The primary object of the study was to determine the effect foreign aid in the form of grants, loans and direct investment has had on the economy of Botswana since 1980, and also to identify specific sectors within the economy that received foreign aid in the form of grants, loans and direct investment and how they compare with those sectors which did not receive the same. It has been the conclusion of this study that foreign aid in the form of grants, loans and direct investment played a very important role in the economic development of Botswana since 1980. Initially the role played by British aid from the early 1960s until 1972-73, with capital, recurrent and technical assistance support, when little other assistance was available, was vitally important since it enabled Botswana to lay the foundations for future development. Many of the features that attracted later donors are directly traceable to this period. The financing of the copper-nickel complex at Selebi-Phikwe by a consortium of donors under the co-ordination of the World Bank was also crucial. It must, however, been diversified. be pointed out that the economy has not In 1990, half the GDP emanated from mining; manufacturing's share has actually halved since 1966, while agriculture's languishes at only 3%. There is a massive task of diversification ahead which must succeed if an unemployment ctisis is to be avoided. Even if Botswana can sustain the sound policies that served it so well in the 1980s, continued success is far from certain. / Dissertation (MAdmin)--University of Pretoria, 1993. / gm2014 / School of Public Management and Administration / Unrestricted

Various surveys conclude that regulation stifles the growth of South African SMEs. It is not known how regulation impacts on public companies.The literature identified certain unintended consequences of regulation that result in companies’ growth being stifled. Elements of an ideal strategic response that would prevent regulation from stifling companies’ growth were also identified. The perceptions of fifteen compliance officers in public companies were tested as to whether there was evidence of firstly, the presence in public companies of the unintended consequences identified in the literature and secondly, elements of the ideal strategic response. The research process consisted of a gathering of data through face-to-face interviews and a questionnaire. Snowball sampling was used to select compliance officers in public companies for interviews. Data was analyzed through a combination of content and frequency distribution analysis. The study confirmed that regulation does stifle the growth of public companies, but for different reasons than reported in the literature. Whilst some elements of the ideal strategic response were identified, companies’ overall strategic response to the regulatory environment can be improved upon. The conclusion of the research is that companies can thrive in the regulatory environment if the ideal strategic response, which was developed through the study, is adopted. Lessons learned from the research are discussed and recommendations for companies and regulators are indicated. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Certified Emission Reduction certificates (CERs) are created by reducing carbon emissions in a Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project. Very little CER price information is available to the public, as most of the deals are traded over the counter. The aim of this research is to model the price of CERs from a CDM project. The research methodology comprised of interviews with CDM experts to determine the risk factors influencing CER price and possible valuation methodologies which can be used in pricing CERs from a CDM project. It became evident that while the risk factors influencing CER price are well known, little is known about the impact these factors have on the final price of CERs. The final model developed was based on a combination of cash flow discounting and hedging using theoretical call options. Using a private equity hurdle rate to indicate project risk, forward selling CERs as EUAs to generate future cash flows, and using implied CDM risk, yields an equation for the price of CER. The model was extremely useful in linking the publicly quoted four tier price category by Point Carbon to a percentage of risk associated with a CDM project. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

The purpose of this study is to improve Local Economic Development (LED) through effective communication strategies between Local Government and the Private sector in Nelson Mandela Bay. The study has been carried out by means of a literature and a primary study. Effective communication is one of the key elements which contribute to the success of Local Economic Development implementation. The communication strategies in Local Economic Development have been discussed and analysed to determine the ineffective methods of communication in Local Economic Development implementation. The literature indicated that a good communication strategy is determining the most effective method of communicating with ones’ target audience. The findings of the primary study revealed that the communication strategy between the stakeholders was not fully maximised in improving Local Economic Development implementation. It also revealed secondary factors that contributed to the ineffectiveness of Local Economic Development implementation. In order to improve the current communication strategies, the researcher recommended that new forms of communication medium between Government and the Private sector could be introduced. Lastly, the secondary factors which contribute to ineffective Local Economic Development implementation were analysed and recommendations were suggested.

