The main objectives of this thesis are to examine and estimate the determinants of domestic investment (public and private) in the Libyan manufacturing sector, and to investigate the impact of domestic investment on the Libyan economy. It adds to the growing literature on the issue of economic growth and econometrics by drawing attention to several issues hitherto little considered in the existing literature. In particular, the thesis blends various aspects of economic growth with models of investment to explain and define the main factors which affect domestic investment, and how domestic investment drives economic growth in the Libyan economy. It is important to recognise that economic growth has become an important aim for all countries in the world; especially less developed countries, which require greater economic efforts to be able to deal with the current international economic climate and the challenges of globalisation: domestic investment is an exemplary element to stimulate economic growth to achieve this target. The main objective of the Libyan government has been the industrialization of Libya, principally through import substitution. Various import restrictions in the form of licensing, quotas and tariffs have provided several sub-sectors of manufacturing with a high level of protection from foreign competition. The government benefits from high levels of financial return in terms of oil revenues, and the consequent easy availability of imported raw materials and capital goods. Despite government support for investment designed to encourage import substitution and export-oriented production, Libya has continued to experience low levels of investment in the domestic manufacturing sector. The stimulus to undertake this study was a desire to explore the most important determinants of fixed investment in Libya's manufacturing sector. This study aims to identify determinants of domestic investment in both the public and private manufacturing sectors in the Libyan economy during the period 1962-2008. Furthermore, this study aimed to identify the impact of domestic investment as a determinant of growth in the Libyan economy during the period 1962-2008. Cobb- Douglas Function was used to analyze the relationship between real per-capita GDP and its most important determinants. Properties of time series of the model variables have been analyzed by using several tests for determining the integration level of each time series separately. By using the Johansen-Juselius cointegration method, the results showed that private investment is strongly and adversely affected in the longer term by changes that take place in domestic public investment in the manufacturing sector, which shows the competition factor between the private and public sectors. The results of these tests revealed an equilibrium relationship between domestic investment in the private manufacturing sector and its determinants in the long and short-run. Also, the results showed the significance of the impact of annual appropriations for the manufacturing sector and imports of machinery & capital goods on domestic investment in the public manufacturing sector, the results of these tests revealed an equilibrium relationship between domestic investment in the public manufacturing sector and its determinants in the long and short-run. Moreover, the results showed the significance of the impact of investment on per-capita GDP; the results of tests revealed an equilibrium relationship between per-capita GDP and its determinants in the long and short-run. The study concludes that the elasticity of per capita GDP to changes in domestic investment is greater than the elasticity of the labour force, which appeared inelastic in the short and long-term. According to the information available, the study and approach adopted have never been undertaken before for Libya, and therefore might contribute toward advancing knowledge and enhancing investment policy, and its implementation by government and private manufacturing enterprises in Libya and other developing countries.

This study aims to investigate the relation between foreign direct investment (FDI) and per capita gross domestic product (GDP) in Pakistan. The study is based on a basic Cobb-Douglas production function. Population over age 15 to 64 is used as a proxy for labor in the investigation. The other variables used are gross capital formation, technological gap and a dummy variable measuring among other things political stability. We find positive correlation between GDP per capita in Pakistan and two variables, FDI and population over age 15 to 64. The GDP gap (gap between GDP of USA and GDP of Pakistan) is negatively correlated with GDP per capita as expected. Political instability, economic crisis, wars and polarization in the society have no significant impact on GDP per capita in the long run.

During the past two decades the manufacturing industry has consistently tried to transition from a position as traditional goods supplier to a provider of solutions by means of the integration of goods and services. This integration phenomenon is called servitization. Transition triggers are forces such as economic pressure, gaining competitive advantage and increasing customer demands. In spite of the evident gains identified in the literature, the major part of the industry either advanced hesitantly, or stalled after the first steps. Only a few “hidden champions” succeeded. The status of servitization as an academic field has reached maturity. During the past years, published servitization research papers grew exponentially compared with the early years of this century. The extant literature offers an extraordinarily broad range of researched themes such as servitization avenues, benefits and barriers, bundling, product design, contract models and sales process. What is missing, however, is a conceptualization that focuses on the practical implementation aspects of servitization to guide practitioners to apply servitization sustainably. The findings of my servitization research contribute to knowledge in several ways. They provide a novel understanding about the crucial first step in a traditional product manufacturer’s customer re-orientation. The unique principle of functional arrays facilitates the understanding of the terms “the customer” and “solution”. It permits the identification and collection of specific customer solution requirements by unusual functional disaggregation of entire companies. The creation of customer service demand categories enables a correlation with customers’ functional arrays that consequently leads into the formation of particular service competencies and specific service delivery platforms. For the first time, manufacturers, through these platforms, may proactively address individually and specifically customers’ service demands across the entire customer`s company structure. A final contribution constitutes the conceptualization based on the progression principle of service delivery platforms. The study tackled a business problem through a constructivist research philosophy, employing an inductive approach and adopting a case study strategy. In-depth interviews in real life settings revealed how a traditional product manufacturer should re-orientate its capabilities and progress on a servitization transition.

The research presents a comparative study of Libya and Egypt. Both are developing economies in North Africa, and both have adopted FDI and TT as ways to enhance economic development and economic structure in the countries. The purpose of this study is to investigate the key success factors impacting foreign direct investment (FDI) and technology transfer (TT) from the perspective of governments of the host countries . The investigation applies a questionnaire survey method for primary data collection from firm managers in the two countries. Data were collected from representatives of firms with FDI and TT in Libya and Egypt. The matched samples comprise 149 firms in both Libya and Egypt, so that key economic sectors could be covered in the two countries. This research also uses data collected from secondary sources such as government reports, documents and government websites. The results were strongly impacted by host government policy in the process of FDI and TT. A number of factors were identified as being important in the process of FDI and TT, these factors are divided into two groups: manageable factors such as policy, level of education, skill of labour and so on and unmanageable factors such as availability of natural resources, location and the climate of the host country .The created framework has broad significance and can be applied for the evaluation of the role of FDI and TT in the evolution of the economic structure of a country.

Esta tese analisa os fatores determinantes do investimento e seus efeitos sobre o crescimento econômico das nações, em geral, e do Brasil, em particular. O foco da discussão na acumulação de capital decorre do fato de que 2/3 do crescimento econômico brasileiro foi devido a esse processo. Para avaliar a questão, a tese combina três abordagens complementares: a visão teórica, a avaliação histórica e a análise econométrica. O trabalho está dividido em duas partes: a primeira trata dos determinantes teóricos do investimento e faz a análise econométrica com dados internacionais. A segunda traz a análise do crédito e do investimento no Brasil, reunindo as abordagens histórica e econométrica. A visão teórica fundamenta a análise e define as variáveis-chave que afetam o investimento: juros, crédito de longo prazo, retorno do capital e preço dos ativos. Parte-se da visão de que as mudanças institucionais afetam o investimento porque buscam preservar o retorno dos investidores e dos bancos. A análise econométrica avalia o comportamento dos investimentos em três níveis: macroeconômico internacional, macroeconômico brasileiro e setorial brasileiro. A análise internacional considera um painel com dados de 39 economias entre 1995 e 2011. São utilizadas as técnicas de cointegração em painel conforme as metodologias de Kao (1999) e Pedroni (1999, 2004). A avaliação econométrica do agregado da economia brasileira é feita com dados anuais entre 1953 e 2013 e utiliza as técnicas de cointegração de Johansen (1995) e de Gregory e Hansen (1996), para avaliar a possibilidade de quebras estruturais. A análise desagregada é feita com base em dados de 31 setores de atividade econômica entre 1995 e 2009 e nas técnicas de cointegração em painel. Os resultados das avaliações econométricas de painel (internacional e setorial) mostram relações estáveis e positivas entre investimento, crédito e retorno do capital, e relações negativas entre investimento, taxa de juros de longo prazo e taxa real de câmbio, corroborando os princípios teóricos. Os resultados para o agregado da economia brasileira (séries de tempo) confirmam haver relações estáveis e positivas entre investimento, crédito e retorno do capital, mesmo na presença de quebra estrutural. A abordagem histórica analisa a constituição dos mecanismos de financiamento ao investimento no Brasil e suas principais alterações ao longo da história. São avaliados os papéis do crédito hipotecário, do mercado acionário, da implantação do Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico (BNDE) e do Banco Nacional da Habitação (BNH) e das reformas institucionais dos anos 1960. Também são descritas as principais mudanças institucionais ocorridas nas décadas de 1990, 2000 e 2010. A interpretação histórica do contexto institucional brasileiro e os resultados das análises econométricas sugerem que as mudanças institucionais ocorridas ao longo da história econômica do país foram fundamentais para a retomada do crédito de longo prazo na economia. Elas também contribuíram para amenizar a queda do retorno do capital. / This doctoral dissertation analyzes the determining investment factors and their effects on economic growth of the nations in general and on Brazil in particular. This discussion focuses especially on capital accumulation because this process has accounted for two thirds of Brazilian economic growth. To investigate this question, this study combines three complementary approaches: a theoretical vision, a historical assessment, and an econometric analysis. The dissertation is divided into two parts. The first discusses the theoretical determining factors of investment and presents an econometric analysis using international data. The second analyzes credit and investment in Brazil, combining historical and econometric approaches. The theoretical overview provides a basis for the analysis and defines the key variables that influence investment: interest rates, longterm credit, return of capital, and the price of assets. This investigation is based on the premise that institutional changes affect investment because they attempt to preserve the return of both investors and banks. The econometric analysis evaluates the behavior of investment on three levels: international macroeconomic, Brazilian macroeconomic, and Brazilian industries. The international analysis considers a panel of 39 economies containing data from 1995 to 2011. This study employed panel cointegration techniques based on the methods described by Kao (1999) and Pedroni (1999, 2004). The econometric evaluation of the aggregate of the Brazilian economy uses annual data from 1953 to 2013 and cointegration techniques described by Johansen (1995) and by Gregory and Hansen (1996), to assess the possibility of structural changes. The disaggregated analysis uses data from 31 economic industries, from 1995 to 2009, and panel cointegration techniques. The results of the panel econometric evaluations (international and sector) show stable and positive relations between investment, credit and return of capital, and negative relations between investment, long-term interest rate, and real exchange rate, confirming the theoretical principles. The results for the aggregate of the Brazilian economy (time series) confirm positive and stable relations between investment, credit, and return of capital, even when there is a structural change. The historical overview investigates the creation of investment financing mechanisms in Brazil and how they have changed over time. This dissertation analyzes mortgage securities, equity market, the establishment of the National Economic Development Bank (BNDE) and the National Housing Bank (BNH), and the institutional reforms of the 1960s. It also describes the main institutional changes of the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s. The historical interpretation of the Brazilian institutional setting and the findings of the econometric analyses suggest that the institutional changes that have taken place over Brazil\'s economic history were essential in making long-term credit again available in the economy. They have also helped to minimize the decreasing trends in the returns of capital.

Purpose/objectives: The study considered international Joint Venture projects (‘IJV’) and international acquisitions (for recognition purposes, the term of international Mergers & Acquisitions ‘IM&A’ is used even though mergers are not specifically part of the study) with a focus on automotive suppliers in the passenger car market and regionally on US partners. The objective was to analyse how suppliers in the automotive industry can close their strategic deficiencies through these IJV and IM&A transactions. The regional focus on US partners was chosen, as the USA is a major market for automotive suppliers (volumes/size and innovation-focus). The idea was to identify, categorise, and subsequently analyse decision-making parameters of the engagement in IJV and IM&A. Design/methodology/approach: The research had two main areas: a general literature review and an empirical part with a case study approach. As the research drew on a constructivist perspective, the empirical part of the research was conducted with a qualitative approach. At the centre were three case studies of a major German supplier analysed in depth: one IM&A, one IJV and one ‘hybrid’ transaction. These studies examined good practices, highlights, and challenges through semi-structured interviews. Senior experts in the Business Units and collaboration teams involved in these strategic projects were interviewed. Documentation reviews and the researcher’s own observations flanked these interviews. Findings: Bringing together ideas from the existing literature, and enriching them with insights from projects in the real automotive world, the current study contains valuable considerations about these complex strategic transactions. In order to enhance the deliberate use of these collaborations, the research reflected on the possible alignments of the various parameters and strategic factors. Contributions: The study represents a contribution to the practice and to the academic world, since it is a study to bridge the relevant theory/practice literature with real casestudy- based insights of German-USA inter-firm collaborations in the automotive industry. On that basis, an ‘advisory framework’ was developed to enhance decisionmaking in that area of corporate strategy. It focuses on important factors to consider when engaging in cross-border IJV and IM&A in a specific industry. Research limitations/implications: The research results would need to be further explored in practice, which could be the subject of future research. Limitations from the current study stem from the chosen research design and sample size.

