Paprastas akcijų rinkos žaidimo modelis (angl. Stock Market Game Model) buvo pristatytas J. Mockaus 2002 m. Šis modelis imituoja kelių akcininkų, prekiaujančių viena akcija, elgesį. Siūlomas modelis PORTFOLIO, priešingai, imituoja akcijų biržos darbą, kurioje vyksta prekyba su daugelio firmų akcijomis. PORTFELIO modelio tikslas yra ne prognozavimas, bet simuliavimas akcijų biržos procesų, kurie yra priklausomi nuo investuotojų prognozių. Pagrindinis modelio patobulinimas yra kelių akcijų ir įvairių prekybos taisyklių įvedimas, kurios atstovauja tiek potencialių investuotojų euristikas, tiek gerai žinomas teorines investavimo strategijas. Tai suteikia modeliui daugiau realistiškumo ir leidžia atlikti portfelio optimizavimą naudojant įvairias investavimo strategijas tiek su istoriniais duomenimis, tiek virtualioje aplinkoje. Tai esminis patobulinimas lyginant su tradiciniais vienos akcijos modeliais. "Virtuali" akcijų birža gali padėti tiriant racionalaus investuotojo elgesio prielaidą lyginant su pastarojo laikotarpio teorijomis, teigiančiomis, kad pagrindiniai rinkos dalyviai elgiasi neracionaliai. Modelis buvo lyginamas su realiomis finansinėmis laiko eilutėmis ir buvo rastas rezultatų panašumas tam tikrais atvejais. PORTFELIO modelis gali būti naudojamas kaip priemonė imituoti individualaus investuotojo elgesį, kuris nori prognozuoti, kaip tikėtinas pelnas priklauso nuo įvairių investavimo taisyklių naudojant skirtingus realių ir virtualių akcijų kainų prognozavimo metodus. / A simple Stock Market Game Model (SEGM) was introduced in 2002 by J. Mockus to simulate the behavior of several stockholders trading a single stock. In contrast, the proposed model PORTFOLIO is simulating stock exchange including a number of different stocks. The objective of PORTFOLIO is not forecasting, but simulation of stock exchange processes that are affected by predictions of the participants. The main improvements are the multi-stock extension and a number of different trading rules, which represent both the heuristics of potential investors and the well-known theoretical investment strategies. This makes the model more realistic and allows the portfolio optimization in the space of investment strategies, in both the historical and virtual environments. This is an essential improvement comparing with traditional single-stock models with direct interaction of investment agents. The "virtual" stock exchange can help in testing the assumption of rational investor behavior vs. the recent theories that explain financial markets by irrational responses of major market participants. The model has been compared with actual financial time series and found the results to be close in some cases. The model is designed as a tool to represent behavior of individual investor, which wants to predict how the expected profit depends on different investment rules using different forecasting methods of real and virtual stocks.

This thesis adopts an empirical approach to examine various market microstructure issues, using data from the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE). Whilst the respective empirical analyses may be considered as self-contained investigations, they are primarily linked through the common objective of understanding the mechanics of the pricing process as it occurs on actual markets, using the NSE as exemplar. The first major focus of the dissertation is non-synchronous trading: empirical evidence of nonsynchronicity is obtained by testing for predictability as between indices of different levels of liquidity. A simple test of the analysis of trading-break returns is proposed to infer whether predictability may be mainly attributable to non-synchronous trading or whether it constitutes a delayed adjustment of traders' expectations. The second question tackled in the thesis is whether volatility on the NSE may be considered as justified or excessive. Rathert han adopting the established methodology of comparing stock price changes to information about expected dividends, the research question is split up into two subsidiary ones. The first question is whether volatility is related to information flows, whilst the second related questionc oncernst he relationship betweenv olatility and returns. Three sources of excessive volatility are pin-pointed. Monday effects are found in index data but not in the underlying stocks-indicating index fluctuations which are not information-related. A second indicator of excessive price movements is the pronounced volatility which coincides with the fiscal year end of quoted companies but which is not accompanied by a similar increase in long-term returns. A third indication of unjustified price fluctuations is that volatility seems unrelated to returns when considering a long-term time series. The third topic of the thesis relates to the efficacy of opening and closing call auctions. This issue may be considered as the crux of the dissertation and it is tackled by analysing the effects of the suspension of a call auction system on NSE. Changes in volatility, efficiency and liquidity following the suspension are analysed, and an event study is presented. The relationship between call auctions and long-term volatility is also investigated. The findings suggest that the expected benefits of call auctions may not always materialise, possibly due to an inappropriately structured auction, or because a liquidity threshold for stocks must be surpassed for the expected benefits to accrue.

