Magister Scientiae - MSc / Pension fund companies manage and invest large amounts of money on behalf of their members. In return for their contributions, members expect a benefit at termination of their contract. Due to the volatile nature of returns that pension funds attain, pension companies started attaching a minimum guaranteed amount to member’s benefits. In this mini-thesis we look at the pioneering work of Brennan and Schwartz [10] for pricing these minimum guarantees. The model they developed prices these minimum guarantees using option pricing theory. We also look at the model proposed by Deelstra et al. which prices minimum guarantees in a stochastic financial setting. We conclude this mini-thesis with new contributions where we look at simple alternative ways of pricing minimum guarantees. We conclude this mini-thesis with an approach, related to the work of Brennan and Schwartz [10], whereby the member’s benefit is maximised for a given minimum guaranteed amount, which comprises of multi-period guarantees. We formulate a method to find the optimal stream of these multi-period guarantees. / South Africa

Twice a year, NAI Svefa publishes a report containing statistics on Sweden's real estate market.The report shows that commercial real estate on average has a clearly higher rate of returncompared to residential real estate. Risk and return have a close relationship where investorswho take a higher risk also expect a higher return. This indicates that commercial properties aremore risky to hold compared to residential properties. This paper examines the risks that cancause the difference in the yield requirement between the two property types. Six risks havebeen selected, three of which count as micro risks and three count as macro risks. The microrisks consist of financial risk, liquidity risk and business risk. The macro risks consist of cyclicalrisk, interest rate risk and political risk.The study is qualitative and includes personal interviews with eight respondents from wellestablishedSwedish real estate companies. Data collection has been done through interviewswhere respondents' responses have been compiled and then compared to each other. Theinterviews show that Swedish real estate companies agree with the reasoning between risk andreturn and that risk assessment is an important part of real estate investments.The study's results show that commercial real estate companies value financial, liquidity andbusiness risk higher than real estate companies focused on residential real estate. Interest raterisk and business risk are similarly assessed in both property types. However, the political riskis valued higher by real estate companies focused on residential real estate. The study showsthat all risks are linked, which makes it difficult to identify an individual risk that individuallycontrols the rate of return. However, after the study's implementation, the cyclical risk appearsto be the risk that has the greatest impact on the difference in the yield requirement between thetwo property types.

Submitted by Nadir Basilio (nadirsb@uninove.br) on 2017-05-22T17:57:59Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Paulo Ferreira Guimaraes.pdf: 2675378 bytes, checksum: a280aaa9dfb80451dede9aeeb5020a24 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-05-22T17:57:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Paulo Ferreira Guimaraes.pdf: 2675378 bytes, checksum: a280aaa9dfb80451dede9aeeb5020a24 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-02-20 / This research, through a case study carried out in a company providing services in the audiovisual area, sought, through the application of sustainable project management, to analyze the influence of innovations on ecoefficiency in events, especially corporate events. The event sector begins to move towards sustainable events, in which the use of recycling techniques, selective collection of waste, conscious use of water, even more with the current water crisis, become increasingly common practices and that corroborate to satisfy the concept of the Triple Bottom Line (TBL). In order to anticipate and mitigate to the maximum the problems that negatively affect and influence the TBL, this study proposed a prior analysis of what is possible to mitigate during the execution of the event and not only treat the post-event, that is. After the generation of waste. One of the ways to achieve this goal is through innovations, which are presented in a dynamic way and promote a constant evolution, whether in equipment or processes. The application of these innovations was the object of study in this work, with the intention of showing how they can be applied to help in the ecoefficiency of the events. With a comparative approach between solutions and equipment that do not use innovations aligned with sustainable demands and others that have such requirements, we sought to analyze how innovations can collaborate with events to become more assertive about what we all seek, not Only in events, but for our planet, which is to use resources in a rational way, so that it does not