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Thesis (M.M. (Finance & Investment))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Graduate School of Business Administration, 2013. / Unit trust investment looks cosy and attractive from the surface, but a detailed understanding of unit trust and its performance can be daunting. Having discussed the evolution of mutual funds in the US and other industrial and financially sound countries; it is concerning that not much has been done in terms of research works on the South Africa unit trust industry’s performance. Several studies have been aimed at investigating the investment in mutual funds relative to mutual fund returns, but an extensive study on the performance of active unit trusts against their bench-marking index is still lacking. This study contributes to the debate by conducting a detailed study of the performances of mutual funds in the last two decades and also what the global investment fund witnessed over this period, with particular interest in the South African market. Another contribution of this study was to provide reasons for the slow growth of investment funds in South Africa; this study attempts to ascribe reasons as to why this has been so. This study used three different performance measures (namely: the nominal returns, Sharpe Ratios and CAPM Alphas) to test the possibility of superior performance by the market or the funds. In order to carry out this detailed analysis of the performance of unit trusts, these performance tests were applied individually to the net returns obtained from a sample of 64 South African domestic general equity unit trusts, covering the 20-year period from January 1st 1992 to December 31st 2011. This 20-year period was further divided into 7 different periods of four 5-year periods, two 10-year periods and the whole 20-year period. This was done to avoid survivorship bias. In all of the periods, strong evidence of superior performance by the domestic general equity unit trust over the market could not be found. Furthermore, several reasons were deduced form the study as to investment funds continue to experience slow growth. Some of the reasons include the following: cost of index fund, investor’s sentiments, and commissions amongst others. Finally, having said all these, outperformance, perhaps may not be the main objective of unit trusts. The findings of this study may not have provided strong evidence of outperformance, it however reveal that there is a need for unit trusts to evaluate the costs and benefits involved in their trading activities in order to provide investors with maximum possible returns for the level of risk they take.

Increasing interest is being shown in performance measurement, in both the academic literature and by practitioners. When implementing innovative products, organisations are facing issues of how to measure and manage the performance of the products concerned and how to do so in a worthwhile way. Reviewing existing literature suggests that there has been limited research on the value of performance measurement and management processes and indeed little conceptual distinction has been made between performance measurement and performance management. A conceptual framework is developed, structured around concepts from the existing literature showing two ways of distinguishing performance measurement and performance management. Performance management processes are shown as broader than performance measurement processes and the influences of the processes on performance are also displayed, another way of differentiating between the two concepts. The framework provides a structure for a pattern matching analysis using empirical data. Empirical data collection involved four case studies, each focusing on a medical device being implemented in the UK public healthcare sector. Forty-six semi-structured interviews explored performance measurement and performance management processes in the implementation of the innovative products, as well as exploring the influences of those processes on performance of the innovative products. The findings from the thesis highlight key performance measurement and performance management processes that occur in the implementation of innovative products, finding that the two can best be distinguished by their influence, or lack of influence, on performance. Performance reporting is also highlighted as a key concept. The findings indicate that performance measurement and reporting processes alone cannot be expected to have an influence on performance, however if performance management processes occur too then they can.

A continuing programme of NPM reforms, grounded in quasi-market modes of governance and private sector best practice, have been applied to English NHS hospitals over the last thirty years in response to concerns about their performance efficiency and accountability. However, in the transition to market modes of governance, the retention of hierarchical features gave rise to a multi-layering of accountability. From 2001-02 balanced scorecard inspired performance measurement systems (PMS), were introduced into the NHS, aimed at improving service standards through improved cost efficiency. Study 1 in this thesis finds that, in this context, the relationship between service standards and cost efficiency is positive and that, consistent with it being a more effective PMS, this was stronger for the ‘Annual Health Check’, a PMS characterised by features aimed at reducing manipulation, than the Star ratings, its predecessor. The approach to the manipulation of financial breakeven, a key accountability measure, was however more relaxed, particularly when service standards were under threat. The system of ‘financial support’ had its roots in previous hierarchical relationships and acted to shift revenue across the NHS in order to allow Trusts in financial difficulty to meet their financial objectives without damaging service standards. These transfers, which were effected through the revenue account, were generally reversed out in future years with the result that financial support accelerated revenue recognition in Trusts receiving it. In Study 2, the receipt of financial support by Trusts in financial difficulty was found to be associated with an improvement in service standards and in future financial performance but, in an increasingly demanding performance regime and multi-layered accountability, evidence was also found of opportunistic exploitation of the system. Financial support had a considerable impact on the accountability of both NHS Trusts and the wider NHS because of the limited transparency around financial support transactions.

