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| 2. |
- Kavathatzopoulos, Iordanis, 1956-
(author)
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Robots and systems as autonomous ethical agents
- 2010
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In: INTECH 2010. - Bangkok : Assumption University. - 9789746151108 ; , s. 5-9
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- IT systems and robots can help us to solve many problems caused by the quantity, variation and complexity of information; because we need to handle dangerous and risky situations; or because of our social and emotional needs like elderly care. In helping us, these systems have to make decisions and act accordingly to achieve the goals for which they were built. Ethical decision support tools can be integrated into robots and other decision making systems to secure that decisions are made according to the basic theories of philosophy and to the findings of psychological research. This can be done, in non-independent systems, as a way for the system to report to its operator, and to support the operator's ethical decision making. On the other hand, fully independent systems should be able to regulate their own decision making strategies and processes. However, this cannot be based on normative predefined criteria, or on the ability to make choices, or on having own control, or on ability of rational processing. It seems that it is necessary for an independent robot or decision system to have "emotions." That is, a kind of ultimate purposes that can lead the decision process, and depending on the circumstances, guide the adoption of a decision strategy, whatever it may be, rational, heuristic or automatic.
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| 3. |
- Kavathatzopoulos, Iordanis, 1956-
(author)
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Information Technology, democratic societies and competitive markets
- 2010
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In: An information law for the 21st Century. - Athens : Nomiki Vivliothiki.
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Access of relevant information, or knowledge, is a necessary condition for finding the right solution to a problem or making the right decision. Such information triggers and maintains the psychological and societal processes lying behind the achievement of important aims for individuals and groups. Democracy demands dialog, but dialog is not possible among citizens who are totally convinced about the truth of their ideas. A participant in a dialog must have a critical attitude toward own beliefs, otherwise a common search for a better decision is not possible. IT tools can train and support unconstrained, self-critical, systematic and holistic problem solving, decision and law making. Competitive markets, like democratic societies, need access to information. Whereas well organized and strong players can guarantee it more or less for themselves the same is very difficult for consumers to achieve, like it is for citizens regarding political information. IT can easily provide information about prices, quality and other relevant aspects of products and services in the market. However, the available form, content and amount of information in the market or in politics, which are controlled by the strongest stakeholders, have as their main goal to constrain systematic and critical thinking. Therefore to take advantage of IT’s features in developing better markets and political procedures it is necessary to create rules that can guarantee it.
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| 4. |
- Abrahamson, Martin, 1977-, et al.
(author)
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Executive Compensation Contracts and Ownership Structure
- 2010
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We study executive compensation packages and ownership structures for a sample of firms listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange over the period 1999 to 2008. The basic question we raise is whether strong CEOs can set their own salaries and bonuses given the composition of group management and institutional ownership. With the use of exclusive ultimate ownership records we can identify the relationship between ownership and executive compensation. Collectively, we find a positive relationship between strong CEOs and compensation. Moreover, compensation is related to the composition of ownership and breadth of ownership. Firms with high foreign institutional ownership are associated with higher compensation to the CEO. These results affect the possibility of an all European compensation strategy.
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| 6. |
- Isaksson, Raine, et al.
(author)
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Barriers to and drivers for change : analysing causes for improvement potential in the building supply system in Dar es Salaam
- 2010
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In: Proceedings of the 13th QMOD Conference, 30 August - 01 September 2010, Cottbus, Germany. ; , s. 1-14
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Business excellence needs constant reinvention with current challenges being such as how to integrate Learnability, Innovability and Sustainability. This paper looks at learning based on Innovation Action Research with focus on process innovation with the purpose of highlighting sustainability challenges in business core processes. A system based process model in combination with sustainability indicators is used to describe a value network and the existing potential for improved sustainability. A qualitative method for specifying generic causes for the existing improvement potential is used to discuss barriers and drivers for change. Results indicate that quality methodologies can be used as a powerful support for sustainable development.
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| 9. |
- Pourmand, Firouze, 1981-
(author)
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The Political Commitments of Small Firms in response to Supportive and Coercive initiatives
- 2010
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- By challenging the view that small firms due to their resource scarcity, have a rather passive and adaptive behavior towards political initiatives, this paper studies how small firms respond to such initiatives to manage their political environment. The purpose of this paper is to study how small firms can avoid or reduce coercive political initiatives and gain support for their businesses. The theoretical foundation is based on a business network view consisting of business and non-business actors. The view developed emphasizes the direct and indirect political commitment of business firms to manage political relationships. While direct commitment connotes to business-political relationships, the indirect enlightens firms collective political behavior through intermediaries conceptualized as triadic relationships. Using survey data from 134 small firms, the findings show that contrary to previous research, small firms do make direct political commitments. More specifically it is revealed that small firms combine different types of political commitments depending on the political issue.
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| 10. |
- Landström, Joachim
(author)
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A Note on the Persistence of Residual Income
- 2010
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper investigates the behavior of residual income scaled by beginning of period book value, i.e., residual return on equity (ROE), by performing panel unit root tests as well panel regression tests on Swedish data. Results show that residual return on equity does not follow a random walk, nor is it transitory, yet it is much more transitory than what previous studies indicate. The study also proposes a method to design similar studies such that they can use data from privately held firms.
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