The thesis seeks to draw upon and develop theories of governance with attempts to explain the functioning of policy and delivery mechanisms within the area of economic development and regeneration within the Greater Manchester City Region. [GMCR] It seeks to identify and to understand the fine-grained processes underlying the evolution of metropolitan governance using multiple methods. The thesis provides a ‘socio-spatial biography’ of the city-region through the use of Social Network Analysis [SNA] linked to a programme of semi-structured interviews with elite policy actors. It seeks to contribute to work on metropolitan governance by considering the role of actors within meta-governance processes which define their ‘scope at scale’, or their ability to act and to exercise discretion within the structures available to them. This discretion rests upon a highly centralised form of ‘contrived randomness’ under which UK central-local relations are skewed in favour of the frames of reference of national policy makers, with local actors responsible for delivery and implementation. Empirical data are drawn from case study fieldwork within the context of the wider array of bodies, vehicles and initiatives at the scale of the Greater Manchester City Region. The thesis seeks to explore the roles of the ‘Manchester Family’ these ‘quasi-local actors and entities’ [qualgae] their forms and functions and their relationship to economic development and spatial planning in the city region. It seeks to conceptualise the qualgae as a network and to consider the relationships between formalised, mandated local government and the more recent assemblages of single-purpose strategic vehicles. The thesis highlights the tensions between actors involved in these parallel (and sometimes competing) forms of city-regional governance and the power and authority associated with strategic co-ordination and ‘joining-up’. It argues that these tensions are particularly acute where sub-national governance innovations combined with the legacy of multiple initiatives within the field of regeneration and local economic development have left complex institutional and cross-organisational structures. It argues that Greater Manchester constitutes a rich milieu from which future initiatives may spring.

In this thesis, I contribute to the emerging theoretical knowledge of and policy discourse on sustainable urban infrastructure, as a potential solution to the myriad of ecological and socioeconomic developmental challenges, for middle-income contexts of the global south. To understand this under-studied theme better, this dissertation uses three emblematic case studies of utility departments in the City of Cape Town (CCT) - an in-depth study of the Solid Waste Management Department and supporting studies of the Electricity Services Department, and the Water and Sanitation Department - to determine the prospects and relevance of sustainable infrastructure in such contexts. Through an analysis of urban networked infrastructure, I provide novel insight into the underpinning institutional dynamics that reproduce the service delivery model, and highlight how innovative activities that reflect the principles of sustainable urban infrastructure become embedded within institutional practice. Two conceptual frameworks, developed from the literature, have guided the empirical research and the analysis. The first is a heuristic device that enhances our understanding of sustainable urban infrastructure knowledge and discourse. The second offers a way to understand how it is institutionally mediated. Specifically, these conceptual frameworks are applied to the cases to reveal how the CCT's utility departments respond to an emergent crisis within a sector and how they pursue purposive interventions that reflect the sustainable urban infrastructure theory and discourse. The research was carried out over a period of two years and six months, during which I conducted semi-structured and informal interviews, and extensive document analysis.

Includes bibliographical references / The important role of institutions is relatively agreed on within the growth literature, with most empirical evidence pointing towards a positive influence of institutions on economic growth. However, empirical analysis of the institutions and growth nexus have faced a few problems, which include: the lack of a clear distinction between the different types of institutions; (i.e. political institutions, economic institutions, and customary institutions); a lack of long-run data measuring institutions for most of sub-Saharan Africa; and the paucity of country specific studies - the majority of the empirical evidence have mainly focused on cross-country analysis. While extensions from cross-country analysis to country specific analysis is growing, empirical studies focused on sub-Saharan Africa remain limited. Within the African context, majority of empirical evidence suggest weak institutions as one of the main causes of its poor economic performance. However, due to the paucity of long-run data on institutions, such an hypothesis has not been empirically tested for specific countries. Motivated by these gaps, this thesis contains three essays that examine three types of institutions and their impact on the economy. The specific issues focused on include: the evolution of institutions; persistence of institutions; interdependence between political and economic institutions; interdependence between institutions and economic development; and the role of institutions in determining resource wealth effects. This thesis uses Nigeria as a case study, because of its standing as one of the larger economies in sub-Saharan Africa, especially in terms of its natural resources. In addition to this, Nigeria has experienced numerous regime and constitutional changes over the past few decades which may lead to interesting institutional dynamics.

