Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Value-quality'

I examine the importance of the properties of accounting information to equity investors by estimating the implicit prices of accruals quality and operating volatility revealed from observed stock prices. I measure accruals quality parameters based on the model in Nikolaev [2016], which separates the volatility of accounting error from the volatility of the performance component of accruals. I use the hedonic regression approach, which relies on rational expectations (Bajari et al. [2012]) to identify the effect of accruals quality on firm value. This approach isolates time-varying unobservable factors correlated with accruals quality. My findings indicate that investors have preferences for higher accruals quality. At the margin, a 1% increase in the volatility of accounting error results in a 0.50% decrease in the firm value. At the same time, my findings indicate that investors have preferences for lower operating risk, which statistically and economically dominates preferences for accruals quality. At the margin, a 1% increase in the operating volatility results in a 1.43% decrease in the firm value. Overall, my findings suggest that the effect of accruals quality on firm value is largely driven by the operating risk. This result is robust to the choice of the model of time-varying unobservable firm characteristics and to different sets of control variables.

This thesis makes a generalisable contribution to the development of a dynamic relationship approach to the theory and practice of quality management in professional services. A value generation system and practitioner tools are proposed as a result of a synthesis of literature from multiple disciplines, grounded in empirical research. The methodology involves an analysis of detailed case studies carried out by the author when acting as a consultant researcher. This is supported by the findings of a skills questionnaire sent to client contacts who had experienced ISO 9000 consultancy, together with a key incident survey of satisfying and dissatisfying incidents. Customer service research provides an analysis of customer perceived value within a service exchange (Zeithaml et al, 1990; Ghobadian et al, 1994; Patterson et al, 1997; Groth and Dye, 1999). Relationship marketing literature provides an analysis of customer perceived value in a relationship between two organisations (Halinen, 1997; Hakansson, 1995; Storbacka et al, 1994; Payne, 1995; Juttner et al, 1994, Ford et al, 1998). A relationship process structure identified in counselling literature is shown to be complementary to consultancy at the episode level. Comparable higher relationship levels relating to the assignment process and account development processes are identified within consultancy and relationship marketing literature respectively and integrated within the proposed system. A critique of the registration approach to quality management systems (ISO 9000: 1994 and its successor ISO 9000: 2000) is included as a necessary factor in forming an opinion about the generalisability of the research findings.

One of the main aims of the underlying research is to respond to continuous calls for introducing and measuring a sound economic definition for best practice disclosure quality (e.g. Beyer et al., 2010) that is derived from a reliable guidance framework (Botosan, 2004) using an innovative natural language processing technique (Berger, 2011). It also aims to examine the impact of corporate governance on best practice disclosure quality. Finally, it aims to examine the joint effect of both best practice disclosure quality and corporate governance on firm value. The thesis contributes to disclosure studies in three principal ways. First, it introduces a new measure for best practice disclosure quality. Further tests show that the proposed measure is reliable and valid. A novel feature of this measure is that it captures all qualitative dimensions of information issued by the Accounting Standards Board, 2006 (ASB) Operating and Financial Review (OFR) Reporting Statement. Second, it uses machine-readable OFR statements for financial years ending in 2006-2009, and develops a language processing technique through constructing five keyword lists. Third, it examines the extent to which disclosure quantity provides a proper proxy for disclosure quality. The analysis shows that disclosure quantity is not a good proxy for disclosure quality. Accordingly, results derived, using quantity as a proxy for quality, are questionable. Results of the association between disclosure quality and corporate governance mechanisms suggest that the most effective governance mechanisms in improving disclosure quality are leadership structure, audit committee meeting frequency, and audit firm size. Using a wide set of corporate governance mechanisms, the study also contributes to three research strands and explains the inconclusive results in relation to the association between disclosure quality, corporate governance mechanisms and firm value. It provides empirical evidence as to which governance mechanisms promote the quality of voluntarily disclosed information in large UK firms. Additionally, it provides empirical evidence as to the joint effect of best practice disclosure quality, corporate governance mechanisms on firm value in the UK. Results also show that best practice disclosure quality enjoys a substitutive relationship with two corporate governance mechanisms (audit committee independence and audit committee size) and a complementary association with board independence in relation to firm value. The study has various research and policy implications. It suggests new research avenues for re-examining disclosure relationships, especially research areas that do not have persuasive conclusions such as the economic consequences of disclosure quality. Such research may inform both regulators and managers as to the costs and benefits of disclosure quality to both firms and stakeholders. It also provides feedback on the current disclosure practices by firms so that policy-makers can modify reporting frameworks/guidance accordingly.

Chapati, an unleavened flat bread, is a staple in the diet in Pakistan. Wheat in the form of chapati can contribute as much as 90% of the total dietary energy intake to the rural population and generally provides more than half dietary energy and protein. Such a heavy dependence on this cereal food has led to protein malnutrition due to wheat proteins being deficient in lysine, an essential amino acid. The aim of this study was to produce savoury chapati with enhanced nutritional value. Attitudes to a variety of savoury flavours were determined in consumers of Pakistan and in immigrants to Glasgow. Chicken and meaty were most and cheesy least preferred. Amongst chapati quality characters, nutritional value was rated highest followed by flavour. These studies suggested that consumers favoured a product with appropriate flavour, a soft texture and of high nutritional value. Typically chapaties are prepared with wholemeal flours with medium rheological optima. Doughs of British wheat varieties Fresco and Galahad (33+67) and Mercia and Galahad (50+50) had moderate stickiness, high sheeting ability, and were low in shrinkage after sheeting. Such suitable mixtures yielded flours suitable for chapati production. Wheat protein profiles were determined by electrophoresis and relationships between proteins and rheological properties determined with partial least squares regression (PLS2). Dough development time was positively correlated with aggregated values of high molecular weight (HMW) and low molecular weight (LMW) glutenins, ratio of polymeric to monomeric and LMW glutenins, and negatively correlated with the total of gliadin, globulin and albumin fractions. Dough stability showed negative and tolerance index positive correlations with gliadin. Resistance to extension was associated with dough stability and inversely with gliadin content. Such studies reveal that glutenin contributes strength and gliadin imparts weakness to flour. Response surface methodology, used to optimise chapa ties , revealed that a successful savoury product could be produced by incorporating 1.5 to 2.0 % yeast extract without any deleterious effect on dough physical characteristics. Yeast extract enhanced the concentrations of protein from 13.1 % to 14.4 % in chapati. In addition to enhanced nutritional value, yeast extract imparted a desirable savoury flavour to chapati.

