Thesis (M.Com. (Development Theory and Policy))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, School of Economic and Business Sciences, 2017 / The past decade has seen increasing attention given to the process termed ‘financialisation’ within the socio-political and economic literature. Despite the existence of robust macroeconomic literature, there is still a deficiency of firm-level studies on how financialisation takes root, particularly in developing countries. This paper contributes here by examining two agricultural firms within South Africa. South Africa is of particular heuristic value as it has a very advanced financial industry comparatively, and its agricultural industry has undergone very dramatic changes since the adoption of free-market policies in 1994. The study finds that the experience of financialisation remains variegated in South African agriculture. It does not support the view that financialisation is simply the ‘return of the rentier class’, instead illustrating how the changing role of the financial industry has had varied, though not insignificant effects on individual firms. It also confirms microeconomic linkages between liberalization and financialisation (previously identified on a macroeconomic level) as well confirming the importance of banks and ownership structures in facilitating financialisation. / GR2018

Thesis (M.M. (Strategic Marketing))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Wits Business School, 2016. / This study addresses the nature of the relationship between brand citizenship behaviour and its antecedent instigator, strategic internal brand management as they pertain to the quest for distinctive service competencies by firms in the financial services sector. In today’s fast moving technologically accelerated world of commerce and industry, the quest for differentiation and innovation has simultaneously become acute while at the same time significantly more challenging to attain and sustain. Such behoves organisations to identify competency areas that can be leveraged for segment level distinctiveness. For one, the value of a strong brand is well recognised in business and much has been written about the diversity of elements that accentuate the construct of a brand. Being exploratory in nature, the study was guided by a qualitative design. In-depth interviews were conducted with a sample of executives representing the functions of marketing, human resources and operations from a selection of leading South African financial services firms as part of an exploratory investigation. These senior level practitioners were identified in literature as the anchors upon which meaningful strategic initiative emanates. The aspirant attainment of employees who become true citizens of the brand in their behaviour towards customers and other stakeholders was noted to be an outcome of leadership deliberateness in ensuring sustained immersion of employees in an organisation’s culture and values. A model that offers a foundation for the identification of key intra-organisational constructs and processes was proposed as a key outcome of the study. In addition, the study raises awareness of how to frame the scope of aspects that need to be included into an integrated approach to internal brand management to yield employee brand citizenship behaviour and ultimately assist in enhancing an organisation’s differentiation efforts. Keywords: internal brand management, brand citizenship behaviour, brand identity, brand communication, brand leadership, internal marketing, retail financial services. / DH2016

香港一直被視為一個優秀的國際金融中心。金融業不僅為香港經濟發展的成功作出重大貢獻，同時也產生過多的廢物和污染物，耗盡天然資源。較富裕的金融業專才既是該行業的支柱，他們的行為對社會構成了重大影響。因此，他們的回收行為，減少駕駛和購買綠色產品對改變社會環保現狀有重要作用。 / 過往研究發現，個人價值，對環境的信念，社會規範，心理因素和位置因素對環保行為有一定影響。本研究採用定量和定性的方法重新審視它們的關係。首先向涉及積極財富創造的金融業專才發出二百六十份問卷結構性問卷，然後進行了十次深入訪談，旨在找出他們對回收，駕駛和購買綠色產品的想法和行業的潛規則。研究結果發現，香港的金融專才有良好的環保知識和信念。他們的環保行為會受到某些行業特殊因素所影響，包括較高的馬基維利主義，社會規範個人價值觀，信念和規範和不同類型的行為成本。深入訪談進一步發現，工作效率和長工時也妨礙他們的環保行為。本研究認為促進金融業內環保行為的成功在於以人為本的方法和企業政策的實行。 / Hong Kong has been considered as an excellent international financial center. Finance sector not only greatly contributes to the success of economic development of Hong Kong, but it also depletes the natural resources by producing excessive waste, creating pollutants by driving during the course. The active role of recycling, reduced driving and buying green products of affiuent individual financial profession is essential to change the status-quo and to save the environment as they are the pillars of the sector and their behavior poses a significant influence on the society. / Previous studies indicated that value, belief, norm, psychological factors, job nature and positional factors may contribute to the environmental behavior. This study employs both quantitative and qualitative methods to examine their relations. 260 structured questionnaires were distributed to financial professions involved in active wealth creation, followed by 10 in-depth interviews aimed at finding out the hidden thought of financial professions towards recycling, driving and buying green products.Results indicate that financial professions in Hong Kong have a good environmental knowledge and positive environmental belief. Certain sector specific factors, including high Machiavellianism level, subjective norm, personal values, belief and norm, and different types of cost have a substantial effect on the environmental action.In-depth interviews further demonstrate that efficiency-oriented job nature and long working hour hinder their environmental action. It is suggested that the success of promoting pro-environmental behavior in financial sector lies in humanity approaches and corporate policy. / Lui, Sau Kwan. / Thesis M.Phil. Chinese University of Hong Kong 2014. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 177-185). / Abstracts also in Chinese. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on 11, October, 2016). / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only.

In this study an empirical investigation is conducted of the factors affecting moral choice, a necessary antecedent to moral behaviour (or action). The theoretical framework has drawn upon Rest's (1983, 1986) model of moral behaviour, with particular interest in the components motivation and moral judgment. The theoretical framework also integrates agency theory, with its emphasis on the individual as a psychological egoist, as a perspective from which to test hypotheses about determinants of moral choice and the motivational typologies arising from moral choice. Such hypothesis testing is undertaken in the setting of the banking and financial services industry in the People's Republic of China.The development and empirical testing of a set of motivational typologies is a major focus of this study. Such a set of typologies effectively replaces the singular concept of the agent as a self-serving individual. It enables the identification of other realist moral predispositions that may strongly influence the choices business operatives make. These predispositions range from altruism to thinly disguised self-interest. An individual's predisposition to be altruistic or to display strongly disguised self-interest has long been recognized in the ethics literature, but these notions have received little attention in agency theory testing. In addition, an attempt was made to incorporate human judgment theory, including Simon's (1992) concept of "bounded rationality", as a basis for decision making as part of the proposed model.This research study has been conducted in the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone of the People's Republic of China during the period 1999 to 2001 and has involved a sample of 400 business operatives employed within national state-owned banks, regional commercial banks, insurance companies and securities companies. Use has been made of a modified ++ / experimental design that involves operatives listening to a culturally adapted audiotaped business dilemma (involving an agency problem) and making moral responses that are recorded on an accompanying questionnaire. The latter has been designed to collect data used to construct motivational typologies. In addition, various personal and contextual data have been collected as part of the research agenda. Of particular interest has been the collection of personal data that permits the author to investigate the impact of both Chinese cultural values and the moral judgment ability of the respondents.After considering the literature pertinent to this study, a number of hypotheses have been developed and tested using the instruments referred to above. The results of these tests can be summarized into three parts.The first set of tests has involved the effects of various personal and organizational factors in the agency-based experiment. After confirming the veracity of the standard agency model as a predictor of moral choice, it was then found that differences in age, gender, employment status and religious affiliation act to significantly affect moral choice, whereas differences in business experience, and education level do not affect choice. The investigation has provided clear evidence that female operatives, within the age group of 26-30 years, who occupy clerical positions within the tested institutions, display a significant adversity to risk when making moral choices in situations that involve moral hazard, including the presence of adverse selection criteria.In comparison, the effects of size and type of institution have provided rather mixed results when tested as organizational factors influencing moral choice within an agency framework. A further analysis of the related data, however, points to other variables such as differences in ethical climate type and ++ / cultural orientation being significantly associated with moral choice. There is also some evidence that age acts to influence the extent to which business operatives apply traditional Chinese cultural orientations.The second part of the data analysis has involved the use of appropriate multivariate statistics in order to establish the existence of a mutually exclusive set of motivational typologies (involving concern for self and/or management within an agency context). The pattern of membership across the typologies does not change significantly when agency conditions altered. This outcome provides evidence that, in relation to the field experiment used in this study, respondents have used informational heuristics that are consistent and logically applied.Financial sector operatives, who identify with a particular typology, are found to respond to moral issues in specific ways. For example, altruists hold high moral positions regardless of the agency conditions facing them, while operatives adopting a thinly disguised form of egoism are likely to be less supportive of management. Further, the study demonstrates that operatives, who displayed strongly disguised egoism/enlightened self-interest positions in situations where an agency problem is not excessive, are likely to be replaced by psychological egoists when faced with a significant moral hazard and adverse selection criteria.Again, by applying multivariate statistical analysis, it has been possible to identify those personal and contextual factors that discriminate between the various typologies. Of the personal characteristics, the Chinese cultural value orientations, integration and human heartedness have been identified as relatively strong discriminators of motivational typology group membership regardless of the agency conditions. The role that traditional value orientations play as discriminators of group ++ / membership become even more significant for operatives aged 30 years and older.The discriminating influence of the contextual factors, namely elements of ethical work climate and job satisfaction, has been somewhat less definitive and has tended to depend on the nature of the agency conditions. The ethical work climate perception, instrumentalism is seen to display a significant influence on the way that the job satisfaction variables of pay and conditions, co-workers and work itself discriminate between the motivational typologies. However, these perceptions do not necessarily influence moral choice depending on the typology adopted by the financial operatives.The third part of the analysis has examined the direct influence of various personal and contextual factors on moral choice. A linear multiple regression analysis of data has revealed that certain factors affected moral choice depending on the nature of the agency conditions defined within the experimental design. The value orientation, integration, arises as a major predictor when adverse selection criteria is absent from the field experiment, whereas the contextual variables instrumentalism and employment status emerge when such conditions are present. In this study it appears evident that operatives expressing strong collectivist views are more likely to be supportive of management when agency conditions minimize the degree of personal conflict. Instrumentalism is identified as a widespread condition in the financial sector and influences moral choice when moral hazard, including adverse selection criteria, is present. Employment status, as a workplace demographic is found to be associated with adversity to risk, impelling junior employees to avoid supporting management in situations that might affect their employment or promotion prospects.The widely accepted component of moral behaviour, namely moral ++ / judgment ability, has been thoroughly tested within the terms of the hypotheses developed for this study. The variable did not emerge as a statistically significant factor influencing moral choice and its role as a discriminator of the motivational typologies was limited. However, its application within an oriental setting produced some interesting outcomes, including evidence that all stages of moral development exist amongst the respondents and that levels of principled reasoning (as identified by the standard p-score (Rest, 1983, 1986)) are on average lower than for equivalent tests conducted in western societies.This research study contributes significantly to the body of knowledge about morality of business agents employed in the financial sector and permits investigators to look beyond the simplistic assumptions associated with the classical principal-agency model. The study's originality as contained in the derivation of motivational typologies and the factors discriminating between them, provides a fresh stepping off point for further studies seeking to refine the understanding of moral choice in business organizations. The fact that the study was conducted in a rapidly developing sector of the People's Republic of China provided additional insights into how people in this environment view moral issues and how traditional cultural values impact on their thinking.