This thesis identifies the gaps in the literature on foreign aid, and tries to fill some of them focusing particularly on Niger, a country that has received aid since its independence in 1960, yet remains one of the world's poorest. The work contributes to the literature in three ways: First, it addresses moral hazard: the relationship between the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the country is analysed through a historical case study. Niger's requests for assistance are accompanied by promises to undertake reforms; however, once aid is disbursed, these undertakings rarely materialize. Despite this record of poor (and deteriorating) compliance, IMF aid continues to flow, engendering perverse incentives and moral hazard. Secondly, it analyses whether aid is associated with poverty reduction. Aid is correlated with poverty, which is to be expected due to its pro-poor targeting nature. However, this study found increases in poverty associated with communities which were recipients of aid. To shed more light on this, households receiving aid were compared with those receiving no project assistance at all, and with households who benefited from non-aid based development projects. The results showed that changes in poverty levels among aid recipient households were not statistically different to those among households receiving no assistance. However, households benefiting from aid under-performed those who benefited from other projects. Thirdly, it explores whether aid brings utility to households through the provision of public goods. The results suggest that aid projects do help households. However, other sources of development projects are more efficient at doing so. Information is the key: it is a vital prerequisite for projects to address the needs of the population, and not all donors have the same information. Information can be obtained through co-funding projects with other donors, although there are also coordination costs. The models estimated allow the prediction of the benefits a project could provide to a household. Such predictive abilities could allow policymakers to coordinate donors' initiatives to maximize their effectiveness. However, at present Niger lacks the capacity to achieve such coordination. Furthermore, such an approach would involve having to reduce the least efficient donors to mere providers of finance (i.e. channel their resources through other donor types), a role they might not be willing to accept.

Includes bibliographical references / This thesis focuses mainly on three related issues of the broader new institutional economics and political economy research: (i) the evolution of formal economic and political institutions over time (ii) the causality between political institutions and economic institutions, and that between institutions and economic development; (iii) and the role of institutions on economic development through the channel of foreign direct investment, and on the control of rent seeking and corruption in Kenya. These issues are discussed in four distinct essays, each essay constituting an independent and self-contained chapter. It adopts the conceptual framework on institutions proposed by Douglass North. The central theme of the thesis across all chapters is the demonstration of how political players holding de-facto political power operating under weak political rights and civil liberties use legal operators to benefit themselves and their close associates. For instance, starting with British rule - protectorate period (1885-1920) and colonial period (1920-1963) - an extensive legal apparatus designed by those holding de-facto political power expropriated much of the land and redistributed it to themselves at the expense of the indigenous populations whose political rights and civil liberties were crossly undermined. However, even after independence, several political players in the newly independent Kenya made little effort to fundamentally change the colonial laws that governed land rights and could not as well promote strong political rights and civil liberties. The thesis argues that despite pressures from the populace, political leaders and their interest groups holding de-facto political power entrench themselves in the system under weakly institutionalized environment, and oppose the constitutional reforms by all means including force, since such reforms go against their interests. The delay in such reforms often leads to the breakdown of governance. Such breakdown inevitably leads to conflict and social crisis such as the Kenya post-election crisis of 2007. The chapters in the thesis are organized in such a way that they start by tracing the evolution of rights promoted by people holding de-facto political power, then later the remaining chapters take on the assessment and implications of how such rights promoted under weakly institutionalized environment affect economic outcomes.

The public school superintendent is seen as the leader of schools and as a spokesperson bridging schools and the community. With this thought in mind, along with reports suggesting school and business collaboration as the key to better schools and lasting economic growth, defining the school superintendent's role in local economic development becomes valuable. As school and business relationships change, superintendents must be prepared to address this evolving interdependence. The purpose of this study was to clarify the role of the public school superintendent in local economic development. Using a three-round Delphi technique, panelists representing various geographic locations and employment domains participated in developing a consensus on this role. Superintendents, economic development leaders, business leaders, and government officials individually identified the tasks important to the public school superintendent's responsibility in local economic development. Panel members then rated the level of importance of each suggested task and worked through the rounds to develop agreement using statistical feedback from the group response. The tasks agreed upon by 80% of the panel members as being important to extremely important were then examined to disclose the level of importance. The rating response mean and standard deviation were calculated for each task. These descriptive measures were then used to rank the most important tasks and better define the public school superintendent's role in local economic development. / Ed. D.