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1
Trouillet, Julien. "Credit Rating Agencies." Thesis, Paris Sciences et Lettres (ComUE), 2017. http://www.theses.fr/2017PSLED045/document.
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Les agences de notations ont récemment été l'objet d'une grande attention. Leur responsabilité dans la crise des subprimes a été questionné. Les médias ont mis en avant les notes trop généreuses qui avaient été attribué à certains produits complexes, avant de s'interroger sur leur comportement quand elles ont dégradé les notes des dettes souveraines. Dans cette thèse, après avoir revu une partie de la littérature sur le sujet, je m'interroge sur deux aspects spécifique de leur activité:(i) Quels sont les conséquences de confier une information publique (comme une note de crédit) à une entité privée ?(ii) Les agences de notations disent avoir pour principal actif la réputation. Cette dernière peut expliquer pourquoi on observe des périodes de sur- notations et d'autres de sous-notations ?Credit rating agencies have recently been under a lot of scrutiny. Their responsibility in the last financial crisis has been questioned. They received much attention from the media. The credit rating agencies have been blamed for their too generous ratings before the crisis and also for being too severe during the European debt crisis. In this thesis, after an overlook of the recent literature, I look at two specific issues related to their activity: • What issues arise when public information is released by a private entity on financial markets? • Can reputation explains why a credit rating agency can be caught underrating (respectively overrating)
2
Parkins, Stacie-Jo N. Bowling Cynthia Jones. "Budgeting in times of fiscal stress explaining strategies for reducing agency expenditures /." Auburn, Ala., 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10415/1495.
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Gabriel, Amadeus. "The economics of credit rating agencies : how credit rating agencies became financial market authorities." Angers, 2013. http://www.theses.fr/2013ANGE0039.
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Cette thèse porte sur la montée en puissance des agences de notation dans les marchés financiers ainsi que sur leur rôle dans la crise financière actuelle. L'enjeu est d'étudier les conditions d'une telle situation établies par les gouvernements, que constituent non seulement les licences réglementaires accordées aux agences de notations, mais aussi l'augmentation significative du volume des titres de dettes nécessitant une notation. Ainsi, les agences de notation sont devenues des autorités du marché financier. Des instances régulatrices au niveau local et mondial ont créé des incitations à l'achat de la dette ouveraine, soit de manière directe soit par le biais des notations. La règlementation financière a incité les banques à détenir un volume considérable de dette ayant obtenu une notation élevée, c'est-à-dire la dette souveraine, et ce jusqu'à la naissance de la finance structurée. Ces conditions ont permis au secteur bancaire de s'agrandir de manière significative en réduisant ses capitaux propres, et aux Etats souverains de se refinancer à des taux favorables malgré l'endettement considérable. Toutefois, le déterminant principal reste la politique monétaire. L'existence des banques à réserves fractionnaires ainsi que l'utilisation du papier-monnaie à l'échelle mondiale depuis les années 1970 ont renforcé l'aléa moral et la prise de risque excessive au sein des marchés financiers. En prenant en compte ces facteurs, cette thèse identifie le rôle des agences de notation dans la crise financière actuelle et présente des implications pratiques pour l'industrie de la notation basées sur les résultats de cet ouvrageThis thesis explores the question of how credit rating agencies became financial market authorities and studies subsequently their contribution to the current financial crisis. The prerequisites for the growth of the credit rating industry have been set by government officials. Governments and similar institutions not only attributed ''regulatory'' licenses to credit rating agencies, thereby creating an income guarantee, but they are also the most important driver of the explosion in securities which require a rating. Credit rating agencies became financial market authorities because governments and policy-makers were in favor of it. International and domestic regulatory authorities created incentives to purchase sovereign debt, either directly or indirectly via the use of credit ratings. Financial regulations incentivized banks to hold large amounts of highly rated debts, i. E. Government obligations until the occurrence of structured finance. These conditions significantly reduced the cost of debt for the banking sector through lower equity and provided more favorable refinancing costs for governments despite their high debt levels. However, the main reason for the financial fragility is monetary policy. Fractional-reserve banking and fiat money at a global scale since the 1970s increased moral hazard and excessive risk-taking in financial markets. Taking these factors into account, this thesis studies the role of credit rating agencies in the current financial crisis and sketches practical implications for the rating industry based on the findings of the work at hand
4
Salvade, Federica. "Essays on credit rating agencies." Thesis, Paris 1, 2015. http://www.theses.fr/2015PA010068.
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L'objectif principal de ma thèse est d'évaluer la réaction du marché à la publication de différentes annonces de notation de crédit. Précisément, la thèse étudie l'impact des annonces sur la volatilité des prix et sur plusieurs indicateurs d'activité et de liquidité sur le marché obligataire et de CDS. Un chapitre examine également si et comment le prix des actions réagit aux retraits de notation de créditThe main aim of my thesis is to evaluate the market reaction to credit rating announcements. Precisely, the thesis studies the impact of the release of such announcements on the price volatility, liquidity and several trading activity measures in the bond market and CDS. A chapter also examines whether and how the issuer stock price reacts to the withdrawal of its credit rating
5
Foley, Katherine Marie. "Software pilferage in government agencies." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 1992. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/755.
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Böllhoff, Dominik. "The regulatory capacity of agencies : a comparative study of telecoms regulatory agencies in Britain and Germany /." Berlin : BWV, Berliner Wiss.-Verl, 2005. http://bvbr.bib-bvb.de:8991/F?func=service&doc_library=BVB01&doc_number=013163165&line_number=0001&func_code=DB_RECORDS&service_type=MEDIA.
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Tomic, Slobodan. "Explaining enforcement patterns of anticorruption agencies : comparative analysis of five Serbian, Croatian and Macedonian anticorruption agencies." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2016. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/3370/.
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Anticorruption agencies (ACAs) have drawn scholarly attention in recent times. While authors focused predominately on studying ACAs’ performance and their contribution to the reduction of corruption, ACAs’ enforcement – as a process that precedes policy outcome - has remained understudied so far. This thesis seeks to contribute to filling this gap, by exploring the enforcement choices of five ACAs from three Western Balkans’ countries – Serbia, Macedonia, and Croatia, in the period 2001-2012. The thesis utilises three theoretical accounts in order to explore the determinants of the enforcement of the five ACAs’ enforcement. These are organisational, temporal, and leadership based accounts. Organisational accounts include de-jure independence and agency resources as key factors, temporal accounts include life-cycle and political-cycle as determinants of agency behaviour and, finally, leadership-based accounts highlight the role of leaders, i.e. human agency, in shaping agency enforcement. While failing to lend support for the organisational and temporal accounts, the empirical analysis offers evidence in support of the leadership based account. Overriding the organisational and temporal boundaries and constraints, the ‘personal’ (human) factor turns out to have been the key driver of the analysed ACAs’ enforcement. The thesis also sets out to investigate whether the ACA model has implications for ACAs’ enforcement. The first – the preventive ACA model - is argued to be able to exhibit the harshest forms of enforcement even if the organisational factors are weak. The other - the suppressive ACA model - is hypothesised to be able to exert the harshest forms of enforcement only under strong organisational factors. The empirical analysis yields support to this hypothesis. It is shown in the thesis that the two ACA models provide for different reputational opportunities and risks, factors that crucially shape the enforcement choices.
8
Safewright, Marcia Porter. "Dimensions of the interorganizational relationship between Area Agencies on Aging and Social Services Block Grant Agencies." Diss., This resource online, 1990. http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-08232007-112149/.
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Schlaepfer, Daniel. "Creativity Management in Swiss Advertising Agencies." St. Gallen, 2006. http://www.biblio.unisg.ch/org/biblio/edoc.nsf/wwwDisplayIdentifier/01653781002/$FILE/01653781002.pdf.
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Schreiner, David. "Cyberbranding of Swedish Stock Photography Agencies." Thesis, Umeå University, Umeå School of Business, 2007. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-1268.
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This study intends to find out how Swedish stock photography agencies use the Internet and specifically their websites as tools for building their brands.
Lately more and more specialized stock agencies are emerging and due to the digital revolution these agencies are almost solely Internet based. Thus online-branding tools and strategies are especially important in order to survive in this competitive market. Even though there are plenty of dot-com companies out there running an Internet-only stock agency is a rather new way of conducting business. Thus the author is of the opinion that there is a limited research on the subject.
A qualitative research method was chosen as the research problem demanded in-depth information in order to reveal the studied area. Three stock agencies, Folio, Miro and Picturo, were sampled and in order to obtain the necessary information telephone interviews were conducted.
According to existing marketing literature the theory section is built up of the three basic foundations: Brand building, the Internet and One-to-one marketing.
Moreover the theory chapter in this study intends to function as a framework in the process of gaining new information about this business area. That is also the reason why the study is built up on an inductive scientific approach without testing an already existing theory model.
The analysis concludes that none of the examined companies utilizes the power of the Internet and its features to a satisfying extent. Partly they do not even provide standard tools and thus creating a strong bond between the company and the customer is made difficult. The author argues that in order to become an innovative and dynamic company it is crucial to have an effective, well-designed and easy to use website. Hence it is not only important to have an esthetical appealing site but also one that provides a high level of service and one-to-one tools. To be ahead of time as well as to be sensitive for technologies on the rise is especially important for stock agencies, as they now almost solely are web-based. To sum up existing technology should be used to it’s fullest extend in order to create a professional website and strong online-brand building tools.
11
Terpenning, Greg Eldon. "Not-for-profit agencies and privatization." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 1989. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/27325.
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This study examines the impact of provincial government privatization initiatives on voluntary organizations that provide personal social services in Vancouver. A variety of key personnel in each of six very diverse agencies are interviewed, and the data from -these interviews is then qualitatively analyzed. The data suggests that: (1) organizations which are perceived to voluntarily alter their mission in response to privatization experience internal division, (2) dependence on contracting can pose a threat to the fundamental operating principles of an organization if those principles do not conform to a bureaucratic ideal, (3) there is a wide range of opinion within the voluntary sector regarding the motives of the provincial government for pursuing privatization, that these opinions have both a descriptive and a prescriptive function, and therefore relate to differences in the response of individual agencies to privatization, (4) that contracting alone is not an effective means for an agency to meet the additional demands that result from the reduction and elimination of public services, (5) that competition has generally increased throughout the voluntary sector as a result of privatization, (6) that privatization has resulted in gaps in service which it has become the de facto responsibility of the voluntary sector to address, and (7) that the decision-making structure of an organization is the most constant determining factor in regard to which opinion of government motivation will guide an agency's response to privatization. Concerns raised by professional associations and researchers in the field of social work regarding the potential negative implications of privatization for voluntary organizations are partially supported by this study. A theory of the impact of privatization on voluntary organizations is generated from the data.Arts, Faculty of
Social Work, School of
Graduate
12
Hove, Philo H. "Wonder and the agencies of retreat." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1999. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk1/tape8/PQDD_0004/NQ39540.pdf.
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Swaminathan, Raji. "Contingency planning models for government agencies /." Electronic version, 1996. http://adt.lib.uts.edu.au/public/adt-NTSM20030707.112749/index.html.
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Berger, James R. "Federal agencies and design/build contracting." Thesis, Springfield, Virginia: Available from National Technical Information Service, 1991. http://hdl.handle.net/10945/28212.
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Goble, Steven R. "Leading preparedness for local fire agencies." Thesis, Monterey, California: Naval Postgraduate School, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10945/44570.
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Approved for public release; distribution is unlimitedIn the post-9/11 world, the role of the fire service in the homeland security space is not clearly defined. The fire service has provided America’s emergency response since the days of Benjamin Franklin and the Union Fire Company. Neighborhood fire stations have expanded since those early days as the threats and hazards have evolved. Fire departments remain firmly entrenched in communities delivering traditional services, such as fire suppression, fire prevention, emergency medical services, rescue, and hazardous materials service that translate directly to some core capabilities in homeland security and preparedness. Homeland security preparedness reaches beyond emergency response and fire prevention for fire departments. Preparedness can be enhanced by fire department participation as whole community partners. This preparedness requires full engagement of leadership and implementation of effective management systems across all levels of the fire service. This research is conducted through a content analysis of homeland security literature and comparative analysis of existing preparedness strategies. The information is synthesized to produce recommendations for advancing the role of the fire service and local fire departments in homeland security and preparedness.
16
Hudson, Jacob D. "TRAFFIC SAFETY INVESTIGATIONS FOR LOCAL AGENCIES." DigitalCommons@CalPoly, 2010. https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/theses/411.
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National and statewide (California) collision numbers are currently on the
decline; however, the U.S. is declining at a much slower rate than most other
developed countries, and in some aspects is actually regressing in terms of traffic
safety. Although state highway safety is improving, local roadway safety may
actually be regressing. Approximately three-quarters of all U.S. public roadways,
and approximately 80% of all injury accidents fall under the jurisdiction of cities.
However, cities may not be allocating the proper level of resources, or operating
under the proper administrative methodologies to adequately address these
safety issues.
This research finds that on average, California cities are experiencing
increasing annual collision rates. In particular, small cities with populations of
less than 25,000 are experiencing the largest increases, whereas larger cities are
experiencing static or slightly decreasing collision rates. California’s statewide
collision statistics and the administration surveys conducted as part of this study
indicate that there is a correlation between a city’s administrative
analysis/mitigation methodologies and their annual collision rate trends.
Specifically, cities with lower traffic engineering staff to population ratios tend to
have increasing collision rates, as opposed to cities with high staff to population
ratios, which have decreasing collision rates. Also, this research shows that cities
that allocate more traffic safety resources to enforcement over engineering tend
to have increasing collision rates, as opposed to cities allocating more resources
to engineering that have decreasing collision rates.
This research also finds that there are predominant and correctable
factors that lead to the various collision types. Cities that employ routine system
wide traffic safety audits addressing location-specific collision trends based on
these predominant factors tend to have decreasing collision rates, as opposed to
those that do not.
In general, collision rates among U.S. cities are increasing largely due to
increasing rates on roadways within the jurisdiction of smaller cities, most
commonly with populations under 25,000. Over one-third of cities are not staffed
at the proper levels, not allocating the necessary resources to traffic engineering
activities, and are not employing an adequate evaluation/mitigation strategy. The
findings of this study provide guidance and framework to cities for developing
effective traffic safety strategies by identifying the characteristics of those cities
that have been successful in reducing collision rates as examples. In particular
the value of this research is important for non-engineering administrative staff
and political bodies in terms of establishing appropriate staffing levels and
resource allocations necessary for an effective traffic safety program.
The findings of this study provide guidance and framework to cities for
developing effective traffic safety policy preference by identifying the
characteristics of those cities that have been successful in reducing collision
rates as examples. In particular this research is important for non-engineering
administrative staff and political bodies in terms of establishing appropriate
staffing levels and resource allocations necessary for a transportation
department to be effective in reducing traffic collisions and resulting damages.
17
Rubinsson, Sebastian. "Global marketing through collaboration of local marketing agencies : How can local marketing agencies work together for global clients?" Thesis, Södertörns högskola, Institutionen för samhällsvetenskaper, 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-41110.
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Background: The world becomes more connected as technology advances and with the internet as a distribution channel more companies internationalises. However, there are still cultural differences around the world that marketers must take into consideration. The marketing industry faces difficult challenges in adaptation to international marketing, as collaboration between local marketing agencies could be a solution. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to contribute with understanding of how local marketing agencies can work together for global clients, and how these agencies can adapt local marketing for these clients. In order to understand how marketing agencies can work together, this study will contribute with understanding of this collaboration between local marketing agencies and how they can help each other grow their businesses. Method: This study uses a qualitative method with unstructured interviews of five people operational within a network of local marketing agencies. Theory: The theoretical framework for this study consists of theories in international marketing, collaboration and learning. Results and conclusions: By collaborating in a network, local marketing agencies get access to international markets and can support global clients. By having multiple local agencies working together for global clients, these agencies all provide local knowledge and create local communication. The collaboration in a network is most effective if the competition is eliminated, which can be done through shared ownership and personal connection within the network.
18
Kleibl, Johannes. "The political economy of financial regulatory agencies." Thesis, University of Essex, 2014. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.635986.
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The unprecedented regulatory failures of the global financial crisis forced governments and regulators around the world to fundamentally rethink their regulatory approaches and supervisory practices. Yet, they also revealed that existing political science research provided surprisingly few insights into the cross-national causes and consequences of financial regulatory structures and financial regulators' regulatory policy-making. lVIy dissertation aims at filling some of these gaps by improving our understanding of the political determinants and effects of financial regulatory institutions. Using newly collected comparative data, I analyse the political economy of the diffusion, replacement and policy-making of financial regulatory agencies in three empirical papers. The first paper of my dissertation examines the diffusion of financial regulatory institutions across countries.
19
Romaniuk, Simon. "Measuring the service quality of advertising agencies /." Title page, contents and introduction only, 1994. http://web4.library.adelaide.edu.au/theses/09C/09cr758.pdf.
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Dillard, Darin. "GJXDM documents and small law enforcement agencies." [Denver, Colo.] : Regis University, 2008. http://165.236.235.140/lib/DDillard2008.pdf.
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Sasseville, Hélène. "The liability of air traffic control agencies /." Thesis, McGill University, 1985. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=63189.
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McGuire, Andrew. "Performance management within Scotland's economic development agencies." Thesis, University of Strathclyde, 2002. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.248744.
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Wong, Ming Fai. "Enterprise architecture landscape in Singapore Government agencies." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/83810.
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Thesis (S.M. in Engineering and Management)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2013.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 56-57).
This paper reports results of a study done to understand the Enterprise Architecture (EA) landscape in Singapore Government Agencies, to gather some best practices in doing EA in these agencies, and to postulate how the Singapore Government might get more value out of EA. Firstly, this paper reviews the EA field on why EA is important and what are some key challenges EA practitioners face. Secondly, this paper reviews and analyzes data from a EA survey of 18 Singapore Government Agencies. The analysis is done by comparing against data from a similar survey collected from over 100 organizations worldwide. In addition, the analysis also draws upon EA research done by MIT's Center for Information System Research. Thirdly, this paper reviews best practices and a case study collected from a subset of the studied Singapore Government Agencies. This paper concludes by rounding up the key findings and hypothesizing that there is a need for stronger inhouse design/architecting capabilities within the Singapore Government.
by Ming Fai Wong.
S.M.in Engineering and Management
24
Awan, Nishat. "Diasporic urbanism : concepts, agencies & 'mapping otherwise'." Thesis, University of Sheffield, 2011. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/14693/.
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The term ‘diasporic urbanism’ addresses the difficulties of operating with diasporic space and of accommodating the material complexities of migrant lives. It proposes displacement and reterritorialisations as methodologies and ‘mapping otherwise’ as a tool for representing and working with migrant spatialities. Diasporic space is theorised as a relational space, whilst diasporic subjectivity is described as ‘nomadic consciousness’. The politics of the diaspora are addressed through the need to accommodate conflict (Mouffe) and through introducing ‘things’ and ‘matters of concern’ (Latour) into the democratic relationship. These concepts were tested in practice through my research which focuses examples of diasporic agencies in the everyday. From the Turkish and Kurdish kahve to a street whose physicality forces a certain visibility on to those who traverse it, to a park in East London that through being claimed by one diasporic group has come to symbolise wider notions of political representation. The mapping of these particular spaces has addressed the question: within the networked, global condition of the migrant, what objects, subjects and processes can play the role of mediation and translation that is required between ‘here and there’, or between the layers of this multiple subject? The need for such approaches is apparent in the increasing diversity of European cities. The everyday geographies of people’s lives can easily lose themselves in the enormity of the questions and the complexities of the issues surrounding migration. Yet, it is exactly the specificity of individual lives, the way that geo-political borders and territories inscribe themselves onto the intimate topology of migrant and diasporic bodies, half-here and half-there, that is so difficult to account for. This then is the challenge set down for ‘diasporic urbanism’—how to make the conditions necessary for those other than the privileged to participate in the imagining of our cities.
25
Yang, Xuehui. "Labor NGOs : labor movement agencies in China." HKBU Institutional Repository, 2016. https://repository.hkbu.edu.hk/etd_oa/600.
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Prevailing literature on Chinese labor non-governmental organizations (NGOs), which focuses largely on their relations with the authoritarian state and strategies for survival, mainly views that these labor groups, in order to survive, tend to confine their work to social service provisions and legal consultations that are permitted, or, at least, not prohibited, by the state. Hence, they hardly become the agencies of social change to build a labor movement in China. However, based my observations between 2013-2015 in the Guangdong Province, I argue that a small group of labor NGOs have stepped beyond their supposed roles and become labor movement agencies in China; they actively assist and organize striking workers to negotiate with employers, and have hatched several informal labor groups in industrial zones. To explain this new development of labor NGOs in China, first, I argue that the state exerts its control on labor NGOs through a differentiated process, which creates a certain space for movement-oriented labor NGOs to survive. On the one hand, the state's need for NGOs in relieving its social welfare obligations gives them a chance to "disguise" as an ostensible social service provider by employing strategies. One the other hand, the different functions, power bases and vested interests of labor NGO-related state organstrade unions, public and national security agencies, and civil affairs bureaususually lead to less coordinated efforts in containing these groups. Second, the movement-oriented labor NGOs are able to develop strong ties to workers and facilitate labor organizing. During workers' collective struggles, they organize training to enhance workers' right consciousness and transmit the idea of collective bargaining to them; they also help elect and train worker representatives, offer tactics to them, and are even present on bargaining tables on workers' behalf. By hatching informal labor groups, these labor groups network and educate workers in communities to build solidarity, and encourage them to run group activities and learn self-organization skills. Particularly, worker-turned NGO activists, who previously experienced labor disputes and with leadership skills, notably facilitate these activities due to their deep understanding of workers' circumstance and demands, and profound knowledge of their language and labor dispute settlement. This research demonstrates that, although movement-oriented labor NGOs are probably transitional forms in China and not able to replace genuine trade unions, they have taken up some roles that trade unions were supposed to play, significantly contributing to improving the organizational capacity of Chinese workers.
26
Larik, Waseem. "Revealed preference differences among credit rating agencies." Thesis, University of Manchester, 2012. https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/revealed-preference-differences-among-credit-rating-agencies(6adae219-dd55-468c-a040-1aaf0b48f579).html.
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The thesis studies the factors which underpin the allocation of credit ratings by the two major credit rating agencies (CRAs) namely Moody’s and S&P. CRAs make regular headlines, and their rating’s judgements are closely followed and debated by the financial community. Indeed, criticism of these agencies emerged, both in this community and the popular press, following the 2007-2008 financial crisis. This thesis examines several aspects of the allocation of credit ratings by the major agencies, particularly in relation to (i) their revealed “loss function” preference structure, (ii) the determinants underpinning the allocation of credit ratings and (iii) the reasons determining the circumstances when the two agencies appear to differ in their opinions, and we witness a split credit rating allocation. The first essay empirically estimates the loss function preferences of two agencies by analyzing instances of split credit ratings assigned to corporate issuers. Our dataset utilises a time series of nineteen years (1991-2009) of historical credit ratings data from corporate issuers. The methodology consists of estimating rating judgment differences by deducting the rating implied probability of default from the estimated market implied probability of default. Then, utilising judgment differences, we adapt the GMM estimation following Elliott et al. (2005), to extract the loss function preferences of the two agencies. The estimated preferences show a higher degree of asymmetry in the case of Moody’s, and we find strong evidence of conservatism (relative to the market) in industry sectors other than financials and utilities. S&P exhibits loss function asymmetry in both the utility and financial sectors, whereas in other sectors we find strong evidence of symmetric preferences relative to those of the market. The second essay compares the impact of financial, governance and other variables (in an attempt to capture various subjective elements) in determining issuer credit ratings between the two major CRAs. Utilising a sample of 5192 firm-year observations from S&P400, S&P500 and S&P600 index constituent issuer firms, we employ an ordered probit model on a panel dataset spanning 1995 through 2009. The empirical results suggest that the agencies indeed differ on the level of importance they attach to each variable. We conclude that financial information remains the most significant factor in the attribution of credit ratings for both the agencies. We find no significant improvement in the predictive power of credit rating when we incorporate governance related variables. Our other factors show strong evidence of continuing stringent standards, reputational concerns, and differences in standards during economic crises by the two rating agencies. The third essay investigates the factors determining the allocation of different (split) credit ratings to the same firm by the two agencies. We use financial, governance and other factors in an attempt to capture various subjective elements to explain split credit ratings. The study uses a two-stage bivariate probit estimation method. We use a sample of 5238 firm-year observations from S&P 500, S&P 400, and S&P 600 index constituent firms. Our results indicate that a firm having greater size, favourable coverage and higher profitability are less likely to have a split. However, smaller firms with unfavourable coverage and lower profitability appear to be rated lower by Moody’s in comparison to S&P. Our findings suggest that the stage of the business cycle plays no significant role in deciding splits, but rating shopping and the introduction of regulation FD increase the likelihood of splits arising.
27
Yang, Xuehui. "Labor NGOs: labor movment agencies in China." HKBU Institutional Repository, 2016. https://repository.hkbu.edu.hk/etd_oa/338.