compromise the needs of future generations. The case study developed through a qualitative and exploratory research sought to find correlations between the innovations and their potential to add value, both to clients contracting the events and to the participants of the same, either through the return on the investment made or through the perception of value observed by the participating public. As a basis for this study framework, several measurements were carried out and analyzed, comparing the proposed solutions, analyzing their collaborative potential for ecoefficiency in events. The main result was a total collaboration of the eco-efficient innovations proposed for sustainability in events. The analyzes showed that all the innovations proposed were totally satisfactory in the two dimensions that cover eco-efficiency, that is, the environmental and the economic. / Esta pesquisa, por intermédio de um estudo de caso realizado em uma empresa prestadora de serviços na área de audiovisual, buscou, por meio da aplicação da gestão de projetos sustentáveis, analisar a influência das inovações sobre a ecoeficiência em eventos, em especial eventos corporativos. O setor de eventos começa a ter uma movimentação em busca de eventos sustentáveis, nos quais o uso de técnicas de reciclagem, coleta seletiva de resíduos, uso consciente das águas, ainda mais com a crise hídrica atual, tornam-se práticas cada vez mais usuais e que corroboram para satisfazer o conceito do Triple Bottom Line (TBL). Com o objetivo de se antecipar e mitigar ao máximo os problemas que atingem e influenciam de forma negativa o TBL, este estudo propôs uma análise prévia do que é possível se mitigar durante a execução do evento e não tratar somente o pós-evento, ou seja, após a geração dos resíduos. Uma das formas de alcançar este objetivo é por meio das inovações, as quais se apresentam de forma dinâmica e promovem uma constante evolução, sejam elas nos equipamentos ou nos processos. A aplicação dessas inovações foi o objeto de estudo neste trabalho, com o intuito de mostrar como as mesmas podem ser aplicadas para ajudar na ecoeficiência dos eventos. Com uma abordagem comparativa entre soluções e equipamentos que não utilizam inovações alinhadas com as demandas sustentáveis e outros que possuam tais requisitos, buscou-se analisar como as inovações podem colaborar com os eventos para que se tornem mais assertivos em relação ao que todos buscamos, não só nos eventos, mas sim para o nosso planeta, que é utilizar os recursos de forma racional, para que não se comprometa as necessidades das gerações futuras. O estudo de caso desenvolvido por meio de uma pesquisa qualitativa e exploratória procurou encontrar correlações entre as inovações e seu potencial de agregar valor, tanto aos clientes contratantes dos eventos como aos participantes dos mesmos, seja por meio do retorno sobre o investimento realizado ou pela percepção de valor observada pelo público participante. Como base deste arcabouço de estudo foram realizadas e analisadas diversas medições, comparando as soluções propostas, analisando seu potencial colaborativo à ecoeficiência em eventos. Como principal resultado, identificou-se uma total colaboração das inovações ecoeficientes propostas para a sustentabilidade em eventos. As análises desenvolvidas mostraram que todas as inovações propostas foram totalmente satisfatórias nas duas dimensões que abrangem a ecoeficiência, ou seja, a ambiental e a econômica.

Motivating employees is one of the management top priorities nowadays. Motivated employees are less likely to leave the company, which leads to lower turnover rate which in turn can lead to lower costs for the company. The purpose of this study is to illustrate how organizations can increase employees’ motivation and lower employee turnover by using reward packages.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / The objective of this experiment was to evaluate the effect of diet with high grain diets on the carcass tissue composition, the centesimal composition and the profile of the fatty acids deposited in the meat of Lambs finished in confinement, as well as the economical viability of the system. Thirty - eight male lambs, castrated, of the Texel breed, born of simple birth and weaned at approximately 50 days of age, were used. The treatments were constituted by different types of grains, unprocessed, being: corn grain, white oat grain, black oat grain or rice grain with bark. The animals were slaughtered when they reached the pre-established slaughter weight of 32 kg, which corresponds to 60% of the adult weight of their mothers. The lambs of the different treatments presented similarity as to the proportion of muscle. However, corn-based treatment lambs presented lower percentage of bone and higher amount of fat. Considering the cholesterol variable, the animals treated with black oats presented results lower than 90mg / 100g, and human health could be considered healthy in this approach. Grouping the fatty acids evaluated by degree of saturation, corn-based treatment lambs had the lowest results when compared to the