Diss. Univ. Basel, 2004. / En libr.: Courrendlin : Editions Communication jurassienne et européenne (CJE). Diss. phil. Basel, 2004.

The main purpose of the thesis is to explore the specifics of the financial management of holdings companies in the Czech Republic with an emphasis on the area of financial management. However, the author assumes that persistent reasons for holding creation is using of synergy effects consisting mainly of centralized management of cash flows to minimize the cost of capital and minimizing the risk of an individual investor who actively makes managerial functions in view guarantees of individual companies. It was found the lack of a comprehensive and systematic approach for a qualitative research. A total of 15 holding companies was use for the qualitative research. The outcome gives many answers concerning the specifics of the financial management of the holdings companies. It seems guarantee and minimizing cost of capital are key points. The synergistic effect of the holding companies can be used when transferring financial means between companies holding. The impact of the transfer of available financial means was simulated for holding No. 13. It was clearly shown to decrease WACC at one of the companies within the holding.

Master of Science / Food Science Institute, Animal Science and Industry / Karen A. Schmidt / Yogurt is a good source of whey proteins, which have been reported to provide positive health benefits. During yogurt manufacture, the yogurt mix receives a heat treatment which pasteurizes the product, denatures the whey proteins affecting their availability, and enhances quality attributes. Thus the objective of this research was to improve the undenatured whey protein content in yogurt. The study was divided in two parts. The first part focused on the effect of pasteurization treatments of yogurt mixes (65 °C for 30 min vs. 90 °C for 10 min) on the yogurt firmness, G’, L*, syneresis and water holding capacity (WHC), and how these properties change as a function of storage. Nonfat dry milk (NFDM) was reconstituted (~11% w/v) pasteurized, cooled, inoculated with yogurt culture, incubated to pH 4.5, stored at 5 °C ±1 and evaluated for various physical and chemical properties on days 1, 15 and 29. The experiment was replicated 3 times and data were analyzed by SAS®. Yogurt samples had a 5-fold difference in whey protein denaturation (WPD) and the greater the WPD the greater the firmness, G’, L* and WHC but lesser the syneresis. During yogurt storage, L*, G’, syneresis and WHC increased. The second part of this research focused on whey protein concentrate (WPC) addition (3%) in yogurt mix combined with two pasteurization treatments (70 °C for 30 min vs. 90 °C for 10 min) to determine their effects on the yogurt quality. Yogurt mixes were formulated using 12.5% NFDM or 9.5% NFDM and 3% WPC and a procedure similar to the previous study was followed. The WPC addition resulted in a yogurt with decreased firmness, G’, WHC but increased syneresis. Yogurt made from mixes pasteurized at 90 °C for 10 min had ~60% WPD and comparable quality attributes regardless of WPC addition. Thus, additional WPC and less WPD in this study resulted in a yogurt with slightly lesser quality attributes but more undenatured whey proteins in the final yogurt.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of school governing bodies (SGBs) regarding their overall mandate in the Free State Province. The governance mandate, as stated in the South African Schools Act, requires the SGB to ―promote the best interests of the school and strive to ensure its development through the provision of quality education for all learners at the school‖. An in-depth literature review on governance and international and intercontinental practices revealed the school governance mandate as meaning that the SGB must provide the school with a strategic direction; act as critical friend to the school; and hold the school to account. These roles essentially describe the school governance mandate. To this end, a questionnaire was used to determine how effective SGBs executed this mandate in the Free State Province, with a population of principals, SGB chairpersons, educator- governors and non-teaching staff-governors. Results obtained through computing frequency analyses, rank orders, Pearson‘s correlation, ANOVA and the Tukey HSD tests of respondents‘ perceptions of governance effectiveness items and dimensions indicated that there were statistically different perceptions regarding how effective SGB were and that these were of significant and practical effect. This meant that the effectiveness of SGBs regarding their overall mandate was indeterminate and that SGB did well in some areas of governance and not too well in others. The conclusion drawn from the study was that the structural composition of SGBs was limited SGBs‘ effectiveness regarding their governance mandate. Therefore, the main recommendation is that the SGBs need to be restructured. The recommended Two-Tier Approach to school governance proposes a structure consisting of the executive tier: responsible for policy formulation and implementation, which is a strategic-accountability role; and the non-executive tier: responsible for scrutiny-accountability, which entails the roles of acting as a critical friend and holding the school to account.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of school governing bodies (SGBs) regarding their overall mandate in the Free State Province. The governance mandate, as stated in the South African Schools Act, requires the SGB to ―promote the best interests of the school and strive to ensure its development through the provision of quality education for all learners at the school‖. An in-depth literature review on governance and international and intercontinental practices revealed the school governance mandate as meaning that the SGB must provide the school with a strategic direction; act as critical friend to the school; and hold the school to account. These roles essentially describe the school governance mandate. To this end, a questionnaire was used to determine how effective SGBs executed this mandate in the Free State Province, with a population of principals, SGB chairpersons, educator- governors and non-teaching staff-governors. Results obtained through computing frequency analyses, rank orders, Pearson‘s correlation, ANOVA and the Tukey HSD tests of respondents‘ perceptions of governance effectiveness items and dimensions indicated that there were statistically different perceptions regarding how effective SGB were and that these were of significant and practical effect. This meant that the effectiveness of SGBs regarding their overall mandate was indeterminate and that SGB did well in some areas of governance and not too well in others. The conclusion drawn from the study was that the structural composition of SGBs was limited SGBs‘ effectiveness regarding their governance mandate. Therefore, the main recommendation is that the SGBs need to be restructured. The recommended Two-Tier Approach to school governance proposes a structure consisting of the executive tier: responsible for policy formulation and implementation, which is a strategic-accountability role; and the non-executive tier: responsible for scrutiny-accountability, which entails the roles of acting as a critical friend and holding the school to account.

Thesis (MAcc) -- Stellenbosch University, 2004. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In order for a taxpayer to be entitled to a deduction for expenditure actually incurred, the taxpayer must meet the requirements of section 11(a), read with the provisions of sections 23(f) and 23(g). The preamble of section 11 requires that the taxpayer should incur the expenditure in the carrying on of a trade, before it will be deductible. Therefore, taxpayers who do not carry on a trade will not be allowed any deductions for expenditure actually incurred in terms of section 11(a). In the case of a holding company that grants loans to its subsidiaries or associates, there is a general prevailing view that the holding company does not carry on a trade in respect of the loans granted. Therefore it is argued that the holding company is not entitled to any deductions in terms of section 11(a). This study questions the above-mentioned general view by considering case law and the opinions of various tax experts. The question is raised whether the holding company could be regarded as carrying on a trade, and if so, under what circumstances that will be the case. A secondary issue that will be considered is whether the holding company is entitled to deductions in respect of interest expenditure actually incurred. In this regard a distinction is made between moneylenders and non-moneylenders. The writer reaches the conclusion that the definition of “trade” is not all-inclusive, and that the Legislator intended that the term should be interpreted as widely as possible. Therefore, the writer is of the opinion that taxpayers who are not moneylenders could, under certain circumstances, be carrying on a trade in respect of the granting of loans and should thus be entitled to income tax deductions for expenditure incurred. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Vir ‘n belastingpligtige om op ‘n aftrekking vir uitgawes werklik aangegaan, geregtig te wees, moet aan die bepalings van artikel 11(a), saamgelees met dié van artikels 23(f) en 23(g) voldoen word. Die aanhef tot artikel 11 vereis dat ‘n belastingpligtige die uitgawes in die beoefening van ‘n bedryf moet aangaan voordat ‘n aftrekking gëeis kan word. Belastingpligtiges wat dus nie ‘n bedryf beoefen nie, sal op geen aftrekkings vir uitgawes werklik aangegaan ingevolge artikel 11(a) geregtig wees nie. Met betrekking tot ‘n houermaatskappy wat lenings aan sy filiale of geassosieerdes toestaan, heers daar ‘n algemene siening dat die houermaatskappy nie ‘n bedryf beoefen met betrekking tot die toestaan van lenings nie. Daarom word geargumenteer dat die houermaatskappy nie ingevolge artikel 11(a) op enige aftrekkings geregtig is nie. In hierdie studie word bogenoemde algemene siening krities aan die hand van regspraak en menings van belastingkenners oorweeg. Die vraag word gevra of die houermaatskappy nie wel beskou kan word om ‘n bedryf te beoefen nie, en indien wel, onder watter omstandighede dit so sal wees. ‘n Sekondêre aspek wat oorweeg word, is of die houermaatskappy op ‘n aftrekking vir rente uitgawes werklik aangegaan by die toestaan van die lenings geregtig is. In hierdie verband word ‘n onderskeid tussen geldskieters en nie-geldskieters getref. Die skrywer kom tot die gevolgtrekking dat die omskrywing van “bedryf” nie allesomvattend is nie, en dat dit blyk of dit die Wetgewer se bedoeling was om die begrip so wyd as moontlik te stel. Dit is die skrywer se mening dat belastingpligtiges wat nie geldskieters is nie, wel onder bepaalde omstandighede beskou kan word om ‘n bedryf te beoefen met betrekking tot die toestaan van lenings. Daarom behoort sulke belastingpligtiges wel op inkomstebelastingaftrekkings vir uitgawes werklik aangegaan, geregtig te wees.

Poor quality of information and forecasting create a number of problems for manufacturing companies, such as poor planning of products and insufficient service levels, which leads to increased inventory and stock holding or stockouts and increased total costs. Cussons (UK) Limited is experiencing precisely these problems. Apart from these problems normally associated with forecasting demand for fast moving consumer goods there is an additional problem of reconciling the Western calendar with the Muslim calendar, and a recognition of the effects that Muslim religious holidays, as opposed to Christian religious holidays, have on demand. Muslim religious holidays rotate backwards with regard to the Western calendar, but in fact they occur at known dates and therefore the effect they have on demand for products can be taken into consideration when attempting to forecast demand. An additional problem that influences Cussons' sales in the market is the seasonal pattern of demand. Due to this, there is an increase in demand for Cussons' products during summer months. From the analysis of both data sets it was identified that the warehouse movement data is less variable and more reliable for business forecasting than order data. In this thesis, these forecasting problems are examined as a case study, focusing on these particular problems. To overcome these problems and to improve business forecasting of Cussons' products in the Middle East market, a forecasting strategy has been suggested which will enable Cusson's to reduce the inventories throughout the supply chain and to improve their customer's service.

