Islamic banking emerged rapidly to fulfil the financial needs of Muslim consumers, by using different viable modes of Islamic financing. These tools of financing were designed to avoid risk-free return, unjustified increase of money on money (ribii.) and uncertainty (gharar). To offer Islamic finance products and services, the number of full-fledged Islamic bank branches has increased since 1985. The industry then further expanded with the entrance of local and international conventional banks, which advertised their Islamic banking products heavily. At the present time of heightened competition, it has become more difficult for Islamic banks to differentiate themselves in terms of providing products and services. By understanding customers' attitudes, it might be possible to differentiate their banking products and services. Therefore this research investigated the level of satisfaction and overall attitudes of respondents, both Islamic and conventional bank users, of different nationalities and aged between 30-40, living in Pakistan, UK, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia. Through an online survey regarding Islamic banking objectives, products, services, staff, Shari 'ah board and marketing, 385 responses were collected and analysed using the techniques of means and percentages. SPSS and Excel were used to produce bar charts and tables. Another distinctive aspect of this research was that it analysed product advertisements of Islamic banks (full-fledged and local/international banks) on websites based in Pakistan, UK, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia, in order to understand the differences and similarities with regard to website structures, content information, colour, marketed web products and targeted audiences. By investigating these factors, this research provided practical suggestions to design effective webpages or promotional messages to educate and inform customers of the distinction between the Islamic banking products and services that have emerged as a result of increasing competition in this market. Based on both quantitative and qualitative methods, the result of this research suggested Islamic banks should focus on the components of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) to achieve strategic competitive advantages. The research findings-suggested that Islamic banks should gather sufficient customer related information from all banking channels and utilise it accurately to reconnect with customers by offering innovative products, re- establish lost connections with existing customers, build relationships with new customers, reconstruct a trustworthy image and revise marketing approaches. Most importantly, these banks should refocus on incorporating the Islamic elements of gharar- (uncertainty) and r ib d- (usury) free operational processes. This research strongly asserted that verbal authenticity by Islamic banks and a reliance on highly-camouflaged conventional banking products alone cannot build customer trust. To regain trust, and to acquire a greater market share in the competitive financial sector, Islamic banks' staff and Shari 'ah scholars need to imply sincere motivation, truthful intention, and dynamic, personalised and practical CRM approaches to uplift the Islamic financial brand and to fulfil its promises.

M.Comm. / The Financial Sector Charter is a transformation charter in terms of the Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) Act (Act 53 of 2003). The Charter is a voluntary initiative by the financial sector to address racially based income and social inequalities in South Africa. It aims to encourage black economic participation through its six pillars. The Charter came into effect in January 2004 as a result of the Financial Sector Summit hosted by the National Economic Development and Labour Council (NEDLAC), the multilateral social dialogue forum on social, economic and labour policy. The Nedlac partners – government, business, labour and community constituencies – negotiated the Financial Sector Summit Agreements on transforming the financial sector and signed the Summit declaration on 20 August 2002. The Charter commits its participants to 'actively promoting a transformed, vibrant, and globally competitive financial sector that reflects the demographics of South Africa, and contributes to the establishment of an equitable society by effectively providing accessible financial services to black people and by directing investment into targeted sectors of the economy. Financial institutions affected by the Charter include banks, long-term insurers, shortterm insurers, re-insurers, collective investment schemes, investment managers, retirement funds, and licensed exchanges. Any other institution in the financial sector may opt to participate in the Charter. The objectives of the Charter are to: • constitute a framework and establish the principles upon which BEE will be implemented in the financial sector; • provide the basis for the sector’s engagement with other stakeholders; • establish targets and unquantified responsibilities in respect of each principle; • outline processes for implementing the charter and mechanisms to monitor and report on progress. Progress on the Financial Sector Charter Scorecard in the South African Banking Sector In pursuit of these objectives, the Charter commits financial institutions in the sector to transforming in the areas of: • Human resource development; • Procurement of goods and services; • Access to financial services; • Empowerment financing; • Ownership and control; • Corporate social investment. The study provides an overview on the above objectives of the Charter and seeks to measure and assesses in detail the progress of the banking sector regarding the six key areas of the FSC as outlined in the FSC Scorecard against the set targets of 2008. The scorecards analysed would be those that have been submitted to the Council as at the 31 December 2006. • Amalgamated Banks of South Africa (Absa Group); • FirstRand Group (including First National Bank); • Nedbank Group; • Standard Bank Group. The study will assess the performance of each bank, highlighting the positives and providing recommendations where there are shortfalls. The results will be consolidated to give an overall performance overview of the banking sector in South Africa in meeting transformational challenges faced by the country. According to the South African Reserve Bank (2008:106) the financial services sector including insurance, real estate and business services added 22% to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2007 making it the biggest contributor. It is therefore imperative for this study to be undertaken to assess and ensure that the sector commits to the process of transformation in addressing the past imbalances with regard to inclusive participation by all in the South African economy.

