Fair weight : empowering member states through goal-based voting weight for effective implementation of IMO instruments

This dissertation is an endeavour to introduce the concept of ‘‘Fair Weight’’ defined as a goal-based voting weight that would empower Member States to ensure effective implementation of IMO instruments. The evolution of IMO as an international organization for maritime related matters shall be studied to understand the existing decision making process of IMO instruments. In addition, the dimensions of voting weights utilized for equality of representation in the decision making process of IMO shall be studied. Furthermore, the impact of the tacit acceptance procedure and open registry on these dimensions of voting weights shall be evaluated to understand the appropriate representation of Member States within the IMO decision making process. Decision making processes of international organizations, such as United Nations and its selected agencies, shall be reviewed in the light of their purpose and methodology used for Member States representation. The need for reforms in the IMO decision making process shall be identified by computing the voting power of Member States. ‘‘Fair Weight’’, based on various classifiers that define the IMO instrument, shall be recommended to be utilized for equality of representation in the decision making process of IMO. The concluding chapter discusses the increased representation due to ‘‘Fair Weight’’ of Member States in IMO decision making process leading to their empowerment in effectively implementing IMO instruments

Green Energy Depends on Critical Minerals. Who Controls the Supply Chains?

In light of the transition away from fossil fuel–based energy, this paper highlights the importance of understanding who controls vital parts of the global supply chains of critical minerals and rare earth elements (REEs). Analysis of direct ownership does not reveal the real sources of control over the decisions of the company. To identify those sources, we use an index that measures the degree to which important shareholders can affect voting decisions. This analysis is not straightforward, because companies along the supply chain are not necessarily incorporated in the countries in which mining and production activities take place, and shareholders can exert influence through multiple layers of subsidiaries. Our analysis reveals that China’s control over the global value chains involving critical minerals and REEs extends beyond what is commonly assumed. It also sheds light on environmental, social, and governance issues in the countries in which mining and/or production take place. The paper advocates increasing transparency regarding the sources of control to better assess and manage economic and geopolitical risks; enhancing recycling, to reduce dependency on foreign supply; avoiding protectionist and trade-reducing reactions; and encouraging research and development in order to speed up the adoption of technologies of substitution

Cost Allocation: Methods, Principles, Applications

This book provides a theoretical framework for systematically evaluating the "pros" and "cons" of various methods. It also includes a series of case studies in cost allocation to give a sense of the real problems encountered in implementation. Among the examples treated are telecommunications pricing, multipurpose reservoir charges, and airport landing fees. Finally several articles address the broader fairness issues inherent in the pricing of public services. The history of the notion of the "just price" from medieval to modern times is discussed, together with observations on what principles seem to guide decisions in telecommunications rate cases in the United States. The connections between cost allocation, efficiency, and entry in the telecommunications market are also examined in two different contexts: the U.S. and France. The overall aim of the book is to provide theoretical foundations for using specific methods, to examine the distributional and fairness issues involved in cost allocation, and to give a sense of the practical problems encountered in implementation. The book will appeal to practitioners interested in what allocation methods are available, and to theorists concerned with their axiomatic foundations

Insights from Annual General Meetings

This thesis consists of five empirical studies, all relating to shareholder activism at annual general meetings. The first study concerns the structure and content of general meetings in Denmark and Sweden comparatively. The paper reveals significant differences in the level of activism, with Swedish investors being the most active in terms of proposals, proxy voting, and ‘voice’. The paper takes a legal approach, and discusses divergence in activism levels from the perspective of shareholder prerequisites to engage in monitoring efforts. Further, the paper investigating the topics addressed through questions and opinions. The results show that matters which can be categorized as irrelevant are reasonably rare. This is an important finding, as suggestions to abolish general meetings have often been based on the assumption that general meetings facilitate nothing but irrelevant, time consuming, and costly discussions that serves no monitoring function. The second study analyses the impact of voting power on shareholder activism. We hypothesize that there is a positive relationship between shareholder activism and a measure of the largest shareholder’s sensitivity to increased participation by small shareholders and find that firms’ amenability to small shareholder influence leads to more proposals by the nomination committee, but fewer proposals by other shareholders. We interpret this as evidence that the shareholder elected nomination committees effectively channel shareholder concerns and preempt other kinds of activism. Politicians and companies that desire active shareholders could improve the amenability of firms to shareholder influence by ownership transparency, shareholder committees, and contacts with shareholder associations and other vehicles for collective action..

CORPORATE OWNERSHIP AND CONTROL STRUCTURES AND FIRM PERFORMANCE: EVIDENCE FROM CONTROL POTENTIAL, AGENCY, AND CONTROL DOMINANCE-CONTESTABILITY PERSPECTIVES ON UK LISTED FIRMS

CORPORATE OWNERSHIP AND CONTROL STRUCTURES AND FIRM PERFORMANCE: EVIDENCE FROM CONTROL POTENTIAL, AGENCY, AND CONTROL DOMINANCE-CONTESTABILITY PERSPECTIVES ON UK LISTED FIRMS BY: ABDELLA KORMIE DINGA MATERIAL ABSTRACT The research study comprises of two preceding Chapters, three main empirical Parts, and CONCLUSION. The first Chapter, Introduction, presents the overall research objectives and questions of the study based on the existing agency perspectives regarding the issues of control and governance conflicts in modern corporations. The second Chapter, Review of Theoretical Frameworks, presents a brief account of similarities and differences between the existing theoretical frameworks relevant to the control of corporations. The review identified that the agency theory provides powerful testable models and tools that can be used in the investigation of the agency conflicts and the possible solutions that mitigate the governance problems. The three empirical Chapters follow mainly the deductive research approach of making statistical inferences using a sample of major UK listed firms in the FTSE All Share Index for the period 2003-2007. Chapter Three deals with the analysis of the state and trends or evolution of corporate ownership and control structure and some board structures of the UK listed firms. The Chapter has been instrumental in preparing the raw materials of ownership and control structure variables that are used in the succeeding two chapters. Chapter Four deals with the analysis of the relationship between ownership structure and performance using aggregate stake of all identifiable blockholders’ categories and all external blockholders in the agency perspective. Chapter Five presents analysis of the relationship among ownership, control structures and firm performance using the structural equations framework in the control dominance-contestability perspective. Finally, the Thesis closes with a Conclusion. In summary, the Theses of this empirical research study suggest the followings. Firstly, there is the prevalence of multiple significant blockholders in the modern listed firms even when share ownership is dispersed. Secondly, in the presence of multiple significant blockholders in the firm, there is a likelihood that the second-type agency conflicts between large shareholders and minority shareholders exists, and that might be the dominant force that determines the possible control configuration even in listed firms with dispersed ownership. Thirdly and finally, the traditional one-equation modelling and their estimations in the methodology of looking into the relationship of separate share ownership categories or accounting for few of the categories might not precisely identify (1) the blockholders’ (control forces’) incentives and ability of exerting control over the modern corporations, (2) the problem of endogeneity that might arise in the relationships, and (3) the way significant multiple blockholders interact and share control of the firms. Hence, the use of structural equations modelling and control dominance-contestability perspectives, in which the roles of blockholders structure control forces, internal and external governance mechanisms, and the problems of endogeneity are accounted for might be appropriate to reveal the control configuration of modern listed firms with multiple large blockholders