International Business Dissertations
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The D.B.A. in international business trains highly qualified individuals for careers in academics, consulting and multinational corporations. This collection includes dissertations written by graduates of our D.B.A. program.
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Browsing International Business Dissertations by Subject "climate change"
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Item Climate change and sustainability strategy: MNCs performance assessment - impact of climate change on business sector(Southern New Hampshire University, 2018-11) AL Ghunaim, Mashari S; Samii, Massood; Dhakar, Tej; Aybar, Bulent; Lightfoot, William; Zilch, KathleenClimate change poses many challenges for business operations worldwide. The study evaluated multinational companies (MNCs) and the implications of climate change on their business operational activities. Moreover, the study adopted a mixed-methods research design in a bid to evaluate sustainability strategies embraced by these business organizations purposely to counter climate change risks. Two methods were adopted for this research. First, this study utilized the quantitative method where the Natural-Resource-Based View (NRBV) concept was adopted to investigate whether companies are complying with the implementation of strategies geared towards reducing its impact on climate change compared to their competitors whose strategies are less proactive. This study also embraced, the Return on Assets (ROA) and Asset Turnover (AST) for assessment purposes given their distinctive nature as financial parameters. The criteria used to select companies for this study was based on their best practices that met the requirements of the MSCI ESG Global Indexes, like, Climate Index, Environment Index, Pollution Index, Clean Technology, and Sustainability Index. The companies for this study were selected from industries located in the United States, Japan, ٍand some European and Asian countries. Findings for the first part of the study reveals that, United States companies, the proactive MNC’s financial parameter (mean AST) was significantly lower than the less proactive MNC’s. While, in the Japanese, Europe, and the Global group samples of the proactive MNC’s, financial parameter (mean ROA) was significantly higher than less proactive MNCs. Remaining Asian group sample show, no significant differences in mean ROA or the mean AST across proactive and less proactive MNC’S. Second, the study also utilized a qualitative method where research participants shared their different experiences, viewpoints, ideas, and thoughts on climate change were sought. The methodology also entailed the selection of 108 companies to help understand the impact of climate change on business and the sustainability strategies adopted to cope climate change risks. Data collection was conducted through self-administered open-ended questions with data analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively through thematic and descriptive methods respectively. In this part it was found that slightly more than half of the subjects were awareness of on climate change while the rest had no idea on climate change or were uncertain about the concept. By contrast, about three quarters of the subjects were not aware about the difference between climate change adaptation and mitigation; a quarter of them had some knowledge on the difference while only about a tenth of them were well versed with the differences. 45.37% of the subjects agreed that their companies were proactive in climate change adaptation, 28.70% strongly in agreed, 14.81% were uncertain and 10.19% disagreed. Only 1.85% of the subjects strongly disagreed. Moreover, 60.19% of the subjects disagreed that climate change affects business while 40.74% supported the idea. 56% of the companies did not have the climate change adaptation plan versus 44% that had. Additionally, 72.22% of the companies did not have the sustainability strategy for climate change versus 27.78% that had. Regarding knowledge sharing on mitigation and adaptation with partners, slightly more than one third of the companies shared their knowledge with partners compared to slightly more than half of the companies that did not. The study recommended future research to explore on factors contributing to this practice in order to facilitate effective climate change management. (Author abstract)Item Incentives for sustainability in the European Union: Analysis of institutional factors, governance issues, and tax policy(2014-03-27) Zilch, Kathleen Byrne; Samii, Massood; Nugent, Nicholas; Ficici, Aysun; Caruso, KarinSustainability and the debate over climate change have become hot topics in the literature and news. Global reactions to the mounting scientific evidence have evolved rapidly in recent years, as an increased sense of urgency has emerged. On September 27, 2013, the IPCC announced that there is a 95% probability that climate change has been caused by humans. This announcement, in conjunction with extreme weather events in recent years, has created even more urgency for policymakers to address climate change issues. Since the EU has been successful in decreasing its GHG emissions, its institutional factors, governance structure, and energy tax policies are examined. Institutional structures vary greatly between developed and developing countries, which may impact the “green-ness” of firms operating within those regions. Previous studies examine institutional factors in both developed and developing nations; however, the literature lacks sufficient research in the area of “green-specific” institutional factors. The “green-ness” of firms in developed versus developing countries is examined. The “greenness” of firms from EU-member nations are also compared to those based in both developed and developing countries. The Newsweek Green Index is tested for significance. Governance issues, specifically agency problems, are abundant in efforts to reduce global carbon emissions. Extensive research has been conducted related to firm-level governance; however, research is lacking in the area of agency issues inherent in global collaboration. Despite the EU’s multilateral governance structure, the EU was one of the few Kyoto members to reach its emissions reduction target for the period ended 2012; however, this could be offset by the inaction of developing countries. Since the EU “green” policies have focused on energy-related emissions, Eurostat’s emission data relative to developing countries (excluding deforestation) is tested. Tax policy is one of many methods which countries can use to reduce GHG emissions. Previous studies have focused on cap and trade as well as international tax competition; however, the literature lacks sufficient research on the effectiveness of the EU’s energy tax policies. This section examines the effectiveness of the 2003 EU Energy Taxation Directive in encouraging “green” activities. Eurostat’s “implicit tax rate on energy” is tested for significance. (Author abstract)