This dissertation explored the capacity of business group diversification to generate value to their affiliates in an institutional environment characterized by the adoption of structural pro-market reforms. In particular, the three empirical essays explored the impact of business group diversification on the internationalization process of their affiliates. The first essay examined the direct effect of business group diversification on firm performance and its moderating effect on the multinationality-performance relationship. It further explored whether such moderating effect varies depending upon whether the focal affiliate is a manufacturing or service firm. The findings suggested that the benefits of business group diversification on firm performance have a threshold, that those benefits are significant at earlier stages of internationalization and that these benefits are stronger for service firms. The second essay studied the capacity of business group diversification to ameliorate the negative effects of the added complexity faced by its affiliates when they internationalized. The essay explored this capacity in different dimensions of international complexity. The results indicated that business group diversification effectively ameliorated the effects of the added international complexity. This positive effect is stronger in the institutional voids rather than the societal complexity dimension. In the former dimension, diversified business groups can use both their non-market resources and previous experience to ameliorate the effects of complexity on firm performance. The last essay explored whether the benefits of business group diversification on the scope-performance relationship varies depending on the level of development of the network of subsidiaries and the region of operation of the focal firm. The results suggested that the benefits of business group diversification are location bound within the region but that they are not related to the level of development of the targeted countries. The three essays use longitudinal analyses on a sample of Latin American firms to test the hypotheses. While the first essay used multilevel models and fix effects models, the last two essays used exclusively fix effects models to assess the impact of business group diversification. In conclusion, this dissertation aimed to explain the capacity of business group diversification to generate value under conditions of institutional change.

The growth of the industry and population of South Africa urges to seek new sources of electric power, hence the need to look at alternative power sources. Power output from some renewable energy sources is highly volatile. For instance power output from wind turbines or photovoltaic solar panels fluctuates between zero and the maximum rated power out. To optimize the overall power output a model was designed to determine the best trade-off between production from two or more renewable energy sources putting emphasis on wind and solar. Different measures of risk, such as coefficient of variation (CV) and value at risk (VAR), were used to determine the best hybrid renewable energy system (HRES) configuration. Depending on the investors’ expected returns (demand) and risk averseness, they will be able to use the model to choose the best configuration that suites their needs. In general it was found that investing in a diversified HRES is better than investing in individual power sources.

This case study analysis looks at four communities in Rift Valley, Kenya including Matisi, Moi’s Bridge, Sirende and Waitaluk. The research focuses on the role of markets in achieving food and livelihood security for the smallholders in these communities and smallholders’ perceptions of the roles of the Government of Kenya and other institutions in facilitating market access. The largest challenges to market participation, as reported by the smallholders in the studied communities, include low yields, weather inconsistencies, and lack of land. In terms of the Government of Kenya, many smallholders noted the benefits of participating in groups as they are subsequently offered training or field days and subsidies. A significant group of respondents did comment on their lack of interest in joining similar groups as they were seen as unstable or corrupt. The potential roles of formal and informal markets to increase food security were also analyzed. All smallholders wished to be participating in informal markets, but twenty-five percent were constrained by the lack of surplus produce. Similarly, although many reported their desire to be participants in formal markets lack of surplus produce, price fluctuations, inconsistent weather patterns, transportation costs and post- harvest losses or food waster were recognized as significant barriers. In order to mitigate these constraints, most smallholders recommended subsidies on inputs and the overall restructuring of markets. It is recommended that organizations and governments implement a livelihood diversification policy program or initiative to diversify and intensify agricultural activities and other non-agricultural activities. This case study analysis demonstrates the need to recognize the importance of local contexts, specifically Rift Valley as much of the research done in Kenya is found in Nairobi and surrounding areas and cautions labeling communities as food secure based on favorable conditions.

The objective of the Diploma Thesis entitled Gold market analysis and the influence of commodities on portfolio diversification is to provide an insight to commodities as an investment asset class. This goal is tackled by the first and the second chapter. The first chapter provides theoretical support for commodities as a distinct asset, whereas the second chapter is focused on investors opportunities to obtain economic exposure to commodity assets on current financial markets. When introducing the commodity products, main focus is set on the gold market. The second objective of the Diploma Thesis is to analyze the gold market and gold added value for the investors. The structure of both supply and demand for gold is analyzed. Demand and supply are identified as the main gold price drivers. The thesis confirms that the main added value of gold as an asset lies in its addition to a portfolio of capital assets. Gold significantly improves diversification of the portfolio, protects the portfolio from inflation as well as from the economic event risk. On the contrary, in comparison to capital assets gold is not an perspective stand alone investment. The last objective of the thesis is to analyze the diversification potential of commodity indexes within a portfolio context. The last chapter is devoted to this objective. The chapter introduces commodity indexes as an investible product and analyses the influence of a selected commodity index being added to a portfolio of capital assets on the efficient investment frontier. It is shown that not only is the commodity index not a good diversification tool but the investors would be better off by selling it short.

This thesis investigates the effect of income diversification on the performance of Islamic banks in Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar where they operate alongside conventional banks in a dual banking system. Accounting data was drawn from 68 conventional and 42 Islamic banks from 1997 to 2009. The main focus was to see whether a greater reliance on non-financing income impacts on earnings quality and if so, how this may vary between Islamic and conventional banks. Commission and fee income, trading income and other non-financing income constitute non-financing income. For conventional banks, this is known as non-interest income, but in Islamic banking the payment and receipt of interest is prohibited so this ‘other income’ is referred to as non-financing income (that is, income unrelated to deposit-taking and loan granting). Islamic banks operate as universal banks and offer retail and wholesale financing plus investment banking services. Using various empirical approaches, we find that non-financing income positively influences banks’ risk-adjusted performance on a net overall impact basis, after taking into account, the consequential indirect impact arising from changes in income diversification (provided that the increase in non-financing income is carried out up until the optimal share of non-financing income of 0.5). Greater income diversification on its own, increases income volatility and this negatively impacts bank’s risk-adjusted performance, more so, when income diversification exceeds the optimal score of 0.5. Islamic banks are found to be more focused on deposit/loan financing and less diversified in terms of non-financing income activities compared to conventional banks. We find that Islamic banks appear to be less susceptible to earnings volatility given their lower diversified income source. Islamic banks have lower profitability (on average) on a risk-adjusted basis when compared to their conventional counterparts.

Corporate diversification continues to be an important phenomenon in the modern business world. More than thirty years of research on diversification suggests that the degree of relatedness among a firm's business units is a factor that can affect firm performance, but the true effect of diversification relatedness on firm performance is still inconclusive. The purpose of this dissertation is to shed more light on this inconclusive association. However, attention is focused on the performance implications of individual diversification actions (e.g., acquisitions and joint ventures) rather than on the overall performance of firms with different levels of diversification. A non-experimental, longitudinal analysis of secondary data was conducted on over 450 unique acquisitions and on more than 210 joint ventures. Results suggest that even when individual diversification actions rather than entire business portfolios are examined, an inverted curvilinear association between diversification relatedness and performance is likely to emerge. This pattern is observed in both acquisitions and joint ventures. However, the association between diversification relatedness and performance in acquisitions is moderated by the level of industry adversity, though factors such as corporate coherence and heterogeneous experience do not moderate the association between diversification relatedness and performance. This study augments the body of knowledge on diversification and adds refinement to the traditional curvilinear finding regarding relatedness. By studying acquisitions and joint ventures independently, the results reveal differences in both slope and inflection points that suggest the relative impact of relatedness may vary depending on the mode of diversification.

Corporate strategy forms the foundation when considering the strategic alternatives available to an organisation. Corporate diversification and specialisation are two of the more popular configurations often proposed by corporate strategy theory in order to grow and sustain financial performance. The issue of whether or not diversification leads to financial performance has been debated since the early 1950s. Ample research has been conducted from an international perspective. However, the findings have been inconclusive/mixed/inconsistent and there remains a lack of consensus regarding the diversification-performance relationship. This study attempts to provide clarity on the matter by using a quantitative method to assess the financial performance of companies listed on the industrial sector of the Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE) for the period 2003 to 2010. Thirty-nine companies met the criteria for inclusion in the sample and were classified as either focused, moderately or highly diversified. Three financial measures were compared for the different categories, namely return on average equity, return on average assets and market return. Two of the three hypotheses are not statistically significant and the differences in the average (mean) performance measures are due to sampling error. One of the performance measures, return on assets, indicates that the difference in the ii average (mean) performance is statistically significant. The pairwise comparisons revealed significant differences between highly and moderately diversified companies as well as between moderately diversified and focused companies. The mean difference between focused and highly diversified companies was not statistically significant. In this regard, moderately diversified companies performed better than highly diversified and focused companies. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Diversification is an important strategic alternative commonly used by organisations in pursuit of different markets and greater returns. Within the resource based view, (Collins&Montgomery, 2005) suggest that an effective diversification strategy can only be conducted if there is a fit between resources and the business opportunity so that resources contribute to competitive advantage.A quantitative research methodology was followed whereby organisations listed within the Industrial sector of the Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE) were categorized as diversified from period 2000 to 2010. The study empirically examined the independent and joint relationship between physical and skill base of relatedness against three financial measures in the form of hypotheses, to determine which base of relatedness influenced better performance.All three bases of relatedness had no significant effect on organizational financial performance. The findings refine our understanding of relatedness as a multidimensional concept and suggest that to have a more comprehensive evaluation of corporate diversification and its value in boosting company performance, a matrix of interrelationships across lines of business, activities, resources, industry effects and many more variables should be considered. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Abstract Early sport specialization is a phenomenon that continues to be practiced in today’s youth sports environment. The purpose of this study was to explore practices around early specialization within the minor hockey context in Eastern Ontario. More specifically, the goal of this thesis was to better understand parental perspectives on specialization versus diversification relative to their child’s experience in the sport of ice hockey. Additionally, this study aimed to uncover the rates of specialization in Minor Peewee AA ice hockey players in Eastern Ontario and the factors that influence those who specialize. A concurrent embedded mixed-methods procedure was employed for this study; a total of 114 survey responses and 15 semi-structured interviews formed the study sample. Findings in the study reveal a large majority of parents foster specialization in their child as 87% (n=114) of survey participants identified as having a child who specializes in the sport of ice hockey. However, interview data revealed that parents favor development through diversification. Individual influences such as parents and coaching staff were found to be contributing factors to the phenomenon of specialization. Further, the availability of resources within the hockey context was additionally found to influence specialization. Finally, Hockey Canada’s current position was cogitated with the results to reveal a strong inclination towards elite development. Results indicate a need for parent and coach education regarding their role in early specialization and their support for diversification of sport experiences. It is of particular importance during the transitioning years in particular where stakeholders (parents, coaches, administration) foster the sense of well-rounded development of a participating child not just for the preparation for the elite stages of sport but for overall wellness of the individual.

Over the past four years, considerable attention has been focused on the problems of high unemployment in the State of Oregon. The percentage of jobless continued to be higher than that of the nation. The depressed housing market, caused by high interest rates, coupled with an increase in the import of Canadian timber managed to reduce the demand for Oregon lumber and wood products drastically. This has resulted in an abnormally high unemployment rate in many of Oregon's counties which are dependent on the wood industry; for example, the 1980 jobless rate in Harney County reached a record high of 29 percent. On the other side of the spectrum, less dependent counties such as Gilliam and Morrow continued to grow during the same period, with unemployment rates of merely 4.9 and 5.8 percent respectively. These rates are approximately half the state average. Community leaders, including the Governor, seem convinced that the only solution is economic diversification. It is an argument that makes a great deal of sense at first glance. The notion here is that if you diversify you will become less vulnerable to outside forces and hence will have a more stable economy. But what is diversification? How can we tell that one region is more diversified than another? Furthermore, having a diversified economy, does this ensure a lower rate of unemployment? The thrust of this dissertation deals with providing answers to these questions. Three schools of thought--ogive-norm, portfolio variance and entropy--were examined in an effort to determine a more proper measure of economic diversification. Various statistical procedures of hypothesis testing were employed together with stepwise regression and analysis of variance. The research findings indicate that there is a definite relationship between economic diversification and regional unemployment. However, only 28 percent of the change in the rate of unemployment is explainable by changes in the levels of diversification. (The necessary data were provided by the State of Oregon - Employment Division).