Magister Legum - LLM

Magister Legum - LLM / The main objective of this study is to review the legal and regulatory framework of corporate governance in Tanzania with the focus on corporate governance laws and regulations. The study is intended to discuss the main legal and regulatory framework in Tanzania which plays a part in the corporate governance. The Companies Act No. 12 of 2002 will be reviewed in order to establish which corporate governance principles are provided and to what extent they are effective. The capital markets and securities laws, guidelines on corporate governance in Tanzania with a focus on the listing requirements and other regulations applied at the DSE will also be reviewed in order to establish their effectiveness in attracting investors to the market. Given the comparative value of South Africa and Kenya in SADC and EAC respectively, this work will also discuss the legal and regulatory framework of corporate governance in Kenya and South Africa and compare with those in Tanzania in areas such as shareholders rights; stakeholder’s right; board control and effectiveness and the effectiveness of compliance. Such comparative analysis is done in order to single out areas of focus in legal and regulatory framework in corporate governance law such as companies’ law and stock market and security laws in Tanzania.

Foreign direct investment in South Africa is expected to increase economic growth thereby alleviating poverty. With technology offering a global trade arena it has become increasingly important for countries to compete for the attention of international investors. Through studies conducted to identify the matters international investors take into consideration in deciding where to invest, tax policies were identified as an area considered by foreign investors. Although research has been performed on the tax policies applied by countries and the effect thereof on foreign direct investment, limited attention has been afforded to the tax policies of South Africa. With its recent inclusion in BRICS, South Africa will be competing with these expected future economic giants. Determining whether South Africa’s tax policies are competitive with these countries would provide useful insight for the marketing of the country. The study discusses and compares the foreign direct investment determinants identified as having an impact on investors’ decisions in investing outside local borders before focusing on taxation in particular. Based on the literature reviewed and the comparison performed, the study concludes that South Africa’s tax policies are competitive with those offered by BRICS countries AFRIKAANS : Die verwagting is dat buitelandse direkte belegging in Suid-Afrika na ekonomiese groei sal lei en sodoende armoede verlig. Met tegnologie wat 'n globale handel arena aanbied, word dit al hoe belangriker vir lande om te kompeteer vir die aandag van internasionale beleggers. Deur middel van studies wat gedoen is om die aangeleenthede wat internasionale beleggers in ag neem en die besluit waar om te belê, te identifiseer, is die belastingbeleid geïdentifiseer as 'n gebied wat oorweeg word deur buitelandse beleggers. Hoewel navorsing uitgevoer is op die belastingbeleid wat toegepas word deur die lande en die uitwerking daarvan op buitelandse direkte belegging, is daar beperkte aandag verleen aan die belastingbeleid van Suid-Afrika. Met Suid-Afrika se onlangse opname in BRICS sal die land meeding met hierdie verwagte toekomstige ekonomiese reuse. Om vas te stel of Suid-Afrika se belastingbeleid mededingend is met hierdie lande, sal nuttige insig verskaf word vir die bemarking van die land. Die studie bespreek en vergelyk die buitelandse direkte belegging determinante wat verwag word om 'n uitwerking te hê op beleggers se besluite om te belê buite hul plaaslike grense voor daar gefokus word op belasting in die besonder. Op grond van die literatuur en die vergelyking uitgevoer, het die studie tot die gevolgtrekking gekom dat Suid-Afrika se belastingbeleid mededingend is met dié wat deur BRICS lande beskikbaar gemaak word. Copyright 2011, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. Please cite as follows: Terhoeven, J 2011, The role of taxation in attracting foreign direct investments to South Africa : a BRICS comparison, MCom dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-03092012-122234 / > F12/4/168/gm / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Taxation / unrestricted

This research investigates political risk in the context of service offshoring and the corresponding impact on risk management decisions. The first stage of the study uses the Repertory Grid Technique (RGT), to explore key post-contract political risks experiences within offshore outsourcing activities. Twelve key political risks affecting offshore outsourcing decisions are identified, and the moderating effect of offshoring activity types (BPO, ITO or KPO) on political risk exposure and impact perceptions is highlighted. The research also explores the conditioning effect of industry specific exposure to political risk and enhances the explanatory ability of the Transaction Cost Economics (TCE) constructs, offering a re-operationalization of the political risk component of external uncertainty. The second stage of the research introduces a series of hypotheses between offshoring flows and political risk profiles, and applies multiple regression to analyse political risk affecting offshore activities in low cost countries across contract-based offshoring engagements and FDI. The findings highlight that political risk is a genuine business concern for offshore contract-based outsourcing modalities, and identify concerns with Intellectual Property protection, Quality of Bureaucracy and Corruption as key considerations affecting location decisions in low-cost countries. The research further suggests a positive relationship between strong country level institutional and regulatory systems and high knowledge content in offshoring engagements. From a practical perspective, the research highlights the need for managerial tools to determine diversified firm and industry specific political risk impact on global service outsourcing engagements. The key practical contribution is the development of differentiated political risk typologies that can capture the nuances of external risks in offshoring, allowing for more accurate risk assessment of offshoring decisions.

This paper attempts to investigate the degree to which organized crime affects FDI in 15 Latin America and Caribbean countries during 2006-2014 period. We employed four crime proxies: homicide rate, organized crime index, business cost of terrorism index and business cost of crime index and analyzed their impact on overall, sectoral and industrial FDI inflows. We find evidence of a deterrent effect of organized crime on FDI inflows; in particular on FDI in secondary and tertiary sectors. On the contrary FDI inflows in more extractive industries - primary sector - are less affected by the presence of organized crime

Doctoral dissertation presents an analysis of the Serbian economy in the mutual relations between the European Union (EU) and the Western Balkans. The assumption that the EU and Serbia, as an integral part of the Balkan region, have interests in the partnership and cooperation is the baseline of the research. The following aspects have been singled out, by method of ranking, which is based on achieving the highest turnover in the last six years: trade, foreign direct investment and energy. Gravity model was used to analyze routes of trade and energy. A models of trade import and export between Serbia and the EU 28 member countries and the countries of the Western Balkans, as well as models of imports and exports of energy between Serbia and the EU 28 member countries and the countries of the Western Balkans, were used in order to assess the potential of trade and energy trade. Method of trend line and trend extrapolation of foreign direct investment (FDI) was used in order to determine the degree of the presence of FDI in Serbia and their predictions, which could be an indicator of investment climate in Serbia. The conclusion is that Serbia has strategic importance as a candidate for membership in the EU because of its regional importance. Entering the Western Balkan countries in the EU should not happen without Serbia, because Serbia has a regional importance, which arise from the economic, historical, cultural, infrastructural and geopolitical links with countries in the region, of which some are already members of the EU.

The goal of this diploma thesis is to analyse the trend of foreign direct investment into mining industry in Africa. In this thesis, I focus solemnly on the extraction of minerals, excluding the oil and gas industry. The analysis looks at the FDI from a historical perspective in the new millennium up to the current situation, which is characteristic for low commodity prices, which subsequently depress the activities of mining corporations. Furthermore, the important part of the thesis is also the projection of future development of FDI, the analysis of the correlation between commodity prices and FDI development and the research of African investment environment. A brief case study regarding the real-life foreign direct investment into copper mining projects in Democratic Republic of the Congo is carried out in the end of this thesis. In this case study I present details about this project, however, also the professional opinion of co-head of mining division at Trafigura, Emmanuel Henry, on the investment environment in Africa in regard to the mining industry and his feelings about the future development of the investment.

In this diploma paper, I would like to explain and prove reasons of economic boom in selected countries in East Asia between 1965-1997. I focus on Asian Tigers namely on investment policy. I would like to answer the questions, what were the specifics of Asian Tigers, what contributed to economic growth the most, what implements were used within investment policy, how was this investment policy successful in individual countries and what role public sector (government) played. I focus on the role of human and physical capital, the role of foreign direct investment and I sum up their impact on economic growth in countries of Asian Tigers.

Ukrainian investment climate is attractive and repulsive at the same time. Although Ukraine occupies a strategic geographic position, it is a crossroad between one of the world's largest market European Union and one of the world's rapidly growing markets Russia; country of rich natural resources and manpower with a high level of education, which makes it an attractive investment environment, but still it has not yet reached its expected potential, because of inability to minimize government intervention in the operation of markets, remove administrative barriers that hinder business and perform target privatization and become attractive to foreign and domestic investors. That's why, the main objective of Master Thesis is to analyse and overview the investment climate of Ukraine through the framework of political, legal, economic and social conditions, risks and opportunities that ensure and promote investment activities for domestic and foreign investors. Thesis is concentrated on the notion of investment, types of investments and investment climate in general in order to benefit from knowledge how the investment can be protected and be eligible to take claim to dispute settlement. The research is analysing the recent economic performance and macroeconomic policy of the country; focused on general overview of investment legislation base and current regulation of foreign investment regime; describe the basic challenges and opportunities to invest in Ukraine.

The content of this diploma thesis is a comparison of China and India, not only from an economic point of view, since the mid 1990's. Both countries are compared from the perspective of their specifics (geographical, political, cultural and human resources), macroeconomic indicators and economic sectors of each country. Savings, investments, foreign trade, FDI, infrastructure and membership in international organizations or corporations are all characterized throughout the paper. Prospective future developments, opportunities for foreign investments and cooperation between countries, as well as the present status of China and India in the world, are also briefly characterized in this thesis.