This study has quantitatively explored the relationships between investment, the use oftechnology and manufacturing perfonnance in UK manufacturing industry from 1979 to 1995. The exploration ofthe relationships is based on the review and the meta-analysis ofmanufacturing practice and performance relationships in the past along with the related theories and economic factors. The review of the operational management theory and the economic factors, which may influence manufacturing performance and practice relationship, helps to establish the wide context for this research and also contributes to the identified gaps. The meta-analysis ofthe relationships between practice and performance in the published studies has also contributed to the identified gaps in this research area. After the consideration ofthe discovered gaps and the availability of the database, the relationship between investment, the use oftechnology and manufacturing performance has been explored in this research. In order to quantitatively evaluate the relationships between investment, the use of technology, their interaction and manufacturing perfonnance, econometric modelling techniques have been used as methodological approaches. Two types ofmethods have been developed based on the review ofthe econometric techniques used in the past and the exploration of relevant econometric literature. The first method uses multiplicative interaction regression models combined with the centralisation method and ordinary least square estimation technique to investigate the relationship between investment, technology usage and their interaction and one dimensional perfonnance. The second method employs multiple-output models using the maximum correlation estimation technique to investigate the relationships between investment, technology usage and their interaction and two dimensional performance measures. A UK manufacturing database including two time periods, the 1980s and the early 1990s, covering seventeen years has been used to test the hypothesised relationships between investment in several forms, technology usage, their interaction and financial performance. The research discovers that it was difficult for investment to bring benefits for performance improvement at the year ofinvestment. The results support the hypotheses that a long-term planned investment brought benefits for manufacturing companies in the 1980s, however was not the case in the early 1990s. Technology usage was very important for performance improvement in the 1980s but the benefits brought by technology were diminishing as the mature stage ofsome key technologies was reached in the early 1990s. The analysis of the data suggests that the economic recession in the early 1990s was an important factor in explaining the phenomena and other economic factors might playa role as well. Investment and technology did interact with each other to contribute to performance improvement but it was not always the case. The results of the multiple-outputs model support the hypothesis that profitability and growth were two joint products of investment, the use oftechnology and their interaction in the immediate year or two after investment. This research also demonstrates the values of mUltiplicative interaction regression modelling and multiple-outputs modelling for manufacturing relationship studies.

Cases involving sudden environmental events, such as British Petroleum’s (BP’s) accidental oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, clearly demonstrate the causal relation between poor corporate environmental performance and abrupt loss of shareholder value. Under such circumstances, a firm’s results can be readily priced using a conventional valuation model and hence, there is a clear nexus between environmental performance and business outcomes, as represented by the firm’s financial results as well as the event impact on shareholder value through equity prices. However, in less extreme cases there is no clear evidence of there being a relationship between these elements. Further, in relation to the literature on the nature of and motivations for corporate social and environmental reporting, scant attention has been directed towards research on the usefulness of environmental performance information to financial decision makers. Moreover, such studies as there have been have delivered mixed results in the absence of a conceptual framework that is able to distinguish the quality of such reporting from underlying performance and other representations of performance, such as reputation and SRI index membership. In order to address these previous shortcomings in this field, the proposed research focuses on environmental issues to investigate whether corporate environmental performance information can be considered as an aspect of a firm’s value, in terms of equity performance and to this end three empirical studies are carried out probing the relationships, respectively, between: - corporate social responsibility (CSR) reputation and equity performance, - socially responsible investment (SRI) index membership and equity performance, and - CSR ratings and share selection in SRI versus general investment funds, whilst in each case controlling for other environmentally related factors, as well as financial performance. The findings of the first empirical study suggest that environmental reputation and physical performance measured as proxies of the corporate environmental performance have value relevance, being negatively significantly related to the stock valuation, whereas environmental disclosure (DJSI) is not value relevant to financial decision-makers, and hence, not incorporated into share prices. However, the outcomes suggest that the GRI, an alternative measure of environmental disclosure, is value relevant even though it is not incorporated into share prices. The outcomes of the second empirical study indicate that companies being added to the DJSI or the FTSE4Good index in the March announcement results in a temporary decrease in a their share price, whilst companies added in (deleted from) the September announcement of the FTSE4Good index experience a significant but temporary increase (decrease) in stock return. However, membership of SRI indices does not have value relevance. Finally, the findings from the third empirical study suggest that CSR ratings have a weak influence on the ownership holdings decisions taken by SRI fund managers and further, they show that they, on aggregate, prefer to take into account multidimensional CSR measurements when making investment choices.

Nowadays, market situation has moved from the mass marketing towards the era of customized marketing. To keep abreast of technological development, new approach should substitute for the traditional business models. The issue that CRM as a tool to create values for customers in developing countries has become much more attractive. The purpose of this dissertation is to figure out how to create values for the customers in the operating process of enterprise. This study is built on a model of CRM process and performance, which helps the company to create values for customers. The authors use case study to conduct this research, and data collection through the semi-structured interview.   Some findings are obtained: strategic goals and customer orientation are critical for a CRM project. The small firms’ success is derived from the effective customer orientation and meeting customer needs. CRM process contained firm resources, management of customer relationships, customer-company exchange process and people-related components. The tangible performance of successful CRM process is to increase company profits through enhancing customer behaviors. Managing relationships with customers is beneficial for the company. If a company focuses on trust, commitment, and communication between company and the customers, their relationship performance will be boost up. It will achieve the customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, customer retention. Furthermore, customer satisfaction has direct relationship with customer values, and is the chief purpose of any business and is associated with the business success.

在工商社會當中，一方面由於一般大眾缺乏專業素養，另一方面由於時間的不足，因此將資金交由專業理財專家代為操作的投資觀念，在投資大眾的心目中逐漸形成；由專業經理人代為管理的共同基金也因此成為投資人的投資標的之一。 　　由於目前市場上共同基金的數目逐漸增多，因此各種不同型態的基金也逐漸出現，而不同型態的基金其所強調的風險性與報酬率的高低也有所不同。本研究主要目的在於對投資於國內的不同型態的開放型共同基金，投資績效差異性與持續性等方面進行探討。 　　本研究所使用的績效評估指標主要以學術界常用的Sharpe績效指標、Treynor績效指標、Jensen績效指標，與M、C、V績效指標為主。統計方法則分別以t_D檢定、變異數分析，及Spearman等級相關係數作為檢定的輔助工具。 　　基金樣本為投資於國內證券市場的開放型基金，包括有積極成長型、成長型、平衡型，與債券型四大類型，共計有二十四個基金；研究期間為自民國八十三年四月十四日至八十四年四月二十七日，以週為研究單位共計有五十四週，同時將研究期間分為二期，每期有二十七週，以利於相關研究的進行。 　　經過實證研究結果得到以下結論： 　　1. 部分共同基金的投資報酬率優於市場投資組合報酬率。 　　2. 在第一期不同型態基金間，以Sharpe指標評估的投資績效具差異性；而在第二期不同形態基金間以Treynor指標評估的投資績效具差異性。 　　3. 在基金樣本當中成長型基金的投資績效具持續性，而其他型態基金持續性則不顯著。