Purpose – To investigate performance measurement in Local Government Authorities and to find out if a tool such as Kaplan & Norton’s (1996) Balanced Scorecard can be effectively used. There is a pressing need for the public sector to be efficient and effective in these times of austerity and thus to find out what they do with regards to performance measurement. To find any themes within the public sector and to see if there is a pattern and a framework that can be created. Design/Methodology/Approach – The current literature is first analysed both in the private sector and in the public sector. A deficiency of literature was found for the public sector and especially that of LGAs. The author is currently an elected member of a district council and an action research approach was taken within this case study. The data collected was then reviewed and followed up by semi structured interviews in all three councils. The data was analysed with a thematic approach. The councils chosen were all in the Midlands and are of a similar size and demographics. Findings – The findings indicate that the balanced scorecard is a tool that the LGAs can use and they do use a version of it but that there are complications to using it. Several themes appear such as: Stakeholders, Communication, Strategy, Leadership, Transparency, Business-Like, Resilience, Austerity and the Use of Balanced Measures. The main finding was that although the councils had good intentions they are not clear about what their citizens and stakeholders want. Therefore the future discussion needs to take a step back and start at the stakeholders rather than starting with the scorecard and the measures. Practical Implications – All LGAs are going through a period of austerity which is imposed by central government. They need to deliver the same quality of services for a reduced fee which means they need to work in an effective manner. By developing a framework that can show how the staff on the ground can influence and achieve the stakeholders’ expectations will enable the organisations to focus on what really matters. Once the council is focussed it can then let go of all the non-value adding activities in order to use their resources to satisfy their stakeholder needs. Originality/Value – There is a gap in the literature for this type of study as all previous studies have been for a singular LGA and from a non-action research viewpoint. A multiple LGA study would give more scope to expand the good practice. Also there is a gap in the literature for action research studies where more depth of insights can be revealed. For the LGAs a framework that can help them decipher the stakeholder needs and translate them into objectives for their staff in all levels of the organisation would vastly help them achieve their targets within the constraints of their ever decreasing stream of funding.

<p>The topic of this thesis is performance measurement in nonprofit organizations. The reason for choosing this topic is a common interest for the nonprofit sector as well as the increased attention in the media on nonprofits and what they accomplish. Scientifically our study is justified by the fact that there are very few studies made on performance measurement in Swedish nonprofits.</p><p>The problem definition was formulated as How, why and with what experiences do Swedish Civil Society Organizations measure performance? And the purpose with our study is to convey to an understanding of Swedish civil society organizations’experiences of performance measurement from the perspective of the management.</p><p>Considering the type of problem definition and purpose a qualitative research approach were chosen. Another reason for choosing a gualitative approach was the fact that we intended to find new information rather than to test existing theories. Semi-structured</p><p>telephone interviews were conducted with respondents from five framework organizations to Sida. The choice to only include framework organizations means that our results are limited in its application to other civil society organizations. Sida has a strong power to influence the evaluation and reporting in these organizations through the framework agreements.</p><p>In the theoretical background theories and earlier research in the area of performance measurement and nonprofits are included, for example research done on reasons for measuring performance both in for-profits and in nonprofits. A couple of performance measurement frameworks designed for nonprofits are presented.</p><p>Performance measurement is much discussed and under development among the studied organizations. However, the concept as such has not gained ground yet since it is quite a new phenomenon in the nonprofit sector in Sweden. The main reason for measuring performance is the pressure from stakeholders, foremost from Sida. The close relationship to Sida highly affects how performance is measured and the Logical Framework Approach is the foundation for their performance measurement. How widely it is used differ however and it is mainly used for reporting and evaluation purposes. Allrespondents have experienced difficulties when measuring performance and during the interviews we have identified a number of factors that complicate measurement; the results of a project are often shown much later from when the activities took place and the many stakeholders involved. Moreover the respondents express that there has to be a balance between how much time and resources that should be put on measuring activities and how much of their efforts that should be put directly into their projects, a balance that is experienced as difficult to achieve. All respondents believe that there are things to be gained from measuring performance and many of the organizations have started to cooperate with other organization in order to develop their performance measurement.</p>

The topic of this thesis is performance measurement in nonprofit organizations. The reason for choosing this topic is a common interest for the nonprofit sector as well as the increased attention in the media on nonprofits and what they accomplish. Scientifically our study is justified by the fact that there are very few studies made on performance measurement in Swedish nonprofits. The problem definition was formulated as How, why and with what experiences do Swedish Civil Society Organizations measure performance? And the purpose with our study is to convey to an understanding of Swedish civil society organizations’experiences of performance measurement from the perspective of the management. Considering the type of problem definition and purpose a qualitative research approach were chosen. Another reason for choosing a gualitative approach was the fact that we intended to find new information rather than to test existing theories. Semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with respondents from five framework organizations to Sida. The choice to only include framework organizations means that our results are limited in its application to other civil society organizations. Sida has a strong power to influence the evaluation and reporting in these organizations through the framework agreements. In the theoretical background theories and earlier research in the area of performance measurement and nonprofits are included, for example research done on reasons for measuring performance both in for-profits and in nonprofits. A couple of performance measurement frameworks designed for nonprofits are presented. Performance measurement is much discussed and under development among the studied organizations. However, the concept as such has not gained ground yet since it is quite a new phenomenon in the nonprofit sector in Sweden. The main reason for measuring performance is the pressure from stakeholders, foremost from Sida. The close relationship to Sida highly affects how performance is measured and the Logical Framework Approach is the foundation for their performance measurement. How widely it is used differ however and it is mainly used for reporting and evaluation purposes. Allrespondents have experienced difficulties when measuring performance and during the interviews we have identified a number of factors that complicate measurement; the results of a project are often shown much later from when the activities took place and the many stakeholders involved. Moreover the respondents express that there has to be a balance between how much time and resources that should be put on measuring activities and how much of their efforts that should be put directly into their projects, a balance that is experienced as difficult to achieve. All respondents believe that there are things to be gained from measuring performance and many of the organizations have started to cooperate with other organization in order to develop their performance measurement.

