The main objective of the dissertation is to evaluate and compare higher education financing instruments in regard to their practical advantageousness. None of the publications covering higher education financing so far have dealt with the question of practicability and market acceptance of the different higher education financing instruments currently being offered. The author intended to close this gap, providing a practical analysis of the mode of operation as well as a thorough comparison of private higher education financing instruments in respect to their applicability.

National economic competitiveness is a major concern to governments, firms, and individuals in an increasingly globalised world. Culture is known affect economic competitiveness, but there is little existing research that links Hofstede’s cultural dimensions with the Human Capital Indicators in the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index. U-blox is an international firm with offices around the world. The firm has grown through acquisitions and has become a key player in the wireless communication and positioning semiconductors business. The chosen topic will study the cultural aspects of a selected group of u-blox subsidiaries. The values in a workplace are in fact influenced by culture and by their human capital. Using Hofstede’s dimensions to analyse the cultural factors, it is possible to study the international context of the human capital in each subsidiary by using reliable international indicators provided in the Global Competitiveness Index.

Entrepreneurs require some elements of human capital investment (work experience, education, industry-specific and entrepreneurship-specific experience) and skills to perform entrepreneurial activities in different entrepreneurship phases. However, entrepreneurship literature is silent on which specific human capital investments and skills are needed in each of the entrepreneurship phases (nascent, new business and established phases). In addition, studies that applied human capital to understanding entrepreneurial behaviour focused on either opportunity recognition or exploitation without dealing with more than one phase of the entrepreneurship process. Accordingly, this study investigated the human capital investments and skills specific to the different entrepreneurship phases. This study employed a sequential mixed-method research design using interviews and surveys. The interviews were conducted to: identify the sources of entrepreneurship skills; discover skills relevant in each entrepreneurship phase; and use the results of the qualitative phase to develop a survey instrument for measuring applied skills in a larger population of entrepreneurs. The data was collected in face-to-face interviews with a purposive sample of 15 entrepreneurs (five per entrepreneurship phase) and six national experts in entrepreneurship. The quantitative study was aimed at confirming the skills sets derived from the qualitative phase, determining their significance across the different entrepreneurship phases, and testing the relationship between skills, sources of skills that are the human capital investments, and entrepreneurship phases. After validating the quantitative measuring instrument, a questionnaire survey covered 235 entrepreneurs who participated in the study. Through confirmatory factor analysis, the categories of skills developed were: start-up skills; core business skills (business management, financial management, human resource management and marketing skills); personal and leadership skills (social and interpersonal, leadership and personal skills); and technical skills. The hypotheses were tested using inferential statistics that included the Kruskal-Wallis test, Mann-Whitney U test, and hierarchical multiple regression. The results showed that applying start-up, social and interpersonal, technical, and human resource management skills across the entrepreneurship phases produces an inverted U-shaped curvilinear relationship, thus they increase from the nascent to new-business phase and decline in the established phase. Marketing, personal and leadership skills have a negative curvilinear relationship with the entrepreneurship phases as they are applied maximally in the nascent phase but decrease in the new-business and established phases. Financial management and business management skills have a positive curvilinear relationship with the entrepreneurship phases as they increase from the nascent phase, through new business to the established phase. Overall, the relationship between skills and entrepreneurship phases was found to be an inverted U-shaped curvilinear, thus the application of skills positively increases from the nascent to new-business phase but declines from the new-business to established phases. The study also revealed that, as entrepreneurs start businesses, in the nascent phase the use of human capital investments (especially formal education) as a source of skills declines, thus creating a need to acquire more entrepreneurship-specific investments. When the application of skills declines from the new-business to the established phase, entrepreneurs seek additional sources of skills to counter the depreciating skill sets. In addition to acquiring skills from human capital investments, entrepreneurs learn skills from actors in their social networks. So skills acquired from the human capital and social actors are applied unequally in the different entrepreneurship phases. Finally, the entrepreneurship phase and some identified contextual factors were found to have a moderating effect on the relationship between skills and human capital investments. The results of the study assisted in developing a skills framework that will give a deeper understanding of human capital investments and skills needed in the entrepreneurship phases. This study makes a contribution to policy-makers, scholars and training institutions to categorize and sample entrepreneurs according to their skills requirements and entrepreneurship phases. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2016. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / PhD / Unrestricted

O objetivo do presente trabalho é analisar empiricamente a relação entre indicadores de qualidade da educação e o crescimento econômico no Brasil, com ênfase em medidas de qualidade da educação, representadas pelos resultados de provas em proficiência escolar ao nível dos estados brasileiros. A análise empírica, seguindo os conceitos de Hanushek e Kimko (2000) sobre a qualidade da educação, utilizou como referência metodológica dois modelos macroeconômicos tradicionais da análise do crescimento com capital humano: (i) o modelo de crescimento baseado na equação de Mincer; (ii) modelo de Solow estendido sugerido por Mankiw, Romer e Weil (1992). Utilizando a metodologia de dados em painel, os resultados sugerem que a quantidade de capital humano teve uma contribuição maior para o crescimento do produto por trabalhador do que a qualidade da força de trabalho. Alguns fatores que podem explicar a baixa contribuição da qualidade do capital humano para o crescimento são: o curto período de análise, a dificuldade em se obter medidas mais precisas de qualidade do capital humano, e na média, a qualidade do capital humano no país é comparativamente baixa (em relação a outros países), como resultado das muitas e reconhecidas deficiências do sistema educacional brasileiro. / This research aims analyze empirically the relationship between indicators of education quality and economic growth in Brazil, emphasizing the measures of education quality represented by the results on school proficiency tests at the Brazilians states level. The empirical analysis, following the concepts of Hanushek e Kimko (2000) about quality education, was based on two traditional macroeconomic growth models with human capital: (i) the growth model based on the Mincer equation, (ii) extended Solow model suggested by Mankiw, Romer and Weil (1992). Using the panel data methodology, the results suggest the quantity of human capital had a greater contribution to the output per worker growth than the labor force quality. Some factors that may explain the low contribution of human capital quality to growth is the short period of analysis, the difficulty to define quality measures of human capital, and, on average, the quality of human capital in the country which is relatively low (compared with other countries), as a result of the many and recognized deficiencies of the Brazilian educational system.

This study aims to examine the project efforts and activities that are being carried out as a part of a larger integration project in Sweden. Furthermore, the study discusses the contributions of these project efforts and activities in relation to creating better conditions for newly arrived participants, and also how the group of participants describe the projects and activities. The empirical data has been collected through the use of four project evaluations from selected integration projects. The empirical data was analysed using a qualitative text analysis. Previous research relevant to this study, the human capital theory and the signal and filter theory have formed my theoretical framework. The two theories are used to increase understanding of the mechanisms behind immigrants 'problems in the labor market and immigrants' integration into Swedish society as well as the opportunity to improve the situation. The result of my study shows that the project efforts and activities have created better conditions for the newly arrived participants in the integration projects. The group of participants feel that the integration efforts they have participated correspond to their needs, circumstances, as well as increasing their competence when entering the labor market. The result of my study shows that integration should not be defined only by the entrance into the labor market, but also through other forms of participation in the Swedish society.

Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are recognised across the world as having the ability to drive the economy and greatly contribute towards its growth, more so in emerging economies. However, the growth and performance of firms has further been directly linked to the critical development and investment towards its human capital. Even though there is a known importance of human capital development for business growth and competence, little is known about how much SMEs themselves attribute it to the success of their own firm’s performance. As such, this study responds to this gap by exploring the perceptions that SMEs hold regarding human capital as a concept and its developmental role in their business success. Establishing which component of human capital is perceived to be important in the founding of the businesses, during its emergent years and for future growth will enable SMEs to better understand the key human capital components and features to harness at the different stages of their business and in the pursuit for competitive advantage. The study will better equip policy makers in their development of interventions they embark on to promote SME competitiveness. The study followed a qualitative research methodology which used in-depth one-on-one interviews with participants in the petroleum industry of South Africa. The study focused on one segment of the petroleum value chain, while still using several subgroups for data triangulation. The results of the study indicated that SMEs perceive knowledge as the most important factor of human capital and rely on it in the founding of their businesses. The study further revealed that SMEs rely predominantly on intangible resources to gain competitive advantage, but are negative affected by institutional constraints to effectively compete. The study generated a framework that can be used by both SMEs and policy makers to enable the development of human capital and promote SME competitiveness. / Mini Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2021. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

