Thesis (D. Ed .)--Victoria University (Melbourne, Vic.), 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.

abstract: In this thesis I examine the opportunities and challenges faced by the community banks in China. Rooted in the local communities, community banks generally focus on serving the local residents, farmers, and micro and small business enterprises (MSBE) through relationship building. Although community banks tend to be small relative to the other financial institutions, their unique market positions and business strategies have helped them to survive the competition and secure some market shares. Thus, it is important to understand the business strategies of community banks and to explore their future business opportunities and challenges. I first provide a brief overview about the importance of local communities, community economy, and community banking, on the basis of an analysis about mismatch in the demand and supply of community financial services due to information asymmetry. Next, I review and analyze how commercial banks have utilized different types of information in their operations. I classify the information used by commercial banks into different categories and discuss their importance to the operations of commercial banks. After that, I conduct a case analysis to illustrate the role of non-financial information in the development of community banks’ business strategy. I conclude this thesis with a discussion of how community banks can better utilize data analysis to develop their core competencies in the era of “Big Data”. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Business Administration 2015

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Management, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Management (Human Resources). / The research exposes a developing African Management model, within a case study framework, and deals with its management approach, structures and processes. Through the qualitative research methodology employed sufficient evidence was found to suggest that African Management is (I) eclectic in nature, embracing Lessem's (1990a, 1990b, 1993a, 1993b) constructs of 'Western' empiricism, 'Northern' rationalism, 'Eastern' idealism and 'Southern' humanism in a dynamic whole: (2) that the natural lnclination of organisations and/or sections thereof operating within an environment of collective consciousness is toward a 'Southern' humanistic orientation as opposed to a 'Western' primal, 'Nortnern' rational, or 'Eastern' developmental bias; (3) that such 'Southerness' is pre-eminently concerned with themes of voluntary subordination of self-interest to communal Objectives, rights and obligations, relationships built on trust, community ownership, inclusive and transparent arrangements, democratic decision making processes, celebration, humanistic values, primacy of language and African humility; further to which (4) the pathological down side of over developed 'Southern' humanism - at the expense of 'Western' emplrlcism, 'Northern' rationalism and Eastern' idealism - is heightened expectation, prolonged consultation, favouritism, patronage, and nepotism. / Andrew Chakane 2018

Submitted by FRANÇOISE WILHELM FONTENELE E VASCONCELOS PACHECO null (bragafontenele@yahoo.com.br) on 2016-05-10T12:36:04Z No. of bitstreams: 1 TESE FINAL - FRANÇOISE FONTENELE - 2016.pdf: 9576585 bytes, checksum: f8be0de87259129b0cfb98f3dd319f19 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Felipe Augusto Arakaki (arakaki@reitoria.unesp.br) on 2016-05-13T11:47:19Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 pacheco_fwfv_dr_rcla.pdf: 9576585 bytes, checksum: f8be0de87259129b0cfb98f3dd319f19 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-05-13T11:47:19Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 pacheco_fwfv_dr_rcla.pdf: 9576585 bytes, checksum: f8be0de87259129b0cfb98f3dd319f19 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-02-19 / Os Bancos Comunitários de Desenvolvimento são uma alternativa para a exclusão financeira, além de funcionarem como agentes impulsionadores do crescimento de pequenos territórios, quando devidamente configurados e entendidos dentro da perspectiva da Economia Solidária. No Brasil, a exclusão financeira ainda esta presente na forma de “sub bancarização”, principalmente nos pequenos municípios. Entre os prejuízos dessa, a falta de acesso ao crédito e aos demais serviços financeiros, provoca muitas vezes uma migração da renda dos municípios desprovidos desses serviços para outros, que os possuam. Isso provoca a diminuição da circulação de dinheiro nos municípios “sub bancarizados” e compromete o comércio local. O município de São João do Arraial-PI tem em 2007 a implantação do Banco Comunitário dos Cocais, uma ação mediada pela ação política local e apoiada pela maioria da população. A atuação do Banco no município proporcionou ganhos relativos ao alcance de serviços financeiros e acesso ao crédito solidário de “consumo”, por meio da moeda social “Cocal”, possibilitando maior circulação do dinheiro no município. Assim, este trabalho objetiva identificar as representações sociais construídas pela população e representantes de empreendimentos locais de São João do Arraial-PI, acerca da atuação do Banco dos Cocais no município, bem como a inserção deste por meio da moeda social “Cocal”. Para tal, fez-se pesquisa analítica-descritiva, utilizando-se de formulários, com os quais entrevistou-se 99 representantes de empreendimentos locais e 326 sujeitos constituintes da população. Para o estudo das representações sociais