Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Keith Harris / For an Evergreen Seed Agent, making the financial decision to invest in bulk infrastructure is a large capital investment and requires a great deal of considerations. This thesis determines the soybean sales volume required for an investment in bulk soybean infrastructure to become financially feasible. A total of 1,456 soybean sales data points were used to run a regression model. Based on the results of the regression model, a correlation was determined between those agents that have bulk soybeans and soybean sales growth in comparison to those agents that did not have bulk soybeans. A “Bulk Soybean Decision Tool” was constructed and demonstrates costs and earnings of an Evergreen Seed Agent over a five-year period. The financial feasibility analysis concluded that the soybean volume required to consider investing in bulk soybeans is 8,488 units. In addition to a break-even analysis, three other base year volume scenarios were demonstrated. At the 3,233 unit base soybean sales volume, it is not financially feasible to invest in bulk. At the 10,265 unit base soybean sales volume, it is finically feasible to invest in bulk soybeans. Lastly, at the 18,912 unit base soybean sales volume, it is finically feasible to invest in bulk soybean infrastructure. The capabilities of the “Bulk Soybean Decision Tool” are significant for any Evergreen Seed Agent considering investing in bulk soybean infrastructure. Ensuring that an Evergreen Seed Agent is making a sound financial investment in bulk soybean infrastructure will allow for an increased adoption in infrastructure, resulting in increased soybean sales volume across the distribution network.

Orientador: Gelson Luis Adabo / Banca: Renata Garcia Fonseca / Banca: Ricardo Faria Ribeiro / Resumo: O estudo avaliou a expansão térmica dos materiais metálicos titânio c.p. (RMI Company, Ohio, EUA), Co-Cr-Mo-W (Dentaurum, Pforzhem, Alemanha) e Ni-Cr (Dentaurum, Pforzhem, Alemanha) para estimar a contração de fundição do titânio e determinou a expansão de presa e térmica dos revestimentos fosfatados Rematitan Plus (Dentaurum, Pforzhem, Alemanha), específico para titânio e Rema Exakt (Dentaurum, Pforzhiem, Alemanha) e Castorit Super C (Dentaurum, Pforzhem, Alemanha). Cada concentração de líquido especial foi variada na proporção de (100%, 75% e 50%) de água destilada, com o objetivo de determinar em que concentração de líquido e em que temperatura a somatória da expansão de presa e térmica seriam suficientes para compensar a contração estimada. Para a dilatometria dos metais padrões de cera com 14 mm de altura e 7 mm de diâmetro foram obtidos a partir de um padrão metálico, em seguida, montados em base formadora de cadinho com o conduto de alimentação e incluídos com cada revestimento na concentração de 100%. Os padrões foram incluídos e aquecidos no forno EDG (EDG - Equipamentos, São Carlos, SP). O Ti c.p. foi fundido na máquina Discovery - Plasma (EDG - Equipamentos, São Carlos, SP), e as outras ligas a fundição ocorreu em máquina de fundição centrífuga convencional. Após o polimento, os corpos de prova foram analisados e a expansão térmica foi registrada no Dilatômetro DIL 409 (Netzch) em atmosfera de ar, numa taxa de aquecimento de 10ºC/min. O Ti c.p. foi aquecido até 1550ºC, o Co-Cr-Mo-W até 1160ºC e o Ni-Cr até 1090ºC. Para a medida da expansão de presa, os revestimentos foram misturados com líquido especial e vertidos no molde de silicone (Siqmol) com cavidade de 50 mm X 10 mm X 10 mm. Uma lâmina de vidro e o apalpador (Tesa)...(Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: This study evaluated the thermal expansion of the metallic materials titanium c.p. (RMI Company, Ohio, USA), Co-Cr-Mo-W (Dentaurum, Pforzhem, Germany) and Ni-Cr-Mo (Dentaurum, Pforzhem, Germany) to estimate the casting shrinkage of titanium and determine the setting and thermal expansion of phosphate-bonded investment materials. This investment used were Rematitan Plus (Dentaurum, Pforzhem, Germany), specific for titanium, Rema Exakt (Dentaurum, Pforzhem, Germany) and Castorit Super C (Dentaurum, Pforzhem, Germany). Each concentration of special liquid/distilled/water was varied in which ratio by 100%, 75% and 50%. This aim of this study was to determine what liquid concentration and temperature the overall expansion could be enough to compensate the casting shrinkage. For the dilatometry of the metals, wax patterns (14 mm X 7 mm) were made, attached to sprue, mounted in and mounted on crucible formers and included in 100% of special liquid. The invested patterns were heated in a burnout EDG (EDE - São Carlos - Brazil). Ti c.p. was casting in the machine Discovery - Plasma (EDG - Equipments, São Carlos, SP), and the other alloys were casting in a conventional centrifugal casting machine. After polishing, the samples were analyzed and the thermal expansion was recorded in the equipment Dilatômetro DIL 409 (Netzch) in air's atmosphere, in a rate of heating of 10ºC/min. The Ti c.p. was heated up to 1550ºC, the Co-Cr-Mo-W up to 1160ºC and Ni-Cr-Mo up to 1090ºC. For measurement of the vertical setting expansion, those investments were mixed with special liquid and invested into silicone moulds of the metal pattern (50 mm x 10 mm x 10 mm). A glass plate and dial gauge were seated on the sample, and after two hours the setting expansion was measured (Se). The distance between the ends (De)...(Complete abstract, click electronic access below) / Mestre

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-12T15:53:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 arquivo1924_1.pdf: 3478481 bytes, checksum: a0f58f98b37132402ca52683d62410df (MD5) license.txt: 1748 bytes, checksum: 8a4605be74aa9ea9d79846c1fba20a33 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009 / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Amazonas / As empresas de software brasileiras buscam conquistar cada vez mais o mercado nacional e internacional, os quais estão mais competitivos. A estratégia viável é investir no aumento da qualidade e produtividade. O foco desse trabalho é investigar fatores relevantes para mensurar o Return on Investment (ROI) em Melhoria de Processo de Software (MPS). Com o objetivo de propor um framework constituído por fases baseado nos conceitos da ROI Methodology, utilizando indicadores utilizados por David Rico em ROI of SPI e uma seleção de medições utilizadas para MPS. As fases são: Identificação do problema; Diagnóstico detalhado; Estimativa de ROI; Implementação e Encerramento. Para cada fase, baseados no paradigma GQM Goal-Question-Metric foram definidos indicadores de medição para monitorar o FROISPI. As quatro primeiras fases seguem o conceito clássico do PDCA, que para cada solução sugerida de melhoria, analisa seus resultados e se os mesmos forem considerados plenamente satisfatórios, seguirá para a fase de Encerramento, caso contrário o processo cíclico continua até a necessidade de melhoria ser satisfeita. Na fase de Encerramento serão apresentados à alta direção os resultados alcançados com a utilização do FROISPI. O experimento foi executado em três organizações de maturidade bem distintas, mas somente uma organização conseguiu concluir com êxito

This thesis examines Canadian FDI (foreign direct investment) in China from 1978 to 2006 in the context of globalization and with a focus on the challenges faced by Canadian firms when doing business in China. Building on John Dunning's 'eclectic model' of FDI and Kobrin’s ‘bargaining’ approach, this study explores the relative importance of home country (Canadian) and host country (Chinese) factors in explaining outcomes for Canadian firms in China in the mining, manufacturing and service sectors. Using interview data collected from Canadian high-level management personnel working in these sectors during 2005 the study argues that it has been largely the host country factors that have been at work in causing difficulties for Canadian companies in China. These include issues such as Chinese government regulations and institutions, cultural differences between Canada and China, as well as market and business environment impediments in China. On the other hand, home country factors, particularly the small size of Canadian firms in China, have also played an important part in affecting the operations of Canadian firms there. The empirical analysis of the mining, manufacturing and service sectors revealed that Canadian firms in China are not a homogenous group and their experience and challenges can only be understood in the context of the particular sector that they are engaged in. In particular, Canadian firms in the mining sector have been more subject to pressures from the Chinese state, while firms in the manufacturing sector have been subject more to factors surrounding the Chinese market and business environment. Firms in the service sector have fallen in between, and have been subject to both factors such as state regulation and local market and business conditions. The survey analysis of some Canadian successful firms in China also suggests that the fate of Canadian firms does not hinge solely on cultural dynamics associated with either home or host country or regulatory issues, but also on the very real efforts that individual companies make to understand local conditions, and to become accustomed and to prosper in China. / Arts, Faculty of / Geography, Department of / Graduate

Although investment in IT is growing rapidly, a number of studies have shown that the full benefits of this technology are not realised. One explanation is that these benefits exist, but have not been correctly measured. The other explanation is that they have not been achieved because of lack of management attention. Experience and common sense supports the latter assumption. Hence, the aim of this research is to develop and to trial a method which assists in the realisation of the benefits of a particularly problematic technology, executive information systems (EIS).The proposed method introduces the concept of generic benefits models into previous research on IT benefits management. This construct improves existing methods of benefits management in three respects. First, it employs reuse of benefits models in order to speed their development. Secondly, it allows these methods to be employed at any stage of a project, not just at the outset, in order to extract benefits. Thirdly, it provides a conceptual object which serves as the focus of organisational learning. The major focus of the research is on the development of generic benefits models of EIS. This requires an understanding of the role which information plays in executive work and how EIS technology may affect the manner in which executives use information. Unfortunately, the literature on executive work does not make this clear. Moreover, it seems that there is no agreed definition of EIS. As a result, it is necessary to create different generic models for different theories of executive work and different forms of EIS. The methodological approach adopted is pragmatism, in particular the experimentalism proposed by John Dewey and implemented by Donald Schon. The justification for this is that the primary objective of the study is to demonstrate the utility of the proposed method rather than its ability to explain, predict, or provide insight. The study includes six experiments conducted within the office of the Malaysian Prime Minister. Different types of EIS, with different degrees of benefits already realised, and at different stages of development are the subjects of these experiments. The results largely affirm the proposed method, but they do suggest some refinement of the original benefits models. They also indicate simplification of the models is possible. In addition the executives who participated in these experiments favour the proposed method. However, the IS practitioners in the organisation are less enthusiastic. The study proposes a solution to this problem which includes both changes to organisational structure and to the education of IS practitioners. The research also produced a number of supplementary findings. It reaffirmed the findings of Mintzberg's study of executive work. It demonstrated once again that executives rarely use EIS directly and that they mostly depended on subordinates to access information. When executives do employ EIS themselves, they are more likely to use it to enhance their learning than to support decision-making.

