Le présent mémoire analyse le phénomène des prises de contrôle inversée (PCI). Cette technique permet à une société privée de se faire acquérir par une société publique coté en Bourse. Elle obtient de cette dernière, en contrepartie, un nombre si important de ses actions qu'à la suite de la transaction, la société privée contrôle la société publique qui vient légalement de l'acheter. D'où la prise de contrôle dite inversée. Le but de l'opération consiste pour la société privée à devenir publique rapidement, et ce, à coûts moindres, comparativement à un appel public traditionnel. La société privée profite ainsi de son nouveau statut pour se financer par un appel public à l'épargne publique par le biais de la Bourse. La piètre réputation associée à ce genre de transactions est due à la cupidité de quelques entrepreneurs peu scrupuleux qui ont comme objectif d'empocher un profit rapide au détriment du public investisseur. Avec comme résultat que ce type de transaction suscite, à juste titre, la méfiance des autorités réglementaires. Le dilemme peut donc être posé en ces termes: compte tenu de l'importance économique des PME en termes de création de richesse au pays, doit-on restreindre l'usage de la PCI au nom du principe de la protection des épargnants? En somme, la liberté commerciale doit-elle céder le pas à des craintes de nature réglementaire? Nous concluons que malgré ces craintes très réelles, la PCI, majoritairement utilisée par la PME, doit être maintenue et qu'en termes de politique réglementaire, les autorités devraient favoriser l'emploi par ces jeunes sociétés du programme de financement « Société de Capital de Démarrage» (SCD) mis en place par la Bourse de Croissance rsx. Malgré ses défauts évidents, ce programme doit être amélioré afin de promouvoir une PCI plus efficace, et ce, à l'intérieur du programme Sco. À cet égard, la SCD pourrait bénéficier de la crédibilité ainsi que de l'expertise indéniable de la Bourse de Croissance en matière de financement de jeunes entreprises. Idéalement, la SCD serait améliorée au point où elle rendrait la PCI, hors ce programme, inutile. En ce sens, la liberté commerciale de faire des PCI serait préservée, tout en assurant la protection du public investisseur. / This thesis endeavours to analyse the phenomenon of the reverse takeover (RTO). This technique allows a private company to be acquired by a public entity whose stock is listed on an exchange. The former obtains from the latter such an important part of its stock that following the completion of the transaction, the private company controls the public company which has just acquired it. The takeover is therefore deemed reversed. The purpose of the transaction from the private entity perspective is to gain the status and privilege associated with being a publicly listed company faster and at a fraction of the cost that would otherwise be the case with a traditional public offering. Thereafter the private company uses its newly acquired public status to tap the capital markets via the stock exchange. The poor reputation generally associated with this kind of transaction is in a large measure due to the greed of a few scam artists whose main motive is a quick profit at the expense of the investing public. The result of this situation is that the RTO is viewed with considerable scepticism by the regulatory authorities. The dilemma may therefore be set in the following terms: taking into consideration the economic importance of the small and medium business (SME) as a creator of wealth in the economy, should the competent authorities limit the use of the RTO in the name of investor protection. In other words, should the commercial freedom to use the RTO in order to finance SME take a back seat to regulatory concerns. We conclude that although the serious concerns levelled by the regulators are very real, the RTO which is used primarily by SME should be maintained. It is further argued that regulatory authorities should promote as a matter of policy the RTO sponsored by the Capital Pool Company (CPC) program provided for by TSX Venture. We find that this program should be upgraded to allow for a more efficient RTO under the rules of the CPC. In this regard, the program would gain from the credibility and the undeniable expertise of the TSX Venture in the realm of financing young and emerging companies. Therefore, ideally, this program would be improved to the point where it would render the RTO pursued out of the program useless. If this were the case, we conclude that commercial freedom would be preserved, while concurrently maintaining protection for investors and upholding the integrity of capital markets. / "Mémoire présenté à la Faculté des études supérieures en vue de l'obtention du grade de LLM en droit"

Themes my diploma is ,,Bonds trading on the capital market in the Czech Republic``. In introductory part of my thesis I deal with theoretic summary and functioning of capital market, regulation and supervision of capital market and individual subjects acting in this market. In more detail I deal with describeing the Prague Stock Exchange and company RM-System. I further define conception the bond and I describe long bonds, theirs basic kinds and conceptions used in the bonds. I also allude to series of different kinds of the bonds, that the offer on the international markets. Next part of my thesis is aimed to describe the development of the Czech market of bonds. I analyze the development of bonds trading in the last of several years on the regulated markets and the OTC-markets in the Czech Republic. In the close of my thesis I analyze the development of bonds trading on the Czech market of bonds in comparasion with Slovakian, Polish and Hungarian markets. This analysis was take in on comparision of the Stock Exchange of chosen countries.

Empirical evidence indicates that companies that reduce information asymmetry by increased voluntary disclosures achieve several benefits, such as lower cost of capital, improved pricing, and liquidity of their shares. Despite the possibility of such benefits, many studies report varying degrees of voluntary disclosure behaviour that is attributable to various factors. Recent studies indicate that investors’ investment horizon has a significant effect on actions taken by management. Companies with predominantly short-horizon investors spend less on research and development, invest in shorter-term projects that are less profitable than longer-term projects, and are more likely to manipulate earnings to meet short-term earnings expectations. This study investigates whether investors’ investment horizon has an effect on the quality of companies’ information environment. Long-horizon investors should be familiar with their investee company’s risks and rewards, using both their own internal information gathering processes and the cumulative information disclosed by management over time. Moreover, over the course of a long-term relationship, they can become familiar with management’s capability to deliver long-term sustainable returns. Long-horizon investors should therefore be less concerned with short-term fluctuations of earnings and management’s public explanations and disclosures thereof. I hypothesise that higher (lower) proportions of long-horizon investors are associated with lower (higher) quality voluntary disclosure. The shareholder familiarity hypothesis was tested in this study, using an ordinary least squares regression. Voluntary disclosures were observed via the channel of companies’ websites. A checklist was compiled of best practices for online investor relations, and content analyses were conducted on the websites of 205 companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Shareholder familiarity was proxied by shareholder stability, measured over nine years. The stability measure was lagged by one year to create a temporal difference between the shareholder profile and disclosure behaviour. I found that companies with a profile of unstable investors that are larger, younger, dual-listed and have a Big4 auditor have higher quality online investor relations practices. The hypothesis of a negative association between shareholder familiarity and voluntary disclosure quality is therefore accepted. This study extends the theory on information asymmetry and voluntary disclosure by providing evidence supporting the argument that investor horizon is a predictor of voluntary disclosure quality. The dictum of more is better does not hold in all scenarios. It is important for financial directors and investor relations officers to establish the investment horizon profile of their respective companies’ shareholders before they embark on extensive disclosure programmes. / Financial Intelligence

This research has investigated the long-run performance of corporate restructurings through unbundling transactions on the JSE between 2000 and 2012. The corporate unbundling transactions considered by the research are spin-offs and sell-offs. From the two unbundling transactions, four samples were derived, that is, 21 spin-offs, 14 parent-spin-offs, 14 sell-offs and 20 parent-sell-offs. The share price performance of these samples was investigated by a matching firm methodology under the buy and hold abnormal returns. The research found that positive abnormal returns are present for both samples for up to four years after unbundling. Secondly, with the exception of parent-sell-offs, significant abnormal returns were experienced by both samples for up to four years after unbundling. It was also found that a spin-off is a preferable corporate unbundling strategy to a sell-off over a long-run period. This research implies that companies with heavy structures should unbundle in order to unlock shareholders’ value. / Business Management / M. Com. (Business Management)

Summaries in Afrikaans and English / Text in Afrikaans / In South Africa the transfer and settlement processes associated with share transactions are essentially paper-based. The physical handling of the share certificate plays an important role in this regard. Foreign trends to reduce the movement of paper involve in broad terms the alternatives of dematerialisation and immobilisation of the share certificate. These developments cannot slavishly be followed without examining the legal nature of the South African share and share certificate. The process of immobilisation in a collective securities depository system involves no change in the nature of the shares. However, the use of a nominee where shares are held in safe custody forms a barrier between the shareholder and the issuer company which could dilute the shareholders' rights. This is even more applicable where shares are immobilised in a central depository. Further, although central depositories are based upon book-entries, they are still limited by the retention of the physical certificates. The development of electronic systems which dematerialise the share certificate must take into account the reasonable expectations of the public and should not be forced upon investors. The shareholder of a 'uncertificated' share must be placed, as far as possible, in the same position as if he had received a certificate. This requires legislation to amend present enactments and to define the rights of the shareholder. It is submitted that dematerialisation should gradually be phased in, starting with a voluntary dematerialisation in the case of holdings in the central securities depository. / In Suid-Afrika is die oordrag- en verrekeningsprosesse wat gepaardgaan met aandeletransaksies hoofsaaklik papiergebaseer. Die fisiese bantering van die aandelesertifikaat speel in die opsig 'n belangrike rol. Buitelandse pogings om die beweging van papier te verminder, neig in die algemene rigting van die dematerialisasie en immobilisasie van die aandelesertifikaat. Hierdie ontwikkelings kan nie slaafs nagevolg word sonder om die regsaard van die Suid-Afrikaanse aandeel en aandelesertifikaat te ondersoek nie. Die proses van immobilisasie in 'n kollektiewe bewaarnemerstelsel vir effekte wysig nie die aard van aandele nie. Nietemin plaas die gebruik van genomineerdes waar aandele in veilige bewaring gehou word 'n wig tussen die aandeelhouer en die uitreikermaatskappy wat die aandeelhouersregte kan verwater. Dit is selfs meer toepaslik waar aandele in 'n sentrale depot ge'lmmobiliseer word. Verder is dit so dat alhoewel sentrale depots op boekinskrywings gebaseer word, hul steeds beperk word deur die behoud van die fisiese sertifikate. Die ontwikkeling van elektroniese stelsels wat die aandelesertifikaat dematerialiseer moet rekening hou met die redelike verwagtinge van die publiek en behoort nie op beleggers afgedwing te word nie. Die aandeelhouer van 'n 'ongesertifiseerde' aandeel moet, so ver moontlik, in dieselfde posisie geplaas word asof hy 'n sertifikaat ontvang bet. Wetgewing is noodsaaklik om bestaande bepalings te wysig en die regte van die aandeelhouer te omskryf. Daar word aan die hand gedoen dat dematerialisasie stelselmatig infaseer word - aanvanklik met 'n vrywillige dematerialisasie in die geval waar aandeelhouding in sentrale bewaameming is. / Private Law / LL.D.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:50:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 3161.pdf: 4637531 bytes, checksum: 4c53d765063e54a9fc0993350014649e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-06-18 / Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos / The complexity assigned to the strategy term has been largely discussed in the literature. The large amount of theoretical contributions to this issue, brought by several knowledge areas; the different tools proposed by academicians and consultants to operationalize its concepts, the plurality of actors that play their roles inside the organizational field are just some examples of the building blocks of such complexity. Also relevant to this discussion is the movement named Strategy as Practice , initiated by European researchers in order to bring a sociological focus to organizational strategies, considering them as something a company does instead of something a company has. Thus, the main goal of this thesis is to identify and compare how Brazilian companies actually practice their competitive strategy, and to what extent/in which way such practice is aligned with the main firm s idiosyncratic variables and with their competitive environments. In order to achieve such goal, this work took advantage of a mixed research method, with a survey with companies listed on Brazilian Stock Exchange and six case studies. Concerning industry perception and company praxis, the main findings indicate that: (1) the internal and external views of competitive advantage are, indeed, perceived as complementary regarding firm strategies; (2) even in more traditional industries, companies perceive their environment as dynamic, due to companies´ mobility, group consolidations or internal rivalry; (3) even in industry with high barriers to entry, firms regularly adopt a surveillance approach to monitor newcomers; (4) innovation tends to be more focused on process than on products, and there is a gap between intended and implemented innovation; (5) the perception of resources and competences spread throughout company networks suggests that controlling these resources may be more important than owning them; (6) at least in the studied companies, low relevance has been assigned to knowledge as a strategic advantage. Regarding strategy practices: (7) an annual strategy planning cycle takes place, focused on formulation activities and perceived as static in nature; (8) workshops and performance meetings were the most often identified strategic events; (9) strategy tools were perceived as highly effective and mainly targeted at structuring analysis and ensuring strategy implementation, with special emphasis to the abundance of financial tools and lack of creativity ones. Concluding, concerning practitioners: (10) it could by empirically identified the existence of an organizational structure responsible for companies strategic planning, generally close to financial areas; (11) those generally involved in strategic activities show a primarily analytical profile, with low presence of women; (12) senior executives have developed their careers mainly inside the company or inside the industry, with relevant business knowledge, while middle management plays its role by implementing decisions made by high executives; (13) consultancies tend to be highly used, and their recontracting is contingent upon the patterns of their involvement in the strategy process; (14) business press has been assigned low relevance, being substituted in some cases by financial releases or by information from industry entities. / A complexidade do tema estratégia tem sido amplamente discutida por diversos autores na literatura. O grande conjunto de contribuições teóricas ao tema, prestadas pelas mais diversas áreas do conhecimento; as diversas ferramentas propostas por acadêmicos e consultores para a operacionalização de seus conceitos; e a pluralidade dos vários atores deste espaço organizacional são apenas alguns exemplos dos fatores constituintes desta complexidade. Relevante também ao tema é o movimento Estratégia como Prática , iniciado por pesquisadores europeus no sentido de trazer um enfoque sociológico às estratégias, considerando-as como algo que as empresas fazem e não algo que as mesmas puramente possuem. Desta forma, o principal objetivo desta tese foi identificar e comparar como as empresas brasileiras efetivamente praticam sua estratégia competitiva e como esta prática está alinhada com as diversas variáveis intrínsecas às firmas e aos seus ambientes competitivos. Para tanto, foi empregado um método de pesquisa combinado, com a realização de survey junto às empresas da BM&F Bovespa e seis estudos de caso. No que se refere à compreensão setorial e à práxis das empresas, as principais conclusões do trabalham apontam que: (1) as visões internas e externas da origem de vantagem competitiva são, de fato, percebidas como complementares no que tange às estratégias da firma; (2) mesmo em setores mais tradicionais, as empresas os percebem como dinâmicos, seja por mobilidade de empresas, por consolidação de grupos ou por rivalidades internas; (3) mesmo em setores com elevadas barreiras à entrada, as firmas adotam postura de vigilância permanente sobre novos competidores; (4) a inovação tende a ser mais focada em processos que produtos, e existe uma lacuna entre inovação pretendida e aquela efetivamente implementada; (5) a percepção de recursos e competências espalhados na rede indica que talvez seja mais relevante controlar do que efetivamente possuir tais recursos; (6) ao menos nas empresas estudadas, baixa relevância pode ser atribuída à questão do conhecimento como diferencial estratégico. No que se refere às práticas, tem-se que: (7) na maioria das empresas existe um ciclo anual de planejamento estratégico, com foco em atividades de formulação e que são percebidos como estáticos; (8) workshops e reuniões de resultado foram os eventos estratégicos mais frequentemente identificados; (9) as ferramentas de estratégia foram percebidas como de alta eficácia e principalmente voltadas para estruturação de análise e garantia de implementação, com destaque para abundância de ferramentas financeiras e escassez de ferramentas de criatividade. Por fim, acerca dos praticantes tem-se que: (10) ficou evidenciada a existência de uma estrutura organizacional com responsabilidade sobre planejamento estratégico da empresa, geralmente próxima a áreas de finanças; (11) os profissionais envolvidos possuem perfil eminentemente analítico e com baixa presença de mulheres; (12) o executivo sênior desenvolveu sua carreira eminentemente na empresa ou no setor, com relevante conhecimento do negócio, enquanto a média gerência assume papel de implementadora de decisões da alta direção; (13) as consultorias tendem a ser bastante utilizadas e a recontratação das mesmas é contingente à forma do envolvimento no processo estratégico da companhia; (14) a imprensa de negócios assume pouca relevância, sendo substituída, em alguma medida, por releases financeiros das empresas ou informações de entidades setoriais.

O presente estudo visa analisar as operações de cross hedge dos preços do bezerro na Bolsa de Mercadorias & Futuros (BM&F). Para tanto, foram calculados o risco de base destas operações nas semanas de vencimento do contrato futuro de boi gordo, as razões de hedge ótimas e as respectivas efetividades, entre setembro de 1995 e fevereiro de 2001, nas principais praças de comercialização de gado bovino do País - Araçatuba (SP), Bauru/Marília (SP), São José do Rio Preto (SP), Presidente Prudente (SP), Três Lagoas (MG), Triângulo Mineiro (MG), Campo Grande (MS) e Noroeste do Paraná. Como forma de comparação, as mesmas análises foram realizadas para o hedge do boi gordo. O valor médio da base e o risco de base do hedge do boi gordo e do cross hedge do bezerro foram calculados nas semanas de vencimento dos 58 contratos futuros de boi gordo e análises econométricas foram realizadas. Nesta primeira etapa, foi possível observar os seguintes resultados: i) valor médio e variância da base do bezerro foram superiores à do boi gordo em todas as regiões; ii) o desvio padrão da base do boi gordo foi 80,67% inferior ao desvio padrão do bezerro; iii) o risco de base do boi gordo foi estatisticamente inferior nas regiões que compõem o Indicador de Preço Disponível do Boi Gordo – IBG, calculado pelo CEPEA/FEALQ; iv) o risco de base do bezerro não apresentou diferenças estatisticamente significativas entre as regiões. Em uma segunda etapa, o estudo buscou analisar as razões ótimas e a efetividade do hedge do boi gordo e do cross hedge do bezerro, conforme a metodologia de Myers & Thompson (1989). Tanto no cross hedge, como também no own hedge, as razões se mostraram elevadas - no primeiro caso esteve entre 37% e 49%, já no segundo variou entre 58% a 63%. Com relação à efetividade, constatou-se que no caso do own hedge, o risco de preço pode ser reduzido em cerca de 50% com a tomada de posição em contratos futuros de boi gordo na proporção de hedge ótima. No entanto, para o cross hedge, a efetividade foi bastante baixa para todas as regiões, de aproximadamente 1,5%. Se por um lado, a proteção contra os riscos de preço do boi gordo ocorre de forma eficiente, por outro lado a proteção contra movimentos adversos nos preços do bezerro possui baixa efetividade. Conclui-se, portanto, que os pecuaristas, os quais utilizam o preço do bezerro e a relação de troca entre boi gordo e bezerro para a decisão de venda do gado, não possuem um instrumento eficiente, nos mercados futuros, de proteção dos preços de sua atividade. / The aim of the present study is to analyze the cross hedge operation for calves in the BM&F future markets. The basis risk of these operations during the contract maturity weeks were calculated, as well as the optimal hedge ratios and the respective effectiveness. The period considered was September, 1995 to February, 2001, and the regions were chosen according to their importance in commercialization of bovine cattle: Araçatuba (SP), Bauru/Marília (SP), São José do Rio Preto (SP), Presidente Prudente (SP), Três Lagoas (MG), Triângulo Mineiro (MG), Campo Grande (MS) and Noroeste do Paraná. For the sake of comparisons, the same analyses were carried for the fed cattle hedge operations, in the same regions. The average value of the basis and the basis risk of fed cattle hedge and calf cross hedge was calculated for 58 future contracts, in the last week of contract life, and econometric analyses were performed. The main results arising from the preceding analyses can be pointed out: i) average basis value and basis risk of calf were higher than the values of fed cattle in all regions; ii) the basis standard deviation for fed cattle was 80,67% lower than for calf; iii) the regions comprised by IBG, calculated by the CEPEA/FEALQ, showed lower fed cattle basis risk compared to the other regions under study; iv) the calf basis risk in the regions studied did not present statistically significant differences. In a second stage, the study analyzed the optimal hedge ratio and the related effectiveness of own and cross hedge, according to the methodology proposed by Myers & Thompson (1989). The estimated hedge ratio was high in both cases, between 37% and 49% for the optimal hedge ratio and 58% to 63% for the cross hedge. The own hedge figures mean a 50% reduction in price risk when hedging at the optimal ratio, a value that drops consistently to about 1,5% for all regions when the cross hedge is considered. The main conclusion of the study is that the BM&F fed cattle future markets are quite effective as a price risk reduction strategy for the own hedge operations, but lack effectiveness in this sense for the calves cross hedge. Market agents trying to use the calf price and the exchange relation between fed cattle and calf prices for cattle selling decisions should not rely on this mechanism for price risk reductions.

Que tipo de relação existe entre a exposição que uma empresa tem na mídia e o seu valor de mercado e o volume de negócios com suas ações? Partindo da premissa que a exposição de uma empresa na imprensa aumenta o alcance das informações relativas a ela e contribui para diminuir a assimetria informacional entre a administração da companhia e os investidores, o objetivo deste trabalho foi testar empiricamente se existe relação positiva entre a exposição de companhias abertas brasileiras na imprensa e seu valor de mercado e a liquidez de suas ações em bolsa. Trata-se do primeiro estudo feito no Brasil sobre o assunto. A partir de uma amostra de 152 companhias que representavam 81% do valor de mercado da bolsa brasileira em março de 2015, foi levantada a frequência de matérias que citaram essas empresas no jornal Valor Econômico no período de 20 trimestres entre janeiro de 2010 e dezembro de 2014. A técnica estatística usada foi a de regressão com Dados em Painel, que considera a variação tanto entre as companhias da amostra como também as alterações de valores no tempo para cada empresa. Como esperado a partir da plataforma teórica e da evidência de estudos internacionais, os resultados indicam uma relação estatisticamente significativa entre cobertura da mídia e valor de mercado. Os resultados foram consistentes tanto no teste com o múltiplo preço/valor patrimonial (P/VPA) como com a métrica Q de Tobin como variável dependente. Isso significa que, nesta amostra, as empresas que aparecem com mais frequência na imprensa econômica têm maior valor de mercado relativo do que aquelas que aparecem menos. Um terceiro teste foi feito para medir a relação da exposição na mídia com a liquidez das ações, também encontrando associação estatisticamente significante e positiva. No caso do primeiro teste, é importante destacar que, quando a amostra foi dividida em quartis por porte, a cobertura da mídia perdeu significância para explicar o valor de mercado das maiores empresas do país. Espera-se que o trabalho, ainda que com as limitações de um estudo pioneiro no país, possa contribuir para que companhias abertas, assessorias de imprensa, veículos de comunicação e também os reguladores do mercado conheçam melhor as relações existentes com a exposição na imprensa. Se a linha de pesquisa prosperar e uma relação de causa e efeito for comprovada, imagina-se que no futuro as empresas poderão usar planos de mídia em estratégias de relações com investidores e medir esses efeitos. / What kind of relationship exists between the exposure that a company has in the media and its market value and the traded volume of its stocks? Assuming that the exposure of a company in the press increases the extent of information relating to it and helps to reduce the information asymmetry between the company\'s management and investors, the objective of this study was to empirically test whether there is a positive relationship between Brazilian companies exposure in the press and its market value and the liquidity of its shares on the stock exchange. This is the first study in Brazil on the subject. From a sample of 152 companies representing 81% of the market capitalization of the Brazilian stock market in March 2015, I have collected the frequency of stories in which they were mentioned in the Valor Econômico newspaper in the period of 20 quarters between January 2010 and December 2014. The statistical technique used was the regression with Panel Data, which considers the variation both between the sample of companies as well as value changes over time for each company. As expected from the theoretical platform and evidence from international studies, the results indicated a statistically significant relationship between media coverage and market value. The results were consistent in both the test with the multiple price-to-book (P/B) as with the Tobin\'s Q ratio as the dependent variable. This means that companies in this sample that appear more frequently in the financial press have higher market value relative to those that appear less. A third test was done to measure the relationship between media exposure with the liquidity of the shares, also finding statistically significant positive association. For the first test, it is important to note that, when the sample was divided into quartiles by size, media coverage has lost significance in explaining the market value of the largest companies in the Brazilian market. It is expected that work, albeit with the limitations of a pioneering study in the country, can contribute to public companies, press offices, media outlets and also the market regulators to have a more informed perception of the scope of the exposure in the press. If the line of research to thrive and if a cause and effect relationship is proven, it is thought that, in the future, companies may use media plans in investor relations strategies and measure these effects.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-17T14:53:15Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Fernando Pinheiro Costa Junior.pdf: 2747809 bytes, checksum: 341087c9b5282e045ab5af119473be1e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-12-13 / The present study attempts, through the methodology TROPOS, modeling a Multi- Agent System for Stock Exchange whose goal is make negotiations among agents in a Virtual Stock Exchange. The agents will act as investors in the Stock Market making the purchase and sale of stocks. This model is intended to specify agents with the ability to decide the best time for investing according to market indicators, i.e., when is the better time to buy or sell stocks. The model can identify the agents, the interaction protocols between agents, the applied technologies and the structures of the application. Therefore, the JADE platform will support the development of agents regarding the negotiation process. Such platform will provide communication between agents creating Broker Agents to provide communication with other Intermediate Agents whose information is collected in its Knowledge Base in order to make the negotiation. The after examining this study, conclusions could be taken about the subject explained and future suggested improvements can be implemented. / O presente trabalho busca, através da metodologia TROPOS, modelar um Sistema Multi-Agente para Bolsa de Valores com o objetivo de realizar negociações entre agentes em uma Bolsa de Valores virtual. Os agentes irão desempenhar a função de investidores na Bolsa de Valores, efetuando operações de compra e venda de ações. Esta modelagem tem o propósito de especificar agentes com a capacidade de decidir qual o melhor momento para realização dos investimentos pautado nos indicadores de mercado, ou seja, qual a melhor hora para comprar ou vender títulos de créditos. Neste sentido, serão identificados os agentes, os protocolos de interação entre agentes, as tecnologias aplicadas, as estruturas da aplicação. Portanto, a plataforma JADE dará suporte para o desenvolvimento dos agentes no tocante ao processo de negociação. Tal plataforma proporcionará a comunicação entre os agentes, criando Agentes Corretores a fim de proporcionar a comunicação com outro Agente Intermediário com as informações adquiridas em sua Base de Conhecimento para que assim seja realizada a negociação. Assim, após a análise desta obra poderão ser retiradas conclusões acerca do tema explanado e sugeridas melhorias para que no futuro possam ser implementadas.

This thesis analyses the effects of relative market share and the rate of market growth on the strategic characteristics and financial performance of selected companies quoted on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange over the period 1977 to 198. It is well established that business performance is partially contingent upon relative market share position and the rate of market growth. Together these variables comprise the basis of the Boston Consulting Group approach to portfolio analysis in the form of the Boston Consulting Group Growth/Share Matrix. A methodology was designed to test the validity of this matrix in measuring and predicting corporate behaviour at the business level in South Africa. Selected companies were placed into the matrix and analysed in terms of their strategic attributes (represented by selected financial ratios) and their level of performance (represented by a wide range of financial performance measures). The research findings show that relative market share and the rate of market growth have a significant impact on the strategic attributes and financial performance of South African businesses. Also, certain attributes are closely associated with particular types of performance. Therefore, given a specific performance target, management should ultimately be able to isolate and monitor the relevant strategic attributes in ensuring that the target is achieved. The analysis of contingent models of strategy is still in its infancy, but this study indicates that the field is possessed of great potential.