This thesis describes in depth what the steps for a successful business project are: from an idea to its implementation. Every business project may be regarded as an investment. I followed the institutions involved and then the instruments needed, but the next logical step in order to complete the picture would be the human factor. Because all the knowledge base on how to support the mission (idea and its goal), how to manage the project, and what kind of players to involve in the end is executed by people. Humans are incapable of predicting the future, but are perfect in adapting to new realities. Similarly, no capital budget can be perfectly coinciding with expected performance. No matter how many times the facts are checked the perfect balance is lost with time. My goal with this topic was to show that in order to bring business value and competitive advantage, good knowledge of the processes and methods is paramount. Careful planning and execution can bring in synchrony idea, raising capital, risk management, capital budgeting and execution close enough, so that in the end a business project may be titled successful.

Purpose/objectives: The study considered international Joint Venture projects (‘IJV’) and international acquisitions (for recognition purposes, the term of international Mergers & Acquisitions ‘IM&A’ is used even though mergers are not specifically part of the study) with a focus on automotive suppliers in the passenger car market and regionally on US partners. The objective was to analyse how suppliers in the automotive industry can close their strategic deficiencies through these IJV and IM&A transactions. The regional focus on US partners was chosen, as the USA is a major market for automotive suppliers (volumes/size and innovation-focus). The idea was to identify, categorise, and subsequently analyse decision-making parameters of the engagement in IJV and IM&A. Design/methodology/approach: The research had two main areas: a general literature review and an empirical part with a case study approach. As the research drew on a constructivist perspective, the empirical part of the research was conducted with a qualitative approach. At the centre were three case studies of a major German supplier analysed in depth: one IM&A, one IJV and one ‘hybrid’ transaction. These studies examined good practices, highlights, and challenges through semi-structured interviews. Senior experts in the Business Units and collaboration teams involved in these strategic projects were interviewed. Documentation reviews and the researcher’s own observations flanked these interviews. Findings: Bringing together ideas from the existing literature, and enriching them with insights from projects in the real automotive world, the current study contains valuable considerations about these complex strategic transactions. In order to enhance the deliberate use of these collaborations, the research reflected on the possible alignments of the various parameters and strategic factors. Contributions: The study represents a contribution to the practice and to the academic world, since it is a study to bridge the relevant theory/practice literature with real casestudy- based insights of German-USA inter-firm collaborations in the automotive industry. On that basis, an ‘advisory framework’ was developed to enhance decisionmaking in that area of corporate strategy. It focuses on important factors to consider when engaging in cross-border IJV and IM&A in a specific industry. Research limitations/implications: The research results would need to be further explored in practice, which could be the subject of future research. Limitations from the current study stem from the chosen research design and sample size.

No description available.

The aim of this study is to examine why firms may manipulate not just their earnings but also their cash flows, and to investigate the effects of this behaviour in debt markets with respect to the cost of debt. This research addresses current concerns about accounting rules (both GAAP and IFRS) which allow companies discretion in the presentation of their operating cash flow in financial statements. Using a sample of 8,684 UK and 23,935 USA firm-years from 1998 to 2010, the reported operating cash flow is decomposed into two components, unmanaged and managed, in order to examine the association between the estimated discretionary part of operating cash flow and the cost of debt. The results show that the cost of debt has a significantly positive association with the managed component of operating cash flows. By using path analysis, it is further shown that the effect of cash flow management in increasing the cost of debt is largely through its impact on accounting quality. Also it is found that the market positively prices abnormal operating cash flow information when firms experience financial problems, especially when companies are faced with low cash flows.

Syndicated loans are a common debt financing format for large corporations in general. For those situated in Germany—with its bank-based financial system—such loans play a vital role. Given the multibillion volumes raised annually, the pricing of syndicated loans is economically significant, with its levels, structure, and determination having attracted the interest of researchers around the world. A critical review of the existing worldwide literature of syndicated loan pricing revealed notable gaps, including an almost complete absence of studies on the German corporate market. The overall research aim was to address this gap by exploring and analysing the “hidden drivers” of banks’ pricing of syndicated loans to German corporate borrowers, thereby developing an enriched understanding of the elements and determinants of pricing and its underlying processes and decisions. Adopting a pragmatist research paradigm, I chose a sequential mixed-methods approach, with a limited quantitative analysis preceding an extensive qualitative study. The first stage of the research was designed to evaluate the availability of reliable quantitative pricing data in the public domain—this being the main data source for the clear majority of extant studies. I found the availability and quality of pricing data for the German corporate market to be extremely limited, particularly in comparison to that available relating to the U.S. market. There was clearly much that remained unexplained; hence, primary research was required to illuminate syndicated loan pricing and the decision processes that contribute to it. The main element of the qualitative study was a series of semi-structured, in-depth interviews with a sample of bank lending professionals and key informants. The purpose of these interviews was to explore the complex realities of syndicated lending through the eyes and experiences of the people involved and to interpret the socially constructed phenomena surrounding the pricing of German corporate syndicated loans. The study succeeded in revealing and substantiating important and to date hidden phenomena concerning numerous dimensions of syndicated lending in general and pricing in particular. An explanation was developed for the relative opacity of the German corporate syndicated loan market. The study enabled significant enhancements to the understanding of the concept of pricing and its complex and interwoven elements. More broadly, a new and richer perspective was developed of syndicated lending as a behavioural phenomenon, involving a complex interplay of relationships and strategies, and involving individuals and departments within banks, between banks as members of the syndicate, and between lenders and borrowers. The insights gained informed the development of a comprehensive model of the pricing elements of syndicated lending and their determinants. This research is the first to conduct and produce an in-depth study of the internal workings of syndicated corporate lending in the German market and a study that does not rely on secondary data that are at best incomplete. It has resulted in many rich and original insights and a conceptualisation of syndicated lending that differs radically from the classical understanding of lender-borrower relationships as founded on theories of asymmetric information. The research presented here, therefore, makes significant contributions to the literature, in helping to close notable gaps in the banking and financial intermediation literature.

<p> The purpose of this research was to investigate the relationship between Facebook usage and self-efficacy in collegiate athletes. The data for this study was provided by St. Thomas University athletes in the United States. The variables used to represent Facebook usage, Facebook frequency of use, Facebook number of friends and Facebook frequency status updates were measured using Facebook Intensity Scale (Ellison et al., 2007). The dependent variable used in this study is self-efficacy which is measured using the General Self-efficacy (GSE) developed (Jerusalem &amp; Schwarzer, 1979). Data analyses indicated a statistically significant relationship between Facebook number of friends and self-efficacy. The data also indicated significant inverse relationship between Facebook frequency status updates and self-efficacy. The results of the correlation analysis indicated inverse relationships between frequency status updates and frequency of use, and frequency status updates and Facebook number of friends. These findings suggest that once the coaches, administrators, and professors attend to the issue of Facebook usage for collegiate athletes, it may enhance self-efficacy and psychological benefits.</p>

Although just a minority of all small firms in the UK, high-growth entrepreneurial ventures are becoming widely recognised for their role in job growth and economic prosperity. However, due to their inherently high-risk nature, many of these early-stage firms experience difficulty in securing outside finance from institutional investors, which ultimately limits their growth and economic potential. Fortunately, two investor types, business angels (BAs) and venture capitalists (VCs), do fund a small proportion of these entrepreneurial ventures, although they, especially BAs, often have much more financial capital available for such investments. Since many aspects of BA and VC investment processes remain unknown, it is hoped that a better understanding of how and why these investors fund particular investments may aid in further lessening the entrepreneurial funding problem. This research study, therefore, conducts the first-ever detailed comparison of the investment criteria and procedures of these two financiers across the full investment process. To make the study more robust, a theoretical base is adopted (based on agency theory) to form research hypotheses which propose that BAs and VCs in the UK may use different approaches to limit potential agency risks in their investments (i.e. the risks associated with an entrepreneur's potential misuse of the investor's money). Utilising data from 40 personal interviews and 262 questionnaire responses, this study empirically supports the main hypothesised notion that, although both investors reduce agency risks at all stages of the investment process, BAs place more emphasis on doing so ex-post investment (the incomplete contracts approach), whilst VCs stress doing so more ex-ante investment (the principal-agent approach). In supporting the hypothese, empirical information is gathered about each investment stage and each investor group's heterogeneity. Possible implications of these findings are then discussed in the hope of aiding, no matter how slightly, the funding efficiency of small entrepreneurial firms.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Western Sydney, 2002. / Bibliography : leaves 266-297.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Western Sydney, 2003. / "A thesis presented to the University of Western Sydney in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy"--t.p. "March 2003" Bibliography: p. 347 - 381.

Univ., Diss.--Karlsruhe, 2005.