Open Access Theses - Economic, Business and Management - 2011-2020

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  • Publication
    Towards Partnerships in Industrialized Housing
    ( 2011)
    Bildsten, Louise
    The purpose of this thesis is to describe and analyse purchasing strategies and their interdependence with the production process and supplier relationships in industrialized housing. The thesis is a multiple case study of four Swedish industrialized timber-housing manufacturers. The case studies included interviews with top managers concerning purchasing, production and supplier relationships. Production is considered the heart of the company. Therefore, to gain an in-depth knowledge of how production affects purchasing and thus supplier relationships and vice versa, observations were made to study the production process. Many different parts and competences need to be coordinated in the creation of a house. In the West, the construction industry has been heavily criticized for low efficiency and effectiveness. Conclusions from the case studies showed that codevelopment, customization and secure deliveries are regarded highly by industrial house builders and to obtain them, long-term relationships with suppliers are preferred. Industrialized house builders are argued to have more long-term relationships with their suppliers than traditional on-site builders. Industrial house builders choose their suppliers based on the purchased products’ value-in-production rather than price. Product and process innovations created in collaboration with suppliers seem to be a way to enhance the production process of houses. Through the site resource of the factory, industrial house builders have the potential to refine their processes in win-win partnerships with suppliers for a more efficient and effective production of houses, as onsite work is harder to standardize and control.
  • Publication
    Tracking Area Planning in Cellular Networks : Optimization and Performance Evaluation
    ( 2011)
    Modarres Razavi, Sara
    The enormous competition in the telecommunications market results in the necessity of optimized and cost-efficient networks for the operators and service providers. Tracing users cost-efficiently is one of the major challenges in the study of location management of wireless cellular networks. Tracking Area (TA) is a logical grouping of cells in Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks. TA manages and represents the location of User Equipments (UEs). One of the well-known performance consideration is the signaling overhead of tracking area update versus that for paging. This thesis deals with planning and optimization of tracking area configuration in LTE networks. TA design must be revised over time in order to adapt to changes and trends in UE location and mobility patterns. Re-optimization of the initial planning subject to different cost budgets is one of the problems considered in the thesis. By re-optimization, the design is successively improved by re-assigning some cells to TAs other than their original ones. To solve the resulting problem, an algorithm based on repeated local search is developed. By extending the line of research, the trade-off between the performance in terms of overall signaling overhead of the network and the reconfiguration cost is considered. This trade-off is modeled as a biobjective optimization problem to which the solutions are characterized by pareto-optimality. Solving the problem delivers a host of potential trade-offs among which the selection can be based on the preferences of a decision-maker. An integer programming model and a heuristic based on genetic algorithm are developed for solving the problem in large-scale networks. In comparison to earlier generations of cellular networks, LTE systems allow for a more flexible configuration of TA design by means of Tracking Area List (TAL). How to utilize this flexibility in applying TAL to large-scale networks remains unexplored. In this thesis, three approaches for allocating and assigning TA lists have been presented, and their performance is compared with each other, as well as with the standard location management scheme. Automatic reconfiguration is an important element in LTE. The network continuously collects UE statistics, and the management system adapts the network configuration to changes in UE distribution and demand. In this thesis an evaluation of dynamic configuration of TA design, including the use of TAL, has been performed and compared to the static configuration by using a case study
  • Publication
    Wealth effects from asset securitization : (the case of Australia)
    ( 2011)
    Lapanan, Nicha, Anchev, Stefan
    Asset securitization is one of the most important financial innovations recently. With an impressive growth in terms of volume of issuance, from almost zero to five trillion USD, in a period of 15-20 years, it is one of the most rapidly growing markets in the financial world. Yet, little is known about this, literally invisible market. Companies engage in asset securitization for a variety of reasons and numerous advantages and disadvantages of asset securitization can be found throughout the literature. Asset securitization has an impact on a number of stakeholder groups: shareholders, managers, employees, investors, the financial markets and ultimately the overall economy and society. Asset securitization is one of the reasons for the financial crisis that started in mid 2007. Since the recent financial turmoil, it became clear the asset securitization was the primary funding source for companies in the financial industry and it was the primary supplier of credit in developed economies. Because of its importance and impact, it is very important that we study the reasons, the motivations, the consequences and the effects from this so powerful financial innovation. And it is important to study it from as many different aspects as possible. Many questions surrounding asset securitization are unanswered and it is important to answer them sooner. This study investigates the wealth effects from asset securitization on the shareholders of the securitizing companies. We study whether the announcement about a pending securitization transaction has any impact on the stock price of the securitizing company. That way we can discover whether asset securitization creates wealth, destroys wealth or has no impact on wealth at all. Not many studies have been done on this topic so far. The existing seven studies are focused mainly on the US and the EU market and report contradicting results. In this study, for the first time, data from Australia is being used. The Australian securitization market is the second, single most active securitization market in the world, after the US market. We conduct quantitative analysis on a sample of 98 securitization transactions during the period 2000-2006. With this sample, we cover almost 29% of the number of securitization transactions during that period and almost 39% in terms of volume of issuance. To analyze the data we use standard event study methodology, common for this type of studies. Our analysis reveals that investors in Australia do not perceive asset securitization favorably. Securitizing companies’ stock price decreases in the 10 days around the securitization announcement day, resulting in statistically significant wealth losses for the originating companies’ shareholders. Furthermore, the wealth losses are significant for less frequent securitizers, for securitizers that engage in small volume securitization transactions and for securitizing companies with low asset quality. With this study we make theoretical and practical contribution. We lend empirical support to the previous theories and we help managers, shareholders and investors shape their forecasts.
  • Publication
    A Mobile-based Navigation Web Application: Finding the Shortest-time Path based on Factor Analysis
    ( 2012)
    Peng, Tao, Wang, Xiaowen
    With the economic growth, the number of motor vehicles has increased rapidly for the last decades, especially in developing countries like China and India. Availability of more vehicles makes it more convenient for people to travel and merchandise transport. The increase of the number of vehicles also brings stresses to public traffic and pollution to the environment. When the number of vehicles on the road is over the available space, it results in traffic congestion. The problem is being studied and there are several solutions to it, like building more roads, rebuilding the existing streets and enlarging the cities. Based on the traffic reason and the environment reason, the government and the institute of environmental protection appeal to the public to take public transport means instead of private cars. But the measure affects the utilization ofmotor vehicles. Global Positioning System (GPS) provides autonomous geo-spatial positioningand navigation service. Once the user enters the destination, the navigation service will show the shortest path from the location of the user to the destination. Following the guide makes the vehicles running purposively, and it is also favorable for traffic control and management. Theoretically, if the diver keeps the same driving mode, the shortest path will cost the shortest time, but in reality, the traffic environment is complex and the driving speed is variable thus the shortest path is probably not the fastest path. In this study, the hinder factors of the speed and traffic are fixed constructions on the road, like: turnings, hospitals, schools, residential areas, traffic lights and the user-controlled factor (sites of traffic jams, accidents, and temporary construction on the road). We take the hinderfactors of traffic and driving speed into consideration while providing the route plan, finding the shortest-time path, and showing the result as an online map via the web Geographic Information System (GIS) application. We show that reducing the travelling time of motor vehicles, makes the traffic flow more rapid and efficient. Alsoreducing the emission time of motor vehicles, diminishes the greenhouse effect. Beside these, the achievement of our study also shows that the public can take advantage of open source tools and data to build their GIS application to do spatial and data analysis
  • Publication
    A study on Extraction of Natural Cities from the Nightlight Imagery Using Head/tail breaks method
    ( 2013)
    Wu, Sirui
    With the high development of economic and demand for city research, an issue of detecting city boundaries plays an extremely important role in urbanization that promotes the progress of human civilization. Some critical applications such as land use, urban planning and city sprawl have been constantly discussed, which rely on the acquisition of city areas. For the better acquisition of city areas, choosing a proper method to capture city boundaries becomes significant where it greatly improves the value of city study. Although conventional data can be used to define the city boundaries, some drawbacks still exist when measuring the city boundaries in a global scale. Remote sensing (RS) data of nightlight imagery (2010) by Defense Meteorological Satellite Program’s Operational Linescan System (DMSP/OLS) acquired from National oceanic and atmospheric administration's National Geoscience Data Center (NOAA/NOGA) is applied to extract the city boundaries in fifty countries, of which these countries are chosen followed by the Gross Domestic Product that are ranked in top 50. In this case, the data distribution of nightlight imagery followed by heavy-tailed distribution. Head/tail break algorithm poses a possibility of calculating reasonable threshold and extracting the natural cities with the help of software based on the Geomatics information system (GIS). An extended study of power law is made by using of power law estimator from previous studies to check whether the extracted natural cities can match the power law distribution. Result shows that combination of the nightlight imagery data and the head/tail break is capable of extracting the city boundaries and a set of possible thresholds with visual inspection by using the head/tail break are executed. There is only one country, namely Belgium, cannot be processed due to its data properties. Result also address how well the natural cities of the fifty countries can be extracted in terms of visual inspection, among the chosen cities, 33 of countries boundaries can be better matched and 13 countries can fundamentally match the city boundaries. Meanwhile, an extended study of power law is provided and four countries have to be found that do not follow the power law distribution. From the result obtained, the study expects that integration of support data will efficiently increase the accuracy of extraction and more useful information can be acquired in further study. On the other hand, a comparative study of threshold decision needs to be verified, put it differently, whether using head/tail break with visual inspection on extracted city boundaries is helpful or not.
