Foreign Investment Protection One of the signs of globalization is the flow of foreign investment, which continually increases. Because of the benefit that it can bring, there is an interest in its protection. The purpose of my thesis is to analyse the protection of foreign investment in the Czech Republic, focusing on dispute resolution. The first chapter deals with the definition of foreign investment. It is focused on this legal term in multilateral international agreements and bilateral investment treaties. The second chapter contains the sources of relevant law. The main part of the thesis is the third chapter. It characterises the concept of resolving disputes in the field of investment. The first part of the chapter describes litigation between states especially within the framework of the World Trade Organisation. The second part explains the resolution of conflicts between the investor and the target State though the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) and it examines particular provisions of the ICSID Convention. The third section of the chapter is focused on investment disputes brought before the arbitration body. The majority of bilateral investment treaties refers to the arbitration rules of UNCITRAL, which regulates the procedure. The text also discusses...

The main goal of the thesis Taxation of Investment Funds"is to describe the taxation of investment funds in the Czech Republic and to evaluate the changes proposed by CVCA and AKAT in the field of taxation of private equity funds. To achieve this goal an analysis of the current system of taxation of investment funds in the Czech Republic, proposed changes and deductions was used. The partial objectives are: describe possibilities for investing in funds, define the functioning of private equity in the Czech Republic, analyse the dependence of private equity investments on selected macroeconomic indicators, and describe the taxation of investment funds in Luxembourg and define how the PE fund taxation is disadvantageous to direct investment. In order to meet the partial objectives, the analysis of the private equity investment system, the correlation analysis of selected macroeconomic indicators and investments in private equity funds, and a description of the method of taxation of private equity funds in Luxembourg will be used. In general, when designing changes in the taxation of private equity funds, it would be advisable to draw inspiration from already established workable systems in other countries, such as Luxembourg.

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.

One of the most notorious dilemmas of international rules on the protection of foreign investment is how to decrease the tension between a state’s regulatory freedom and private property rights in addressing indirect expropriation. Bilateral investment treaties need to achieve a crucial balance: to protect the interests of foreign investors and support rights of states to regulate in pursuit of sustainable development. In dealing with indirect expropriation past tribunals relied on different approaches and adopted mutually inconsistent positions. By demonstrating this incoherence, this thesis reviews the most recent BITs and identifies an archetype of investment treaty provisions and language that may result in the interpretation of indirect expropriation most compatible with states being free to act to achieve sustainable development.

The main goal of this work is to simplify the plethora of information on the topic of investment and formulate them into a form, that is understandable for the normal investor. Thus, the investor gets the theoretical framework to find appropriate product, or a way to to invest in capital markets. Partial aim is to highlight the pitfalls associated with investing, define essential factors necessary for the proper choice of each investment and give specifics of individual investment instruments. Last but not least, simulations of selected investment instruments, assessing their development along with identification key factors having influence on the result of investment.

Subject of this diploma thesis is to provide an overview of economic theories on why companies tend to invest at foreign markets directly and thus to determine the foreign direct investment (FDI) itself. Covered areas include a foreign direct investment typology, motivation to invest, localisation factors, attractiveness and measurement of a host country business environment. Various types of FDI, methodology and forms of FDI statistical coverage analysis is included in the thesis. Three frameworks influencing all the segments of the FDI are covered in depth. These include the foreign policy factors, domestic policy factors and a process of economic transformation in the Czech Republic. Corresponding analytics map a development between a FDI and selected macroeconomic indicators of the Czech Republic. The analysis shows that foreign investment has a certain influence over selected macroeconomic indicators, however it is not always possible to quantify it as well as to predict its trend. On the other side it is often difficult to prove an influence of macroeconomic development on intensity of the FDI inflow to the Czech Republic. Keywords: foreign investment, determinants of the foreign direct investment inflow, foreign direct investment macroeconomic indicators

Kandidatuppsats (2FE24E), Civilekonomprogrammet - Controller, Ekonomihögskolan vid Linnéuniversitetet i Växjö, VT 2017 Titel: Den immateriella investeringsprocessen – En flerfallsstudie i tjänsteföretag Författare: Jesper Andersson, Linn Persson & Johan Stillerfelt Handledare: Pia Nylinder Examinator: Elin Funck Bakgrund och problem: Antalet tjänsteföretag växer ständigt och mer än hälften av alla företag i Sverige verkar inom denna bransch. Vidare är investeringar avgörande för ett företags framtida överlevnad. Mer än hälften av de investeringar som görs i svenska företag är av immateriell karaktär och den största andelen av dessa sker inom just tjänstesektorn. Trots detta faktum är forskning kring investeringsprocessen främst knuten till materiella investeringar i tillverkande företag. Hur ser då investeringsprocessen för immateriella investeringar ut i tjänsteföretag och hur konstrueras och används beslutsunderlag vid beslutsfattande? Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är att analysera och kartlägga processen för immateriella investeringar inom tjänsteföretag. Vidare är syftet att bidra med kunskap om problematiken kring konstruktionen av beslutsunderlag samt beslutslogik gällande dessa investeringar. Meningen är att belysa ett ämnesområde som inte tidigare undersökts och på så sätt göra ett bidrag inom ämnet. Metod: Uppsatsen utgår från en övervägande kvalitativ forskningsstrategi där undersökningsdesignen är en flerfallsstudie. Vidare har utgångspunkten för insamlande av empiriskt material varit semistrukturerade intervjuer. Slutsats: Investeringsprocessen för tjänsteföretag avseende immateriella investeringar kan ses som en guide eller riktmärke och består vanligtvis av faserna initiering, bedömning, beslut, utveckling, implementering och uppföljning. Beslutunderlag konstrueras i regel av mellanchefer medan högre chefer tar det slutgiltiga beslutet om investeringen. Beslutet baseras främst på strategiska analyser som kompletteras med enklare kalkyler, erfarenhet och magkänsla. Nyckelord: Tjänsteföretag, investeringsprocess, immateriell investering, beslutsunderlag, investeringsbeslut / Bachelor Thesis (2FE24E), Degree of Master of Science in Business and Economics - Controller, School of Business and Economics at Linnaeus University in Växjö, S 2017 Title: The intangible investment process – A multiple case study in service companies Authors: Jesper Andersson, Linn Persson & Johan Stillerfelt Supervisor: Pia Nylinder Examiner: Elin Funck Background and problem: The number of service companies is continuously growing and more than half of all companies in Sweden operate within this branch. Investments are furthermore crucial to the future survival of a company. More than half of the investments in Swedish companies are of intangible character and the major part of these are made within this service companies. Despite this fact research about the investment process are mainly bound to tangible investments in manufacturing companies. Then how does the investment process for intangible investments look in service companies and how is decision basis constructed and used when making decisions? Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to analyse and map the process for intangible investments in service companies. The purpose is furthermore to contribute with knowledge about the problems connected to the construction of basis for the decision and the logic behind the decision for these investments. The meaning of this is to lighten a subject that is not previously investigated. Method: The thesis is based on a predominantly qualitative research strategy in which the survey design is a multiple case study. Furthermore, the starting point for collection of empirical material has been semistructured interviews. Conclusion: The investment process for service companies in respect to intangible investments could be regarded as a guideline and usually consist of the phases initiation, evaluation, decision, development, implementation and follow-up. Decision basis is commonly constructed by middle-level bosses and the higher management usually makes the final decision about investment. The decision is primarily based on strategic analysis completed by simpler calculations, experience and gut feeling. Keywords: Service company, investment process, intangible investment, decision basis, investment decision

The focus of this thesis is on the investment climate in Estonia. The text is mainly descriptive and analytical, written using topic-related literature and statistical data. It comprises four chapters, the first two chapters aim to define investments and transnational corporations, the last two chapters describe the macroeconomic situation of the whole Baltic region, including the Republic of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The purpose of the thesis is to give its reader a brief background of Estonian economy and to analyse manufacturing sector in Estonia by comparing the efficiency in the enterprises and Estonian-owned and foreign owned enterprises.

The purpose of this study is to shed more light on whether the investment tax credit is effective in stimulating capital investment. The sample includes 104 local cooperatives. The majority of the data was collected from the files of the St. Paul, Minnesota, Bank for Cooperatives. The study has a single purpose of determining whether the changes to the Internal Revenue Code in the Revenue Tax Act of 1978 had an effect on the capital expenditure levels of farm supply cooperatives. In 1978 the investment tax credit became fully available to cooperatives. Previous abatement rules were abolished, and unused credit was then passed through in full to the cooperative membership. The research model employed is a pooled time-series and cross-sectional approach, and includes data for years 1975 through 1983. In addition to capital expenditure data, the company-specific variables are debt/asset ratio, local margin, and net margin. Economic variables are a net interest-inflation rate factor, cash receipts from farming, and loan volume of banks for cooperatives. Also included are dummy variables 0 and 1, trend variables 1-9, and interaction variables for all the main-effects variables.

Název diplomové práce v anglickém jazyce, abstrakt v anglickém jazyce a 3 klíčová slova v anglickém jazyce Title: Legal and Economic Aspects of Foreign Direct Investment with Reference to Taiwan Abstract: The thesis on "Legal and Economic Aspects of Foreign Direct Investment with Reference to Taiwan" consists of two main parts, which are divided into eight chapters. The thesis uses the methods of secondary source analysis, synthesis, and comparison. The thesis is mainly based on domestic and foreign literature, foreign legislation, documents and data of international organizations published on their websites, academic articles, textbooks, and economic studies. The first part of the thesis deals with the general issue of foreign direct investment in four chapters, both from the legal and economic points of view. The thesis introduces the reader to the definitions of investment and investor, the nature and meaning of investment, the standards of treatment of investment, and, last but not least, its legal regulation. This section aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the various aspects of foreign direct investment protection, which will provide a well-rounded insight into the subject. In the second practically oriented part, the thesis analyses foreign direct investment in Taiwan. In particular, it...