses. Acredita-se que o mundo està ano a ano se tornando mais globalizado e suas economias por consequÃncia. Nesse artigo esse efeito està sendo considerado dentro da mensuraÃÃo do risco de mercado. Incorporar esse efeito leva a modelagem, legal e interna, mais acurada, que ajuda supervisores de mercado a garantirem estabilidade de longo prazo para os mercados e possuÃrem mÃtricas mais confiÃveis dentro das instituiÃÃes sob sua tutela. AlÃm disso, à de grande valia para Ãreas de GestÃo de Risco de bancos e instituiÃÃes financeiras ao ajuda-las a compreender melhor seu perfil de risco, melhorar a comunicaÃÃo com investidores institucionais internacionais e ranquear de maneira mais eficiente seus investimentos e aplicaÃÃes. Estudos anteriores possuem um aspecto comum: Apenas levam em consideraÃÃo mudanÃas de volatilidade nos mercados domÃsticos, nÃo levando em consideraÃÃo os efeitos que outros paÃses possuem neles. No presente estudo, esse efeito se provou como importante e representativo, os modelos univariados domÃsticos falharam mais e com mais severidade que os modelos multivariados. Portanto, no presente artigo, buscou-se o desafio de dar o passo de nÃo mais modelar modelos univariados domÃsticos, mas modelos 4 multivariados globais. Acredita-se que esse avanÃo metodolÃgico ajudarà a melhor mensurar e entender o comportamento do risco de mercado atravÃs do mundo. / This paper enter into the search of a refined and trustable metric for measuring financial risk. RiskMetrics (1994) marked the start of this search and since them many researches contributed with innovations and new models for that measure, and here we find a stepforward into the search, by aggregating multivariate models, with this itâs possible to capture the effect of a worldwide contagion and financial interdependence. The group of 10 countries presents in this study represents 49,9% of world GDP and has representation across 5 continents. We follow the model of volatilities suggested in Cappielo, Engle e Sheppard (2006) and Value-at-Risk follows Matos, Cruz, Macedo e Jucà (CAEN-UFC Working paper), though this procedure itâs possible to accurate VaR model, and take in count the contagion and interdependence between markets, in long term. Our results are robust to problems with omitted variable, heteroskedasticity and endogeneity. We also take into account for structural break. According to our results, the interdependence plays an important role into financial risk measure process, although its until now usually forbidden by modelers, mostly because worldâs financial integration leads the global economies to the scenario of increasing dependence among them and contagion effect that spreads the impacts that occur into one market to the others. We invite researchers to revisit this issue in order obtain evidences using larger data and other countries as well. We claim that the world is year by year more globalized, and so are the other economies, here we add this into account for measuring financial risks. This leads to model, legal and internal, more accurate that help supervisors to guarantee the long term stability across the markets, have trustable measure of the financial institutions under their responsibility. Besides, helps the Risk Management area of banks and other financial institutions to better understand their risk profile, improve communication with institutional investors worldwide and rank effiently their investments and applications into the markets. Previous studies have a common aspect: they only consider the volatilities change across the domestic market, not tanking in consider the effect of the other countries into the domestic volatility, and this effect here is proven to be important and representative, the univariate domestic risk measure fails more and harder than the multivariate model. That being said, here we take this step, the challenge of modeling no more univariate, domestic risk measures, but a worldwide multivariate. This is a methodological innovation that helps better measure and understands the financial risks behavior across the world.

The thesis titled "More is Less: The Political Economy of the MiFID Revision" aims to reveal to what extent different preferences of individual Member States on EU financial regulation affect the increase in complexity of financial legislative acts, concretely MiFID II. Using three theoretical building-blocks in a classical framework of political economy, we argue that divergence of member states is inherent to their different capitalist environments (Varieties of Capitalism). Aligning these differences with the common, harmonized regime can create costs and cause market disadvantages. Therefore, Member States try to push for as similar legislation to their own as possible, to minimize the costs. The result is a disproportionately long legislative act, that was crafted in a way to satisfy individual preferences of Member States, through discretionary provisions, exemptions and other. We also investigate how much harmonization the original MiFID established, asking if some provision became less complicated in MiFID II, owing to gradual convergence of Member State regimes.