Thesis (Ed. D.)--Miami University, Dept. of Educational Leadership, 2005. / Title from second page of PDF document. Document formatted into pages; contains [2], iv, 177 p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 170-174).

Magister Legum - LLM / Private equity is a critical vehicle of entrepreneurship development that is essential in reducing unemployment and boosting the economic growth of South Africa. There has, however, been a decline in private equity investment (PEI) activity in South Africa compared to the 2006-2007 peak and seed capital by venture capitalists has been affected the most. This has been attributed to a number of factors mainly related to financial and tax regulation. This study critically reviews the financial regulation of the PEIs in South Africa with a view to elucidating potential pitfalls that may be affecting the competitiveness of the industry. A comparison with the regulation of PEIs in the United Kingdom (which is generally regarded as functioning well) is also made in order to provide a basis for recommendations to improve private equity activity in South Africa. The main legal structures for PEIs in South Africa are the en commandite partnerships and the bewind trusts, of which en commandite partnerships are the most common legal structure. The private equity industry is mainly regulated by common law. However, there are various, separate sections of legislation that regulate private equity transactions as well as public companies. These fragmented pieces of legislation and regulations include the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act, the Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment Act and the Black Economic Empowerment policy framework, the Companies Act, the Pension Funds Act, the Financial Markets Act, the Exchange Control Regulations 1961, the Competition Act, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange Listing Requirements and the King Reports on Corporate Governance. Of these, the most influential is the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act which regulates financial service providers or fund managers. A comparison with the PEIs regulatory framework in the UK showed that the UK, apart from having a consolidated legislation regulating the legal structure of PEIs, generally, has a more comprehensive scope of regulation that includes self-regulation, co-regulation, and regional regulations, in addition to the traditional, conservative common law. This integration of regional requirements through EU’s Directive 2011/61/EU and the Walker Guidelines has probably helped the UK to open up new markets in the region. Although there are some positives in the regulation of PEIs in South Africa, notably the regulation of financial markets to prevent market abuse and insider trading, it appears financial regulation may benefit from drawing lessons from the law and regulatory framework of the UK. It is therefore recommended that the South African private equity industry develops a consolidated and facilitative regulatory framework. This can be based on co-regulation along the lines of the Walker Guidelines (which encourages more disclosure and transparency) as well as a consolidated Act to control all PEIs activities.

AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF LORI A. BARROW, for the Master of Science degree in FORESTRY, presented on October 18, 2012 at Southern Illinois University Carbondale TITLE: ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE AND INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT FOR USDA FOREST SERVICE PARTNERSHIPS MAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. Erin Seekamp and Dr. Andrew Carver In an era of constrained appropriations and increasingly complex social and environmental challenges, partnerships have become an essential tool for public land management agencies, such as the USDA Forest Service (USFS), to accomplish critical tasks, meet management goals, and enhance service delivery. Despite the growing practice and reliance on partnerships as an alternative management strategy, few empirical assessments of this management approach have been conducted, and knowledge is limited regarding the structure and function of these relationships. Therefore, the goals of this study were to expand the established partnership knowledge base by systematically examining the institutional characteristics necessary to foster a vibrant partnership culture, uncovering and documenting the various partnership structural types being utilized, and determining whether or not institutional characteristics or external environment characteristics are related to the partnership approach utilized by USFS personnel. To explore these partnership characteristics, and assess whether differences existed between administrative levels and between national forest, an online questionnaire was administered to agency personnel on 13 randomly selected forests during the fall of 2011. Forests were randomly selected from three stratum of internal commitment from all 155 national forests' "Working Together" webpage. Of the 1584 respondent sample, 611 completed the questionnaire (40% response rate). Data collected clearly document a steady increase in the reliance of partnerships as a management strategy in recreation and resource service delivery. While the findings reveal diverse partnership support networks, respondents reported few incentives to cultivate partnerships and limited recognition for their partnership work. Furthermore, this study confirms that agency personnel work with multiple types of volunteer or partnering groups on a fairly regular basis, and make strategic choices when selecting and cultivating partnerships based on the types of work typically performed and their access and proximity to different partnering groups. Moreover, a mixed-method cluster analysis provided further insight into agency-partner interactions by identifying and defining partnership structural types and exposing variation in personnel's capacity to engage partners based on the level of internal support received, the extent of the national forest's partnership dependency, and type of external environment that categorizes the communities adjacent to the national forest (i.e., urban or rural). As the partnership phenomenon continues to be espoused by the USFS as an innovative and alternative management strategy, this thesis provides agency personnels' depiction of the agency's capacity to engage and support partnerships at multiple administrative levels and on different national forests, and helps build the foundation for managing national forests through partnerships.

