For whom the firm toils: investigating the ownership-performance linkage

This study articulates and empirically tests the effect of ownership on firm performance. Utilizing a multi-theoretic framework, we propose an alternative ownership framework, wherein ownership is analyzed in terms of the different types of shareholders within a firm, unlike previous focus on ‘inside’ managers and ‘outside’ dispersed investors

For whom the firm toils : a thesis investigating the ownership, board and performance linkages

This thesis is articulates and empirically testing the effect of ownership on board composition and ultimately on firm performance. As per extant literature, ownership is subsumed into corporate governance and studies build on agency theory's premise of dispersed shareholders as the owners of the firm. Governance literature also accept Board of Directors as representatives of the dispersed shareholders, mandated to discharge the investor-owners' fiduciary responsibility. The composition of the board is usually seen as a reflection of its effectiveness however the determination of board composition is not fully understood. Overall, governance is generally viewed in terms of mitigating the agency costs, which should lead to a homogeneous performance objective of firm value maximization. However recent meta-analyses do not find support for any direct relationship between any of the agency theory driven governance mechanisms. In addition, some recent studies also point towards concentrated ownership being the norm worldwide. Furthermore, there seems to be other types of owners apart from the dispersed investors as shareholders in a firm. Building on these findings, this thesis proposes an alternative ownership framework, wherein ownership is analyzed in terms of the different types of shareholders within a firm - unlike previous focus on 'inside' managers and 'outside' dispersed investors. The basic premise of the thesis is to examine the possibility that neither the firm's ownership, nor its board composition, nor its performance objectives are homogeneous. Utilizing a multi-theoretic framework, this thesis examines and empirically tests ownership-board composition and ownership-performance relationships respectively. The conceptualization of ownership is as an aggregation, defined as combining the different types of owners and their respective ownership concentrations. The research setting is all US public firms for which ownership and board data is available, and the data is collated and analyzed by utilizing EQS software. I find empirical support for the multi-theoretic framework as well as general support for most of the proposed hypotheses. In conclusion, this thesis contributes to the growing awareness that corporate governance is not a 'one size fits all' mechanism and offers an alternative multi-theoretical framework that might help resolve the mixed findings in governance and ownership literature

Building an Environmental Sustainability Dictionary for the IT Industry

Content analysis is a commonly utilized methodology in corporate sustainability research. However, because most corporate sustainability research using content analysis is based on human coding, the research capability and the scope of the research design has limitations. The relatively recent text mining technique addresses some of the limitations of manual content analysis but its usage is often dependent upon the development of a domain specific dictionary. This paper develops an environmental sustainability dictionary in the context of corporate sustainability reports for the IT industry. In support of building said dictionary, we develop a standardized dictionary building process model that can be applied across many domains

Inside the Black Box of Dictionary Building for Text Analytics: A Design Science Approach

The purpose of this paper is to develop and demonstrate a dictionary building process model for text analytics projects following the design science methodology. Using inductive consensus-building, we examined prior research to develop an initial process model. The model is subsequently demonstrated and validated by using data to develop an environmental sustainability dictionary for the IT industry. To our knowledge, this is an initial attempt to provide a normalized dictionary building process for text analytics projects. The resulting process model can provide a road map for researchers who want to use automated approaches to text analysis but are currently prevented by the lack of applicable domain dictionaries. Having a normalized design process model will assist researchers by legitimizing their work requiring dictionary building and help academic reviewers by providing an evaluation framework. The resulting environmental sustainability dictionary for IT industry can be used as a starting point for future research on Green IT and sustainability management

Treatment Cost for Typhoid Fever at Two Hospitals in Kolkata, India

The purpose of this study was to estimate treatment cost for typhoid fever at two hospitals in Kolkata, India. This study was an incidence-based cost-of-illness analysis from the providers’ perspective. Micro-costing approach was employed for calculating patient-specific data. Unit costs of medical services used in the calculation were directly measured from the study hospital by standard method. The study hospitals were selected based on accessibility to data and cooperation. Eighty-three Widal-positive and/or culture-confirmed patients with typhoid fever during November 2003–April 2006 were included in the study. Most (93%) patients were children. Eighty-one percent was treated at the outpatient department. The average duration of hospitalization for child and adult patients was 8.4 and 4.2 days respectively. The average cost of treating children, adults, and all patients was US$16.72, 72.71, and 20.77 respectively (in 2004 prices). Recalculation based on 80$ 14.53, 36.44, and 16.11 respectively

Comparisons of predictors for typhoid and paratyphoid fever in Kolkata, India

BACKGROUND: Exposure of the individual to contaminated food or water correlates closely with the risk for enteric fever. Since public health interventions such as water improvement or vaccination campaigns are implemented for groups of individuals we were interested whether risk factors not only for the individual but for households, neighbourhoods and larger areas can be recognised? METHODS: We conducted a large enteric fever surveillance study and analyzed factors which correlate with enteric fever on an individual level and factors associated with high and low risk areas with enteric fever incidence. Individual level data were linked to a population based geographic information systems. Individual and household level variables were fitted in Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) with the logit link function to take into account the likelihood that household factors correlated within household members. RESULTS: Over a 12-month period 80 typhoid fever cases and 47 paratyphoid fever cases were detected among 56,946 residents in two bustees (slums) of Kolkata, India. The incidence of paratyphoid fever was lower (0.8/1000/year), and the mean age of paratyphoid patients was older (17.1 years) than for typhoid fever (incidence 1.4/1000/year, mean age 14.7 years). Residents in areas with a high risk for typhoid fever had lower literacy rates and economic status, bigger household size, and resided closer to waterbodies and study treatment centers than residents in low risk areas. CONCLUSION: There was a close correlation between the characteristics detected based on individual cases and characteristics associated with high incidence areas. Because the comparison of risk factors of populations living in high versus low risk areas is statistically very powerful this methodology holds promise to detect risk factors associated with diseases using geographic information systems

Treatment Cost for Typhoid Fever at Two Hospitals in Kolkata, India

The purpose of this study was to estimate treatment cost for typhoid fever at two hospitals in Kolkata, India. This study was an incidence-based cost-of-illness analysis from the providers\u2019 perspective. Microcosting approach was employed for calculating patient-specific data. Unit costs of medical services used in the calculation were directly measured from the study hospital by standard method. The study hospitals were selected based on accessibility to data and cooperation. Eighty-three Widal-positive and/or cultureconfirmed patients with typhoid fever during November 2003\u2013April 2006 were included in the study. Most (93%) patients were children. Eighty-one percent was treated at the outpatient department. The average duration of hospitalization for child and adult patients was 8.4 and 4.2 days respectively. The average cost of treating children, adults, and all patients was US$16.72, 72.71, and 20.77 respectively (in 2004 prices). Recalculation based on 80occupancy rate in inpatient wards (following the recommendation of the World Health Organization) found that the cost of treating children, adults, and all patients was US$ 14.53, 36.44, and 16.11 respectively

Community Participation in Two Vaccination Trials in Slums of Kolkata, India: A Multi-level Analysis

This study aims at understanding the individual and community-level characteristics that influenced participation in two consecutive vaccine trials (typhoid and cholera) in urban slums of Kolkata, India. The study area was divided into 80 geographic clusters (communities), with 59,533 subjects aged ≥2 years for analysis. A multi-level model was employed in which the individuals were seen nested within the cluster. Rates of participation in both the trials were nearly the same; those who participated in the initial trial were likely to participate in the subsequent cholera vaccine trial. Communities with predominantly Hindu population, lower percentage of households with an educated household head, or lower percentage of households owning a motorbike had higher participation than their counterparts. At individual scale, higher participation was observed among younger subjects, females, and individuals from households with a household head who had no or minimal education. Geographic patterns were also observed in participation in the trials. The results illustrated that participation in the trial was mostly influenced by various individual and community-level factors, which need to be addressed for a successful vaccination campaign

The Case for Reactive Mass Oral Cholera Vaccinations

Cholera outbreaks have had catastrophic impact on societies for centuries. Despite more than half a century of advocacy for safe water, sanitation and hygiene, approximately 100,000 cholera cases and 5,000 deaths were reported in Zimbabwe between August 2008 and by July 2009. Safe and effective oral cholera vaccines have been licensed and used by affluent tourists for more than a decade to prevent cholera. We asked whether oral cholera vaccines could be used to protect high risk populations at a time of cholera. We calculated how many cholera cases could have been prevented if mass cholera vaccinations would have been implemented in reaction to past cholera outbreaks. We estimate that determined, well organized mass vaccination campaigns could have prevented 34,900 (40%) cholera cases and 1,695 deaths (40%) in Zimbabwe. In the sites with endemic cholera, Kolkata and Zanzibar, a significant number of cases could have been prevented but the impact would have been less dramatic. The barriers which currently prevent the implementation of mass vaccinations, including but not only the cost to purchase the vaccine, seem insurmountable. A concerted effort of donors and key decision makers will be needed to offer better protection to populations at risk