  • Publication
    The Labor Market for Medical Interns in Sweden : A Case for the Existence of a Compensating Differential for Remoteness
    ( 2014)
    Puranen, Arvid
    By applying the theory of compensating differentials on a self-compiled data set on the 67 sites in Sweden that offer medical internships, I seek to identify the factors of an internship that determine its salary. Because prospective interns tend to queue for popular internships, I use an estimated equilibrium salary that incorporates the opportunity cost of delaying the internship. I find a significant independent correlation between the travel time to the nearest major city and salary that is suggestive of a compensating differential. The results imply that a larger salary differentiation can mitigate the widespread phenomena of maldistribution of physicians.
  • Publication
    What is Umeå about in 2014? : A Study on Gaps between Stakeholders’ Perceptions of Umeå Brand Identity as a European Capital of Culture in 2014
    ( 2014)
    Azimzadeh, Sarah
    During centuries, places and cities have made efforts to make their land more attractive, efficient, democratic and secure. This aspire has accelerated due to globalization and other external factors. Today, there is fierce and global competition between cities and nationalities to create arenas for more investments, productive inhabitants and vibrant culture. The place brand has been a good tool and a key for success. Nevertheless, place branding is challenging; it includes the investment of all stakeholders – possessing different agendas and target markets – and at the same time their coordination and collaborations to ensure there would be no conflicting messages, misusing the place and harming the brand. Therefore, strong collaboration among stakeholders and consistent perceptions – about the city potentials – is substantially important. There are debates among scholars to choose the best initiative for involving all the groups, cultures, interests of a society into branding a city and exploit the potential of the city simultaneously. Place branding is a relatively new but growing field of research. The topic is multifaceted and therefore is considered advantageous to study place branding from a stakeholder perspective. In this current study, the stakeholders are viewed as the actors that are engaged in the act of presenting Umeå based on the cultural potential of the city during its hosting the European Capital of Culture event in 2014. Based on the purpose and research problems of this thesis, it is aimed to provide a framework to examine the gaps between the stakeholders’ perceptions about their city cultural potential during a cultural event. For this qualitative research, a single case study design is used and eight stakeholders – divided in two main groups – are identified for the data gathering by using in-depth interviews. The identity-reputation gap model is used as an analytical tool and gives guidance to the research. This study fills other research gaps by contributing with an understanding of the stakeholder’s role by studying place branding in the context of a mid-size city. With regard to the empirical contribution, this study offers a range of insights for Umeå – the image and the branded potential of the city – and findings can be regarded as a starting point for brand managers as well as cultural coordinators working to develop the place brand identity consistently in other contexts.
  • Publication
    Flexibility and firm value: the role of inventories
    ( 2015)
    Bianco, Marco
    In the present thesis I study the contribution to firm value of inventories management from a risk management perspective. I find a significant contribution of inventories to the value of risk management especially through the operating flexibility channel. In contrast, I do not find evidence supporting the view of inventories a reserve of liquidity. Inventories substitute, albeit not perfectly, derivatives or cash holdings. The substitution between hedging with derivatives and inventory is moderated by the correlation between cash flow and the underlying asset in the derivative contract. Hedge ratios increase with the effectiveness of derivatives. The decision to hedge with cash holdings or inventories is strongly influenced by the degree of complementarity between production factors and by cash flow volatility. In addition, I provide a risk management based explanation of the secular substitution between inventories and cash holdings documented, among others, in Bates et al. (2009), Journal of Finance. In a sample of U.S. firms between 1980 and 2006, I empirically confirm the negative relation between inventories and cash and provide evidence on the poor performance of investment cash flow sensitivities as a measure of financial constraints also in the case of inventories investment. This result can be explained by firms' scarce reliance on inventories as a reserve of liquidity. Finally, as an extension of my study, I contrast with empirical data the theoretical predictions of a model on the integrated management of inventories, trade credit and cash holdings.
  • Publication
    A Reflection on Corporate Stakeholder Orientation: Antecedents and Assessment
    ( 2015)
    Jain, Tanusree
    El propòsit de l'empresa ha estat motiu d'extenses deliberacions acadèmiques en relació amb l'orientació de l'empresa cap als seus grups d'interès interns i externs. Els creixents desafiaments socials i mediambientals requereixen que l'empresa adopti un enfocament més ampli incloent diferents grups d'interès (stakeholders) en els seus comportaments i pràctiques. No obstant això, la majoria de les grans empreses sovint queden lluny d'aconseguir aquest objectiu. Encara que l’ investigació sobre la orientació corporativa cap als stakeholders ha rebut considerable atenció acadèmica, sabem molt menys sobre les raons per les quals les empreses adopten orientacions específiques i si s'ha abordat, tendeix a ser de manera més aviat fragmentada. El concepte de l'orientació corporativa cap als stakeholders no s'ha desenvolupat teòricament i el seu anàlisi empíric és complex perquè sovint les pròpies empreses manipulen l'orientació i generen una desconnexió entre el que realment fan i el que pretenen que fan. Aquesta tesi doctoral analitza les orientacions corporatives cap als stakeholders en diversos contextos examinant els seus antecedents, millorant la seva avaluació empírica, i aixi mateix, proporcionant claredat teòrica respecte al concepte. Amb l'adopció de múltiples teories i un enfocament de mètodes mixtos, aquesta tesi pretén tenir implicacions tant per la teoria de l’empresa com per la pràctica empresarial. / El propósito de la empresa ha sido el motivo de extensas deliberaciones académicas en relación con la orientación de la empresa hacia sus grupos de interés internos y externos. Los crecientes desafíos sociales y medioambientales requieren que la empresa adopte un enfoque más amplio incluyendo distintos grupos de interés (stakeholders) en sus comportamientos y prácticas. Sin embargo, la mayoría de las grandes empresas a menudo queda lejos de conseguir esta expectativa. Mientras que la investigación sobre la orientación de la empresa hacia los stakeholders ha recibido considerable atención académica, sabemos mucho menos acerca de las razones por las cuales las empresas adoptan orientaciones específicas y si se ha abordado, tiende ser de manera más bien fragmentada. El concepto de la orientación corporativa hacia los stakeholders no se ha desarrollado teóricamente y su análisis empírico es complejo porque a menudo las propias empresas manipulan la orientación y generan una desconexión entre lo que realmente hacen y lo que pretenden hacer. Esta tesis doctoral analiza las orientaciones corporativas hacia los stakeholders en varios contextos examinando sus antecedentes, mejorando su evaluación empírica, y a su vez proporcionando claridad teórica respecto al concepto. Con la adopción de múltiples teorías y un enfoque de métodos mixtos, esta tesis pretende tener implicaciones tanto teóricas como prácticas. / The purpose of a business has been the matter of a long-standing scholarly deliberation in relation to a firm’s orientation towards its internal and external stakeholders. The rising social and environmental challenges require a firm to adopt a wider stakeholder approach in its behaviors and practices, yet most large firms often fall short of this expectation. While research on assessing corporate stakeholder orientation has received considerable academic scrutiny, the reason why firms adopt specific orientations has so far been approached in a rather fragmented fashion. Corporate stakeholder orientation construct in itself remains under-theorized and its assessment is often contaminated with green-washing and corporate posturing that makes it difficult to construe firms’ de facto stakeholder intent. This doctoral dissertation is dedicated to understand corporate stakeholder orientations across multiple contexts by inquiring into its antecedents, refining its assessment, and in turn providing theoretical clarity to the construct. Adopting a multi-theoretical perspective and a mixed methods approach, this thesis aspires to have implications for both theory and practice.
  • Publication
    Relationship between currency carry trade and DAX & DJIA
    ( 2015)
    Nikoli, Ioanna, Hossain, Md Mosharof
    The last decade currency carry trade has gained a lot of popularity because of their apparent profitability. It is a strategy that has been developed to exploit violations of the Uncovered Interest Rate Parity. In particular, an investor must take a short position in a low-yielding currency to fund a long position in a high-yielding currency. In this research, we tried to contribute in the previous literature for the currency carry trade and its characteristics by using a different approach. Most of the researches that have been conducted in this area concern the risk agents associated with this strategy. However, in our research we investigated the relationship between currency carry trade and two equity indexes, one from the European market (DAX) and one from the American (DJIA). In order to do that, we estimated the returns of the DAX and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) as well as the returns of a carry trade index created by the Deutsche Bank, the Deutsche Bank’s G10 Currency Future Harvest index. The returns were estimated for a time period of twenty years (1995-2014). More specific, we examined whether there is granger causality between the returns of carry trade and of DAX/DJIA, whether there is leverage effect on the returns of the same index and finally whether changes in the returns of one of those indexes can affect the subsequent volatility of the other two. For being able to do this examination, we used two different statistical models, the Vector Autoregression (VAR) and the EGARCH [1, 1] model. The first empirical finding suggests that there is granger causal effect from the two equity markets to carry trade, however the carry trade granger cause only to DJIA index. The second finding indicates that there no leverage effect form the past returns to the future volatility for all the three indexes. Finally, the last finding suggests that the volatility process on the returns of one index cannot be determined by changes in the returns of the other two indexes. Keywords: Currency carry, uncovered interest rate parity, DAX, DJIA, G10 currency, granger causality, VAR, EGARCH[1,1]
  • Publication
    How much value has building Visualization? / Hur stort värde har byggvisualisering?
    ( 2015)
    Hadad, Filip
    Denna studie beskriver hur byggvisualiseringen kan effektiviseras vid programskedet med en kombination av programvarorna Google Sketchup och Lumion. Studiens underlag har erhållits från ED bygger drömmar AB och beskrev ett bostadsområde som ska visualiserats. Syftet med studien är att ge förståelse för byggvisualiseringsprocessen samt att beskriva hur byggvisualiseringen kan effektiviseras vid programskedet. Studien består av två frågor som lyder: Hur går byggvisualiseringsprocessen till? Hur kan man effektivisera byggvisualiseringen vid programskedet? Metoden som användes för att svara på denna frågeställning är genom en beskrivning under hela experimentella byggvisualiseringsprocessen där resultatet kommer besvara på den nämnda frågeställningen. Arbetet genomfördes genom att data har samlats från den beskrivna byggvisualiseringsprocessen samt resultatet som byggvisualiseringen gav, där resultatet har beskrivits i en tabell samt renderade bilder. Slutsatsen som studien kom fram till var att avgörandet av effektiviseringen av visualiseringen är subjektiv och är beroende på läsaren. För att få ett klart svar så krävs det att läsaren själv gör sin bedömning angående sin egen situation.
