Peculiarities Of Financial Management In Family Firms

The majority of firms in market-oriented countries are family-owned. Despite their significant economic importance for these countries, research focusing on family firms is a rather young field within business research, having intensified starting only in the late 1980s. Research regarding the peculiarities of financial management in family firms is especially scarce. Hence, this paper seeks to synthesize existing research and to theoretically analyze the finance and accounting practices and resources of, as well as the role of financial managers in family firms. Using agency theory, stewardship theory, and the resource-based view of the firm, this paper suggests that finance and accounting practices should be adapted to the controlling family’s needs. The paper further suggests that family firms are likely to use fewer short-term-oriented financial-management practices than non-family firms. Moreover, compared to non-family firms, financial managers should play a more traditional role in family firms, focusing on core financial management tasks and on advising the controlling family, while not themselves holding strategic decision-making power. The paper concludes with concrete avenues for further research

Simultanes Konsekutivdolmetschen mit dem LivescribeTM EchoTM Smartpen

Ziel dieser Masterarbeit war es, simultanes Konsekutivdolmetschen mit dem herkömmlichen Konsekutivmodus zu vergleichen. Bei der relativ neuen Variante des simultanen Konsekutivdolmetschens wird der Ausgangstext mithilfe eines digitalen Aufnahmegerätes aufgenommen und die Dolmetschung erfolgt danach simultan mithilfe der Aufnahme. Als Ausgangspunkt für die Analysen dieser Masterarbeit diente dabei ein von Nina Kostal und mir im März 2011 am Zentrum für Translationswissenschaft der Universität Wien durchgeführtes Experiment. Dabei wurden vier Studierende in der Endphase des Studiums Konferenzdolmetschen und drei professionelle Dolmetscherinnen gebeten, drei Ausgangstexte vom Italieni- schen ins Deutsche zu dolmetschen. Die einzelnen Dolmetschungen wurden jeweils von einem Publikum von fünf Personen mittels Fragebogen beurteilt und die Dolmetscherinnen nach jeder Dolmetschung zu ihren Einschätzungen befragt. Im Mittelpunkt der mit diesem Experiment verknüpften Auswertungen standen dabei die Aspekte Bewertung der Ausgangstexte, Analyse der Publikumsbewertung und Einschätzung der Dolmetscherinnen. Die Bewertung der Ausgangstexte ergab sehr deutlich, dass die Dolmetscherinnen sich bei dem nach quantitativen Kriterien gemessen schwierigeren Text häufig für den simultanen Konsekutivmodus entschieden und bei den anderen beiden Texten eher für den herkömmlichen Konsekutivmodus. Dies lässt darauf schließen, dass von den Dolmetscherinnen als schwieriger zu dolmetschen eingestufte Texte besser für den simultanen Konsekutivmodus geeignet sind. Die Auswertung der Ergebnisse der Publikumsbewertung ergab eine eindeutige Präferenz des selbigen für den herkömmlichen Konsekutivmodus. Die Einschätzung des Hybridmodus durch die Dolmetscherinnen ergab, dass der Modus in Zukunft zwar geeignet sein könnte, jedoch zeigten sich die Dolmetscherinnen zum Teil noch eher skeptisch. Was die Ver- wendung des technischen Hilfsmittels LivescribeTM betrifft, so waren sich die Dolmetscherinnen in Hinblick auf die Nützlichkeit der Verwendung für den Unterricht einig. Was dessen Verwendung in der Praxis betrifft, waren sie auch durchwegs positiv gestimmt, wenn auch ein bisschen skeptischer. Die Verwendung des simultanen Konsekutivmodus ist also noch nicht ausreichend erprobt und um in der Zukunft tatsächlich in der Praxis eingesetzt werden zu können bedarf es mit Sicherheit noch weiterer Erforschung. Zwei Schlüssel- punkte für zukünftige Forschungsansätze sollten auf alle Fälle „Übung der Dolmetscherinnen“ und „Verbesserung der Tonqualität“ sein.The aim and purpose of this Master’s thesis was the comparison of two interpreting modes, namely consecutive interpreting and simultaneous-consecutive interpreting. The latter mode is a rather new one, where the source text is recorded digitally and then played back to the interpreter, who then has to interpret simultaneously. In order to compare these two techniques, Nina Kostal and I carried out an experiment at the Centre for Translation Studies of the University of Vienna in March 2011. In the course of this experiment, four interpreting students and three professional interpreters had to interpret three different speeches from Italian into German, wherein they could choose the mode for each one of the speeches. After each interpretation the recipients present during the experiment had to fill in a questionnaire while the interpreters were being asked about their opinion concerning the new mode and the technology used. The analysis of the source texts showed that the text being rated as the most difficult one was chosen for the simultaneous-consecutive mode most of the times, while the other two texts were interpreted consecutively most of the times. This allows for the conclusion that difficult texts are suitable for being interpreted in the simultaneous-consecutive mode. The analysis of the questionnaires showed that the recipients liked the consecutive performances better than the simultaneous-consecutive ones. The interpreters agreed upon the fact that the technology used (LivescribeTM EchoTM Smartpen) would be useful in future in interpreting classes but were not sure whether it would be as useful in practice. Regarding the usefulness of the simultaneous-consecutive mode on the whole, the interpreters showed some scepticism, but their general opinion was a positive one. All these findings are not sufficient to emphasize the usefulness of the simultaneous-consecutive interpreting technique in the field of interpreting. There is still some research to be conducted in the future, taking into account the two key features “practising“ and “improvement of the sound quality“