M.Ed. / Several authors have noted that the 21st century economy requires companies to adopt new ways of organising work. This puts organisations under pressure to acquire new skills and new ways to manage knowledge and information. (Coleman & Laplace, 2002:1; Khoshrow-Pour, 2002:111). They further maintain that technology helps organisations keep pace with changes in the workplace and can also drive many revolutionary changes. E-learning is one of the technological interventions that companies worldwide are using to keep up to the speed of changing business trends. E-learning attracts companies, organisations because it makes learning accessible anywhere, anytime (Rossette, 2002:13). Accessibility to learning material is a very important aspect in business worldwide (Aggarval, 2003:1&2). Employees are able to learn while at their workstations thereby saving travelling costs and in turn increase the company’s productivity. Being able to learn anytime provides employees with the opportunity to be in control of their learning. The traditional method of learning has been criticised for being expensive, time-consuming and unresponsive to immediate learner needs. As a result the number of companies using e-learning over traditional workplace learning is increasing worldwide (Simmons, 2002:13). Many companies have realised the value of e-learning and exploring this new method to try and save costs associated with the traditional method of learning. 1 / Prof. D. van der Westhuizen

This dissertation analyzes the effect of politically motivated bank lending and industrial policy on firm performance. It first studies zombies firms and political influence on bank lending in China. Zombie firms---indebted firms that are unprofitable and depend on banks or government bailouts for continued operation---are a drag on the economies in which they operate. The existence of zombie firms has been attributed to banks continuing to provide forbearance lending for their own interests. But local political officials may also contribute to keeping zombie firms alive, even in settings without the pressures of electoral cycles. Studying loans in China, I examine how bank lending is influenced by local officials and tracks their appointment cycle. I find that there is significant targeting of firms: lending to zombie firms increases in local officials' last service year and exhibits an increasing trend across the appointment cycle, while lending to non-zombie firms shrinks in the last service year and decreases across the cycle. I also find that influence is selective: local officials pressure small local banks more to lend to unprofitable firms, but their ability to affect large nationally operated banks appears to be limited. Second, this dissertation examines the effect of privatization on enterprise performance using evidence from China's state-owned enterprises reform. The ownership structure of China's state-owned enterprises (SOEs) has changed dramatically over the past two decades as a result of privatization reform. Studies of the effect of privatization on enterprise performance are usually subject to selection bias and endogeneity problems. Based on a panel of SOEs from 1998 to 2007, I use a fixed effects model and propensity score matching method to estimate the effect of privatization on enterprise performance, controlling for both time-invariant and time-variant enterprise characteristics. In addition, I distinguish the average effect of privatization from the contemporaneous effect of each round of privatization. Within the sample, privatization leads to an overall increase in productivity, profitability, and innovation activities. Privatization reduces employment temporarily, but enlarges the scale of operations in the long run. The gain in profitability mainly comes from the reduction in administrative expenses and financial expenses. Third, this dissertation explores the effects of export subsidies on firms' investment behaviors and export performances. Although it is well acknowledged that export subsidy is an effective way to increase the scale of exports, its effect on other aspects of firm behaviors and export performances has received less attention. I examine the effect of export subsidy on firms' investment choices in China. To avoid potential endogeneity problems, the empirical analysis uses exogenous variation in the export tax rebate program in China from 2000 to 2006. I find that export subsidy, in the form of export tax rebate, affects firms' investment in advertising, R\&D activities, and human capital accumulation positively. It has a positive impact on firms' total export value, average export price, and average estimated quality. In addition, the effect is heterogeneous: it is stronger for non-state firms and less technology-intensive firms.