  • Publication
    Homebuyers choices and valuations / Bostadsköpares val och värderingar
    ( 2015)
    Frick, Jesper, Osman, Aweys Mohamed
    Det finns en generellt god kunskap inom byggnadsbranschen om vilka lägen och byggnadsformer som värderas högst hos bostadsköpare i Sverige. Byggnadsbranschen har dock inte lika bra kunskaper om vad som är att föredra inom bostaden i fråga eftersom dessa värderingar ändrar sig snabbt med tiden. Vilka värderingar har egentligen bostadsköpare när det kommer till bostadens konstruktion, funktionalitet och utformning? Svaret på denna fråga skulle gynna både företagen och bostadsköpare. Syftet med denna studie är just att besvara denna fråga med begränsning till flerbostadshus. Syftet är också att ta reda på hur konstruktionslösningar på en högre nivå än standard påverkar bostadsköparens vilja att betala mer för bostaden. Examensarbetet bygger på en förfrågan av Botrygg AB som vill veta mer om vad bostadsköpare har för värderingar och vilka val de gör om de kan påverka bostaden. För att uppfylla syftet har en kvantitativ studie genomförts där resultatet baseras på en enkätundersökning. Enkäten bestod av tydligt formulerade fleralternativs frågor där den svarande fick värdera olika påståenden och konstruktionslösningar. För att skapa enkäten har en djupare litteraturstudie genomförts. Enkäten visar en mängd intressanta resultat bland annat att bostadsköpare gärna har möjlighet att påverka sin framtida bostad, vare sig det handlar om innan de flyttat in eller efter. Bostadens utformning och planlösning är viktigare än bostadsytan och priset, där det även är tydligt att en öppen eller halvöppen planlösning är att föredra. Det viktigaste med bostadens kök är att det är utformat med fokus på arbetsyta och förvaring. Konstruktionslösningar med högre nivå än standard ökar generellt viljan att betala mer för bostaden, men eftersom svaren skiljer sig mycket handlar det mer om att hitta rätt köpare än en lösning som passar alla. De svarande uttrycker också att det som de är mest nöjda med i sin nuvarande bostad är att den är genomförd med hög konstruktionskvalitet.
  • Publication
    Investor borrowing heterogeneity in a Kiyotaki-Moore style macro model
    ( 2015)
    Punzi, Maria Teresa, Rabitsch, Katrin
    We introduce heterogeneity in investors' ability to borrow from collateral in a Kiyotaki-Moore style macro model, calibrated to the quintiles of the leverage-ratio distribution of US non-financial firms. Financial amplification intensifies, because of stronger asset price reactions of highly levered investors. (authors' abstract)
  • Publication
    Forecasting volatility in agricultural commodities markets considering market structural breaks
    ( 2015)
    Ortez Amador, Mario Amado
    "Master of Science / Department of Agricultural Economics / Glynn Tonsor / This decade has seen movements in commodity futures markets never seen before. There are many factors that have intensified price movements and volatility behavior. Those factors likely altering supply and demand include governmental policy within and outside of the U.S, weather shocks, geopolitical conflicts, food safety concerns etc. Whatever the reasons are for price movements it is clear that the volatility behavior in commodity markets constantly change, and risk managers need to use current and efficient tools to mitigate price risk. This study identified market structural breaks of realized volatility in corn, wheat, soybeans, live cattle, feeder cattle and lean hogs futures markets. Furthermore, this study analyzes the forecasting performance of implied volatility, historical volatility, a composite approach and a naïve approach as forecasters of realized volatility. The forecasting performance of these methods was analyzed in the full period of time of our weekly data from January 1995 to April 2014 and in each identified market regime for each commodity. Previous research has analyzed forecasting performance of implied volatility, a time series alternative and a composite method. However, to the best of my knowledge, they have not worried about market structural breaks in the data that might influence the performance of the mentioned forecasting methods in different periods of time. Overall, results indicate that indeed there are multiple market structural breaks present in the volatility datasets across all six commodities. We found differences in the forecasting performance of the analyzed methods when individual market regimes were analyzed. There seems to be evidence that corroborates the idea in the literature about the superiority of implied volatility over a historical volatility, a composite approach and a naïve approach. Additionally, implied volatility encompassed all the information contained in the historical volatility and the naïve measure across each identified market regime in all six commodities. Our results show that when both implied volatility and historical volatility are available, the benefit of combining those measures into a composite forecasting approach is very limited. Our results hold true for a short term 1 week ahead realized volatility forecast. It would be of interest to see how results vary for longer forecasting time horizons."
  • Publication
    COMPARATIVE ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL TRADE-OFF ANALYSIS FOR MANITOBA COW-CALF PRODUCTION
    ( 2015)
    Kulshreshtha, Suren N.