Magíster en Estrategia Internacional y Política Comercial / This report explores the question: Why do foreign oil companies continue operate in exploration and production activities in Bolivia’s hydrocarbon industry after its 2006 nationalization? The history of Bolivia’s hydrocarbon industry is filled with cycles of nationalization and privatization. Each cycle has produced dramatic changes in Bolivia’s petroleum fiscal regime. Bolivia’s 2006 nationalization of its hydrocarbon industry has given Bolivia an international reputation as a high risk country to investment in. However, foreign direct investment is still occurring since the 2006 nationalization. The most interesting aspect of this continued foreign direct investment is that, the majority of it is from existing foreign companies that were there before the 2006 nationalization. This report exposes the underlying reasons as to why foreign companies continue to operate in Bolivia’s hydrocarbon sector despite its most recent nationalization in 2006. A historical analysis will be conducted on Bolivia’s hydrocarbon industry; more specifically, the time period between 1990 until 2009 will be the main focus of this report. The legal changes in Bolivia’s hydrocarbon industry since the 1990s will be evaluated in order to understand Bolivia’s strategy of nationalization in 2006. Throughout the history of Bolivia’s petroleum fiscal regime, there has been a fluctuation of contractual agreements in use with foreign oil companies. After 2006, Bolivia’s contractual agreements finally began to benefit the state by allowing it to receive its fair share of wealth from its hydrocarbon resources. Additionally, Bolivia’s “nationalization” did not involve expropriation; instead it consisted of the enforcement of renegotiations of contractual agreements between the Bolivian State and foreign oil companies. The renegotiations are instrumental in explaining why foreign companies continue to operate in Bolivia’s hydrocarbon industry after its nationalization in 2006. This report will focus on examining Bolivia’s contractual agreements from 1990 until 2009 in order understand why foreign oil companies continue to operate in Bolivia’s hydrocarbon industry in spite of its 2006 nationalization. Bolivia’s main source of revenue comes from foreign companies’ exploitation and exploration of its hydrocarbon resources, yet Bolivia has always lost its fair share of wealth from its natural resources due to unfavorable contractual agreements with foreign oil companies. 3 Universidad de Chile Before the 2006 Nationalization, Bolivia had continuously given foreign investors the majority of revenue from its hydrocarbon resources in an effort to attract and keep foreign investors in its hydrocarbon industry. In the 1990s, Bolivia wanted to increase its levels of foreign direct investment in order to import new technologies as well as to improve the expertise in exploration, extraction, transport and production activities within its hydrocarbon industry. Bolivia’s main goal behind seeking FDI was to develop its hydrocarbon sector in order to increase its national wealth from its natural resources. In addition, Bolivia’s hydrocarbon sector was extremely undeveloped. The Bolivian State was ill equipped and had inefficient state assets to develop its hydrocarbon industry. Bolivia’s petroleum fiscal regime in the 1990s was designed to favor foreign investors in order to attract and maintain foreign investment within its hydrocarbon industry. However, this caused Bolivia to lose significant control over its hydrocarbon industry as well as the wealth from its hydrocarbon resources. As a result, it became necessary for Bolivia in 2006 to renegotiate their contracts with foreign energy companies in order for Bolivia to obtain its fair share of revenue from its hydrocarbon resources. Since 2005, the government has sought to increase its share of total hydrocarbon revenues. In May 2005, the former president, Carlos Mesa introduced a new Hydrocarbon Law No. 3058 which created a direct tax, the IDH (Direct Tax on Hydrocarbons), which required companies to pay 32% of production value to the state, in addition to an 18% royalty rate that was already required. However, this law was not yet implemented until Evo Morales became the president of Bolivia in 2006. Shortly after Evo Morales became president of Bolivia, he implemented the 2006 Nationalization Decree which mandated the Hydrocarbon Law No. 3058. This law required renegotiation of contractual agreements with all foreign oil companies operating in Bolivia. The Law No. 3058 made the Bolivian State owner of all hydrocarbon resources and private companies were permitted to only keep 18 percent of production value. This law also nationalized refineries and hydrocarbon distribution companies in order to ensure the presence of Bolivia’s national oil company YPFB (Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos) in every stage of the value chain. These actions, together with the rising international hydrocarbon prices have increased the Bolivian state’s hydrocarbon revenues. 4 Universidad de Chile The information obtained from the research in this report, will explain why foreign companies continue to operate in exploration and production activities in Bolivia’s hydrocarbon industry since its 2006 nationalization. Bolivia’s strategy behind its nationalization and its current use of contractual agreements will provide the main arguments as to why foreign companies continue to operate in Bolivia in spite of its hydrocarbon nationalization in 2006.

The aim of this diploma thesis is to present a systematical view on basic aspects of forms of organisation of investment funds in the light of the Act No. 240/2013 Sb, on Investment Companies and Investment Funds with main focus on those of them which are regulated within the legal system of the Czech Republic in the most comprehensive and specific manner and to simultaneously analyze advantages (eventually disadvantages) regarding application thereof. The first chapter deals with elementary issues of mutual funds, describes its assets and detriments and also offers brief historical overview of its development in Czech legal system from its beginnings until current regulation which mainly lies in harmonization with the legislature of European Union. The aim of the second chapter is to define the term of the investment fund according to current legal regulation in comparison to its definition pursuant to the previous one. Furthermore, it outlines basic classification of investment funds in accordance with their division based on the place of business, legal personality and number of investors. The third chapter focuses on basic characteristics of collective investment funds, distinguishes standard collective investment funds and special collective investment funds and above all it enumerates...

Human interaction with gold can be traced far back in history, and throughout history, the metal has been both worshipped and fought for. People almost intuitively place a high value on this yellow metal and gold has always had a special place in the human heart. Nonetheless, the question many irresolute investors seek the answer to today is whether gold deserves a special place in their investment portfolios. The main purpose of this quantitative study was to determine whether gold is an appropriate diversifier for Swedish investors, and to find the optimal weight of gold in a Swedish equity portfolio. Corresponding properties of other precious metals silver and platinum were also investigated for comparative purposes. One of the reasons for augmented interest in investing in gold is the perceived risk in the economy. The theoretical framework for the study was Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT). The insight of MPT is that efficient diversification handles the risk better than individual assets. Risk management is especially crucial in an era of heightened economic, financial and political uncertainty as today. At the same time, rising correlation among traditional diversifiers make diversification more difficult. Gold, influenced by its history as a currency, has often taken the role as an inflation hedge and a portfolio stabilizer during turbulent financial markets. Inflation hedge assets like gold should be negatively correlated with the market and should give the best diversification benefits in a portfolio. This indicates that gold may be an appropriate diversifier in an equity portfolio. The study took the perspective of Swedish investors, and a Swedish equity index was therefore used as proxy for a well-diversified portfolio. Registry data for past prices of assets over a period of 47 years were obtained via a study published on the official website of the Swedish central bank and Thomson Reuters Datastream. Excess returns were then calculated and processed to obtain descriptive and inferential statistics. The optimal weights of gold and the other precious metals in an investment portfolio were calculated under the optimization framework of maximization of the Sharpe ratio where reward to volatility is highest. The calculations were performed for eight different holding periods. Results show near 0, or weak positive correlations between Swedish domestic equity and gold during the examined periods. On stand-alone basis, gold is superior to other precious metals in most of the studied periods, but all three precious metals have potential to function as diversifiers in an investment portfolio that is only devoted to Swedish domestic equities. Therefore, weightings of 9% gold, 12% silver and 9% platinum are preferred to improve the performance of the Swedish equity portfolio. However, the Sharpe ratio does not take into account the ethics of investing and possible environmental and social consequences. Therefore, the suggested allocation of gold in this study may not be a sustainable investment at long term.

This thesis investigates the interplay of context with culture on strategic investment decision (SID) making practises in strategic management accounting, strategic management, cross cultural management and global strategic management research in Singapore using three research questions. These research questions commence from an inter-country perspective on SID making and narrow down to the theme of foreign versus domestic investments. The three research questions are: Research question 1(RQ1): Do strategic management accounting, strategic management and cultural aspects vary across Singaporean companies in SID making? Research Question 2 (RQ 2): Can SID differences be explained by using a four way categorisation of firms? Research Question 3 (RQ3): Do decision making practises for international SIDs differ from domestic SIDs? The first research question aims to determine country versus context specific SID making practises using Singapore as the research context. Having acknowledged unique country specific influences on SID making practises in the analysis conducted using the first research question, the second research question segments the Singaporean SIDs in conjunction with the international SIDs into four contextual categories using unique contextual differences that are highlighted in the analysis. The third research question aims to ascertain unique aspects of SID research that can be applied to global strategic management research. To address RQ3, the findings from RQ1 and RQ2 are consolidated in tandem with global strategic management research in order to distinguish between foreign direct investments versus domestic investments in SID making. Drawing on Singapore as the empirical focus for fieldwork, a multi-tiered case analysis system is used. The methods chapter illustrates the pilot study and thirty case studies that are conducted over two years over three stages with representative companies from the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors. In the detailed case study approach taken by the researcher; web-based research, questionnaire modifications, interviews, field visits, factory observations and financial reports collection are duplicated in Stages one to three to ensure comparability with the previous phases. In the discussion section, the dominating themes from the results chapters are used as comparison with multi-country research in order to investigate the three research questions in detail. In total, nineteen expectations that are derived from the literature review covering the dimensions of strategic management accounting, strategic management, cross cultural management and global strategic management are extracted and compared with actual SID making practises exhibited in the 30 case studies. Cultural similarities within the thirty Singaporean SIDs are contrasted with unique cultural features of U.S, U.K, Japanese and German firms using RQ1. Beyond financial variables, culture specific differences are specifically highlighted for the dimensions of intuition, power distance relationships, long term orientation and minimum financial versus strategic emphasis in the Singaporean sample. In RQ1’s analysis, it is found that Singaporean firms exhibit the highest degree of future orientated behaviour, power distance relationships in conjunction with lower levels of assertiveness and in-group collectivism when contrasted with U.K, U.S, Japanese and German firms. However, some contextual differences are apparent within the Singaporean sample which RQ2 seeks to explain. In RQ2’s analysis, the thirty firms are structured into Market Creators, Value Creators, Refocusers and Restructurers where marked distinctions in financial flexibility, financial expectations and attitude towards financial targets are found. Further observations found that firms in the tertiary sector favour readiness in SID making, as compared to planned SID making approaches in the secondary and primary sectors. Hence, it is concluded that culture and context both play important roles in different aspects in SID making. RQ3’s analysis aims to show subtle distinctions between overseas and domestic SIDs. It is found that firms investing in overseas SIDs are inclined to be longer-term in their SID making approach than firms who have a higher propensity to invest in domestic SIDs. The approaches for host country selection differ for the 4 contextual categories. The Market Creators tend to be influenced by the availability of closeknitted partners when investing overseas. In contrast, the Refocusers and Restructurers are highly customer-driven whereas the Value Creators are attracted by the host country’s market potential. From the literature summary of the four unique dimensions pertinent to SID making, a pre-conceptual framework is derived. In the discussion section, the pre-conceptual framework is restructured into a post-conceptual framework where themes common to the Singaporean and multi-country SIDs that have been used for comparative analysis are emphasised. This framework concludes the thesis by combining both contextual and cultural themes using research from the eastern and western contexts.

Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Allen M. Featherstone / Understanding determinants of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Agricultural Foreign Direct Investment (AGFDI) is vital to policy makers in developing countries. FDI is a source of capital for the host country that does not affect its debt balance. Even so, technological spillover, better infrastructure as well as an increase in value added and market access have been the source of motivation to increase efforts to attract FDI. As for AGFDI, ongoing uncertainty with the financial markets created a shift in private investment towards tangible assets, which favors AGFDI to developing countries. Nevertheless, investment in agriculture suffers from low commodity prices and increasing productivity loss that discourage FDI and AGFDI. Therefore, it is crucial for policy makers to understand the determinants of AGFDI to create an attractive environment for potential investors. We use country level panel data to estimate the impacts of country-level economic and social variables on FDI and AGFDI. The data consist of 22 developing countries. A subsample of 13 Latin American countries is also studied. Country and year fixed effects are used to isolate the impacts of the explanatory variables on FDI and AGFDI. The explanatory variables wer constructed to avoid contemporaneous endogeneity. FDI determinants are consistent with previous studies and confirm traditional variables such as economy size, infrastructure and trade openness encourage FDI. A new variable that measures energy imports as a share of total energy use was negative for both main samples of FDI. The results of the Latin American panel for AGFDI, were mostly consistent with FDI determinants. Infrastructure, energy imports and economy size, as well as forestland share and agricultural value-add were statistically significant for the amount of investment inflow and total flow respectively. Further analysis with larger samples is necessary to confirm findings. Also, social and environmental impacts of AGFDI should be included in future studies.