本文首先針對國內金融機構跨業經營進行分析，其次以國內金融機構間的合併案為樣本，探討合併溢價之情形及影響合併溢價之因素。同時選取主併者及被併者的財務變數、市場變數及公司治理變數，來探討其對合併溢價之影響。 　　實證結果發現ROA高的主併者，愈會付出較高的溢價來進行收購；而ROA高的被併者，也會得到較高的溢價。另風險性高的主併者在進行購併時，所願意付出的合併溢價則較低。同時本文亦發現，對於業務相關性高的金融機構，主併者願意付出較高的價格來進行合併。 　　此外市場的環境，對於合併價格的決定亦有很大的影響，本文發現被併者的市場集中度與合併溢價成正向關係。而公司治理變數則顯示，被併者的董監事及經理人持股比率與合併溢價呈負向關係。至於不同型態之金融機構，合併溢價是否有顯著差異，實證結果則無此發現。

民國九十年六月立法院通過「金融控股公司法」，為台灣金融機構奠定了異業整合與跨業經營管理的法源基礎，有關金控公司的研究漸漸開始興起。本研究主要在探討金控「策略定位」的議題，以策略群組(strategic group)的概念為核心，對台灣目前之金融控股公司進行研究，了解該產業策略群組競爭與發展之情形。更進一步藉由群組分類的結果探討策略群組與其績效間之關係。 由於本研究問題仍屬於探索性研究階段，故本研究採用「次級資料法」輔以「問卷分析法」進行研究。經由文獻回顧，本研究在策略構面的建立，同時採用「營運範疇」策略構面與「資源」構面，對金控公司分類之構面定為：業務廣度、市場領域、地理涵蓋範圍、財務資源及無形資產構面，無形資產區構面又分為品牌形象與經營者能力。此外，更鑒於台灣許多金控公司的成形屬於台灣傳統集團企業的整合，在策略群組構面上更加入「集團/非集團企業整合」作為區分策略群組的考量。本研究即以此七項構面作為策略群組分群的依據。在績效衡量方面則分為內部營運績效、市場績效與顧客績效三構面，在內部營運績效方面以股東權益報酬率作為衡量指標；市場績效採用股價淨值比作為衡量指標；顧客績效則設計三項衡量指標，分別為知名度、吸引力與服務品質改變度。 研究結果發現台灣的金融控股公司，的確可依策略運作與資源的不同區分為四個不同的策略群組，分別為「多元焦點導向群」、「品牌消費金融導向群」、「多角化直接金融導向群」與「規模直接金融導向群」。其中，四個策略群組在股東權益報酬率績效及顧客面吸引力績效上有顯著差異存在；而在股價淨值比績效、顧客面知名度績效及顧客面服務品質改變度績效上未達統計顯著差異水準。 本研究建議金控公司在未來的發展上應首先致力於品牌形象的增強與經營者能力的強化，亦建議強化提供多樣商品的能力，即加強金控公司跨產業：銀行、證券、保險及資管理的版圖完整性。研究發現相對規模大與通路據點廣佈，兩因素並不保證金控公司在最終的營運績效較佳，故建議未來金控公司在發展時並不一定彼此要在規模上相競爭，且應在已有的實體通路上進行經營型態的改變，以強化據點的實質功能。

論文摘要 　　金融控股公司對我國整體金融產業來說，是一個劃時代全新階段的開始，對內除可望加速整合及解決因過去封閉環境所產生的眾多問題，對外更是面對國際金融集團的存活契機。但是無論是對於主管機關、金控公司，甚至是投資人，對於如何來評估金控公司的經營績效？如何藉由績效來檢視金控目前的狀況是否為最佳組合？依何種原則來制定金控公司的未來法規？因此，希望透過本研究對金控公司在績效的相關研究，以做為大眾之參考？ 　　本研究的實證結果如下： 1.本研究以三項常用的營業績效衡量指標：「ROA」、「ROE」、「獲利率」，建構出一個用以衡量金控公司績效的總指標，結果顯示可有效績效與資產、資本規模的關係，其累積解釋力達76.16%。 2.若就金控公司的性質特性變數與績效之關係來看，並無法有效區隔出 不同性質金控公司的績效表現，但在排除極端值後，則可得到銀行及保險類型金控績效優於證券類型金控的結論，但仍無法有效比較出銀行及保險型的金控，何者有較佳的績效。 3. 目前我國金控公司績效表現，與資產、資本及股東權益規模皆呈現一 定呈度的正向關係績效的關係；而績效在特定持有期間與股票投資報酬率亦有部份金控有較明顯關連，可適時做為投資選擇的依據。