Using a sample of 57 master limited partnerships (MLPs) formed from corporate assets between 1982 and 2011, I examine the share price effects on parent corporations from forming MLPs. Specifically, I compare announcement period returns during the first and second waves of MLP formations—1982-1987 and 1988-2011, respectively—to assess the effect of structural changes in the MLP agency and operating environments on the market response to MLP formation. I document significantly higher 3-day and 5-day announcement period returns for second wave MLP formations, suggesting that changes to the MLP agency and operating environments have enhanced the value impact of MLP formation. I also find evidence that parent corporations benefit from the increased opportunity to exploit conflicts of interest with the MLP, which arise from these changes. Finally, I examine the prediction of prior literature that MLP formation improves the parent company’s information environment, finding support for this assertion in the form of reduced idiosyncratic return volatility.

Le contrat de partenariat permet aux collectivités de confier globalement à un opérateur économique aussi bien le financement d'ouvrages ou d'équipements que leur conception, leur construction, leur exploitation ou encore la gestion de services publics, en s'abstenant d'être maîtres d'ouvrage et en rémunérant l'opérateur par des paiements échelonnés tout au long de la durée du contrat. L'analyse approfondie de ce montage contractuel, notamment appliqué aux secteurs ferroviaires et routiers, permet-elle réellement de conclure à l'amorce d'une modernisation du droit des contrats de la commande publique ? Rien n'est moins sûr. En effet, selon l'aspect considéré, il apparaît que le contrat de partenariat a, malgré les espoirs qu'il a vu naitre à cette fin, bien du mal à s'imposer comme la clef de voûte d'une véritable modernisation du droit des contrats de la commande publique. Démontrer que le contrat de partenariat a à la fois échoué et en partie, au moins, amorcé ce renouveau implique l'examen des trois aspects fondamentaux de la vie des contrats de la commande publique que sont leur passation, leur financement et leur exécution. Cet essai fait apparaître que si le contrat de partenariat n'a pas créé une véritable révolution du droit de la commande publique, il a néanmoins posé les bases d'une modernisation désormais en cours, tant en matière de financement que d'exécution. / Public private partnerships allows public and local authorities to entrust an conomic operator both with regard to the financing structures and equipment that their design, construction, operation or management of public services, failing to be owners and by paying the operator of milestone payments to be made during the term of the contract. Is this major analysis of this contractual structuring, particularly applied to rail and road sectors to conclude for the beginning of a modernization of law more precisely the contract for public purchasing ? This does not seem likely. In fact, depending on this aspect, it appears that public private partnerships, despite many hopes, has some difficulty in imposing like the cornerstone of the modernization of the law contract for public procurement. This revival has examined three fundamental aspects like procurement, financing and execution. This essay determined that if the public private partnership did not create a revolution, it nevertheless laid the foundation for modernization now underway, both in terms of funding and execution.

