There is extensive literature written about how to calculate Return on Marketing Investment (ROMI) and its importance for marketing managers. However, there are not many studies made on how and when Return on Marketing Investment metrics are used in real life and if and how it is used to argue the value of a marketing activity. We have in this study with comparative cases investigated if and how ROMI metrics are used by managers outside the marketing department in their decision-making process. We based our case selection on how well they represented "Mad men to Math men" presented in Gilan and Hammarberg (2016)'s book "Get Digital or Die Trying." Mad men refers to old school "gut feeling" marketing decision making and "Math men" refers to modern digital marketers with decision making based on numbers and statistics. This study is made from the decision makers point of view with the purpose to gain a better understanding of if and how ROMI calculations are used in the decision-making process of senior management outside of the marketing department. This comparative case study consists of eight in-depth interviews, four in each company. The interviewees are all senior management outside of the marketing department. Our findings include that these two companies work very differently in how they make decisions in marketing investments. In Company 1 the marketing budget is decided by senior management outside of the marketing department, and this management may also cut the marketing budget if they see it necessary. In Company 2 the Segment Managers are responsible for the amount of the budget they would like to invest in marketing activities, and therefore they have more incentive to calculate the return of each investment and compare it with the return on other investments available to them. One of the reasons for the different ways of working can be a result of the different responsibility structure over the marketing budget. There is also a difference in how the two companies measure the success of the investment; Company 1 measure success in pure financial return and Company 2 measure success in increased market shares as well as financial return. Company 2 are using ROMI metrics to a greater extent than Company 1, who does not use any ROMI metrics. Marketers can in this study get an idea of how using ROMI metrics can help argue their case for further investments in marketing or cutting the budget for the marketing department. With the use of ROMI metrics, marketers can also evaluate which marketing activities are more efficient and thereby decide if they should continue with these activities or not. This study also shows that there is still, in some companies, a divide and conflict between the finance department and the marketing department. By shifting the responsibility of the marketing budget like in the case of Company 2, the adverse effect of this division on the marketing investments can be reduced. It can also be beneficial for the company to focus more on market shares than on sales and numbers. As digital marketing is growing stronger, the calculations of ROMI will become easier. Keywords: Return on Marketing Investment (ROMI), decision-making process, senior management, marketing department, finance department, ROMI metrics, real-life ROMI, comparative case study, Mad men, Math men

To support further technology development and to promote the growth of a renewable biofuels industry that will satisfy the stated expectations of anticipated energy needs, it is essential that energy production systems provide a net energy gain over the course of their lifetime. As a means to provide accurate analysis to the value of alternative energy systems this paper provides a mechanism to evaluate energy systems in terms of energy generation ratios that is in terms of existing analysis techniques utilized in existing energy generation areas, such as the oil industry. This paper also proposes techniques that help perform this net energy analysis in terms of the specific economy considering the infrastructure investment.

Background: It is proven difficult to provide evidence for the financial benefit of marketing operations within firms and marketing is the last organizational function to achieve an adopted quantitative method to track and measure its effectiveness. As a result, demands for marketing to provide accountability for its inputs toward firm performance have increased over the past decade and there are an increasing amount of methods looking to measure its contributions.   Problem: Small businesses need to invest financial resources in marketing in order to increase their market share and sales. However, marketing’s value to the firm as an organizational function often goes undervalued. Additionally, small businesses commonly lack the marketing experience and knowledge required in order to make more profitable marketing investment decisions.   Purpose: The purpose of the thesis is to research how much marketing investment influences the profit/sales effectiveness of small business within the clothing sector in Sweden.   Method: The study was conducted using a quantitative research method, through the analysis of 23 small businesses in clothes retailing industry located in Sweden. The data was collected through the firms’ annual reports and telephone surveys with firm managers. This information was processed using a relevant marketing effectiveness model in combination with regression and correlation analyses. Empirical findings were analyzed using theories relevant to pursuing the purpose.   Conclusion: Based on the findings the study concludes that there is evidence for a positive relationship between a firm's marketing investments and sales, as well as between the effectiveness of its marketing activities and it’s incremental revenue. This provides evidence for marketing investments contributing to the economic effectiveness of the firm and that the firms marketing effectiveness contributes to overall financial growth

Installed photovoltaic nameplate power have been growing rapidly around the worldin the last few years. But how much energy is returned to society (i.e. net energy) by this technology, and which factors contribute the most to the amount of energy returned? The objective of this thesis was to examine the importance of certain inputs and outputs along the solar panel production chain and their effect on the energy return on (energy) investment (EROI) for crystalline wafer-based photovoltaics. A process-chain model was built using publicly available life-cycle inventory (LCI) datasets. This model has been kept simple in order to ensure transparency. Univariate sensitivity analysis for processes and multivariate case studies was then applied to the model. The results show that photovoltaic EROI values are very sensitive to assumptions regarding location and efficiency. The ability of solar panels to deliver net energy in northern regions of the earth is questionable. Solar cell wafer thickness have a large impact on EROI, with thinner wafers requiring less silicon material. Finding an alternative route for production of solar-grade silicon is also found to be of great importance, as is introduction of kerf loss recycling. Equal system sizes have been found to yield an primary EROI between approximately 5.5-19 depending on location and assumptions. This indicates that a generalized absolute EROI for photovoltaics may be of little use for decision-makers. Using the net energy cliff concept in relation to primary EROI found in this thesis shows that primary EROI rarely decreases to less than the threshold of 8:1 in univariate cases. Crystalline photovoltaics under similar system boundaries as those in the thesis model does not necessarily constrain economic growth on an energetic basis.

Darbe yra analizuojamas marketingo veiklos efektyvumo vertinimas. Dėl sparčiai besikeičiančios aplinkos ir didėjančios konkurencijos įmonėms yra ypač svarbu vykdyti naudingas ir efektyvias strategijas, didinti visos įmonės vertę, tačiau didžiausia problema yra atsirinkti, ką vertinti ir kaip vertinti. Darbo tikslas - remiantis moksliniais marketingo veiklos efektyvumo vertinimo šaltiniais, atvejo analizės gautais rezultatais, pateikti bendrą marketingo veiklos efektyvumo vertinimo ir atskirų marketingo kampanijų efektyvumo vertinimo modelius. Magistrinio baigiamąjį darbą sudaro trys pagrindinės dalys. Teorinėje, pirmojoje, darbo dalyje yra analizuojami, aptariami, palyginami skirtingų autorių požiūriai į marketingo veiklos efektyvumo vertinimą bei, pagal mokslininkų atliktus tyrimus, pateikiami būdai ir rodikliai marketingo veiklos efektyvumui įvertinti. Analitinėje baigiamojo darbo dalyje atvejo analizės ir ekspertinio interviu metodais yra analizuojamas Lietuvoje vykstančio rinkodaros pasiekimų konkurso „Password 2011” marketingo kampanijų efektyvumo vertinimas. Trečiojoje dalyje yra pateikiami marketingo veiklos efektyvumo vertinimo modeliai, kurie padėtų rezultatyviai įvertinti atskiras marketingo veiklas. / The paper analyzes the marketing performance evaluation. As environment is rapidly changing and competitiveness of enterprises is increasing, it is very important to develop useful and effective strategies to increase the total value of the company, but the biggest problem is to select what to measure and how to measure. The objective of this paper is to present general model of marketing activities effectiveness measurement and models of individual marketing campaigns effectiveness assessment based on scientific resources of marketing effectiveness assessment and results of case analysis. The theoretical, first, part of the work introduces analysis, comparison of different authors approaches to the marketing activities performance evaluation by finding out methods and indicators, which assess the effectiveness of marketing activities. The analytical part is based on case study and interview of expert which analyzes marketing campaign efficiency of Lithuanian’s marketing competition "Password 2011". The third part is intended for the marketing performance evaluation models, which show the most useful stages to evaluate main marketing activities.

In many developed countries angel capital investment is the main source of external financing for high growth early-stage entrepreneurial companies. In spite of its importance, research in the angel capital market is still very limited. This is partly due the fact that data on angel capital investment is rare and unsystematic. This dissertation attempts to learn more about this important but not well-understood angel capital market. In particular, the first essay looks at the relationship between angels and venture capitalists in financing start-up ventures. This essay juxtaposes a complements hypothesis – angel financing is a springboard for venture capital, against a substitutes hypothesis – angels and venture capital are distinct financing methods that ought not to be combined. The result shows that companies that obtain angel financing subsequently obtain less venture capital, and vice versa. On average venture capitalist make larger investments, but this alone cannot explain the substitutes pattern. In addition, this essay reports that companies funded by venture capital perform better than angel backed companies, as measured by successful exits or revenues. Mixing angel and venture capital funding tends to be associated with worse performance. The second essay studies the role of geographic distance between the angel investors and the investee companies on the angel investment performance. This essay conjectures four possible channels that can explain the relationship between distance and the return to angel investment. It shows that distance has a positive relationship with the return to angel investment. Examining the effect of distance across different categories of angel investors, across angel investor’s locations, and across company’s location, this essay finds evidence that this positive relationship is mainly driven by the “objectivity effect”, which suggests that distant investors can evaluate the prospect of a company more objectively than close-by investors, who tend to be more biased in their judgments. The third essay examines why entrepreneurs find it generally hard to find angel investors. This essay modifies the standard search model introduced by Pissarides to explain this phenomenon. In this model, angels hide to force entrepreneurs to engage in a costly search. The result shows that angel investors adopt the hiding strategy to screen out low-productivity entrepreneurs who would otherwise inundate angels. Interestingly, social surplus is often increased when angels hide, though in some circumstances surplus may fall. / Graduate / 0505 / danvo@uvic.ca

Les SIEMs (systèmes pour la Sécurité de l'Information et la Gestion des Evénements) sont le cœur des centres opérationnels de sécurité actuels. Les SIEMs corrèlent les événements en provenance de différents capteurs (anti-virus, pare-feux, systèmes de détection d'intrusion, etc), et offrent des vues synthétiques pour la gestion des menaces ainsi que des rapports de sécurité. La recherche dans les technologies SIEM a toujours mis l'accent sur la fourniture d'une interprétation complète des menaces, en particulier pour évaluer leur importance et hiérarchiser les réponses. Toutefois, dans de nombreux cas, la réponse des menaces a encore besoin de l'homme pour mener l'analyse et aboutir à la prise de décisions, p.ex. compréhension des menaces, définition des contremesures appropriées ainsi que leur déploiement. Il s'agit d'un processus lent et coûteux, nécessitant un haut niveau d'expertise, qui reste néanmoins sujet à erreurs. Ainsi, des recherches récentes sur les SIEMs ont mis l'accent sur l'importance et la capacité d'automatiser le processus de sélection et le déploiement des contremesures. Certains auteurs ont proposé des mécanismes automatiques de réponse, comme l'adaptation des politiques de sécurité pour dépasser les limites de réponses statiques ou manuelles. Bien que ces approches améliorent le processus de réaction (en le rendant plus rapide et/ou plus efficace), ils restent limités car ces solutions n'analysent pas l'impact des contremesures choisies pour atténuer les attaques. Dans cette thèse, nous proposons une nouvelle approche systématique qui sélectionne la contremesure optimale au travers d'un ensemble de candidats, classés sur la base d'une comparaison entre leur efficacité à arrêter l'attaque et leur capacité à préserver, simultanément, le meilleur service aux utilisateurs légitimes. Nous proposons également un modèle pour représenter graphiquement les attaques et les contre-mesures, afin de déterminer le volume de chaque élément dans un scénario de multiples attaques. Les coordonnées de chaque élément sont dérivés d'un URI . Ce dernier est composé principalement de trois axes : l’utilisateur, le canal et le ressource. Nous utilisons la méthodologie CARVER pour donner un poids approprié à chaque élément composant les axes de notre système de coordonnées. Cette approche nous permet de connecter les volumes avec les risques (p.ex. des grands volumes sont équivalents à des risques élevés, tandis que des petits volumes sont équivalents à des risques faibles). Deux concepts sont considérés en comparant deux ou plusieurs volumes de risques: le risque résiduel, qui résulte lorsque le volume du risque est plus élevé que le volume de la contre-mesure, et le dommage collatéral, qui en résulte lorsque le volume de la contre-mesure est supérieur au volume du risque. En conséquence, nous sommes en mesure d'évaluer les contre-mesures pour des scénarios d'attaques individuelles et multiples, ce qui permet de sélectionner la contre-mesure ou groupe de contre-mesures qui fournit le plus grand bénéfice à l'organisation / Current Security Information and Event Management systems (SIEMs) constitute the central platform of modern security operating centers. They gather events from various sensors (intrusion detection systems, anti-virus, firewalls, etc.), correlate these events, and deliver synthetic views for threat handling and security reporting. Research in SIEM technologies has traditionally focused on providing a comprehensive interpretation of threats, in particular to evaluate their importance and prioritize responses accordingly. However, in many cases, threat responses still require humans to carry out the analysis and decision tasks e.g., understanding the threats, defining the appropriate countermeasures and deploying them. This is a slow and costly process, requiring a high level of expertise, and remaining error-prone nonetheless. Thus, recent research in SIEM technology has focused on the ability to automate the process of selecting and deploying countermeasures. Several authors have proposed automatic response mechanisms, such as the adaptation of security policies, to overcome the limitations of static or manual response. Although these approaches improve the reaction process (making it faster and/or more efficient), they remain limited since these solutions do not analyze the impact of the countermeasures selected to mitigate the attacks. In this thesis, we propose a novel and systematic process to select the optimal countermeasure from a pool of candidates, by ranking them based on a trade-off between their efficiency in stopping the attack and their ability to preserve, at the same time, the best service to normal users. In addition, we propose a model to represent graphically attacks and countermeasures, so as to determine the volume of each element in a scenario of multiple attacks. The coordinates of each element are derived from a URI. This latter is mainly composed of three axes: user, channel, and resource. We use the CARVER methodology to give an appropriate weight to each element composing the axes in our coordinate system. This approach allows us to connect the volumes with the risks (i.e. big volumes are equivalent to high risk, whereas small volumes are equivalent to low risk). Two concepts are considered while comparing two or more risk volumes: Residual risk, which results when the risk volume is higher than the countermeasure volume; and Collateral damage, which results when the countermeasure volume is higher than the risk volume. As a result, we are able to evaluate countermeasures for single and multiple attack scenarios, making it possible to select the countermeasure or group of countermeasures that provides the highest benefit to the organization

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T18:40:42Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Roberto Batista Cordeiro.pdf: 2043434 bytes, checksum: fb6e114fb85d69fcb6ad7582508cf345 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-12-07 / The environmental question is a target of discussion in the whole world. The problem of the water shortage makes part of these international discussions, in the sense of establishing programs that aim the preservation and the economy about this natural resource. The discussed subject comes to every day, receiving important movements like the Universal Declaration of Water Rights , written by the United Nations Organization (UNO), on March 22, 1992. The involvement of everybody in the subject about the social responsibility, it does that the businessmen look for the alternative solutions for the water reuse. In Brazil there are some drain treatment programs, developed by the Company Basic Sanitation of the State São Paulo (SABESP), turned to the reuse, however, not for domestic uses. So, this Case Study had the objective to check the costs and benefits with the reuse water in residential condominiums. Identifying and measuring the costs and investments added in the civil construction for recuperation and reuse of water. The technique that hasbeen developed in The Condominium Residential, Vale of the Hill, in Bragança Paulista, interim interviews, the place that were collected the data of separation about the gray waters from the black waters, where the gray waters suffer a decantation process, aerobic decomposition bacterial, filtrate to activated coal, and cloroamoniation for the treatment and reuse, rejecting for the drain the black waters. And also, information were collected the about costs and additional investments to the civil construction for the water treatment process. The water reuse techniques for domestic uses just allow the utilization for less noble uses, which has not contact with the human being, and that in this study case the purpose of the water reuse is for the sanitary discharge. The legislation is superposed, there is not a universality about waters reuse for domestic consumption. There are standards that control the environment pollution subject, but not for the unpollution and environment preservation. The utilization of water reuse systems, in the sanitary discharge, provides an immediate return in relation to the environment, and economical, along the time. The value of the apartments is of R$ 5.524.000, the Total Cost of additional Property was of R$ 186.754, for a total economy of R$ 374.400, checking a result of R$ 187.646. The analysis of the results, it identified that the Total Cost of additional Property represents 4,13 % of the value of the apartments, and that the return on the additional investment is 524,24 %. The Payback of the investments took place in 2,4 years and Payback of the investments corrected to an interest rate of 6 % p.a took place in 7,2 years. The results reached in this inquiry present several limitations as difficulties in the identification and mensuration of the environmental assets, intangible benefits produced with the reduction of the impact to the environment with the reuse of the water. In the Accounting aspect, the question that still remains to be studied is of as it will write up and to spread the results identified however of difficult mensuration. Continuity is recommended in the development of new inquiries in the accounting area to prepare standards and to perfect the techniques of registers and spread of the assets and environmental liabilities / A questão ambiental é alvo de discussões no mundo todo, o problema da escassez da água faz parte da pauta dessas discussões internacionais, no sentido de estabelecer programas que visam preservação e economia desse recurso natural. A questão discutida vem a cada dia recebendo importantes movimentos como a Declaração Universal dos Direitos da Água , redigida pela Organização das Nações Unidas (ONU) em 22 de março de 1992. O envolvimento de todos na questão responsabilidade social faz com que os empresários busquem soluções alternativas para o reuso da água. No Brasil, já existem programas de tratamento de esgoto desenvolvido pela Companhia de Saneamento Básico do Estado de São Paulo (SABESP), voltados para o reuso, porém, para usos não domésticos. Assim este trabalho através de estudo de caso, teve o objetivo aferir os custos e benefícios com o reuso da água em condomínios residenciais, identificando e mensurando os custos e investimentos adicionados na construção civil para recuperação e reuso de água. Por meio da técnica de entrevista, coletaram-se dados sobre o processo, desenvolvido no Condomínio Residencial Vale das Colinas, em Bragança Paulista, de separar as águas cinza das águas negras, pelo qual as águas cinza passam por um processo de decantação, decomposição bacteriana aeróbica, filtragem a carvão ativado e cloroamoniação para tratamento e reuso, descartando para esgoto as águas negras. Também, foram coletadas informações sobre custos e investimentos adicionais na construção civil para o processo de tratamento da água. As técnicas de reuso da água para fins domésticos só permitem o reuso para finalidades menos nobres, que não tenham contato com o ser humano no caso dessa pesquisa, a finalidade do reuso da água é para descarga nas bacias sanitárias. A utilização dos sistemas de reuso da água na descarga em bacias sanitárias proporciona um retorno imediato em relação ao meio ambiente, e econômico ao longo do tempo. Para atingir os resultados, foram utilizados o Custo Total de Propriedade na mensuração dos custos, Taxa Interna de Retorno e o Payback na identificação e mensuração do retorno e do tempo de retorno. O valor dos apartamentos é de R$ 5.524.000, o Custo Total de Propriedade adicional foi de R$ 186.754, para uma economia total de R$ 374.400, aferindo-se um resultado de R$ 187.646. A análise dos resultados identificou que o Custo Total de Propriedade adicional representa 4,13% do valor dos apartamentos, e que o retorno sobre o investimento adicional é de 524,24%. O tempo de retorno dos investimentos ocorreu em 2,4 anos e o tempo de retorno dos investimentos corrigidos a uma taxa de juros de 6% a.a ocorreu em 7,2 anos. Os resultados alcançados nessa pesquisa apresentam várias limitações, como dificuldades na identificação e mensuração dos ativos ambientais e benefícios intangíveis, gerados pela redução do impacto ao meio ambiente com o reuso da água. No aspecto contábil, a questão ainda a ser estudada é como escriturar e divulgar os resultados identificados, todavia de mais difícil mensuração. Recomenda-se uma continuidade no desenvolvimento de novas pesquisas na área contábil para elaborar normas e aprimorar as técnicas de registros e divulgação dos ativos e passivos ambientais

This basic qualitative study examines the parental investment strategies of first-generation African American rural college graduates in cultivating college student success. Extant literature has demonstrated that the role of the family is necessary to support the college student and that the investment of the parent is paramount to student college completion. Although educational attainment is an important goal for African American rural residents, research detailing strategies that cultivated student college completion among this population is needed to fill the gaps in the literature. The objectives were to discuss communication, involvement, and factors of influence to determine how these parents transferred their educational beliefs to their children and supported them through college graduation. These stories of success were told through the eyes of first-generation parents and their second-generation adult offspring. Research detailing the parental investment strategies toward college completion is necessary to inform parents, educational institutions, and rural college student completion in postsecondary institutions of the strategies necessary to ensure college success in this population. Lieberman’s transgenerational theory, along with concepts extracted from parental investment as it relates to education, provided the conceptual lens for the study. Data collected through interviews and documents were analyzed utilizing content analysis. Ten semistructured interviews were conducted with parents and their adult offspring. Interviews gleaned the lived experiences of the participants. Data analysis revealed six themes: (a) Catch Them Early, (b) Set the Tone, (c) Keep Them Busy, (d) Don’t Let Them “Break Rank,” (e) Encourage Advancement, and (f) Tell the Generations. The findings support the importance of developing a family investment team, how a return on parental investment occurs, making use of rural extracurricular programming, and transferring positive beliefs regarding higher education.

Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-10T18:33:32Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Luiz Gilberto Birck.pdf: 1220659 bytes, checksum: 2fe7a9d358810e32980a0b0d14416b66 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005-12-13 / The main goal of this work is to analyze the insertion in the process of agroindustrialization of a Cooperative in order to realize the economic and financial responses that the investment on this area can be conveyed to this Cooperative and to the development of Medianeira City region. This study is directed to evaluate the improvement and the economic and financial results of this Cooperative generated through the investments in industrialization from 2000 to 2004. Thus, this work searched for verifying the improvement of its resource of revenue into the process of insertion in the industrialization of rural products. Besides this, it was done an analysis of the investment return tax, providing the verification on the capability in terms of financial return to the Cooperative Society of the investment done by the Cooperative by its access in the industrialization of a Cooperative in the return of the tax on Operations Related to the Goods Circulation and on Services of Inter-state and Inter-municipal Transportation and Communication (ICMS) to the Executive power of the City of Medianeira and in other Cities where the Cooperative has opened industry sites as it has happened in the Cities of Itaipulândia, Missal, Matelândia, Céu Azul and Santa Helena, from the time when the investments were applied in industrialization from 2000 to 2004. Finally, this work analyzed the influence of the Industry Units of the Cooperative in the performance of the industrial sector of the City of Medianeira and its region through the composition of an information center which brought in correlation the employment in this sector as a variable base permitting to describe the behavior of this productive sector. / O principal objetivo deste trabalho foi analisar a inserção, no processo de agroindustrialização, da Cooperativa Lar, e os reflexos econômico-financeiros que os investimentos neste setor podem ter trazido a esta sociedade cooperativa e para o desenvolvimento da região de Medianeira. O estudo foi direcionado na aferição da alavancagem aos resultados econômico-financeiros da Cooperativa Agroindustrial Lar gerada pelos investimentos em industrialização, de 2000 a 2004. Ou seja, procurou-se verificar o aumento das suas fontes de receita com o processo de inserção na industrialização dos produtos agropecuários. Além disso efetuou-se a análise da Taxa de Retorno do Investimento que proporcionou a verificação acerca da viabilidade em termos de retorno financeiro à sociedade cooperativa a partir dos investimentos em ativos feitos pela Cooperativa Lar com sua entrada na agroindustrialização. Também se verificou a participação da agroindustrialização da Cooperativa Lar no retorno do Imposto sobre Operações Relativas à Circulação de Mercadorias e sobre Prestações de Serviços de Transporte Interestadual, Intermunicipal e de Comunicação - ICMS ao Poder Executivo do Município de Medianeira e, nos demais municípios em que a cooperativa Lar tem implantado plantas industriais, como é o caso de Itaipulândia, Missal, Matelândia, Céu Azul e Santa Helena, a partir dos investimentos em industrialização de 2000 a 2004. Por fim, este trabalho, analisou a influência das Unidades Industriais da Cooperativa Lar no desempenho do setor industrial da região de medianeira pela composição de uma matriz de informações que co-relacionou o emprego no referido setor, como variável-base, o que permitiu descrever o comportamento desse setor produtivo.