Abstract¡G From previous studies we found that growth opportunity is an important factor help explaining the cross-sectional differences of firms¡¦ dividend and financing policies. However, growth opportunities are unobservable and not measurable, scholars used different proxies to catch the idea. Prior empirical studies used market-to book, earning-price ratio, Tobin¡¦s Q, R&D intensity, capital expenditure (deflated by book value of assets), PPE, previous sales growth as proxies for growth opportunities, but had inconsistent results. The purposes of this thesis are: first, to find out the relationship between growth opportunities and realized growth, and to determine which proxy is most suitable; second, to find the empirical evidences of the relation between growth opportunities and financing policies, growth opportunities and dividend policies support contract theories, tax-based theories or signaling theories; and finally, to find out if firm¡¦s growth opportunities are affected by its financing and dividend policies. We examine all nonfinancial firms listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange from 1991 to2000. We use the correlation and regression to determine the relation between growth opportunities and realized growth, then distinguish total debt ratio, short-term debt ratio, long-term debt ratio from financing policies, and dividend payout ratio, cash-dividend yield, stock dividend yield, and dividend yield from dividend policies. We use different growth opportunity proxy to separate whole sample into two subsamples, and growth as a dummy variable. We use regression to find the relation between growth and financing policies, dividend policies. Finally, we use simultaneous equation to determine the relationship among growth opportunities, financing policies and dividend policies to see if they are interdependent. Our empirical result shows that growth opportunities and realized growth have positive relations. But growth opportunities are not positively correlated with realized investment growth. Price-based proxies are often overestimate future equity market value growth. Growth firms have higher debt ratios and long-term debt ratios. The result supports contracting theory and progressive tax rate theory. Growth firms have higher short-term debt ratios, too. We can¡¦t find the significant relation between growth opportunities and dividend pay¡Vout ratios. Growth firms have lower cash dividend yield, and the result supports cash-flow constraint and contracting theories. There is no clear relation between stock dividend yield and growth opportunities. Through simultaneous equation, over financing and too much cash-dividend restrict firms¡¦ growth opportunities.

The purpose of the article is to analyze the relationship among dividend policy,future earnings and growth opportunities.And the results are below: 1.Total dividend and cash dividend can predict future earnings,but stock dividend can only reflect current earnings 2.total dividend and stock dividend are signaling effect,but I have a diffent result in cash dividend. Using MBA,MBE and E/P as substitute variables,it is contracting effect.But using R&D as a substitute variable,it is signaling effect.

Magister Legum - LLM / Over the past decade countries have embraced globalisation. The depth and influence of globalisation has grown significantly since the 19th century. Globalisation has accelerated mainly due to increased integration in trade with bilateral, regional and multilateral trade negotiations on the rise. Multinational companies have also enlarged which enable production to be done seamlessly in different countries, increase in capital flows such as purchase of assets and bonds has also contributed. Furthermore, the surge on technological innovations and advancement cannot be ignored when one speaks of globalisation this era has been dubbed the technological era additionally there is also the role of migration which enhances labor movements. The world has rapidly shrunk to one global economy. After the World War II countries began to move away from protectionism to liberalised trade and this resulted in the formation of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) then the World Trade Organisation (WTO) which is comprised of 164-member states. The WTO regulates trade and promotes free trade. Over the years the organisation has been evolving to deal with issues such as climate and technical assistance. Global trade presents challenges which may give rise to the need for countries to protect their domestic industries for political and economic reasons.

This study focuses on whether the mispricing of investor has relevance for firm¡¦s investment decision. In other words, it tries to test the relation between mispricing of investor and managers¡¦ catering behavior. In addition, this study divides Taiwan¡¦s companies into three cases: Listed and following listed companies, OTC companies and companies under the counter. The period of this study from 1986 to 2009, it excludes firms with negative book value of assets, and only uses the positive capital expenditure data. This paper divides the sample into various subsamples discussed separately. For example, it uses the R&D ratio as the proxy for information transparency and explores that information transparency may affect manager¡¦s catering behavior in the different subsamples. Besides, this study also separates the companies from different stock turnover rate to discuss whether the impact of mispricing to the rate of investment will be different. The results showed that indeed mispricing change the rate of investment of companies. After that, this paper controls the independent variables which may affect the company¡¦s profitability to figure out the abnormal rate of investment. Finally, this study finds that abnormal rate of investment result in a poor return of companies. That is to say, when a manager caters the mispricing of investor in stock market, afterwards, may lead to a poor return of companies. In the view of investors, when the market¡¦s sentiment that is too warm, many companies begin to invest in plant. At this time, investors shall examine whether the investment of companies is efficient.

Exporting is a popular mode of internationalisation for a variety of reasons. For instance, many enterprises prefer exporting because it permits them to learn from competition with minimum resources committed by the enterprise. However, it is noted in literature that enterprises face various constraints when exporting. Earlier studies, mostly conducted in developed countries, have documented several exporting constraints. The studies do not agree on the grouping of factors constraining exporting and elements that form such groupings. Also, it is acknowledged in literature that generalising findings from developed countries to developing countries would not necessarily be appropriate, hence studies in developing countries such as Lesotho are necessary and, to the researcher’s knowledge, this study is the first to be conducted in Lesotho. This formal study, therefore, was carried out to test the hypotheses developed from literature regarding factors that constrain exporting. Lesotho is land locked, being completely surrounded by the Republic of South Africa. It is believed that Lesotho’s setting can bring insights into exporting as the country becomes a popular destination for export-oriented investors. Although enterprises operating in Lesotho had been exporting prior to 2000, there was a major boost of exports at the beginning of 2000 when Lesotho became eligible for exports to the United States, Canada and European markets under the agreement in the African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA). The AGOA agreement brought a flow of Asian export-oriented investors into Lesotho. Lesotho’s exports are concentrated in the apparel and textile industries and are destined to a few countries, predominantly South Africa and the United States. The literature review covers the globalisation of the business environment. Further, the international entry modes are discussed along with the theories that explain the decision of the enterprises to initiate the internationalisation process. Finally, the exporting mode of internationalisation is discussed detailing the constraints that enterprises face when engaging in exporting. A questionnaire was used to collect data. The instrument first underwent a rigorous evaluation by experts who are knowledgeable about the subject. The experts proposed changes that were adopted prior to conducting a pilot study. A judgemental sampling approach was used where manufacturing enterprises located in seven of ten industrial areas in Lesotho, who agreed to participate in the study, were issued one questionnaire each. The questionnaires were distributed to key informants who were regarded as managers directly responsible for international operations. Alternatively, chief executive officers were approached in situations where enterprises did not employ international operation’s managers. A response rate of 94.7 percent was obtained. The study revealed that exporting constraints are internal to the enterprises and that three factors, as opposed to the five that were hypothesised, constrain exporting. The study further revealed that perceived exporting constraints varied according to the size of the enterprise as well as the ownership structure thereof. Recommendations were made relating to actions aimed at minimizing exporting constraints. Lastly, future areas of research were identified. The study will be beneficial to enterprises as they will be able to adopt suitable measures to overcome or reduce the impact of exporting constraints. Also, the study will inform policy makers in Lesotho with regards to areas where appropriate assistance should be provided. In addition, the study would inform business educators regarding areas of training for exporters, which will address the training needs of exporters. Lastly, researchers interested in exporting will find other avenues that can be researched in order to build the field of exporting. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / am2013 / Business Management / unrestricted

Some outpatient health care executives experience high physician turnover leading to increased costs. To retain highly productive physicians, outpatient health care executives need to understand the best strategies for reducing physician turnover. Grounded in Herzberg 2-factor theory as the conceptual framework, the purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the strategies outpatient health care executives used to reduce physician turnover. Data were collected from semistructured interviews of 4 outpatient health care executives and the review of proprietary documents from 2 outpatient health care facilities in the Southern California metropolitan area. Data analysis comprised compiling and disassembling the data into common codes, reassembling the data into themes, interpreting the themes, and reporting the themes. Member checking and methodological triangulation amplified the trustworthiness of the findings. The course of thematic analysis led to identification of 4 core themes: autonomy, satisfactory work environment, effective communication, and training and growth opportunity. Implications for positive social change include the potential to increase economic growth while benefitting employees, families, and communities; increasing the continuity of patient care; and increasing patients'€™ access to health care. Outpatient health care executives can use the results of this study to implement changes conducive to minimizing physician turnover and associated costs while enhancing the quality of health care.

本篇論文主要探討股利支付率與未來獲利能力成長的關聯性。過去相關文獻專注在股利變化率與未來盈餘成長的關係，股利支付率的文獻則較少。本研究以1991至2016年台灣上市、上櫃公司為樣本，利用固定效果模型來進行分析，實證結果發現股利支付率與未來獲利能力成長的關係呈顯著正相關。本研究根據文獻在迴歸模型中加入成長機會代理變數來檢驗股利支付率與未來獲利能力成長的正向關係是否能以自由現金流量假說解釋，實證結果與文獻一致，說明當成長機會愈低，台灣上市櫃公司之股利支付率與未來獲利能力成長之關聯性愈強，透過將剩餘的自由現金流量以股利發放的形式返還予股東，能減少公司之代理成本，市場上的投資機會未受到市場的競爭而使報酬率高於預期，因此出現公司股利支付率愈高，未來獲利能力成長愈高的現象。 / This study examines the relationship between dividend payout ratio and the growth of future profitability. Previous literatures mainly focused on the relationship between dividend change rate and future earnings growth instead of dividend payout ratio. The sample of this study includes companies listed on Taiwan Stock Exchange and the OTC market from 1991 to 2016. Results of the fixed effect model shows that there is a significantly positive relationship between dividend payout ratio and the growth of future profitability. Proxy variables for growth opportunities are used in the　fixed effect model to further verify whether the positive relationship can be explained by free cash flow theory. Our results support the explanation, indicating that the positive relationship between dividend payout ratio and the growth of future profitability is stronger when growth opportunities are low. Companies can reduce agency costs by paying out dividends to shareholders, and the returns of investment opportunities on the market are unaffected by competition force, which results in the counter-intuitive phenomenon of higher dividend payout ratio and subsequent growth of future profitability.

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