others, but when evaluating these lipids individually, the animals of this treatment contained the highest proportion of fatty acids Undesirable when compared to treatments based on white oats, shelled rice or black oats. The polyunsaturated: saturated ratio also presented superior results for the lambs fed the corn grain diet when compared to the others. In order to evaluate the economic issue, consecutive historical quotations from 2003 to 2016 were considered. The univariate analysis was characterized by a completely randomized design, with four treatments and eight replications. The multivariate analysis consisted of clustering. By the univariate analysis, the only treatment that proved advantageous was the corn grain base, where values were found for gross margin of R $ 16.55; Net margin of R $ 10.45; Profit of R $ 12.59; Net present value of R $ 11.44; Benefit index: cost of 1.05; Additional return on investment of 2.4% a.m.; Internal rate of return of 3.3% a.m. and discounted payback of 1.91 months. By cluster analysis, corn treatment was also the one that presented the greatest discrepancy in relation to the other treatments, while the treatments based on white oats and black oats were the ones that presented the closest ones. Thus, meat from lambs confined to a high-fat diet, because it presents results close to those recommended for healthy consumption, can be ingested without risk to consumers, since human food consists not only of sheep meat but must be nutritionally balanced. The joint analysis of the financial indicators indicated the feasibility of the confinement of lambs with a high grain diet only for the treatment based on corn grain, determining economic unviability in this study for the other evaluated treatments. / O presente experimento, conduzido no Laboratório de Ovinocultura da Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, teve como objetivo avaliar o efeito da alimentação com dietas de alto grão, sobre a composição tecidual da carcaça, a composição centesimal e o perfil dos ácidos graxos depositados na carne de cordeiros terminados em confinamento, bem como a viabilidade econômica do sistema. Foram utilizados 32 cordeiros machos, castrados, da raça Texel, nascidos de parto simples e desmamados com aproximadamente 50 dias de idade. Os tratamentos foram constituídos por diferentes tipos de grãos, não processados, sendo: grão de milho, grão de aveia branca, grão de aveia preta ou grão de arroz com casca. Os animais foram abatidos quando atingiram o peso vivo de abate pré-estabelecido de 32 kg, que corresponde a 60% do peso adulto de suas mães. Os cordeiros dos diferentes tratamentos apresentaram similaridade quanto a proporção de músculo. Porém, os cordeiros do tratamento a base de grão de milho apresentaram menor percentagem de osso e superior quantidade de gordura. Já considerando a variável colesterol os animais tratados com aveia preta apresentaram resultados inferiores a 90mg/100g, podendo ser considerado salutar a saúde humana nesta abordagem. Agrupando os ácidos graxos avaliados por grau de saturação, os cordeiros do tratamento a base de grão de milho apresentaram os menores resultados quando comparados aos demais, mas ao avaliar individualmente estes lipídios contatou-se que os animais desse tratamento continham a maior proporção de ácidos graxos não desejáveis quando comparado aqueles dos tratamentos a base de aveia branca, arroz com casca ou aveia preta. A relação poliinsaturado:saturado também apresentou resultados superiores para os cordeiros alimentados com a dieta a base de grão de milho quando comparado aos demais. Para avaliar a questão econômica foram consideradas cotações históricas consecutivas dos anos de 2003 a 2016. A análise univariada caracterizou-se por delineamento inteiramente casualizado, com quatro tratamentos e oito repetições. A análise multivariada consistiu em agrupamento (cluster). Pela análise univariada, o único tratamento que se mostrou vantajoso foi o a base de grão de milho, onde foram encontrados valores para margem bruta de R$ 16,55; margem líquida de R$ 10,45; lucro de R$ 12,59; valor presente líquido de R$ 11,44; índice benefício:custo de 1,05; retorno adicional sobre o investimento de 2,4% a.m.; taxa interna de retorno de 3,3% a.m. e payback descontado de 1,91 meses. Pela análise de cluster, o tratamento a base de milho também foi o que apresentou maior discrepância em relação aos demais tratamentos, enquanto que os tratamentos a base de aveia branca e aveia preta foram os que se apresentaram mais próximos. Assim a carne proveniente de cordeiros confinados com dieta de alto grão, por apresentar resultados próximos aos preconizados para o consumo salutar, pode ser ingerida sem proporcionar risco aos consumidores, uma vez que a alimentação humana não consiste apenas em carne ovina devendo ser nutricionalmente balanceada. A análise conjunta dos indicadores financeiros indicou viabilidade do confinamento de cordeiros com dieta de alto grão somente para o tratamento a base de grão de milho, determinando inviabilidade econômica neste estudo para os demais tratamentos avaliados.

South Africa has witnessed radical policy reforms since the advent of the new democratic dispensation in 1994. As provincial, district and local practitioners developed responses to those new national education policies, implementation issues were revealed in all their complexity. Policy implementation became one of the most difficult challenges South Africa had to contend with. It necessitated the development of the capacity of the state and its people to implement policy. The complexities of the people development environment in South Africa create a range of challenges for development. The lack of multi-level empirical data on training effects continues to exacerbate this state of affairs. This context requires that comprehensive assessment mechanisms be put in place for training programmes aimed at the realisation of policy goals. The broad purpose of this inquiry, therefore, is to determine the impact of an education management development training intervention as it passes through different levels of the education system in South Africa - national, provincial, district and local. The following key questions guided this investigation. Firstly, how do stakeholder understandings of “education management development” transfer from one level to another in a cascade model of training? And secondly, what is the operational impact of an education management development-training programme at the different levels (i.e., province, district and school) of the education system? Questionnaires, free attitude interviews and observations were used as key data collection instruments. Data was analysed using a combination of quantitative and qualitative strategies for making sense of the training information. Data was interpreted against the backdrop of the literature on the “transfer of training”, and these findings are represented in the last three chapters of this thesis. This research generated four major findings, with a variety of subsidiary findings, which deepen our insights into policy implementation as it relates to education management development in South Africa. Some of the major findings of this study are that: a) The organisers did not in the first place conduct the baseline study on training needs and secondly, they did not take into consideration the organisational requirements of the anticipated training. This anomaly could ultimately compromise the outcomes of this intervention. b) The policy deployment processes of the North West Department of Education (of ensuring that the governmental policies for quality, cost and service delivery are understood from the highest to the lowest level of the organisation) are fraught with problems that undermined basic understandings of the Education Management Development training programme which was conducted between 1998 – 2000. c) Successful policy implementation depends crucially on resource allocation and, in the case of the Education Management Development Training Programme, the nature and magnitude of allocated resources e.g., transport provision could not guarantee positive training results; and d) The overly rationalistic view adopted by the trainers of the Education Management development-training programme did not take into account the complex contexts within which change unfolds. Resultantly, the changing of the roles of facilitators could not be planned-for in advance. The significance of this study is that it identifies the barriers to learning in training events, and sheds new light on the transfer of training problem that continues to undermine organisational change and human resource development. Some of the unique findings of the study can be found in the fact that the Expert Trainers could only recall a few intentions of the EMD modular training. The District Facilitators displayed limited knowledge of the disciplinary procedures in their areas of operation and there was limited conceptualisation of the EMD by the principals of schools. / Thesis (PhD (Education Policy Studies))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Education Management and Policy Studies / unrestricted

This thesis is focused on Master Data Management (MDM), Customer Data Integration (CDI) area and its main domains. It is also a reference to a various theoretical directions that can be found in this area of expertise. It summarizes main aspects, domains and presents different perspectives to referenced principles. It is an exhaustive background research in area of Master Data Management with emphasis on practical use with references on authors experience and opinions. Secondary focus is directed to the field of business value of Master Data Management initiatives. Thesis presents a thought concept for initiations of MDM project. The reason for such a concept is based on current trend, where companies are struggling to determine actual benefits of MDM initiatives. There is overall accord on the subject of necessity of such initiatives, but the struggle is in area of determining actual measureable impact on company's revenue or profit. Since the MDM initiative is more of an enabling function, rather than direct revenue function, the benefit is less straight forward and therefore harder to determine. This work describes different layers and mapping of business requirements through layers for transparent linkage between enabling functions to revenue generating ones. The emphasis is given to financial benefit calculation, measurability and responsibility of business and IT departments. To underline certain conclusions thesis also presents real world interviews with possible stakeholders of MDM initiative within the company. These representatives were selected as key drivers for such an initiative. Interviews map their recognition of MDM and related terms. It also focus on their reasons and expectations from MDM. The representatives were also selected to equally represent business and IT departments, which presents interesting clash of views and expectations.

The Master thesis deals with the issue of evaluating the effectiveness of nonprofit organizations in culture. The aim of this work is to introduce commonly used methods of financial analysis in the non-profit organization and commonly used methods of measuring effectiveness in the nonprofit sector. The main goal of this work is to present an analysis of social return on investment and its subsequent application to the Children's Studies Ponec and other related activities non profit organization Tanec Praha o.s. for children.

The main objective of this thesis is to find out if and how education influence wage. Logical consideration and existing studies imply that there is a positive correlation in between achieved education and individual´s wage level. The studies, however, vary in size of influence and in the Czech Republic there are very few studies that deal with this topic. This master thesis is based on its own survey from which was obtained a total of 521 responses. The survey was conducted during the period of March to May 2015. Data were analysed and interval regression demonstrated positive correlation between achieved education and wage level. When reaching a bachelor´s degree, an individual´s wage increase on average by 8 % compared to individuals with secondary education with graduation. If an individual reaches master degree, his wage increases on average by 21.9 % compared to the wage of individual who achieved the secondary education with graduation. The analysis has also proven the existence of gender pay gap. According to the results, women in Czech Republic have lower wages by 21.3 % compared to men´s. The study also discusses the achievement of higher education for individuals older than 26 years. Regression analysis showed that obtaining bachelor education for this group has higher yield (14.4 %) than in the analysis of the whole data set. Conversely, obtaining master degree has for this group lower profitability (17.3 %). Part of this thesis was also to calculate the return on investment in higher education. Using the method of internal rate of return, it was found out that the return on investment is 8.3 %.

In an ever-changing world of work Absa, as a business, is faced with various challenges including the continuous development of skills. Due to technological advancements, eLearning can provide a mechanism to rapidly build the required strategic and tactical skills that the organisation needs. This study explored the challenge of articulating the contribution of eLearning to business performance in an unbounded way. The study focused on the creation of knowledge about how the contribution of eLearning to business performance can be improved. In the process of knowledge creation, the study focused on identifying the point of value creation between Business and an eLearning intervention. This point of value creation can be seen as a leverage point. Systems Thinking was implemented as an approach in order to identify the leverage point. The following research objectives were defined: · To identify the driver problem that prevents eLearning from improving business performance. · To design the systems dynamic model that represents the driver problem. · To identify the leverage point within the systems dynamic model. · To reflect on the effect that the behaviour of the individuals, participating in the research process, has on the research inquiry. The sample of 28 focus group participants was selected from two specific divisions of Absa – the eChannels: Contact Centre and the Learning and Development Department. This sample consisted of Operational Management, Team Leaders, Contact Centre Consultants and learning design experts. Executive Management was excluded from the focus groups, but was included in the process as verifiers. This created an opportunity for Executive Management to voice their opinions. The results of the study indicate that the leverage point for successful contribution of eLearning to business performance is … A shared mental model of expectations between the participating stakeholders. Once Business and the Learning and Development Department start going through the constructive cycle of the systems dynamic model repeatedly, they will continuously build the shared mental model of expectations. This cycle will also build on the: 1) Level of visible support of the line managers; 2) Level of clarity of business needs to all relevant stakeholders; 3) Number of requests from business for eLearning opportunities; and 4) Level of awareness and understanding of appropriate eLearning interventions per target population. The effect of the positive reinforcement of the recurring cycle will ensure that eLearning continuously contributes to business performance. During the study the effect of the research process on the focus group participants as well as the effect of the focus group participants on the research process was also accounted for. Observers reflected on the behaviour of the focus group participants and found that their opinions and thought processes influenced the outcome of the study. The focus group participants felt that they had learnt something new, that the tasks set to the groups was clear and that the topics they had learnt most about were ‘systems thinking’ followed by the ’ relationship between eLearning and business performance’. Copyright / Thesis (PhD (Curriculum Studies))--University of Pretoria, 2004. / Curriculum Studies / unrestricted