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This study reviews three of Tobin’s major contributions to economics, namely; Tobin’s q , liquidity preference as a behavior towards risk, and Tobin’s global transaction tax on foreign exchange transactions to identify any potential unifying features. The original suggestion of this thesis, given Tobin’s last contribution, is the role of savings that links all three contributions. The extension of this study aims to review these contributions so as to come up with po ssible links between them and apply the theory of q to a sample of forty five South African firms to a ssess firm diversification and performance measurement when it comes to monopoly profits, as well as the stability of any exchange rate when it comes to the Tobin tax issue, given South Africa’s links to the Pound, Dollar and Euro. Our findings out of the empirical analysis performed hints at investors how to go abo ut in maximizing profit in the South African market based on the diversification s trategies they can adopt. Indeed non-diversified firms have a higher risk involved a nd performed better than diversified ones from 2007 to 2009. Our results bas ed on book values are also of great relevancy to entrepreneurs in assessing the degree of diversification optional to them. The deviation of q from unity is another interesting point to note wh en it comes to ordinary profits for monopoly firms like Eskom. Tobin’s q and risk are indeed connected through discounting and the relationship between risk and a transaction tax imposed on international financial transactions is taxation itself. In order for economic growth to arise into an economy, investment is cruc ial and this is achieved if volatility in financial markets is reduced, and hence the impo rtance of reviewing the Tobin tax. The focus here is to link savings, the Tobin tax an d the issue of international financial market liberalization to determine the impact on gl obal developments and trace these through to the South African situation. We also rev iew Tobin’s q and its important link to the IS/LM framework which differs from the normal textbook a nd Keynesian view. In other words we explore in detail, Tobin’s (1969) general equilibrium approach to monetary policy and look at how financi al policies and events can influence aggregate demand, through an effect on th e valuation of physical assets relative to their replacement cost. As the review h opes to find a common theme, in the three contributions, we present a discussion of eac h original article in some detail. Chapter Two and Three includes Tobin’s q and portfolio decisions respectively. Chapter Four covers the tax on foreign exchange tra nsactions in greater detail, and vii attempts to view this as a solution to the passing current world economic crisis. A final chapter provides a summary of our results and modest macroeconomic proposals for South Africa. / Thesis (M.Comm.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2009.

Mémoire (M.E.S.R.)--Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, 1996. / Document électronique également accessible en format PDF. CaQCU

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Technology: Business Administration, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2017. / This thesis was aimed at developing a model of growth through diversification, for shipping agencies in South Africa, under recessionary conditions. The study adopted a mixed methods approach, in seeking to develop a methodology to meet the aims of the research project; to develop a framework of diversification strategies for the shipping industry. The mixing of quantitative data and qualitative data not only enriched the findings but assisted with validation thereof, while achieving the research aims through the methodology adopted. The theoretical foundation of the study was on the theories of diversification, the theory of human behaviour and other economic principle theories, all of which were sampled among South African corporate executives in the shipping supply chain. Surveys were carried out using two structured research instruments in the form of questionnaires to collect quantitative data, with qualitative data collected through interviews, focus groups and observation. The data were analysed using triangulation to combine the results of the investigation. Statistical analysis was employed for the quantitative research and results illustrated in tables, combined with thematic analysis through qualitative research, to draw conclusions and recommendations on the study. The findings confirmed that there are opportunities for diversification into husbandry services, freight transportation, charterers’ services and other markets along the supply chain. Reasons for diversification among shipping firms include similar resource utilisation to service many functions, diversification