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Foreign direct investment (FDI) is a source that improves the competiveness of the host country which can be further utilised to develop the country’s own resources and capabilities. In addition, non-affiliated local firms that do not have a foreign partner improve their performance due to the spillover effects gained either through the sharing of resources, learnings or due to the increase in competition. As such, FDI is seen as an important economic growth driver in developing economies since these economies struggle to compete in the global economy.The objective of this research is to determine whether foreign ownership in a developing economy is beneficial in terms of national competiveness; reducing the income gaps; improving employment opportunities; improving the financial performance of an acquired local firm and if the foreign parent introduces new technologies into the economy. Due to the mining- and manufacturing sector being the main recipients of FDI in South Africa and both having similar operations specifically being high capital and labour intensive, these sectors were chosen for the purpose of this research. The data sample was analysed using multiple regression as it is a flexible method of data analysis that may be appropriate whenever a quantitative dependent variable needs to be examined to find a relationship with two or more independent or explanatory variables.The results indicate significant benefits for the host economy in attracting FDI into the country. The benefits seemingly outweigh the costs and the presence of Multinational Corporations (MNCs) in South Africa will help it in elevating some of the socio-economic challengers like high unemployment rate and the shortage of skills through resource sharing with the MNCs. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

no / This study examines the impact of financial flexibility on the investment and performance of East Asian firms over the period 1994–2009. We employ a sample of 1,068 firms and place particular emphasis on the periods of the Asian crisis (1997–1998) and the recent credit crisis (2007–2009). The results show that firms can attain financial flexibility, primarily through conservative leverage policies and less commonly by holding large cash balances. Financial flexibility appears to be an important determinant of investment and performance, mainly during the Asian 1997–1998 crisis. In particular, firms that are financially flexible prior to this crisis (1) have a greater ability to take investment opportunities, (2) rely much less on the availability of internal funds to invest, and (3) perform better than less flexible firms during the crisis. Our analysis covering the credit crisis period of 2007–2009 suggests that some of the advantages of flexible firms towards investing persist but are significantly less pronounced over that period. We also find that the value of financial flexibility is region/country specific, which may be explained by the fact that different regions/countries often adopt different macroeconomic policies and operate in diverse economic/legal environments.

The purpose of the current study was to examine the level of support for innovation and individual creativity as potential mediators of relationship between managerial task performance, managerial contextual performance, organizational financial performance and employee performance in non-profit sport organizations in Turkey. For the purpose of the study, 721 volunteer managers and employees from 21 Department/School of Physical Education and Sport (D-SPES) and 23 Province Directorates of Youth and Sport (PDYS) were participated in the study. Individual Creativity Scale, Support for Innovation Scale, Managerial Task Performance Scale, Managerial Contextual Performance Scale, Organizational Financial Performance Scale, and Employee Performance Scale were used for data collection. Results of the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis revealed that the model adequately describes the data for the sample and the fit indices were all within the acceptable thresholds. The model accounted for 68% variance in support for innovation, 0.7% variance in individual creativity and 44% variance in employee performance. These results suggested that support for innovation and individual creativity significantly mediate the effects of managerial task performance, managerial contextual performance and organizational financial performance on employee performance.

In the present study, event sponsorship and event marketing are identified as two distinct event-related marketing communications tools. As a research field, sponsorship and event sponsorship has experienced continuous research interest for the last four decades. This in clear contrast to event marketing, which only within the last 10 years has attracted research interest from marketing scholars. However, little research has been carried out in the field of (event-) sponsorship from an organisational perspective. Thus, to the author s knowledge, the present study is the first of its kind investigating both event formats, event sponsorship and event marketing, from an organisational perspective in one study. A literature review that spans the domains of branding, signalling theory and hedonic consumption helped to differentiate between the two event formats, and to provide a theoretical grounding of the two event formats. The present study evaluates the impact of event sponsorship and event marketing on the brand and performance dimensions of brand awareness, brand attitude, brand performance and financial performance. Furthermore, brand orientation and organisational innovativeness moderate the relationship between independent and dependent variables. Moreover, this research study was undertaken from an organisational perspective. There is little evidence within the field of event sponsorship and event marketing as to how organisations evaluate the performance impact of event sponsorship and event marketing. Similarly, the more established sponsorship outcomes of brand awareness and brand attitude have yet to receive research attention within an organisational research setting. This research study follows a cross-sectional research design. A conceptual model is developed on the basis of the literature review, and is tested through confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling. The data for this study was collected via an online survey which resulted in 226 responses. The findings indicate a negative relationship between event sponsorship and brand performance. Furthermore, organisational innovativeness was identified as moderating the event sponsorship brand performance relationship, whereas brand orientation is found to moderate the event marketing financial performance relationship.

This master´s thesis deals his issue of company performance measurement. In the first part there is given theoretical framework of this topic. The practical part contains analysis of the current situation of the company with two competitors. Based on the analysis there are proposing measures, which will contribute to improving business performance.

<p>Disertacija se bavi utvrđivanjem smera i intenziteta<br />uticaja informacionih tehnologija na pojedine<br />organizacione i poslovne performanse u preduzećima<br />u Srbiji. Pri tme su posmatrane sledeće performanse:<br />zadovoljstvo poslom, zadovoljstvo komunikacijom, organizaciona posvećenost, međusobno poverenje na<br />poslu, organizacionoo učenje, finansijske<br />performanse i profesionalni respekt prema lideru.<br />Istraživanje je realizovano u preduzećima u Srbiji,<br />tako &scaron;to su ispitanici (srednji menadžeri) popunili<br />upitnike. Za istraživanje su kori&scaron;ćeni odgovori od<br />ukupno N = 380 srednjih menadžera iz 102<br />preduzeća. Najvažniji rezultati istraživanja su sledeći:<br />1. Utvrđen je postojeći nivo savremenosti i primene<br />informacionih tehnologija, kao i nivo pažnje koja se<br />poklanja informacionim tehnologijama, u<br />preduzećima u Srbiji. 2. Utvrđeno je stanje<br />informacionih tehnologija u zavisnosti od nekoliko<br />kriterijuma: pol CEO, godine CEO, vlasnička<br />struktura preduzeća, finansijske performanse, profesionalni respekt prema lideru i poverenje u<br />akcije menadžmenta. 3. Utvrđeno je da su<br />informacione tehnologije pokazatelj nivoa<br />posmatranih organizacionih i poslovnih performansi.<br />4. Utvrđeno je da postoji statistički značajan uticaj<br />informacionih tehnologija na posmatrane<br />organizacione i poslovne performanse. 5. Ispitana su i<br />definisana moderatorna dejstva tri moderatora:<br />Profesionalni respekt prema lideru, Poverenje u<br />akcije menadžmenta i Vlasnička struktura preduzeća, na odnos informacionih tehnologija i zadovoljstva<br />komunikacijom i organizacionog učenja. 6. Definisane su preporuke za lidere i menadžere u vezi<br />sa tim kako unaprediti performanse preduzeća,<br />posmatrano iz perspektive informacionih tehnologija<br />i njihove primene.</p> / <p>The dissertation deals with determining the direction<br />and intensity of the impact of information<br />technologies on individual and organizational<br />performance of companies in Serbia. Observed are<br />the following performances: job satisfaction,<br />communication satisfaction, organizational<br />commitment, mutual trust at work, organizational<br />learning, financial performance and professional<br />respect for the leader. The survey was conducted in<br />companies in Serbia, by the respondents (middle<br />managers) completing questionnaires. For the study<br />there were used responses from a total of N = 380<br />middle managers from 102 companies. The most<br />important results of the research are as follows: 1.<br />Defined is the current level of modernity and<br />application of information technologies, as well as the<br />level of attention paid to information technologies in<br />companies in Serbia. 2. Defined is the situation of<br />information technologies depending on several<br />criteria: gender of the CEO, age of the CEO, the<br />ownership structure of the company, financial<br />performance, professional respect for the leader and<br />trust in the actions of management. 3. It is found that<br />information technologies are an indicator of the level<br />of the observed organizational and business<br />performance. 4. It is found that there is a statistically<br />significant impact of information technologies on the<br />observed organizational and business performance. 5. Tested and defined are the moderating effects of three<br />moderators: professional respect for the leader, trust<br />in the action of management and ownership structure<br />of the company, on the relationship of information<br />technologies and communication satisfaction and<br />organizational learning. 6. There are defined<br />recommendations for leaders and managers in this<br />regard to improve the performance of the company,<br />from the perspective of information technologies and<br />their application.</p>

This master's thesis deals with the evaluation of performance of the company BAWEL from 2007 to 2010. Based on its financial analysis and analysis of financial management and a comparison of its results with competing companies and average values in the respective branch of industry are presented proposals to maintain company performance.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the company performance of STROJÍRNY OLŠOVEC, s. r. o. during the years 2008 – 2012 and suggest measures leading to its improvement. The theoretical part of this thesis focuses on the description of basic terms and methodological procedures, which are used for company performance evaluation. The characteristic of chosen company is a part of this thesis as well as the description of the development of engineering industry. Suggestions for improvement, based on the strategic analysis, financial analysis and corporate benchmarking, are presented in the conclusion of this thesis.

Le aziende a controllo familiare sono considerate in molti Paesi la struttura proprietaria dominante, e la ricerca accademica si è progressivamente concentrata negli ultimi decenni sugli aspetti peculiari che differenziano le aziende familiari dalle altre strutture proprietarie. Nonostante questa convergenza, molti studi hanno sviluppato teorie contrastanti, in modo particolare sulla capacità delle aziende familiari di generare performance finanziarie superiori. Di converso, pochi studi hanno concentrato l’attenzione sulle scelte strategiche che posso spiegare il (maggiore o minore) differenziale di performance delle aziende familiari. Partendo dall’assunto che punti di forza e di debolezza possano coesistere nelle aziende familiari, identificare se siano gli uni o gli altri a prevalere è una sfida complessa se non si prendono in considerazione le scelte strategiche effettuate dalle aziende familiari. Partendo da questo gap nella letteratura, il presente lavoro cerca di misurare l’impatto che la proprietà familiare può avere sulle performance aziendali concentrandosi su tre aspetti principali della strategia d’impresa: il livello di conformità strategico alla media di settore (mediante la creazione di un indice che approssima le principali determinanti della business strategy), l’avvio di un processo di internazionalizzazione attraverso investimenti diretti esteri (IDE), e le implicazioni delle strategie di acquisizione. / The family business is widely considered the dominant property structure around the world and the research on this field has increased rapidly in the last decades to understand whether and in which aspects family firms differ from other organizations. Despite this convergence, the actual body of research on family firms is populated by conflicting theories and findings, especially on the relationship with financial performance. On the other hand, few studies focus their attention on which strategic choices may explain the financial differences between family firms and non-family peers. Starting from this research gap, we think that both positive and negative aspects may coexist in family firms, and it would be difficult to identify which predominate without considering how family principals frame strategic decisions. In our thesis, we try to disentangle the effect of family ownership on firm performance focusing on three main aspects of firm strategy: the level of strategic conformity through the creation of a composite index (in which we incorporated six items that can be considered as key determinants of the business strategy), the departure of the internationalization process through foreign direct investments (FDI), and the implications of acquisition strategies.