Chiu, Man Kin. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 83-88). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract --- p.i / Acknowledgement --- p.iv / Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 2 --- Literature Review --- p.11 / Chapter 3 --- The Model --- p.28 / Chapter 3.1 --- The Preliminaries --- p.28 / Chapter 3.2 --- The problem setting --- p.31 / Chapter 3.3 --- The optimal selling strategy and structural properties --- p.39 / Chapter 3.3.1 --- The optimal selling strategy --- p.39 / Chapter 3.4 --- The optimal investment decision-Making regarding capacity and investment time --- p.44 / Chapter 3.4.1 --- The optimal decision on the construction capacity --- p.45 / Chapter 3.4.2 --- The optimal decision on the starting time of the investment --- p.48 / Chapter 4 --- Numerical analysis --- p.55 / Chapter 4.1 --- The setting of the numerical example --- p.56 / Chapter 4.2 --- The numerical results --- p.63 / Chapter 4.2.1 --- The optimal capacity --- p.63 / Chapter 4.2.2 --- The optimal starting time of the construction --- p.69 / Chapter 4.2.3 --- The effect of the capacity constraint --- p.73 / Chapter 4.2.4 --- The effect of the time constraint --- p.78 / Chapter 5 --- Conclusion --- p.80 / Bibliography --- p.83

A Study of Venture Capitals¡¦ Investment Decision-Making and Performance in Taiwan: A Case of C Venture Capital Abstract Info-tech industry plays an important role in Taiwan¡¦s economic development, and for the last eighteen years a huge amount of capital invested in domestic high-tech industry by Taiwan¡¦s venture capitalists has been spurring capital formation of its high-tech industry. Moreover, the investment by venture capitals in earlier technology companies provides technology start-up teams with outstanding capital backup for management, which thus effectively promotes innovation and development of technology industry. Also, the provision of capital by venture capital industry, the talented technicians trained by ITRI, and the cluster of vertically related industries in Hsinchu Science-based industrial park jointly offer advantaged conditions for the development of such tech industries as semi-conductor, electronics information, and opto-electronic, which makes Taiwan one of the major manufacturing countries in global info-tech industry. However, venture capital is a high-risk, high-stakes investment industry; issues such as whether domestic venture capitalists have preferences in investment decision-making in terms of investing in high-tech companies at stages of seed, early, expansion, and mature, as well as which one¡¦s performance will be better when it comes to investing in domestic or foreign (mainly in America) high-tech companies are worth investigating. Still, little research on venture capitals was conducted to explore key decision factors for whether to invest and what factors cause investment projects to succeed or fail. Using C venture capital as a case, the primary purposes of this study are therefore to examine if there exists any one certain preferred decision factor for investment, to follow up the outcomes of investment projects, and to seek the factors of success and failure for these projects. The results of this study show that venture capitalists do prefer to invest at the stages of expansion and mature, for it is easier to predict the outcomes of investment projects. In addition, as a result of Taiwan¡¦s tech industry relocating to mainland China, venture capitalists¡¦ being still forbidden to invest in China, and the significantly decreasing number of domestic profitable projects, the ratio of increasing investment at the seed and early stages has been rising accordingly. Furthermore, it can be found that the investment performance on foreign high-tech companies is better than that on domestics, the ratio of investment continues rising year by year, and venture capital is moving toward globalization. In this study, the decision factors directing the investment decision-making of the board of directors in the case company are based on four dimensions of evaluation principles: (a) business starter & management team; (b) industry & market; (c) product & technology; and (d) financial planning & reward. The findings of this study show that investment target companies are more likely to be invested if they possess better technology platforms or patents than their competitors, or their products are more unique. But they are unlikely to be invested if their industrial future is uncertain or the product market is small. Also, according to the analysis of factors for the outcomes of investment projects, projects invested based on their advantaged conditions in the dimensions of industry & market and product & technology have better chance to succeed; while those invested due to being advantageous in the dimensions of business starter & management team, and financial planning & reward are more likely to fail. This study indicates that although the two decision factors of finance and management team have advantages, without the matching of industry & market and product & technology, high-tech industry is not necessarily able to gain profit; but if there are problems with the latter two factors, the companies will definitely fail, leading to bankruptcy and liquidation. To sum up, having advantages in both factors of industry & market and product & technology is more likely to profit a company, but only with the positive incorporation of management team and financial planning can it further ensure a company¡¦s success.