Der sozialkritische Kriminalroman in der Tradition Leonardo Sciascias

Aus dem ursprünglichen Kriminalroman, dessen primärer Zweck die Auflösung eines Rätsels und Aufdeckung des Verbrechens war, hat sich unter anderem die Untergattung des sozialkritischen Kriminalromans entwickelt. Einer seiner wichtigsten Pioniere und Vertreter im italienischen Sprach- und Kulturraum war der Sizilianer Leonardo Sciascia. Im Rahmen dieser Diplomarbeit soll analysiert werden, inwieweit Sciascia Vorbild für die Werke späterer Autoren war. Diese Frage soll anhand folgender Autoren, beziehungsweise Werke, analysiert werden: Leonardo Sciascia – Il giorno della civetta (1961), Michael Dibdin – Ratking (1988), Donna Leon – Death at La Fenice (1992), Veit Heinichen – Gib jedem seinen eigenen Tod (2001). Die vier Werke werden im Rahmen der Arbeit verglichen, wobei zuerst eine allgemeine Einführung in die theoretischen Hintergründe zum Thema Kriminalroman und dessen Geschichte gegeben wird. Danach informiert die Arbeit über die verschiedenen Werke, wobei jedes Werk kurz beschrieben und in den Kontext eingeordnet wird, in dem es verfasst wurde. Am Ende der Diplomarbeit steht der Vergleich der einzelnen Werke und die Erkenntnisse, die aus diesem Vergleich gewonnen werden können. Der Vergleich ist auf die inhaltliche Ebene fokussiert und zielt darauf ab, Gemeinsamkeiten und Unterschiede zwischen den einzelnen Werken herauszufinden. Die Arbeit und der Vergleich haben den finalen Zweck, zu analysieren und zu argumentieren, ob Sciascia als Vorbild für die anderen Autoren und Werke gesehen werden kann oder nicht

Reflecting open practices on digital infrastructures. Functionalities and implications of knowledge. [Preprint]

Open practices in education focus on the actions of learners and teachers regarding openness. The sharing and collaborative creation of open educational resources is at the core of such practices. Digital infrastructures do not only provide environments for these kinds of practices but reflect ide-as and implications of open practices through the functionalities they offer. Those infrastructures can be seen as drivers for enabling open practices to become default. However, a common understanding of open practices has yet to be defined. As such, designing digital infrastructures that foster open prac-tices might be a challenge. This chapter shows the relation between open practices and digital infrastructures. (DIPF/Orig.

Position practices of the present-day CFO: a reflection on historic roles at Guinness, 1920-1945

AbstractContemporary studies of Chief Financial Officers (CFO) paint a picture of the role pre-1960 as being reflective of a more transactional one. Historical research sheds some doubt on this, and tends not to separate the role from its occupier. We provide an analysis of such a role in a large brewery from about 1920 to 1945. Drawing on the concept of position-practices, our results suggest that a CFO-predecessor role was informed by existing position-practices, which are separately identifiable from the occupier of the role itself. Some of the position-practices are recognizable in contemporary CFO roles. Importantly, focusing on the role as opposed to the occupier, gives our study potential to more broadly inform future research on the contemporary role

Quantitation of angiogenesis in vitro induced by VEGF-A and FGF-2 in two different human endothelial cultures : an all-in-one assay

Angiogenic therapy is considered to be a promising tool for treatment of ischemic diseases. Many in vivo and in vitro assays have been developed to identify potential proangiogenic drugs and to investigate their mode of action. However, until now no validated system exists that would allow quantitation of angiogenesis in vitro in only one assay. Here, a previously established all-in-one in vitro assay based on staging of the angiogenic cascade was validated by quantitation of the effects of the known proangiogenic factors VEGF-A and FGF-2. Both growth factors were applied separately or in combination to human endothelial cell cultures derived from the heart and the foreskin, and angiogenesis was quantitated over 30 days of culture. Additionally, gene expression of VEGFR-1, VEGFR-2 and FGFR-1 at 3, 10, 20 or 40 days of cultivation was quantitated by RT-qPCR. In both cultures, VEGF-A as well as FGF-2 induced a run through all defined stages of angiogenesis in vitro. Application of VEGF-A only led to formation of irregular globular endothelial structures, while FGF-2 resulted in development of regular capillary-like structures. Quantitation of the angiogenic effects of VEGF-A and transcripts of VEGFR-1 and VEGFR-2 showed that a high VEGFR-1/VEGFR-2 ratio evoked deceleration of angiogenesis

Increased compensatory kidney workload results in cellular damage in a short time porcine model of mixed acidemia – Is acidemia a ‘first hit’ in acute kidney injury?

Acute kidney injury (AKI) corrupts the outcome of about 50% of all critically ill patients. We investigated the possible contribution of the pathology acidemia on the development of AKI. Pigs were exposed to acidemia, acidemia plus hypoxemia or a normal acid-base balance in an experimental setup, which included mechanical ventilation and renal replacement therapy to facilitate biotrauma caused by extracorporeal therapies. Interestingly, extensive histomorphological changes like a tubular loss of cell barriers occurred in the kidneys after just 5 hours exposure to acidemia. The additional exposure to hypoxemia aggravated these findings. These 'early' microscopic pathologies opposed intra vitam data of kidney function. They did not mirror cellular or systemic patterns of proinflammatory molecules (like TNF-α or IL 18) nor were they detectable by new, sensitive markers of AKI like Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin. Instead, the data suggest that the increased renal proton excretion during acidemia could be an 'early' first hit in the multifactorial pathogenesis of AKI

Magnetocrystalline anisotropy in RAu_{2}Ge_{2} (R = La, Ce and Pr) single crystals

Anisotropic magnetic properties of single crystalline RAu_{2}Ge_{2} (R = La, Ce and Pr) compounds are reported. LaAu_{2}Ge_{2} exhibit a Pauli-paramagnetic behavior whereas CeAu_{2}Ge_{2} and PrAu_{2}Ge_{2} show an antiferromagnetic ordering with N\grave{e}el temperatures T_{N} = 13.5 and 9 K, respectively. The anisotropic magnetic response of Ce and Pr compounds establishes [001] as the easy axis of magnetization and a sharp spin-flip type metamagnetic transition is observed in the magnetic isotherms. The resistance and magnetoresistance behavior of these compounds, in particular LaAu_{2}Ge_{2}, indicate an anisotropic Fermi surface. The magnetoresistivity of CeAu_{2}Ge_{2} apparently reveals the presence of a residual Kondo interaction. A crystal electric field analysis of the anisotropic susceptibility in conjunction with the experimentally inferred Schottky heat capacity enables us to propose a crystal electric field level scheme for Ce and Pr compounds. For CeAu_{2}Ge_{2} our values are in excellent agreement with the previous reports on neutron diffraction. The heat capacity data in LaAu_{2}Ge_{2} show clearly the existence of Einstein contribution to the heat capacity.Comment: Submitted to PRB 11 Pages 13 Figure

An analysis of the role of a Chief Accountant at Guinness c. 1920-1940

Contemporary studies on the role of Chief Financial Officers create a picture that a radical change in the 1960s created such a role. Predecessor-positions were more focused on transaction-processing aspects of accounting. While historical accounting publications shed some doubt on this assumption, they lack detail on the roles and tasks of such predecessors in the early parts of the twentieth century. Here, we provide a more in-depth analysis of a chief accountant in the period from 1920 to 1940 at Arthur Guinness, Son & Company Ltd. Informed by concepts from Old Institutional Economics, our evidence suggests that the Chief Accountant at Guinness has much in common with a modern-day role. In contrast, we find that even in the first half of the twentieth century before any substantial company law or regulation of accounting, the Chief Accountant was not only doing accounting, but also significantly advising top management, managing risks and interacting with external financiers. This analysis suggests a more gradual development of the role and tasks of internal accountants than that suggested by some contemporary literature.Administración y Dirección de Empresa