No description available.

This thesis examines the characteristics of market microstructure on the Chinese stock exchanges (the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange ) Analysis is based on using intraday 5-minute data covering a three-year period (2000 to 2002). The study focuses on empirical analysis and statistical testing of the Chinese Stock Market in three parts. Overall, the study suggests that the determinant of information asymmetries, through time and across traders, plays a key role in generating observed liquidity variations. The observed results are contradictory to the findings of Lamoureux and Lastrapes (1990) but in accordance with those of Rahman , Lee and Ang (2002). / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) (Economics and Finance)

In recent year, there has been virtually no research into the strategic management practices of the Thai financial services sector. The aims of this research is to explore the strategic management practices of the Thai financial services sector (both banking companies and non-banking companies), and also seeks to identify whether there are differences in the strategic management practices on the basis of size, business type, and ownership respectively. The findings from this research will provide a benchmark against which further research into strategic management in Thailand can be undertaken. The Thai economic crisis (approximately 1997 to 1999) has impacted very strongly on the Thai financial services sector, as evidenced by the reduction in the number of companies and the dramatic increase in non-performing loans. It is against this background, that this research investigates the strategic management practices (including the general environments, the immediate environments, the internal environments, the corporate strategies, and the planning and planning system) of the Thai financial services companies to gain an understanding of their strategic management practices (year 2000) and the changes to their strategic management practices. This research also examined the impact of both internal environmental factors and external environmental factors on the strategic management practices of the Thai financial services companies. The process for this research was based on a through literature review, an analysis of the industry, the development of a conceptual framework (building on prion research overseas), and the development of a survey approach based on personal interviews with carefully selected respondents. This research has selected all the companies in the Thai financial services sector (13 domestic banks, 5 major government banks, 33 foreign bank�s branches, 33 finance and securities companies, and 10 credit foncier companies) who survived the economic crisis in Thailand. In total of the 99 approached to participate companies, 71 (72%) Thai financial services companies participated in the survey, consisting of 26 finance and securities companies, 18 foreign bank�s branches, 13 domestic banks, 9 credit foncier companies, and 5 major government banks. In respect to the data analysis, both qualitative and quantitative methods were utilised in this study, using both univariate and multivariate techniques. Of the 71 companies who participated in this research, 80% (N=57) had a formalised strategic planning (FSP) system, which presented 94% of large companies, 100% of medium sized companies, which was 97% of banking companies and 63% of non-banking companies. Whereas, 72% of the small companies has no formalised strategic planning (NFSP) system which was 100% of credit foncier companies and 15% of finance and securities companies. This research also shows that only 6% of foreign majority ownership companies and 32% of Thai majority ownership companies in the Thai financial services sector did not have FSP system. Of the NFSP companies, 50% would implement a FSP system over the next five years. These findings show that the Thai financial services companies have adopted a fairly traditional approach to strategic management and rely heavily on formalised strategic planning system. For these reasons, the major focus of the analysis of this research is on the FSP companies. Of the FSP companies, define their strategic management as the process of sharing the organisational structure, the company�s resources, the company�s culture and managerial style, the company�s long-term goals, the company�s mission statement, the company�s strategies, the company�s planning, and the external environmental factors to build a market position strong enough and an organisational capable enough to achieve successful performance despite unforeseeable events, potent competition, and internal problems. This research shows that there are significant differences in the organisational structure, process, and system either for size, business type, and ownership aspects. Overall, the large companies that comprised most of the domestic banking companies with Thai majority ownership and the foreign bank�s branches believe they were more likely to be strategically managed through their structures, processes and systems than the other groups of FSP companies. The findings in this thesis shows that these banking companies identified a much clearer managing of planning and planning system which including corporate plans, second level long-term plans, planning�s objectives, planning�s roles, planning�s processes, planning�s coordination issues, planning�s structures than the other group of FSP companies. In contrast, of the NFSP companies, the strategic issues and strategies emerged from the vision of the CEO, whereas did not appear to have roles, objectives, etc. for their strategic issues identification and strategy development process, anywhere as clearly as the FSP companies identified for their planning. The evidence from this research shows that the FSP companies were more likely to consider they were strategically managed than the NFSP companies. This research has identified a schematic representation of the strategic management practices of the companies with a FSP system and a NFSP system. The results of this research enables a better understanding of the strategic management practices of the Thai financial services sector. Also, prospective researchers can use data and the conceptual model generated from this research to further develop the theories of strategic management and to explore whether meaningful differences occur between strategic management practices of other Thai industries and the Thai financial services sector. This research as the first significant study of strategic management practices for the Thai financial services sector, provides an important benchmark for future research e.g. strategic management practices of the Thai financial services companies in the next five years, how the Thai financial services companies seek to recover from the major economic crisis etc. Both further research and replication of this research would enhance a meaningful understanding of strategic management practices.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 122-127). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

International financial centre (IFC) development is a hot topic in today’s global arena at the political state level and within academic circles as they can have a significant impact on national, regional and local economies. A critical review of the literature on this topic reveals that not much scholarly attention has been directed towards how IFCs develop from within, more specifically how local entrepreneurial activity contributes to the advancement and evolution of an IFC. In addition, a number of different theories such as path dependence and the concept of social networks have been used as alternative frameworks to explain the phenomena of spatial agglomeration in international financial centres (IFCs); however, these theories haven’t either been properly constructed in a geographical context, empirically applied in a convincing manner or been further investigated using different methodological frameworks. Through the lens of the entrepreneurial hedge fund (EHF) firm and by incorporating a multiple methodological approach (quantitative, descriptive and spatial analysis); this research investigates four separate empirical lines of inquiry in regard to either the firm, its proprietor or the IFC that focuses on micro characteristics, spatial characteristics, the general business arena and development mechanisms. The major empirical findings are that the EHF firm can be classified as small and large based on a number of different factors; while the proprietor is a well educated individual who was previously employed as a high level manager of a large multinational corporation and has previous career ties to the investment banking and traditional fund management sectors. EHF firms agglomerate in IFCs with the most intense clustering occurring within close proximity to the nucleus of the main financial district and other agglomeration patterns are evident. Categorically, government and regulatory factors and people factors are considered as the most important competiveness factors of an IFC. When compared as a whole with previously conducted studies, the findings were found to be statistically indifferent; however, at the individual factor level there are distinct differences. The factors that trigger entrepreneurial behavior are endogenous in nature and the top barriers encountered were customer related followed by employee recruitment and regulatory issues. Finally, human agency and social networks are an integral part of the entrepreneurial process and can be categorized into five separate groups with professional and associate considered to be the most important. This study makes three theoretical contributions on developmental aspects of IFCs. First, a spatial agglomeration model is proposed based on areal differentiation that is derived from the established and changing patterns in the human landscape and its institutions. Second, the theory of path creation is introduced along with social network interaction to account for the genesis of new financial firms at a micro level and a ‘path as processes’ model that incorporates ‘place dependence—path creation—path dependence’ as an economic process is proposed to illustrate the development of the alternative asset management sector which ultimately contributes to the advancement and evolution of an IFC in the defined study area. / published_or_final_version / Geography / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

<p>Currently, some microfinance institutions in Bolivia are adopting Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), a concept whereby sompanies integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations and publish the results. CSR is applied mostly by big companies in the North and in sectors more in the eye of the public, such as oil production or textile and apparel. Bolivia has been the pioneer in the commercialization of microfinance through microfinance NGO transformations. The objectives of this investigation was to asses and compare the reasons why the selected Bolivian commercial MFI's were engaged, or not engaged, in CSR. Secondly, to determine which stakeholders are more relevant for each MFI analysed, assessing how they influenced the decision to adopt or not adopt CSR and thirdly, to compare the current social performance of the selected MFI's within the framework of corporate social responsibility.</p>