The mature market presents challenges to marketers because much of the information about the marketplace is based on younger consumers, differing from older consumers in many important ways. The research project was commisioned with two main objectives: to determine what is required to cater for customers falling into the age bracket of 60-75, enabling marketers to successfully target the mature consumer and retain these customers. A qualitative methodology was selected to collect and analyse information to enhance understanding of the perceptions with regard to the functional, social and emotional needs of the mature market sector. Abraham Maslow is known for postulating the 'Hierarchy of Needs Theory', stating that human beings are motivated by their unsatisfied needs. It is necessary to understand and investigate the relative importance of the functional, emotional and actualisation components of mature consumer needs. / Thesis (M.A. (Psychology ))

Research report to SBL, Unisa, Midrand. / Credit risk has been identified as the main risk that can result in the failure of a bank due to ineffective credit decisions. It is, therefore, critical for the banks to conduct credit risk assessment on new applicants and existing customers in order to determine the level of affordability and mitigate credit risk. Consumer credit information plays a very important role in credit risk assessment because it can accurately detect and predict default. The aim of this study was to investigate the consequences of inaccurate credit information on bank’s secured lending division. The investigation was conducted using various methods to achieve the objectives of this research. This was done through the exploration of literature review relating to research of the management of consumers credit information in developed and developing countries, and secured lending and inaccurate credit data. A quantitative research methodology was adopted. It was observed that credit risk is seen as the key risk that banks are faced with. It was found that inaccurate consumer credit data can have a negative impact on bank’s operations in terms of consumer’s disputes, higher pricing and consumer overindebtedness. In addition, inaccurate consumer credit data impede access to credit by consumers. One of the general recommendations of this research is that banks should assist in training the consumers to improve their knowledge of credit report. Further studies in the area of corporate or business clients are also recommended as the focus of this research was on individual bank’s clients.

This paper analyses the competitiveness in the banking sector of eight countries in the SADC region. Both the Panzar-Rosse and the Lerner Index approaches were used for the period 2002- 2013. Although the results yield opposing outcomes, the overall findings suggest that the eight countries cannot be described as being perfectly competitive but rather suggest imperfect competition in these banking sectors. These countries could be characterised as monopolies when using the Panzar-Rosse study and monopolistically competitive when using the Lerner Index.

Over the past decade banks repeatedly made headlines with severe cases of business misconduct. Several high profile political inquiries sought to ascertain responsibility for the malfeasance but concluded that responsibility could not unequivocally be attributed. Considering that the responsibility principle constitutes a normative element which should guide social interaction, its evasion can lead to social distortions. The purpose of the thesis is threefold. First, it seeks to explore the responsibility practices in banking; second, it considers the mechanisms of responsibility evasion; and third, it discusses the power relations guiding responsible business conduct. Academic research typically considers corporate responsibility from two perspectives. At the meso level responsibility is framed in terms of corporate governance; at the micro level individual and team responsibilities are studied. This thesis offers a different perspective and discusses responsibility in terms of practice, which comprises responsibility constitution and responsibility attribution. In an organisational context responsibility is arranged in terms of role and task responsibilities and corporate culture, while responsibility attributions refer to the interpretations and judgements of social conduct. The analysis draws on the concept of 'agencement' which describes a heterogeneous compendium of different devices that act on and modify each other (Pollock and Williams, 2009). Ontologically, ANT views realities as multiple and fluid and the question of which reality takes precedence is a matter of power relations. For the analysis a methodological tool, the responsibility map, has been developed and applied to three case studies, namely the mis-selling of PPI, trader manipulation of LIBOR and low-balling of LIBOR. Operating under the principles of financialisation, banks have internalised financial benefits while negative outcomes were externalised. Responsibility attribution for the misconduct was systematically evaded. The mechanisms of responsibility diffusion are closely tied to the business strategies: retail banks proceduralised responsibility; it became invested in meeting sales targets. Investment banks operated at the forefront of LIBOR manipulations. Handling the LIBOR rate setting process in an informal manner created responsibility gaps. In both environments the regulatory regimes in place proved ineffective. It is argued that corporate irresponsibility must be considered as a recurrent theme if banking remains organised in terms of financialised business models. The thesis presents a novel approach to the study of organisational responsibility. The methodological tool developed for this research can be adapted to study responsibility in other corporate contexts. Given that the current business models are flawed as they create an environment that condones irresponsible conduct the thesis concludes with suggestions for policy making.

