This diploma thesis analyses the market efficiency hypothesis of chosen currency pairs EUR/USD, EUR/CZK and USD/CZK. The aim of this study is to describe the price behaviour of chosen financial assets and verify the random walk hypothesis on the foreign exchange market. Model of random walk says there is no relationship between historical and future prices, so price changes are random and cannot be predicted. Random walk hypothesis was tested by chosen statistic tests runs test, test of auto-correlation, variance ratio test and unit root test (Augmented Dickey-Fuller Test). Data were collected through the online trading platform and tested in EViews. Period of testing for daily changes (D1) was chosen from 31.12.2009 to 29.12.2017 and for weekly changes (T1) from 2.1.2005 to 29.12.2017. This thesis proved weak-form efficiency of EUR/USD and USD/CZK for both daily changes and weekly changes in a chosen period. Inefficient behaviour of daily changes of EUR/CZK (D1) was indicated by runs test, test of autocorrelation and variance ratio test. There is a question what the cause of inefficiency is. The most likely explanation is currency intervention of the Czech National Bank which took place from April 2013 to April 2017 in order to achieve the inflation target and prevent deflation. Traders could also achieve profits by speculating on appreciation of Czech Crown below 27,-crowns/euro which is not in harmony with efficient-market hypothesis. Moreover, currency pair EUR/CZK is not liquid as major currency pairs and there are bigger transaction costs because of bid-offer spread. This work can contribute to next research in connection with results of this study. To verify if the cause of inefficient behaviour of daily price changes of EUR/USD are currency interventions of the Czech National Bank, I would suggest testing efficient-market hypothesis exactly at the time of interventions. It would be also suitable to compare results of different methodologies including testing in short-time intervals of price changes.

The aim of my diploma thesis is to analyze basic theoretical approach and description of financial market. In a first stage I will describe basic functions, regulation methods and structure. After that I am going to focus on particular analysis methods, which are used as a price prediction tools. Main part of thesis consist of description of current disproportional relationship between stock market prices and real economic development. I will mainly focus on reasons and following implications of this disproportion.

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze market making trading strategy and explore possibilities of using such strategy for intraday trading on the markets with the limit order book. In theoretical part we prove profitability of specified market making strategy under certain assumptions and moreover analyze effect of change of parameters on the performance of the strategy using one dimensional stochastic processes. Next the assumption of constant fair price is relaxed which leads to deterioration of profitability of these strategies. Because one dimensional stochastic processes do not capture price creation in the real world, we propose stochastic model of intraday trading in the next chapter. Advantage of this approach is that we can observe state of the limit order book during whole trading session and therefore better simulate conditions for test of the strategies. Although proposed model exhibit many phenomenons observed in empirical data like volatility clustering, in some situations it produces unrealistically high spread caused by the construction of the model, because arrivals of market and limit orders are modeled as independent processes. Another disadvantages are need of relatively extensive data for model calibration and high sensitivity of model to change of parameters. Lastly we test three different market making strategies under different choice of model parameters and show that expected profitability is positive in all cases.

La réforme du secteur de l'électricité du Nigeria a eu lieu en 2010-2013 mais a été jugée infructueuse par la plupart des parties prenantes. L'échec de la réforme est illustré par une myriade de défis économiques, institutionnels, techniques, financiers et sociopolitiques apparemment insurmontables. Cette thèse a pour objectif de proposer des solutions viables aux défis (ex post) auxquels fait face le secteur électrique du Nigéria, en empruntant aux approches de l'économie de l'énergie sur le market design et la régulation. Elle identifie les principales causes de l'échec de la dernière réforme du secteur : privatisation incomplète, intégration horizontale des opérations de transport et de réseau, infrastructure d'approvisionnement gazière sous-développée et cadre réglementaire faible et inefficace. Ainsi, elle recommande de renforcer le cadre réglementaire comme un bon point de départ pour résoudre les problèmes sectoriels (ex-post) de la réforme.Ensuite, cette thèse démontre que des enchères inversées bien conçues peuvent être un mécanisme de marché approprié à la situation du Nigéria, en précisant les variables importantes pour une implémentation réussie. Cette thèse affirme également que ces variables devraient être fondées sur un cadre institutionnel et réglementaire solide pour réussir. Elle recommande donc de concevoir des enchères inversées pour la technologie de stockage solaire photovoltaïque hors réseau /minigrid, en tant que solution potentielle pour accroître l'accès à l'électricité, attirer les investissements, et également discuté de la voie à suivre afin d’adapter la conception au cadre de marché discuter / réglementaire existant.Enfin, cette thèse comble certaines lacunes de l'état de l'art du secteur électrique nigérian en appliquant et combinant des systèmes d’informations géographiques (GIS), un outil d’optimisation de système énergétique et des connaissances du market design et de la régulation. Elle a identifié les clusters de consommateurs les plus peuplées sans accès à l'électricité, fait des projections de la demande de charge et déterminé les tailles de stockage PV et de batteries optimisées sur le plan techno-économique pour obtenir une alimentation de haute qualité d’électricité avec une certaine gestion de la demande. Également, elle a analysé les besoins en terrains / la disponibilité pour obtenir une liste restreinte de 233 clusters de 7,2 millions d'habitants, nécessitant un solaire photovoltaïque de 3 280 MW pour la vente aux enchères proposée. Enfin, cette thèse a examiné la voie à suivre pour adapter la conception proposée de la vente aux enchères de stockage d’énergie solaire photovoltaïque et de stockage au cadre de market design/réglementaire existant. / The Nigeria Power sector reform was performed in the year 2010-2013 but has been adjudged unsuccessful by most stakeholders. The failure of the reform is evidenced by a myriad of seemingly insurmountable economic, institutional, technical, financial and socio-political challenges. This thesis aims to propose workable solutions to the challenges in the Nigeria Power sector (ex-post) reform from the field of market design and regulation in energy economics. It finds incomplete privatization coupled with the horizontal integration of the transmission and network operations, underdeveloped gas supply infrastructure and the ineffective/weak regulatory framework as the root causes of the reform failure. Thus, it recommends strengthening the regulatory framework as a good starting point to resolve sectoral problems (ex-post) reform.Furthermore, it argues that reverse auction has the potential to be successful in Nigeria with well-designed market variables and provides the market design variables adaptable to the Nigeria case to achieve a successful auction run. It also argues that these variables should be built on a foundation of a robust institutional and regulatory framework to be successful. It thus recommends designing reverse auctions for offgrid/minigrid solar PV plus storage technology as a potential solution to increase power access and attract investment and also discussed the pathway to adapt the design to the existing market/regulatory framework. In addition, it applied and combined Geographical Information System (GIS), energy system optimization tool and market/regulation knowledge to bridge some knowledge gap in the Nigeria Power sector. It identified the most populated consumer clusters without electricity access, made load demand projections and determined the techno-economically optimized PV plus battery storage sizes to achieve high quality power supply with some demand side management. Furthermore, it analyzed the land requirements/availability to achieve a shortlist of 233 clusters with 7.2 million people that require 3,280 MW solar PV for the proposed auction. Finally, it discussed the pathway to adapt the proposed solar PV plus storage auction design to the existing market/regulatory framework.

This paper focuses on the major decision variables and appertaining decision makers in the selection of long term health care facilites. The literatures identifies principal decision makers as physicians and females between the ages of 45 and 65, and that the decision making process is usually rushed, haphazard, and guilt-ridden. The results of the study cite five decision factors perceived as most important by physicians and females age 45 to 65. The study concludes by comparing these results and recommending a more aggressive marketing communeiations effort by long term health care facilities.

A frequent question in academic and non-academic research is how particular systems are formed, maintained, and potentially, changed. This dissertation explores the question above through the intersection between political economy and public policy, specifically on accumulation: how economic and social relations come to be, endure, adapt, or fail. This is reflected in a slew of theories, paradigms, and research programmes, yet most utilize a macro or meso lens and rarely look at ‘micro’ level phenomena and processes – those involving everyday interactions and people. At this level, a significant, yet absent, component is the way individuals may come to automatically think and act through receiving information conveyed in ways that promote internalization or automaticity. The ongoing question, then, is what regimes communicate and how they do so. I will examine the role of active labour market policy (ALMP) in sustaining contemporary accumulation trajectories in Canada by analyzing what it communicates to policy recipients in terms of how they should conceive of themselves as workers, their expectations of the market, and of the state. However, what public policy communicates does not, in and of itself, explain how people come to internalize particular ways of thinking and acting. As such, I combine policy analysis with cognitive psychology to examine what ‘everyday’ public policy components – such as websites, forms, and job search systems - communicate, and crucially, whether they do so in a way which is conducive to ‘automatic thought’ (e.g. ‘common sense’). / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This dissertation explores how public policy can shape how individuals automatically think and act, thereby informing their ‘common sense’ and rational thoughts. I will examines what Canadian active labour market policy (ALMP) communicates to policy recipients in terms of how they should conceive of themselves as workers, their expectations of the market, and of the state. I combine policy analysis with mechanisms derived from cognitive psychology to examine what ‘everyday’ public policy components – such as websites, forms, and job search systems - communicate, and crucially, whether they do so in a way which is conducive to ‘automatic thought’ (e.g. ‘common sense’). This approach fills in gaps political psychology, public policy, and the political economy of regimes.

This thesis highlights the gap in previous literature and research of activist short selling in the context of the Swedish market. This thesis investigates the impacts of short sell research reports on the Swedish financial markets, aiming to provide a comprehensive understanding of the dynamics, implications, and outcomes related to this phenomenon. The study is conducted through empirical research involving semi-structured interviews, allowing for in-depth exploration and understanding of various perspectives, with investor relations representatives from targeted firms, legal experts, analytics and short sell research firms. From our empirical findings key research questions are addressed.  Firstly, the study examines the market dynamics and industry-specific factors driving increased attention from short sell research firms towards Swedish companies, highlighting factors such as market volatility, valuation challenges, and transparency concerns. Secondly, it explores how the emergence of short sell research reports shapes market dynamics, investor behaviour, and market integrity, noting both positive contributions to market efficiency and challenges regarding the accuracy and validity of the reports. Thirdly, the responses of targeted companies to allegation made in these reports are analysed, emphasizing the importance of a prompt, transparent response to maintain investor confidence. Fourthly, concerns about market manipulation are evaluated, considering the regulatory framework and the need for balance between market freedom and regulatory oversight.  This thesis contributes insights into market dynamics, conflicts of interest in financial analysis, and regulatory mechanisms, offering practical recommendations for stakeholders, including targeted companies, investors, and regulatory authorities. The recommendations from the study focuses on enhancing transparency, communication strategies, and regulatory compliance. Overall, this thesis enriches the understanding of short sell activism and its impact on financial markets, offering valuable insights for practitioners, researchers, and regulators.

The Texas ERCOT market is one of the most open, deregulated electricity markets in the world. This open market brought electricity costs down for Texas residents and businesses, creating a much more competitive economic climate. However, these low prices currently generate insufficient revenue for generators to finance construction of new or replacement generation assets. In the instance of combined cycle advanced natural gas, the Independent Market Monitor 2012 annual report estimated that a plant needed to generate 2.5 times as much as revenue it did in 2012 to incent new generation. This author argues that while the gap is still significant, the continuous changes to the ERCOT market since its inception make an historical examination like that used by the IMM less accurate. New market rules such as price caps or changes in fuel markets through new technologies like hydraulic fracturing create a very different valuation gap than a model based on historical activity alone. This analysis attempts to get a more accurate approximation of the gap through the use of publicly traded futures contracts for natural gas and electricity. Electricity futures reflect market expectations of revenue based on current and future market rules. Gas futures reflect price expectations in light of market changes like fracturing, potential LNG exports, and other changes. Financial positions can be maintained in both markets to give a fixed rate of return. Using this method, one can create a very conservative valuation model that still more accurately reflects market sentiment. This thesis starts with a brief history of ERCOT deregulation from the early 2000s to present in order to clarify for the reader the changes that have taken place in the market. It then demonstrates the futures-valuation model using an advanced combined cycle power plant as an example. / text

