ASU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This collection includes most of the ASU Theses and Dissertations from 2011 to present. ASU Theses and Dissertations are available in downloadable PDF format; however, a small percentage of items are under embargo. Information about the dissertations/theses includes degree information, committee members, an abstract, supporting data or media.
In addition to the electronic theses found in the ASU Digital Repository, ASU Theses and Dissertations can be found in the ASU Library Catalog.
Dissertations and Theses granted by Arizona State University are archived and made available through a joint effort of the ASU Graduate College and the ASU Libraries. For more information or questions about this collection contact or visit the Digital Repository ETD Library Guide or contact the ASU Graduate College at gradformat@asu.edu.
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- All Subjects: incentive design
- All Subjects: power generation company
- Creators: Shen, Wei
Description
In this study I investigate the organizational strategies that Chinese power generation companies may use to reduce the impact of coal price increases on their profits. Organizations are open systems in that no organization possesses all the resources that it needs and all organizations must obtain resources from their external environments in order to survive. Resource dependent theory suggests that the most important goal of an organization is to find effective mechanisms to cope with its dependence on the external environments for resources that are critical to its survival. Chinese power generation companies traditionally rely heavily on coal as their raw materials, and an increase in coal price can have a significant negative impact on their profits. To address this issue, I first provide a systematic review of the resource dependence theory and research, with a focus on the strategies such as vertical integration, diversification, and hedging that organizations can undertake to reduce their dependence on the external environment as well as their respective benefits and costs. Next, I conduct a qualitative case analysis of the primary strategies the largest Chinese power generation companies have used to reduce their dependence on coal. I then explore a new approach that Chinese power generation companies may use to cope with increases in coal price, namely, by investing in an index of coal companies in the stock market. My regression analysis shows that coal price has a strong positive relation with the price of the coal company index. This finding suggests that it is possible for firms to reduce the negative impact of raw material price increase on their profits by investing in a stock market index of the companies that supply the raw materials that they depend on.
ContributorsSun, Min (Author) / Shen, Wei (Thesis advisor) / Liu, Jun (Committee member) / Pei, Ker-Wei (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
This study investigates the impact of a specific organizational form – partnership – on employees’ awareness of risk control and job engagement in securities companies. Given that their organizational performance relies heavily on the performance of individual employees, it is critical for securities companies in China to adopt appropriate organizational forms so that they can better captalize on their employees’ human capital to cope with the increasingly intense market competition. Partnership, as one of the few organizational forms, has been widely adopted in industries that rely on the performance of individuals, such as law, auditing, consulting, and investment banking, around the world. In the context of China’s emerging economy, it has also been adopted as an incentive system by market leaders across several industries, including Alibaba in online shopping, Vanke in real estate, and Fosun in investments. In contrast, partnership has not been adopted or implemented by securities companies in China as most of them are still state-owned enterprises.
Based on my review of the corporate governance literature and qualitative analysis of partnership adoption in China, I propose that partnership can help better alighn the interests of employees with owners in securities companies as well. Specifically, the prospect of becoming a partner in the future can improve employees’ awareness of risk control and increase their job engagement. Taking advantage of partnership adoption at a Chinese securities company as a natural field experienment, I surveyed its employees about their awareness of risk contrl and job dedication before and after the adoption. The results from 505 matched surveys showed an increase in the average scores of both awareness of risk control and job dedication after the company adopted partnership as a new organizational form. Findings of this study have important implications for organizational and incentive design for securities companies in China.
Based on my review of the corporate governance literature and qualitative analysis of partnership adoption in China, I propose that partnership can help better alighn the interests of employees with owners in securities companies as well. Specifically, the prospect of becoming a partner in the future can improve employees’ awareness of risk control and increase their job engagement. Taking advantage of partnership adoption at a Chinese securities company as a natural field experienment, I surveyed its employees about their awareness of risk contrl and job dedication before and after the adoption. The results from 505 matched surveys showed an increase in the average scores of both awareness of risk control and job dedication after the company adopted partnership as a new organizational form. Findings of this study have important implications for organizational and incentive design for securities companies in China.
ContributorsSha, Changming (Author) / Shen, Wei (Thesis advisor) / Li, Feng (Thesis advisor) / Gu, Bin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018