Investment in residential real estate involves almost all members of the public at some stage of their lives, whether this be one's first home or the purchasing of one‟s first investment property. Understanding how to maximise the return on one's investment is something that can benefit the investor from before the investment is made until after the property has been sold, if it is sold at all. Literature surveys have concluded that there are a number of variables to consider when maximising the return on investment. As residential real estate is not a perfect science, there are guidelines and routes that are more beneficial to the investor depending on the current market, environment and economic standing. A survey was undertaken by members of the public that are involved in residential real estate investment, relative to the maximisation of the return on investment in residential real estate. The salient findings include: Investors in residential real estate spend more than average to extensive time prior, to investment researching the chosen residential real estate property; Investors in residential real estate perform a feasibility study before committing to the development whereas; Investors in residential real estate make use of financial advisors/valuers/estate agents or other investors' knowledge bases in deciding whether to invest in a residential property development; Investors in residential real estate believe that their degree of knowledge about the residential property market and residential property investments are average to very high. Investors in residential real estate somewhat agree that residential real estate investors do not effectively manage their investments. It was recommended that investors make use of help and guidance when investing in residential real estate, perform a feasibility study and ensure that they know their market before investing in a project. It was also noted that location plays a large role when deciding on an investment opportunity worth investing into. By creating awareness and ensuring that all methods and guidelines have been used to maximise the returns that their proposed residential real estate investment, investors can ensure a stronger, healthier cash flow and reap the highest possible benefits from their residential real estate portfolio.

Current real estate investment decision making frameworks fail to recognise differences posited by the retail sector. The investment decision stage concerned with forecasting expected returns relies on financial and quantitative models such as those derived from the Modern Portfolio Theory. In a shopping mall environment, however, future performance is driven by nonfinancial factors, for example tenant mix and superior customer experience. Therefore, forecasting expected returns in a retail environment requires a nuanced approach relative to other commercial property sectors. Using a Balanced Scorecard framework, this study investigated the usefulness of nonfinancial factors in forecasting expected returns in retail. An electronically administered survey using a sample of institutional investors that contributed to South Africa’s SAPOA/IPD Index for 2012 was conducted. Only officials occupying investment decision making positions were invited to participate in the survey. Nonfinancial factors identified from the literature were presented to the respondents on a Likert-Style scale. In aggregate, participants to the survey possessed 156 years of commercial property experience and 56 years of retail experience. Mean scores obtained from participants’ responses were used to analyse the research findings. The study found nonfinancial factors useful when forecasting expected returns in a retail investment decision environment. Further, the study suggested the use of a Balanced Scorecard framework in order to guide developments in the area of retail investment decisions. In conclusion, the study gave direction for future research in the retail sector. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / zkgibs2014 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

The soaring number of natural hazards in recent years due largely to climate change has resulted in an even higher level of investment in flood protection structures. However, such investments tend to be made in the aftermath of disasters. Very little is known about the proactive planning of flood protection investments that account for uncertainties associated with flooding events. Understanding the uncertainties such as “when” to invest on these structures to achieve the most optimal cost-saving amount is outmost important. This study fills this large knowledge gap by developing an investment decision-making assessment framework that determines an optimal timing of flood protection investment options. It combines real options with a net present value analysis to examine managerial flexibility in various investment timing options. Historical data that contain information about river water discharges were leveraged as a random variable in the modeling framework because it may help investors better understand the probability of extreme events, and particularly, flooding uncertainties. A lattice model was then used to investigate potential alternatives of investment timing and to evaluate the benefits of delaying investments in each case. The efficacy of the proposed framework was demonstrated by an illustrative example of flood protection investment. The framework will be used to help better inform decision makers.

This thesis responds to the question 'how can sovereign wealth funds manage ambiguity in their decision-making so as to implement substantive long-term investment programmes?' The rapid growth of sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) over the past decade, due largely to booming commodity prices, has inspired optimism among many for their potential to contribute to the sustainability goals of society. SWFs are unconstrained by many of the factors that have kept pension funds from realising their potential as long-term investors and so they are well placed to make significant investments in sustainable projects with positive externalities such as infrastructure and to act as effective monitors of corporate behaviour. But many obstacles stand in the way. At the institutional level, transparency has replaced tight financial market regulation, resulting in entrenched short-termism. At the organisational level, many problems facing long-term investors are too complex to fit into traditional models of decision-making. Decentralisation is necessary to respond to this complexity but it conflicts with the coordination necessary to achieve economies of scale and scope. There may not even be an ideal outcome to coerce or incentivise agents to achieve. Taken together, these problems are understood in this thesis as ambiguity, which results from differences in interpretation and irreconcilable conflict. In contrast, most governance frameworks focus on problems of uncertainty and risk, due to missing information. This thesis has three aims. The first is to reframe the governance challenge for longterm investing in terms of managing ambiguity. Second, this thesis aims to reconcile ambiguity with legitimacy that depends on expert decision-making and provides one right answer to a clearly specified problem. Third, it provides specific examples of how ambiguity, if managed, can improve decision-making. That is, ambiguity forces us to engage with subjective reality but also provides us with a framework to do so. Ambiguity can act as a built-in adaptation mechanism to hold a coalition of diverse interests together in a rapidly changing environment, to identify synergies where others see only trade-offs and to overcome collective action problems. These constructive properties of ambiguity are explored in the four substantive chapters of this thesis, alongside specific recommendations for changes to SWF governance structures to transcend barriers to long-term investing. The first half of the thesis focuses on the earlier stages of the investment process and draws on specific examples of two SWFs. Chapter III investigates ambiguity in the Alberta Heritage Fund's inter-generational equity mandate. If managed in the form of self-reflexivity, ambiguity can contribute to overcoming the time inconsistency problem in the context of sub-national resource wealth funds. Chapter IV focuses on the irreconcilable conflict in the Norwegian Fund's ethical investment policy. It argues that agents use their discretion to interpret the policy and, in doing so, are able to align it more closely to the Fund's long-term investing mandate. The second half of the thesis extends consideration to long-term investors more broadly. Chapter V explores the delegation of shareholder engagement to portfolio managers to leverage synergies in an investment management firm. It finds that introducing ambiguity into incentive design can overcome the multi-task incentive problem. Chapter VI brings concepts explored in earlier chapters to bear on its analysis of a new market for public infrastructure assets. It argues that ambiguity provides the space necessary to bring diverse actors together to transcend collective action problems and create new institutional arrangements to support a more efficient market structure. Taken as a whole, this thesis is optimistic that, as those claiming to have the one right answer are increasingly proven wrong, ambiguity will earn its rightful place in the study and practice of finance.

The aim of this thesis is to describe the process of investment decision-making from the perspective of theory and describe the methods used in choosing the best options of investment decision and to determine the best investment option for the company.The thesis is divided into two parts. The aim of the first part is to describe metods which are used for evaluation of the effectiveness of the investment. The main part of the thesis is a practical part. The aim of practical part is to describe the proces development of present legislation as a main risk factor of Investment. The other aim of the thesis is to evaluate and recommend the most advantageous variant. Last but not least aim is to create a model which will be helpful also for other companies in the same situation.

Infrastructure management agencies are facing multiple challenges, including aging infrastructure, reduction in capacity of existing infrastructure, and availability of limited funds. Therefore, decision makers are required to think innovatively and develop inventive ways of using available funds. Maintenance investment decisions are generally made based on physical condition only. It is important to understand that spending money on public infrastructure is synonymous with spending money on people themselves. This also requires consideration of decision parameters, in addition to physical condition, such as strategic importance, socioeconomic contribution and infrastructure utilization. Consideration of multiple decision parameters for infrastructure maintenance investments can be beneficial in case of limited funding. Given this motivation, this dissertation presents a prototype decision support framework to evaluate trade-off, among competing infrastructures, that are candidates for infrastructure maintenance, repair and rehabilitation investments. Decision parameters’ performances measured through various factors are combined to determine the integrated state of an infrastructure using Multi-Attribute Utility Theory (MAUT). The integrated state, cost and benefit estimates of probable maintenance actions are utilized alongside expert opinion to develop transition probability and reward matrices for each probable maintenance action for a particular candidate infrastructure. These matrices are then used as an input to the Markov Decision Process (MDP) for the finite-stage dynamic programming model to perform project (candidate)-level analysis to determine optimized maintenance strategies based on reward maximization. The outcomes of project (candidate)-level analysis are then utilized to perform network-level analysis taking the portfolio management approach to determine a suitable portfolio under budgetary constraints. The major decision support outcomes of the prototype framework include performance trend curves, decision logic maps, and a network-level maintenance investment plan for the upcoming years. The framework has been implemented with a set of bridges considered as a network with the assistance of the Pima County DOT, AZ. It is expected that the concept of this prototype framework can help infrastructure management agencies better manage their available funds for maintenance.

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) data has been seen as a tool to implement Sustainability in investment companies. This non-financial data has brought along new type of information into the investment process, resulting in a profound transformation for companies. In order to adapt to the new realities of climate change and social challenges, companies must understand that changes in organization processes are essential to address the outcomes that ESG data will bring. Organizational changes are often caused by internal and external factors, allowing organizations to develop new processes and results that can influence the adoption of a new organizational culture approach. This study analyzes the essential organizational changes in terms of structure and culture. The authors used a multi-case study of two Asset management companies and an external group of experts to do so. The case analysis was conducted through a qualitative content analysis based on semi-structured interviews with nine employees and two external experts within the Asset Management industry. The study results show that ESG plays a vital role in organizational development, forcing structural changes and a new approach toward organizational culture in Asset Management companies.

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.