Following the Basel Committee’s advocacy of value-at-risk (VaR) disclosure in external reports of financial institutions, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission issued Financial Reporting Release No. 48 to permit VaR disclosure as one of the most important disclosure approaches for market-risk quantitative information in 1997. This study is the first to empirically examine both economic determinants and consequences of VaR disclosure informativeness in the banking industry. First, this study finds that more informative VaR disclosure is associated with more effective corporate governance characteristics, including better shareholder protection, a larger and more independent board, the presence of a separate risk committee under the board of directors, a more independent risk committee, higher institutional ownership and a better overall governance environment. These results suggest that corporate governance mechanisms are important determinants of the informativeness of VaR disclosure. Second, the evidence shows that the cost of equity capital is negatively associated with the informativeness of VaR disclosure, consistent with informative VaR disclosure effectively communicating private information to investors about a bank’s market risk exposure and its risk management system. Additional evidence during the recent crisis further suggests the importance of VaR disclosure informativeness to the capital market as a strong signal reflecting the efficacy of risk management practices and the quality of risk governance mechanisms. However, I still find that a large proportion of the sample banks choose not to disclose information with respect to some important disclosure items (e.g., quantitative stress-test results, and non-trading portfolio VaR). It is necessary for government regulators to re-consider the current regulation on VaR disclosure in the external reports of the banking industry.

Following the Basel Committee’s advocacy of value-at-risk (VaR) disclosure in external reports of financial institutions, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission issued Financial Reporting Release No. 48 to permit VaR disclosure as one of the most important disclosure approaches for market-risk quantitative information in 1997. This study is the first to empirically examine both economic determinants and consequences of VaR disclosure informativeness in the banking industry. First, this study finds that more informative VaR disclosure is associated with more effective corporate governance characteristics, including better shareholder protection, a larger and more independent board, the presence of a separate risk committee under the board of directors, a more independent risk committee, higher institutional ownership and a better overall governance environment. These results suggest that corporate governance mechanisms are important determinants of the informativeness of VaR disclosure. Second, the evidence shows that the cost of equity capital is negatively associated with the informativeness of VaR disclosure, consistent with informative VaR disclosure effectively communicating private information to investors about a bank’s market risk exposure and its risk management system. Additional evidence during the recent crisis further suggests the importance of VaR disclosure informativeness to the capital market as a strong signal reflecting the efficacy of risk management practices and the quality of risk governance mechanisms. However, I still find that a large proportion of the sample banks choose not to disclose information with respect to some important disclosure items (e.g., quantitative stress-test results, and non-trading portfolio VaR). It is necessary for government regulators to re-consider the current regulation on VaR disclosure in the external reports of the banking industry.

In Chapter One, to measure the efficiency changes in the U.S. banking industry after structural changes since the late 1970s, we utilize a set of panel data stochastic frontier models of varying parametric assumptions and function specifications. Our estimates support the opinion of improving efficiency in the banking industry in the period from 1984 to early 1990s. The first chapter raises two research questions. First, the comparison of different estimates shows that the choice of methodologies has significant impacts on the levels and dynamics of estimation results. How should we consider a more general approach to incorporate modeling uncertainty? Second, to fit in a broader picture, how can we extend our tools of estimating industry-level efficiencies to measure efficiency changes of countries and regions? These two questions motivated us to conduct researches which are in the second and third chapters. In Chapter Two, we propose the construction of a consensus estimate to extract information from all involved studies. Insights from different fields of economics supporting aggregating estimators are provided. We discuss three methodologies in detail: model averaging, combining forecast and rule-based methods using Meta-Regression Analysis. Two Monte Carlo experiments are conducted to examine the finite-sample performance of the combined estimators. In Chapter Three, we accommodate the models discussed in Chapter One to measure the Total Factor Productivity (TFP) changes. Discussions of various theories explaining economic growth and productivity measurements are provided. We decompose the change of TFP into technical efficiency change and innovational change. Estimations are also combined according to principles in Chapter Two. Two studies utilizing the World Productivity Database from the UNIDO are conducted. In the first study, we find out that from 1972 to 2000 the Asian region had the highest Total Factor Productivity growth, which was mainly contributed to innovation progress instead of efficiency catch-up. In the second study, we find out that between 1970 and 2000, Asia Four Tigers and new tiger countries (China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand) had substantial TFP advancements, mainly due to innovations. The other four groups of countries including developed and developing countries had downward trends in TFP growth.

The purpose of the study was to find whether Taiwan banks could gain competitiveness by using merger and acquisition strategies. After interviewing with nine experts who work in the banks, the study found that ¡§economies of scales¡¨, ¡§brand image¡¨ and ¡§human resource¡¨ were the key successful factors of the banking industry. The study examined three banking mergers that were announced after the Legislative Yuan had approved ¡§The Law of Financial Institution Mergers¡¨. The result was that the banks in these cases had few benefits by using merger and acquisition strategies. Therefore, standing at the point of banks and considering their abilities and resources, the study chose three merges as the objects of study. Then, the study investigated the merger benefits and integration problems in the three merges. The study found that mergers in Taiwan commercial banks could produce economies of scales. Taiwan commercial banks could not improve brand image and human resource by using merger and acquisition strategies. Most Taiwan commercial banks were lack of innovation culture and employees who were good at financial innovation. Taiwan is going to participate in WTO, so the combined banks needs to improve their brand awareness. The conclusion of the study was that merger and acquisition strategies could bring Taiwan banks some benefits. But Taiwan banks could not rely on merger and acquisition strategies to solve the problem of being lack of competitiveness. The integration differs because of different merger goals. The integration would influence the achievement of merger benefits.

Background: The banking industry is today evolving in a mature market, with a strong competition. Banks’ situation is forcing them to constantly innovate in order to keep their customers and to stay attractive for prospects. This environment is particularly true in Sweden. Purpose: All long this research the authors have explored the way Swedish banks are innovating today. Comparing their practices to customers’ opinions on how they would like their banks to implement innovations, the authors mainly focused on innovation strategies for banks in order to satisfy their customers. Method: First of all the authors have made a literature review in order to explore previous researches conducted on innovation strategies and customers satisfaction. This has firstly been used in order to make hypotheses, then in order to build the interviews guides for banks as well as the quantitative questionnaire for customers. Then, a comparison has been made between customers’ opinions and banks’ practices, all of this combined with the theoretical part in order to draw conclusions on the topic. Results and conclusions: Results of this research have shown a difference of point of view from both parts. This difference is not very strong, but could be at the origin of innovation success for Swedish banks understanding it

The aim of this study was to evaluate if there was a connection between performance management and customers service within retail branches in Gauteng. In the service industry service is the key component of retaining customers and gives the competitive edge over their rivals. A thorough literature study was conducted by using the views of different authors and combining them. The concept of service delivery was defined and discussed looking at the various components of service. Further to this the concept performance management was defined. Based on the literature study it was found that there is a large human component in service delivery and the perception of the customer in terms of that service delivery. “Knowledge where value resides and what constitutes customer value from the standpoint of the customer has been very critical in the strategies of firms in all industries and elsewhere (Day, 1990. Mckenna, 1991. Ibidunni, 2004). Ensuring that individual values and goals are aligned to the organisation and that each is driving the same strategies becomes fundamental to their success. PM can be used as a tool to align these strategies and to strive towards one goal, retaining the customer through exceptional service delivery and ensuring that the brand talks to one standard service delivery throughout all of its channels. Conclusions regarding the findings of the research were presented and recommendations were made. It is important to note that these recommendations are guidelines that correlates directly to the empirical analysis made. The research study was evaluated against the primary and secondary objectives with the correlation that both were achieved. / Thesis (MBA)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013