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Across the globe, privatisation has become one of the key instruments in the economic reform process. The study investigates the impact of privatisation on selected privatised firms in Lesotho. An evaluation was made of former parastatals that included the Government of Lesotho directly-owned enterprises and Lesotho Bank companies that had since been privati sed, after being declared poor performers and that had been regular recipients of Government subsidies for their survival. The country is in the process of rebuilding its economy after experiencing a major setback in its economy in the late 1990's due to a political crisis. Privatisation was seen as one way of fulfilling this enormous task. Hence, the Government of Lesotho decided to offload some of its enterprises to the public whom they believed to be capable of running them in a profitoriented manner given efficient management and fresh capitalisation. Public participation through share ownership is involved in this process therefore it is important to evaluate these companies' performances. Shareholders are primarily interested in improving their values through maximising profits, and in tum getting high returns. This study also measures the effects of privatisation in Lesotho in terms of its contributions to the welfare of shareholders and individual corporate performances, with emphasis on the theoretical background to the subject and the opinions of directors, managements and employees of selected companies towards the critical performance changes that occurred in the pre and post privatisation era ranging from the late 1990s to date. After the analysis, the investigation revealed that the selected companies performed indifferently. Some organisations managed to grow financially and in size, while others struggled in the new competitive environments. Whilst the study did not show their individual financial performances, it did highlight the effects of privatisation on these companies in an economic manner. It was also established that Lesotho had significantly different objectives ofprivatisation to those of other countries especially developed ones. Key Words: Privatisation, state-owned enterprise, shareholders, ownership, corporate performance, Lesotho, economy, private sector, public sector. / Thesis (M.Acc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2005.

The first essay of this dissertation focuses on studying the relationship between private politics and corporate environmentalism. This work analyzes the determinants and effects of two private political actions, boycotts and proxy contests. The analysis shows that: (i) the size of a firm is an important predictor of whether a firm will be chosen as a target of an activist campaign; (ii) firms headquartered in states with larger environmental constituencies are more likely to be targeted by activist campaigns; (iii) "dirty firms" (with larger relative or absolute emissions and/or high level of regulatory scrutiny) are more likely to become targets of an activist campaign; and (iv) private political campaigns are effective in improving the environmental performance of their targets. The second essay examines the trends in Total Factor Productivity (TFP) and investigates the effects of major changes in the economy on measures of TFP in eight industries during the Interwar period from 1919 through 1939. TFP estimates show that each industry followed a different path of TFP change. There is no consistent evidence on large TFP decline during the years 1929-33 in the industries studied, as proposed in the literature. TFP measures also do not support the hypothesis that the 1930s were a period of interrupted TFP growth but there is evidence that five industries out of eight had higher productivity in the 1930s than in the 1920s. Regression analysis of major determinants of the TFP change for the motor vehicles and the cotton goods industry shows that TFP fell with increases in employment and strike activity. The NRA code might have also contributed to a decline in TFP.

Motivation, job satisfaction and their links with productivity have been researched for decades, with many researchers producing contradictory findings. This topic has become especially important in recent times as companies struggle in a challenging economic environment. The organisation that successfully implements strategies which address these issues can gain a significant competitive advantage, as a sustainable increase in productivity from their staff will result in running costs being reduced. This study was carried out on the short-term insurance industry within South Africa and investigated the impact that motivation and job satisfaction have on productivity within the organisation. The study comprised a literature review, which includes the following concepts: a definition of motivation, motivational theories, driving forces of motivation, skills variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, job feedback and organisational productivity. These topics provided insight into motivation, job satisfaction and productivity. A quantitative research methodology was used for this study to understand the relationship between job satisfaction, motivation and productivity. Due to the research being carried out on one insurance company, which the researcher had access to, a non-probability convenience sampling method was used. A key finding was that employees who were motivated or satisfied with their job were more productive. However, staff who were not motivated did not believe they were unproductive. The study also found that there was a relationship between motivation and job satisfaction. One of the recommendations of this study is that companies should empower staff to make decisions, as this is a key factor in them being motivated. Furthermore, job satisfaction is driven by one’s personal beliefs about whether or not their job is important to the organisation; therefore, companies should ensure that managers communicate with their staff regarding how their job affects the organisation. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2011.

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Thesis (PhD) -- University of Western Sydney, 2003. / Bibliography: leaves 356 - 370.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2008. / Title from first page of PDF file (viewed September 3, 2008). Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 98-104).