Introduction: In the current rapidly changing world of work, organisations are investing increasingly in workforce planning. Throughout times, recruiting and retaining talented employees have been one of the most complex problems facing employers. Human Resource (HR) metrics and analytics is still a relatively untouched tool used by HR managers. However, HR practitioners are engaging in an era where recruitment and talent retention processes are becoming predictive and provide several benefits to both the employer and employee. By understanding how data can be used for insightful decisions that generate business results, HR professionals need to exploit the gap. Currently, they have the opportunity to utilise their extensive data sets by providing the organisation with the relevant and strategic analytics for informed decision-making. Research purpose: The purpose of the systematic literature review was to investigate the nature and value that metrics and analytics on recruitment and talent management add to organisations. Motivation for the study: Throughout history, people were considered as the most valuable assets in which an organisation can invest. However, HR failed to take responsibility for the programmes and initiatives which they developed and implemented. By developing a means to measure HR programmes and initiatives and assess the performance and development of employees, HR professionals will be able to demonstrate its effect on the business's 'bottom line'. Consequently, top management would then be more willing to invest money and time in HR-related activities. HR metrics and analytics will allow top management to make informed decisions on HR initiatives and programmes such as recruitment and talent management. In a volatile business environment HR departments need to prove the monetary value of the HR functions to top management. For HR analytics to be effective, it is vital that the organisation applies the correct metrics that is aligned with the overall business strategy and objectives. Research design, approach and method: For the purpose of the present study, a systematic literature review was conducted to determine the nature and value-add of recruitment and talent management analytics in an organisation. Main findings: The first objective was to determine the importance of recruitment and talent retention metrics and analytics. Results show that organisations currently struggle to recruit and retain talented employees, a factor that ultimately impacts the success of the organisation. The review provided evidence of organisations that realised the importance of recruitment and talent retention analytics by also using it to inform their human capital planning. The second objective assessed the use of metrics and analytics to manage recruitment and talent. The research indicated that organisations apply various recruitment and talent retention metrics in different ways and for diverse purposes. A possible reason may be that organisations have different data sets and also use these sets differently to develop HR-related metrics suited for the specific company. The third objective was to identify standards for metrics on recruitment and talent management. The research indicates that there is no systematic approach to evaluate recruitment and talent management. This is a topic for future research. The fourth and final objective investigated the role of recruitment and talent retention analytics in management's decision-making. Here the literature indicates that organisations have invested highly in HR analytics, and even appoint an analytics team within the company with the sole purpose of evaluating the organisation's data sets. This attest to the value management attaches to HR analytics as important contribution to the business's decision-making process, and ultimately the success of the organisation as a whole. Limitations/future research: The present research had to factor in several delimitations related to the context, constructs and theoretical perspectives of the study. The researcher firstly identified that the research context was limited to the Human Resources (HR) segment of organisations and business sector. Secondly, only HR-related analytics were used for the purpose of this study. The researcher searched, analysed and made assumptions about this research topic by consulting mainly recent (over the past 10 years) and authentic resources. Lastly, the assumptions made in the study are based on data the researcher incorporated from selected literature. Conclusion: It is evident from the findings that HR professionals began understanding the impact of recruitment and talent retention analytics on validating HR contributions to the organisation. Furthermore, it is clear that, on the other hand, management does acknowledge the importance and value that recruitment and talent retention analytics add to the organisation's 'bottom line'. This allows management to make insightful decisions, and ultimately retain a competitive edge in the market. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2016. / Marketing Management / MCom / Unrestricted

This study re-examines a theoretical scenario introduced by Kelly Bedard in which increased university access leads to an increase in high school dropouts due to the decreased wage premium of a high school diploma caused by talent departing to higher education. The goal for this empirical study is to expand upon the theoretical framework introduced by Bedard in order to determine whether job market signalling is present in the European labour market. In line with Bedard, we theorise that if signalling holds true, secondary education graduates will decrease when access to tertiary education increases. To test this we construct 3 linear regression models to analyse a panel data set constructed of data gathered by Eurostat. Our research question is: Does increased enrolment in tertiary education have a negative effect on participation in secondary education? Our results differ from earlier studies as they indicate that increased enrolment in European tertiary education correlates with increased participation in secondary education. Ergo, we do not prove the presence of signalling in the European labour market. Our results support continued policy efforts with the aim of increasing participation at all levels of education as we find no evidence of a trade-off between university access and secondary schooling graduate rates.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 133-141). / The focus of this dissertation is on colonisation and decolonisation as cornerstones in the development of sub-Saharan Africa's current institutions and how these historical institutions affect current economic growth outcomes. The dissertation consists of three main chapters besides the introductory and concluding chapters. The rst main chapter considers conditions of optimality in a co-optive strategy of colonial rule. It proposes a simple model of elite formation emanating from a coloniser's quest to maximise extracted rents from its colonies... In the second main chapter, I argue that the pattern of decolonisation in West Africa was a function of the nature of human capital transfers from the colonisers to the indigenous elites of the former colonies. Underpinning the nature of these human capital transfers is the colonial educational ideology... The third main chapter investigates the channels through which colonial origin affects economic outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). It focuses on four key channels of transmission namely, human capital, trade openness, market distortion and selection bias.

Earnout as a method of payment in an M&A allows for a number of advantages over the traditional choices of exchange medium, such as cash and stock. This study seeks to validate some of the conclusions drawn by existing literature, in the South African context and add value by investigating two specific attributes, namely the size of the earnout as well as the period over which an earnout may be evaluated; and their impact on the acquirer stock return. The investigation is conducted based on the analysis of event period abnormal gains for the acquirer over the event periods of ±10 days; ±5 days and ±1 day around the announcement of the merger or acquisition.Over the period 2003 – 2009, the data lends significant support to the view that earnout ratio larger than 51% leads to higher abnormal gains than those less than 51% of the total transaction value. Copyright / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted