The diploma thesis is concerned with the issue of investments decision and capital investment planning. The aim of the thesis is to evaluate a possible investment in the underground gas storage Rožná. The thesis is divided into three parts. The first theoretical part deals with the characterization and terms defining in the field of investments decision. It also mentions the methods how to evaluate the effectiveness of investments decision. The second theoretical part discusses the strategic analysis of gas industry with the emphasis on using of the underground gas storages in the Czech Republic and in other countries within the European Union. The third part analyzes the effectiveness evaluation of the investment while applying the terms of both theoretical parts.

Funding is one of the most critical resources high potential technology startup (HPTS) ventures need to achieve success. Some startup founders lack access to capital, a critical resource for HPTS founders to create value for customers and capture value for their organizations. Capital constraints can hinder business performance, endanger growth and the ability to grow and scale into the global markets. This multiple case study explored the strategies HPTS firms used to access capital to grow and scale into global markets. Mishra's venture capital investment model and Blank's customer development model served as the conceptual framework for this study. Data were collected from semistructured face-to-face interviews, direct observations, member checking, and a reflective journal. Participants were selected using a purposive sampling of 5 founders from the Silicon Valley of California, who were involved in equity finance decisions in the last 5 years. Yin's 5-step data analysis plan was used in the final data analysis. Eight themes emerged from the study: capital constraint; identification of potential investors; collaboration, guidance, and support; investment potential; investment thesis; measurement of success; passion and preparedness; and prevention of stock dilution. The findings of this study have implications for positive social change. HPTS ventures can use the study findings to gain approval of investment proposals and increase ventures that create value for customers and for the organizations.

This thesis will discuss the role of government in venture capital market and illustrate the national difference of that through a comparative study of government expenditure supporting policies of venture capital investment in the USA, Canada and China. Firstly, the prototype programs designed by Small Business Administration (SBA) of the United States and Canadian policies by the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) will be discussed. Secondly, the current Chinese government expenditure supporting policies will then be studied in the context of the Chinese venture capital market’s unique political, economical and legislative background. Ultimately, potential improvements in the future expenditure incentive programs in China will be explored.

This thesis will discuss the role of government in venture capital market and illustrate the national difference of that through a comparative study of government expenditure supporting policies of venture capital investment in the USA, Canada and China. Firstly, the prototype programs designed by Small Business Administration (SBA) of the United States and Canadian policies by the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) will be discussed. Secondly, the current Chinese government expenditure supporting policies will then be studied in the context of the Chinese venture capital market’s unique political, economical and legislative background. Ultimately, potential improvements in the future expenditure incentive programs in China will be explored.

This dissertation studies strategies to mitigate the risks associated with operational and strategic decisions of a firm, particularly focusing on project management, product development and procurement decisions. In the first essay we develop two simulation-based methods to evaluate risky capital investment projects that involve managerial flexibility. Many risky projects are characterized by significant demand and operational risks (such as learning curve uncertainty) that are difficult to capture by simple stochastic processes. We propose using system dynamics simulations to estimate the cash flow resulting from these projects and build upon prior work on real options valuation in the decision analysis literature to develop two valuation algorithms. In the second essay we explore the technology investment decisions for platforms in markets that exhibit cross-network effects. We focus on the trade-off firms must make between investing new product development resources to increase a platform's core performance and functionality versus investments designed to leverage the platform's cross-network effects. Abstracting from examples drawn from multiple industries, we use a strategic model to gain intuition about how to make such trade-off decisions under competition. In the third essay, we analyze the optimal procurement strategy of a firm that faces supply and demand risk. In particular, the firm can source from two unreliable suppliers with different delivery characteristics. We study the optimal order allocation policy shaped by the trade-offs between delivery leadtime, reliability and procurement cost. Further, we discuss the value of leadtime flexibility in supply risk mitigation and highlight the role of an inferior supplier in a firm's multi-sourcing strategy. The main contribution of this dissertation to the operations management literature is two-fold. First, it illustrates the role of effective risk mitigation through operational strategies of leadtime flexibility and supply diversification as well as through recognizing managerial flexibility. Second, it highlights the importance of leveraging third-party content development while making technology investment decisions for platforms in two-sided markets. / text

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.

Evaluation of economic efficiency of the investment plan in TESYDO, s.r.o and a determination of a recommendatory award on the basis of results of the evaluation is the subject of this diploma thesis. The introductory part of the thesis is dedicated to theoretical knowledge in the field of financial analysis, evaluation of efficiency of the investments and the related risks. In the second part, this knowledge is used for a financial analysis of the company and subsequent evaluation of the investment plan. Summary evaluation of the investment plan forms a conclusion of this thesis.

The Master´s thesis proves the possibility of effective investment in the betting market. The operating mechanisms of the betting market are firmly disavowed from any forms of the hazard and approximated towards the principles of the financial market. The output of investment activity is captured by financial plan.

The Master Thesis focuses on an investment project’s economic effectiveness and stability of financing. In the theoretical part of the thesis there are basic ideas on investment projects explained and further the thesis deals with project lifecycle phases, cash flow predictions, methods of investment economic evaluation, factors that influence investment decision making and sources of project’s financing. In the practical part there are these theoretical findings applied on a real investment project and by analyzing it is searching for a recommendation for a project realization.

Der Erfolg von Innovationen ist unsicher. Wer Kapital in Innovationen investiert, möchte etwas über die Risiken wissen. Mit diesem Wissen können Fondsmanager von Venture-Capital-Gesellschaften ihre Investitionsentscheidung begründen und die Höhe ihrer Renditeforderung ermitteln. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird untersucht, wie Patente über Investitionsrisiken von Venture-Capital-Beteiligungen informieren. Fondsmanager können die Patente der eigenen Portfoliounternehmen und die Patente der Wettbewerber nutzen, um systematisch Risiken in der Entwicklung ihrer Portfoliounternehmen zu erkennen und zu bewerten. Der Autor definiert und klassifiziert zunächst sowohl Patentdaten als auch Risiken. Er erklärt, wie die relevanten Informationen durch die Verknüpfung von Patentdaten, Risiken und Portfoliounternehmen entstehen und welche Rolle Indikatoren spielen. In der Hauptuntersuchung prüft er, durch welche Patentinformationen sich konkrete Gefahren erkennen lassen und welche Indikatoren sich zu diesem Zweck eignen. Für die Prüfung nutzt er in explorativer Weise die theoriebildende und empirische Literatur bisheriger Patentindikatorenforschung. Im Ergebnis zeigt sich, dass eine Reihe rechtlicher Risiken gut durch Patentinformationen erkennbar ist. Teilweise ist für ihre Bewertung jedoch nach wie vor qualitatives Fachwissen spezialisierter Patentanwälte unumgänglich. Risiken des technologischen Wandels lassen sich nach Meinung des Autors kaum durch Patentinformationen im Voraus erkennen. An einem Beispiel werden die theoretischen und methodischen Schwächen in der Literatur vorherrschender Technologielebenszyklusmodelle verdeutlicht. Wettbewerbsrisiken hingegen können mit Patentinformationen nicht nur gut erkannt werden, sondern die indizierenden Patendaten lassen sich auch statistisch gut erfassen, auswerten und direkt in Scoringmodelle übertragen. Abschließend hinterfragt der Autor kritisch die Zuverlässigkeit und Aussagekraft der Befunde durch grundlegende Klassifizierungsprobleme und gibt Anstöße für weiterführende Forschung auf dem Gebiet der Risiko- und Performancemessung von Venture-Capital-Investments. / The success of innovations is uncertain. People investing capital in innovations would like to know something about their risks. If fund managers of venture capital firms knew these risks, they would be able to justify their investment decisions and to determine the height of their claim for yield. In this thesis, the author examines how patents inform about investment risks of ven-ture capital participations. Fund managers can use those patents of their own portfo-lio companies and the patents of the competitors in order to recognize and evaluate risks systematically in the development of their ventures. First, the author defines and classifies both patent data and risks. He explains how the relevant information arises by linking patent data, risks and venture and he ex-plains the importance of indicators. In the main part of this thesis, he examines by which patent information concrete dangers could be recognized and which indicators are suitable to this purpose. For this examination, he uses theory grounding and em-pirical literature of past patent indicator research in an explorative way. It shows up that a couple of legal risks are well recognizable by patent information. However, in part, the qualitative knowledge of specialized patent lawyers is still needed. According to the author's opinion, risks of technological changes are hardly to recognize by patent information in advance. An example shows the theoretical and methodical weaknesses of the technology life cycle models, predominating in the lit-erature. However, competitive risks can be well recognized by patent information. Furthermore, the indicating patent data can be well seized statistically, evaluated and transferred directly in scoring models, too. Finally, the author discusses the reliability and explanatory power of the results using basic classification problems and gives hints for further research in the area of risk and performance measuring of venture capital investments.