to gain market leadership and poor performance in existing markets. The theory is not conclusive about whether related or unrelated diversification affects firm performance. The development of operation Phakisa, to focus on unlocking the economic potential of South Africa’s oceans, has not been addressed and needs more research into its feasibility and likely impact on the South African container shipping industry. There is need for management to mobilise resources, such that they can serve many functions and activities, and to build competences through human resources management. The study is relevant for the shipping supply chain executive, as it contributes to managerial decision-making, in terms of analysing their capability to create and apply knowledge in their competitive strategies. / D

The continued production of undifferentiated products in the B.C. forest industry has fascinated and divided provincial historians. The causes of this orientation of production are varied and complex. The provincial government and British Columbia's forest companies have each played a role in determining the orientation of production. The undifferentiated end products of these firms were the consequence of conscious government and business decisions made in British Columbia in the post-war period (1945 - 1979). B.C. forest resources were (and remain) owned and administrated by the government. Private access to these assets was (and is) determined by provincial statute. The government was instrumental in orienting the undifferentiated production undertaken by MacMillan Bloedel and B.C.F.P. in two fashions: by systematically subtracting value from the resource in order to attract capital to the industry; and, by adopting a variety of other policy initiatives that promoted the establishment of large-scale enterprises. Professor Michael E. Porter, in his book, The Competitive Advantage of Nations, argues that a firm's end products are the result of its competitive advantages and disadvantages. The two firms examined in this essay possessed two competitive advantages that promoted undifferentiated production: a high degree of productive integration from supply through to marketing: and large-scale production. Competitive disadvantages can allow a firm's products to become less advanced over time, or can preclude the advance to more differentiated production. Four competitive disadvantages prevented the development of differentiated products by Macmillan Bloedel and B.C.F.P. First, a super abundance of timber perpetuated undifferentiated production. With the continued supply of excellent quality timber protected by the government, competitive supply pressures were eliminated, and the resource was not evaluated or utilized to its maximum potential. Second, the integration of downstream supply networks by M.B. and B.C.F.P. impoverished lower levels of the industry. While this provided cost advantages to the producers, it limited the number of suppliers. Third, managerial incompetence at MacMillan Bloedel , and a narrowness of focus at B.C.F.P., limited the productive opportunities of these two firms. Finally, the collaboration of the two firms in marketing their undifferentiated products also diminished competitive pressures needed to promote differentiated production. Thus, contrary to some previous analytic approaches, the production orientation of these two firms can be explained with an historical analysis of their competitive advantages and disadvantages in the post-war period. / Arts, Faculty of / History, Department of / Graduate

Orientador: Bastiaan Philip Reydon / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Economia / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-26T13:32:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Figueira_GlauceAlmeida_M.pdf: 3034270 bytes, checksum: 07fa6c526a96a236fb2246cbbd0e7baa (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014 / Resumo: O principal objetivo da dissertação é evidenciar as iniciativas privada e pública que o reconhecimento dos temas ligados à sustentabilidade como oportunidades de negócios é fundamental e vantajoso para suas estratégias de gestão. O trabalho tem como hipótese a defesa de que os desafios ligados à sustentabilidade não devem ser mais considerados somente como uma externalidade do sistema produtivo, que vem onerar o negócio, mas como fonte de vantagens competitivas e um novo caminho para inovar, auxiliando no posicionamento estratégico das empresas e fazendo com que essas tenham sucesso em seus mercados. Na dissertação é realizado um estudo de caso junto ao Grupo Siemens AG, que pode ser considerado um exemplo de corporação que está buscando aliar o desenvolvimento de seus negócios às questões ligadas à sustentabilidade. A revisão teórica a respeito da relação entre estratégia empresarial e sustentabilidade indica que a inovação tem função essencial na promoção do desenvolvimento sustentável e que este deve ser entendido de acordo com suas três dimensões principais: a ambiental, a econômica e a social. Além disso, as práticas sustentáveis devem fazer parte, tanto das estratégias corporativas, como das estratégias competitivas das unidades de negócios dos grandes grupos empresariais, e reforçar o posicionamento estratégico já adotado por essas empresas. O estudo de caso verificou que as dimensões ambiental e econômica fazem parte das estratégias corporativas e competitivas do Grupo Siemens, mas este precisa desenvolver ainda a dimensão social para poder realmente se consolidar como uma empresa sustentável. Concluímos afirmando que em toda a sociedade é necessário desenvolver a ideia da necessidade de construção de um novo paradigma sustentável, onde o sistema econômico, a sociedade e o meio-ambiente possam se desenvolver harmoniosamente / Abstract: The main objective of this work is to evidence the private and public initiative that the recognition of sustainability-related subjects as business opportunities is crucial and advantageous to their management strategies. The work is the defense of hypothesis that the challenges related to sustainability should not be considered only as an externality of the production system, which charges the business, but as a source of competitive advantage and a new way to innovate, assisting in strategic positioning businesses and promoting these success in their markets. In the dissertation a case study is conducted at the Siemens AG Group, which can be considered an example of a corporation that is seeking to combine its business development to the sustainability issues. A literature review on the relationship between corporate strategy and sustainability indicates that innovation has key role in promoting sustainable development and that it should be understood according to its three main dimensions: environmental, economic and social. Furthermore, sustainable practices should be part of both corporate strategies and business units competitive strategies, also reinforcing the strategic positioning already adopted by these companies. The case study found that the environmental and economic dimensions are part of the Siemens Group corporate and competitive strategies, but the company still needs to develop the social dimension in order to really consolidate itself as a sustainable company. We conclude by saying that in all society is necessary to develop the idea of the necessity to build a new sustainable paradigm, where the economic system, society and the environment should develop harmoniously / Mestrado / Desenvolvimento Economico, Espaço e Meio Ambiente / Mestra em Desenvolvimento Econômico

Sun Qi. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [83-85]). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Chapter SECTION ONE --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Chapter SECTION TWO --- LITERATURE REVIEW --- p.6 / BENEFIT OF DIVERSIFICATION --- p.6 / COST OF DIVERSIFICATION --- p.9 / EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE --- p.12 / Chapter SECTION THREE --- CLINIC STUDY OF THE BANKRUPTCY OF GITIC --- p.15 / Chapter I. --- BACKGROUND OF GITIC --- p.16 / Chapter II. --- FACTORS BEHIND THE FAILURE --- p.19 / Chapter III. --- NEGATIVE INFLUENCE --- p.34 / Chapter IV. --- OVERVIEW OF THE RED CHIPS --- p.40 / Chapter SECTION FOUR --- GENERAL ANALYSIS ONE: CORPORATE COST OF CAPITAL AND THE RETURN ON CORPORATE INVESTMENT --- p.52 / Chapter I. --- SAMPLE DESCRIPTION --- p.54 / Chapter II. --- RESEARCH METHODOLOGY DESCRIPTION --- p.55 / Chapter III. --- INVESTIGATION OVER THE RESULTS --- p.61 / CAPITAL STRUCTURES --- p.61 / CASHFLOWS AND FINANCING DECISIONS --- p.64 / INTERNAL RATE OF RETURN ON VALUE AND COST --- p.68 / Chapter SECTION FIVE --- GENERAL ANALYSIS TWO: DIVERSIFICATION AND CORPORATE STOCK RETURN --- p.72 / Chapter I. --- MEASURE OF FOCUS --- p.72 / Chapter II. --- REGRESSION DESCRIPTION --- p.73 / Chapter III. --- REGRESSION REPORT --- p.74 / Chapter SECTION SIX --- CONCLUSION --- p.78 / TABLES / Chapter 1. --- NON-FINANCIAL CORPORATE STRUCURES / Chapter 2. --- "AGGREGATE ANNUAL CASH INFLOWS AND OUTFLOWS AS PERCENTS OF AGGEGATE BEGINNING OF YEAR BOOK CAPITAL,1992-1998" / Chapter 3. --- "AGGREGATE INVESTMENT AND FORMS OF FINANCING AS PERCENTS OF AGGREGATE BEGINNING OF YEAR BOOK CAPITAL,1992-1998" / Chapter 4. --- "BASIC DATA OF THE ENTERING FIRMS YEAR BY YEAR,1992-1997" / Chapter 5. --- "RATES OF RETURN ON VALUE AND COST (IN PERCENT) FOR NON-FINANCIAL RED CHIPS,1992-1998" / Chapter 6. --- CORPORATE FOCUS AND STOCK RETURNS / APPENDIX / Chapter 1. --- RED CHIPS BY THE END OF1998 / Chapter 2. --- THE COLLAPS OF GITIC (SUMMARY) / Chapter 3. --- SOME SYDICATED LOANS OF RED CHIPS MATURING IN1999 / Chapter 4. --- GROWTH RATE OF ASSETS (GRA) AND RETURN ON ASSETS (ROA) / Chapter 5. --- RETURN ON ASSETS FOR NON-FINANCIAL RED CHIPS (PERCENT) / Chapter 6. --- RETURN ON COMMON EQUITY FOR NON-FINANCIAL RED CHIPS (PERCENT) / Chapter 7. --- DEBT TO EQUITY RATIOS OF RED CHIPS (PERCENTAGE) / Chapter 8. --- CROSS-SECTIONAL REGRESSION REPORT / Chapter 9. --- CROSS-SECTIONAL REGRESSION OUTPUTS (CONTROLLING THE CORRELATION BETWEEN EXPLANATORY VARIABLES)