Full textAbstract:
Prevailing literature on Chinese labor non-governmental organizations (NGOs), which focuses largely on their relations with the authoritarian state and strategies for survival, mainly views that these labor groups, in order to survive, tend to confine their work to social service provisions and legal consultations that are permitted, or, at least, not prohibited, by the state. Hence, they hardly become the agencies of social change to build a labor movement in China. However, based my observations between 2013-2015 in the Guangdong Province, I argue that a small group of labor NGOs have stepped beyond their supposed roles and become labor movement agencies in China; they actively assist and organize striking workers to negotiate with employers, and have hatched several informal labor groups in industrial zones. To explain this new development of labor NGOs in China, first, I argue that the state exerts its control on labor NGOs through a differentiated process, which creates a certain space for movement-oriented labor NGOs to survive. On the one hand, the state's need for NGOs in relieving its social welfare obligations gives them a chance to "disguise" as an ostensible social service provider by employing strategies. One the other hand, the different functions, power bases and vested interests of labor NGO-related state organstrade unions, public and national security agencies, and civil affairs bureaususually lead to less coordinated efforts in containing these groups. Second, the movement-oriented labor NGOs are able to develop strong ties to workers and facilitate labor organizing. During workers' collective struggles, they organize training to enhance workers' right consciousness and transmit the idea of collective bargaining to them; they also help elect and train worker representatives, offer tactics to them, and are even present on bargaining tables on workers' behalf. By hatching informal labor groups, these labor groups network and educate workers in communities to build solidarity, and encourage them to run group activities and learn self-organization skills. Particularly, worker-turned NGO activists, who previously experienced labor disputes and with leadership skills, notably facilitate these activities due to their deep understanding of workers' circumstance and demands, and profound knowledge of their language and labor dispute settlement. This research demonstrates that, although movement-oriented labor NGOs are probably transitional forms in China and not able to replace genuine trade unions, they have taken up some roles that trade unions were supposed to play, significantly contributing to improving the organizational capacity of Chinese workers.
28
Björnberg, Stina, and Albin Johansson. "Web agencies adaption of accessible web directives." Thesis, Tekniska Högskolan, Högskolan i Jönköping, JTH, Datateknik och informatik, 2019. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hj:diva-43671.
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Digital divisions are getting smaller in Sweden which makes the range of users wider than ever before. This results in higher expectations and requirements on web in order to be sufficient for everyone. This study investigates how web agencies work with web accessibility, why some do not work with it and solutions making daily operations more efficient. This is a qualitative study with an inductive approach, where semi-structured interviews were used to gather empirical data. Six web agencies in Jönköping took part of the study through interviews. In order to analyse the empirical data we used thematic analysis. No unknown methods or techniques were discovered along the study. There were surprisingly few agencies that worked with accessibility at all of those who took part in the study. Some of them more than others, but overall it was low prioritized. Lack of knowledge within the subject became the main reason for not develop for accessibility. An immature and non-standardized industry might be the explanation behind that. Not surprisingly, resources in form of economy is also a reason. It turns out to be hard for agencies to motivate customers to pay for accessibility. However, the motivation process with customers is rarely supported by enough knowledge and leads therefore to insufficient arguments, which does not motivate customers enough to pay for it. Further on, include web accessibility as a given part of CSR plans on both agencies side, but also motivating it for customers. The importance of a mature dialog about it is crucial for survival of accessibility. All parties of a development process should take their responsibility. Everyone can and should participate in the journey towards a more equal society.
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Massirer, Tammie Ann. "Interoperability Performance Among Campus Law Enforcement Agencies." ScholarWorks, 2018. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/4871.
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The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks exposed considerable breakdowns in communications interoperability and information sharing among first responders. Multijurisdictional responses to the active-shooter incidents at the University of Texas in 2010; Sandy Hook Elementary of Newtown, Connecticut in 2012, and the Reynolds High School shooting of Multnomah County, Oregon in 2014 were replete with interoperability failures as well. Recent multijurisdictional response events continue to illuminate difficulties with first-responder interoperability and minimal research exists to promote understanding of the interoperability challenges of university police departments. The purpose of this study was to explore the barriers that impede communications of campus based law enforcement agencies during multiagency or multijurisdictional response. General systems theory and the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology model provided the conceptual framework for this qualitative case study. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 10 leaders of university public safety agencies in California. Data were collected, inductively coded, and thematically analyzed. Key findings indicate that participants perceived barriers of funding, policy, inclusiveness, and training that affect communications interoperability performance. The positive social change implications from this study include recommendations of policy change for improved interoperability during multiagency or multijurisdictional response which can contribute to increased first-responder safety, more efficient multijurisdictional response, and improved safety of students and society at large.
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Nordström, Anton, and Vincent Pontho. "Advertising agencies’ attractiveness in the exploration phase." Thesis, Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för marknadsföring (MF), 2019. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-90594.
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This paper digs deeper into the concept of attraction and what makes a marketing agency attractive. The authors focus on the very first stage of a business relationship before the project sets off, seeking to uncover what attraction is and which factors influence it. Through 6 semi structured interviews with companies which has been in a business relationship with marketing agencies the authors investigates what attracted them to that particular agency. As new information appeared in the interviews, the theoretical framework has been extended with more material. At the end of the paper the authors present a model which describes the components of attraction. The model is then discussed and explained.
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Barrett, Thomas. "Elder Abuse : Agencies' Experiences and Seniors' Relationships." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 1998. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/234.
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This study examines elder abuse in an Australian context and comprises two parts: agencies' experiences with elder abuse; and seniors and their relationships. The first part sought baseline data on elder abuse as recorded by a range of agencies in New South Wales (NSW) and Western Australia (WA). A mailed questionnaire was sent to a random sample of 400 agencies per State, seeking information for the 1994 calendar year regarding abused elders 65 years of age or older, and resulted in an overall return rate of 57.62%. Data was analysed using SPSS for Windows.
The second part of the study was qualitative, exploratory and phenomenological in nature. The objectives were: to increase the knowledge and understanding of elder abuse within an Australian context by examining the experiences and feelings of care givers and care recipients in the transition from independence to dependence for one partner; to identify factors contributing to the abuse of elderly persons in private accommodation; to determine the relevance of a disability-related dependency to the likely occurrence of elder abuse; and to explore the applicability of a range of theories, in particular social exchange theory and the situational model, to caring situations.
A purposive, nonrandom sample of nine cases was drawn totalling 12 persons who were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire. Four general research questions examined the characteristics of the participants prior to the onset of caring; explored the impact of the change from the pre-caring stage to the caring stage on the respondents; assessed caring demands on the care giver; and sought to determine the impact of continuous care provision on the care giver/care recipient relationship. Seven ancillary research questions addressed more specific aspects of the care giver/care recipient relationship. Qualitative data analysis utilised NUD.IST.
The major findings from part 1 of the study revealed 92 (44%) agencies in NSW and 66 (26.2%) in WA had seen cases of elder abuse in 1994. In both States, female elder abuse victims as care recipients, were represented three times more often over a greater range of victims per agency than male counterparts. Psychological, physical, material/financial and sexual forms of abuse, plus neglect, were represented in both States' findings. Psychological abuse was most frequent in NSW, and in WA, neglect. Sexual abuse was reported with least frequency in both States. In each State, victims were represented in a ratio of approximately 1:6 (care giver to care recipients). For care givers, the most common forms of abuse received were physical, psychological and material/financial.
No reliable Australian data exists on the incidence and prevalence of elder abuse. These research findings indicated its presence and found similarities with findings in the USA, Canada and the UK for perpetrators and abuse types. Perpetrators of elder abuse included: spouses; sons; sons-in-law; de facto partners; daughters; and daughters-in-law. Spouses were cited most often as perpetrators in both States followed by sons and daughters in NSW and daughters-in-law and sons in WA.
Direct agency services for victims were found wanting. Where available, they provided information; counselling; mediation; and referral.
Mandatory reporting of elder abuse was supported in both NSW ( 4 7 .1 % ) and WA (44.8%). One-third of the agencies in both States were undecided on the issue and the remainder were opposed. However, many agencies ignored the question, leaving the results inconclusive.
The major findings from part 2 of the study revealed eight of nine care givers interviewed to have been in long-term marriages and of having satisfying relationships prior to the onset of the partner's disability. Trauma, loss and grief experiences prior to their partner's disability, for some, exacerbated the demands of caring in later years.
The onset of the disability-related dependency whether sudden, or gradual, determined how the care giver coped initially. Regardless of the type of disability, common feelings expressed by care givers included: social isolation; change or loss in communication; a sense of coping alone; lack of external supports; feeling trapped; a loss of intimacy with the partner; stress, both structural and situational; having health problems related to carer stress; physical and mental exhaustion; anger; disappointment; frustration; general loss and grief; resentment; sadness; anxiety; and the monotony of the caring role. Environmental factors were rarely mentioned as being stressful. There appeared to be a connection between care giver stress and elder abuse in eight of the nine cases studied, notably psychological abuse. Physical abuse was indirect, and only one possible instance of neglect was noted. Sexual and material/financial abuse were not represented in the sample of case studies.
Theories associated with elder abuse explored in the study included: stress theory; crisis theory; learned violence; issues of dependency; mental impairment; loss and grief; societal ageism and sexism. The findings lend only partial support to the situational model as a possible explanation for elder abuse. This study identified as situational factors: physical dependency; poor health; impaired mental status; difficult personalities in the care recipients; and corresponding care giver health problems. Only one structural factor was identified, namely social isolation. The concepts associated with social exchange theory - including power advantage/disadvantage, positive sentiments, rewards and punishments, instrumental services and personal resources - were evident across the nine cases. However, without the application of additional variables, it could not be concluded that social exchange theory, on its own, adequately explained elder abuse. No one theory emerged as offering a satisfactory explanation for the causes of elder abuse, suggesting that its complex and diverse nature defies a single causal theory.
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Stokes, Gregory. "An assessment of transportation options for human service agencies: a case study of Georgia's transportation for human service agencies." DigitalCommons@Robert W. Woodruff Library, Atlanta University Center, 1985. http://digitalcommons.auctr.edu/dissertations/1523.
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The primary intent of this degree paper is to provide an assessment of transportation approaches that are presently being utilized by human service agencies to meet and improve the mobility needs of their respective client groups. Also an attempt has been made to discuss"and recommend the option of coordinating or consol idating agency sponsored and public transit systems as a more cost effective and service efficient approach to the delivery of transportation services as provided hy human service agencies.
In the past twenty years there has been substantial growth in both the number and percentage of elderly. children. mentally/physically disabled, and economically disadvantaged individual s in the United States. At the same time there has been a significant increase in the number of programs and the level of support aimed at addressing their health and welfare needs. Based on current population trends and greater life expectancy of the transportation disadvantaged group, its population will continue to grow over the next several decades.
For the elderly, children, mentally/physically disabled and economically disadvantaged community, adequate means of transportation will continue to be a pressing concern. At the present time, there are a great many publ ic and private institutions and agencies dedicated to ensuring the mohil ity of these individuals. Public transit agencies are playing a lead role among these groups and the public transit industry, through the policies and services being implemented around the country, is reaffirming its continued strong commitment to providing the most effective and efficient means of meeting the mobility needs of the transit dependent.
The main sources of information consisted of various federal, state, and-local level documents, reports, plans, manuals, and case studies containing relevant information on how human service agencies may provide and improve the specialized transportation services of their target clientele groups.
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Caglayan, Gumus Deniz. "The Attitudes Of Responsible Local Agencies Towards Disability." Phd thesis, METU, 2008. http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12609814/index.pdf.
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&ldquoNew paradigm of disability&rdquo
relates not only to persons but also to the environment they are living in. Therefore recent studies concentrate on the dynamic interplay of the persons and the environment, rather than rather than studying them as separate entities. This approach has revealed that disabled people become handicapped when they face with barriers restricting or impeding their activities in daily life. Physical, cultural and social barriers have been undertaken by many countries after substantial debate. In the United Kingdom and Japan for instance, disability and accessibility issues have been tackled with reference to disabled people&rsquo
s demands and long-tem struggles against discriminatory implementations in the past. In these countries, whilst disability issue has been discussed, accessibility legislation including numerous measurements for implementation has been enacted and a considerable progress for removing barriers and providing accessibility in the built environment has been experienced through many institutional instruments. In Turkey, although there are now a lot of legislative measurements for accessibility, little progress is observed in recent years. Barriers in the built environment are still restricting, and even hindering full participation of disabled v people to social life. The problem of inaccessibility is seen related to practice rather than legislation or theoretical frameworks in Turkey. Since they are a part of the bureaucratic system having responsibility on the planning and designing of built environment, local agencies with their administrative and technical staff and organisation gain importance in terms of maintaining accessibility to the disabled. The study aims to provide information about attitudes of local agencies towards disability and accessibility in terms of practitioners rather than users. This study interrogates the knowledge level and outlooks of the related personnel and works of local agencies about disability and accessibility.
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Sun, Wei. "Expectations and performance of Chinese credit rating agencies." Thesis, University of the West of Scotland, 2015. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.714648.
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Halldin, Johan, and Tove Svedling. "Differences between advertising agencies with fokus on identity." Thesis, Linköpings universitet, Medie- och Informationsteknik, 2013. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-94555.
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Marknadsföring har kommit att bli en dominerande verksamhet för företagen, där omfattande kun- skaper om marknadsföringsprocesser krävs. Många vänder sig därför till experter inom området, vilka dagligen arbetar med marknadskommunikation. Exempel på dessa är reklam-, kommunika- tion-, och contentbyråer vilka just denna rapport behandlar. Byråerna skiljer sig åt genom deras benämningar, men vad som är de egentliga, särskiljande dragen är oklart. Förvirring kring begrep- pen kan därför tänkas uppstå hos kunder, och sökandet efter den mest lämpade byrån att lösa deras kommunikationsproblem kan komma att bli problematiskt. Författarna ämnar i denna studie utröna skillnader mellan en kommunikations-, content respektive reklambyrås organisationsrelaterade identitet. Tre frågeställningar har tagits fram, vilka handlar om vad som skiljer tidigare nämnda byråer åt gällande faktisk-, önskad- och kommunicerad identitet. För att besvara dessa frågeställningar intervjuades respondenter från en kommunikationsbyrå, en contentbyrå och en reklambyrå. Intervjuerna var semistrukturerade vilka behandlade frågor om organisationernas identitet.
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Fulton, Lori Beth. "Building Art Education Relationships with Local Art Agencies." Digital Archive @ GSU, 2009. http://digitalarchive.gsu.edu/art_design_theses/37.
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This educational study on building art education relationships between art educators and local community art agencies was conducted in early February of 2009. Data was collected by means of an art teacher survey, mailed to the homes of metro Atlanta art educators and by conducting face-to-face interviews with professionals working in the education departments of high profile metro Atlanta art agencies. The data analysis provides insight into the goals of local K-12 art educators, and they are compared to the goals of community art agencies. The findings of this study reveal that art teachers and art agencies share many common goals and face similar challenges. And together, through networking and close communication, they may better serve the needs of students K-12 as they become lifetime participants and supports of the visual arts.
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Kaijankoski, Eric A. "Cybersecurity information sharing between public–private sector agencies." Thesis, Monterey, California: Naval Postgraduate School, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10945/45204.
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Approved for public release; distribution is unlimitedGovernment agencies, businesses, and individuals alike have become more dependent on technology, and the desire and need for interconnectedness has led to increasing network vulnerability affecting both government and private sectors. Recognizing both government and private sector agencies individually lack the capabilities to defend against cyber threats, President Obama has called for a more robust and resilient cybersecurity alliance that encourages information-sharing partnerships with private sector owners and operators in charge of protecting U.S. critical infrastructure. Despite the recent drive for cyber legislation and policies, government agencies and private companies have seemed reluctant to share information related to cyber-attacks and threats with one another. To discover the deeper underlying issues that inhibit public-private cooperation, and to evaluate the effectiveness of public-private partnerships (PPPs) to advance cyber information sharing, this thesis examines the banking and finance sector of U.S. critical infrastructure sector. In doing so, it identifies reasons why information-sharing problems exist between government agencies and private companies; investigates how PPPs satisfy national cybersecurity needs; and, in turn, reveals issues for policymakers to consider when shaping policies that encourage an open dialog between the public and private sector.
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Horton, Keith. "The humanitarian case for giving to aid agencies." Thesis, University of Reading, 2002. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.252210.
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Ramaccia, Elizabeth M. (Elizabeth Marie). "Creative agencies : a model for building community capacity." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/67234.
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Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2011.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 219-226).
This research investigates how existing initiatives based in artistic and non-artistic disciplines build indigenous capacity for leadership in disenfranchised communities through the application of the creative process. There is a perceived disparity between the missions and processes of community-based arts initiatives and non-arts initiatives in practice and in literature. However, this thesis evaluates both types of initiatives against a set of measurements for successful capacity building and finds that all cases enlist a similar creative process. Often considered only in relation to artistic endeavors, an agenda-drive, democratic, creative process can incubate leadership. The components for such a process are identified and discussed in this research through in-depth narratives and analyses of three initiatives: the Highlander Research and Education Center in eastern Tennessee, Appalshop in eastern Kentucky, and the Village of Arts and Humanities in North Philadelphia. Despite widely varying vehicles for capacity-building - popular education and organizing, arts and media production, and spatial transformation and arts programming, respectively - all enlist the creative process. This research finds that the creative process can provide an analogous experience to that which community leaders enact to create change while concurrently developing a skill set that is transferable to the activities of community leadership. Additional benefits and impediments because of the use of the arts in capacity-building endeavors are discussed in this thesis. While indigenous cultural expression and artistic production are valuable when integrated, the initial motivations and backgrounds of the founding artists, the perceived competition between artistic production and leadership development, and the misconception of the purpose of their efforts by a broader audience, introduce challenges to capacity building. Additional challenges to all capacity-building initiatives stem from a mismatch between the measurements required by their funding sources and those that capture their most meaningful output.The findings of this research can provide guidance for new and veteran practitioners of leadership development, community development, or community-based artistic enterprises.
by Elizabeth M. Ramaccia.
M.C.P.
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Evans, John D. "Infrastructures for sharing geographic information among environmental agencies." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1997. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/65984.
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Mueller, Christine (Christine R. ). "Negotiated rulemaking : a tool for state environmental agencies." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1996. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/68779.
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Raattamaa, Tomas. "Essays on Delegated Search and Temporary Work Agencies." Doctoral thesis, Umeå universitet, Nationalekonomi, 2016. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-124596.
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Paper [I] models a game, where two temporary work agencies (TWAs) compete to fill a vacancy at a client firm (CF). They simultaneously choose how much effort to expend, based on their expectation of how good their opponent’s best candidate will be. I then show that this will make the TWAs overconfident, as the rational way of judging your own probability of winning is not looking at the opponents expected best, but comparing how much effort your opponent will expend. Paper [II] examines the misaligned incentives in the temporary work agency sector, where we first look at pure recruiting contracts, that either require payment on delivery, or payment on some specified point in time. We then look at the incentives of recruit-and-rent contracts, where the worker is leased to the client firm. We assume that the better the worker, the higher the probability that the client firm is going to want to hire him/her. If that happens then the TWA will no longer get revenues from said worker, incentivizing the TWA to not always deliver the first match it finds, if it is too good. Lastly we look at how competition can dampen this perverse incentive. Paper [III] models the waiting behavior that can occur if a TWA is contracted to find a worker for a specific time far in the future; the TWA will postpone effort. This behavior is modeled for two types of TWAs; one that is rational and plans ahead, and another that does not plan ahead at all, but instead only looks at the immediate future. I find that the one that only looks at the immediate future starts exerting effort earlier than the planner. After looking at optimal contracts under perfect monitoring and hidden action I provide two extensions. I first show that for the principal to want to delegate search to a rational TWA, the agent has to be better than the CF, by some factor, as it has to make up in efficiency what the principal loses in moral hazard, when the agent waits longer than the principal would like it to. Lastly I prove that it is profit maximizing for the principal to contract one agent and give it a deadline earlier than when the principal would need the worker, and then replace that agent with a competitor if the first one has not succeeded by that earlier deadline. Paper [IV] estimates at the effect of family experience on relative transition probability into the temporary work agency sector. Using register data for all of Sweden we run a bias-reduced logistic regression, where we include various factors that affect the probability of young adults (aged 18-34) entering the sector. This paper ties in to the literature on occupational inheritance, as well as the literature on changing social norms. We find that having had a parent, sibling or partner in the TWA sector increases your probability of entering.
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Beatty, Kate, and Michael Meit. "Opportunities and Challenges Facing Rural Public Health Agencies." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2018. https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/6835.
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Alrousan, Mohammad Kasim. "E-commerce adoption by travel agencies in Jordan." Thesis, Cardiff Metropolitan University, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10369/7539.
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The advents of information and communication technologies (ICTs), especially the Internet applications, have become indispensable tool to the tourism industry. ICTs have had a major influence in changing the structure of this industry, to be information intensive industry. Travel agencies category of SMEs , have a vital role in tourism; managing, coordinating and supplying all aspects thereof, such as transport sector, hospitality sector and leisure attractions. The factors affecting e-commerce adoption by SMEs have been well-documented in developed countries, but inadequate studies have been conducted regarding e-commerce adoption in the developing countries; particularly in Arab countries. Moreover, it has been found that in spite of potential benefits for travel agencies of adoption of ecommerce, travel agencies are commonly regarded as slow adopters of e-commerce, lagging far behind the developed countries. Therefore, the focus of this study is on investigating the factors affecting e-commerce adoption by focusing on Jordanian travel agencies. To achieve this objective; an integrated conceptual framework was developed on the basis of previous models and theories relevant to ICTs and e-commerce adoption, namely Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovation model, the Technology-Organisation-Environment model and Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions theory. The conceptual framework was developed for the explanation of the factors affecting e-commerce adoption by travel agencies. These factors were used to identify different levels of e-commerce adoption. These levels include: non-adoption, e-connectivity, e-window, e-interactivity, e-transaction and e-enterprise. The quantitative method was applied in this study for data collection using self-administrated questionnaire distributed to 300 Jordanian travel agents. The total number of valid questionnaires was 206, constituting a response rate of 68.6%. The descriptive analysis was used to explain demographic profiles of participants and current state of ecommerce adoption level. Multinomial Logistic Regression was used to test the research hypotheses. The research findings revealed that there are three different adoption levels of e-commerce by Jordanian travel agencies: e-connectivity, e-window and e-interactivity. The results showed that relative advantage, observability, business/partner pressure, uncertainty avoidance and government support were the significant predictors differentiating e-window from e-connectivity. Moreover, relative advantage, observability, financial barriers, power distance, business/partner pressure and government support proved to be significant predictors differentiating between e-interactivity and e-connectivity. It was also found that observability, competitive pressure, firm size and complexity were significant predictors differentiating between e-interactivity and e-window. On the other hand, the results showed that compatibility,trialability, employees’ IT knowledge, top management support, manager’s attitude, and customer pressure were insignificant predictors of any of the e-commerce adoption levels. Upon that, it can be argued with confidence that different levels of e-commerce adoption are affected by different factors. This entails the necessity of addressing the above ten significant predictors as they can be useful for managers, IT/web vendors and policy makers in drawing a roadmap and strategies for expanding the use and benefits of ecommerce adoption. Moreover, the conceptual framework of the study provide a best explanation of factors affecting e-commerce adoption levels in travel agencies as an example of SMEs, which contribute to the knowledge in the area of information systems particularly in the context of e-commerce adoption in developing countries.
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Gawn, Mark Carleton University Dissertation International Affairs. "Donor agencies and the environment: CIDA's environmental policy." Ottawa, 1985.
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Sangar, Mansi. "Organizational communication and practices in Public Safety Agencies." Connect to online resource, 2008. http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:1456679.
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Zhao, Lei. "An asset management system for small transportation agencies /." free to MU campus, to others for purchase, 2004. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/mo/fullcit?p1422979.
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Burmil, Shmuel. "Protected areas and management agencies in arid landscapes." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1994. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/186859.
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In this dissertation, two agencies charged with the management of public protected areas in arid landscapes are analyzed for their ability to successfully execute their missions. First, the characteristics of arid landscapes are explored. Abiotic, biotic, and cultural--including perceptual--aspects of arid landscapes are considered and included in constructing the unique profile of arid landscapes. Structural and functional characteristics expected from such agencies are established based on considerations related to policy making and implementation, agency organization, and landscape characteristics. A framework for analysis of the commons is adapted for the analysis of each agency. Literature review and information obtained by surveys are used for the analysis of the agencies to fit the expected characteristics. The structure and function of the agencies are found not to fit the expected ones. Existing administrative systems are not capable of dealing with landscapes. Decision making by small local communities were proposed as an appropriate solution for ecological issues, yet are found here to be inappropriate. A model for agency structure and function that includes a combination of larger perspective with local involvement is proposed and discussed. A general model for decision making regarding protection of natural resources in arid landscapes, and its possible applicability to other landscapes and land uses, is proposed.
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Atabey, Elif <1993>. "FinTech in Credit Rating Agencies: Evolutionary or Revolutionary?" Master's Degree Thesis, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/10579/19619.
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CRAs became even more critical in the global financial market since their judgment has a significant impact on the outlook of the rated entities, which can be countries, institutions or companies. The combination of finance and technology resulted a concept which is known as Financial Technologies (FinTech). FinTech drove and encouraged financial institutions to change and differentiate the way of providing their services.
In this thesis, the primary focus is to explore the impact of FinTech on CRAs. Given the importance of CRAs, exposing many criticisms about their credibility and secrecy about their methodology may lead investors to seeks alternative ways to obtain information/opinion for the entities. Furthermore, considering the growth of FinTech and its rapid development, resulted the research question of if the impact of FinTech on CRAs will be evolutionary or revolutionary?
FinTech is relatively a new term, and there is limited research about its effect on CRAs. In this thesis, an exploratory study will be conducted in order to contribute to the existing information about the potential impact of FinTech on CRAs. Accordingly, this study aimed to answer the research question within the scope of qualitative methodology and using the empirical data has been gathered from the professionals in the finance sector through combination of structured and semi-structured interviews.
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Chambers, Emma. "Best practices for training advertising expatriates." Menomonie, WI : University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2007. http://www.uwstout.edu/lib/thesis/2007/2007chamberse.pdf.
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