This case study explored the lessons arising from the implementation of the Insurance Preparedness Project. This was a pilot project funded by the Insurance Sector Education and Training Authority as part of a strategy for transforming the insurance industry and to establish a model for learnership implementation.Financial services industry.

Virtual environments offer an exciting platform for social science research. The persistent nature of online virtual worlds such as Second Life however has increased the potential for both companies and institutions looking to establish a virtual presence and researchers looking to measure the evolving forms of human behaviour displayed when interacting within them. Since the use of the Internet has become widespread, commercial enterprises are particularly interested in exploring the opportunities that virtual environments may hold for them as the stereotype of what constitutes a ‘typical’ computer user gradually becomes broken down within contemporary society. Second Life and virtual worlds alike deviate from what might be categorized as a game, serving more as extensions of reality than escapes from it. Virtual worlds have been said to be dichotomous in that they may act as play spaces as well as extensions of the real world. Much existing research on computer-mediated communication and online behaviour has focused upon the differences between computer-mediated and face-to-face communication, and has provided in-depth reports on online communities. A growing body of research, however, focuses a more integrative view of computer mediated communication, looking at how online time fits with and complements other aspects of an individual’s everyday life. This work uses the virtual environment of Second Life to integrate the virtual and the real for real-world financial benefits and analyses the ways in which they intersect. The research presented here provides evidence for the thesis that the persistent online virtual world of Second Life can act as a valid and effective user interface metaphor for the financial services sector. The theory of social presence when applied to human-computer interaction provided the basis of this work. A practical metric is developed by which a bank could effectively create an optimum virtual environment to provide a new and innovative service for its customers by measuring levels of perceived social presence in interaction, collaboration and learning scenarios. Financial institutions and companies alike can use these results and turn them into practical tools to create a virtual environment for customers or staff to interact within that can project them to the forefront of technological innovation and add to a reputation as an ever developing and forward thinking company.

Commitment Issues? – En kvantitativ studie om commitment i relationen mellan kund och bank  Frågeställning  Hur upplever kunden commitment i relationen till banken och Internetbanken? Hur kan banken agera för att påverka kundens commitment?  Syfte Studien syftar till att undersöka commitment i relationen mellan kund och bank för att dra slutsatser kring vikten av kundens commitment. Vidare är syftet att undersöka påverkansfaktorerna förtroende och misstro samt bankens och Internetbankens påverkan på commitment.  Metod För att undersöka kundernas upplevda commitment genomfördes en kvantitativ studie med hjälp av en Internetbaserad enkät som besvarades av 1 265 svensktalande respondenter.  Slutsats Kundens commitment är influerat av relationen till banken och hur bankens commitment upplevs. Banken har således möjlighet att stärka kundens commitment genom att visa engagemang och kommunicera på ett personligt sätt, för att tydliggöra att kundens behov och intresse är främsta prioritet. Förtroende är en viktig grundsten i relationen mellan bank och kund, vilket ligger till grund för commitment. Om en kund däremot känner misstro för banken är benägenheten att byta bank större. Commitment till Internetbanken är nära kopplat till kundens commitment till banken. Stärkt commitment till banken stärker commitment till Internetbanken och vice versa. / Commitment Issues? – A quantitative study about commitment in the relationship between the customer and the bank  Research questions What is the customer perception of commitment in the relationship with the bank and online bank? How should the bank act to influence customer commitment?  Purpose The study aims to explore the concept of commitment in the relationship between the customer and the bank. The paper also examines the influence of trust, distrust and online banking on customer commitment and gives direction for how Swedish banks should conduct their business in order to build commitment.  Method In order to explore customers perceived commitment, a quantitative study was carried out using an online survey which was conducted by 1 265 Swedish speaking respondents.  Conclusion The perceived commitment is influenced by the relationship with the bank. It is influenced by the manner of communication, personalization has proven effective to show customers that their needs and interests are prioritized. Customers generally have a higher level of commitment when they feel valued by the bank. Trust is the main pillar in the relationship between the bank and the customer, which is the foundation of commitment. Distrust on the other hand increases the likelihood that the customer will switch to an other bank branch. The commitment to financial services online is closely related to the commitment to the bank branch. A strong commitment to the bank creates a strong commitment to the online bank, and vice versa.

Realistic Job Previews have been shown to impact newcomers to jobs through ircreased self-selection, reduced turnover, eased adjustment, improved performance and increased job satisfaction. To address a turnover problem, Realistic Job Previews were implemented in hiring for two entry level positions in half of 539 branch offices of a large financial services organization. Subjects consisted of 122 Service Representatives and 98 Financial Representatives. Eight months after implementation, turnover rates were compared for control and experimental groups. There was no significant difference between turnover among Service Representatives. Financial Representatives in the experimental group had lower turnover rates (p < .10), with the difference increasing over time. Comparing the turnover rates between three and six months tenure resulted in a statistically significant difference (p < .05).

One of the basic assumptions associated with the theoretical model as described in this article is that an organisation (a system) can acquire capabilities through intentional strategic and operational initiatives. This intentional capability-building process also implies that the organisation intends to use these capabilities in a constructive way to increase competitive advantage for the firm. The creation of conducive and attractive conditions for enhancing a firm’s capability-building process is central to the theoretical model as described in this article. The key building blocks that create favourable conditions for the development of organisational capabilities from an Intellectual Capital perspective are defined in the theoretical model and consist of the following five constructs: - A Strategic Architecture that provides guidance on the strategic intent, focus and boundaries of the organisation. - An Intellectual Capital Framework that creates a basis for a normative-, strategic- and operational view to stimulate ideas on how to make intellectual capital a practical reality and to utilise these insights in the development of the organisation’s core capabilities. - A Core Capability Framework that reflects the content and processes related to the identification, description, evaluation and assumptions associated with the firm’s core capabilities. The Core Capability Framework also facilitates the integration of the concepts “core capabilities” and “intellectual capital”. - An Operationalisation Framework to leverage core capabilities from an Intellectual Capital perspective in a pragmatic way to realise tangible competitive benefits not only from individual capabilities, but also through the conscious collective use of bundles of capabilities. - A change enablement process that stimulates knowledge flows between the above key constructs of the conceptual model. This creates the basis for cognitive and emotional leverages to increase the potential of an organisation to successfully implement a strategic approach to the management of core capabilities from an Intellectual Capital perspective. Raising the awareness and capacity of the organisation on the above five constructs creates the basis for an increase in the potential to make positive progress on this strategic journey of discovery to manage the growth of intellectual capital in a holistic way by focusing on core capabilities. / Prof. Koos Uys

M.Comm. / Globalization initiates rapid change and innovation that is: “… no longer an option, but it has become a business imperative” (Grulke, 2002, p. 18). Innovative organizations have developed the ability to satisfy both the shareholders’ demand for wealth (Hamel, 2000) and the customers’ demand for more creative and innovative products that facilitate ease of use (Kelley, 2001) while at the same time ensuring business sustainability (Skarzynski & Gibson, 2008). The development of creative and innovative thinking and problem-solving skills are crucial for the survival of organisations in the 21st century. Creative problem-solving training was generally found to be the most effective when organizations wanted to equip their employees with creative and innovative thinking and problem-solving skills. A specific financial services organisation in South Africa realised that they had to join the innovation revolution in order to remain commercially competitive in the twentyfirst century. With retailers and other competitors such as the telecommunication role players entering the traditional financial services domain, the organisation recognised that they required a novel approach to conduct their business. The highly regulated and to some extent conformist environment of the financial services organization constitute the sphere within which the research problem is situated. The organisation commissioned the researcher to design a Creativity and Innovation Workshop with the intent to improve the creative and innovative thinking and problem-solving skills of their employees. The evaluation question that the study purports to address therefore is whether employees in a corporate context such as a financial services organisation can develop appropriate creative and innovative thinking and problemsolving skills through an intervention such as a workshop and can a benefit for the business unit and organisation be identified. The unit of analysis is a niche business unit in a South African financial services organization. The sample used in this study comprises of managers (employees) and senior or executive management of those employees who attended the Creativity and Innovation Workshop.

M.Tech. (Operations Management) / This study entails and discusses Employee Involvement in Total Quality Management initiatives in a South African Bank. Total Quality Management programs are required within business to ensure that organisations seek continuous improvement in their operational capabilities. Total quality management refers to three foremost components, which has to be part of the organisational strategy namely; customer satisfaction, continuous improvement and employee involvement. This study pertains to Total Quality Management, and the link between Total Quality and Employee Involvement as the critical component based on the premise that operational efficiency must start internally, meaning that employee involvement should be the point of departure. In many instances employees find it difficult to adapt to the changes, people naturally find reasons as to why changes will not be successful, more especially if there is no employee involvement at their level and, hence their reluctance to see the benefits objectively will result in the failure of any Total Quality Management initiative. The objective of this study was to determine if TQM principles as prescribed by many authors are currently adopted by the organisation with the focus being Employee Involvement and also to ascertain if the organisational culture lends itself to the implementation of TQM initiatives. Survey questionnaires were used to obtain primary data, and interviews and document reviews were conducted subsequently to validate the results obtained from primary data collection. The literature review indicated the importance of Employee Involvement in the pursuit TQM and the results indicated that employees believed that the principles of TQM and Employee Involvement are relatively well established. With any organisation there is always improvement required and as a fundamental requirement of TQM continuous improvement is a must. Collaboration between employees and management, Empowerment of employees and Education and Training that is job specific are some key areas that were discussed.

Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) was signed into law on November 12, 1999. This act is regarded as the most influential deregulation for the U.S. financial services industry in the past one-century. The purpose of this study is to determine and analyze the wealth effects of the GLBA on U.S. and foreign banks and insurance companies. This dissertation is composed of four separate essays. In the first two chapters I investigate the wealth effects of the GLBA on domestic banks and insurance companies. I find that Money Center Banks followed by Super Regional Banks benefit most from this deregulation. I also find that banks with Section 20 investment subsidiaries benefit more than rest of the industry. For all types of banks exposure to systematic risk reduces following the enactment of the GLBA. In cross sectional analysis I find that banks size and change in exposure to systematic risk can explain the wealth effects at firm level. In the domestic insurance industry, property/casualty and life insurance companies have the highest wealth effect. Exposure to systematic risk also reduces for all types of insurance companies following the enactment of the GLBA. From cross sectional analysis I find that diversification opportunities and safeguards against excessive risk taking create value for property/casualty and all other (except life) insurance companies. I also test merger related hypothesis. The result shows that poor performing firms and larger firms gain more form this deregulation. In the third and fourth chapter I investigate the wealth effects of the GLBA on international banks and foreign insurance companies. I find that the events leading to the passage of the GLBA have significant negative wealth effects (spill-over effects) on the portfolios of banks and insurance companies for most of the developed countries I analyze. These effects are not same for any two countries. Most importantly I find that reduction in diversification opportunities for international banks and foreign insurance companies in the U.S. market can explain the wealth effects at firm level from the GLBA.

The diploma thesis aims to capture the specifics of financial products that mostly affect consumers in the market. In the first theoretical part we encounter terms such as intangibility, inseparability or contingent consumption of financial products. The thesis then incorporates those specifics into the consumer behaviour in financial markets, especially in the purchase decision process. Subsequently, it focuses on the specific situation in the banking market in the Czech Republic, including the market shares of banks as well as the offers of current accounts. The practical part of the work shows through a primary research - conducted by polling Czech consumer of bank accounts - how people not only acquire this financial service but also use it. This section is concluded by a shorter secondary research which uses data from the professional marketing database MML-TGI. Finally, on the basis of previous research findings it formulates conclusions in a form of marketing recommendations for banks.

University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg A proposal for a research report to be submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Commerce / Value-Added Tax (VAT) on imported services in South Africa and the VAT treatment of banking income / products has been a contentious issue for a number of years in South Africa. South African companies, individual taxpayers, students and the South African Revenue Service (SARS) have difficulty to interpret whether section 7(1)(c) and section 14 of the Value-Added Tax Act No. 89 of 1991 is applicable to certain transactions. The aim of the study is to discuss and analyse VAT on imported services in South Africa in order for an individual taxpayer, company and SARS to understand which section should be applied to a certain transaction. This study also aims at clearly showing the type of income / products generated in the banking industry and how VAT is treated on the types of income / products in the bank. This will give students, tax professionals in the financial industry, auditors, companies, individuals and the SARS a better understanding of how VAT is treated in the financial industry. / MT2017