We derive empirical predictions from the standard investment-cash flow framework on the functioning of internal capital markets (ICM), but circumvent its criticism by focusing on parent cash flow and investment opportunities. We test these predictions using a unique data set of parent firms and their listed and unlisted subsidiaries in 90 countries over the period 1995-2006. We find that company and country institutional structures matter. (1) Ownership participation of the parent firm in the subsidiary plays a crucial role for the proper functioning of ICMs. The larger the ownership stake of the parent, the better the functioning of the ICM. (2) The best functioning cross-border ICMs can be found in the sub-sample of firms with parents from a country with "strong" institutions and subsidiaries from a country with "weak" institutions. (3) Unlisted subsidiaries are much more dependent on the ICMs their parents provide than listed subsidiaries. Thus, ICMs are not per se "bright" or "dark", their proper functioning depends on how they are set up. (authors' abstract)

Problem: Is the free cash flow a value relevant accounting measure in relation to the Swedish stock market? Objective: The aim is that by using an investment strategy to examine whether the free cash flow is an accounting measure that could be perceived as value relevant in relation to the Swedish stock market. Method: The paper is based on a quantitative survey of empirical evidence that has been collected from companies listed on the Large and Mid-Cap lists of the Swedish stock market. Theoretical Frame of reference: value relevance, cash flow, portfolio theory, drive theory Results: It was concluded that the study results conform to the Finnish survey results. The portfolio shows higher returns than the OMX index.

This paper presents the feasibility study of setting up the new potting tray production line based on the two alternatives: partly outsource a process in the production line or wholly make all processes in-house. Both the qualitative and quantitative approaches have been exploited to analyze and compare between the make or buy decision. Also the nature of business, particularly SMEs, in Thailand has been presented, in which it has certain characteristics that influence the business doing and decision, especially to the supply chain management. The literature relating to the forecasting techniques, outsourcing decision framework, inventory management, and investment analysis have been reviewed and applied with the empirical findings. As this production line has not yet been in place, monthly sales volumes are forecasted within the five years time frame. Based on the forecasted sales volume, simulations are implemented to distribute the probability and project a certain demand required for each month. The projected demand is used as a baseline to determine required safety stock of materials, inventory cost, time between production runs and resources utilization for each option. Finally, in the quantitative analysis, the five years forecasted sales volume is used as a framework and several decision making-techniques such as break-even analysis, cash flow and decision trees are employed to come up with the results in financial aspects.

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A large body of literature has explored that investor sentiment and customer satisfaction have been viewed as important metrics to evaluate asset prices, little attention has been paid to whether investor sentiment influence the impact of customer satisfaction on stock returns. This paper examines whether customer-based portfolios can create abnormal returns by employing different risk-adjusted models in different sentiment states. This study finds that portfolio composed of firms with better customer satisfaction can continuously beat the benchmark index and create abnormal returns when adopting different risk-adjusted models. Furthermore, portfolio with better customer satisfaction can significantly outperform the market even in pessimistic and neutral investor sentiment state. This is because of higher CS firms can create stable business cash flows, alleviate customer complaints and strengthen customer loyalty, which will create insurance-like protection for firms in pessimistic investor state, which results in significant abnormal returns even in pessimistic investor state. These results suggest that customer-based metrics are valuable information that should be included in financial models.

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To face the competition in the business environment, the company should continuously execute the capital investment to reinforce its competitive ability and to insure the endless business operation. Due to the capital investment involving huge money and long-term impact, the company should considerately and thoughtfully evaluate the financial feasibility of capital investment prior to making decision. Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC) is usually used as benchmark to evaluate the capital investment. WACC is made up of two key elements. The cost of equity, one of both, however, is difficult to measure. This article, taking C company as an example, is focused on how to apply 3 different models such as Dividend Growth Model (DGM), Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) and Free Cash Flow Model (FCF) to compute the cost of equity as well as on analyzing the outcomes of those models. The outcomes of DGM, CAPM and FCF are respectively 11.82%, 14.2%, and 10.50%, and the highest one is the outcome computed from CAPM. The outcomes computed from both DGM and FCF are narrowly different. As compared with actual rate of return of C company stock (11.6% adjusted from ex-cash dividend and ex-stock dividend), it is found that the outcome of DGM is the nearest to actual rate of return of C company stock, then FCF¡¦s is next one and CAPM¡¦s is most different. However, on condition that the company did not distribute cash dividend in its record or stayed on the abnormal growth stage, the DGM could not be applicable. Internal capital budgeting includes expansion of production expansion, replacement, improvement and innovation. Due to the fact that the attribute of this kind of capital investment is similar to that of the company¡¦s business of line, FCF would be the most appropriate model to estimate the cost of equity to determine the WACC for the purpose of internal capital budgeting evaluation.

Lots of researches and reports analyzed the success of Samsung Electronics (SEC) mostly focusing on Samsung Group. This paper attempts to look into the relationship between SEC and Samsung Group in terms of SEC¡¦s capital management, and intends to find out if Samsung Group brings advantages to SEC. The analysis in this paper is divided into two parts: ¡]1¡^ examining the source and the use of SEC¡¦s capital by comparing with AUO and PSC¡F¡]2¡^scrutinizing SEC and the Group's financial performances. Firstly, from cash flow's point of view, AUO and PSC depend on substantial financing to meet their capital gap. Differences in working capital also cause impact on cash flow from operating activities. Same results are found similarly in analyzing the SEC and the Group. Moreover, regarding the purpose the capital, SEC evidently shows higher weights in cash outflows from investment activities than in property, plant and equipment. The difference mainly lies in the cross-investments between SEC and Samsung Group. On the other hand, based on the computation of financial ratios, SEC benefits from Samsung Group's integrated supply chains in comparison with AUO and PSC, especially in terms of account receivables and inventories. However, the same advantages are not shown in account payables conversely. It is inferred that SEC supports Samsung Group through giving looser credits. To sum up, as far as cash flows are concerned, SEC is capable of operating with sufficient working capital because of diversification and cross-investment within the Group. Meanwhile, SEC exhibits superior financial ratios than its peer companies as Group's cooperation. Subsequently, it is concluded that SEC gains much stronger competitive advantages from Samsung Group.

Construction industry is a one of the most risky sectors due to high level of uncertainties included in the nature of the construction projects. Although there are many reasons, the deficiency of cash is one of the main factors threatening the success of the construction projects and causing business failures. Therefore, an appropriate cash planning technique is necessary for adequate cost control and efficient cash management while considering the risks and uncertainties of the construction projects. The main objective of this thesis is to develop a realistic, reliable and cost-schedule integrated cash flow modeling technique by using fuzzy set theory for including the uncertainties in project cost and schedule resulting from complex and ambiguous nature of construction works. The linguistic expressions are used for utilizing from human judgment and approximate reasoning ability of users for reflecting their experience into the model to create cash flow scenarios. The uncertain cost and duration estimates gathered from experts are inserted in the model as fuzzy numbers. The model provides the user different net cash flow scenarios with fuzzy formats that are beneficial for foreseeing possible cost and schedule threats to the project during the tender stage. The model is generated in Microsoft Excel 2007 using Visual Basic for applications and the model is applied to a case example.