This study examines how the investment opportunity set of the firm affects financing choices the firm makes. In a two-period, one decision, no-tax model, we show that firms characterized by a high level of investment opportunities in future periods issue equity and convertible securities while firms with fewer investment opportunities in future periods issue straight debt. Our empirical design improves upon previous studies in two important ways. First, we treat convertible debt separately from straight debt. Second, in addition to examining the correlation between investment opportunity and debt-asset ratios, we examine the incremental financing decision using discrete choice analysis. We find that the level of investment opportunities of firms making public issues of equity and convertible debt are higher than those issuing straight debt. Also, there is a negative correlation between investment opportunities and debt-asset ratios. We interpret these results to mean that investment opportunities are an important determinant of the firm’s financing policy. The direction of this relationship is the same as that predicted by the tax models of DeAngelo and Masulis (1980) and Dotan and Ravid (1985), and agency models of Myers (1977), Jensen (1986) and Stulz (1990). / Ph. D.

During the last fifteen years, the professional architecture literature has encouraged practicing architects to increase their involvement in real estate development. Such participation may take several forms ranging from early conceptual development to financial investment. A typical scenario involves a developer asking the architect to forgo all or part of his professional fee in return for an investment interest in the project. However, the literature has done little to equip these novice architects/investors with the practical tools necessary to make informed investment decisions. If an architect is considering such an investment, he must do so with an understanding of what he is giving up and what he can expect in terms of future benefits. / M. Arch.

[pt] Grande parte dos objetivos e sonhos das pessoas envolve recursos financeiros. E para que sejam alcançados, a educação financeira é crucial. Durante muito tempo, psicólogos e sociólogos se opuseram às teorias das finanças tradicionais, porque consideram que investidores, tal como qualquer ser humano, não são seres totalmente racionais. Diante de resultados adversos, estudos começaram a se dedicar a entender as relações entre finanças e aspectos psicológicos. Assim, o presente trabalho tem como objetivo analisar vieses comportamentais e possíveis influências exercidas sobre as decisões de investimento a serem tomadas por pessoas com algum conhecimento do mercado de ações. Para alcançar esse objetivo, foram realizadas as seguintes etapas: elaboração de questionário a ser respondido por sujeitos-investidores que tenham algum conhecimento do mercado de ações, de tal modo que possam atribuir graus de importância a critérios, comparativamente; análise das respostas obtidas, com a finalidade de propor uma carteira de investimento para cada perfil identificado, a partir do método AHP; identificação de vieses comportamentais nas decisões de investimento de cada sujeito-investidor e análise comparativa dos resultados obtidos; retorno aos sujeitos das carteiras propostas e questionamento se estão de acordo com o apresentado. Como resultado, observou-se que efetivamente existe uma influência desses vieses na tomada de decisão, o que corrobora a necessidade de uma educação financeira que leve em consideração aspectos comportamentais. / [en] A large part of people s goals and dreams involve financial resources. And for them to be achieved, financial education is crucial. For a long time, psychologists and sociologists opposed traditional finance theories, because they consider that investors, like any human being, are not fully rational beings. Faced with adverse results, studies began to focus on understanding the relationships between finances and psychological aspects. Therefore, the present work aims to analyze behavioral biases and possible influences exerted on investment decisions to be taken by people with some knowledge of the stock market. To achieve this objective, the following steps were carried out: preparation of a questionnaire to be answered by investor-subjects who have some knowledge of the stock market, in such a way that they can attribute degrees of importance to criteria, comparatively; analysis of the responses obtained, with the purpose of proposing an investment portfolio for each identified profile, based on the AHP method; identification of behavioral biases in the investment decisions of each investor-subject and comparative analysis of the results obtained; return to the subjects of the proposed portfolios and question whether they are in accordance with what was presented. As a result, it was observed that there is indeed an influence of these biases on decision-making, which corroborates the need for financial education that takes behavioral aspects into account.

Henkel's New Business team is a corporate venturing unit that explores corporate entrepreneurial activities on behalf of Henkel Adhesives Technologies. The new business ideas are implemented through one of these models: incubator, venturing or innovation ecosystem. In current practice, there is no systematic framework in place to choose the implementation model. The goal of the thesis is to propose a framework for choosing the most appropriate model for implementation of a new business idea in Henkel. The thesis approaches the topic on practical and theoretical grounds. The first part outlines the related literature and theoretical focus. The literature covers definitions and theories of incubator, corporate venturing, corporate venture capital, innovation ecosystem and investment decision-making process. The practical approach relates to the company case studies of Philips, 3M and BASF. In this thesis, each model is analyzed based on a broad literature review, case studies and personal interviews with experts. The second part is the main discussion and analysis of the topic assembling with practical examples in Henkel. It comes to a recommendation that Henkel should prioritize and choose the most appropriate model for the new business proposal after the "concept scoping" stage, and before detailed investigation. It also proposes a scorecard framework that entails 14 key criteria for choosing the mode: degree of market competition, potential disruptiveness, technological risk, time to market, strategic alignment, degree of customization, dependency of related industries, technological newness of related industries, idea source, protectability of intellectual property, internal expertise, technological competence, commercial competence and parenting advantages. Furthermore, a new business developing strategy matrix is constructed based on two dimensions: strategic importance and operational relatedness. It is to further check the accuracy and validity of the results from the scorecard framework. Finally, it is suggested that future research can be done to improve the framework by adding weightings and scale of each criteria within the framework.

本研究目的在探討閱聽投資人對財經新聞節目可信度之評估，及影響閱聽投資人投資決策之因素。本研究利用「內容分析法」及「深度訪談法」等多元研究方法，來進行研究資料的蒐集、分析、彙整及解釋，同時兼顧「量」與「質」二種研究途徑，以期獲得較完善的研究結果。 　　本研究以內容分析法分析財經新聞節目之內容，輔以深度訪談法訪問財經、新聞之專家學者及閱聽投資人針對財經新聞節目可信度之評估因素及影響投資決策之關鍵。在訪談題綱設計上，以「可被信任」、「專業水準」、「報導迅速、內容多元」、「社會責任」等四個影響財經新聞可信度之面向為出發進行訪談。 　　本研究發現閱聽投資人對財經新聞節目之可信度評估為：「可被信任」、「專業水準」、「報導迅速、內容多元」；財經及新聞專家學者則認為財經新聞節目除了應具備「可被信任」、「專業水準」、「報導迅速、內容多元」等影響可信度之面向以外，更應重視本身之「社會責任」。本研究結果期望能對財經新聞節目業者在經營及操作上提供參考，並提供閱聽投資人評估財經新聞節目可信度之參考指標。 / This research purpose is to probe into invest viewer's assessment to the program credibility of the financial and economic news, and influence of invest viewer's investment decision. This research utilizes plural research approaches such as the analytic approach of the content and in-depth interviewing, collection of materials, analyze, gather together whole explaining, give consideration to quantity and quality two research route at the same time, in the hope of obtaining more complete result of study. Hold the content to analyze financial and economic news program of the analytic approach within this research, complement, visit finance and economics, experts and scholars of news and read, listen to investor to financial and economic news program factor of evaluation and key to influence investment decision of credibility with in-depth interviewing. In the interview question key link design, with 'credibility ', ' professionalism', ' report rapidly, content pluralism ', 'social responsibility ',etc. Four influence financial and economic news credibility face for set out, go on interview. Discover, invest viewer's to financial and economic news credibility of program it assesses to be originally: ' credibility ', ' professionalism', ' report rapidly, content pluralism '; Finance and economics and news experts and scholars think the financial and economic news program except should possess ' credibility ', beyond ' professionalism ', ' report rapidly, content pluralism ',etc. influence credibility face, should pay attention to ' social responsibility ' even more. This result of study expects to be able to offer reference in managing and operating the financial and economic news program industry person, offer and invest viewer's to the reference indicator that investors assess the program credibility of the financial and economic news.

This thesis aims to explore and investigate the state of current investment appraisal practices within Libyan firms. In particular, the thesis attempts to answer four research questions: (1) How do Libyan firms appraise capital investments? (2) Do Libyan firms incorporate risk into their capital investment appraisal processes? (3) Do Libyan firms face capital rationing and, if so, is it externally or internally imposed? and (4) Does the availability of Islamic Finance affect Libyan firms' view of the capital investment appraisal process? This study is based on a qualitative empirical approach, with a subjectivist orientation but a main concern with the sociology of regulation; the interpretive paradigm is employed in this thesis. Rather than simply providing a simple description of the phenomena under investigation, the aim of this thesis is to interpret and understand the issues surrounding the problem being considered. Thus, this study seeks to establish a better understanding about the nature of the capital investment appraisal process in Libyan corporations, and how it differs across Libyan economic sectors. In order to provide evidence and contribute to our knowledge about this topic, two research methods, both compatible with the interpretive paradigm and consistent with the methodology and the researcher’s beliefs about the topic under investigation, are employed. The research methods used are: (i) a semi-structured interviews; then (ii) a questionnaire survey based upon the literature review and on the key results from (i). For the former, 20 interviews were conducted, involving two groups: firm-based interviewees (‘insiders’ working in firms) in five economic sectors with different size and ownership structures and ‘outsider’ interviewees (bankers, academics and chartered accountants). In the second phase, 45 questionnaires were collected from firms which operate in five economic sectors, again with various size and ownership patterns. The main findings indicate that non-financial criteria (e.g. political priorities, State development plan and personal experience) play a more important role than financial factors. While Libyan companies use multiple techniques to appraise capital investments, usage of discounted cash flow techniques (DCF), although increasing is not yet as high as in developed nations, with payback remaining the most popular. The evidence shows that the source of the funding (followed by project size and nature of the project, respectively) also plays a role in choosing the appraisal techniques. Typically, the process of capital investment appraisal in Libya appears to have five stages (determination of budget, research and development, evaluation, authorisation, and monitoring and controlling). Libyan firms consider the first of these as the most important stage. The majority of the respondents employ a post-audit phase of two years or less; about half the sampled firms conduct the post-audit by comparing the actual performance with the feasibility study on which the project was based. The companies consider real options when looking at flexibility, but they have no effect on the choice of the appraisal techniques or the process generally. Similarly, there are no changes in the techniques or the process when advanced manufacturing technology investments are considered. Regarding risk evaluation, this is mostly subjective although scenario analysis and sensitivity analysis are employed to some extent. Around 50% of the firms calculate the cost of capital, but most of these firms do so subjectively (e.g. via interest rate observations), while the rest use CAPM to calculate the cost of capital. Fewer than one in ten of the firms that calculate the cost of capital employ project-specific rates. The majority of the companies noted their experience of capital rationing, mostly of the external variety (primarily reflecting State actions). The majority of the firms claimed to be considering the Libyan Stock Market as source of funding, but not in the near future, essentially because of a lack of knowledge among Libyan companies about its functioning. The findings suggest that use of Islamic finance is not yet common among Libyan firms. However, two thirds of the firms suggested that they would use Islamic financial products to finance their future projects for several reasons; mainly religion, to avoid paying interest or demurrage, plus risk sharing though the use of Islamic financial products such as Musharakah. Those firms, which did not view Islamic finance positively, mentioned the incompatibility of the current products with Islamic Shariah law, suggesting that in reality they are just traditional financial products with Islamic names. Some notable differences between theory and practice emerged in this research. For instance, certain non-financial criteria (e.g. political priorities) were more important than financial factors. Relatedly, there was evidence of external interested parties such as academics seeing practice and ideals differently. This type of finding suggests a key contribution of this study as highlighting the need for contextual specificities to be carefully considered when investigating an issue as (theoretically) straightforward as investment decision-making in practice.

Today it is common for shares to be listed in alphabetical order in newspapers, indexes, databases, watch lists and statements. Investors often face a search problem because of the thousands of available shares. It causes investors to make use of a ready-made stock list to make a financial decision. In this study, we have investigated whether there is alphabetical bias on the Swedish stock exchange and whether it has any impact on the investment decision. Previous research shows evidence that alphabetical bias occurs in the selection of shares based on alphabetically arranged lists on the US stock exchange. In this study, a quantitative method was used for data collection, later data were processed using univariate analysis, bivariate analysis, and multivariate analysis. Using the data collected, the different variables could be calculated, Tobin's Q, Market value, Name flow, Stock turnover rate, Stock price, and Age. The result cannot ensure whether alphabetical bias occurs in the Swedish stock market, however, we can with 99% certainty determine that early placed shares receive higher Tobin's Q than late placed. / Idag är det vanligt att aktier noteras i alfabetisk ordning i tidningar, index, databaser, bevakningslistor och uttalanden. Investerare möter ofta ett sök problem på grund av de tusentals tillgängliga aktierna. Det får investerarna att ta hjälp av en färdig ordnad aktielista för att fatta ett finansiellt beslut. I den här studien har vi undersökt ifall det råder alfabetisk bias på Nasdaq Stockholmsbörsen och om det har någon inverkan på investeringsbeslutet. Tidigare forskning visar belägg för att alfabetisk bias förekommer vid val av aktier utifrån alfabetisk ordnade listor på den amerikanska börsen. I denna studie tillämpades en kvantitativ metod för datainsamlingen, senare bearbetades data med hjälp av univariat analys, bivariat analys och multivariat analys. Med hjälp av den insamlade data kunde de olika variablerna räknas fram, Tobins Q, Marknadsvärde, Namnflyt, Aktieomsättningshastighet, Aktiekurs (pris) och Ålder. Resultatet kan inte säkerställa om alfabetisk bias förekommer på den svenska aktiemarknaden, dock kan vi med 99% säkerhet fastslå att tidigt placerade aktier erhåller högre Tobins Q än sent placerade.

O presente trabalho tem por objetivo analisar a relação entre aspectos de governança corporativa e restrição financeira nas decisões de investimento de 500 firmas brasileiras de capital aberto no período de 1997 a 2007. Embora exista uma extensa literatura a respeito da decisão de investimento na presença da restrição financeira, estudos que relacionam este tema com aspectos de governança corporativa são ainda pouco explorados e inexistentes na literatura brasileira. Para examinar como os mecanismos de governança corporativa influenciam no grau de restrição financeira das firmas, utilizou-se do modelo probabilístico logit para dados em painel, estimado por efeito aleatório O relacionamento dos mecanismos de governança corporativa com a decisão de investimento das firmas na presença de restrição financeira foi analisado por meio de uma versão modificada do modelo acelerador do investimento, considerando três agrupamentos: índice KZ, tamanho das firmas e pagamento de dividendos. Na estimação, utilizou-se o método dos momentos generalizados (GMM) para considerar o aspecto dinâmico e corrigir o problema da endogeneidade do modelo. A análise da amostra indicou uma alta incidência da propriedade concentrada das firmas brasileiras, principalmente entre as firmas com natureza familiar. Os resultados mostraram que firmas com qualquer natureza de propriedade e controle elevam a sua probabilidade de restrição financeira quando o maior acionista último é o acionista controlador da firma, muito embora, a natureza do acionista controlador impacte a taxa de investimento das firmas de maneiras distintas. Firmas com estrutura de propriedade piramidal elevam sua probabilidade de restrição financeira. Este resultado combinado com a estimação do modelo de investimento evidencia que apenas pertencer a uma estrutura de propriedade piramidal não é suficiente para que haja transferência de recursos que aumentem os investimentos das firmas. O impacto da inserção da firma a um dos níveis diferenciados de governança corporativa da BM&FBOVESPA ou ao Novo Mercado sobre a taxa de investimento está relacionado com a situação financeira da firma. O aumento nos direitos de fluxo de caixa dos maiores acionistas últimos contribui para reduzir a sensibilidade do investimento ao fluxo de caixa, sendo que, o mesmo não foi observado para o aumento nos seus direitos de voto. / This study aims to investigate the relationship between aspects of corporate governance and financial constraints on investment decisions of 500 Brazilian public traded firms over the period of 1997-2007. Although studies of financial constraints and investment decisions are extensive in literature, its relationship with aspects of governance is little explored and inexistent for Brazilian economy. To examine how aspects of corporate governance influences the likelihood of firm\'s financial constraints, it was used the logit probabilistic model to panel data estimated by random effect. The relationship between corporate governance mechanisms and investment decisions on firm\'s financial constraints was analyzed by a modified version of accelerator investment model, considering three groups: KZ index, firm\'s size and dividends payout. In the estimation, it was used the generalized moments method (GMM) to consider the dynamic aspect and to correct the endogeneity problem in the model. The sample analysis indicated a high incidence of concentrated ownership among Brazilian firms, mainly in family firms. The results showed that firms with any type of ownership and control raises their likelihood of financial constraint when the largest ultimate shareholder is the controller of the firm, although the nature of the controlling shareholder impacts investment rate of firms in different ways. Pyramidal ownership firms also raise the likelihood of financial constraint. This result combined to results of investment model evidences that only belong to pyramidal ownership structure is not sufficient to have transfer of resources that raises the firm\'s investment rate. The impact of the association of firm\'s to BM&FBOVESPA differential levels of corporate governance or to Novo Mercado on investment rate is related to financial status of the firm. The increase in cash flow rights of the largest ultimate shareholder contributes to reduce investment-cash flow sensitivity, however, the same was not observed to the increase in voting rights.

Choosing the right investment option by a fund manager or analyst is the first step that contributes to the overall performance of any portfolio of assets. The decision making process is complicated. Markowitz portfolio theory (1952, 1959) laid the theoretical foundations for asset selection and management. However the decision maker is influenced by parameters outside the realm of financial theory and mathematical models (French and French 1997; French 2001). The actual behavior of decision makers can deviate from this normative model. This can be due to the problem solving behavior of the human brain. Human problem solving theory began with the work of Newell and Simon (1972) and Simon (1978). They argue that the human memory is characterized by limitations in terms of processing capacities (Newell and Simon 1972). Given the amount of data the decision maker has to analyze, the process of asset selection is complicated and difficult. Besides the volume of data, the information items may provide information relating to the same aspect of the asset making some of the data set redundant. Besides that, some of information contained in the data set might provide contradictory signals about the performance or characteristics of the asset. Thus the information set available to a decision maker is large, multi-channeled (different data providing different information) and multi-dimensional (for example real estate assets have information pertaining to legal aspects, financial aspects, physical aspects etc.). The limitations in the decision maker’s processing capabilities and the characteristics of the information cues make the asset selection process exceedingly difficult. French (2001) in a study of fund managers from U.K finds that asset allocation uses two sets of hard information during the process, namely historic data and current market perceptions. The study also finds differences between exposure levels of the funds dictated by theory (as per portfolio theory) and actual decisions made by companies (true asset allocations of funds). Gallimore, Gray and Hansz (2000) find medium-sized and small companies’ investment decision making does not follow any normative model due to the diverse nature of property markets in the United Kingdom. Past literature in the field of decision making finds that an expert’s decision making behavior differs from that of a novice. (Bedard and Mock (1992), Bouwman (1984) and Jacoby et al. (1984, 1985, 1986, 1987)). The primary purpose of this study is to understand the impact of experience on the decision making behavior of investors and see if their behavior differs from that of inexperienced individuals. In a controlled experiment design, two groups of subjects are tested. One group is composed of experienced subjects (experts) represented by real estate professionals such as acquisition analysts, fund/portfolio managers or real estate investors (experienced individuals investing either their own money or a client’s money in real estate). The other group tested is composed of students, who are inexperienced subjects (novices). Both groups are asked to choose between two investment cases in two different cities. The two options offered are both class A office properties, institutional grade. Fifteen sets of data are given for each investment option. Data for the cases is sourced from investment management companies, involved in managing funds on behalf of institutional clients. Using a process tracing technique, each subject’s behavior is observed and recorded while making the investment choice. These observations will give us insight into the actual (descriptive) behavior of experienced real estate professionals and inexperienced novices. It will help in isolating the impact of experience on the decision making behavior of real estate investors. This study finds mixed evidence relating to the difference in the behavior of novices and experts. On the five aspects that the two groups are tested, evidence that their behavior differs in three has been uncovered. They are search pattern, number of steps and time on task. However, for the other two aspects, sequencing and cue utilization, no difference was found.

Bakgrund: Investeringsplanering utgör en stor del av företagets totala planing. Behovet attinvestera har under senare år tilltagit. Anledningar till detta är bland annat;strukturomvandling, ökad priskonkurrens, optimism samt ökad ekonomisk aktivitet. Specifiktför tillverkningsindustrin är ökade kapacitetsbehov och nya produktionskrav.Tillverkningsindustrin är vidare investeringsintensiv och har under senare tid upplevt ett ökatinvesteringbehov.Problemdiskussion: Investeringar är ett ämne där ett brett utbud av tidigare forskningföreligger. Dock är processen ett relativt outforskat område. Förhållandena i små- ochmedelstora tillverkningsföretag är inte behandlade i någon nämnvärd omfattning, vilketinnebär att det finns en avsaknad av empirisk kunskap. När medelstora företag studeras tashänsyn till hela verksamheten och de förändringar de pådriver, därav är helainvesteringsprocessen relevant. Ser man till hela processen kan kalkylen vara av underordnadbetydelse. Detta ger grund till att klassiska kalkylmetoder inte bör fungera som endabeslutsunderlag, de kan inte tillgodose en fullständig bild av hur investeringen kan komma attpåverka företaget.Syfte: Vårt syfte med denna studie är att beskriva och förklara fallföretagensinvesteringsprocess fram till och med investeringsbeslut. Vårt syfte är vidare att beskriva ochatt förklara vilka faktorer som är av betydelse för fallföretagen vid investeringsbeslut.Metod: Vi har i uppsatsen använt oss av en induktiv ansats med en kvalitativforskningsinriktning. Vår forskningsdesign är flerfallstudie. Insamling av material har skettgenom personliga intervjuer med tre mellanstora företag i tillverkningsbranschen.Slutsats: Investeringsprocessen för de tre studerade fallföretagen var i många fall likartad.Processerna stämde inte överens med någon enskild process som tagits fram av tidigareforskare men genom att plocka olika delar från de olika processmodellerna kunde hela deinvesteringsprocesser som identifierats förklaras utifrån dessa modeller. Den finansiella faktorsom fallföretagen använde sig av för att jämföra investeringsalternativ var i samtliga fallPayback- metoden. Denna metod användes huvudsakligen på grund av dess enkelhet. Ickefinansiellafaktorer som påverkade investeringsbeslut var huvudsakligenkvalitetsförbättringar, val av leverantörer, arbetsmiljö, service samt produktivitet. / Background: The investment planning is a big part of a company's total planning. The needof investing has increased over the last years. The reason for this is for example; structuralchanges, increased price competition, optimism and increased economic activity. Increasedneed of capacity and new requirements in production are specific reasons for manufacturingcompanies. Manufacturing companies invests a lot and has experienced an increased need ofinvesting over the last years.Problem: Investments is a topic in which a wide range of previous research exists. However,the process is a relatively unexplored area. Conditions in the small-and medium-sizedmanufacturing companies are not discussed to a significant extent, which means that there is alack of empirical knowledge. When medium-sized companies are studied the entire companyis taken into account, hence, the entire investment process is relevant. Looking at the entireprocess, calculations can be of secondary importance. This tells us that classical calculationmethods should not serve as the sole factor for decision making as they can't give a fullpicture of how the investment could impact the company.Purpose: Our purpose with this study is to describe and explain the case-studie's investmentprocess until decision making. Our object is to describe and explain the factors that are takinginto account in the case companies when making investment decisions.Method: We have in this paper used an inductive approach with a qualitative researchapproach. Our research design is a multiple case-study. Collection of material has been madethrough personal interviews with one respondent at three medium sized companies in themanufacturing industry.Conclusion: The investment processes in the three studied companies were in many wayssimilar. The processes were not compatible with any single process developed by previousresearchers, but by picking different parts of the various process models the investmentprocesses identified could be explained by these models. The financial factor that the casecompanies used to compare investment options was in all cases the payback method. Thismethod was used mainly because of its simplicity. Non-financial factors affecting investmentdecisions were mainly quality improvements, selection of suppliers, service, workenvironment and productivity.