utilizou-se da análise de conteúdo (BARDIN, 2011) e da estatística com o auxílio do programa Statistical Package for the Social Sciences - SPSS. A construção territorial do município foi realizada por meio de pesquisa em documentos e entrevistas com moradores antigos. O trabalho mostrou que o Banco dos Cocais tem sua representação social fortemente ancorada na imagem de um correspondente bancário, muitas vezes sendo solicitado a agir como tal. A figura do Banco está mais representada na expectativa de benefícios individuais, em detrimento dos coletivos, o que prejudica a construção do território solidário. Este, por sua vez, ocupa uma dimensão espacial efetiva, em termos numéricos, mas ainda insuficiente em termos qualitativos, no sentido da compreensão do ideal de um Banco Comunitário. / The development of community banks are an alternative to financial exclusion fleeing the bank traditional model of the National Financial System (SFN), boosters and agents growth of small territories, when properly configured and understood from the perspective of Solidarity Economy. In Brazil, financial exclusion is still present in the form of "sub banking", especially in small municipalities. Among the losses that the lack of access to credit and other financial services, often causes a migration of the income of municipalities deprived of financial institutions for others that have, causing poor circulation of money in the city and committing local businesses . The municipality of São João do Arraial-PI has in 2007 the implementation of the Community Bank of Cocais, an action mediated by the local political action and supported by the majority of the population. The activities of the Bank in the city provided gains for the achievement of financial services and access to mutual credit, offered in form of "consumption" through social currency "Cocal", allowing greater circulation of money in the city. This work identified the social representations built by the population and representatives of local enterprises of São João do Arraial-PI, about the role of the Bank of Cocais in the municipality as well as the insertion of this through social currency "Cocal". The research is analytical and descriptive, and used forms, with whom was interviewed 99 representatives of local enterprises and 326 subjects constituents of the population. For the study of social representations we used content analysis (Bardin, 2011) and statistics with the help of Statistical Package for Social Sciences - SPSS. The territorial construction of the city was carried out through research on documents and interviews with former residents. The work showed that the Bank of Cocais has its strongly anchored social representation in the image of a correspondent bank, often being asked to act like it. The figure of the Bank is more represented in anticipation of individual benefits, the collectives. The social currency is accepted by all municipal trader, and only 7 people in the population do not use it. Thus having a penetration of 100% in the municipality, but keeping restrictions on its use, by some.

The following dissertation contains two distinct empirical essays which contribute to the overall field of Financial Economics. Chapter 1, entitled “The Determinants of Dynamic Dependence: An Analysis of Commodity Futures and Equity Markets,” examines the determinants of the dynamic equity-commodity return correlations between five commodity futures sub-sectors (energy, foods and fibers, grains and oilseeds, livestock, and precious metals) and a value-weighted equity market index (S&P 500). The study utilizes the traditional DCC model, as well as three time-varying copulas: (i) the normal copula, (ii) the student’s t copula, and (iii) the rotated-gumbel copula as dependence measures. Subsequently, the determinants of these various dependence measures are explored by analyzing several macroeconomic, financial, and speculation variables over different sample periods. Results indicate that the dynamic equity-commodity correlations for the energy, grains and oilseeds, precious metals, and to a lesser extent the foods and fibers, sub-sectors have become increasingly explainable by broad macroeconomic and financial market indicators, particularly after May 2003. Furthermore, these variables exhibit heterogeneous effects in terms of both magnitude and sign on each sub-sectors’ equity-commodity correlation structure. Interestingly, the effects of increased financial market speculation are found to be extremely varied among the five sub-sectors. These results have important implications for portfolio selection, price formation, and risk management. Chapter 2, entitled, “US Community Bank Failure: An Empirical Investigation,” examines the declining, but still pivotal role, of the US community banking industry. The study utilizes survival analysis to determine which accounting and macroeconomic variables help to predict community bank failure. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Federal Reserve Bank data are utilized to compare 452 community banks which failed between 2000 and 2013, relative to a sample of surviving community banks. Empirical results indicate that smaller banks are less likely to fail than their larger community bank counterparts. Additionally, several unique bank-specific indicators of failure emerge which relate to asset quality and liquidity, as well as earnings ratios. Moreover, results show that the use of the macroeconomic indicator of liquidity, the TED spread, provides a substantial improvement in modeling predictive community bank failure.

Defining leadership effectiveness (LE) remains a controversial subject with scholars and researchers disagreeing on a common definition. Most studies term leadership effectiveness as the leaders’ ability to successfully exercise personal influence and abilities in order to accomplish set standards. Such leadership effectiveness was measured using three elements, namely influence, follow commitment and versatility. To be effective, leaders must possess certain competencies and perform specific tasks (independent variables). In this study, three leadership competencies, namely strategic thinking, emotional effectiveness and transformational leadership were examined. Similarly, seven leadership tasks (set organisational direction, develop human capital, build core competencies, create organisational alignment, sustain appropriate organisational culture, manage change and establish balanced organisational control) were identified as essential for the attainment of leadership effectiveness (intervening variable) which, in turn, leads to organisational effectiveness (dependent variable). Given the importance of leadership effectiveness to organisational effectiveness, the purpose of this study was to identify, investigate and empirically test the possible relationship between leadership effectiveness and organisational effectiveness within the Kenyan indigenous banks. To achieve the aim of the study, a survey was undertaken using a structured self-administered questionnaire. The respondents were identified using both probability and non-probability techniques with the survey yielding 257 usable questionnaires that were statistically analysed. The proposed hypothetical relationship between leadership effectiveness and organisational effectiveness was assessed using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM), a multivariate statistical technique. The SEM included Cronbach’s alpha and confirmatory factor analyses to assess the dicriminant reliability and validity of the measuring instrument, and Goodness-of-fit indices. The study findings demonstrated the existence of a strong relationship between leadership competencies, tasks performed and leadership effectiveness which in turn impacts on organisational effectiveness, in this case the overall effectiveness of the Kenyan indigenous banks.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-14T12:20:15Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 4121173 bytes, checksum: c5e277cca7fe43f9d318dec50b11d02c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-09-29 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / This work makes an analysis of the process of the social preparation of the Jardim Botânico Community Bank and of its social currency called the orquídea (orchid) in the community of São Rafael, a poor neighborhood in João Pessoa, Brazil, and of how the mechanisms of social community administration of this initiative of support and fomentation of local development are built. The community development banks belong to the field of solidarity finance as collective forms of organization of mutual aid which aim at guaranteeing access to credit and stimulating development in impoverished communities through the organization of the local economy generating new socio-economic interaction and building a new reality. We shall approach the institutional arrangement created by the community, the social management, the activities carried out, and the instruments utilized for promoting development in the community. It is a question of a qualitative, descriptive and exploratory case study through which we try to make a contribution to the understanding of the community development banks in the country. / O presente trabalho analisa o processo de construção social em curso da experiência do Banco Comunitário Jardim Botânico e da Moeda Social Orquídea, na Comunidade São Rafael em João Pessoa/PB, e como são constituídos os mecanismos de gestão social comunitária desta iniciativa de apoio e fomento ao desenvolvimento local. Os bancos comunitários de desenvolvimento estão compreendidos no campo das finanças solidárias, enquanto formas de organização coletivas de apoio mútuo que visam garantir o acesso ao crédito e estimular o desenvolvimento em comunidades empobrecidas através da organização da economia local, gerando novas interações socioeconômicas e a construção de uma nova realidade. Abordaremos o arranjo institucional construído pela comunidade, a gestão social, as ações realizadas, os instrumentos utilizados para a promoção do desenvolvimento na comunidade. Trata-se de um estudo de caso, com característica qualitativa, descritiva e exploratória, através do qual procuramos contribuir para a compreensão das experiências de bancos comunitários de desenvolvimento no país.

This study is based on interviews with local business owners in the Brazilian municipality of Maricá, Rio deJaneiro, conducted in November 2021. The municipality receives royalties from the rich oil reserves that werefound in the bottom of the pre-salt area of the Atlantic Ocean, and has implemented a basic income programcalled Renda Básica de Cidadania (RBC). The RBC benefit is paid through a social digital currency via the localcommunity bank, which is a model developed by the Conjunto Palmeiras in Fortaleza that has spread throughoutBrazil as the ‘Palmas model’. The Palmas model does not include a basic income but uses community banks todevelop a ‘solidarity economy’ with a local social currency, whose circulation is restricted to within thecommunity. This thesis discusses how the RBC interacts with the Palmas model and considers potentialproblems and solutions arising in the case of Maricá in relation to local economic development, political trustand political participation. The study uses previous research about basic income, social currencies, solidarityeconomies, political trust and political participation to look at how public institutions and civil society interactwith the local market in Maricá. The study also investigates how this relationship is affected by the basic incomeprogram and by the move toward a solidarity economy with a local social currency.The study finds that the business owners who were interviewed participated in the implementation of the RBCthrough their usage of the social currency Mumbuca. They have accepted the social currency and the use ofMumbuca is well consolidated and normalized as a currency among the local business owners interviewed.They do not participate in any more active way in the community bank, but the study shows that through theiruse of the currency they are important actors for the consolidation of a solidarity economy in the municipality ofMaricá. The study shows that the respondents did not see the RBC as a basic income, but as a cash-transfer tothe poor. The majority of respondents believed that the implementation of the RBC and the social currency hadcontributed to the local economic development of the municipality, but that the main factor in the localeconomic development was the wealth of the municipality. The study shows that the respondents' level of trusttoward public institutions was considerably high.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-08T16:55:41Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 marcelo.pdf: 4039476 bytes, checksum: f6db8001c0d9acca64d16bfca11c0b73 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-03-16 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The present dissertation intended to conduct a a socio-spatial study on Bairro Conjunto Palmeiras, located in city of Fortaleza outskirts, where happens one of the country most famous experiences of Solidarity Economy: the first and largest Brazilian Community Bank, Banco Palmas. The aim of this study was to characterize the social processes that gave rise to such Solidarity Economy experience and identify its social and spatial policies.In this sense, I used the following theoretical categories: territory, civil society, solidarity economy, reciprocity, GIS, identity and the discourse of crime. The methodology was thus qualitative and quantitative involving ethnographic aspects, non-directive interviews and free mapping software. I concluded that social struggles waged in the first decades after the occupation of the neighborhood had a solitary nature - were in favor of worker‟s awareness and class confrontation; were guided in a non-market logic (reciprocity and community work), driven mainly by the Catholic Church. Currently, however, the solidarity of the neighborhood is very focused on Solidarity Economy linked to Banco Palmas - which, from the 2000‟s, became involved with various private apparatus of hegemony and went to seek no more class confrontation, but cooperation between them, through the inclusion of the poor into the capitalist system in a sort of "conflict management". With that, in addition to reify poverty, new solidarity perpetuates (through the collective intellectual who became the Banco Palmas) an alleged "official version" of the opinion, stories and wishes of the neighborhood residents - which, in turn, fragments and fetishizes the very social struggle of the neighborhood. Without seeking other ways of fighting without it being by raising bids,such solidarity could end up depoliticizing past social movements - as it has been happening with the Conjunto Palmeiras Residents Association , with Banco Palmas and some former neighborhood militants. / A presente dissertação teve como pretensão realizar um estudo socioespacial do Bairro Conjunto Palmeiras, localizado na periferia da cidade de Fortaleza-CE, onde acontece uma das experiências de Economia Solidária mais famosas do país: o primeiro e maior Banco Comunitário do Brasil, o Banco Palmas. O objetivo foi caracterizar os processos sociais que deram origem a tal experiência de Economia Solidária, bem como identificar as consequências sociais, espaciais e políticas desta. Neste sentido, utilizei as seguintes categorias teóricas: território, sociedade civil, economia solidária, reciprocidade, SIG, identidade e fala do crime. A metodologia, assim, foi quali-quantitativa, envolvendo aspectos etnográficos e entrevistas não-diretivas, além de mapeamentos em software livre. Conclui que as lutas sociais travadas nas primeiras décadas após a ocupação do bairro tinham um cunho solidário ¿ eram em prol da conscientização e do enfrentamento de classe pelos trabalhadores e pautadas em uma lógica não mercantil (reciprocidade e trabalhos comunitários), levados principalmente pela Igreja Católica; atualmente, no entanto, a solidariedade do bairro está muito centrada na Economia Solidária ligada ao Banco Palmas ¿ que, a partir dos anos 2000, envolveu-se com diversos aparelhos privados da hegemonia, e passou a buscar não mais o enfrentamento de classe, mas a cooperação entre elas, através da inclusão dos pobres no sistema capitalista (em uma espécie de ¿administração de conflitos¿). Com isso, além de reificar a pobreza, a nova solidariedade perpetua uma suposta ¿versão oficial¿ sobre a opinião, histórias e vontades dos moradores do bairro ¿ que, por sua vez, fragmenta e fetichiza a própria luta social do bairro. Sem buscar outras maneiras de fazer a luta sem que seja através da captação de editais de financiamento, tal solidariedade pode acabar despolitizando os movimentos sociais solidários de outrora

Faced with the exclusion promoted by the conventional financial system (public and private banks) due to the criteria of selectivity, guarantees required and margins of financial return pursued by these institutions, a large part of the Brazilian population does not have access to banking services. They are people living in extreme poverty, especially those living in communities far from the urban centers of Brazilian cities. For this part of the population, alternatives have recently appeared that try to democratize access to financial resources, which are treated as a common good, that is, of collective use, especially for small-scale economic units, using innovations by a multiplicity of institutional arrangements and new governance mechanisms such as innovations in the field of solidarity finance, in particular the Community Development Banks (DCBs). From this context, the present study sought to understand the nature of innovation and the challenges raised in the management of solidarity finance services, carried out through Community Banks as a modality of a common good. To achieve this objective, a single case study was carried out at the Cocais Community Bank, located in the municipality of São João do Arraial, in the state of Piauí. This study has a qualitative character, with a descriptive and exploratory approach. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, documentary research and non-participant observation, and were analyzed through narrative. The Cocais bank was built by its own users, in order to solve the problem of lack of access to financial services in the municipality, especially for the part of the population excluded from the conventional banking system, having as mechanisms of access the social utility of these services, in particular solidarity credit, respecting the socio-cultural characteristics of the territory belonging to its users, defining it as a social innovation. Challenges related to: (a) the process of constructing the initiative, conflicts related to political issues in the territory, challenges regarding acceptance of the social currency, limiting the credit fund, and the demobilization of the population in relation to the management of the bank. These challenges express the complexity of resource management in common use. / Diante da exclusão promovida pelo sistema financeiro convencional (bancos públicos e privados) devido aos critérios de seletividade, garantias exigidas e margens de retorno financeiro perseguido por essas instituições, grande parcela da população brasileira não dispõe de acesso aos serviços bancários. São pessoas que vivem em situação de extrema pobreza, principalmente as que moram em comunidades distantes dos centros urbanos das cidades brasileiras. Para essa parcela da população, recentemente, tem surgido alternativas que tentam democratizar o acesso aos recursos financeiros, que passam a ser tratados como bem comum, ou seja, de uso coletivo, especialmente para unidades econômicas de pequena monta, utilizando-se de inovações constituídas por uma multiplicidade de arranjos institucionais e novos mecanismos de governança, como as inovações no campo das finanças solidárias, em especial, os Bancos Comunitários de Desenvolvimento (BCDs). A partir desse contexto, o presente estudo buscou compreender a natureza da inovação e os desafios suscitados na gestão dos serviços de finanças solidárias, realizados por meio de Bancos Comunitários como modalidade de um bem comum. Para atingimento deste objetivo, foi realizado um estudo de caso único no Banco Comunitário dos Cocais, localizado no município de São João do Arraial, no estado do Piauí. Este estudo tem caráter qualitativo, com abordagem descritiva e exploratória. Os dados foram coletados por meio de entrevistas semiestruturadas, pesquisa documental e observação não-participante e, na sequência, foram analisados por meio de narrativa. O banco dos Cocais foi construído por seus próprios usuários, com a finalidade de resolver o problema da falta de acesso a serviços financeiros no município, em especial, para a parte da população excluída do sistema bancário convencional, tendo como mecanismos de acesso a utilidade social destes serviços, em especial, o crédito solidário, respeitando as características socioculturais do território de pertencimento de seus usuários, definindo-o como uma inovação social. Foram identificados desafios relacionados: (a) ao processo de construção da iniciativa, a conflitos relacionados a questões políticas do território, desafios em relação à aceitação da moeda social, a limitação do fundo de crédito, e a desmobilização da população em relação à gestão do banco. Tais desafios expressam a complexidade presente na gestão de recursos de uso comum. / São Cristóvão, SE