While the market of high-class apartment in Vietnam remains rather „quiet‟, the medium and low-price apartment segments are attracting investors‟ interest and becoming scarce because the demand is growing faster than the supply (VietRees,2009). Moreover, apartments for low-income people draw the attention of more buyers due to reasonable price matching their affordability.Investors in Vietnam have begun to re-consider the market and found out a great demand for accommodation from low-income population. Most of them are from different provinces in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) so they don‟t have proper houses. According to a recent statistics, more than 80% of HCMC citizens in the age range from 18 to 35 have to live with their family; more than 90% of the immigrated young people have to live in rented houses; more than 30% of the total number of families have to live in houses of less than 36m2; thousands of families have to live in houses below minimum standards (Xay Dung, 2009). Most of the rest have to rent houses with very poor living conditions. Especially, the majority of Vietnam populations who are young, dynamic and usually rush to big cities for jobs having high demand to own an apartment even when they are still single. Hence, we can see that the housing market for low-income earners is full of potential and quite attractive.~ ii ~By modeling main risk factors in Monte-Carlo simulation on financial performance of the project in HCMC, the findings demonstrate that the period of loan and apartment selling price (positive risk factors) make financial performance of the project increase faster than other risk factors (including inflation rate) that decrease the profit of the project. Besides policies and flexible financial systems, risk management should be implemented regularly to control these risk factors from the beginning to the end of the project. Therefore, I could support the entrepreneurs to plan economic strategy specifically and effectively such as recommending how to make both state-owned and private projects successful and create profits for investors at an acceptable degree of risks as well as how to bring accommodation to low-income people with reasonable prices.The project will provide accommodations for approximately 2000 people. This number may not be large enough to create a significant social impact. However, if this business model and my research bring to good result, making benefits for its inhabitants and profits for the investors, it can be multiplied in larger scale and scope, hence creating more practical socio-economic benefits. It can be said that this project is the seed, laying premises for bigger project afterwards.For these reasons, I hope that this study is useful not only to investors, researchers, and low-income people in Vietnam but also to those in Sweden.

O objetivo deste estudo é investigar a relação entre a formalização integral e o desempenho econômico-financeiro em micro e pequenas empresas brasileiras (MPEs).A formalização integral foi considerada sob as dimensões: societária, gerencial e fiscal.A formalização societária contempla ações entre os proprietários que poderão levar ao bom andamento da sociedade empresarial e à remuneração adequada do capital investido na empresa. A base conceitual é a profissionalização da sociedade (MOREIRA JÚNIOR, 2006; DRUCKER, 1995; BERNHOEFT e CASTANHEIRA, 1995, entre outros) e a observação de normas civis brasileiras que tratam das relações entre pessoas físicas e jurídicas. Os conceitos planejamento e controle financeiro (FREZATTI, 2003; WELSCH, 1983) e competências gerenciais (LE BOTERF, 2003; DUTRA, 2004; FLEURY e FLEURY, 2001) foram abordados para dar sustentação à formalização gerencial. A formalização fiscal, entendida pela estruturação da empresa, física e financeiramente, para o cumprimento das regras estabelecidas pelos governos e passíveis de fiscalização e autuação (MONTAÑO, 1999; ZANGARI JÚNIOR, 2007). Os conceitos relativos ao desempenho econômico-financeiro foram analisados no sentido de evidenciar a relação deste com a competitividade, ganho de eficiência e eficácia, criação de valor para o negócio, geração de caixa para os investidores e continuidade do negócio (COPELAND, et al., 2002; RAPPAPOR, 2001; EHRHARDT e BRIGHAM, 2012; ELKINGTON, 1999). A amostra deste estudo é não-probabilística e formada por 100 empresas que manifestaram o interesse em participar. Foram utilizados dados primários, coletados por levantamento de campo (survey), utilizando entrevista focalizada e a técnica do balanço perguntado(MARTELANC, 1998). Submeteram-se os dados a técnicas descritivas multivariadas, inclusive modelagem de equações estruturais. As hipóteses foram construídas na suposição de que o desempenho econômico-financeiro se dá pela formalização societária, gerencial e fiscal e que a expectativa de sobrevivência aumenta com melhor desempenho econômico-financeiro. Os resultados comprovaram que a formalização societária, a gerencial e a fiscal têm relação estatística positiva, significante e indireta com o desempenho econômico-financeiro e este explica a expectativa de sobrevivência das empresas estudadas. O achado é relevante visto que traz um novo meio para tratar dos problemas da informalidade e sobrevivência das micro e pequenas empresas brasileiras, porém requer avanços e novos estudos. / This study aims to investigate the relationship between full formalization and economic and financial performance of Brazilian micro and small companies (MSCs). The full formalization was considered under tree the dimensions: corporate, managerial and fiscal. The corporate formalization encompasses actions among the owners that may lead to the good progress of the corporate society and the adequate remuneration of the capital invested in the company. The conceptual basis is the professionalization of society (MOREIRA JÚNIOR, 2006; DRUCKER, 1995; BERNHOEFT and CASTANHEIRA, 1995, among others) and the observation of Brazilian civil norms that deal with relations between individuals and legal entities. The concepts of planning and financial control (Frezatti, 2003; Welsch, 1983) and managerial competencies (LE BOTERF, 2003; DUTRA, 2004; FLEURY and FLEURY, 2001) were approached to support management formalization. The fiscal formalization, understood by the structuring of the company, physically and financially, for the fulfillment of the rules set up by the governments and are subject to inspection and assessment (MONTAÑO, 1999; ZANGARI JÚNIOR, 2007). The concepts related to economic and financial performance were analyzed in order to show the relationship between this and competitiveness, achieve efficiency and effectiveness, create value for the business, generate capital for investors and business continuity (Edwards et al., 2002). Sample of this study is non-probabilistic and consists of 100 companies that showed interest in participating. The primary data employed was collected by field survey, using a focused interview and the requested balance technique (MARTELANC, 1998). Data were submitted to multivariate descriptive techniques, including modeling of structural equations. The hypotheses were constructed under the assumption that economic and financial performance is obtained through corporate, managerial and fiscal formalization, and also that the expectation of business survival increases with a better economic-financial performance. The results showed that corporate, managerial and fiscal formalization have a positive, significant and indirect statistical relationship with economic and financial performance and this explains the expected business survival of the companies studied. The finding is relevant since it brings a new way of dealing with the problems of informality and business survival of micro and small Brazilian companies, but it requires advances and new studies.

Os modelos de análise e decisão de concessão de crédito buscam associar o perfil do tomador de crédito à probabilidade do não pagamento de obrigações contraídas, identificando assim o risco associado ao tomador e auxiliando a firma a decidir pela aprovação ou negação da solicitação de crédito. Atualmente este campo de pesquisa tem ganhado importância no cenário nacional - pela intensificação da atividade de crédito no país com grande participação dos bancos públicos neste processo - e internacional - pelo aumento das preocupações com potenciais danos à economia derivados de eventos de default. Tal quadro fez com que fossem construídos e adaptados diversos modelos e métodos à análise de risco de crédito tanto para consumidores como para empresas. Estes modelos são testados e comparados com base na acurácia de previsão ou de métricas de otimização estatística. Este é um procedimento que pode não se mostrar eficiente do ponto de vista financeiro, ao mesmo tempo em que dificulta a interpretação e tomada de decisão por parte da firma quanto a qual o melhor modelo, gerando uma lacuna pelo desprendimento observado entre a decisão de qual o modelo a ser adotado e o objetivo financeiro da empresa. Tendo em vista que o desempenho financeiro é um dos principais indicadores de qualquer procedimento gerencial, o presente estudo objetivou preencher a esta lacuna analisando o desempenho financeiro de carteiras de crédito formadas por técnicas de aprendizagem estatística utilizadas atualmente na classificação e análise de risco de crédito em pesquisas nacionais e internacionais. A pesquisa selecionou as técnicas: análise discriminante, regressão logística, redes bayesianas Naïve Bayes, kdB-1, kdB-2, SVC e SVM e aplicou tais técnicas junto à base de dados German Credit Data Set. Os resultados foram analisados e comparados inicialmente em termos de acurácia e custos por erro de classificação. Adicionalmente a pesquisa propôs o emprego de quatro métricas financeiras (RFC, PLR, RAROC e IS), encontrando variações quanto aos resultados produzidos por cada técnica. Estes resultados sugerem variações quanto a sequência de eficiência e consequentemente de emprego das técnicas, demonstrando a importância da consideração destas métricas para a análise e decisão de seleção de modelos de classificação ótimos. / Analysis and decision credit concession models search for relating the borrower\'s credit profile to the nonpayment probability of their obligations, identifying risks related to borrower and helping decision firm to approve or deny the credit request. Currently this search field has increased in Brazilian scenario - by credit activity intensification into the country with a large public banks sharing - and in the international scenario - by growing concerns about economy potential damages resulting from default events. This position leads the construction and adaptation of several models and methods by credit risk analysis from both consumers and companies. These models have been tested and compared based on prediction of accuracy or other statistical optimization metrics. This proceed is eventually not effective when analyzed by a financial standpoint, in the same time that affects the understanding and decision of the enterprise about the best model, creating a gap in the decision model choice and the firm financial goals. Given that the financial performance is a foremost indicator of any management procedure, this study aimed to address this gap by the financial performance analysis of loan portfolios formed by statistical learning techniques currently used in the classification and credit risk analysis in national and international researches. The selected techniques (discriminant analysis, logistic regression, Bayesian networks Naïve Bayes , 1 - KDB , KDB - 2 , SVC and SVM) were applied to the German Credit Data Set and their results were initially analyzed and compared in terms of accuracy and misclassification costs. Regardless of these metrics the research has proposed to use four financial metrics (RFC, PLR, RAROC and IS), finding variations in the results of each statistical learning techniques. These results suggest variations in the sequence of efficiency and, ultimately, techniques choice, demonstrating the importance of considering these metrics for analysis and selection of decision models of optimal classification.

Em 2016, cerca de 35 milhões de brasileiros ainda não contava com acesso à água tratada e 100 milhões não possuíam atendimento com rede de esgotamento sanitário. Posto que a melhoria do serviço público seja um imperativo, faz-se necessário o investimento de mais de R$ 20 bilhões de reais anualmente até 2033, valor utópico se considerarmos o cenário de restrição orçamentária dos entes federativos. Nesse contexto, a presença de entidades privadas no setor de saneamento básico vem sendo amplamente discutida como uma solução para esse obstáculo ao desenvolvimento nacional. Entretanto, existem barreiras institucionais para a atuação do setor privado que são justificadas por uma ideologia baseada em argumentos que não exploram a complexidade e a realidade atual do setor. A presente pesquisa propôs averiguar se o fato de a propriedade da companhia de saneamento ser pública ou privada impacta na qualidade da provisão dos serviços, na eficiência operacional e na conjuntura financeira das empresas. Isso de maneira a responder se o aumento da participação privada no setor deve ser barrado ou incentivado dentro de um arranjo institucional adequado. Embora o maniqueísmo que percebe o gestor privado como homo economicus e gestor público como supremamente interessado no bem-estar seja bastante disseminado, as análises deste trabalho não mostraram resultados de indicadores sociais consistentemente melhores para empresas públicas e nem que renunciam à eficiência operacional e financeira em prol da prosperidade social. Chega-se à conclusão de que o dilema público-privado não deve ser um empecilho para a execução de políticas. A presença do setor privado não é prejudicial ao consumidor, mas sim necessária em um cenário de crise econômica e com diversas barreiras à execução de obras. Desse modo, as diretrizes governamentais precisam trabalhar para fortalecer o ambiente institucional, não apenas através de suporte, mas também colaborando com a presença das empresas privadas no setor de saneamento básico. / In 2016, around 35 millions of Brazilians still didn\'t have access to clean water and more than 100 millions didn\'t receive sanitation services. For the universalization to be accomplished until 2033, as it is predicted in the National Plan (Plansab, 2014), more than R$ 20 billions must be invested every year, which is utopic if we consider the cenarium of budget restriction of the Union, States and Municipalities. In this context, the presence of private entities in the sanitation sector is more and more discussed as a solution for this obstacle to the national development. However, there are institutional barriers for their action, justified by an ideology based in assertions that do not explore the complexity and the current situation of the sector. This dissertation intends to ascertain if the fact of the propriety of the company is public or private affects the quality of the services, in a social, operational and financial analysis. It intends to answer if the increase of the private presence in the sector should be contained or incentivized, in a proper institutional arrangement.

750 000 emplois à sauvegarder. Ce nombre – mis en avant par l'ancienne députée de l'Hérault, Fanny Dombre-Coste, – souligne toute l'influence de la reprise de PME dans le développement de l'économie locale voire nationale. Toutefois, le repreneur, qui est un entrepreneur à part entière, est un acteur encore peu étudié, tant par les organismes professionnels que par les universitaires. Nous engageons alors une recherche pour combler ce manque et, sous une perspective entrepreneuriale, essayons de mieux comprendre le profil du repreneur. Pour circonscrire la question du profil, nous utilisons un concept central en entrepreneuriat : l'opportunité. Dès lors, en prenant appui sur la logique de Kirzner, la fonction du repreneur devient plus claire : il doit identifier des opportunités. Comment peut-il faire ? Il va utiliser sa vigilance. Cela nous amène à poser la problématique suivante : comment la vigilance entrepreneuriale du repreneur influence-t-elle la performance financière de la reprise ? Pour apporter des éléments de réponse, nous utilisons un raisonnement hypothético-déductif et réalisons une recherche quantitative. Cela nous amène à formuler des hypothèses pour in fine construire un modèle de recherche. Nous posons ainsi un lien entre la vigilance entrepreneuriale (Tang et al., 2012) et deux variables médiatrices : l'identification des opportunités (Ozgen et Baron, 2007) et l'orientation entrepreneuriale (Covin et Slevin, 1989). Ces deux variables sont ensuite reliées à la performance financière de la reprise – qui est une mesure subjective quant à l'évolution de huit indicateurs. Après avoir montré que la procédure MICIOM autorise une démarche comparative, nous testons notre modèle sur tous les repreneurs (n = 278) et procédons à une comparaison – qualitative puis grâce à une analyse multigroupe – entre les repreneurs mentorés (n = 199) et non mentorés (n = 79), et entre les repreneurs mentorés avant (n = 79) et après la reprise (n = 120). Les résultats de cette recherche montrent que la vigilance entrepreneuriale est un antécédent de la performance financière. Par ailleurs, ce travail souligne que le mentorat permet de mieux comprendre comment un entrepreneur réussit – au moins sur un plan financier – une reprise de PME. Dès lors, il semble pertinent de développer un volet cognitif dans les programmes d'accompagnement du repreneur mais également de travailler sur la relation de mentorat dans ce contexte singulier. / 750 000 employments to keep. This number, highlight by the former deputy of Herault, Fanny Dombre-Coste, underline influence of SME takeovers on development of local economy. However, buyer, an entrepreneur, is understudied. We then engaged an academic research in order to fill in this gap and, using an entrepreneurial perspective, we try to better understand buyer profile. To confine profile question, we use a central concept in entrepreneurship: opportunity. Then, leaning on Kirzner logic, buyer function become clearly: he has to identify opportunity. How can he do it? He is going to use his alertness. So, we ask the following problematic: how does buyer entrepreneurial alertness influence takeover financial performance? To answer, we use an hypothetico-deductive reasoning and realise a quantitative research. This lead us to formulate hypotheses and build a research model. We put a link between entrepreneurial alertness (Tang et al., 2012) and two mediator's variables: opportunity identification (Ozgen et Baron, 2007) and entrepreneurial orientation (Covin et Slevin, 1989). Then, this two variables are linked to takeover financial performance – which is a subjective measure of the evolution of height indicators. After used MICOM procedure, we test our model on all buyers (n = 278) and make a comparison – qualitative and using a multi-group analysis – between buyers supported by a mentor (n = 199) and non-supported (n = 79), and between buyers supported before (n = 79) and after takeover (n = 120). Firstly, results show that entrepreneurial alertness is an antecedent of financial performance. On the other hand, our research underline that mentorship has the potential to add substantially to our understanding of how buyer succeed – at least on an financial plan – SME takeover. Consequently, it seems relevant to develop a cognitive part in buyer support program and to work on mentorship in this singular context.

O objetivo deste trabalho é verificar a existência de uma ligação empírica entre a dimensão ambiental e a dimensão econômica da firma. A revisão da literatura apontou para lacunas nos modelos de relação existentes, com seus resultados não sendo considerados consistentes. Assim, este trabalho busca identificar a relação entre o Desempenho Ambiental – medido pelo Desempenho Ambiental Operacional, pelo Sistema de Gestão Ambiental e pela Regulamentação Ambiental – com a Inovatividade e do Desempenho Financeiro da firma. Uma pesquisa com o setor de terceira geração petroquímica, a industria de transformação de plásticos, foi realizada em Agosto de 2008. Testes estatísticos foram realizados para identificar padrões de resposta, testar as hipóteses do modelo proposto. Ao final, este modelo comprova empiricamente que por meio da dimensão ambientais e da inovatividade se pode explicar aproximadamente 34% da variância do desempenho financeiro das empresas em uma análise de regressão linear. Pontos relevantes foram encontrados na descrição ambiental do setor pesquisado, fornecendo informações aos gerentes para a tomada de decisões ambientais. / The main purpose of this study is to verify a connection between environment dimension and economic dimension in firms. The review of literature show gaps in existing models and their results did not be consistent. Therefore, this study look for a relationship among the Environment Performance – measured by Operational Environment Performance, by Environment Management Systems and by Environmental Regulations – and the Innovativeness and Financial Performance. A research in third generation petrochemical chain sector, the industry of plastics transformation, was done in August 2008. Statistical analysis was performed to identify patters and to verify hypothesis in proposed model. In the final, this model prove empirically 34% of financial performance variation by environment performance and innovativeness in a linear regression. Relevant knowledge was found in sector environment description, being important to managers taking decisions.

<p><strong>Purpose</strong> - To analyze the relationship between supply chain management maturity, supply chain performance and financial performance in small and medium-sized enterprises (SME:s).</p><p><strong>Design/methodology/approach</strong> - The data comprises 15 SME:s that participated in a local logistic study in Gävleborgs län. The levels of supply chain mature within these firms were based upon an interview study and the financial performance of the firms was then examined using financial reports-based data.</p><p><strong>Findings</strong> -The results of this study indicate that there is a strong relationship between SCM maturity and SC performance in SMEs, some relationships between SCM maturity and financial performance, as well as some relationships between SC performance and financial performance. This means that if firms use maturity indicators in the SCOR areas to improve their processes, they will most likely achieve a positive effect on supply chain performance and probably also on financial performance. The result implies that the supply chain maturities in these firms are higher than expected with no one at the adHoc level.</p><p>While this study is based on a rather small number of participating firms, it would be valuable to further test the significance of the indicated correlations between SCM maturity and performance in a large-scale survey.</p><p><strong>Research limitations/Implications</strong> - The research is an attempt to understand supply chain maturity and it´s implication on financial performance. Developing supply chain maturity is an opportunity for a company to gain superior performance. The use of this approach has been validated in several previous research studies. The research limitation of this study is the small number of participating firms.</p><p><strong>Practical implication</strong> - Maturity models could be valuable frameworks for corporate management. This study provides statistical evidence that a SME firm that has achieved a higher maturity level in their supply chain management also can achieve higher SC performance and financial performance as well. The study further confirms the maturity model from Lockamy and McCormack (2004) as a very reliable tool for this purpose, even in extremely small firms.</p><p><strong>Originality/Value</strong> - This study is one of very few to focus on supply chain maturity of SME:s and analyze the linkage between financial performance and supply chain maturity in SME:s. This is particularly significant since earlier research implicate that SME:s has a very low maturity and in addition to that a high potential of improvements in this area. Maybe the findings of this study can be a starting point for these SME:s to take their maturity to a higher level and improve their financial performance. These findings might be valuable for further research in the linkage between maturity and superior performance in SME:s.</p><p><strong>Key words</strong> - Supply Chain Management, Supply Chain Performance, Supply Chain Maturity, Financial Performance, Logistic Performance.</p><p><strong>Paper type</strong> - Thesis/research paper</p>

<p><strong>Purpose - </strong>The goal of this research is to demonstrate that financial performance of current year is dependent to the amount of maturity of the supply chain processes. This aim is achieved through considering current supply chain process maturities of the firm together with financial performance of prior years. <strong></strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Research question - </strong>How supply chain process maturities in relation to financial performance of prior years are related to current financial performance  <strong></strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Methodology - </strong>The deductive approach has been followed to use theories and literatures to build the hypothetical model in order to test it empirically.<strong></strong></p><p>This quantitative research is benefited from the primary data of Swedish steel SMEs including the secondary data from financial ratios from Scandinavian financial database</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Findings - </strong>The effect between supply chain process maturity and current year financial performance, the effect between prior year financial performance and current year financial performance, and also total effect of prior year financial performance and supply chain process maturity on current year financial performance proved empirically. <strong></strong></p>

We structure a literature review which we provide with broader definitions of the majorconcepts: value creation, cost efficiency (leadership), competitive strategies, financialperformance and statement analysis. The literature review focuses mainly on Hong Kongcontext and literatures supporting the similar business strategies among similar size ofcompanies from various industries.The study takes forms as a quantitative study with a deductive approach. A set offinancial performance data will be collected and examined, to show how companyperformance is correlated to its strategies and what an outcome is. We aim at providinganother perspective of investment analysis approach to the potential investors, so theycould embrace the whole picture of available information.We develop two groups of hypothesis; the first group is company’s strategy measures thatshow no effect on financial performance, the second group is company’s strategymeasures that show some effect on financial performance.The result indicates while normally staff cost and cost of sale are recognized as costleadership measure under product industry, it implies positive contribution to valuecreation financial performance in service industry, instead of having influence onprofitability. Also, the wealth generated from previous sale revenue margin will havepositive impact on company’s competiveness in the hotel industry.Keywords: value creation cost leadership, competitive strategies, financial performanceand statement analysis

Islamic banking and finance in Pakistan started in 1977-78 with the elimination of interest in compliance with the Principles of Islamic Shari’ah in Islamic banking practices. Since then, amendments in financial system to allow the issuance of new interest-free instrument of corporate financing, promulgation of ordinance to permit the establishment of Mudaraba companies and floatation of Mudaraba Certificates, constitution of Commission for Transformation of Financial System (CTFS), and the establishments of Islamic Banking Department by the State Bank of Pakistan are some of the key steps taken place by the governments.   The aim of this study is to examine and to evaluate the performance of the first Islamic bank in Pakistan, i.e. Meezan Bank Limited (MBL) in comparison with that of a group of 5 Pakistani conventional banks. The study evaluates performance of the Islamic bank (MBL) in profitability, liquidity, risk, and efficiency for the period of 2003-2007. Financial ratios (12 in total) such as Return on Asset (ROA), Return on Equity (ROE), Loan to Deposit ratio (LDR), Loan to Assets ratio (LAR), Debt to Equity ratio (DER), Asset Utilization (AU), and Income to Expense ratio (IER) are used to assess banking performances. T-test and F-test are used in determining the significance of the differential performance of the two groups of banks. The study found that MBL is less profitable, more solvent (less risky), and also less efficient comparing to the average of the 5 conventional banks. However, there was no significant difference in liquidity between the two sets of banks. The reasons are due to the facts that conventional banks in Pakistan have longer history and experience in doing banking business and hold dominating position in the financial sector with its large share in the overall financial assets of Pakistan, as compared to Islamic banks, which in true sense, started only a few years back with all letter and spirit.     Albeit, the study found that MBL is less profitable, more solvent (less risky), and less efficient during 2003-2007, however, it is improving considerably over time indicating convergence with the performance of the conventional banks.