Corporate goverance in context: assessing the sustainability of managerial systems in the global ecomony with evidence from Germany's insider model

PhDThis thesis will assess the sustainability of managerial corporate governance systems in the context of the current economic globalisation wave. In order to do so corporate governance is studied as the function of decision-making undertaken by managers as corporate controllers, which is embedded in the national and supranational institutional context. The latter determine not only how much discretion managers have but also how they use it. Two main workable institutional equilibria are identified, reflecting two respective visions of the corporation that emerge from an overview of the most influential theories developed to study the nature of the firm. The first emphasises market transactions by promoting the externalisation of corporate functions and tends to align managerial decision-making to the interests of current shareholders, i. e. the maximisation of the firm's market value. The second contains a tendency towards the internalisation of corporate functions by the corporate organisation with enhanced managerial discretion being a crucial element for the sustainability of this sort of coordination. The crucial difference between these two institutional equilibria, i. e. the shareholder-oriented and the managerial, is that the former is less growth-oriented/dependent and emphasises the lack of commitment between stakeholders and "exit" from corporate relationships, whereas the latter is more growth-oriented/dependent and relies on stakeholder commitment and "voice". It is due to this difference that the managerial system is more susceptible to price competition which involves drastic cost-cuttings that affect stakeholder relationships and therefore more reliant on stable but relatively high macroeconomic growth rates and effective demand. A central hypothesis of this project is that this fundamental difference between the two systems is the decisive factor behind their ability to survive within the current context of economic globalisation. It is argued that globalisation, as a process where national institutional structures are gradually replaced by others determined by world market forces, not only promotes market based macro- and microeconomic coordination but has also (as a result) led to a global economic slowdown due to the inherent imperfections of the market mechanism. Simultaneously, the gradual removal of economic barriers has brought national corporate governance systems in competition with each other with increasing emphasis being placed on cost-reductions and short-term investments due to slower demand-growth. This has a negative impact on the workability of managerial systems and through a process of global isomorphism leads to the emergence of the shareholder-oriented system as the most likely winner not because it is better in terms of economic efficiency, but because it is more flexible. While these pressures are real, global corporate governance convergence is not guaranteed in the short and medium term due to different institutional dynamics that exist in each national system and which determine the scale and scope of adaptation. Empirical evidence from Germany confirms this since, although many basic institutions supporting German managerialism are being eroded, some path dependent ones remain stable and thus prevent the complete institutionalisation of shareholder supremacy. However, this creates systemic workability problems that can in the long term undermine even those institutional structures that are highly path dependent. The progress of further adaptation in the future depends on whether the costs of unworkability exceed adaptation costs

Subsistence agriculture in Central and Eastern Europe: how to break the vicious circle?

Subsistence agriculture is probably the least understood and the most neglected type of agriculture. In a globalised, market-driven world, it remains at the same time a myth and a marginal phenomenon. CONTENTS: Subsistence Agriculture in Development: Its Role in Processes of Structural Change; Franz Heidhues, Michael Brüntrup. Institutions and Technologies for Subsistence Agriculture: How to Increase Commercialization; Zvi Lerman. Policy Options to Overcome Subsistence Agriculture in the CEECs; Joachim von Braun, Daniela Lohlein. Decision Making Patterns of Subsistence Farmers in Bulgaria; Plamen Mishev, Philip Kostov. Commercialisation of Subsistence Agriculture in Transition Economies: On Imperfect Competition, Market Development and Support Policies; Ernst-August Nuppenau. Development Perspectives of Subsistence Farms in Southeastern Poland: Social Buffer Stock or Commercial Agriculture? Martin Petrick, Ewa Tyran. The Market Potential and Patterns of Contemporary Agriculture in Romania's Northwestern Plain; Csaba M. Kovács. Subsistence Farming in Bulgaria: Between Tradition and Market Requirements; Diana Kopeva, Nivelin Noev. The Significance of Subsistence Farming in Georgia as an Economic and Social Buffer; Hannah Kegel. Agrarian Reform and Subsistence Agriculture in Russia; Vladimir Yefimov. Economic Background and Development Opportunities of Individual Subsidiary Holdings in the Ukraine: Some Empirical Evidence; Andriy Nedoborovskyy. Modeling Subsistence Agriculture in Russia: Effects of Total Productivity Changes and Reduction of Marketing Margins; Peter Wehrheim, Peter Wobst --

The impacts of deregulation on the Jordanian banking sector 1993–2006: an empirical analysis using frontier approaches

During the period 1993–2006 the Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) undertook a series of measures to deregulate its banking system. Key procedures included the removal of restrictions on interest rates, expansion of scope of banks' products and services, lifting of restrictions on foreign exchange transactions and the reduction of barriers to entry of foreign investors and foreign banks. The main aims of deregulation were to promote a diversified, efficient and competitive banking system in order to improve resource allocation, financial viability and operational flexibility. A data set from the CBJ comprising all the Jordanian banks, covering the time period 1993–2006 was used to examine whether the efficiency of Jordanian banks has improved (or changed) over this time period. To this end, a parametric approach, stochastic frontier analysis (SFA), and a nonparametric approach, data envelopment analysis (DEA), was used to measure the efficiency scores of Jordanian banks over the period 1993–2006. [Continues.

Strategies for sustainable socio-economic development and mechanisms their implementation in the global dimension

The authors of the book have come to the conclusion that it is necessary to effectively use modern approaches to developing and implementation strategies of sustainable socio-economic development in order to increase efficiency and competitiveness of economic entities. Basic research focuses on economic diagnostics of socio-economic potential and financial results of economic entities, transition period in the economy of individual countries and ensuring their competitiveness, assessment of educational processes and knowledge management. The research results have been implemented in the different models and strategies of supply and logistics management, development of non-profit organizations, competitiveness of tourism and transport, financing strategies for small and medium-sized enterprises, cross-border cooperation. The results of the study can be used in decision-making at the level the economic entities in different areas of activity and organizational-legal forms of ownership, ministries and departments that promote of development the economic entities on the basis of models and strategies for sustainable socio-economic development. The results can also be used by students and young scientists in modern concepts and mechanisms for management of sustainable socio-economic development of economic entities in the condition of global economic transformations and challenges

Efficiency and productivity analysis of global not-for-profit microfinance institutions:data envelopment analysis approach

Microfinance has been regarded as the one of the effective solutions in poverty alleviation efforts globally. Its growth has been driven by not‐for‐profit microfinance institutions in the form of non‐governmental organization, credit unions, cooperatives and others. Microfinance sits at the unique position between social welfare programme and financial institutions as it faces dual objectives of outreach to the poor and financial sustainability. Due to its unique dual objectives, it is imperative to undertake a comprehensive performance and productivity assessment as microfinance institutions currently hold an important roles in improving the lives of the poor globally. This thesis thus has multi‐faceted objectives: firstly, it seeks to propose a comprehensive performance measurement that can evaluate these objectives comprehensively, as opposed to current focus on trade‐offs between microfinance dual objectives and shortsighted focus on financial indicator, yet proficient to track microfinance performance and total factor productivity over time. It therefore proposes Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) as adept measurement for microfinance institutions globally, especially using hyperbolic, non‐oriented DEA model due to its benchmarking capability and DEA‐based Circular Malmquist Index in measuring total factor productivity under condition of unbalanced data, such as the case with microfinance. This thesis also proposes Social‐Financial Efficiency Matrix as a performance monitoring tool for microfinance. Secondly, this thesis seeks to provide thought‐provoking empirical evidence to the performance comparison between Islamic and conventional microfinance. Thirdly, it seeks to explore the relationship between loan methodology and microfinance efficiency in six different regions globally, in contributing to the search of an adept loan method that can boost efficiency. Fourthly, it seeks to analyse microfinance productivity globally in times of crisis, i.e. evaluating its resilience toward external shocks, so that improvement can be proposed for the future

Sustainable Inventory Management Model for High-Volume Material with Limited Storage Space under Stochastic Demand and Supply

Inventory management and control has become an important management function, which is vital in ensuring the efficiency and profitability of a company’s operations. Hence, several research studies attempted to develop models to be used to minimise the quantities of excess inventory, in order to reduce their associated costs without compromising both operational efficiency and customers’ needs. The Economic Order Quantity (EOQ) model is one of the most used of these models; however, this model has a number of limiting assumptions, which led to the development of a number of extensions for this model to increase its applicability to the modern-day business environment. Therefore, in this research study, a sustainable inventory management model is developed based on the EOQ concept to optimise the ordering and storage of large-volume inventory, which deteriorates over time, with limited storage space, such as steel, under stochastic demand, supply and backorders. Two control systems were developed and tested in this research study in order to select the most robust system: an open-loop system, based on direct control through which five different time series for each stochastic variable were generated, before an attempt to optimise the average profit was conducted; and a closed-loop system, which uses a neural network, depicting the different business and economic conditions associated with the steel manufacturing industry, to generate the optimal control parameters for each week across the entire planning horizon. A sensitivity analysis proved that the closed-loop neural network control system was more accurate in depicting real-life business conditions, and more robust in optimising the inventory management process for a large-volume, deteriorating item. Moreover, due to its advantages over other techniques, a meta-heuristic Particle Swarm Optimisation (PSO) algorithm was used to solve this model. This model is implemented throughout the research in the case of a steel manufacturing factory under different operational and extreme economic scenarios. As a result of the case study, the developed model proved its robustness and accuracy in managing the inventory of such a unique industry