No description available.

No description available.

This paper analyses three aspects of the share market operated by the Lima Stock Exchange: (i) the short-term relationship between the pricing, direction and volume of order flows; (ii) the components of the spread and the equilibrium point of the limit order book per share, and (iii) the pricing, order direction and trading volume dynamic resulting from shocks in the same variables when lagged. The econometric results for intraday data from 2012 show that the short-run dynamic of the most and least liquid shares in the General Index of the Lima Stock Exchange is explained by the direction of order flow, whose price impact is temporary in both cases.

No description available.

Pricing strategy plays an important role in retail competitiveness. This research is a systematic enquiry into the choice of pricing strategy by mass merchandisers, reviewing whether everyday low pricing (EDLP) or discounting (known as high low pricing or HLP) is more effective, and making recommendations on how pricing can be used to support competitive advantage within the mass merchandise sector. Through measurement of consumer perceptions and analysis of financial and transactional data, key observations are made about the consumer response to retail pricing strategy. A variety of managerial implications are drawn from the results and suggestions for future research are offered.

Oil-rich developing economies have in their oil a valuable asset which could enable them to achieve a transformation to economic maturity largely unhindered by the constraints of foreign exchange and/or domestic savings. Yet the existence of such an asset creates tendencies that would lead to 'too-fast' depletion rates and structural distortions which, together, threaten the viability of these economies in the long run. The question of optimal growth with exhaustible resources is, therefore, of considerable relevance to such economies. This thesis attempts to assess the past impact of oil on the Iraqi economy and to study its future optimal growth. The former issue is dealt with through an analysis of the structure and the general trends in the development of the Iraqi economy during the period 1953-1974. The study reveals a growing structural imbalance manifested by the growth of Services at the expense of Commodity sectors, a failure to diversify exports, and an increase in dependence on oil revenues. The problem of optimal growth is examined using a linear programming input-output type model, the two main features of which are (1) an explicit recognition of Iraq's dependence on an exhaustible resource (oil) as a source of foreign exchange and savings, (2) the use of optimal oil pricing trajectories for the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries as a group for the valuation of Iraq's oil exports. Apart from determining Iraq's optimal oil depletion path, the model also throws some light on the way Iraq's optimal growth path is affected by such factors as OPEC's pricing strategies, Iraq's absorptive capacity as well as by the requirements of some important economic development objectives, such as achieving self sufficiency in foreign exchange after oil is completely exhausted.

Master of Science in Engineering - Engineering / An option is the right to buy or sell an underlying asset at a future date by fixing the price now. The field of option pricing produces a challenge because of the complexity with pricing American styled options which cannot be done by the Black-Scholes equations. Neural Networks and Machine Learning techniques are predictors based on past data and it is intuitive to believe that they can model American options as they are non-linear instruments. Call option data on the South African All Share Index (ALSI) was used for testing of the techniques. These two different techniques were compared. What was also done was the comparison of Bayesian techniques applied to both the techniques. What this provided was confidence levels for the predictions. The investigations showed that Machine Learning techniques out-performed Neural Networks. The investigations also showed that there is scope for work to be done to improve the model.

Tillämpningen av dynamisk prissättning har förenklats i och med digitaliseringens framväxt. Med den ökade tillgången till kunddata kan företag idag kartlägga kundernas köpbeteende och genom algoritmer anpassa priserna därefter. Identiska varor och tjänster kan på så sätt prissättas annorlunda. För företaget utgör denna prissättning en möjlighet till ökad lönsamhet, men ur ett kundperspektiv kan detta tänkas skapa känslor av orättvisa och lurendrejeri. Samtidigt har det visat sig vara desto viktigare i en digital miljö att se till kundnöjdhet, eftersom det finns en högre transparens och kunderna har lägre engagemang och lojalitet. Det kan därför ifrågasättas om ett företag i längden tjänar på att använda sig av dynamisk prissättning om den skadar relationen till kunden. Syftet med denna studie är således att undersöka kundattityd kopplat till dynamisk prissättning. För att undersöka kundattityd baseras studien på en modell med komponenterna kundvärde, kundnöjdhet, kvalitet, kundlojalitet, förtroende och rättvisa. Studiens analys grundar sig på empirisk data som samlats in genom virtuella fokusgruppsdiskussioner. Dataunderlaget utgörs av fem fokusgruppsdiskussioner, med totalt 31 deltagare. Studien visar att kundernas attityd till företaget påverkas negativt av dynamisk prissättning. Dock framhäver studien att kundvärdet skapas i andra kvaliteter än pris. Trots en initial negativ inställning påvisas att det finns en viss grad av kundanpassning och utveckling av köpstrategier.

Following two decades of under-investment, vital elements of South African water infrastructure is in serious disrepair, if not in a crisis. The government is challenged by the cumulative demands of sustained economic growth; as well as the new trade and investment opportunities in the post-financial crisis period. There is a serious backlog in water infrastructure investment, for the development and management of water resources and water services. This under-investment is estimated at more than R110 billion. The three spheres of government – national, provincial and local– which have served South Africa well in past decades now appear unable and ill-equipped to grapple with the present planning and delivery challenge. This research project identified a number of funding models (14) for the financing of water infrastructure development projects. However, the classic public provision model of government planned, installed and financed infrastructure with pricing at marginal cost or on a loss–making basis – with returns recovered through the taxation system – continues to characterise much of South Africa’s publicly provided water infrastructure. Nowadays, water infrastructure is split between fully public, and mixed ownership (water agencies and/or entities); Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) in the water sector is not yet a full reality. Further innovation in water infrastructure investment, including closing the circle between public and private-sector capital, is required. Complex issues of pricing, access, public policy and regulation, risk–sharing, tendering processes, taxation and governance have arisen as key challenges that will influence whether private provision of water infrastructure can grow as a viable new model in South Africa. Sustainability has introduced a further new dimension into the calculus of water infrastructure provision. Thus, a framework that takes account of environmental and social aspects, as well as economic aspects, is now widely accepted as necessary.

O trabalho inicia apresentando a teoria econômica, incluindo as teorias empresariais e das estruturas de mercado e constrói um alinhamento entre estratégia de negócios e de formação de preços, explorando os principais conceitos derivados. Estes conceitos terão sua aplicabilidade verificada através de estudos de casos em empresas nacionais. Estes estudos exploram empresas de diferentes mercados com produtos ou serviços em diferentes estágios de ciclo de vida. As análises pretendem mostrar como alinhar as estratégias de negócio e competição das empresas e suas estratégias e táticas operacionais de formação de preços. Os resultados obtidos indicam que apesar das empresas procurarem alinhar seus objetivos estratégicos com os objetivos de formação de preço ainda há possíveis oportunidades no uso de técnicas e conceitos em dimensões estratégicas específicas de seu negócio, bem como oportunidades advindas da integração e estruturação destes processos. / The work initiates introducing the economic theory, including the managerial and market structures theories and builds an alignment between business and pricing strategies, exploring the main derived concepts. These concepts are to be verified through a multiple case study in Brazilian companies. These studies explore companies acting in different market structures with products and services in different life cycle stages. The analyses intend to show how to align company’s business and competition strategies with its pricing strategies and operational tactics. The gotten results indicate that despite the companies are looking for the alignment between its strategical and pricing objectives they still have improvements opportunities derived from the use of techniques and concepts in specific strategical dimensions of its business, as well as of the integration and organization of these processes.