A concept of EVA is critical in evaluating the performance of any business. Economic Value Added refers to the incremental value created by an activity or a business venture. It measures the economic rather than accounting profit created by a business after the cost of all resources including debt and equity had been implied. Improving EVA can be achieved by generating more revenue without using additional capital. The capital invested in the business might be reduced by selling non-operating assets and redeploying the capital into projects and activities with higher operating performance than current projects have. ...

本論文希望透過股權分散的變化，來預測下週或是下月的股價報酬率。因為，假設流通在外股數不變下，當股份從眾多持有少量股票的散戶，集中至持有大量股票的大股東或法人時，集保總人數會下降。而我們認為可以透過觀察集保總人數的變動率，來推測法人及大戶整題而言對該股票的預期方向，因為交易往往伴隨著成本，假設投資人為理性下，法人及大戶會買進或賣出股票往往是因資訊的流入，使得他們認為需要調整持股部位。 透過迴歸模型中的普通最小平方法，當週集保人數減少1%，下週股價報酬率平均而言顯著上升0.055%，年化後的報酬率為2.86%。而當月集保人數減少1%，下個月股價報酬率平均而言顯著上升0.074%，年化後的報酬率為0.89%。由上述結果，可以推斷集保總人數的變化，在統計上會顯著影響下週或下月的股價報酬率。另外，欲瞭解此指標是否適用於所有產業，發現使用上需避開造紙工業及資訊服務業，因該產業之迴歸分析結果為顯著正相關，無法與原先的假設推斷一致。 / Several researches discuss the predictability of the movement of institutional investors and major shareholders because they probably have better ability to analyze the stock or to gather relevant information. However, it is difficult to observe what they are doing especially major shareholder that don’t have obligation to disclose their holding rate. As a result, we wonder if the change in shareholders’ number implies the view of major players in stock markets. The empirical result demonstrates that decrease in shareholders’ number accompanied by positive stock return next period in a significant level which is in accordance with the economic intuition that we suppose the total number of shareholders could reflect the transition of stock shares from many individual investors to some major shareholders. Furthermore, there are systematic cross-industrial differences in the stock return reactions to the prior change of shareholders’ number. In spite of that, all of the industries with negative relationship reach significant level but the industries with positive relationship don’t.

Acquisitions & Mergers, a tool of strategic management, that is the basis of my research. The first question that my research addresses is the acquisition activity in the European Union. The acquisition activity is shown at two levels. In the basic level the numbers of transactions in each country were compared according to freely selected criteria. In the next level, the research deals with the existence of a relationship between the acquisition activity and macroeconomic indicators. The research study presents in detail three new economic indicators for comparison of acquisition activity: M-total, M-score, M-index. The second question that my research addresses is the percentage of successful and unsuccessful deals in the Czech Republic. My research evaluating acquisitions & mergers is based on the financial results. Financial results are looked at from three aspects according to how they may benefit specific interest groups: owners, creditors, employees. The next issue is a verdict on which firms, in terms of financial results in the pre-transaction period, have potential for successful development in the post-transaction period, and which seem to have no potential. The research study presents in detail the new method for acquisitions & mergers evaluating: Acquisition Value Analysis.

The capital maintenance doctrine presupposes that a company’s capital must not be returned to its shareholders. The doctrine was anchored on three rules, one of which was that a company cannot acquire its own shares as this amounted to a diversion of capital to the shareholders whose shares were acquired. This rule was partly rationalized as protecting the interests of shareholders. In South Africa the rule was embodied in s 85 of the Companies Act 61 of 1973. However, it was amended by s 9 of the subsequent Companies Amendment Act 37 of 1999 to provide that a company can acquire its own shares if certain substantive and procedural requirements were satisfied. Upon the enactment of Companies Act 71 of 2008, the requirements have not been substantially altered. They are partly geared towards protecting shareholders by ensuring that shareholders are treated equally and fairly. Moreover, the Johannesburg Securities Exchange Limited (hence the JSE Limited) was empowered by the Companies Act 61 of 1973 to promulgate requirements to be met when a company wishes to acquire its own shares. The Companies Act 71 of 2008 does not in express terms empower the JSE Limited to develop requirements to be met when a company wishes to acquire its own shares. However, the Act expressly requires that a listed company wishing to acquire its own shares must also comply with the requirements of the relevant exchange. Such requirements can therefore be deemed to subsist even amidst the new Act as an internal regulation of the JSE Limited. The said requirements are also partly aimed at protecting shareholders, largely by ensuring that adequate information is availed to shareholders to empower them to make informed decisions. / Private Law / LL. M. (Company Law)

Aujourd'hui, RSE et Service Public dont les logiques prétendent servir l'intérêt général imprègnent le management des grands services publics de réseaux historiques français privatisés ou en voie de l'être. La recherche présentée vise à comprendre comment ces logiques s'opposent, se juxtaposent, et s'articulent concrètement dans un tel contexte managérial dominé par la logique de Maximisation de la Valeur pour l'Actionnaire.Pour ce faire, nous mobilisons le concept de dispositif forgé par Foucault ainsi que la sociologie de l'acteur réseau. Nous nous centrons sur le cas de l'entreprise France Télécom (FT) et de son dispositif RSE en y apportant quelques éclairages comparatifs.Nos résultats indiquent que chez FT le dispositif RSE officiel se déploie en se détachant des logiques de Service Public et en privilégiant le Business Case. Il poursuit prioritairement des objectifs de communication et d'anticipation des risques. Mais de manière décentralisée et autonome, émergent progressivement des initiatives RSE innovantes qui reposent sur la R&D, le Marketing stratégique et les partenariats avec les principaux fournisseurs. Elles visent la protection de l'environnement, le Service Public par procuration (en fournissant aux services publics des prestations leur permettant de mieux assurer leurs missions), et le dépassement de la fracture numérique, en même temps que la profitabilité. Dans le domaine social cependant, la RSE s'incarne surtout à travers des politiques de diversité (en interne) et de contrôle de la chaine d'approvisionnement pour éviter des violations majeures des droits de l'homme, ne touchant guère le cœur de la relation d'emploi, à moins que les contre-pouvoirs ne s'en emparent, comme nous le montrons dans l'étude du cas de l'Accord Cadre International sur les droits sociaux fondamentaux au travail de FT. / Today, Corporate Social Responsibility and Public Service logics, claiming to serve the general interest, are spreading within the management of for-profit public service networks in France; networks that have been historically privatized or on the way to becoming. The aim of this research is to bring an understanding to how these logics are opposed, juxtaposed and articulated in a managerial context that is dominated by a logic of maximized shareholder value.In this perspective, we rely on the notion of “device”, as employed by Foucault, and the actor-network theory. We focus on the France Telecom company (FT) and its CSR “device(s)”. We also use comparative insights drawn from additional case studies.Our results indicate that the official CSR “device” for FT is disconnected from public service logics, placing more importance on short term logics. Its priority is risk anticipation and communication, demonstrating FTs preference for the CSR Business Case. Nevertheless, in a decentralized and autonomous way, innovative CSR initiatives progressively emerge from within R&D, strategic marketing functions and strategic partnerships with key suppliers. These initiatives target profitability with environmental protection concerns, public service by proxy (providing benefits to utility services to help them better perform their missions) and digital divide overtake. However, in the social area, the FT CSR policy is embodied primarily through internal policies of diversity as well as control of the supply chain which was put in place to avoid major human rights violations. These policies seem to hardly touch the heart of the employment relationship, unless counter-powers seize the opportunity to do so, as shown through the case study concerning the International Framework Agreement on the fundamental social rights at work in FT.

L’objectif de cette recherche était de comprendre la perception de l’utilité del’information comptable dans l’optique d’une prise de décision et de l’évaluation durisque de crédit aux entreprises. Le questionnement d’actualité centré sur la qualité del’information comptable dans le contexte des récents scandales financiers nous ainterpellé sur la nécessité de comprendre ce qu’il en est dans le contexte camerounais.Pour ce faire, nous avons conceptuellement proposé un modèle issu de la revue de lalittérature et ajusté par une recherche exploratoire (16 entretiens).Méthodologiquement, les observations issues de l’expérience (134 répondants) sontopérationnalisées à l’aide des analyses de corrélation et de régression. Les résultatsindiquent que pour la dimension prise de décision, le lien est, statistiquementsignificatif entre les qualités globales de l’information comptable, l’utilisation del’information comptable, la taille de l’entreprise et, son utilité perçue. Par contre, pourla dimension évaluation du risque de crédit, la variable utilisation de l’informationcomptable n’est pas statistiquement un élément significatif de son utilité perçue. Lesrésultats nous font observer que si l’information comptable est jugée utile, elle est plusestimée pour la dimension de la prise de décision que pour celle de l’évaluation durisque de crédit. Par ailleurs, il est apparu que c’est la grande entreprise qui possèdeune utilité perçue plus favorable en regard de ces deux dimensions. / Objective of this research was to understand the perception of the usefulness ofaccounting information in the perspective of decision making and assessment of creditrisk for companies. Recently, related to some notorious financial scandals, the qualityof accounting information has been seriously questioned. This has challenged us toexamine what is going on in this respect in the Cameroonian context.376In order to do so, we have conceived a model starting from a literature survey andadjusted it on the basis of an exploratory research (16 interviews). Methodologically,the observations from the experiment (134 respondents) are operationalized usingcorrelation and regression analyzes. The results indicate that, in the decision makingprocess, the links between overall quality of accounting information, the use ofaccounting information, the company's size and the perceived usefulness isstatistically significant.However, for the assessment of credit risk, the use of accounting information is notstatistically significant as a variable factor of its perceived usefulness. We observe asresults that, if accounting information is considered useful, it is rather in terms ofdecision making in terms of the evaluation of credit risk. Furthermore, it was foundthat in big corporations business high quality accounting information is perceived asuseful in both dimensions.

En kapitaltäckningsgaranti kan användas för att rädda ett aktiebolag som hamnar i en kapitalbristsituation från likvidationsplikt. En kapitaltäckningsgaranti innebär att en fysisk eller juridisk person avger ett ensidigt löfte om att tillskjuta medel till det mottagande aktiebolaget om ekonomin försämras till den grad att det registrerade aktiekapitalet understiger hälften. En sådan situation är ålagd handlingsdirigerande regler som kan resultera i likvidation enligt 25 kap. Aktiebolagslag (2005:551), ABL. Genom att en garant åtar sig att vid avrop eller enligt överenskommelse tillskjuta medel till mottagaren kan verksamheten fortsätta bedrivas. Kapitaltäckningsgarantier regleras inte i ABL utan har istället varit föremål för diskussion i den juridiska doktrinen. Eftersom reglerna om kapitalbrist är uppställda i borgenärsintresse diskuteras ofta frågor kopplade till det bolaget som mottar en kapitaltäckningsgaranti. Enligt vår mening saknas det diskussion kring hur ett aktiebolag som garant kan påverkas av ett sådant åtagande. En fråga som uppstår är huruvida det överhuvudtaget kan anses rationellt att ställa ut en kapitaltäckningsgaranti och betydelsen av huruvida det sker inom eller utom ett koncernförhållande. Eftersom utställande av en kapitaltäckningsgaranti innebär att garanten tar på sig en ekonomisk risk bör det anses fördelaktigt om garanten kan kontrollera åtagandet i största möjliga utsträckning. Genom att en kapitaltäckningsgaranti utställs till ett bolag som garanten har insyn i och kan kontrollera kan potentiella risker minimeras. Garanten kan även se till att skyldigheterna enligt garantin begränsas för att uppnå förutsebarhet. I en koncern ska styrelsen i moderbolaget verka för koncernens bästa. För det fall en kapitaltäckningsgaranti ställs ut inom ett koncernförhållande innebär det att utställaren bör gynnas av mottagarens ekonomiska förbättring. Ett åtagande som sker mellan bolag i samma koncern innebär dessutom ett ökat skydd för garantens minoritetsaktieägare eftersom utställandet sker i bolagets intresse vilket även innebär att kapitaltäckningsgarantin är utställd i aktieägarnas intresse.

Dividend policy is widely researched in financial management, but determining whether it affects the market price per share is difficult. There has been much published on the subject, which presented theories such as the Modigliani, Miller, Gordon, Lintner, Walter and Richardson propositions and the relevance and irrelevance theories. However, little research has been done on the impact of dividend policy on shareholders’ wealth while considering the short- and long-run effects. The Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) was used to describe the short-run and long-run dynamics or the adjustment of the cointegrated variables towards their equilibrium values in South Africa. This study attempts to explain the effect of dividend policy on the market price per share. A sample of 46 companies listed on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE) was selected for the period 1995-2010. Three variables were used, namely the market price per share, the dividend per share and the earnings per share. The market price per share was used as a proxy in measuring shareholders’ wealth and the dividend per share was used as a proxy in measuring the dividend policy. Fixed and random effects models were applied to panel data to determine the relation between dividend policy and market price per share. The fixed effects method was used to control the stable characteristics of the companies over a fixed period. The random effects model was applied when the companies’ characteristics differed. Results for both models indicated that dividend yield is positively related to market price per share, while earnings per share do not have a significant impact on the market price per share. To test the strength of the long-run relationship, the VECM was applied. The coefficient for dividend per share in the co-integrating equation was positive, while the coefficient for earnings per share was negative. This confirms previous research findings. The results suggest that there is a long-run relationship between dividend per share and market price per share. The Granger causality test indicates there is bi-directional Granger causality between market price per share and dividend per share in South Africa. Therefore dividend policy does have a significant long-run impact on the share price and therefore provides a signal about the company’s financial success. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Financial Management / Unrestricted

I förevarande uppsats behandlas frågor i gränslandet mellan processrätt och associationsrätt, närmare bestämt den processform som stipuleras för tvister med anledning av inlösen av minoritetsaktier. Av hävdvunnen princip ska inlösentvister slitas genom ett legalt skiljeförfarande som första instans. Givet att stadganden om legala skiljeförfaranden i dag utgör en tämligen sällsynt företeelse i svensk rätt, samt mot bakgrund av den starka presumtion mot specialfora som råder, är det följaktligen av intresse att diskutera ifrågavarande tvistemålsreglerings ändamålsenlighet. Syftet med uppsatsen är således att dels analysera ändamålsenligheten av ett legalt skiljeförfarande som primär tvistlösningsform vid inlösen av minoritetsaktier, dels att presentera några synpunkter avseende regleringens utformning de lege ferenda.      I analysen avseende regleringens ändamålsenlighet behandlas initialt de argument lagstiftaren lyft fram som avgörande vid valet av tvistlösningsform. Analysen visar att dessa argument inte är särdeles välgrundade i bemärkelsen att de inte självständigt kan motivera den processuella särreglering som stadgas för inlösentvister. Vidare uppmärksammas flera andra rättsliga och praktiska problem som kan uppstå i samband med att tvisten ska prövas av skiljemän i stället för allmän domstol, såsom hinder för verkställighet av skiljedomen utomlands. Den övergripande slutsatsen av analysen är att ändamålsenligheten av det legala skiljeförfarandet vid inlösen av minoritetsaktier med fog kan ifrågasättas.      Beträffande tvistlösningsregleringens utformning de lege ferenda, presenteras i uppsatsen två förslag till lagändringar. Det första förslaget utgår från ett fakultativt legalt skiljeförfarande. Sålunda presumeras alltjämt skiljeförfarande som primär processform, men kompletteras med möjligheten till föreskrift i bolagsordningen att tvisten ska prövas i allmän domstol. Det andra förslaget tar avstamp i en form av självreglering, där allmän domstol som huvudregel är behörig att ta upp talan. Undantag härifrån kan göras genom föreskrift i bolagsordningen vari stadgas att tvisten i stället ska prövas av skiljemän. En sådan föreskrift har samma verkan som ett skiljeavtal.      Sammanfattningsvis och i ljuset av de slutsatser som presenteras, påvisar uppsatsen att det finns skäl att se över och ändra nuvarande särreglering med legalt skiljeförfarande som tvistlösningsform vid inlösen av minoritetsaktier. / The thesis addresses issues regarding procedural law and the right of association, more specifically, the proceedings in disputes regarding buy-out of minority shareholders. By tradition, buy-out disputes shall be submitted for arbitration. Since compulsory arbitration is a rather rare phenomenon in modern Swedish law, and in consideration of the prevailing presumption against special fora, it is of interest to discuss the appropriateness of this special legislation. Thus, the purpose of the thesis is to analyse the appropriateness of compulsory arbitration as the primary form of dispute resolution in case of a buy-out of minority shareholders, and to present some comments concerning the legislation de lege ferenda.      In the analysis regarding the appropriateness of the legislation, the arguments put forward by the legislator as crucial when determining the form of dispute resolution, are addressed initially. The analysis suggests that these arguments independently cannot warrant the special legislation stipulated for buy-out disputes. Furthermore, several other legal and practical problems that may arise in connection with having the dispute settled by arbitrators instead of a general court are brought to attention, exempli gratia the impediment to enforcement of arbitral awards in a foreign country. Overall, the analysis leads to the conclusion that the appropriateness of compulsory arbitration in case of a buy-out of minority shareholders can be questioned.      As to the dispute resolution legislation de lege ferenda, two legislative proposals are presented in the thesis. The first proposal promotes a non-compulsory arbitration. Hence, arbitration would still be the primary form of dispute resolution but supplemented with the option of prescribing in the articles of association of the company that the dispute shall be settled by a general court. The second proposal stipulates a sort of self-regulation, whereby the parties, as a general rule, can bring the action before a general court. Exception from the general rule can be made by a provision in the articles of association prescribing that the dispute shall be settled by arbitrators. Such provision would have the same force as an arbitration agreement.      In summary, and in the light of the conclusions presented, the thesis implies that there are reasons to review and change the present special legislation with compulsory arbitration stipulated for disputes in case of a buy-out of minority shareholders.

Denna uppsats behandlar könskvotering till bolagsstyrelser. Sverige har alltjämt motsatt sig kvotering som ett medel för att nå en jämnare könsfördelning. Trots redovisade fördelar, främst avseende bolagens ekonomiska effektivitet, har reglerna ansetts inskränka aktieägarnas äganderätt att fritt utse styrelseledamöter. Utifrån egendomsskyddet i RF kan däremot konstateras att det inte rör sig om en otillåten inskränkning av äganderätten. Inom ramen för Europeiska unionens samarbete beslutades nyligen om ett direktiv som ska främja en jämnare könsfördelning bland styrelseledamöter i börsnoterade bolag. I egenskap av medlemsstat förväntas Sverige implementera direktivet och uppfylla de fastställda kvoterna. Det är därför av intresse att analysera direktivets utformning, innehåll och ändamålsenlighet. Direktivet uppvisar flertalet brister. Det gäller såväl direktivets materiella innehåll som dess förenlighet med subsidiaritets-och proportionalitetsprincipen. Vidare kan riktas kritik mot den rättsliga grund som direktivet vilar på. Till fördel för direktivet är den undantagsbestämmelse som Sverige bland andra länder har möjlighet att tillämpa, och som medför att direktivet i praktiken inte kommer få någon större effekt för svenska börsbolag.