Le droit des contrats publics a subi, depuis une trentaine d'années, une évolution sans précédent, en particulier dans le cadre des contrats administratifs. La multiplication des textes encadrant la pratique des contrats, dans le droit national et dans le droit de l'Union européenne, tend à présenter des notions et des régimes hétérogènes et désordonnés. Or, analysés à travers le prisme du financement, les contrats publics trouvent une cohérence, d'une part, et retrouvent leur essence, d'autre part. Le financement permet de comprendre les dynamiques économiques à l'œuvre dans le droit des contrats publics. Il s'agit dès lors d'observer les différentes techniques et modalités de financement complexes à l'œuvre dans les contrats publics pour arriver à la conclusion que les contrats publics s'en trouvent enrichis. Par ailleurs, le financement constitue le critère idoine pour structurer les contrats publics dans une dichotomie achat-public concession.Toutefois, l’interaction entre les deux notions ne se limite pas à une approche unilatérale. Les contrats publics permettent effet de saisir le financement. Il apparaît que le financement institutionnel, reposant sur les ressources fiscales et les emprunts contractés par l'Administration, ne répond que de manière insuffisante aux besoins d'intérêt général. C'est pourquoi le recours au contrat public est indispensable pour libérer le financement public, ce qui a pour effet de métamorphoser les contrats publics, au point d'être mis en mesure d'en dégager une théorisation. / The law of public contracts underwent, since around thirty years, an unprecedented evolution, in particular within the framework of public service contracts. The increase of texts framing the practice of contracts, in the national law and in the law of the European Union, tends to present notions and heterogeneous and muddled systems. Now, analyzed through the prism of the financing, the public contracts find a coherence, on one hand, and find their sens, on the other hand.The financing allows to understand the economic dynamics in the work in the law of public contracts. It is a question from then on of observing the various techniques and the complex financing terms in the work in the public contracts to arrive at the conclusion that the public contracts are enriched there. Besides, the financing establishes the appropriate criterion to structure the public contracts in a dichotomy public purchase – concession. However, the interaction between both notions does not limit itself to a unilateral approach. The public contracts allow effect to seize the financing. It seems that the institutional financing, resting on the fiscal resources and the loans contracted by the Administration, answers only in a insufficient way the needs for general interest. That is why the appeal to the public contract is essential to release the public financing, what has the effect of transforming the public contracts, in the point of being enabled to clear a theorization of it.

A pesquisa desenvolvida tem como eixo central a problematização de dispositivos concernentes aos novos contornos que a educação escolar vem assumindo no processo de mediação entre o Terceiro Setor e o Estado. O estudo refere-se às parcerias público-privadas (PPP) na área educacional, desenvolvidas por duas organizações do Terceiro Setor, uma, no estado de Minas Gerais e outra, no estado de São Paulo. Foram analisados um programa desenvolvido pela Fundação Lemann (S.P) e dois programas desenvolvidos em Minas Gerais pelo Instituto Delta, braço social do Grupo Empresarial Delta. Este trabalho teve como objetivos: apreender a estrutura e funcionamento dessas ações e seus impactos na educação; identificar as fontes de recursos para subsidiar tais ações, mas, sobretudo, apreender o conteúdo e o teor das propostas da iniciativa privada e sua instalação na gestão da escola pública. A proposta metodológica desta investigação foi norteada pela abordagem das pesquisas qualitativas. A matriz epistemológica adotada ancorou-se no materialismo histórico-dialético. O procedimento utilizado foi o estudo multicasos ou casos múltiplos com o objetivo de realizar uma análise pertinente de projetos viabilizados pelas PPPs, nos dois estados, sem comprometer as singularidades e similaridades de cada realidade. A investigação demonstrou que as ações desenvolvidas pelas entidades do Terceiro Setor não resolvem a crise que se apresenta atualmente, mas, sim, são responsáveis por acentuá-la, já que colaboram para a manutenção da sociedade de classes. Espera-se que esta pesquisa possa contribuir para potencializar o debate acerca dos novos contornos do papel do estado e da educação no tempo presente. / The main topic of the research developed is the problematization of devices regarding the new characteristics that education has taken in the process of mediation between the third sector and the state. This thesis refers to public-private partnerships (PPP) in education, developed by two organizations from the third sector, one in the state of Minas Gerais and one in the state of São Paulo. We analyzed a program developed by Fundação Lemann\" (SP) and two programs developed in Minas Gerais by Instituto Delta, the social branch of Grupo Empresarial Delta. This research aimed at understanding the structure and functioning of these actions and their impact on education; identifying the sources of funds to support such actions, but above all, comprehending the content and substance of the proposals made by the private institutions and their application in public schools. The methodology of this research was guided by the qualitative research approach. The epistemology adopted is anchored in the historical and dialectical materialism. The procedure used was the multi-case or multiple cases study in order to conduct a meaningful analysis of projects made possible by PPPs in both states, without compromising the uniqueness and similarities of each reality. The research has shown that the actions undertaken by the third sector do not solve the \"crisis\" that presents itself today, but are responsible for accentuating it, as the actions contribute to the maintenance of class society. It is expected that this research will contribute to enhance the debate on the new characteristics of the states and educations role at the present time.

This study explored the motivations, desired outcomes, and strategies used when developing and implementing international joint/dual degree programs in the US. Twenty-three administrators involved with the development international joint/dual degree programs, primarily at public doctoral-granting institutions of higher education in the US, were interviewed to learn more about current practices. Findings indicated that the primary motivations for developing international joint/dual degree programs include: recruitment, extending an existing partnership, and that it was part of an institutional strategic plan. The desired outcomes include: growth in both student participation and number of programs. To achieve these desired outcomes seven strategies being utilized by the institutions represented in this study are presented. The lack of formal assessment of programs and student experiences was a chronic challenge relayed by participants. By integrating these findings, this study introduces the notion of transnational partnerships as part of a network that enhances the ability for individual institutions to share resources and expertise in order to pursue new opportunities globally. In this way the tension between the traditional educational mission of the institutions and new entrepreneurial interests can be balanced.

Public sectors in the developed and emerging economies have been witnessing a period of intense change over the past three decades as a result of the development of free-market economy across the globe. In the UK, the public sector in 1970s (that comprised of nationalised industries) was severely criticised for being wasteful, and subject to political intervention, thereby making them inefficient systems for delivering public services. To put matters right, successive governments from the late 1970s embarked on public sector reforms. These reforms centred on increasing the role of private sector in delivering public services. Privatisation, the implementation of accruals-based accounting and application of compulsory competitive tendering in the public sector were some of these reforms. Public-private partnerships, including private finance initiatives (PFIs), introduced in the 1990s, were a continuation of these reforms. In the defence sector, various reforms carried out prior to 1990s failed to completely remove cost and time overruns in defence projects. PFIs were introduced to further rectify the failures of previous reforms in the defence sector because they were purported to provide better value for money. Defence PFIs are long-term agreements whereby the Ministry of Defence, MoD, contracts to purchase quality services on a long-term basis from the private sector (through the special purpose vehicle, SPV) in which the private sector provides all the finance required in constructing the asset that is used to provide the services. Value for money of PFIs is about economy, efficiency and effectiveness. The question, though is whether, Defence PFIs provide value for money as claimed by the MoD? The purpose of this thesis is to evaluate the effectiveness of three categories: 1) accommodation, 2) equipment and 3) training of Defence PFIs by assessing the financial robustness (over a six-year period) of the SPVs engaged in their delivery. This research employs a multi-method methodological approach to gather data. Qualitative research methods were employed in exploring and understanding customer-supplier relationships and included, PPPs, PFIs in general (and Defence PFIs in particular), the public sector reforms that brought about private sector integration, 4 defence reforms, and Defence PFI policies. Quantitative research was used to collect and evaluate financial data on SPVs (used in Defence PFIs). Research analysis provided mixed results regarding the financial robustness of SPVs employed in the delivery of Defence PFIs. The profit margins of SPVs involved in the delivery of Defence PFIs relating to the category of accommodation were the highest. This is followed by SPVs in the category of Defence equipment and then by SPVs in the category of Defence training. Interestingly, the majority of SPVs involved in the delivery of Defence PFIs relating to accommodation have sound financial health. On the other hand, most SPVs relating to the other two categories have serious financial problems and therefore show cause for concern. Based on research findings of this study, a number of important policy recommendations are advanced to raise the effectiveness of PFIs in the defence sector and the wider public sector. / © Cranfield University, 2014

Institutional theory has been used to explain the duality of multinational companies and the need to establish legitimacy both internally- within the organisation and externally- with the external operating environment. The concept of liability of foreignness explains the legitimacy pressures posed by the duality of environments that MNCs are exposed to and the strategic responses taken in this context. However it remains unclear how MNCs respond appropriately to the conundrum, more so in the emerging market context. Using deductive qualitative research grounded on institutional theory, the research study sought to establish which liability of foreignness issues posed the greatest challenge for MNC executives in emerging markets, their response to emergent issues and additionally how they deal with conflicting outcomes, if any from the strategic responses taken. The findings support institutional theory precepts that external institutional pressures pose the greatest challenge for MNCs but conversely the firm’s response to the challenges puts the overall efficiency of the firm at risk. Executives of MNCs focused on emerging markets will find the outcome of the research useful as it identifies key LOF issues and the appropriate strategic response. More importantly it also addresses albeit to a limited extent how to mitigate the conflicting outcomes of such actions. An attempt is also made at establishing an optimal mix of strategic actions. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / ccgibs2014 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted