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A Tempography of a Cardiac Day Unit
Full text linkThis dissertation investigates the intersection between time and organizing in a
Cardiac Day Unit that introduced same-day discharge schemes for patients with
ischemic and arrhythmic heart disease. Same-day discharge has been an influential
mega-trend throughout health care sectors in several countries. Introducing same-day
discharge schemes comes with the promise of providing both patient-centered care
while simultaneously saving expenses for the hospitals and utilizing technological
and pharmaceutical innovations. Researchers in various medical fields report that
‘quicker is better’ for patients, due to the fact that studies show that recovery is faster
for patients who were discharged early after surgery. However, the introduction of
same-day discharge also introduces organizational challenges, for how is it possible
to create a smooth and efficient ‘production’ line of patients in an uncertain context
where changes can happen continuously? What kinds of patient trajectories are
produced in the compressed context of same-day discharge? How has an organization
such as the Cardiac Day Unit challenged and affected the everyday organizing of
patient care by professionals
The Role of Charts of Account in Public Sector Accounting
Full text linkThe purpose of this paper is to discuss the role of standardised Chart of Accounts (CoA) in public sector accounting and reporting, particularly focusing matters concerning the importance and need to have a CoA at national level, the issues needed to be taken into account when developing a CoA, and the expected impact of using a CoA as a bookkeeping instrument on the accuracy of accounting records and ultimately on the reliability of the financial information.
Based on documentary analysis and on a survey to some of those involved in the development of a CoA for public sector accounting, the research uses a comparative-international perspective to learn from some national experiences and from European and international standard-setters’ perspectives, which can be considered by other countries intending to develop a CoA.
Main findings show that the link of the national CoA to National Accounts is important in countries like those from EU, where a common fiscal discipline is monitored using these figures.
It is generally acknowledged, including by international standard-setters, that a CoA in public sector accounting is important for a need to support standardised records and accounting, and the preparation of financial statements, including consolidated and WGA.
All in all, this paper suggests that harmonising CoA within countries makes sense and the development at national level should consider specificities of public sector transactions, the link to the financial statements items, and the link to the budget as most important issues
An Empirical Study of the Communicative Act of Cancellation of an Obligation by Chinese, Danish and British Business Professionals in Both L1 and ELF Contexts
Full text linkThis study investigates an under-researched complex communicative act called
“cancellation of an obligation”, produced by Chinese, Danish and British business professionals
in both L1 and ELF contexts. It is embedded in an implicitly meta-interactional context
consisting of a speaker’s request, a hearer’s promise and the speaker’s cancellation.
The data were extracted from the GEBCom speech production corpus, which used the
closed role play method at the offices of Carlsberg Group in China, Denmark and the UK. The
selected data comprise 354 oral responses by 121 respondents in one turn of telephone
conversation in three social situations involving cancellation of an obligation (Moving Scenario,
Meeting Scenario and Lunch Scenario).
Focusing on these three scenarios, I investigate the following research questions:
(1) What are the similarities and differences in the way in which Danish and Chinese
business professionals keep face and maintain interpersonal harmony in the
communicative situations of cancellation of an obligation in their respective L1s? Why
do these similarities and differences occur?
(2) What are the similarities and differences in the way in which the non-native Danish and
Chinese professional business ELF users keep face and maintain interpersonal harmony
in the same communicative situations as compared with native British professionals?
Why do these similarities and differences occur?
(3) To what extent are prototypical facework strategies transferred from L1 communication
to ELF communication?
All the research questions are united under the overarching theme of exploring the
communication challenges of using English as a lingua franca in the Danish-Chinese business
communication context. An integrated discourse-pragmatic approach was adopted to analyse the
data, focusing on the linguistic realisation patterns and the attitudes, as well as the metainteractional
context. A new integrated conceptual framework was developed
Essays on Asset Pricing with Financial Frictions
Full text linkThe first essay presents new empirical findings which are inconsistent with prominent theories on
the investment premium. The investment premium is the positive stock return difierential between
firms with low and high asset growth. Asset growth is the annual percentage change in total assets
and is typically interpreted as the firm's investments. The investment premium is an integral part
of recent factor models which are fundamental tools for both finance academics and practitioners.
In the essay I present three new empirical findings. First, I show that firms with low asset
growth on average have higher financial leverage. To the extent that firms with higher leverage have
higher returns, cross-sectional difierences in leverage account for part of the investment premium.
Second, I document that there is no investment premium among zero-leverage firms. Third, I nd
that the investment premium increases with firms' refinancing intensities which are the ratio of
short-term debt to total debt. These findings re
ect firms' financing decisions and are inconsistent
with prominent theories using firms' investment decisions to explain the investment premium
Governance Reforms and Social Progress
Full text linkSocial science has a major task in today’s world: there is a long list of major gains in the situation of human beings on a global scale, as measured against the Millennium Goals; but the UN (2019) does, however, also list serious problems that lie ahead. Challenges to the Environment, and to the systems of international transactions, especially, demand action on a global scale, as does the increasing social and economic inequality. New forms of governance are clearly required to meet these challenges, but the UN does not attempt to identify which organizational measures are necessary and possible in this respect. A major effort of social science is required to start the process of that identification.
Such an effort has been initiated by the International Panel of Social Progress. In its 2018 Report, the IPSP analyzes in depth the concept and situation of social progress – a broad term covering much of the agenda also for the global challenges – and then proceeds to outline in depth the possible ways ahead for progressing, the organizational forms and global/societal governance measures.
A Manifesto on Social Progress, published subsequently by five leading IPSP researchers, presents the overall picture in a readable, compressed manner, and discusses organizational forms for reaching social progress. This paper departs from the analyses in the Manifesto, and then tries to go further, attempting to identify the forces that work against social progress, against the governance and regulation formats that must be developed to enable social progress? Those forces - active and powerful regressive forces – can be identified by comparing some of the major developments in contemporary governance.
Using examples from countries around the globe, the paper shows how serious these regressive forces are, illustrates how they work, and points to mechanisms that make them emerge and grow. Moreover, the paper suggests a particular role for the social sciences in this context. A true social science cannot be nihilistic or passively compliant. It can and must point to myriads of organizational forms that have been employed to advance the situation of people in all sorts of societies. Social science has to be practical and normative – if not pointing the way, at least mapping the course
The Garment Industry in its Economic, Political and Social Context
Full text linkThis special CBDS Working Paper originates from a longer-term collaboration between Associate Professors Søren Jeppesen, CBS and Andries Bezuidenhout, UFH. The collaboration started more than 10 years ago and will have its main output with the forthcoming book (preliminarily) titled, ‘Enclave Development: State, Market, And Society in Lesotho, South Africa and Swaziland’s Garment Manufacturing Industries’. The collaboration has benefitted from primary and secondary data from two research projects and support from our institutions. The first project was part of a large research project, titled ‘The Outsourcing for Development project’, based at CBS and Aalborg University, Denmark. The project was funded by the Danish Development Research Council and investigated different aspects of the contemporary situation among firms from developing countries in an era of globalisation and outsourcing of production from North to South. As part of a sub-study on ‘CSR, Development and Outsourcing’ we undertook a comparative investigation of the impact of codes of conduct on working conditions in garment factories in different countries in Southern Africa. The second project was part of a large comparative study on the role of Labour movements in Southern Africa, anchored at the Sociology at Work Unit, Witwatersrand University, South Africa. The project also supported the comparative study of the impact on codes of conduct, with funding from the Norwegian Development Agency (Norad). Over the years, our respective institutions (Department of Intercultural Communication and Management, later renamed Department of Management, Society and Communication (MSC) at CBS and Sociology of Work, Wits University, Department of Sociology, University of Pretoria and lastly Department of Development Studies (DDS), University of Fort Hare (UFH)) have supported us collegially and with funds for travel, student assistance and more. We highly appreciate this. During the project, we have benefitted from the work of numerous student and research assistants. They include; Lasse B. Jensen, Alvin P. Ljosa, Sameer Azizi, Amanda Haarmaan, and Zartashia Ahmed (CBS), and Hamadziripi Tamukamoyo, Wits University (and other SA assistants). We would like to thank all for the great help
Essays in Entrepreneurship and Human Capital
Full text linkHow does heterogeneity in individual and firm characteristics explain differences in occupational choice and organizational performance? This thesis considers variations in human capital profiles and organizational forms to provide insight into drivers of entrepreneurship entry, persistence, and income on the one hand, and the ability of social enterprises to motivate employee action on the other. Using econometric techniques and experimental approaches, the three essays that comprise this thesis provide novel insights into the determinants of different types of entrepreneurship and the human resource practices of social enterprises
An Empirical Analysis of Determinants and Consequences of Earnings Management in Private Firms
Full text linkThis dissertation seeks to understand the determinants and implications of earnings
management in private firms, an economically significant yet not well researched segment of the
economy. Earnings management occurs when a firm uses discretion and judgement in financial
reporting to alter financial reports to mislead stakeholders or to influence contractual outcomes
that depend on the reported numbers, and inherently impair the quality of financial reports, and
thus hinders efficient capital allocation.
The dissertation consists of three chapters that are written in the form of separate academic
research papers that can be read independently of each other. Despite the chapters being separate
academic research papers, all three chapters are related as they all investigate earnings
management in private firms, however from different angles and at different levels of analysis.
The first chapter explores on a firm level how financially distressed firms use financial reporting
when they face financial distress, and find that they use discretion in the accrual estimation
process to signal private information and resolve information asymmetries. The second chapter
focuses on earnings management driven by the firm’s CEO and exploits a setting in which an
owner-manager at own discretion can shift her income from salary to dividends at almost no
direct cost and hence increase reported earnings. Then, the paper explores determinants and cost
of debt implications of this type of income shifting in owner-managed firms, and finds that such
behavior is related to the level of debt, and has implications in the form of lower cost of debt.
The third and last chapter moves beyond the firms’ executives and explores if rank-and-file
employees explain variation in financial reporting, and find that they do. Specifically, I find that
firms with a large percentage of criminal employees are more likely to engage in earnings
management. The following section briefly summarizes each of the three papers by their
abstracts