Title: Strategic Alliances: Performance Measurement in the Financial Service IndustrySubtitle: Case study: The Beneficial Life Insurance S.A. and Microfinance Institutionsin CameroonAuthors: Chi Jonathan Dze &amp; Anouar SoldiSupervisor: David GilbertBackground: Due to the globalization, companies choose different strategies in order tosurvive. Some run towards the vertical integration in order to control the wholeproduction process, others outsource in order to reduce the productions costs, others gofor strategic alliances aiming to strengthen their market positions by bringing the lackedresources and competencies.Aims: To find a defined combination and set of factors that lead to the success of thiskind of partnerships, and to cover the lack of inexistence of one vision of measuring thesuccess of strategic alliances, especially in the service industry.Definition: We find in Varadarajan and Cunningham (1995) that strategic alliances aredefined as "the pooling of specific resources and skills by the cooperating organizationsin order to achieve common goals, as well as goals specific to the individual partners".Completion and Results: The success factors of strategic alliances in general aredifficult to be concretely measured. Still, we managed to find a model that can be usedby these companies as a guideline for the evaluation.Search terms: Strategic alliances, collaboration, success measurement, success factors,service industry

The Balanced Scorecard(BSC) proposed by Kaplan and Norton(1992) applies four perspectives:Innovative and Learning Perspective, Internal Business Perspective, Customer Perspective, and Financial Perspective.With the scorecard, business units can set of linked financial and nonfinancial measures.Taiwan Power Company(TPC) have implemented the Responsibility Accounting System(RAS)since1993.It is necessary to reconsidering the appropriateness of performance measures for the future comprtition of TPC.The purpose of this study are to examine the fitness of the performance measurements of RAS and to find the suitness of the Balanced Scorecard.This study chooses one of the TPC operation brench as the research case in an attempt using the case studying to check if the strategic business unit(SBU) is suitable of the Balanced Scorecard. Through interviews at the management level and bibliography reviews, we explore the relevant issues of RAS to realize the effects of RAS in the case.And we obtain 20 evalution indices by questionnaire investigation.After the detailed study, we reach the following conclusions and related recommendation: 1.The performance measurement of RAS has rooms for improving. 2.The more it can match of expectation and satisfaction about the measurement factors, the more it can evaluate the real performance. 3.The Balanced Scorecard is to evaluate the future performance by linking financial and nonfinancial measures. 4.The Balanced Scorecard can combine with the Responsibility Accounting System. 5.Strategic business unit(SBU) is suitable for introducing the measurement system of Balanced Scorecard. The suggestions to the individual company are to establish balanced scorecard implementing team, strength the strategic and position, develop a computerized information management system , establish a standard operation procedure, and link the financial and nonfinancial measurement factors.

Since long ago, the whole performance of the Taiwan¡¬s airports presents the growth tendency besides the Cargo tonnes, the passengers and aircraft movements all present the decline tendency. Compares airport extension project which Taiwan continues to carry on every year, this is implying the performance of the Taiwan¡¬s airports presents bad. This research from 2003 to 2005 the Taiwan¡¬s 18 airports as the object of study, used Two-Stage DEA to do for the main methodology, and auxiliary by Malmquist index, Mann-Whitney test, and the Kruskal-Wallis test, carried on the performance measurement of the Taiwan¡¬s airports. This research divided the airport production process into two stages (include the production interface and the sales interface), so as to set an integral model. According to the analysis, the findings showed that the Taiwan¡¬s airports, had good performance, included C.K.S. international airport, Taipei Songshan airport, Magong airport, Chiayi airport, and Kinmen airport; the Taiwan¡¬s airports, presented the growth tendency from 2003 to 2005, included C.K.S. international airport, Tainan airport, Magong airport, Nangan airport, and Lanyu airport. The site characteristics, including airport class, the airport nature, the airport position, and airport location, have the significance influence regarding the performance of the Taiwan¡¬s airports.