Closing the Gap: A Comparison of Approaches to Encourage Early Greenhouse Gas Emission Reductions

Das Kyoto-Protokoll zur UN-Klimarahmenkonvention setzt verbindliche Treibhausgasemissionsziele f�r Industriel�nder, die allerdings erst im Zeitraum 2008-2012 gelten. Da f�r die Zeit bis 2008 mit einem erheblichen Emissionsanstieg zu rechnen ist, wird �ber Ans�tze nachgedacht, schon vorher Anreize f�r Emissionsverringerungen zu setzen. Fr�hzeitige Emissionsverringerung reduziert das Risiko, klimatische Schwellenwerte zu �berschreiten, die nichtlineare Ver�nderungen im Klimasystem ausl�sen. Au�erdem wird der normale Investitionszyklus ausgenutzt, indem Neuinvestitionen emissions�rmer ausfallen. Dies verursacht keine oder nur geringe Kosten. Dazu bedarf es konkreter Anreize, die unterschiedlich ausfallen k�nnen. W�hrend in Nordamerika eine freiwillige vorzeitige Anrechnung von Emissionsverringerungsma�nahmen auf die Verpflichtungen des Kyoto-Protokolls diskutiert wird, werden in Europa konkrete marktwirtschaftliche Instrumente wie Emissions- oder Energiesteuer sowie Emissionsrechtshandel geplant und teilweise bereits umgesetzt. Die vorzeitige Anrechnung erzeugt einen Anreiz zur Emissionsverringerung in den erfa�ten Sektoren. Allerdings wirkt dieser Anreiz nur indirekt, da der Preis f�r Emissionsrechte von der Wahrscheinlichkeit der Umsetzung des Kyoto-Protokolls und davon abh�ngt, ob und in welchem Ma�e das Unternehmen zuk�nftigen Regulierungen unterworfen sein wird. Entscheidend ist nun die Wahl des Referenzszenarios, das zur Berechnung der Anzahl der Emissionsrechte herangezogen wird. In den nordamerikanischen Vorschl�gen werden dazu h�chst unterschiedliche Verfahren angewandt. Die Ber�cksichtigung bereits erfolgter Verringerungen sowie von Verringerungen im Ausland und Kohlenstoffspeicherung in Biomasse ist umstritten. Die Bestimmung des Referenzszenarios f�hrt unweigerlich dazu, da� manche Verringerungen nicht angerechnet werden; beispielsweise solche aus ver�ndertem Konsumverhalten. Vorzeitige Anrechnung f�hrt zu Umverteilungseffekten, die enorme Gr��enordnungen erreichen k�nnen. Jede Zuteilung von Emissionsrechten zwingt die Nichtteilnehmer zu h�heren Anstrengungen w�hrend der Zielperiode. Dabei handelt es sich voraussichtlich um die Unternehmen mit den h�chsten Verringerungskosten. Diese Effekte wirken desto st�rker, je h�her der Anteil von Emissionsrechten ist, der f�r vergangene oder fiktive Emissionsverringerungen ausgegeben wurde. Vorzeitige Anrechnung ist also ein Instrument mit deutlichen Schw�chen. Marktorientierte Instrumente sind eindeutig vorzuziehen. Auch kommt die vorzeitige Anrechnung nicht mit einfachen Regeln aus; der f�r ihre Einf�hrung notwendige Regelungsaufwand sollte lieber in die Schaffung von Anreizsystemen investiert werden, die bruchlos in die Zielperiode des Kyoto-Protokolls einm�nden. Falls diese jedoch politisch nicht durchsetzbar erscheinen, ist die vorzeitige Anrechnung dem Verzicht auf jegliche Klimapolitik vorzuziehen.Environmental Economics and Policy,

Hp equity research: printing the future

This report is part of an equity research on HP Inc. which aims to analyse the company and give a recommendation on whether it is a good investment opportunity, based on our DCF and relative valuation. This dissertation focuses on the current macroeconomic context and its effects on HP, HP’s Printing segment, the company’s capital structure and cost of equity, and the relative valuation. The Covid-19 pandemic accelerated the digitalisation of the world and increased the demand for notebooks, but decreased the use of hardcopy printers. In addition, it disrupted supply chains and created a shortage of semiconductors, significantly impacting technology firms. Finally, the high energy and fossil fuels inflation, resulting from the Russia-Ukraine conflict, increased general production costs and, more directly, supplies in the Printing segment. HP has an extremely strong position in the consolidated hardcopy printers market, but we forecast this market to decline significantly. However, the 3D printers market is on the rise and we expected it to have a powerful growth. This is a more competitive market, but HP’s investment should grant it a valuable market share. Adding to our analysis of the personal systems segment, the rest of HP’s operations, and our estimated cost of capital, the DCF valuation led us to a share price of $29.09 as of December 31st, 2023, and a return of 6.50%. The relative valuation confirmed the accuracy of this stock price. Thus, our final recommendation is for investors to hold their HP stock positio

An approach to the design of a scale for measuring happiness at work of Iberian companies

By reviewing bibliography on happiness at work, we may say that from a management perspective, this subject is yet poorly explained. So, main reason to conduct this research was he few number of references on organizational happiness in the field of Business and Economics, despite it increasing importance. More specifically, the non-existence of scales to measure happiness at work in Iberia. In this article we aim to propose an exploratory scale to measure happiness at work in Portuguese and Spanish organizations. To do that, we look for primary data collection by using a questionnaire with open questions. The research is qualitative and was conducted applying complementary phases: (1) data collection, (2) storage, (3) coding, (4) indexing system refinement, (5) relational code and (6) identify categories (key concepts). In phases 3, 4, 5, and 6 a content analysis was applied. To analyze the scale robustness in two cultures we have applied Hofstede's model. This model confirms that cultural and social values of Portuguese and Spanish individuals are very similar, allowing homogenizing the scale without significant bias. The scale proposed is based on: (1) total happiness at work, (2) happiness in the organization, and (3) happiness in the function. At the end, happiness at work was measured by 20 items. We consider this research as a significant first step to develop a consistent tool to measure happiness at work

The importance of learning organization concepts for strategic marketing. A quantitative research

Kottler & Armstrong (2005) reported that main Strategic Marketing objective is to identify future consumer needs and develop the necessary products and services for its satisfaction. Senge (1990) characterized the learning organization as the one having the ability to continuously adapt to the environment and, due to that, be sustainable over time. Both concepts, strategic marketing and organizational learning, are based on the principle of environment knowledge and the organization's ability to respond to its needs. The main objective of this work is to test the hypothesis that organizations with higher capacity for learning (and more performing strategic marketing) have higher performance that those organizations with less ability to learn. To develop this work, an analysis has been developed based on existing organizational learning model with special reference to Senge (1990), Probst and Büchel (1997), Mintzberg and Quinn (1996), Kim (1993), Serrano and Fialho (2005) , Argyris (1999). The methodology has consisted on the elaboration of a questionnaire with which to assess the relevant factors in the model, taking into account the views of different stakeholders in the research (academics and organizations) and, than, a field work and subsequent statistical analysis. The results demonstrate that organizations with higher capacity for learning and higher level of strategic marketing have higher performance than those with lower learning ability

Evidence-based management as a teaching method

La administración basada en la evidencia se inspira en la medicina basada en la evidencia. Ella proporciona un marco de referencia para seguir una lógica de actuación. Un problema exige conocer lo que deseamos hacer, la valoración de las consecuencias de una decisión y la información necesaria para actuar en un sentido. Se expone en que consiste la administración basada en la evidencia y su aplicación en la docencia. Se presentan los resultados de un estudio longitudinal, realizado entre los años 2000 y 2006, sobre la base del análisis de casos, para recoger un número adecuado de variables y conocer cómo se perciben estas por los alumnos en relación con la administración basada en la evidencia. Los alumnos valoraron la eficacia de la administración basada en la evidencia mediante un cuestionario soportado en la escala de Likert, con valores que van del 1 al 7. Los alumnos consideraron el método como «una buena manera de aprender de los errores de las empresas» y señalaron como inconveniente que «no siempre es bueno copiar a otras empresas».Evidence-based management is inspired in evidence-based medicine. Evidence-based management provides a frame of reference to follow a logic of performance. A problem demands to know what we want to do, the evaluation of the consequences of a decision and the necessary information, to act in a sense. The paper explains the concept of evidence-based management and its application to teaching. We present the results of a longitudinal study, conducted between 2000 and 2006, based on case analysis, to collect an adequate number of variables, and to know how they are perceived by students in connection with evidence-based management. The students rated the effectiveness of evidence-based management through a questionnaire based on Likert's scale with values ranging from 1 to 7. The students consider the method as "a good way to learn from the companies' errors" , indicating as a disadvantage "that it is not always good to copy other companies"

What makes a school a happy school?: parents’ perspectives

Well-being, equity, and inclusion are central aspects of happy schools. In this context, we aim to provide information to identify the characteristics of happy schools and Portuguese children’s level of happiness at school. In total, one thousand three hundred and ninety-nine parents of children from five to twenty years old participated in this study by answering a mostly open-ended questionnaire. They indicated their perceptions of how happy their children were at school, the moments they associated with individual happiness and unhappiness, and the characteristics of schools that they found conducive to promoting happiness. The findings show that parents value the relationships their children establish at school, teachers’ personal and professional skills, learning strategies, and the fact that students can be creative while learning valuable content. From the perspective of parents, unhappy schools are characterized by teachers with negative attitudes and attributes, bullying, an excessive workload, and consequent stress. Differences in terms of gender and age were not significant in this study. We found that levels of happiness at school decrease as students’ ages increase.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

What makes a school a happy school?: Portuguese students’ perspectives

Introduction: UNESCO has sparked interest in the study of happy schools and, through its Happy Schools Project (HSP) framework, provides tools that enable the teaching and learning community to work towards making “happy schools” a reality. Since the understanding of happiness is culturally influenced (HSP studied Asian countries), we sought to identify parallels between the HSP framework and Portuguese schools through the eyes of students. Methods: We asked a group of Portuguese students to rate their happiness at school and answer three open questions: What makes you happy at school? What makes you unhappy at school? What is a happy school? Using an online survey, 2708 students participated in this study. We coded the answers with variables derived from the HSP framework, aiming to understand what characteristics students value most when referring to their happiness or unhappiness at school and what features a happy school should have. Results: Findings show that most Portuguese students consider themselves to be reasonably happy. No relevant difference exists between boys’ and girls’ self-reported happiness levels, and their happiness decreases as age increases. Children emphasized relationships with friends and teachers and teachers’ attitudes, competencies, and capacities as elements of a happy school. We found that school unhappiness is related to excessive workload and bullying. Discussion: Even though there are cultural differences between countries, when we identified the characteristics of a happy school from the perspective of Portuguese students, we found similarities with the HSP framework guidelines.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio