Existeix el cinema balear?

Abstract not availabl

Dynamic Optical Tweezers using Acousto-Optic Modulators

Treballs Finals de Grau de Física, Facultat de Física, Universitat de Barcelona, Any: 2015, Tutors: Estela Martín Badosa i Mario Montes UsateguiThis work consists of the study, characterisation and set-up of an Acousto-Optic Light Modulator made up of two TeO2 crystals, to use it in an optical tweezers system. We have performed the following tasks: optical system assembly and alignment, optimization of the first diffraction order efficiency of the device and, finally, deflection analysis. Furthermore, we have developed a control system based on a multi-function data acquisition board and a software using LabVIEW that allows the user to dynamically control the position of the laser spot, as well as its amplitude. Lastly, we have improved the program making possible the use of time-sharing trapping

Billy Wilder va morir essent immortal

Abstract not availabl

The environmental, social, governance, and financial performance effects on companies that adopt the United Nations Global Compact

This paper aims to investigate companies’ environmental, social, governance (ESG), and financial implications of their commitment to the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC). The focus is placed on companies operating in the three countries with the highest number of UNGC participants: Spain, France, and Japan. The results clearly reveal that adoption of the UNGC often requires an organizational change that fosters stakeholder engagement, ultimately resulting in improvements in companies’ ESG performance. Additionally, the results reveal that ESG performance has a significant impact on financial performance for companies that adopted the principles of the UNGC. These findings provide both non-financial and financial incentives to companies to commit to this voluntary corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative, which will have important implications on companies’ strategic management policies that aim to foster sustainable businesses and community development. Finally, the linkages between the UNGC-committed companies’ ESG and financial performance may be influenced by geographical spread, mainly due to the appearance of differences in the institutional, societal, and cultural settings

Firms’ board independence and corporate social performance: a meta-analysis

This paper investigates the influence of organizations' board independence on corporate social performance (CSP) using a meta-analytic approach. A sample of 87 published papers is used to identify a set of underlying moderating effects in that relationship. Specifically, differences in the system of corporate governance, CSP measurement models and market conditions have been considered as moderating variables. The results show that the independence of a company's board positively influences CSP. This is because companies with more independent directors in their boards are more likely to commit to stakeholder engagement, environmental preservation and community well-being. Interestingly, the results also show that the positive connection between board independence and CSP is stronger in civil law countries and when CSP is measured by self-reporting data. Finally, the strength of the influence of the independence of a firm's board on CSP varies significantly in different market conditions. The paper concludes by presenting the main implications for academics, practitioners and policy makers.The authors acknowledge the financial support of the Spanish Education Ministry (research project ECO2016-74920-C2-1-R) and the Basque Country Government (research project IT1073-16)

National institutions, stakeholder engagement, and firms' environmental, social, and governance performance

This paper studies the influence of different national institutions on corporate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance through the varieties of institutional systems approach. This research complements previous research that used traditional approaches such as the national business systems and the varieties of capitalism, because it considers companies in understudied economies in Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America. To that aim, a dataset of 4, 751 firms within 52 countries is examined through a multilevel model, which allows establishing three levels of analysis: (a) yearly observations of a firm ESG performance, (b) the companies, and (c) the countries. This technique is useful to address the nested nature of firms' ESG performance within higher level institutional contexts. The results identify which specific national institutions enhance/restrict companies' ESG performance. This provides interesting implications because firms' ESG represent most of the companies' contributions to environmental preservation, social well-being, and community development

Independent directors and organizational performance: New evidence from a meta-analytic regression analysis

This study not only revisits, from a meta-analytic perspective, the influence of firms'' boardroom independence on corporate financial performance, but also addresses the way that countries'' social and institutional contexts moderate that connection. A meta-regression covering 126 independent samples reveals that firms'' boardroom independence has a positive and negative effect on accounting and market-based measures of corporate financial performance, respectively. Further analyses reveal that while the firms'' board independence-financial performance connection is stronger in non-communitarian societies, that relationship becomes weaker in countries with greater developed mechanisms to protect the interest of minority investors. These results are robust to different model specifications and to the presence of a set of methodological control variables. Our results are of outstanding relevance for companies'' board composition processes by suggesting the way that corporations should actively re-balance the proportion of independent directors across different social and institutional contexts to ensure their financial success

Valoración de harinas funcionales de leguminosas obtenidas mediante optimización de procesos enzimáticos y fermentativos

Tesis doctoral inédita leída en la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Facultad de Ciencias, Departamento de Química Agrícola, Geología y Geoquímica. Fecha de lectura: 28-10-200

Sustainability, corporate governance and organizational performance: five essays.

Esta tesis doctoral pretende contribuir en tres campos de conocimientoestrechamente vinculados: i) el gobierno corporativo; ii) la sostenibilidadempresarial; y, iii) el desempeño organizacional. Esta tesis consta de cinco estudiosde investigación, de modo que la tesis se presenta bajo el modelo de compendiode publicaciones. La tesis analiza, desde una perspectiva internacional, lainfluencia de los diferentes mecanismos de gobierno corporativo sobre eldesempeño de las empresas en materia de sostenibilidad. Además, incluye dosestudios que profundizan en el estudio de la sostenibilidad empresarial al abordarlos determinantes de la eco innovación y analizar el efecto de las certificacionesmedioambientales sobre el comportamiento medioambiental de las empresas.Esto ayudará a los directivos de las empresas a la hora de adoptar decisionesestratégicas para lograr un mejor desempeño social y medioambiental.De esta manera, el objetivo principal de la tesis es evaluar si los diferentesmecanismos y procesos de gobierno corporativo y diversas estrategiasmedioambientales proactivas permiten a las empresas realizar contribucionesespecíficas a los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODSs) de las Naciones Unidas(Schönherr, Findler y Martinuzzi, 2017). La metodología principal aplicada en estatesis es el meta-análisis y la meta-regresión. Estos enfoques brindan la oportunidadde obtener evidencias empíricas adicionales basadas en la revisión sistemática detrabajos empíricos previamente publicados sobre un campo o tema (Borenstein,Higgins y Rothstein, 2009; Lipsey y Wilson, 2001). Con ese objetivo en mente, estatesis se estructura de la siguiente manera. El primer artículo presenta el estadodel arte de la investigación sobre temas comunes en el desempeño de los negociosy el gobierno corporativo, con el fin de presentar un marco básico para el posterioranálisis de la relación entre las prácticas de buen gobierno, la sostenibilidad y eldesempeño organizacional. El segundo estudio analiza el efecto de la independenciadel consejo de administración sobre el desempeño social y ambiental de las5empresas de una muestra de más de 100.000 empresas (agrupadas en 87 artículosempíricos). El tercer estudio analiza la asociación entre el tamaño del consejo deadministración las empresas (como medida de la diversidad) y el desempeñosocial y medioambiental de las empresas. El cuarto estudio se centra en unaherramienta estratégica que promueve la sostenibilidad, la eco-innovación. Enconcreto, este capítulo pretende captar los principales determinantes de lasprácticas de eco innovación de las empresas. Finalmente, el último estudio tratade clarificar las implicaciones sobre el desempeño medioambiental de otraherramienta estratégica que promueve la sostenibilidad empresarial -lacertificación voluntaria de los sistemas de gestión ambiental -.Los principales resultados de la tesis permiten contribuir a ampliar elconocimiento actual en el campo de las siguientes maneras. En primer lugar,encontramos que la incidencia de la independencia y el tamaño de los consejosde administración influye positivamente en el desempeño social y ambiental delas empresas. Más interesante aún, encontramos que las conexiones antesmencionadas están condicionadas por moderadores tanto metodológicos comoteóricos, tales como:i) medidas de protección de los inversionistas minoritarios; ii) sistemas degobierno corporativo de los países; y, iii) indicadores de desempeño social yambiental de las empresas, entre otros. Esta conclusión concuerda con la opiniónsobre la interdependencia entre los mecanismos de gobierno corporativopropuesta por el "bundle of corporate governace"(Rediker & Seth, 1995). Ensegundo lugar, esta tesis concluye que las empresas con redes de colaboración y/omayor implicación ambiental son más propensas a la eco-innovación, enfatizandoel papel del "empuje tecnológico" como factor determinante principal,independientemente del tipo de eco-innovación analizada. Finalmente, semuestran los impactos positivos de los sistemas de gestión ambiental sobre eldesempeño ambiental, y se aborda y contextualiza el papel moderador de lasformas de medición del desempeño medioambiental de las empresas y del gradode madurez de los sistemas de gestión ambiental.This PhD dissertation aims to contribute to three knowledge fields that are closely linked: i) corporate governance; ii) business sustainability; and, iii) organizational performance. This thesis comprises five research studies, so that the dissertation is constructed under the publications compendium model. The dissertation analyze, from an international perspective, the influence of different corporate governance mechanisms on companies’ sustainability performance. Furthermore, it provides two studies that go deeper in that relationship by addressing the determinants of Eco- innovation and voluntary environmental certifications effect over Environmental performance. This will bring some help to companies’ managers at the time of adopting strategic decisions to achieve enhanced social and environmental performance. In this way, the main objective of the dissertation is to evaluate whether several corporate governance mechanisms and processes and proactive environmental strategies make it possible for companies to make specific contributions to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (Schönherr, Findler, & Martinuzzi, 2017). The main methodology applied in this thesis is the meta-analysis and the meta- regression. These approaches provide the opportunity to obtain additional empirical evidence based on the systematic review of previously published empirical works on one field or topic (Borenstein, Higgins, & Rothstein, 2009; Lipsey & Wilson, 2001). With that goal in mind, this dissertations is structured in the following way. The first article presents the state of the art of research on common issues in business performance and corporate governance, in order to present a basic framework for the subsequent analysis of the relationship between good governance practices, sustainability, and organizational performance. The second study analyses the effect the board of directors’ independence on the corporate social and environmental performance of companies of a sample of more than 100,000 firms (grouped in 87 empirical articles). The third study analyzes the association between firms’ boardroom size (i.e., diversity) on corporate social performance. The fourth study focuses on a strategic tool that promotes sustainability –eco-innovation in particular–. Specifically, this chapter aims to capture the main determinants of companies’ eco-innovation practices. Finally, the last study focuses on shedding light on the performance implications of other strategic tool that promotes sustainability –the adoption of voluntary environmental certifications on corporate environmental performance–. The main results of the dissertation allow contributing to expand the current knowledge in the field in the following ways. Firstly and foremost, we found that the incidence of board independence and size positively influences companies’ social and environmental performance. More interestingly, we found that the aforementioned connections are conditioned by both methodological and theoretical moderators such as: i) minority investors’ protection measures; ii) countries’ corporate governance systems; and, iii) corporate social and environmental performance proxies, among others. This finding is in accordance with the view that the interdependence between corporate governance mechanisms proposed by the "bundle of corporate governance". Secondly, this dissertation address that companies with collaborative networks and/or more environmental involvement are more prone to eco-innovation, emphasizing the role of "technology push" as the main group of determinants, regardless of the type of eco-innovation analyzed. Finally the positive impacts of environmental management systems on environmental performance is captured, and the moderating role of corporate environmental performance measures and environmental management certifications maturity and internalization is addressed and contextualized.<br /