The corporate governance best practice code (Code) of the New Zealand Exchange (NZX) came into effect on October 29, 2003. However, so far there is no systematic study of compliance with and impact of NZX Code on the performance of NZX companies. This study attempts to provide some answers to the perceived knowledge gap. The NZX Code recommends certain governance mechanisms to enhance corporate performance. The mechanisms analysed in this study are the percentage of independent directors, duality, presence of board subcommittees (audit, remuneration, and nomination), and the performance evaluation of board and individual directors. This thesis examines the possible relationship between recommended governance structures and the performance of NZX companies for the years 2003 (pre-Code) and 2007 (post Code), using data from the same 89 companies for each year. Although the number of companies adopting the NZX structures has increased, the rate of full compliance of the Code remains disappointingly low, rising from 5.6% in 2003 to just 22.5% in 2007. Probably due to the small sample size relative to the number of independent variables, and the problem of co-linearity, the multiple linear regression results do not seem to be conclusive and may be unreliable as the basis to form any formal statistical inference. However, treating the 89 companies as the whole population (89 out of 90), and using a simpler and more descriptive statistical tool to analyse the impact of individual independent variables on firm performance, the 2007 results show a consistent pattern of a positive relationship between Code compliance and firm performance, assuming all other factors being constant. This positive relationship is further reinforced by dividing the population into the various industry groupings as classified by the NZX, which also results in a consistent pattern of companies which comply fully with the Code structures financially outperforming companies that only partially comply with the Code during 2007. Surprisingly, listed companies adhering to the Chairman/CEO dual role do not seem to have impacted negatively on firm performance, contrary to agency theory expectation.

Η αναβάθμιση του ρόλου του CFO (Chief Financial Officer) στην λήψη αποφάσεων από το Management των Επιχειρήσεων, οι κοσμογονικές αλλαγές στις Αγορές Χρήματος και Κεφαλαίου και η χρησιμοποίηση και από τις Ελληνικές Επιχειρήσεις εκτός από τις Παραδοσιακές μορφές και των Εναλλακτικών Χρηματοδοτικών Μηχανισμών, καταδεικνύουν την κεφαλαιώδη σημασία που έχει η Χρηματοδότηση στην Λειτουργία και την Ανάπτυξή τους, ιδίως τα τελευταία χρόνια. Η παρούσα Διπλωματική Εργασία, ασχολείται με την Χρηματοδότηση των Ελληνικών Εισηγμένων Επιχειρήσεων και την συμβολή της στην Αναπτυξιακή τους πορεία. Έγινε προσπάθεια να καλυφθούν πλήρως αφ' ενός μεν οι παραδοσιακές μορφές Χρηματοδότησης, όπως η Χρηματοδότηση με Ίδια Κεφάλαια, ο Τραπεζικός Δανεισμός, το Χρηματιστήριο και αφ ετέρου όλα τα Νέα προϊόντα Χρηματοδότησης, όπως το Leasing, το Factoring, το Forfaiting κ.ά. αλλά και τα νέα μορφώματα χρηματοπιστωτικών ιδρυμάτων όπως οι εταιρείες Venture Capital, ως Εργαλεία στην εξεύρεση κεφαλαίων για την χρηματοοικονομική εξυγίανση και Ανάπτυξη των επιχειρήσεων. Τέλος επιχειρήθηκε με την βοήθεια των αποτελεσμάτων Πρωτογενούς Έρευνας που πραγματοποιήθηκε, η παρουσίαση της Χρηματοδοτικής και Αναπτυξιακής Στρατηγικής των Εισηγμένων στο Χ.Α.Α την τελευταία δεκαετία, στην οποία πραγματοποιήθηκαν μεγάλες αλλαγές και οι Επιχειρήσεις επιδίωξαν να αναπτυχθούν αντιμετωπίζοντας τις νέες προκλήσεις της αγοράς. / --

Thesis (MScEng (Industrial Engineering))--University of Stellenbosch, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Applying the Industrial Engineering systems approach, this dissertation utilised the theories and propositions of previous studies to argue (model) the cause of financial herd behaviour and the subsequent momentum effect. From this, a hypothesis was postulated to test: whether momentum is a common attribute amongst top performing shares, whether technical analysis indicators can better identify the phenomenon, and whether the return from these shares would justify momentum as a viable investment strategy. A unique experiment derived from previous academic studies was adapted to explore the degree of the momentum phenomenon. This was done by ranking shares according to both technical analysis as well as pure price performance momentum criteria. Returns were translated as a rank in relation to the market as a whole, thereby minimising any effects that different market periods could have on a momentum return relationship. The degree of the relationship was evaluated by applying the alternative Spearman Rank Order Correlation Co-efficient in conjunction with a permutation test to determine the statistical significance of any trends. The viability of the phenomenon as an investment strategy was gauged by comparing annualised average returns against both the market capitalisation weighted JSE All Share Index as well as against an un-weighted representation of the market. The results revealed a seemingly unambiguous co-dependence between momentum and return with statistically significant trends being ever present. Applying the maximum taxes and trading costs revealed that the highest ranked momentum shares did indeed outperform both market benchmarks from the period of January 1990 to August 2009, suggesting the validity of the philosophy as an investment strategy. The outcome of the study in part rejected the null hypothesis, as technical indicators were unable to identify future top performing shares better, with price performance momentum measures delivering the superior returns. Future studies may include optimising the various technical indicators towards the JSE rather than using generic settings. Other interesting topics could include combining momentum with other investment strategies to investigate synergy and further pinpointing the source of the phenomenon. Over the past number of years, tighter controls and monitoring of investments has resulted in the documentation of the individual number of shareholders who are buying and selling shares. Utilising this data over the next number of years, an experiment could attempt to relate the number of individual investors trading in a particular share to herd behaviour and the subsequent momentum effect. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die verhandeling, binne die bedryfsingenieursstelsels benadering, gebruik teorieë en voorstelle van vorige studies om die gevolge van finansiële gedrag en die gevolglike momentum effek te bespreek. Uit die analise is ‘n voorstel saamgestel om die volgende te toets:Is momentum ‘n algemene verskynsel by aandele wat goed presteer, en kan tegniese analitiese indikatore die verskynsel beter verklaar, en dui die opbrengs van die aandele daarop dat momentum ‘n bruikbare beleggingsstrategie is. ‘n Unieke eksperiment uit vorige studies is aangepas om die aard van die momentum verskynsel te ondersoek. Dit was gedoen deur aandele volgens beide tegniese analise asook suiwer prestasie momentum kriteria te klassifiseer. Opbrengste is met die hele mark in konteks geplaas om sodoende enige impak van verskillende mark tye op die momentum opbrengs verhouding te elimineer. Die verband is opgestel deur die alternatiewe “Spearman Rank Order Correlation koëffisiënt” saam met permutasie toetse te gebruik om die statistiese belangrikheid van enige neigings uit te wys. Die geldigheid van die verskynsel as ‘n beleggingsstrategie is gemeet deur jaarlikse gemiddelde opbrengste teen beide die markkapitalisasie geweeg teen die JSE Alle Aandele Indeks sowel as ‘n ongeweegde verteenwoordiging van die mark te bepaal. Die resultate dui op ‘n interafhanklikheid tussen momentum en opbrengste met statistiese neigings altyd teenwoordig. Deur die maksimum belasting en verhandelingskoste toe te pas wys dit dat die hoogste momentum uitgewyste aandele die markriglyne uitpresteer het van Januarie 1990 tot Augustus 2009 wat die geldigheid van die benadering as ‘n beleggingsstrategie bevestig. Die studie verwerp die nul hipotese gedeeltelik in die sin dat dit nie toekomstige top presterende aandele kan uitwys nie, maar aan die ander kant gee prysprestasie momentum meting wel buitegewone opbrengs. Toekomstige studies mag die optimisering van verskeie tegniese indikatore van die JSE insluit, ‘n kombinasie van momentum met ander beleggingsstrategieë gebruik, en verder die bron van die verskynsel vas pen. Oor die afgelope aantal jare het beter beheer en die monitoring van beleggings die dokumentasie van individuele aandeelhouers moontlik gemaak. Hieride data sou kon gebruik word as ‘n toets om die korrelasie tussendie aantal aandeelhouers wat ‘n spesifieke aandeel verhandel en tropgedrag te bepaal en om dit te gebruik om die momentum effek beter te verklaar.

Empresas são organizações complexas e no decurso da sua atividade interagem com várias partes interessadas, mas nem sempre esses interesses são convergentes com os da própria organização. Os gestores contratados são os principais agentes, responsáveis pela harmonização desses interesses, mas de acordo com a Teoria da Agência, também são parte interessada. A Governança Corporativa (GC) exerce um papel fundamental nestes cenários de conflitos, ao introduzir incentivos de controle e monitoramento, com mecanismos para gerenciá-los. Estudos buscam entender se a adoção de boas práticas de Governança Corporativa, além de auxiliar na solução dos conflitos de agência, conduz as empresas a uma melhora no desempenho, principalmente no desempenho econômico-financeiro. Neste sentido, o estudo objetivou verificar a relação entre a adoção de boas práticas de Governança Corporativa e desempenho econômico-financeiro das empresas. Para buscar tal evidência foram analisadas empresas de capital aberto, listadas na BM&FBOVESPA, pertencentes aos segmentos de mercado Papel e Celulose, Material Rodoviário e Comércio de Tecidos, Vestuário e Calçados, nos anos 2010 a 2014. A amostra totalizou vinte e cinco empresas e essas foram divididas em dois grupos, para cada segmento de mercado, a fim de possibilitar a comparação dos desempenhos, um grupo denominado Empresas com Boas Práticas de GC, composto pelas empresas com adesão aos segmentos de listagem da BM&FBOVESPA: Novo Mercado, Nível Dois e Nível Um e o outro grupo denominado Empresas Tradicionais e Outras, composto pelas empresas sem adesão. O desempenho foi mensurado através dos indicadores ROA, ROI, ROE, Margem EVA e Margem EBITDA. Para comparar os desempenhos, primeiramente, foi realizada a estatística descritiva, após foi testada a normalidade dos dados através do teste de Shapiro Wilk e a homogeneidade das variâncias pelo teste de Levene e as comparações entre os dois grupos foi realizada pelo Teste t e análise de variância ao nível de significância de 5%. Nos segmentos Papel e Celulose e Comércio de Tecidos, Vestuário e Calçados não foram constatadas evidências de desempenho superior de um grupo em relação ao outro. Porém, no segmento Material Rodoviário a maioria dos indicadores apontaram desempenho superior do grupo das empresas com boas práticas de Governança Corporativa. Assim, o estudo suportou parcialmente a indicação de desempenho econômico-financeiro superior das empresas com boas práticas de Governança Corporativa em relação às demais. Apesar dos resultados não apresentarem uma conclusão unânime, convergem com outros estudos realizados no Brasil, restando aprofundar, em pesquisas futuras, se o desempenho superior encontrado nesse segmento pode ser atribuído à Governança Corporativa e não a outros fatores. / Submitted by Ana Guimarães Pereira (agpereir@ucs.br) on 2016-11-23T10:42:58Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Marcia Almeida Chiappin.pdf: 1311563 bytes, checksum: 4fac42bc7a69e886ff34f8d294388f2f (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-11-23T10:42:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Marcia Almeida Chiappin.pdf: 1311563 bytes, checksum: 4fac42bc7a69e886ff34f8d294388f2f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-11-23 / Companies are complex organizations and in the course of their activity they interact with many stakeholders, but it is not always that these interests are converging with the organization´s own interests. The hired managers are the main agents, responsible for the harmonization of these interests, but according to the Agency Theory, they are also interested party. The Corporate Governance (CG) plays a key role in these conflict scenarios by introducing control and monitoring incentives, having mechanisms to manage them. Studies seek to understand if the adoption of good Corporate Governance practices, besides helping to solve agency conflicts, it leads companies to a performance boost, especially in the economic and financial sectors. Hence, the study aimed to investigate the relationship between the adoption of good Corporate Governance practices and financial performance of companies. To search such evidence were examined open capital companies listed at BM&FBOVESPA belonging to the segments of Pulp and Paper, Road Materials and commerce of Textiles, Clothing and Footwear in the years 2010 until 2014. The sample consisted of twenty-five companies and these companies were divided in two groups, for each market segment in order to enable comparison of performances, a group called Companies with good CG practices, composed by companies adhering to the listing segment of BM&FBOVESPA: Novo Mercado, Nível Dois e Nível Um and another group called Empresas Tradicionais e Outras, composed by companies without adhesion. The performance was measured through the following indicators: ROA, ROI, ROE, EVA Margin and EBTIDA Margin. Firstly, to compare the performances, it was used descriptive statistics and hyphothesis tests t. After, the normality of data was tested by the Shapiro Wilk test and homogeneity of the variances was tested by Levene´s test and the comparisons between two groups was accomplished by Test T and the analyses of variance at the significance level of 5%. In the segments of Pulp and Paper, commerce of Textiles, Clothing and Footwear, it was not found evidence of superior performance of a group over another. However, in the segment of Road Material most of the indicators showed superior performance of the group with good practices. Thus, the study has only partially supported the indication of superior financial and economic performance of the companies with good Corporate Governance practices in relation to others. Although the results do not show a unanimous conclusion, they converge with other researches conducted in Brazil, leaving further in future researches, if the superior performance found can be assigned to Corporate Governance and not to other factors.

Empresas são organizações complexas e no decurso da sua atividade interagem com várias partes interessadas, mas nem sempre esses interesses são convergentes com os da própria organização. Os gestores contratados são os principais agentes, responsáveis pela harmonização desses interesses, mas de acordo com a Teoria da Agência, também são parte interessada. A Governança Corporativa (GC) exerce um papel fundamental nestes cenários de conflitos, ao introduzir incentivos de controle e monitoramento, com mecanismos para gerenciá-los. Estudos buscam entender se a adoção de boas práticas de Governança Corporativa, além de auxiliar na solução dos conflitos de agência, conduz as empresas a uma melhora no desempenho, principalmente no desempenho econômico-financeiro. Neste sentido, o estudo objetivou verificar a relação entre a adoção de boas práticas de Governança Corporativa e desempenho econômico-financeiro das empresas. Para buscar tal evidência foram analisadas empresas de capital aberto, listadas na BM&FBOVESPA, pertencentes aos segmentos de mercado Papel e Celulose, Material Rodoviário e Comércio de Tecidos, Vestuário e Calçados, nos anos 2010 a 2014. A amostra totalizou vinte e cinco empresas e essas foram divididas em dois grupos, para cada segmento de mercado, a fim de possibilitar a comparação dos desempenhos, um grupo denominado Empresas com Boas Práticas de GC, composto pelas empresas com adesão aos segmentos de listagem da BM&FBOVESPA: Novo Mercado, Nível Dois e Nível Um e o outro grupo denominado Empresas Tradicionais e Outras, composto pelas empresas sem adesão. O desempenho foi mensurado através dos indicadores ROA, ROI, ROE, Margem EVA e Margem EBITDA. Para comparar os desempenhos, primeiramente, foi realizada a estatística descritiva, após foi testada a normalidade dos dados através do teste de Shapiro Wilk e a homogeneidade das variâncias pelo teste de Levene e as comparações entre os dois grupos foi realizada pelo Teste t e análise de variância ao nível de significância de 5%. Nos segmentos Papel e Celulose e Comércio de Tecidos, Vestuário e Calçados não foram constatadas evidências de desempenho superior de um grupo em relação ao outro. Porém, no segmento Material Rodoviário a maioria dos indicadores apontaram desempenho superior do grupo das empresas com boas práticas de Governança Corporativa. Assim, o estudo suportou parcialmente a indicação de desempenho econômico-financeiro superior das empresas com boas práticas de Governança Corporativa em relação às demais. Apesar dos resultados não apresentarem uma conclusão unânime, convergem com outros estudos realizados no Brasil, restando aprofundar, em pesquisas futuras, se o desempenho superior encontrado nesse segmento pode ser atribuído à Governança Corporativa e não a outros fatores. / Companies are complex organizations and in the course of their activity they interact with many stakeholders, but it is not always that these interests are converging with the organization´s own interests. The hired managers are the main agents, responsible for the harmonization of these interests, but according to the Agency Theory, they are also interested party. The Corporate Governance (CG) plays a key role in these conflict scenarios by introducing control and monitoring incentives, having mechanisms to manage them. Studies seek to understand if the adoption of good Corporate Governance practices, besides helping to solve agency conflicts, it leads companies to a performance boost, especially in the economic and financial sectors. Hence, the study aimed to investigate the relationship between the adoption of good Corporate Governance practices and financial performance of companies. To search such evidence were examined open capital companies listed at BM&FBOVESPA belonging to the segments of Pulp and Paper, Road Materials and commerce of Textiles, Clothing and Footwear in the years 2010 until 2014. The sample consisted of twenty-five companies and these companies were divided in two groups, for each market segment in order to enable comparison of performances, a group called Companies with good CG practices, composed by companies adhering to the listing segment of BM&FBOVESPA: Novo Mercado, Nível Dois e Nível Um and another group called Empresas Tradicionais e Outras, composed by companies without adhesion. The performance was measured through the following indicators: ROA, ROI, ROE, EVA Margin and EBTIDA Margin. Firstly, to compare the performances, it was used descriptive statistics and hyphothesis tests t. After, the normality of data was tested by the Shapiro Wilk test and homogeneity of the variances was tested by Levene´s test and the comparisons between two groups was accomplished by Test T and the analyses of variance at the significance level of 5%. In the segments of Pulp and Paper, commerce of Textiles, Clothing and Footwear, it was not found evidence of superior performance of a group over another. However, in the segment of Road Material most of the indicators showed superior performance of the group with good practices. Thus, the study has only partially supported the indication of superior financial and economic performance of the companies with good Corporate Governance practices in relation to others. Although the results do not show a unanimous conclusion, they converge with other researches conducted in Brazil, leaving further in future researches, if the superior performance found can be assigned to Corporate Governance and not to other factors.

