Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 248-307). / The current research examines the effects of cultural institutions on the relationships of market orientation and its theorized antecedents. Market orientation (MO) is one of the most prominent topics in scholarly marketing research.

This research examines the portrayal of women as message sources in advertisements appearing in Drum magazine 1981-2010, an important time period that captures South Africa's transition from Apartheid rule to a time when the equality of women has been recognised more formally.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 157-189)

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references. / This study aims to value South African wine brands. Deploying blind and sighted versions of hedonic quality it defines (1) ‘functional’ wine brands as those with consistently higher levels of intrinsic quality as proxied by their blind tasting scores, and (2) placebo-type ‘symbolic’ wine brands as those with statistically significant positive predictive differences between their blind and sighted scores. Through a series of econometric analyses applied to 8225 wines sampled over the eight year period from 2000 through 2007, a higher proportion of functional-to-symbolic brands is notified. Bi-polar clustering is observed in both brand-classes, with positive and negative brand-effects yielding positive and negative ‘non’ brands, respectively. Such clustering extends to those brands presenting simultaneously with both functional and symbolic brand-effects. Here brands decompose into zones of either Symbolic Values (with positive placebos and weak intrinsics) or Functional Values (with negative placebos and strong intrinsics). When these zones are graphed relative to their intrinsic blind to sighted-minus-blind scores, no brands appear to occupy the middleground. Each zone is located approximately one standard deviation left and right of the grand-sample mean intrinsic score. This functional-to-symbolic typology confirms and extends the literature on brands in general (Bhat and Reddy, 1998), and wine brands in particular (Mowle and Merrilees, 2005). Two wine brand valuation techniques are subsequently presented and comparatively assessed. Each is based on the combined use of non-ordinal wine valuation models and discounted cash-flow methodologies. The first price-premium approach defines brand equity value (per bottle) as the difference between a wine’s price and a valuation of its intrinsic worth as measured by blind ratings. The second quality-premium approach defines brand equity value as the difference between a wine’s intrinsic value and (instead of price) the value of its perceived quality when sampled sighted.

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 231-245). / The South African local government model is considered to be decentralised in character, incorporating various constitutional, policy and statutory instruments to enable local government to achieve its constitutionally mandated developmental objectives. Yet local government is widely viewed as being in a state of crisis. Many municipalities are seen as dysfunctional and incapable of performing their duties. The hypothesis underlying this study is that the effective application of the principles of decentralisation, to the extent that they have been incorporated in the constitutional, policy and regulatory framework of local government in South Africa, is endangered by a lack of commitment to the concept of decentralisation by central government and by the failure by municipalities to implement at local level those rules, systems, mechanisms, powers and functions which are intended to reflect the principles of decentralisation; and that the achievement of the constitutional objectives of local government is thereby in turn endangered.

Includes bibliographical references. / The empirical counterpart of a theory of asset prices is a model of the cross-section of security returns. Empirical tests of the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) of Sharpe (1964), Lintner (1965), Mossin (1966) and Black (1972) using cross-sectional methodologies have identified numerous cases where variables apart from beta explain expected returns. Initially termed 'anomalies', these empirical violations of the theory are frequently associated with firm-specific attribute data. Traditional views of market efficiency however rule out the ability to predict risk-adjusted asset returns and the source and exploitability of these anomalies remains controversial. This thesis empirically investigates the cross-sectional relationship between twenty-four firm-specific attributes and stock returns on the JSE Securities Exchange (JSE). The results are evaluated to determine whether they conform to the predictions of the CAPM and a two factor Arbitrage Pricing Theory (APT) model suggested by prior research. In monthly univariate tests similar to Fama and MacBeth (1973), price-to-NAV, dividend yield, price-to-earnings, cashflow-to-price, price-to-profit and size are found to have statistically significant predictive power in the cross-section of returns using monthly data from July 1990 to June 2000. After conducting risk-adjustments using both the CAPM and a two factor APT model these effects are found to persist. Multivariate testing suggests a two factor model with the size and price-to-earnings attributes as explanatory variables. When the cross-sectional tests are compared across the broad industry sectors of the JSE, value effects are observed as being stronger in the financial-industrial sector than in the resource sector, the small size effect is roughly the same across sectors while the premium earned by higher debt levels is negative across all sectors except the financial sector. The results are not reconcilable with the predictions of the CAPM. Simulated portfolios constructed using a methodology similar to Fama and French (1992) reveal that beta, if anything, is inversely related to average returns on the JSE. Contrary to the international evidence, greater average returns accruing to small and low price-to- earnings firms are not commensurate with higher betas. Controlling for the small size and low price-to-earnings effects does not improve the explanatory power of beta. An application of the Daniel and Titman (1997) methodology suggests that average returns on the JSE are not compensation for factor risk, but instead are associated with the exposure to the attributes themselves. The findings of this study present a serious empirical challenge for covariance-based asset pricing models on the JSE.

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 184-216). / This study is an evaluation of the Law, Race and Gender (LRG) Unit’s social context training programme for magistrates (1998-2004). The programme was developed in the context of the political transition of 1994 and the promulgation of the new constitution. These factors created an impetus for the transformation of the justice system. Research suggests that the South African lower court system was plagued by discriminatory practices in relation to race and gender. Under apartheid magistrates were public servants and responsible for enforcing apartheid legislation. Their work demands changed after 1994, yet many members of the magistracy were ill-prepared for the new requirements of their job. The Law, Race and Gender Unit’s training programme was developed to increase magistrates’ awareness, knowledge and skills of the social context concerns of race and gender. The aim of the programme was to help magistrates deliver fair and equal justice to all of South Africa’s citizens. There are few published evaluations of social context training programmes for judicial officers specifically and judicial education interventions generally. This study aims to contribute to this relatively under-researched field. It is also the first study to apply Brinkerhoff’s (2003; 2006) success case method (SCM) to a judicial education training programme. The evaluation is designed according to Rossi, Lipsey & Freeman’s (2004) evaluation hierarchy. The study presents the method, results and discussion of evaluations across this hierarchy. The evaluations include an assessment of the needs identification process, analysis of the programme impact theory, appraisal of programme implementation and evaluation of programme outcomes. A variety of research methods and techniques were used in the different evaluations. These include document analysis, interviews and Brinkerhoff’s (2003; 2006) SCM. The results of the evaluation of the needs identification process suggest that the training need was not identified through a traditional systematic needs analysis. The LRG Unit was established and funded prior to any formal needs assessment. The lack of a comprehensive needs identification process had implications for the development of the actual training intervention. The theory evaluation uses social science research to critique the impact theory implicit in the programme and offers suggestions as to how the impact theory could be strengthened. The implementation evaluation concludes that the training programme was well delivered and received by the trainees and external evaluators. The results of the SCM outcome evaluation demonstrate that despite some of its limitations, the programme succeeded in enriching the education and social awareness of magistrates, which in turn enhanced their work and the way they served their communities and the ends of justice. The study is the first of its kind in that it offers a comprehensive, multi-levelled evaluation of a social context training intervention for judicial officers. It aims to contribute new knowledge to the area of judicial education programme evaluation.

Sports sponsorship has become an integral brand building tool as brands wrangle to be differentiated and to create loyal customers. Sponsorship is seen as impactful as it brings brands closer to consumers through a passion point and by borrowing equity of the sponsored property. As the sponsorship market continues to grow, brands are diversifying into title sponsorship of short-term tournaments to gain a competitive edge. The mere association by means of name sharing as title sponsors is not strong enough to alter what consumers see, hear, feel, and think of the brand. Thus, brands have to employ brand experiences that are engaging, enjoyable, and memorable enough to deliver lasting impact on consumers in terms of what consumers see, hear, feel, and think. These modules together form customer-based brand equity (CBBE), the potential commercial value that a brand can derive based on what resides in the mind of consumers. Nonetheless, there is currently no scholarly investigation that examines the impact that brand experiences has on CBBE. The goal of this research is to unpack the proliferation of title sponsorship in short-term tournaments and explore if CBBE is impacted by employing brand experiences during short-term tournaments. The thesis aims to establish an academic foundation to strengthen the interpretation of the relationship between sponsorship of short-term tournaments and the experiences used to impact CBBE. To achieve this objective, the study presents an adapted framework for interpretation as no scholarly model currently exists. The relationship interpretation is achieved through thorough investigation of existing literature that integrates short-term tournament title sponsorship, brand experiences, and CBBE. Furthermore, custodians of brands that title sponsor short-term tournaments were the focal population of the study to understand their strategic imperatives that inform the relationship under study as research reveals that more title sponsors are integrating brand experiences into their sponsorships.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 241-276). / For many countries in Africa, power sectors in are characterised by insufficient generation capacity. Due to poor financial and operational performances, many state-owned utilities have had inadequate financial reserves to invest in additional generation capacity. Governments, too, have experienced difficulty in financing generation expansions as a result of the reduction in loans from traditional financiers of infrastructure. Reforms to address poor performances in the 1990s, in part, focused on introducing private sector participation to the power sector at the generation level through independent power projects. It was anticipated that independent power producers would provide benchmarks for state-owned utilities and enable longer term power sector efficiency. Reform in this sector followed a prescribed evolution towards power markets that would allow wholesale competition amongst generators and so lead towards efficiency improvements. Despite reforms being embarked on in many African states, competitive power markets have not been established in Africa; rather, the result has been the emergence of hybrid markets where state-owned generators and IPPs operate devoid of competition; and although IPPs have emerged in a number of African power sectors, many countries still do not have sufficient generation to meet their electricity demands. This thesis investigates the development of private generation power projects in Africa by analysing data collected from both primary and secondary sources in four case studies of power sectors in Ghana, Cote d'lvoire, Morocco and Tunisia. The thesis identities and describes the factors that have contributed to a lack of investment and shortages in generation capacity in hybrid markets exploring how policy, regulatory and institutional frameworks have contributed to this situation. It also investigates how planning and procurement challenges have led to difficulties in adding sufficient generation capacity in a timely manner, exacerbating the problem of insufficient generation capacity in Africa. Finally, the dissertation provides suggestions as to how these frameworks could respond more effectively to the capacity challenges faced by hybrid electricity generation markets, and how broader power sector reforms should be guided to reflect the challenges of hybrid markets better.

We investigate return predictability on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) with a particular emphasis on (a) the incidence and nature of linear and nonlinear serial dependence underlying the return generation process and (b) the consistency of return predictability between a stable and market crisis period.