Negli ultimi anni i consumatori hanno aumentato l’attenzione rivolta agli aspetti nutrizionali e salutistici (vitamine, sali minerali, antiossidanti, ecc.) legati ai prodotti ortofrutticoli. Il consumo di frutta è stato ampiamente considerata possedere importanti caratteristiche salutari, legate in particolar modo al contenuto di composti antiossidanti, i quali svolgono, all’interno del corpo umano, un’azione protettiva contro le reazioni di ossidazione cellulare. Frutta e verdure contengono composti antiossidanti, oltre alle vitamina C, vitamina E e ai carotenoidi, i quali contribuiscono alla loro capacità antiossidante totale, come i composti fenolici (flavonoidi, antociani, tannini, ellagitannini, ecc). I frutti rossi sono fra i frutti più ricchi in composti fitochimici a carattere antiossidante, tra i frutti rossi la fragola è uno dei più attrattivi, grazie al suo aspetto e alle sue caratteristiche aromatiche, ma ultimamente i consumatori hanno concentrato le loro attenzioni sulle caratteristiche nutrizionali del frutto di fragola. Di conseguenza i ricercatori hanno concentrato il loro interesse verso le caratteristiche nutrizionali del frutto di fragola, allo scopo di caratterizzare i composti bioattivi del frutto per capire come tali composti vengono sintetizzati all’interno della matrice del frutto. È in costante aumento l’interesse rivolto verso i multipli fattori genetici e ambientali che interagiscono sulla produzione e accumulo dei composti nutrizionali del frutto di fragola, anche se tali fattori non sono tenuti in considerazione durante la fase di commercializzazione. Il presupposto di “frutto funzionale” sottolinea che i composti bioattivi presenti nel frutto siano efficaci per la salute del consumatore. La valutazione rigorosa delle prove scientifiche richiede la definizione di un set di criteri e metodi per la valutazione delle caratteristiche nutrizionale del frutto di fragola. Le metodologie per la determinazione dei composti bioattivi dei frutti possono essere considerate strumenti veloci e affidabili per lo screening di larghe popolazioni ottenute da programmi di miglioramento genetico al fine di ottenere genotipi di fragole ad elevato valore nutrizionale. La ricerca sviluppata durante il corso di dottorato è stata incentrata nello 1) sviluppo di metodologie standardizzate di analisi nutrizionale sul frutto di fragola valutata su tre campi di collezione germoplasma fragola; 2)valutazione della qualità nutrizionale di nuovi genotipi di fragola generati da programma di miglioramento genetico utilizzando re-incroci interspecifici di F. virginiana spp. glauca e incroci intra-specifici di F. x ananassa, al fine di produrre nuovo materiale genetico con elevate caratteristiche nutrizionali; 3) validazione della capacità antiossidante del frutto di fragola valutata in vivo su ratti sottoposti ad elevato stress ossidativo. I risultati ottenuti tramite questo approccio multidisciplinare conferma l’importanza dello sviluppo di metodologie di analisi rapide ed efficaci per la valutazione delle componenti nutrizionali del frutto di fragola, grazie al maggior interesse che le caratteristiche nutrizionali stanno acquistando. La valutazione delle caratteristiche nutrizionali nelle collezioni germoplasma fragola europee conferma l’importanza del genotipo riguardo alla composizione dei composti bioattivi nel frutto, ma anche il ruolo importante svolto dalle condizioni ambientali e dalla regionalità. Inoltre è confermata l’importanza delle specie selvatiche come nuovo strumento nello sviluppo di programmi di miglioramento genetico al fine di incrementare la qualità nutrizionale del frutto. In fine è provata l’efficacia del potere antiossidante del frutto di fragola contro il danno provocato dallo stress ossidativo in vivo, ance se efficacia dell’effetto antiossidante è strettamente legato con i composti bioattivi presenti nel frutto e conseguentemente con il genotipo. Questo tipo di approccio multidisciplinare permetterà il licenziamento di nuove varietà capaci di offrire frutti di alta qualità e sicuri per il consumatore.
In recent times increasing attention has been paid by consumers to the health and nutritional aspects (vitamins contents, mineral elements, antioxidants, etc.) of horticultural products. Fruits and vegetables contain antioxidant compounds, in addition to vitamin C or E and carotenoids, that significantly contribute to their total antioxidant capacity, such as phenolic acids (flavonoids, anthocyanins, tannins ellagitannins ecc.). Berry fruits are one of the richest sources of antioxidant phytochemicals encountered. Among berries strawberry fruit is one of the more attractive, due to its aspects and taste, but lately consumers have also focused their attention on strawberry fruit health-related compounds. For such reason researchers have focus their attention on strawberry fruit nutritional attributes, characterizing fruit bioactive compounds and understanding the physiological development of such compounds. Increasing awareness on multiple genetic and environmental factors affecting production and accumulation of bioactive compounds is observed among agronomic investigators, but these factors are rarely taken in account when fruit is marketed. The assumption underlying the ‘functional fruit’ is that the bioactive compounds in fruit are efficacious for the improvement of health. Rigorous and unprejudiced evaluation of the scientific evidence requires a defined set of criteria and methods of evaluation. The methods available for detecting fruit bioactive compounds can be suggested as fast and reliable tools for screening large breeding populations for high berry nutritional quality. The research carried on in these three years was focused on 1) the development of standardized methods for the evaluation of fruit bioactive compounds of European strawberry fruit germplasm collections, to identify genotypes able to provide new gene sources for increasing fruit nutritional value; 2) the evaluation of fruit nutritional quality of new strawberry genotypes generated by a breeding program based on the comparison of offspring populations originated by inter-specific backcross of F. virginiana spp.glauca and F. x ananassa intra-specific cross, with the aim to produce new genetic material with improved fruit nutritional quality; 3) validation of strawberry fruits antioxidant capacity against oxidative stress in vivo by a strawberry fruit supplementation in a sixteen week long term diet in rats. The results obtained by this multidisciplinary approach state the importance of developing methodologies of fruit nutritional evaluation fast and reliable, because of the main role that nutritional quality is acquiring. The nutritional evaluation of European strawberry collections confirm the importance of genotype in regards to bioactive compounds composition, but also the main role played by environmental conditions and location. Furthermore, the importance of wild genetic resources as new implement in strawberry breeding program aimed to improve fruit nutritional quality, is confirmed. Finally, the efficacy of strawberry antioxidant capacity against oxidative damage in vivo, is stated, even if the effect is strictly linked with the fruit bioactive composition and consequently strawberry genotype. This multidisciplinary approach will allow the release of new varieties able to offer better quality and consumer safety.

Imperfect information is a pervasive feature of health care markets. Therefore, measuring the quality and value of health care services may inform efforts to improve health care delivery. This dissertation explores several applications of performance measurement in health care: describing national practice patterns, evaluating the effects of payment reforms, and contributing to policies that reward providers for measured performance. Chapter one describes the use of low-value services in fee-for-service Medicare. Drawing from evidence-based lists of services that provide minimal clinical benefit, I develop 26 claims-based measures of low-value services. Applying these measures to Medicare claims, I demonstrate that 42% of beneficiaries received at least one of these services in a year, which constituted 2.7 % of overall annual spending. When more specific and less sensitive versions of the measures were used, I detected low-value service use for 25% of beneficiaries, constituting 0.6% of overall spending. In adjusted analyses, spending on low-value services was substantial even in regions at the 5th percentile of the regional distribution of low-value spending. Adjusted regional use was positively correlated among five of six categories of low-value services. These findings are consistent with the view that wasteful practices are pervasive in the US health care system. The results also suggest that the performance of claims-based measures in supporting policies to reduce overuse may depend heavily on how the measures are defined. Chapter two examines the role of provider organizations in influencing the delivery of low-value services. In Part I of this chapter, I assess whether provider organizations exhibit distinct profiles of low-value service use in fee-for-service Medicare. In one sample of 3,137 large provider organizations and another sample of 250 provider organizations that entered the Medicare Pioneer Accountable Care Organization (ACO) Program or the Medicare Shared Savings Program, I demonstrate that provider organizations’ use of low-value services exhibits considerable variation, substantial persistence over time, and modest consistency across service types. In Part II of this chapter, I evaluate the effects of the Pioneer ACO Program on the use of low-value services. In a difference-in-differences analysis, I compare the use of low-value services between beneficiaries attributed to Pioneer ACOs and beneficiaries attributed to other providers, before (2009-2011) vs. after (2012) Pioneer ACO contracts began. During its first year, the Pioneer ACO program was associated with modest reductions in low-value services, with greater reductions for organizations that had provided more low-value services. The findings in this chapter suggest that provider organizations can influence the use of low-value services by affiliated physicians, and that organization-level incentives can reduce low-value practices. Chapter three analyzes the economic properties of performance measures used in both health care and education policy. Because observable outcomes constitute a noisy signal of performance in these settings, shrinkage estimators are often used to improve measurement accuracy. I demonstrate that these improvements in accuracy come at the cost of reducing a measure’s responsiveness to agent behavior, thereby diluting incentives for performance improvement. In a model of consumers sorting between agents, I show that welfare depends on two components: (1) accuracy of performance signals, which promotes efficient consumer sorting, and (2) incentives for performance improvement, which promote efficient agent effort. Using Monte Carlo simulation, I evaluate the accuracy and incentive properties of various techniques for estimating hospital performance in heart attack mortality. Shrinkage estimators entail substantial incentive distortions, particularly for smaller hospitals, which experience an approximate 50-70% “tax” on improvement. Several estimation techniques, including the methods currently used by Medicare, are dominated on the basis of both accuracy and incentive criteria. I discuss various policy alternatives to shrinkage estimation, such as increasing the timespan of measuring performance.
Health Policy