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This thesis proposes to enlighten several channels that favor the emergence and the outcome of creative ideas and innovation in general amongst private firms, with a particular focus on European companies. The first chapter introduces the motivations related to this research, defines the research objectives and questions addressed by the dissertation and concludes with the outline and the contributions of the thesis. <p><p>The second chapter analyzes the financing constraints on R&D investments. The central question in this chapter is whether financing constraints can explain a part of the acknowledged R&D gap between Europe and the US. In order to address this question, a dataset is constructed on the basis of a compilation of R&D scoreboards. The findings of this chapter are based on a sensitivity analysis of R&D to cash flow using estimates of dynamic R&D equations. The relationship between the financing constraints on R&D and the age of the companies is analyzed in an additional set of results with parametric as well as non parametric estimations. European firms appear to be affected by financing constraints in the 2000s while this is not the case for the US companies. The age seems to affect negatively the R&D sensitivity for EU and US leading innovators, with higher sensitivities for old and low-tech EU firms than their US counterparts.<p><p>The third chapter is dedicated to the measuring of the knowledge production of R&D expenditures when they are disaggregated into the following components: intramural versus extramural expenditures, research versus development expenditures, product-oriented versus process-oriented, human capital versus investments. The sources of funding and the types of subcontractors are also considered. The main question of this chapter is whether the heterogeneity of R&D affects the technology performance of the companies, as measured by patent applications. A cross-sectional Belgian R&D survey conducted over 2004-2005 is used for the purpose of the analysis. Given the high dependency of the Belgian innovation system towards the foreign MNEs, a matching process was performed between Belgian R&D and patents related to Belgian inventors in order to capture the patents filed outside Belgium but related to inventions created by firms located in Belgium (i.e. subsidiaries of foreign groups). Estimates of the elasticity of the quantity of patents with respect to the components of R&D are provided. <p><p>The main question of the fourth chapter is whether the diversification strategies of the economic activities of the R&D leaders in Europe affect, positively or negatively, the performance of their R&D activities. An original approach is proposed on the basis of the analysis of the subsidiaries of EU MNEs. The sample consists of large R&D firms that represent about 80% of total European R&D. In general, the results indicate a positive impact from globalization on firms’ R&D productivity, especially in the US, while a negative impact for industrial diversification is found. <p><p>The main question of the fifth chapter is whether the R&D activities that are conducted outside Europe still benefit to European growth. If so, how does the regional location of R&D centers matter in the production process of EU MNEs? The analysis is conducted on the basis of a unique sample of 637 European R&D leaders with information that is consolidated with respect to about 8000 worldwide patenting subsidiaries. The assessment of R&D internationalization is proxied by the regional repartition of the inventors of each firm. The empirical findings suggest that R&D located in Europe yields significant economic results, but a reallocation of R&D located in Europe instead of outside Europe seems to be correlated with lower R&D performances in high-tech sectors, but not in lower-tech industries. Conversely, a larger share of R&D located in the US seems to improve the economic performance of R&D activities within high-tech EU MNEs while the effect is negative for lower-tech companies. Nevertheless, the economic performance of R&D centers in Europe and US is jointly positive and significant for both regions.<p><p>The sixth chapter concludes the dissertation by reviewing the main findings of the previous chapters. Policy implications are summarized and the limitations of the thesis are addressed. Finally, extensions of the scope of the analysis and ideas for future research are suggested. / Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished