Research and development (R&D) covering diseases that disproportionately affect developing nations is grossly inadequate. In particular it has been noted over a long period that governments of countries with high tuberculosis (TB) disease burden under invest in TB R&D, despite having 40% of the world’s notified TB cases. For instance, South Africa’s (SA) annual expenditure on TB R&D, of US$1,2 million in 2012, is insignificant relative to its disease burden, of 1 003 per 100,000 population. New tools are required to stop TB; these tools require R&D investment. However a recent report has noted that for the first time in eight years, global spending on TB R&D decreased in 2012 compared with the previous year. This drop in R&D investment threatens to undermine the possibility of any future insights from TB research. The important question remains: how can public investment in TB R&D be stimulated or incentivised, especially within those countries of high prevalence and sizeable R&D budgets (such as India, SA, China and Russia)? In an attempt to answer such a question, this research followed a quantitative, case study methodology based on secondary data analysis of information from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the SA National Strategic Plan (NSP) 2012-2016, looking at the costs associated with TB treatment in SA and identified areas of potential savings as a consequence of well directed R&D. For additional information on external funding and TB R&D investment, the study used the Organisation for Economic and Development (OECD) and Treatment Action Group (TAG) data. A return on investment estimation method for suitable R&D projects was then used to compute the optimal TB R&D investment range. The results of the research show that there are higher returns on the optimization of TB drug regimens versus new drug development. The argument proposed by this research is that further TB R&D expenditure can be justified from a purely economic return on investment consideration, considering that expenditure of public funds on TB treatment is high and significant savings can be made through improvements to the current drug regimen optimisation. This report will help policy makers in increasing public health R&D expenditure from present levels to those targets set by the World Health Organisation’s Consultative Expert Working Group (CEWG) and others. This return on investment will only be realised if public-funded R&D is focussed more directly on public health priorities. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / lmgibs2014 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

M.Com. (Business Management) / The study focuses on the return on marketing investment (ROMI) in the life insurance industry in South Africa. Although this is a growing industry, it is characterised by high competitiveness and similar product offerings from the different insurance providers. Therefore, in competing for the larger market share, the companies differentiate themselves by relying more on their unique strengths. They compete by promoting themselves and their products through various above-the-line and below-the-line marketing activities and campaigns in order to drive sales, build awareness, manage reputations, and to be top of mind to consumers. This study focuses on establishing whether these various marketing activities are measured to determine whether they contribute to the bottom line/ profit margins (basic purpose of ROMI) and to what extent. The ultimate goal is to establish whether ROMI is considered as being important to measure in the life insurance industry and whether spending on marketing activities does contribute to profit margins. A total of 16 recognised life insurance companies were identified and a sample size of seven companies selected. The sampling frame consisted of marketing managers, who happened to be heads of departments in this case. Structured interviews were conducted with these managers, and feedback was transcribed and analysed. Only marketing managers were interviewed as they are directly responsible for the marketing budget, and are accountable for marketing spending and the overall success of the department. It was identified in the study that in order to measure ROMI, it starts by being accountable for the marketing spending. The overall results of the study indicate that spending on marketing does contribute to profits margins and that ROMI is considered by the life insurance industry as important to measure. The study was limited only to the Gauteng province, thus it can be generalised to the life insurance companies in South Africa, but cannot be generalised to other insurance industries, e.g. short-term insurance, thus allowing for the possibility of a comparative study in the future, in addition to future studies listed in chapter 5.

published_or_final_version / Real Estate and Construction / Master / Master of Science in Real Estate and Construction

by Chan Ping Kei Patrick & Sun Fuk Cheung, Admiral. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leave 40). / ABSTRACT --- p.ii / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.iii / Chapter / Chapter I. --- INTRODUCTION & BACKGROUND --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Objectives of our study --- p.2 / Chapter 1.2 --- Category of Red Chips --- p.3 / Chapter 1.3 --- "A, B and H shares compared" --- p.4 / Chapter II. --- METHODOLOGY --- p.8 / Chapter 2.1 --- Period of study --- p.10 / Chapter 2.2 --- Redchip Index (RCI) --- p.11 / Chapter 2.3 --- Share price return --- p.12 / Chapter 2.4 --- Initial Public Offering (IPO) --- p.13 / Chapter 2.5 --- Estimating Betas --- p.14 / Chapter 2.6 --- P/E comparison --- p.15 / Chapter III. --- RESULTS --- p.16 / Chapter 3.1 --- Background information --- p.16 / Chapter 3.2 --- Empirical analysis --- p.18 / Chapter 3.3 --- Share price return --- p.20 / Chapter 3.4 --- Performance of new issues in 1993 --- p.21 / Chapter 3.4.1 --- General trends --- p.21 / Chapter 3.4.2 --- Seasoning effect --- p.24 / Chapter 3.5 --- Beta estimation --- p.27 / Chapter 3.6 --- P/E comparison --- p.28 / Chapter 3.7 --- China factors --- p.28 / Chapter IV. --- THE VIEW OF PRACTITIONERS --- p.30 / Chapter V. --- CONCLUSION --- p.31 / APPENDIX --- p.32 / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.40

by Leung Wing-keung, Edward, Wong Tai-chung, Ivan. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1991. / Bibliography: leaves 98-99. / Chapter CHAPTER I --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY --- p.2 / INDEXES --- p.2 / World Index --- p.3 / Industrial Indexes --- p.3 / Effective (Trade Weighted) Exchange. Rate Index --- p.4 / SRH Political/Economic Confidence Index --- p.4 / Average Consumer Price Index --- p.5 / Chapter CHAPTER II --- LITERATURE REVIEW --- p.6 / Domestic Versus International Factors --- p.6 / Currency Factors --- p.11 / Market Correlation --- p.19 / Conclusion --- p.22 / Chapter CHAPTER III --- METHODOLOGY --- p.24 / Portfolio construction --- p.25 / Industrial sectors --- p.26 / Indexes --- p.26 / Data Smoothing --- p.27 / Measure of Individual Stock Return --- p.28 / Regression --- p.30 / Simple Linear Regression --- p.30 / Multiple Linear Regression --- p.30 / Correlation --- p.31 / Chapter CHAPTER IV --- DATA COLLECTION --- p.32 / World Index --- p.32 / Industry Indexes --- p.32 / Effective (Trade-weighted) Exchange Rate Index (EERI) --- p.33 / SRH Political/Economic Confidence Index --- p.33 / Consumer Price Indexes --- p.33 / Return of Stocks --- p.33 / Chapter CHAPTER V --- STATISTICAL FINDINGS --- p.35 / Correlation of the Indexes and Stock Returns --- p.35 / World Index and Industry Indexes --- p.36 / World Index and Average CPI --- p.36 / Industry Indexes and Average CPI --- p.37 / Banking Portfolio --- p.38 / Financial Services --- p.39 / Textile & Apparel --- p.42 / Real Estates --- p.44 / Simple Regression --- p.47 / International Versus Domestic Factors --- p.47 / Individual Factors --- p.48 / Chapter CHAPTER VI --- CONCLUSION --- p.69 / Banking --- p.70 / Finance --- p.70 / Textile and Apparel --- p.70 / Real Estates --- p.71 / Chapter CHAPTER VII --- RECOMMENDATION FOR FURTHER RESEARCH --- p.72 / APPENDICES / Chapter APPENDIX 1 --- The Composition of Effective (Trade- weighted) Exchange Rate Index --- p.74 / Chapter APPENDIX 2 --- Method of Compilation of EERI --- p.75 / Chapter APPENDIX 3 --- Method of Compilation of SRH Confidence Indexes --- p.76 / Chapter APPENDIX 4 --- Weights for The New Consumer Price Indexes By Section of Commodities / Services --- p.78 / Chapter APPENDIX 5 --- Composition of The portfolios --- p.79 / Chapter APPENDIX 6 --- SRH Confidence Indexes --- p.81 / Chapter APPENDIX 7 --- SPSS Multiple Regression Results (Banking Portfolio) --- p.82 / Chapter APPENDIX 8 --- SPSS Multiple Regression Results (Financial Services Portfolio) --- p.86 / Chapter APPENDIX 9 --- SPSS Multiple Regression Results (Textile & Apparel Portfolio) --- p.90 / Chapter APPENDIX 10 --- SPSS Multiple Regression Results (Real Estates Portfolio) --- p.94 / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.98

Wu Haijun. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 45-48). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract --- p.ii / Acknowledgement --- p.iv / Chapter Chapter 1. --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter Chapter 2. --- Literature Review --- p.4 / Chapter 2.1. --- The Fisher Hypothesis --- p.4 / Chapter 2.2. --- International Fisher Equation --- p.11 / Chapter Chapter 3. --- Theoretical Basis on The Link Between Stock Return Differential and Inflation Rate Differential --- p.15 / Chapter Chapter 4. --- Data Description --- p.19 / Chapter Chapter 5. --- Results --- p.23 / Chapter 5.1. --- Does The Generalized Fisher Hypothesis Hold In The Long Horizons --- p.24 / Chapter 5.2. --- Does International Fisher Equation Hold --- p.29 / Chapter 5.3. --- Can International Elements Account For The Failure of Fisher Hypothesis --- p.36 / Chapter Chapter 6. --- Conclusion --- p.43 / Bibliography --- p.45 / Appendix A --- p.49 / Chapter A.1. --- The link between interest rate differential and inflation rate differential --- p.49 / Chapter A.2. --- Instrumental Variable Estimation --- p.53 / Appendix B --- p.59 / Chapter B.1. --- Hong Kong CPI(A) Source --- p.59 / Chapter B.2. --- Taiwan CPI Source --- p.61 / LIST OF TABLES / Table 4.1: Data Description --- p.21 / Table 4.2: Means and Standard Deviations of Inflation and Stock Returns --- p.22 / Table 5.1: Short-term (One Year) Test on Fisher Hypothesis on Stock Returns --- p.26 / Table 5.2: Long-term (Five Years) Test on Fisher Hypothesis on Stock Returns --- p.27 / Table 5.3: Long-term (Ten Years) Test on Fisher Hypothesis on Stock Returns --- p.30 / Table 5.4: Short-term (One Year) Test For International Fisher Equation on Stock Returns --- p.33 / Table 5.5: Long-term (Five Years) Test For International Fisher Equation on Stock Returns --- p.34 / Table 5.6: Long-term (Ten Years) Test For International Fisher Equation on Stock Returns --- p.35 / Table 5.7: Testing Effects of International Elements on The Fisher Hypothesis --- p.39 / Table 5.8: Regression Results For The Coefficients of Domestic Inflation With and Without International Elements --- p.40

Project (M.B.A.) - Simon Fraser University, 2004. / Theses (Faculty of Business Administration) / Simon Fraser University. MBA-GAWM Program. Senior supervisor: Dr. Peter Klein.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--United States International University, 1989. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 153-157).

Previous research has shown that the asset pricing model of Sharpe, Litner and Black fails to capture the relationship between market β and average return. This previous work showed that the relationship between β and average return was flat. Subsequently it was shown that a strong relationship between book-to-market equity and stock price returns existed. It has also been shown that book to market equity has strong roots in economic fundamentals. Utilities have historically used betas to justify rate increases I developing rate structures that meet the rate of return demands for investors given the risk profiles that the company betas suggest. Realizing that low betas argue against large rate increases l utilities have turned to other avenues to justify higher returns. The suggested relationship of book-to-market equity and average stock returns would provide utilities with a new argument. This thesis will show that the search for a risk proxy in the rate of return relationship for the electric utility is not resolved. The relationship reported between book-to-market equity and stock price returns does not appear to be statistically significant in the electric utility sector and extreme caution is advised in using this empirical model to predict or explain stock price returns. / Master of Arts

by Chan Tsun Kit. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 64-67). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract --- p.i / Acknowledgments --- p.iii / Table of Contents --- p.iv / List of Tables --- p.vi / List of Figures --- p.vii / List of Appendices --- p.viii / Chapter Chapter 1. --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter Chapter 2. --- Background --- p.4 / Chapter 2.1 --- The Importance of Real Estate Sector --- p.4 / Chapter 2.1.1 --- Employment Sector --- p.5 / Chapter 2.1.2 --- Investment Sector --- p.5 / Chapter 2.1.3 --- Banking Sector --- p.6 / Chapter 2.1.4 --- Government Sector --- p.6 / Chapter 2.2 --- Characteristics of the Real Estate Market --- p.7 / Chapter 2.3 --- Price Movement --- p.10 / Chapter 2.4 --- Major Developer --- p.13 / Chapter 2.4.1 --- Sun Hung Kai Properties --- p.15 / Chapter 2.5 --- Contribution of Real Estate Sector on Stock Market --- p.16 / Chapter 2.6 --- Connection between Real Estate and Stock Market --- p.17 / Chapter Chapter 3. --- Literature Review --- p.19 / Chapter Chapter 4. --- Methodology --- p.24 / Chapter 4.1 --- The Model --- p.24 / Chapter 4.2 --- Variables Used --- p.27 / Chapter 4.3 --- Sources of Data --- p.29 / Chapter Chapter 5. --- Empirical Findings --- p.30 / Chapter Chapter 6. --- Implication --- p.33 / Chapter Chapter 7. --- Limitation --- p.35 / Chapter Chapter 8. --- Conclusion --- p.37 / Tables --- p.39 / Figures --- p.48 / Appendices --- p.50 / Bibliography --- p.64