Social assistance programmes (SAPs), understood as non-contributory transfers aimed at ad-dressing poverty, have spread in developing countries since the late 1990s. National govern-ments in Latin America have sought to extend the coverage of SAPs through human devel-opment conditional cash transfer programmes (CCTs). CCTs share several implementation features. First, they employ targeting and selection methods based on means, and proxy means, tests. Research on targeting and selection methods has evolved hand in hand with the adoption of CCTs in Latin America, Africa and South East Asia. Second, CCTs involve the provision of cash transfers directly to households, but with conditions attached to human development objectives. Transfers are given to households in poverty contingent on investment in the human capital formation of their children. A third feature relates to the presence of programme exit conditions. To date, scarce research is available on the design and outcomes associated with exit condi-tions from CCTs. This thesis thus contributes to the literature in the implementation of SAPs by providing a critical examination of exit conditions in SAPs with specific emphasis on CCTs. The thesis provides a systematic theoretical and empirical analysis of the role of exit conditions in the implementation of CCTs. The thesis develops and tests two basic principles underlying the role of exit conditions. First, the exhausted-effectiveness principle suggests that the effectiveness of a CCT varies over time. The research reported in this examines the effectiveness of programme over time with the aim of identifying potential thresholds after which a given SAP's effectiveness de-clines. A two-period child human capital investment model is developed to study analytically the conditions in which programme effectiveness varies over time. This is examined empirically in order to demonstrate the existence of the time-varying effectiveness associated with the implementation of the Colombia's CCT, Familias en Accion. A continuous treatment effect model is estimated following Hirano and Imbens (2004), in which the length of exposure allows for the graphical analysis of dose-response functions. The results indicate that the design of SAPs must take account of time-varying effectiveness. Second, a principle of the non-recurrence of poverty states that beneficiaries should be able to exit an effective programme when two conditions apply: (i) they are not in poverty; and (ii) they face a low probability of becoming poor in the near future. This principle acknowledges the implications of poverty dynamics for the implementation of SAPs with a particular focus on exit conditions. This thesis characterises the poverty dynamics of beneficiary households through the estimation of a Markovian poverty transition model using data from the Familias en Accion programme. The findings from the empirical work suggest that programme participation should not end when households are non-poor, but attention must be paid to probabilities of recurrence, in order to secure non-recurrence in the near future. Taken together, the exhausted-effectiveness principle interacts with the non-recurrence of poverty principle in the sense that the first sets a maximum length of exposure to the intervention, while the second determines minimum levels of exposure.

This thesis explores the potential of novel mechanisms towards the reduction of issuers' ex ante uncertainty in the process of going public: i) the recruitment of directors with exceptional academic backgrounds and ii) obtaining credit ratings. Given the information scarcity in the private domain, IPO firms can use these strategies to provide investors with solid, readily identifiable benchmarks to assess their standing. Notwithstanding whether these informational cues are associated with positive or negative prospects, they cause a significant portion of uncertainty in valuation to subside. Ultimately, this should act to constrain the phenomenon of IPO underpricing causing firms to claim a larger portion of the surplus value created on the issue day. First, we examine whether CEO educational and professional attainments are associated with short-run IPOs performance. We find that returns are negatively associated with Ivy-League education, the existence of at least one University degree and the total number of qualifications. After controlling for endogeneity and self-selection bias, the results show that at the graduate level of education the Master of Arts, the MBA, the Juris and Medical Doctor titles exhibit negative relation with the money left on the table. The same is true for any professional qualification. It is also reported that only in the case of the PhD title the Nobel Elite group of Universities outperforms the rest of the sample. Second, we examine the effect of multiple credit ratings on IPO performance. The evidence comes from the U.S. and shows that the acquisition of credit ratings constitutes a valid investment decision for the issuing firm as it leaves less money on the table. Both individual as well as any combination of ratings from the three largest agencies associates with lower underpricing. This effect exacerbates with higher grade levels which are also found to decrease initial returns. Additionally, rated IPOs systematically experience negative filing price revisions. The results offer new insight to the facilitation of the going public process. Finally, we contribute to the large literature associating IPOs with earnings management. In this respect, we explore a special niche, i.e. politically connected firms. A priori, these issuers can be expected to refrain from discretionary accruals manipulation to avoid causing discontent to their contacts. Alternatively, the case may be that the powerful acquaintances fuel managers with overconfidence which permeates the financial statements. Assembling a hand-collected database on firms' political donations, we come up with strong support for the latter conjecture. In particular lobbying activity and candidate campaign financing are both shown to be among the important determinants of aggressiveness in reporting. Our findings tie in with a growing body of literature showing businesses actively involved in politics to be prone to abuses and professional misconduct.

Syndicated loans are a common debt financing format for large corporations in general. For those situated in Germany—with its bank-based financial system—such loans play a vital role. Given the multibillion volumes raised annually, the pricing of syndicated loans is economically significant, with its levels, structure, and determination having attracted the interest of researchers around the world. A critical review of the existing worldwide literature of syndicated loan pricing revealed notable gaps, including an almost complete absence of studies on the German corporate market. The overall research aim was to address this gap by exploring and analysing the “hidden drivers” of banks’ pricing of syndicated loans to German corporate borrowers, thereby developing an enriched understanding of the elements and determinants of pricing and its underlying processes and decisions. Adopting a pragmatist research paradigm, I chose a sequential mixed-methods approach, with a limited quantitative analysis preceding an extensive qualitative study. The first stage of the research was designed to evaluate the availability of reliable quantitative pricing data in the public domain—this being the main data source for the clear majority of extant studies. I found the availability and quality of pricing data for the German corporate market to be extremely limited, particularly in comparison to that available relating to the U.S. market. There was clearly much that remained unexplained; hence, primary research was required to illuminate syndicated loan pricing and the decision processes that contribute to it. The main element of the qualitative study was a series of semi-structured, in-depth interviews with a sample of bank lending professionals and key informants. The purpose of these interviews was to explore the complex realities of syndicated lending through the eyes and experiences of the people involved and to interpret the socially constructed phenomena surrounding the pricing of German corporate syndicated loans. The study succeeded in revealing and substantiating important and to date hidden phenomena concerning numerous dimensions of syndicated lending in general and pricing in particular. An explanation was developed for the relative opacity of the German corporate syndicated loan market. The study enabled significant enhancements to the understanding of the concept of pricing and its complex and interwoven elements. More broadly, a new and richer perspective was developed of syndicated lending as a behavioural phenomenon, involving a complex interplay of relationships and strategies, and involving individuals and departments within banks, between banks as members of the syndicate, and between lenders and borrowers. The insights gained informed the development of a comprehensive model of the pricing elements of syndicated lending and their determinants. This research is the first to conduct and produce an in-depth study of the internal workings of syndicated corporate lending in the German market and a study that does not rely on secondary data that are at best incomplete. It has resulted in many rich and original insights and a conceptualisation of syndicated lending that differs radically from the classical understanding of lender-borrower relationships as founded on theories of asymmetric information. The research presented here, therefore, makes significant contributions to the literature, in helping to close notable gaps in the banking and financial intermediation literature.

The aim of this research study is to examine the impact of Saudi Arabian culture on corporate governance (CG) and its regulatory compliance with respect to the protection of minority shareholders’ interests. The protection of minority shareholders is a primary concern in the area of CG and particularly as defined by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) principles. In Saudi Arabia, CG is a newly introduced regime. Its set of CG principles was initially issued after the first market crash in 2006, which signified the need for appropriate CG standards in Saudi Arabia because minority shareholders suffered catastrophic losses. Moreover, CG legislation in Saudi Arabia is still slowly moving from voluntary to obligatory because family-owned firms, which is the dominant form of incorporation, are stifling corporate growth by their reluctance to open their equity to outside shareholders, as argued by the OECD report of Koldertsova (2011). Hence, the conceptual framework for understanding how Saudi Culture affects minorities is based upon Hofstede’s (1980-2010) Cultural Value Dimension (CVD) model linking societal constructs with the legal and political milieu. Thus, this research sets out to examine this link in relevance to Saudi Culture. In addition, this undertaking will extend, via the second research question, to uncover other factors, such as the legal and political, influencing the level of compliance of listed Saudi corporations with the OECD principles with respect to the protection of minority shareholder rights. The findings of this study provides significant correlations between each of Hofstede’s CVDs: Individualism, Power Distance, Uncertainty Avoidance, Femininity, and Long Term Orientation and the quality of the exercise of minority shareholders’ rights as defined by the OECD’s principles of CG in Saudi Arabia. Moreover, the distribution of each CV dimension was found not to be the same when comparing groups of Majority and Minority shareholders. Hence, the significant correlations expose two different subcultures: an active culture pertaining to Majority shareholders and a passive culture pertaining to Minority shareholders in Saudi Arabia. Moreover, the current legal environment guiding the CG procedures in Saudi Arabia was found to attach a low level of significance to minority shareholders in terms of: ease of litigation, establishment of specialised courts, appointment of competent qualified judges in CG commercial cases, and creation of awareness programmes for minority shareholders’ rights. In addition, the lack of a solid constitution was found to weaken popular pressure to safeguard shareholders' rights and promote a block-holding model of corporate control. Hence, due to governmental institutions falling short on their responsibilities, Saudi controlling families can practically be considered as an institution, as indicated by Institutional Theory, and this familial institution is likely to continue to manifest itself in the governance of emerging economic systems such as Saudi Arabia's as its survival is dependent on the institutional context.