Abstract not available

This study is premised on the assumption that because of increased globalisation the trend towards strategic alliances is going to increase in the 21st century. This is evident in the phenomenal growth towards the establishment of alliances the world over despite high failure rates. The study also makes an important assumption that a major cause of alliance failure is managerial in nature and therefore relates to the task performed by alliance managers.Whilst research in the West has attempted to focus on such failings, few researchers have attempted to understand the state of alliances in developing country contexts as well as the reasons for the lack of their successes or otherwise. This study therefore seeks to fill this gap by exploring the managerial issues surrounding alliance management in a developing country, Papua New Guinea. It was found that alliance managers in countries such as Papua New Guinea faced managerial challenges similar to those in their counterparts in developing countries. However, the similary ends there.The research demonstrated that governmental and socio-cultural factors predominate in the national and local environments.It also found that resource deficiencies made alliances highly susceptible to misalignment in strategic intent and structure.Several other findings are discussed in detail. The research resulted in the development of a holistic approach to the study and management of strategic alliances. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

In this study, the Document Analysis Method is used to examine the ¡§Banking Services¡¨ in GATS from WTO documents and ¡§Core Principles for Effective Banking Supervision¡¨ from Basel Committee firstly. Secondly, the reform and open policy on banking in Mainland China during past decades has been reviewed. Emphases are put on the reform policy on account of the process of becoming a membership of WTO. Following part of the study focuses on Shanghai banking development. The history and reform of shanghai banking is the major subject. Besides, whether the blueprint of Shanghai banking and financial center will be achieved or not is also reviewed. In the study we find that Shanghai has a blooming economy, the banking industry in Shanghai also situates a leading position in Mainland China. But there are also many difficulties for Shanghai to overcome if Shanghai heads to achieve the goal of being an International Financial Center (IFC) in the world.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 179-194). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI Company.

This research is empirical and exploratory in nature. It examines the emergence of a market of underserviced consumers within the U.S. banking subsector of the financial services industry. The aim of this research is to introduce generalizable sociological theory that explains the formation of an underserviced consumer market. This new social theory called Underserviced Consumer Market Formation Theory (UCMFT) is then applied to the U.S. banking subsector of the financial services industry in order to address the research question of, Why has an emerging market of underserviced consumers formed within the U.S. banking subsector of the financial services industry? In addition to introducing UCMFT to academia, other contributions to knowledge have materialized as a means of explaining this phenomenon and answering the research question of this study. These additional contributions to knowledge are: introducing the term underserviced consumer within the U.S. banking subsector of the financial services industry and introducing a theoretically based explanatory model specific to this subject matter of this research termed the model of underserviced consumer market formation within the U.S. banking subsector of the financial services industry. Positioning UCMFT for future research and generalizability includes clearly defining the industry being studied, clearly defining the term underserviced consumers in the context of the industry being studied, and empirically identifying and linking the unique psychosocial characteristics to the predominant consumers (buyers) within the industry being studied or encompassed by the research. Potential industries that could be included for future research grounding in UCMFT are healthcare, technology, telecommunications, education, as well as other subsectors within the financial services industry. Overall, the empirical findings support the creation of the theory and its applicability to the U.S. banking subsector of the financial services industry as scoped for this research.