First isolated by Friedrich Miescher in 1869 and then identified by James Watson and Francis Crick in 1953, the double stranded DeoxyriboNucleic Acid (DNA) molecule of Homo sapiens took fifty years to be completely reconstructed and to finally be at disposal to researchers for deep studies and analyses. The first technologies for DNA sequencing appeared around the mid-1970s; among them the most successful has been chain termination method, usually referred to as Sanger method. They remained de-facto standard for sequencing until, at the beginning of the 2000s, Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) technologies started to be developed. These technologies are able to produce huge amount of data with competitive costs in terms of dollars per base, but now further advances are revealing themselves in form of Single Molecule Real Time (SMRT) based sequencer, like Pacific Biosciences, that promises to produce fragments of length never been available before. However, none of above technologies are able to read an entire DNA, they can only produce short fragments (called reads) of the sample in a process referred to as sequencing. Although all these technologies have different characteristics, one recurrent trend in their evolution has been represented by the constant grow of the fraction of errors injected into the final reads. While Sanger machines produce as low as 1 erroneous base in 1000, the recent PacBio sequencers have an average error rate of 15%; NGS machines place themselves roughly in the middle with the expected error rate around 1%. With such a heterogeneity of error profiles and, as more and more data is produced every day, algorithms being able to cope with different sequencing technologies are becoming fundamental; at the same time also models for the description of sequencing with the inclusion of error profiling are gaining importance. A key feature that can make these approaches really effective is the ability of sequencers of producing quality scores which measure the probability of observing a sequencing error. In this thesis we present a stochastic model for the sequencing process and show its application to the problems of clustering and filtering of reads. The novel idea is to use quality scores to build a probabilistic framework that models the entire process of sequencing. Although relatively straightforward, the developing of such a model goes through the proper definition of probability spaces and events on such spaces. To keep the model simple and tractable several simplification hypotheses need to be introduce, each of them, however, must be explicitly stated and extensively discussed. The final result is a model for sequencing process that can be used: to give probabilistic interpretation of the problems defined on sequencing data and to characterize corresponding probabilistic answers (i.e., solutions). To experimentally validate the aforementioned model, we apply it to two different problems: reads clustering and reads filtering. The first set of experiments goes through the introduction of a set of novel alignment-free measures D2 resulting from the extension of the well known D2 -type measures to incorporate quality values. More precisely, instead of adding a unit contribution to the k-mers count statistic (as for D2 statistics), each k- mer contributes with an additive term corresponding to its probability of being correct as defined by our stochastic model. We show that this new measures are effective when applied to clustering of reads, by employing clusters produced with D2 as input to the problems of metagenomic binning and de-novo assembly. In the second set of experiments conducted to validate our stochastic model, we applied the same definition of correct read to the problem of reads filtering. We first define rank filtering which is a lossless filtering technique that sorts reads based on a given criterion; then we used the sorted list of reads as input of algorithms for reads mapping and de-novo assembly. The idea is that, on the reordered set, reads ranking higher should have better quality than the ones at lower ranks. To test this conjecture, we use such filtering as pre-processing step of reads mapping and de-novo assembly; in both cases we observe improvements when our rank filtering approach is used.
Isolata per la prima volta da Friedrich Miescher nel 1869 ed identificata nel 1953 da James Watson e Francis Crick, la molecola del DNA (acido desossiribonucleico) umano ha richiesto più di 50 anni perchè fosse a disposizione della comunità internazionale per studi e analisi approfondite. Le prime tecnologie di sequenziamento sono apparse attorno alla metà degli anni 70, tra queste quella di maggiore successo è stata la tecnologia denominata Sanger rimasta poi lo standard di fatto per il sequenziamento fino a che, agli inizi degli anni 2000, sequenziatori battezzati di nuova generazione (Next Generation Sequencing (NGS)) sono comparsi sul mercato. Questi ultimi hanno velocemente preso piede grazie ai bassi costi di sequenziamento soprattutto se confrontati con le precedenti macchine Sanger. Oggi tuttavia, nuove tecnologie (ad esempio PacBio di Pacific Biosciences) si stanno facendo strada grazie alla loro capacità di produrre frammenti di lunghezze mai ottenute prima d’ora. Nonostante la continua evoluzione nessuna di queste tecnologie è ancora in grado di produrre letture complete del DNA, ma solo parziali frammenti (chiamati read) come risultato del processo biochimico chiamato sequenziamento. Un trend ricorrente durante l’evoluzione dei sequenziatori è rappresentato dalla crescente presenza di errori di sequenziamento, se nelle read Sanger in media una lettura su mille corrisponde ad un errore, le ultime macchine PacBio sono caratterizzate da un tasso di errore di circa il 15%, una situazione più o meno intermedia è rappresentata dalle read NGS all’interno delle quali questo tasso si attesta su valori attorno al 1%. E’ chiaro quindi che algoritmi in grado di processare dati con diversi caratteristiche in termini di errori di sequenziamento stanno acquisendo maggiore importanza mentre lo sviluppo di modelli ad-hoc che affrontino esplicitamente il problema degli errori di sequenziamento stanno assumendo notevole rilevanza. A supporto di queste tecniche le macchine sequenziatrici producono valori di qualità (quality scores o quality values) che possono esser messi in relazione con la probabilità di osservare un errore di sequenziamento. In questa tesi viene presentato un modello stocastico per descrivere il processo di sequenziamento e ne vengono presentate due applicazioni: clustering di read e il filtraggio di read. L’idea alla base del modello è di utilizzare i valori di qualità come fondamento per la definizione di un modello probabilistico che descriva il processo di sequenziamento. La derivazione di tale modello richiede la definizione rigorosa degli spazi di probabilità coinvolti e degli eventi in essi definiti. Inoltre, allo scopo di sviluppare un modello semplice e trattabile è necessario introdurre ipotesi semplificative che agevolino tale processo, tuttavia tali ipotesi debbono essere esplicitate ed opportunamente discusse. Per fornirne una validazione sperimentale, il modello è stato applicato ai problemi di clustering e filtraggio. Nel primo caso il clustering viene eseguito utilizzando le nuove misure Dq2 ottenute come estensione delle note misure alignment-free D2 attraverso l’introduzione dei valori di qualità. Più precisamente anzichè indurre un contributo unitario al conto della frequenza dei k-mer (come avviene per le statistiche D2), nelle misure Dq2 il contributo di un k-mer coincide con la probabilità dello stesso si essere corretto, calcolata sulla base dei valori di qualità associati. I risultati del clustering sono poi utilizzati per risolvere il problema del de-novo assembly (ricostruzione ex-novo di sequenze) e del metagenomic binning (classificazione di read da esperimenti di metagenomica). Una seconda applicazione del modello teorico è rappresentata dal problema del filtraggio di read utilizzando un approccio senza perdita di informazione in cui le read vengono ordinate secondo la loro probabilità di correttezza. L’idea che giustifica l’impiego di tale approccio è che l’ordinamento dovrebbe collocare nelle posizioni più alte le read con migliore qualità retrocedendo quelle con qualità più bassa. Per verificare la validità di questa nostra congettura, il filtraggio è stato utilizzato come fase preliminare di algoritmi per mappaggio di read e de-novo assembly. In entrambi i casi si osserva un miglioramento delle prestazione degli algoritmi quando le read sono presentate nell’ordine indotto dalla nostra misura. La tesi è strutturata nel seguente modo. Nel Capitolo 1 viene fornita una introduzione al sequenziamento e una panoramica dei principali problemi definiti sui dati prodotti. Inoltre vengono dati alcuni cenni sulla rappresentazione di sequenze, read e valori di qualità. Alla fine dello stesso Capitolo 1 si delineano brevemente i principali contributi della tesi e la letteratura correlata. Il Capitolo 2 contiene la derivazione formale del modello probabilistico per il sequenziamento. Nella prima parte viene schematicamente presentato il processo di produzione di una coppia simbolo qualità per poi passare alla definizione di spazi di probabilità per sequenze e sequenziamento. Mentre gli aspetti relativo alla distribuzione di probabilità per la sequenza di riferimento non vengono considerati in questa tesi, la descrizione probabilistica del processo di sequenziamento è trattata in dettaglio nella parte centrale del Capitolo 2 nella cui ultima parte viene presentata la derivazione della probabilità di correttezza di una read che viene poi utilizzata nei capitoli successivi. Il Capitolo 3 presenta le misure Dq2 e gli esperimenti relativi al clustering i cui risultati sono frutto del lavoro svolto in collaborazione con Matto Comin e Andrea Leoni e pubblicato in [CLS14] e [CLS15]. Il Capitolo 4 presenta invece i risultati preliminari fin qui ottenuti per il filtraggio di read basato sui valori di qualità. Infine il Capitolo 5 presenta le conclusioni e delinea le direzioni future che si intendono perseguire a continuamento del lavoro qui presentato.

This thesis focuses on student perceptions of course value. Using a case study as the basis for a critically reflective interrogation, this research focuses on the issue of how key course elements such as design, assessment practices and differentiation of content impact on student experience thus enabling students to make a determination on the overall value of the course. The initial research question to be answered in this study is how can shifts in course design affect student perceptions of value? The method for this study is framed as a critical reflective case study. It draws from an autobiographical teaching experience. The method used to interrogate this experience is an adaption of Brookfield’s multiple source method, which enables the examination of the case study from multiple perspectives. The objective of the case study is to draw out the implications for understandings of student perceptions of value.

Returned products of many industries are transported backwards through supply chains for recovery, thus forming &ldquo
closed-loop supply chains&rdquo
. Benefits, forthcoming with more effective management of recovery of returns are gaining importance. However, some issues, such as lack of information required to assess the quality of the returned products, may translate into critical uncertainties in the product recovery decisions and prevent closed-loop supply chains from operating efficiently. Hence, it is envisaged that significant economies may be attained by increasing the quantity of information fed into the planning decisions related to returned products. Thus, the objective of this study is to test the hypothesis that ready availability of perfect quality grade information associated with returned products by means of &ldquo
embedded systems&rdquo
, may lead to improved over all performance of recovery operations. To this end, in this thesis, linear programming models of generic multistage recovery processes are built. It is demonstrated by computational studies that significant gains may be obtained especially in environments where the prices of recovered products are decreasing in time.

This thesis examines the emergence of a trend in American post-millennial television often described in journalistic discourses with the term ‘feminist quality TV’. While the strategic reliance on feminist politics is a historically established method in American television to promote certain programming’s cultural value, the cultural specificities of the early 21st century deem this phenomenon unique enough for an in-depth study. The emergence of ‘feminist quality television’ is governed by the rhetorical subversion of two phenomena simultaneously: the much-debated development of the era’s masculine-coded ‘quality television’ culture on the one hand, and the dominance of ‘postfeminist’ popular culture on the other. Post-millennial ‘quality television’ culture cultivates the idea of aesthetic-generic hierarchies among different types of scripted programming. This category’s development has facilitated academic interest in television texts’ evaluative analysis based on aesthetic merit, an approach that other strands of TV scholarship contest for sidestepping the gendered and classed processes of canonisation informing the phenomenon. By the mid-2010s, the debate between aesthetic versus political analysis had intensified in television studies. The thesis intervenes in this by arguing for a synthesis of approaches that does not further foster already prominent processes of canonisation, but interrogates the cultural forces underlying them. Via detailed analyses of four programmes emerging within the ‘feminist quality TV’ trend, namely 30 Rock (2006-2013), Parks and Recreation (2009-2015), The Good Wife (2009-2016), and Orange Is the New Black (2013-), it seeks to understand how they mediate their cultural significance by negotiating formal-aesthetic exceptionalism and a politicised rhetoric around a ‘problematic’ postfeminism, thus linking ideals of political and aesthetic value. The ultimate purpose of this research is to demonstrate the necessity in television analysis of unpacking both the specific genderedness of television’s cultivation of aesthetic value, and the context of aesthetics and form in which the programmes’ political implications emerge.

These methods form a battery of useful economic approaches for estimation consumer values of environmental quality. All of the methods deserve continuing scientific scrutiny, have room for improvement, and should be employed cautiously and with a critical eye. When you are citing the document, use the following link http://essuir.sumdu.edu.ua/handle/123456789/8286

Research and practitioners alike have underscored the importance of customer value creation in marketing. For any marketing practice to be successful, it must first create value for customers. This is also true for the practice of relationship marketing, which is enjoying popularity among organizational marketers. However, there has been a lack of research done on the predictive effects of relationship marketing constructs in relation to buyer perceived value in organizational marketing. In other words, we still know little about the mechanism through which a good relationship enhances customer perceived value. The primary purpose of this study is to conceptually develop and empirically test a model that explains how the quality of a buyer-supplier relationship affects the buyer's value judgment in an organizational purchasing context. In the study, relationship quality is defined as comprising three different but mutually reinforcing dimensions: mutual trust, mutual commitment, and interdependence. Perceived value is conceptualized as an overall assessment of the utility of an offering based on the benefits and costs of accepting an offering. The conceptual model specifies the several routes through which relationship quality impacts buyer perceived value. First, a good relationship increases relationship benefits and reduces relationship costs, which in turn influences customer value perception - the higher the relationship benefits (and lower relationship costs), the higher the customer perceived value. Second, a good relationship reduces decision-making uncertainty. Lower decision-making uncertainty is hypothesized to increase the effects of perceived purchase episode benefits and perceived purchase episode costs on perceived value. The model was generally confirmed by an empirical test based on data collected from a national sample of purchasing managers in the United States.
Ph. D.

This study investigates how CEO managerial ability affects investment quality, investment efficiency, and the value of cash. Specifically, I examine whether higher managerial ability is associated with higher M&A quality, more efficient capital investments, and higher value of cash. Investment decision-making and implementation can signal a CEO’s managerial ability (Stein 2003), and shareholders assign more value to the cash of those firms with high ability CEOs. Thus, I predict that more able CEOs conduct higher quality M&A and make more efficient capital investment decisions. I also propose that the value of cash is higher for firms with more able CEOs. Using the methodology developed in Demerjian et al. (2012) to estimate CEO managerial ability, I find that the M&As conducted by more able CEOs are less likely to experience goodwill impairment and divestitures in the post-acquisition period. I also find that managerial ability, to a certain extent, can improve capital investment efficiency when firms have a higher likelihood of over- or under-investment. Furthermore, I provide evidence that cash has higher value if it is managed by more able CEOs. Overall, my findings suggest that while managerial ability plays a limited role in improving M&A quality, it significantly increases capital investment efficiency and the value of cash.

We explore the relationship between the stock market value of firms and patent quality using a recently developed composite index measure. The study is conducted on 137 firms during 1991-2015, which provides 914 unique firm year observations. By defining patent quality through patent value indicators, we analyze each indicator’s relationship to the market value of firms. We find that an extra citation per patent increases a firm’s market value by 5 %, and an extra patent family member per patent increases a firm’s market value by 4 %. Patent counts and patent grants show slight negative effects on the market value of firms. Using the composite index measure, we divide our sample into quartiles containing the most important and least important patents. With the use of this methodological framework, we show that the market can identify and separate the more important patents from the less important patents.

This study attempted to capture and describe the lived experiences of correctional academic teachers who provide educational services in facilities in the northeastern region of the United States through qualitative phenomenological inquiry. This study strove to provide a deeper understanding of correctional teachers’ perceptions concerning the mission, value, efficacy, and importance of the work that they perform, as well as the resulting approaches they take, in their academic classrooms. Through phenomenological data analysis, the study assessed teachers’ perceptions of the rehabilitative ideal, as well as the role of correctional education program offerings within a rehabilitative framework.

This study investigated the influences of personal value systems and risk propensities on managerial decision-making quality during value clashes. The post-globalisation business landscape is impacted by role players of vastly differing personal attributes, hypothesised to have varying influences on decision-making behaviour. A deeper understanding of how these attributes impact decision-making quality will therefore enrich the literature and arm practitioners with improved decision-making skills. A review of behavioural decision-making literature revealed three core approaches: the normative (prescriptive) perspective, focussed on decision analysis, the cognitive limitations perspective highlighting the boundaries of human cognition and the psychological (values/emotions/motivations) perspective allowing for ethical- or value-boundedness. The extant literature contributes little on the quality of decision-making exhibited by managers, or how to improve it. It also doesn’t consider variance in decision-making between groups defined by personal value and risk traits. This study therefore aimed to establish whether decision-making quality varied with variances in personal attributes, and whether an intervention would improve decision-making behaviour. The research, conducted on a sample of 460 South African managers, established the demographics and value- and risk orientations of the participating group. Three value clashing scenarios, incorporating social-relational framing interventions, where introduced to gauge the decision-making behaviour of the test subjects. Decision-making quality was assessed through the integrative complexity measure and qualitative assessments were conducted on the decision motivation texts. Decision-tree analyses, multiple regression analyses as well as T-tests comparing the decision-quality produced by individuals of opposing orientations, revealed a clear relationship between the value segments of self-enhancement and openness to change and higher quality decision-making. Social risk-taking was related to better decision-making and reframing the scenarios produced better decision-making quality responses, if the reframing was done harshly enough. The qualitative analysis supported these findings, but hinted at additional, context specific decision motivators. This study contributed an integrated view of decision-making literature, tested the application of integrative complexity as a measure of decision quality and introduced new perspectives on how value orientations, risk proclivities and scenario framing relate to decision-making quality. Practitioners can apply this to assess individuals in terms of their decision-making abilities, and can improve decision-making quality in managers through scenario re-framing.
Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2017.
Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS)
PhD
Unrestricted

The study sought to examine the relationship between quality of work-life and quality of life depending on how central work is in an individual’s life and what value work holds for them. Literature internationally has shown that because work forms such an integral part of individuals’ lives, that this could influence their experience of quality of life, indicating that a high quality of work life could lead to a high quality of life. Similarly, if work is a central life interest and dependent on the value that work holds, the loss of work could potentially influence quality of life. A cross-sectional, descriptive design was used, with a correlational approach. Snowball sampling was used to gather a sample of 163 working adults in South Africa, through a personal network of family and friends. Participants completed scales assessing the four variables of interest provided in an online questionnaire. The results indicated that individuals who experienced their quality of work-life as more positive also indicated a higher quality of life. This relationship was stronger when individuals saw work as having intrinsic value. However, the degree to which work was central to a person’s life, and to which work was seen as having value as it provided monetary rewards (extrinsic value), social connections and relationships (social value), or status (prestige value) were not found to alter the relationship between quality of work-life and quality of life. As shown previously in both international and local literature, work is always placed second to family in importance. Based on these findings, limitations and recommendations were suggested, as well as theoretical and practical implications.

As existing research on leader-follower value similarity and leader-member exchange (LMX) has shown varying results, this thesis has set out to explore whether the relationship between work values, LMX and work outcomes could be examined using another approach. Building on person-environment fit and discrepancy theories of job satisfaction research, this thesis proposes that similarity between the leader’s and the follower’s work values (work value similarity) and the leader’s fulfilment of the follower’s work values (work value fulfilment) are positively related to LMX and work outcomes (follower’s satisfaction with the leader, job satisfaction, organisational commitment, task performance and organisational citizenship behaviour). Related to this, it is proposed that LMX plays a mediating role on the relationship between work value similarity and work outcomes, just as LMX is proposed to play a mediating role on the relationship between work value fulfilment and work outcomes. Furthermore, it is proposed that work value fulfilment compared to work value similarity is more strongly related to LMX. To test the hypothesised relationships, two studies were conducted at a consumer products manufacturer in the UK and Denmark. The first study is cross-sectional and consists of 167 followers from the UK. The second study is longitudinal and data for this study were collected in two waves with a five-month interval from followers and leaders in Denmark. At time 1, the longitudinal study had a sample of 468 followers, of which 206 were rated by their immediate manager. At time 2 the study had a sample of 316 followers, of which 140 were rated by their immediate manager. Work value similarity and work value fulfilment were measured using direct and indirect measures of congruence, and the thesis uses structural equation modelling, relative weight analysis, and polynomial regression analysis. Across the studies, the thesis has generally found support for the hypothesised relationships. Findings of the thesis show that work value similarity and work value fulfilment are positively related to LMX and work outcomes, and that LMX plays a mediating role on the relationship between work value similarity and work outcomes, just as LMX plays a mediating role on the relationship between work value fulfilment and work outcomes. Furthermore, findings show that work value fulfilment compared to work value similarity is more strongly related to LMX. Generally, the results have been found by using crosssectional and longitudinal data, single-source and multi-source data, direct and indirect measures of congruence, and by using different advanced approaches for studying congruence. The implications of these findings for theory and practice are discussed.

Business intelligence (BI) systems have been widely recognized as a leading technology for many years. However, despite the high priority and importance placed on BI, there has been a significant lack of BI system implementation (BISI) success. BI systems are not considered to be conventional information systems (IS) and often rely on the integration of a complex information infrastructure. Consequently, the degree of information quality (IQ) and system quality (SQ) have not met expectations for BISI success. This study was designed to determine how an organization may gain benefits in the context of BISI by uncovering the antecedents and critical value factors (CVFs) of SQ and IQ necessary to derive greater BISI success. In phase one, a list of BISI SQ and IQ characteristics were collected through literature discovery and an open-ended questionnaire delivered to a group of BI user experts. The collected items were grouped and categorized based on their similarities. In phase two of the study 257 survey responses were collected from BI users to measure the level of importance, i.e. value, they placed on SQ and IQ characteristics. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) via principal component analysis (PCA) was then used to uncover the CVFs of SQ and IQ that influence BISI success. Two highly reliable CVFs for SQ of BISI with a cumulative variance of nearly 62% and three highly reliable CVFs for IQ of BISI with a cumulative variance of over 75% were subsequently identified. In phase three of the study, an extended conceptual model for IS success was validated to assess the uncovered CVFs of SQ and IQ, as well as their influence on the constructs of perceived SQ of BISI and perceived IQ of BISI. Employing partial least squares (PLS), a subset of structural equation modeling (SEM), the research model was then used to assess the dimensions of perceived SQ of BISI and perceived IQ of BISI as antecedents of the constructs of perceived user systems satisfaction and perceived user information satisfaction from BISI. The crossover effects of perceived user systems and information satisfaction from BISI were also analyzed. The results identified two SQ CVFs of BISI (integration flexibility SQ and reliability SQ) that demonstrated a significant positive impact on perceived SQ for BISI as well as three IQ CVFs of BISI (representation IQ, intrinsic IQ, and accessibility IQ) that had a significant positive impact on perceived IQ of BISI. The constructs of perceived user systems satisfaction and perceived user information satisfaction from BISI had explained variances of R2 = .576 and .589 respectively. Additionally, 12 items of SQ for BISI and 14 items of IQ for BISI were identified as possessing high reliability. This study makes two important contributions to the IS body of knowledge. First, it investigated the universal set of antecedents of SQ and IQ to establish the CVFs of IQ (integration flexibility SQ and reliability SQ) as well as the CVFs of IQ (representation IQ, intrinsic IQ, and accessibility IQ) for BISI success. Second, this study evaluated the crossover effects of system and information satisfaction in BISI success highlighting the importance that BI users place on the need to distinguish between the BI system, the IQ of the output produced, and the influence of IQ on perceived user system satisfaction from BISI. This study benefits stakeholders by focusing on what is important to BISI success and identifies those areas that are most likely to lead to better use of scarce resources while providing the greatest benefits.

In Quality Management and Total Quality Management (TQM) customer focus and customer value creation is of importance and in organisations it is of high priority. Quality Management has had an internal focus when it comes to customer value creation but in the 21st century there is a need for an outward orientation and to go beyond the organisational borders. Also an increasing interest in social, societal and environmental issues can be seen, for instance by customers, organisations, quality awards and within the quality area. An area that considers these issues is the societal entrepreneurial sector.   The purpose of this thesis has been to contribute to the knowledge and understanding about customer value creation from a system view. Additionally the purpose has been to contribute to the development of Quality Management. In order to fulfil the purpose, case studies have been performed. Cases within the societal entrepreneurial area have been studied and seven studies have been performed. Data have been collected through interviews, direct observations, participating observations and documents. All data have been collected empirically except in one study where a literature case study was used. The data were analysed through tools such as process mapping, attribute value mapping and rich picture process maps combined with analytical methods for case study research. The research journey started out from TQM and an internal perspective on customer value creation. As the studies went on, the system borders became wider as other areas important to customer value creation were identified: the customer value creating system went from an internal perspective to include an external perspective.    The findings contribute to earlier research findings and give a comprehensive and simplified picture of a complex phenomenon and an opportunity to understand customer value creation from a system view. This thesis provides an overall map of the customer value creating system. Additionally it contributes to the development of Quality Management by expanding the view on customer value creation to include both an internal and an external oriented perspective. It also contributes by suggesting a fifth step in the quality management movement ´System Quality Management´ that considers social, societal and environmental factors through continuous improvement before, during and after value creation for customers. Further it contributes with a developed view on customers and the concept of customer value creation.   The overall map provided includes three areas. Growth and development of societal entrepreneurial initiatives. The result shows important components for the creation of societal value based on the growth and development of societal entrepreneurial initiatives. Included are the processes, input and output important for societal value creation from unidentified needs until societal value can be delivered, management process and support process fields.  Customer value creation in the customer sphere.  Customer value has been found to be created beyond the use or purchase of a product or service. Value has also been found to be created for those that are not in direct contact with an initiative or its product or service. Customer value has been found to spread into society like ripples in a complex system of value creation. And Value Ripple Logic has been developed to describe this phenomenon. Management role in customer value creation. The management’s role in value creation has been found to be of importance in the creation of customer value in an indirect way through interaction with the surroundings and the initiative.  Factors and behaviours have been found which are connected to the leaders and their essential management processes along with their input and output.   The findings presented in this thesis have considerable potential for development. Further studies need to be done within the area concerning how customer value is created and to achieve an even more comprehensive picture of the customer value creating system and the suggested fifth step. The results presented in this thesis are a contribution to the knowledge and understanding about customer value creation from a system view and the development of the Quality Management.

Vid tidpunkten för disputationen var följande delarbeten opublicerade: delarbete 6 accepterat för publicering och delarbete 7 inskickat.

At the time of the doctoral defence the following papers were unpublished: paper 6 accepted for publication and  paper 7 submitted.

Thesis: M.B.A., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2016. In conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT.
Thesis: S.M. in Engineering Systems, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2016. In conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (page 51).
The quality of Caterpillar's welds is becoming increasingly important as their equipment is made leaner with the goals of increased performance, lighter weight and lower unit cost. Due to the inherently variable nature of arc welding, non-destructive weld evaluation is critical to ensure that welding processes remain in control, and that defective parts are quarantined and repaired before being released downstream. The "conventional" ultrasonic weld inspection technology in use at present has several limitations: -- Areas within common joint configurations cannot be adequately inspected due to geometry constraints; -- Discontinuity evaluation requires subjective real-time human interpretation by highly trained operators; -- The data produced by the instrumentation is unconducive to recording for off-line analysis; -- Imprecise defect sizing leads to Type I and Type II inspection errors - the unnecessary rework of good parts, and the inappropriate release of non-complying parts. This project addressed these limitations of conventional ultrasonic weld inspection by identifying and evaluating alternative commercially available technologies and by initiating the internal development of specific proprietary technologies tailored to Caterpillar's needs. Through collaboration with Caterpillar's non-destructive evaluation (NDE) community, as well as outside vendors, a technology known as "phased array" was selected and validated in the laboratory and production environments. Although phased array was not new to Caterpillar, its adoption within the production facilities had previously been limited.
by Michael T. Buelsing.
M.B.A.
S.M. in Engineering Systems

The increasing need for groundwater as a source for fresh water and the continuous deterioration in many places around the world of that precious source as a result of anthropogenic sources of pollution highlights the need for efficient groundwater resources management. To be efficient, groundwater resources management requires efficient access to reliable information that can be acquired through monitoring. Due to the limited resources to implement a monitoring program, a groundwater quality monitoring network design should identify what is an optimal network from the point of view of cost, the value of information collected, and the amount of uncertainty that will exist about the quality of groundwater. When considering the potential social impact of monitoring, the design of a network should involve all stakeholders including people who are consuming the groundwater. This research introduces a methodology for groundwater quality monitoring network design that utilizes state-of-the-art learning machines that have been developed from the general area of statistical learning theory. The methodology takes into account uncertainties in aquifer properties, pollution transport processes, and climate. To check the feasibility of the network design, the research introduces a methodology to estimate the value of information (VOI) provided by the network using a decision tree model. Finally, the research presents the results of a survey administered in the study area to determine whether the implementation of the monitoring network design could be supported. Applying these methodologies on the Eocene Aquifer, Palestine indicates that statistical learning machines can be most effectively used to design a groundwater quality monitoring network in real-life aquifers. On the other hand, VOI analysis indicates that for the value of monitoring to exceed the cost of monitoring, more work is needed to improve the accuracy of the network and to increase people’s awareness of the pollution problem and the available alternatives.

Woodland restoration is a complex endeavour, and restoration ecology as a scientific discipline requires constant re-assessments and adjustments if it is to improve outcomes and better provide for biodiversity. The promise of effective restoration is often used to justify destructive processes that affect many of the world’s ecosystems. It is therefore imperative that those promises can be met, which comes down to restoration ecologists’ and land managers’ capacity to predict and facilitate desirable ecological changes in a timely and socio-economically responsible manner. As perspectives have changed, and knowledge has been gained over the past few decades there have been several fundamental shifts in how restoration is done. Efforts to ‘beautify’ degraded areas through the planting of fast growing non-native species is no longer thought of as responsible restoration practice. We have a better understanding of ecological thresholds, the creation of novel ecosystems and the ways ecosystems move between stable states through transitional processes. Yet many restoration projects still fail to deliver positive outcomes for certain taxonomic groups. Fauna are an important component of biodiversity, and yet ecological filters and traps remain common in restored habitats. To date, the focus in restoration has been biased towards restoring flora, while fauna have been under-appreciated and under-utilised. This is likely due to a lack of clarity around how fauna can be used to assess restoration success. This study sought to address that issue by exploring ways fauna could be used to assess habitat quality, and evaluate whether they could fit into existing restoration management tools like a state-and-transition model. Variation in habitat quality was assessed using a number of biodiversity measures and behavioural patterns. This study used Rottnest Island in Western Australia, a mosaic landscape with a woodland restoration program that has been running for over 50 years. The Island’s woodland areas support a resident population of red-capped robins Petroica goodenovii, which was the focal species of this study. The robins are typically groundforaging insectivores that generally have been found to respond negatively to anthropocentric land use changes. The suitability of the Island’s robin population as an indicator for the larger avian community was assessed to determine whether management and monitoring could simply focus on improving conditions for robins. Unfortunately, robins were found to be a poor indicator of the larger avian community. Factors that were positively correlated with estimated robin density, like woodland area and time since last fire, were negatively correlated with density of other avian species of conservation significance. Invertebrate assembly was surveyed as a measure of food resource availability. There was a significant difference between woodland and heathland areas and to a lesser, but still significant, extent between restored woodland areas of different ages and remnant woodland. A major finding of this study was that Coleoptera were scarcely encountered in ground samples outside of remnant patches, but were among the most common orders in arboreal samples, specifically in old restoration. Given that this order is a major component of numerous insectivore diets, it is likely that this difference is influencing foraging habitat quality. This conclusion is supported by difference detected in the birds’ foraging behaviour, as birds in remnants foraged predominantly on the ground, while in restored areas birds were frequently observed collecting prey items from vegetation. Aside from changing their foraging behaviour, the birds were also found to rarely display breeding related behaviours while in restored habitat. This mimicked a significant difference in juvenile robin population density between restored and remnant patches during the breeding season. As such, it appears robins readily use restored areas for feeding resources, but remnants remain a crucial component of their functional habitat requirements, providing important breeding habitat. Behaviour was found to be a useful tool in explaining and verifying measured differences in habitat quality, and in this case, could easily be incorporated into pre-existing fauna monitoring programs. Robins weren’t found to be a suitable indicator species for the bird community, and given the small species pool on the island, management may need to consider all species of conservation significance separately.

This study examined the business results of companies that won the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (NQA). It used performance data before and after the award to determine if there were significant differences in three key performance indices after adoption of those business techniques that enabled these companies to win their NQA. The three key indicators were return on assets (ROA), earnings per share (EPS) and the current ratio. The study examined the data in two ways; first tests were made by comparing company performance before and after winning an NQA. The second way of testing was by comparing the NQA-winning company's performance with its key competitors within their market segment. Using both parametric and nonparametric hypothesis testing techniques, the preponderance of evidence suggests there was no significant difference in performance after winning the NQA than before, using the three performance indicators used in this study. Likewise, there was no evidence to suggest that the NQA-winning firms outperformed their key competitors within their market segment, for the three performance indicators used.

This master’s thesis investigates the Swedish American Chamber of Commerce (SACC) in Chicago, a non-profit organization, in order to aid it with customer defection. The chosen literature contributes to a better understanding of customer behavior, and thus, customer defection, by examining customer retention, customer defection, switching behaviors, and different gaps that can occur in the relationship between a service supplier and its customers. Through a systematic combining approach and empirical findings gained through semi-structured interviews with both executives and defected customers, this study reveals that the main reason for customer defection is a perceived lack of value in their membership to the SACC, along with the sentiment that their business-oriented expectations are not being met. As for the SACC, the Board members have a varied range of views as to the value of defected customers, though overall, acquisition is prioritized over customer defection strategies.

碩士
中原大學
會計研究所
101
Taiwan has adopted the Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 34 for financial instruments since 2006. This paper investigates the value relevance difference between financial instruments measured by fair value and non-financial instruments. Furthermore, this study also examines whether audit quality measured with different sized audit firms (big 4) can increase the value relevance of financial instruments measured by fair value. The sample is from Taiwan Stock Exchange listed companies during the period 2006 to 2011. The empirical result shows FVA (financial asset measured by fair value), NFVA (total asset subtracted financial asset measured by fair value) and NFVL (total liability subtracted financial asset measured by fair value) are value relevance but FVL (financial liability measured by fair value) isn’t. The value relevance of FVA is higher than NFVA. Furthermore, we divide the sample into financial industry and non-financial industry. In financial industry, the value relevance of FVL is higher than NFVL. Therefore, fair value accounting information of financial asset (liability) has incremental value relevance in non-financial industry (financial industry) and proves the value relevance between financial instruments measured by fair value and non-financial instruments are not same. The financial statements audited by big4 can improve the value relevance of FVA in non-financial industry. Thus, audit quality can indeed strengthen the value relevance of fair value accounting information of financial asset.

碩士
崑山科技大學
企業管理研究所
95
Automobiles are become more and more important and popular means of transportation around the world nowadays not only in developed countries but also underdeveloped and developing countries like Cambodia. Thus, many businesses are concerned to this market. The purposes of this study are to examine how respondents in Cambodia evaluate the quality and value of automobile product based on perceptions of brand and price. In this study found that brand perceptions has significant impact on the perceptions of price and also significant impact on perceptions of quality and value. Similarly, the perceptions of price confirmed significant impact on perceptions of quality, but insignificant impact on value. Therefore, perceptions of price would influences on perceptions and value by using quality as an intermediary. Also, perceptions of quality demonstrated strongly significant impact on perceptions of value. Another issue indicated that there was significant difference among demographic variables of Cambodian respondents toward automobiles assessment except ages of Cambodian automobile respondents resulted insignificant differences toward product evaluation, and other demographic variables were significant differences among dependent variables.

碩士
國立臺灣大學
會計學研究所
101
Based on the study of Sun, Yung, and Rahman (2012), this paper uses accrual quality and discretionary accrual quality, derived from the accrual and discretionary model built by Francis, LaFond, Olsson, Schipper (2005), and absolute abnormal accruals, derived from modified Jones (1991) model, as the measurement of earnings quality. Using Taiwan’s listed companies from 2002 to 2011 as the sample, this paper analyzes the impact of earnings quality on cash holdings and the value of cash holdings. Using the cash holdings model suggested by Opler, Pinkowitz, Stulz, and Williamson (1999) and Bates, Kahle, and Stulz (2009), this paper finds that cash holdings increase significantly when earnings quality is poor. Besides, this paper also finds that cash holdings are significantly related to market-to-book ratio, companies’ magnitude, cash flow ratio, net working capital ratio, ratio of capital expenditure, leverage, R&D expense to sales, and dividend dummy. Using the value of cash holdings model by Dittmar and Mahrt-Smith (2007), with the sample in some specific industries, this paper finds that excess cash is positively related to firms’ market value. Moreover, the interaction between excess cash and earnings quality as well as the interaction between excess cash, earnings quality, and corporate governance are significantly and negatively related to firms’ market value. This result implies that poor earnings quality has negative impact on firms’ market value.

碩士
國立高雄第一科技大學
行銷與流通管理所
95
This knowledge, competition and a changing environment are increasing rapidly. Today many service companies need to mobilize all the internal energies in order to face the increasing competition and a changing environment. If firms want to provide their customer more flexible services , they have to know their customer as well. Also companies have to know how to catch loyalty customer. Parasuraman (2000) proposed customer TR level will impact quality, perceived and customer loyalty. But there is few literature measure the TR level impact in the quality, value and customer loyalty. This research we have 5 major proposal: (1) The relationship between TR and demograph. (2) Relationship between TR and quality. (3) Relationship between TR and perceived value. (4) Relationship between TR and customer loyalty. (5) TR impact in quality, perceived value and customer loyalty. In this research we found that most of semiconductor industry employees are pioneers and skeptics. The education and gender have signification relation with Technology Readiness. The Explores have signification relation to quality. There is signification relation between pionners and price. There is not signification relation between price and perceived value. There are not signification relation between product quality, service quality and perceived value, but there is signification relation between customers loyalty. Finally, customer TR level will influence with quality, perceived value and customer loyalty.

碩士
國立中興大學
高階經理人碩士在職專班
100
This study discusses the relationship between board member characteristics and firm value. The Board member decisions the business objectives and future directly, so it determines the value of the company. This study aims to examine the link between the board member characteristics of listed and OTC companies in Taiwan. “Tobin’s Q” instead of ”Corporate value” in this study. During the period 2006-2010, we get 5,893 observations. The empirical results are as follows: (1) The busy board member, no significant relationship with the Tobin’s Q. (2) The board member attend the meetings has positive impact on Tobin’s Q. (3) The profession board member has positive impact on Tobin’s Q. (4) The board member has had a good education will positive impact on Tobin’s Q.

Since 2005, publicly traded European companies are required to prepare their consolidated financial statements in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). This is the result of the so-called “IAS-Regulation” of the European Parliament and of the European Council (Regulation (EC) No. 1606/2002) which formulates two objectives directly related to financial reporting: (higher) comparability and transparency of financial statements. With regard to transparency, researchers often rely on proxies to measure the quality of financial statements. In this dissertation, I follow this approach and examine the quality of IFRS financial statements relying on different proxies, such as value relevance, the degree of earnings management, and disclosure quality. The four papers in this dissertation cover research questions related to the determinants and consequences of managerial discretion in the three most important components of financial statements: the balance sheet, the income statement, and the notes. In summary, this dissertation answers important questions concerning the quality of accounting under IFRS which have remained unanswered – and in some cases even unasked – until now. Therefore, this dissertation has a material impact on the understanding of accounting quality under IFRS.:1 Accounting Quality under IFRS – Essays on Value Relevance, Earnings Management and Disclosure Quality: An Overview … 1 1.1 Introduction … 2 1.2 Overview of the Manuscripts … 4 1.3 Principal Research Contributions … 13 References … 16 2 Discretion in the Accounting for Defined Benefit Obligations - An Empirical Analysis of German IFRS Statements … 19 2.1 Introduction … 21 2.2 Literature Review … 25 2.3 Research Approach … 29 2.4 Results … 38 2.5 Conclusion … 45 References … 54 3 The Association between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Earnings Quality - Evidence from European Blue Chips … 59 3.1 Introduction … 61 3.2 Literature Review and Hypothesis Development … 63 3.3 Research Design … 70 3.4 Results … 79 3.5 Conclusion … 88 References … 101 4 Reexamining OCI Pricing - Empirical Analysis of Reporting Location Changes due to IAS 1 (rev. 2007) … 105 4.1 Introduction and Background … 107 4.2 Literature Review … 111 4.3 Research Approach and Hypotheses Development ...114 4.4 Results … 121 4.5 Conclusion … 130 References … 150 5 Short-term and Long-term Effects of IFRS Adoption on Disclosure Quality and Earnings Management … 155 5.1 Introduction … 157 5.2 Institutional Background: The Development of the German Accounting Environment … 161 5.3 Related Literature and Hypotheses Development … 164 5.4 Research Design … 175 5.5 Results … 186 5.6 Conclusion … 195 References … 209

碩士
輔仁大學
會計學系碩士班
94
The thesis examines the relationship among corporate governance structure, cash dividend policy, accrual quality and firm value. The sample consists of observations selected from listed and over-the-counter companies in Taiwan from 1998 to 2004. The empirical results are summarized as follows. 1.As the cash flow rights held by the controlling shareholder increases, both the likelihood of cash dividends payment and the level of cash dividends will get higher. Moreover, the accrual quality will get better. The finding shows that when the ownership of the controlling shareholder gets higher, the incentive effect will dominant, and thus the interest of the controlling shareholder will be more congruent with minor shareholders, in turn it helps for improving the accrual quality of financial statements. 2.If the proportion of seats of the board of directors controlled by the controlling shareholder increases, then the likelihood of cash dividends payment and the level of cash dividends are lower. Further, the accrual quality will get worse. The finding shows that when the board of directors is high affiliated with the controlling shareholder, the entrenchment effect will dominant, and thus the controlling shareholder will exploit minor shareholders’ interests and impair the accrual quality of financial statements. 3.The predicted excess cash dividends arising from corporate governance structure incrementally decrease the cost of equity capital after controlling other variables. In addition, the effect of cash dividends on the firms with worse accrual quality will get stronger. Besides, the predicted excess accrual quality arising from corporate governance structure is negatively correlated with cost of debt. Furthermore, for the firms paying no cash dividends, the predicted excess accrual quality arising from corporate governance structure incrementally decreases the cost of equity capital. 4.For firms with excess cash dividends or accrual quality arising from corporate governance structure, they will have better performance in the future. The finding shows that as firms with better corporate governance mechanisms (they are proxy by the cash flow rights held by the controlling shareholder is higher or the board of directors is not high affiliated with the controlling shareholder) signal positive future operating performance. Overall, our evidences support the views that better corporate governance structure can strengthen cash dividend policy and improve accrual quality, and the predicted excess cash dividends or accrual quality arising from corporate governance structure can be the monitoring role in mitigating the agency problems effectively and thus reduce the cost of capital. In addition, cash dividends and accrual quality are effective signal about future performance of firms. They can be regarded as tools to communicate with stakeholders, and further, to mitigate asymmetric information and agency conflicts.