    "There were 12.5 million head of cattle in all of Canada as of January 1st, 2012, of which 7.4 million were on cow-calf farms. Of this population, 1.2 million head of cattle were in Manitoba, and within that, 880 thousand were on cow-calf farms. Canadian and Manitoba beef producers have experienced significant volatility in the cattle market. This is partly as a result of loss of exports of cattle to the United States, first due to occurrence of the Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) Crisis, and then through the Country of Origin Labelling (COOL) legislation developed in the United States. While the beef industry has endured market fluctuations, the North American cattle herd has also been responsible for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, through enteric fermentation within their digestive tracks, storage of manure on farms, through the spread of manure on crop fields, and through the production of feed for cattle. Of the total Canadian GHG emissions, agriculture contributed 8 percent in 2013. For the same year, within the total agricultural GHG emissions, cattle and sheep production resulted in 40 percent of methane emissions, and 90 percent of nitrous oxide emissions, both expressed in carbon dioxide equivalent. Regionally, the share of agricultural GHG emissions in Manitoba make up a larger proportion of total provincial GHG emissions, at 31 percent of 21.4 Mt CO2e, as the province has fewer emissions from transportation or stationary combustion.. The confluence of low profitability and larger amounts of GHG emission (relative to other provinces) has led to some discussion on adopting measures to reduce these emissions. This has caused some stress in the beef industry, as some of these proposed solutions could lead to further loss in profits. An European study of the beef sector has investigated the impact of some policy instruments, such as emission taxes, and has suggested that while such measures are effective, they would also be financially restrictive to beef producers, or result in high administrative costs for governments (Neufeldt and Schäfer 2008). However, these measures might be unnecessary, as the Manitoba Beef Producers (2011) have indicated that the Manitoba beef producers are willing to undertake alternate management practices to benefit environmental causes if they do not negatively affect their profitability or livelihoods. Therefore, providing methods that lead to lower GHG emissions while providing high levels of profitability, or maintaining current levels of profitability would be considered a welcome set of information for the Manitoba beef cattle producers (and likely producers in other provinces). In order to understand GHG emissions on beef farms, a Canada-wide survey was undertaken in 2012. Financial support for this survey was provided by a variety of interested parties including the University of Manitoba, Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development, the BC Ministry of Agriculture, Manitoba Agriculture Food and Rural Initiatives, and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, with the support of the Beef Cattle Research Council. Researcher Aklilu Alemu from the University of Manitoba used principle component analysis and cluster analysis to create eight clusters of representative farms across the country. Of the eight Canadian clusters, only four clusters had a population greater than one in Manitoba. The centroid from each cluster was chosen as a representative farm for this study. Estimates of GHG emissions from each farm were then determined using Holos, a GHG emission model developed by the Government of Canada. To compare GHG emissions against profitability on a farm, this study evaluated revenues and costs of four Manitoba farms (One each from the four clusters). The revenues included the sale of weaned calves and cull cows, as well as the sale of unused feed and non-feed grain. The costs for the whole farm included the cost to grow feed for the cattle, while operating costs for each of these farms included veterinary, transportation, manure removal, and utility costs. The fixed costs (related to farm structures and machinery) were comprised of depreciation and interest costs. In order to understand the profitability of the beef enterprise as well as the whole farm, the costs and revenues were estimated at three levels: beef enterprise, the whole farm, and the family level. With regards to the beef enterprise, the farm in Cluster Four had the highest level of profitability, at $0.05 per pound of live animal weight sold [or on a per pound sold (PPS) basis]. At the same time, this farm was also able to achieve the lowest GHG emissions, at 2.20 lbs. PPS basis measured in Carbon Dioxide Equivalent (CO2e). The farm with the second lowest level of GHG emissions (9.68 lbs. CO2e on a PPS basis) were estimated for the Cluster Six Farm, which also had the second highest profitability ($0.01 on a PPS basis). When measured at the beef enterprise level, several farms had net GHG emissions. Higher farm level profitability was contributed by a high weaning weight, the lower cost to produce feed, and the strategic purchase of machinery to feed each herd. Lower emissions were noted on farms with tame pastureland and greater amounts of forage with alfalfa. Comparing profits and GHG emissions at the whole farm level showed different results. The Cluster Seven farm had the highest level of profitability ($1.53 on a PPS basis) while it was also the largest contributor to GHG emissions (12.16 lbs. CO2e on a PPS basis). Cluster Six farm was the second largest contributor to GHG emissions (7.54 lbs. CO2e on a PPS basis), but also created the least profit on its farm ($0.13 on a PPS basis). The farms with net sequestration (i.e., GHG emissions were negative) were Cluster Four and Cluster One farms. Both of these farms were both able to create profitability. On a PPS basis, Cluster Four farm had the second highest profitability ($0.80 on a PPS Basis) and sequestered second greatest emissions (2.38 lbs CO2e on a PPS basis). Cluster One farm had the second lowest profitability ($0.33 on a PPS basis) and sequestered the most GHGs (30.17 lbs CO2e on a PPS basis). Increases in the level of net sequestration were due to tame pastureland and large amounts of unused hay growth which included legumes such as alfalfa. Increases in profitability were due to the sale of non-feed grains, feed grains or hay, as well as other factors noted above regarding the beef enterprise. These findings suggest that Manitoba beef producers could provide greater profitability and lower GHG emissions if they increased their weaning weights, increased the size of their herds, invested in tame pastureland when possible, and cut their forage several times throughout the growing season. Since this study is based on a single farm from four clusters, additional research is necessary. This may include studying several farms in each cluster in order to determine variability in long-term feed production, as well as in costs and revenues."
  • Publication
    The First Time Assurance on Sustainability Reports and Risk Premiums
    ( 2016)
    Akkam, Nawras, Andusa Ambele, Bih Norberter
    The economic utility of sustainability has been a recent domain under scrutiny by several academicians. More specifically, researchers have investigated the positive effects of sustainability reporting on firms from different angles. One of these angles is sustainability’s effect on firms’ prestige in the market, which is inevitably connected to market indicators, such as, risks and returns. Consequently, this research paper is positioned as a complement to previous researchers’ work within the field of sustainability reporting and its positive effects on firms. This paper’s foremost aspiration is to fill a knowledge gap in research by finding empirical evidence whether the first time assurance on sustainability reports causes a lower subsequent cost of equity capital. For this matter, the researchers’ methodology was deductive in nature, which relied on investigating established theories that are connected to the two dimensions of the research question; cost of equity capital and assurance on sustainability reports. This investigation formed the researchers’ theoretical schemata upon which they both neglected certain theories in favour of others and formed a verifiable theoretical research hypothesis. In this research, Sweden, a country known for its dedication for sustainability, was chosen as a market from which a sample was collected. The researchers conducted their study in a panel format where the same information about 44 different companies was collected on several years. Due to the fact that the number of listed firms that had been reporting their sustainability reports was quite moderate, a census study was convenient and applicable. The researchers ended up with a sample of 44 firms that constituted 352 observations, which formed the basis for the statistical inference. The empirical study employed several regression models of panels to reach the most representative model that fitted the data in hand. Also, to guarantee higher quality results the fitted model, the Two- way Error Component Fixed-effects Model, was tested for heteroskedasticity, cross- sectional correlation, autocorrelation and non-stationarity. This model revealed a relatively low explanatory power that drove the researchers to interpret their statistical findings with great caution. At a specific level of statistical significance, the regression model revealed a significant correlation between assurance on sustainability reports and a subsequent lower cost of equity capital. This result was refuted at higher levels of significance. Thus, the researchers were able to answer the research question affirmatively, to a certain extent, and to demonstrate that the research’s results verify the underpinnings of neo-institutional and signalling theories.
  • Publication
    Investigations of molecular diffusion in FCC catalysts
    ( 2016)
    Kortunov, Pavel, Vasenkov, Sergey, Kärger, Jörg, Fé Elía, M., Perez, M., Stöcker, Michael, Papadopoulos, George K., Theodoroud, Doros, Drescher, B., McElhiney, Gordon, Bernauer, Bohumil, Krystl, V., Zikánová, Arlette, Jirglová, Hana, Berger, C., Gläser, Roger, Weitkamp, Jens, Hansen, Eddy Walther, Kočiřík, Milan
  • Publication
    Financial Flexibility, Bidder’s M&A Performance, and the Cross-Border Effect
    ( 2016)
    Lameijer, Marloes
    This study investigates the effect of the value of financial flexibility on bidder’s merger and acquisition (M&A) performance, including the differences between domestic and cross-border M&As and the effect of the financial crisis. Using data gathered between 2005-2012 of 3,882 M&As with the bidder from developed Europe or the U.S., OLS regressions are used to predict the effect of value of financial flexibility on the bidder’s cumulative abnormal returns (CARs). Findings reveal partial evidence to support a positive effect of the value of financial flexibility and the cross-border effect on bidder’s M&A performance. Collectively, these findings increase understanding of the interdependence of financial flexibility and investments.