München, Techn. University, Diss., 2000.

Hannover, Universiẗat, Diss., 1999.

M.Comm. / The previous narrow view that directors are accountable to shareholders only and that reporting of company affairs should be left to them alone is changing. With the world moving into an ever-developing era of transparency, a dynamic participating approach is required in which directors' reports would be directed at all stakeholders and should consequently address all matters of concern and interest. In respect to similar expectations overseas, the Treadway Commission in the United States of America and the Cadbury Committee in the United Kingdom, addressed the financial issues of corporate governance and made certain recommendations for change. After the publication of these recommendations, the Institute of Directors verified similar expectations in South Africa and the King Committee was formed. The King Report on Corporate Governance published in 1994 (the King Report) has advocated fundamental changes to current corporate governance practices in South Africa. The objective of the Report is to improve the system by which companies in South Africa are directed and controlled and to improve openness and accountability. The King Report recommendations were drafted to supply the necessary guidelines in the providing of relevant and comprehensive information to all stakeholders concerned. The query which arises from a review of the Report's recommendations is whether the stakeholders, whose only access to relevant information is in most instances the published interim and annual financial statements, will be able to determine if the King recommendations were in actual fact implemented. In view of the fact that one of the main objectives of the King recommendations was to ensure that relevant, timeous and understandable information is available to users, it is imperative to be able to determine if the recommendations were in actual fact implemented. The question which this research report addresses is whether it would be possible to determine from an examination of the published financial statements of a listed company if the King recommendations were implemented in practice. To obtain an answer to this question, a questionnaire was drafted which addresses the specific recommendations. The questionnaire was then applied to the published annual financial statements of three selected companies, namely Edgars, Alpha Limited and the Seardel Group. The finding of the research is that the companies indicated, as required by the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, that they do comply with the King recommendations, even though certain instances were found where the Code of Corporate Practices and Conduct were not complied with. Numerous references were also made to the companies' commitment to the implementation of the recommendations. There is, however, no indication, or verification, of the extent to which the recommendations were implemented in practice. The conclusion from the research is that the King recommendations can only be truly successful once the actual implementation of the recommendations, the problems experienced in implementation and the contribution to the enhancement of better corporate governance, are verified by an independent party and these findings published in an accessible document.

D.Litt. et Phil. / Recent studies have found that the life expectancy of organisations is rapidly declining (currently between 40 and 50 years) and that organisational decline and bankruptcy were increasing at disturbing rates. Equally recent contributions in the popular and business press have suggested that the expensive path to corporate failure could be linked to the "identity" or "corporate identity" of the organisation (more specifically the absence thereof). With the exception of the public relations and advertising perspectives, scant attention has been given to the notion of identity within an organisational context. Moreover, very little scholarly research has been conducted on the subject with much of the available literature written at a fairly superficial level by consultants or executives of advertising agencies. This is largely due to the abstract nature of the concept, the ambiguity surrounding its meaning, and the practice of using the organisation identity concept interchangeably with concepts such as corporate image and corporate identity. The current study set about to investigate and determine the theoretical and practical relevance of the organisation identity concept and argued that conceptual clarity was a prerequisite for exploring its relevance at an empirical level. The literature review commenced with clarification of the meaning and nature of organisation, acknowledging that organisational features (e.g. organisation identity) need to be understood from within the context of the organisation. Organisation theory, psychological perspectives (theory) on organisation, organisational change, organisational performance and new / emerging forms of organisation were subsequently reviewed and a fundamental perspective established as context for considering the concept of organisation identity. The empirical findings of the study were consistent with many of the theoretical assumptions regarding the nature of identity (essentially the organisation's distinctive character, as conveyed by its unique / distinctive, central or core and enduring features). Results furthermore suggest that processes of identity acquisition and the concept of identity crisis may be rewarding avenues for continued research. Conclusions, though constrained by the non-probability (convenience) nature of the research sample, nonetheless confirmed the linkage (and sensitivity) of organisation identity to the more generic life cycle of organisations and organisational change processes. The strong and pervasive relationship of organisation identity with organisational performance indexes has profound implications for the conceptualisation of organisations, their management and survival, and generally the role of leadership. It introduces a hitherto unknown concept into the performance management domain, which, on reflection, suggests that many established managerial routines, and practices may need to be reconsidered. For this research population, it is suggesting that management may comfortably redirect managerial focus, energy, and other resources towards identity establishment, maintenance and/or management with solid prospects for enhancing organisational performance. The latter is applicable regardless of whether performance in this context refers to short or medium term financial or other indicators. It was concluded that if the research findings could be extrapolated to a broader community of organisations, and were acted upon in a concerted manner by management, that the life expectancy of organisations could be significantly extended. This will ensure positive benefits not only to the workforce and those affected by organisations, but also society at large.

D.Comm. / A sponsorship is seen as the marketing communication activity whereby an IOrganization contractually makes a financial or material investment to an individual, activity or broadcast in order to achieve pre-determined objectives for the organization amongst the members of the organization's target market. Sponsorship of events, sport and broadcasts has increased in prominence in the past ten years, largely due to the increasing amounts of money which are being invested in this aspect of marketing communication. The growth in sponsorship investment reflects growth of between 25%-30% per annum, which is larger than that found in other marketing disciplines., Approximately the same amount of money is spent on radio advertising in this country annually as invested in sponsorships, indicating the relative importance and widespread use of sponsorship by organizations in South Africa. Various sponsorship objectives have been identified in the literature such as corporate objectives, product obje~tives, sales objectives as well as the objectives of media exposure, publicity and communication: A sponsorship is a form of investment, it needs to be evaluated like any other financial investment. The sponsorship investment must be evaluated in terms of its required performance. The sponsorship is required to yield a commercial benefit for the sponsoring organization, and evaluating the benefit is important to its continued use by the organization. Methods which can be used to evaluate a sponsorship can be divided into four broad categories, namely advertising-based methods, sales-based methods, sponsorship-specific methods and other methods. Which of the above methods ought to be used to evaluate a sponsorship depends on the objectives which the organization sets for the specific sponsorship. Regular sponsorship evaluation is necessary to ensure that the sponsorship attains the specific objectives.

In the past fourteen years, mergers and takeovers have represented a major dimension of corporate identity changes in South African institutions of higher learning. This treatise firstly describes and then explores if students identify themselves with the NMMU corporate identity. Thereafter, it firstly explores and then describes the corporate identity awareness level of NMMU students. Design: An exploratory-descriptive research design was used. The researcher used two types of data. One was secondary data and the other one was primary data. The former were collected by means of an extensive review of the related literature. The latter were obtained by means of surveys. In addition this treatise has referred to The Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University Brand Strategy (2007) document that was prepared by the brand manager, Karen Coetzee. Findings: The level of brand awareness among students is considered to be low. There is a need to improve the corporate identity awareness level of these strategic stakeholders for the future success of the university. Limitations: This treatise has concentrated on the parent brand (NMMU). Furthermore, the sampling has been limited to students studying at NMMU (Port Elizabeth campuses). Significance: It is important to explore the corporate brand awareness level of the students. It is also essential to discover if students identify themselves with the new NMMU brand.

No description available.

A company acquires a legal personality upon incorporation and registration, before which it does not have the required capacity to enter into a valid contract. However, the promoter of a company may have to enter into an agreement on behalf of, or for the benefit of the company to be formed, either for the incorporation or for the future business of the company. Such a pre-incorporation contract often becomes a source of trouble and causes dispute over the validity or the legal consequences of the contract. Laws in common law jurisdictions and civil law jurisdictions make various provisions for pre-incorporation contracts. Ratification by the company, once formed, of the pre-incorporation contract made by the promoter, is possible in some jurisdictions but not in the others. Third parties that enter into the pre-incorporation contract also face different scenarios in different jurisdictions. This mini dissertation analyses the South African law that governs the pre-incorporation contracts, and compares it with the laws of a few common law and civil law jurisdictions, particularly that of China. The purpose of the study is to examine the effect and legal consequence of the pre-incorporation contract in South Africa and China, and to evaluate whether the law of South Africa provides sufficient certainty and protection to the parties involved in the pre-incorporation contract compared with that of China. / Mini Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2020. / Mercantile Law / LLM / Unrestricted

In the first essay, we extend the research of Grinstein and Michaely (2005) on the relation between institutional ownership and payout policy by focusing on the institutions most likely to vote their shares. We account for heterogeneity among institutional investors as well as for firms. This paper accounts for heterogeneity among institutional investors based on their portfolio concentration and investment horizon and firms are differentiated based on their importance for institutional investors (based on percentage of total portfolio invested in the firm), free cash flow and debt-to-equity ratio. We examine the institutional holding data from 1980 to 2006. Like Grinstein and Michaely (2005) we don’t find evidence that institutional investors influence dividend payouts even after controlling for heterogeneity among institutional investors and firms. Our results indicate that institutional investors increase their holding prior to increase in repurchases in firms where they are long-term institutional investors. We also find similar relation between firm importance and repurchases. Our results do not support the notion that institutional investors are attracted to high dividend paying firms or firms with higher repurchases. In the second essay, we investigate relation between institutional holding and firm value. We examine whether institutional investor influence firm performance or they just follow momentum strategies. This paper takes into account the heterogeneity among institutional investors in that firm, firm importance for an institutional investor and institutional focus on a particular firm. We analyze annual data from 1980 to 2006. We don't find statistically significant evidence that institutional investors monitor and influence firm decisions to increasing firm value. In addition, our results suggest that that firms that increase their firm value attract investment from institutional investors. We also find that this relationship is stronger for institutional investors with long-term investment horizon.

Growth is the important lessons for corporation. The key factors of growth are the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship and the energy of next business. Corporate venture capital(CVC) can not only achieve these goals, but also provide many important strategic purposes, which is a innovative bridge connect to external and internal environment. However, how to effectively manipulate CVC in Taiwan is not clear. The purpose of this study is to analyze the situation of CVC in Taiwan nowadays, create the CVC categorization model and the work suggestion of each type. Through the literature discussion, we create CVC categorization model. According to the investment purposes and content, the model conclude six types, ¡§capacity strengthen, ecosystem complement, innovation probe, opportunity create, leverage harvest and venture investing.¡¨ Then, interviewing with experts who familiarity with the real business of CVC to understand the situation and comprehend the key successful factors. Finally, discuss, analyze and generalize the conclusion and suggestion. The success of CVC must match the investment strategic purposes and the operation model. Corporations should choose the right operation model type by different considerations such as organization structure, investment implement, and administration mechanism. Moreover, there are another five points of view deserve to refer. First of all, the open innovation of CVC is not equal to give up internal independent innovation. Second, the spirit of CVC can¡¦t be diverged. Third, CVC should step by step, from the ecosystem, innovation to encourage the intra-entrepreneur CVC type. Fourth, Corporations should have the courage to invest the potential business besides the current business even if will destroy the profit. Fifth, the managers must have the wider attitude and the further vision.