This report investigates the effects a demand based tariff would have on private electricity consumers and how it could contribute to a sustainable electrical grid. The fuse tariff that is currently used charges customers for their electricity usage and does not fully reflect the electrical grid load and thereby not the cost for the distribution system operators. A demand based tariff, that charges customers for their power peaks and promotes a change of behaviour better reflects the grid load and could lead to a more even grid distribution and a sustainable development. In light of this issue, two demand based tariffs have been constructed for the energy company Upplands Energi’s private customers’ current electricity consumption. One of the tariffs consists of a higher fixed cost and a lower variable cost and the other consists of a lower fixed cost and a higher variable cost, both leading to the same revenue för Upplands Energi. The two different demand based tariffs have been simulated and analysed, where the one with the lowest fixed cost is recommended since it gives customers higher economic incentives to change their electricity usage behaviour. It is essential that electricity retailers communicate the information of how the demand based tariff works to the customers in order to make them change their electricity behaviour to attain a sustainable grid.

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The use of goal programming in various real-world areas - including resource allocation, engineering, agriculture and other applications - has increased a lot in the past few years. The aim of this dissertation is to investigate goal programming approaches in determining prices. Various aspects of price determination - such as cosls, existing prices, competitors' prices, volume change due to price change and other aspects are incorporated in the model in order to suggest reasonable and realistic prices. Taking just these factors into account will not completely solve the problem, as there are usually certain goals that the decision maker would like to achieve. For example, the decision maker would probably like to attain an acceptable pre-specified minimum profit level without adjusting current prices too much whilst keeping prices competitive to insure that customers are not lost in the process of change. In this study, a goal programming model is developed for the determining of products' prices with consideration of these goals. The model makes provision for the change in demand due to the change in prices. / Mini-dissertation (M.Com. (Computer Science))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

The use of goal programming in various real-world areas - including resource allocation, engineering, agriculture and other applications - has increased a lot in the past few years. The aim of this dissertation is to investigate goal programming approaches in determining prices. Various aspects of price determination - such as cosls, existing prices, competitors' prices, volume change due to price change and other aspects are incorporated in the model in order to suggest reasonable and realistic prices. Taking just these factors into account will not completely solve the problem, as there are usually certain goals that the decision maker would like to achieve. For example, the decision maker would probably like to attain an acceptable pre-specified minimum profit level without adjusting current prices too much whilst keeping prices competitive to insure that customers are not lost in the process of change. In this study, a goal programming model is developed for the determining of products' prices with consideration of these goals. The model makes provision for the change in demand due to the change in prices. / Mini-dissertation (M.Com. (Computer Science))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

Robert Parker is an esteemed, somewhat controversial wine-critic. Since 1978, Parker has assigned every wine he tastes a score between 50 and 100. He uses this method to communicate to both consumers and producers his opinion of the quality, taste, and aging potential of the wine. Between the years 2005 and 2015, Robert Parker graded 115 wines from the French region of Provence. The goal of this thesis is to determine whether and to what extent Robert Parker’s grades affect the price of wine. Through descriptive statistics and regression analysis of Robert Parker’s grade and year of production on the average price, I assess the effects of one expert’s opinion on the price of Provençal wine. My results show that, while there is a statistically significant relationship between Robert Parker’s grade and the price of wine, the relationship between the two variables has not varied considerably over the past ten years. In addition, my results show an indifference on the part of Provençal wine-producers in regards to pricing based on the grades their wines receive from the wine-critic. This led me to the conclusion that the relationship between price of wine and grade is not as strong as hypothesized. This is an interesting finding given the prevalence of consumer reports and expert-opinion based journals for consumable goods.

This thesis is designed to emphasize and illustrate that marginal costing is a tool of management that can make clear the how, when, why, and wherefor of the price determining affect and its results.

Property developers and investors seek to understand the drivers of prices for office and retail space. Through literature, we learn that size and age, locational attributes, physical features of the properties, and economic variables are significant determinants of commercial property prices. However, previous work has narrowly focused on aspects akin to formal structures and ignored the role of institutions, especially conventions and social norms incredibly, and what influences the behaviour of the property developers and investors while making the pricing decision. Therefore, the goal of this study was to understand how prices for commercial properties are determined in Uganda. The objectives of the study were to understand the role of conventions and social norms found in the property market environment on price determination and to explore the behaviour tendencies/heuristics exhibited by the players during the pricing decision-making process. The study was qualitative in nature. The researcher interviewed property owners, developers, institutional investors, and key informants to understand the conventions and social norms that exist in the property market and how they ultimately influence the pricing decision of commercial buildings. This study reveals that conventions exist in the Ugandan property markets. The conventions signal a price to the players in the property environment. However, due to information asymmetry and irrationality, each player interprets the price signals differently, using heuristics to develop the final price. This study helps researchers understand the role of individual behaviour/heuristics in advancing our understanding of institutions and the effects of the two on commercial property pricing, the economy at large and its consequences on economic policy.

The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the application of the common law rule prohibiting unilateral price determination in contracts of sale governed by the Consumer Protection Act. The unilateral determination of price has been a controversial issue for an extended period of time. This controversy is traced back to Roman law where different translations and interpretations are given to the texts dealing with the unilateral determination of price in a contract of sale. The majority of the Roman-Dutch writers preferred the view that regarded a contract granting a discretion to one of the parties to determine the price as void. Subsequently, this view was incorporated into South African law. During the 1990s the Supreme Court of Appeal questioned whether the rule should still form part of South African law. An overview of the case law indicates that the courts have been prepared to allow contractual price discretions provided such discretions refer to an objective external standard or reasonableness. There are also indications that the courts would imply that the discretion should be exercised reasonably, except in the case of clearly unfettered discretions. Recently, the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 ("the CPA") has made substantial amendments to the law of sale in respect of contracts governed by the CPA. The dissertation investigates the influence of the CPA on the rule governing unilateral price determinations in such sales. It also investigates the consumer's fundamental rights to disclosure of information and fair, just and reasonable terms and conditions. Legal uncertainties and issues arising from the provisions of the CPA are identified. Finally, a comparative study with English law is undertaken which provides a comparative basis from which possible solutions are extracted and proposals made to address the uncertainties and issues emanating from the CPA. Copyright / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Mercantile Law / unrestricted

Le régime de cession des droits sociaux applicable des entre les membres d’une même famille est certes privilégié. Mais le législateur ne prend en compte que certains d’entre eux, à savoir, les ascendants, les descendants et certains collatéraux. Pourtant, les parts sociales ou actions font parties des biens patrimoniaux de la famille. Cette mise en société sert de prétexte à une meilleure gestion du patrimoine familial, mais aussi à sa cession au sein de la famille. L’objectif souvent non avoué est la pérennisation de l’entreprise familiale au sein de la famille. Toutefois, législateur ne reconnait toujours pas tous les types de schémas familiaux contemporains. Et pour cause, la notion de famille n’est pas définie en droit. Pourtant cette définition serait bien utile pour soumettre les cessions entre proches à un régime bien spécifique. La conséquence est que la pratique des affaires a développée quantité de règles pour permettre aux associés familiaux soit de rester ensemble au sein de la société ou d’en sortir. En effet, les aléas de la vie familiale commandent les cessions. Ce sont souvent des pactes extra-statutaires qui servent de support à la cession des titres. Le problème est qu’ils n’engagent que leurs signataires. Autrement dit, les associés familiaux non signataires de ces pactes ne sont pas concernés par ceux-ci. Pourtant, ils font partie de la même société et de la même famille. Peuvent-ils pour autant élever contestation en justice ? Car à bien des égards, ces pactes sont souvent à la frontière de l’illégalité notamment celle de l’interdiction des pactes sur succession future. Alors, la liberté de cession du cédant serait-elle empêchée dans le cadre d’une société familiale ? L’élément de réponse se trouve sans doute dans la consécration du pacte de famille, un nouvel outil juridique autonome destiné à compléter efficacement les statuts de la société. / The system of transfer of the corporate holdings of the company applicable between members of the same family is certainly privileged. But the legislator only takes into account some of them namely, ascendants, descendants and some collaterals. However, shares or stocks are part of the family's patrimonial assets. This incorporation serves as a pretext for better management of the family patrimony, but also for its transfer within the family. The often unstated aim is the sustainability of the family business within the family. However, legislator still does not recognize all types of contemporary family patterns. And for good reason, the notion of family is not defined in law. Yet this definition would be very useful to submit the transfers between relatives to a specific regime. The consequence is that business practice has developed a lot of rules to allow family partners to either stay together in society or get out of it. Indeed, the vagaries of family life command shares disposal. These are often extra-statutory pacts that serve as a support for the sale of securities. The problem is that they only commit their signatories. In other words, non-signatory family members of these pacts are not affected by them. Yet they are part of the same company and the same family. Can they raise a challenge in court? Because in many ways, these pacts are often on the borderline of illegality, including the prohibition of pacts respecting a future succession. Could the transferor's freedom of assignment be prevented in the context of a family company? The element of response is undoubtedly in the consecration of the family pact, a new independent legal tool designed to effectively supplement the company statutes.