M.Cur.
The nursing service manager is responsible and accountable for ensuring quality health care in a nursing service. The principle of liability requires a formal quality improvement programme in the nursing service according to which a specific level of quality nursing can be maintained. It is therefore clearly evident that a quality improvement programme, objectively maintain and evaluate the quality of a service. Opportunities for improvement are identified, and a mechanism is provided for taking remedial steps to bring about and maintain improvement, The abovementioned is of utmost importance and implies a constant commitment to health care service of a high quality. The overall objective of this study is to formulate and describe guidelines for a quality improvement programme for the nursing service of a referral hospital in the Gauteng Province. This study is an explorative, descriptive, qualitative and contextual research aiming to investigate the perceptions of quality in nursing/midwifery which will facilitate the exploration and description of a value clarification on quality, by the chief professional nurses, senior professional nurses, administrative personnel and patients within the nursing service of the referral hospital in the Gauteng Province. Focus group interviews, naive sketches and interviews as methods of data gathering was conducted. A simple random sampling method was used. A total number of three focus group interviews were conducted: one with seven chief professional nurses, one with fourteen senior professional nurses and one with twelve administrative personnel using tape recordings with the written consent of the participants. Naive sketches were obtained from the same groups. An expert psychiatric nurse, with a master's degree in the field and whose daily activities involved interviewing of the psychiatric nursing students and psychiatric patients, conducted the focus group interviews. The researcher conducted thirty individual patient interviews. Trustworthiness in this research was done according to Guba's model (!!! Krefting, 1991:214-222). Data analysis was done according to Tesch's (1990, in Creswell, 1994:155) protocol. An external coder with expertise in the field of coding in qualitative data was utilised to analyse and categorize the data. The researcher and the independent coder had consensus discussions for the formulation of the main categories and sub categories. Consensus discussions were also conducted with the study leader. The results were quantified based on the number of respondents whose perception on quality had reference to the same categories. The structured coding was based on the principles of quality: structure, process and outcome. A description of the conceptual framework was developed from the data analysis and a literature study. This framework with its content and criteria serves as scientific and theoretical basis of the quality improvement programme and are based on the values/value clarification on quality of the different roleplayers in the nursing service. Fifteen belief statements/values were described from the value clarification. The guidelines for the quality improvement programme of the nursing service in the referral hospital were described, based on the eight steps of the quality assurance model of Laing and Nish (Booyens, 1998: 576). A description of values is the first step and from these values on quality in the nursing service, the formulation of management standards was deduced in conjunction with the conceptual framework and the nursing/midwifery practice standards of the Nursing Department of RAU. Lastly the evaluation, limitations, recommendations and conclusion of the study were done.

碩士
國立中正大學
企業管理研究所
100
The corporate governance issue has become important increasingly because of the several financial scandals in the world. This paper aims to verify the relationship between corporate governance quality and firm value. The author review many literatures and establish the empirical hypotheses and regression models. TCGA’s corporate governance assessment system and Gov-score (Jiraporn, Kim, and Kim, 2011) were adopted as proxies for corporate governance quality. The samples are collected from Taiwanese manufacturers over the period of 2005-2010. The result shows that there is a significant positive effect of corporate governance quality on firm value, and improvements in corporate governance quality leads to better firm value.

碩士
國立臺灣大學
財務金融學研究所
106
This study investigates the relationship between peer firms’ management ability and company performance. We employ the relative peer quality(RPQ) constructed by Bill Francis et al.(2016) and peer average management ability score(MA PEER) as two proxy of industry-level management quality. The empirical results of this study show that the higher the industry management quality, the higher the reporting firms’ performance, stock return and credit spread, suggesting agency problem between management team and debtholder. Moreover, we also explore that mechanism through which industry-level management quality affects firm performance.

碩士
正修科技大學
經營管理研究所
103
Abstract Economic activity in the United States of the twentieth century, not just for output, but to the process of experiential consumption, consumers are not only buying product itself, but also through the purchase to gain experience. So the quality of service may be the information of cognitive and decision-making experience for consumers. Therefore, this study’s target is going to research hairdressing industry service quality of customer perception and experience the value, and also explore the consumer's mental model and customer perception and experience the association between the value. So customers in the consumption process from the services themselves or conduct co-operation and service personnel to assist in the creation of value-added services, and secondly, the perceived value from customer attention and marketing personnel-related research, because it is forecast to achieve a competitive advantage and buying behavior absolutely vital role to play. By document collection and investigation of empirical hairdressing industry, the period to verify the assumptions made in this study, this study will explore the main purpose summarized as follows: 1.A survey of service quality hairdressing industry for customer perception and experience of the value of the current situation. 2. Understand the hairdressing industry service quality and consumer variables from different backgrounds of the difference between perception and experience of value to the customer scenario. 3.Explore the beauty salon industry service quality between customer perception and experience value relevant circumstances. 4. Analyze of service quality hairdressing industry customer perception and experience to predict the value of the case. Keywords: beauty salon industry, service quality, customer perceived value, experience value

碩士
國立政治大學
經濟學系
104
The increasingly aggravating phenomenon of global climate change and air pollution will affect the behavior of both households and firms in several ways. The purpose of this study is to estimate the value of climate and air quality, which people are concerning about, and provide information to policy makers. In this research, we use the Taiwan Housing Demand Survey data and the Taiwan Labor Force Survey data, both from 2008 to 2011, and we divide the housing market into three major metropolises including Taipei, Taichung, and Kaohsiung, treating the labor market as a single market. This study uses the semi-logarithmic model and OLS method to estimate the hedonic price and wage regressions, and we calculate the marginal implicit prices of each environment variable. We then estimate the inverse demand functions of each environment variable using their marginal implicit prices respectively, and evaluate households’ benefits when the improvement of climate or air quality. Then the results are compared with the results which use the hedonic price model only. 　　From the empirical results, we find that using the combined model to evaluate households’ benefits is more appropriate than using the hedonic price model only, which underestimates the households’ benefits. The empirical results indicate that Taiwan households appear to prefer warmer winter, cooler summer, and better air quality. Every household will get NT$ 6,175 benefit on average from a 0.1 degree Celsius higher January temperature, NT$ 7,285 benefit on average from a 0.1 degree Celsius lower July temperature, and NT$ 255 benefit on average from 1 lower 〖"PM" 〗_10. We also find that the benefit from lower July temperature is more than others, because of the rising earth’s surface temperature that make people concern about the effects of global warming.

碩士
大葉大學
管理學院碩士在職專班
101
The validity for theory of relationship quality within the multi-level marketing service industry was addressed, the present study examined whether satisfaction and trust, respectively, and customer perceived value correlated positively with customer loyalty. Data were obtained from 249 customers from E Excel international company. In this study, constructs were with source (e.g., customer rated their perceived value and relationship quality in T1, while customer loyalty rated in T2). To enhance the clarity of the causal relationship among variables of the present study, questionnaires were distributed at two time points. Results indicated that customer perceived value was positively related to relationship quality, which in turn increase the likelihood of customer loyalty, and that two indirect effects supplemented the direct effect of customer perceived value on customer loyalty, the mechanisms of satisfaction and trust.

碩士
銘傳大學
國際企業學系碩士在職專班
101
In the busy modern life, the night market has become important leisure place in the the mind of people. It is not only satisfied our appetites also to satisfy our diverse livelihood consumer goods, just like a large convenience store convenience, closely linked with our lives, is a good place for relieve pressure. Not only the night market plan may prosper the place, is also important local sightseeing property. Taking Shilin Night Market as the example, successfully shaping the overall image of international tourism night market, creating more leisure, consumption of new attractions, the surrounding businesses are more good than harm as well. The subject of this study is mainly to explore the effect of consumption value on the brand relationship quality, and to explore whether the gender factor and product involvement have moderator effects. The results show that consumption value has positive effect on the brand relationship quality. For the effect of the consumption value on the brand relationship quality, product involvement has moderator effects on functional value, emotional value and epistode value, and gender factor has a moderator effect on conditional value.