Orientador: Ademar Ribeiro Romeiro / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Economia / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-24T01:36:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Attie_PaulaIngegneri_M.pdf: 3584657 bytes, checksum: e9a09b229dfdb90ce6245df202e685c6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013 / Resumo: Com as transformações que ocorreram desde os anos 1970 e que tornaram as instituições participantes do mercado financeiro agentes importantes nos processos de crescimento e desenvolvimento econômico, torna-se necessária uma reflexão que permita compreender o que é o mercado como forma de alocação de recursos e como ele pode contribuir para as questões do meio- ambiente. Assim, ao tratar da sustentabilidade e sua relação com o mercado financeiro, este trabalho estuda como as bolsas de valores, ao estabelecerem certos padrões, produtos e nichos de mercado podem atuar e influenciar o sistema econômico fomentando os investimentos sustentáveis. Investimentos, estes, que cobrem uma gama de conceitos e um nicho de ativos no mercado financeiro, tais como a negociação de títulos lastreados em carbono, o investimento em tecnologia limpa e o investimento perante informações sobre o uso do meio-ambiente, responsabilidade social e governança corporativa na construção de portfolios financeiros. O presente trabalho apresenta e analisa a função econômica das bolsas de valores e seu papel nas questões da sustentabilidade em quatro capítulos. O primeiro deles procura fazer um resgate histórico e teórico da inserção das questões do meio ambiente na teoria econômica e da construção do conceito de desenvolvimento sustentável. O segundo capítulo contextualiza a estrutura do mercado financeiro, com destaque para a função econômica das bolsas de valores em um processo de financeirização mundial. O terceiro capítulo relaciona diretamente a importância do investimento sustentável e sua ligação com as bolsas de valores, destacando as principais iniciativas das bolsas membro da Federação Mundial de Bolsas e da Iniciativa Sustainable Stock Exchanges. Por fim, o capítulo quarto, resgata um breve histórico da Bolsa brasileira e avalia a agenda sustentável no mercado brasileiro com relação às principais iniciativas da BM&FBOVESPA e seu papel fundamental na construção de um mercado de capital mais sustentável no país / Abstract: With the changes that have taken place since the seventies, the institutions that participate in the financial and capital markets have become important agents for growth and economic development. It is therefore necessary to come to an understanding of the market as an instrument for the allocation of resources and look at the contribution it could make to environmental issues. This being the case, in addressing sustainability and its relation to the financial markets, this study analyzes how stock exchanges, by establishing certain standards, products and market niches can act on and influence the economic system by promoting sustainable investments. These investments cover a broad range of concepts and a niche of financial assets, which includes the trading of carbon certificates and securities, investments in clean technology and investments that take into account information on the appropriate use of the environment, social responsibility and corporate governance for the allocation process of financial portfolios. This thesis presents and analyzes the economic function of stock exchanges and their role in relation to sustainability over four chapters. The first makes a historical and theoretical review of the introduction of environmental concerns into economic theory and the creation of the sustainable development concept. The second contextualizes the structure of the capital and financial market, emphasizing the economic function of stock exchanges within a global financialization process. The third chapter deals directly with the importance of sustainable investment and its relationship to stock exchanges, highlighting the main initiatives of the members of the World Federation of Exchanges and the Sustainable Stock Exchanges initiative. Finally, the fourth chapter provides a brief history of the Brazilian Exchange and evaluates the sustainability agenda within the Brazilian capital market, with regard to the main initiatives of BM&FBOVESPA and its fundamental contribution to the building of a more sustainable capital market in Brazil / Mestrado / Desenvolvimento Economico, Espaço e Meio Ambiente / Mestra em Desenvolvimento Econômico

In this thesis I investigate the impact of outside directors experience on company value. I do so by looking at a clear event, company delistings in the time period 2003 to 2011 in South Africa, a country with arguably imperfect institutions. Based on qualitative and quantitative research I am able to establish that director experience is indeed associated with company value. The qualitative analysis is based on semi-structured interviews with over 30 highly experienced, independent non-executive directors who have/had seats on over 150 South African listed company boards. Their responses confirm resource theory dependency and provide information on the nature of experience, its relevance during delisting and under other circumstances, as well as insight into the type of experience lacking on boards in corporate South Africa. The results of this research can be of practical use to nomination committees and has implications for future South African governance code reforms and/or guidelines.

This three year indepth study was prompted after a decade of working as a corporate advisor for numerous stockbroking firms' corporate advisory and listing divisions. An overwhelming lack of discernible pricing methodology for IPOs on the JSE's Main Board and failed Venture Capital and Development Capital Markets was transferred to the new Alternative Exchange (AltX). This prompted lengthly discussions with former head of JSE's AltX Noah Greenhill. Such discussions are set out in this dissertation and relate to pricing methodologies and the lack of guidance or legislation as set out in the JSE's schedule 21 of Listing requirements. The focus of this dissertation is thus centred on whether the current adopted methodologies to establish a fair and reasonable pre-IPO share price is effective. To achieve this, global pricing methodologies were assessed within the framework of various valuation techniques used by South African Designated Advisors.