La publication de sondages et d’études sociologiques depuis le début de la crise économique en 2008, montre que la crainte d’entrer en situation de précarité est largement répandue au sein de la société française. Même si les fournisseurs d’énergie historiques (EDF et GDF) ont mis en place depuis longtemps des systèmes de solidarité destinés aux plus démunis, ils ne semblent pas avoir pris en compte, pour le moment, la crainte potentielle d’une partie des consommateurs en situation ordinaire de tomber en situation de précarité. Ce constat nous a amené à poser la question de recherche suivante : quelle(s) posture(s) stratégique(s) pourrait adopter EDF face aux craintes de précarité de ses clients non précaires ? Pour répondre à cette question nous avons mobilisé trois champs théoriques. Le premier, autour du concept d’orientation marché défini par Day (1990) comme la capacité à comprendre et satisfaire les besoins des clients, distingue deux types de stratégies : les stratégies de type market driven destinées à réagir aux mouvements du marché, et les stratégies de type market driving consistant à créer un nouveau marché. Or, il n’existe pas aujourd’hui de réponse de la part des fournisseurs d’énergie à cette crainte de la clientèle non précaire vis-à-vis de la précarité. Nous nous sommes attaché à étudier la possibilité de définir une nouvelle stratégie de type market driving. Ceci nous a conduit à étudier un deuxième champ théorique portant sur l’émergence des besoins. Afin d’anticiper la réaction des consommateurs face à une certaine posture d’un fournisseur d’énergie, nous nous sommes porté sur un dernier volet théorique traitant du comportement de réaction des consommateurs face aux offres des entreprises. Afin de savoir si une posture était envisageable sur la crainte d’entrer en précarité, nous avons cherché à savoir si des besoins liés à cette crainte existaient. A cet effet, nous avons utilisé la méthode projective des récits immersifs, consistant à immerger le sujet interrogé dans le récit d’un personnage fictif confronté à une succession d’évènements l’introduisant dans une situation précaire. Cette recherche a fait ressortir l’existence de trois groupes d’individus caractérisés par des besoins particuliers : les familles avec enfants, les retraités et les jeunes actifs. Nous avons également montré que l’attitude des consommateurs face à une posture simulée d’un fournisseur d’énergie sur cette crainte était très nuancée, voire négative. Ceci pourrait laisser envisager des marges de manoeuvre restreintes dans la définition d’une posture des fournisseurs d’énergie sur cette question. / Since the beginning of the economic crisis in 2008, poll and sociological studies have shown that the fear of entering into a precarious situation is widespread in French society. Ever though, historical energy suppliers (EDF and GDF) have established systems of solidarity for poor people, they do not seem to have taken into account, for the time being, the potential fear of some consumers to fall into precarious situation. This observation has led us to pose the following research question: what strategic position(s) could EDF adopt in order to deal with the customer’s fear to fall into precariousness? To answer this question, we have mobilized three theoretical fields. The first one concerns the concept of market orientation defined by Day (1990) as the ability to understand and satisfy customers ‘needs. The market orientation is divided into two types of strategy: the market driven type for reacting to market movements, and the market driving type for creating a new market. Considering that energy supplier do not take any action regarding the fear of non precarious customer, related to precariousness, we are committed to studying the possible existence of a new market. This led us to study a second field of theory on the emergence of needs. To anticipate consumer reaction toward a certain position of an energy supplier, we focused on a last theoretical part dealing with the behavior of consumer response to companies offers. To determine whether a position in relation with the fear of entering in precariousness would be possible, we investigated whether needs linked with this fear exist. To this purpose, we used the projective method of narrative immersion. This method consists in immersing the person in the story of a fictional character facing a series of events introducing him in a precarious situation. This research has highlighted the existence of three groups, characterized by special needs: families with children, retired and young workers. We also showed that consumer attitudes to a simulated position of an energy supplier about this fear were nuanced, even negative. This could leave little scope for defining the position of energy supplier on this issue.

This report combines theoretical and empirical findings to create a holistic framework for market oriented practices within professional service firms. Changes in the business environment of technology consultancy firms, has developed a need to adopt more structured procedures in assessing the market place and in responding, both through external activities as well as through internal optimization. An assumption was made that the market orientation concept was of relevance in addressing this need. A qualitative empirical investigation was conducted at a large professional service firm mainly operating within the construction consulting industry in Sweden. The result provides a conceptual framework for practising market orientation, based largely on empirical findings, which in the conclusion is summarized into a model to visualize the interconnection of the different parts of market orientation. The framework developed is ‘The Market Orientation Model’ which is made up four stages; (1) ‘Assess Current State’ in which the goal is to understand the current state of the firm; current market, current services and current competences. (2) ‘Collect Intelligence’ where the collection of market intelligence, using a set of different processes, about the needs and demands of current, new and internal customers should be gathered. (3) ‘Create Insight’ which is the process of identifying the Market Potential or the Market Demand through processes of organization wide dissemination and analysis of the gathered intelligence. (4a) ‘Create Response Initiative’ where the aim is to create new, or develop existing service offerings to meet the demand or need of the market. (4b) ‘Create Sales Initiative’ which is the initiation of a sales attempt of existing services to new or existing customers. The model creates a summarized picture of what constitutes market orientation and how it can be adapted to an organization. It can be used to create a standardized approach for an entire organization in building a market oriented firm. By continuously following this model in a market oriented firm, greater alignment with market should be achieved. / Denna rapport kombinerar teoretiska och empiriska resultat för att skapa ett helhetstäckande ramverk för marknadsorienterad verksamhet inom professionella tjänsteföretag. Förändringar i dessa företags omvärld har utvecklat ett behov av att införa mer strukturerade rutiner för att bedöma marknaden och genom både marknadsinsatser och interna processförbättringar möta dessa förändringar. Ett antagande gjordes att marknadsorientering var ett relevant koncept för att bemöta detta behov. En kvalitativ empirisk studie genomfördes på ett större professionellt tjänsteföretag på den svenska teknikkonsultmarknaden med inriktning mot byggbranschen. Resultatet består av ett konceptuellt ramverk för marknadsorientering, som till stor del bygger på empiriska resultat. Detta sammanfattas i en modell för att visualisera kopplingarna mellan de olika delarna av marknadsorientering. Ramverket benämns som "The Market Orientation Model" som består  av fyra steg; (1) "Utvärdera aktuellt läge" där målet är att förstå den nuvarande situationen för företaget, den aktuella marknaden, nuvarande tjänster och nuvarande kompetenser. (2) "Samla information" med  målet  att  samla  in  marknadsinformation  om  befintliga,  nya  och  interna  kunders tjänstebehov med hjälp av en uppsättning processer. (3) 'Skapa ins ikt’, som är processen för att  identifiera  marknadens  potential  eller  efterfrågan  genom  processer  för  organisatorisk spridning och analys av informationen som erhållits i steg två. (4a) ’Bemötande’ där syftet är att skapa nya, eller utveckla befintliga tjänsteutbud för att möta efterfrågan eller behov på marknaden.  (4b)  'Försäljningsinitiativ’  där  man  skapar  en  riktad  säljinsats  av  befintliga tjänster till nya eller befintliga kunder. Modellen ger en sammanfattad bild av vad som utgör marknadsorientering och hur den kan anpassas   till   en   organisation.   Det   kan   användas   för   att   skapa   ett   standardiserat tillvägagångssätt för en organisation att bygga ett marknadsorienterat företag. Genom att följa denna modell inom ett företag bör en bättre anpassning till marknaden uppnås.