Thesis (MScEng)--University of Stellenbosch, 2002. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis is about the principles and practices of the emergmg discipline of virtual enterprising within the context of supply chain management. This type of enterprise makes it possible for Southern African companies to compete in the global marketplace against global players. Value chain analysis is firstly discussed to help the business units, within the virtual enterprise, identify their competitive advantage. This competitive advantage will secure the position of these business units within the virtual enterprise. Electronic commerce is described as the vehicle for data communication within the virtual enterprise, and the supported enterprise resource planning (ERP) software as the transaction capturing software. A performance measurement system is proposed that will assist with the management of virtual enterprises at a macro level. Some conclusions and recommendations are made as to how the management of performance can assist the business units, within the virtual enterprise, to grow financially and obtain sustainability. Recommendations are also made for the implementation of the proposed structure within the 3-D Business Simulator. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis handeloor die beginsels en gebruike van die ontluikende dissipline van virtuële ondernemend binne die konteks van toevoerkettingbestuur. Hierdie tipe ondernemings maak dit moontlik vir Suid-Afrikaanse ondernemings om in die globale mark teen globale, multinasionale spelers te kan meeding. Waardekettinganalise is eerstens gedefinieer, om die besigheidseenhede, wat deel vorm van die virtuële onderneming, te help om hul kompeterende voordeel te identifiseer, en sodoende te kan aanwend om hul posisie binne die virtuële onderneming te verseker. Elektroniese handel word bespreek as die middel van data-kommunikasie binne die virtuële onderneming, en ondernemingshulpbronbeplanning (ERP) sagteware as die sagteware wat verantwoordelik is vir die vasvang van alle transaksies. 'n Prestasiemetings-struktuur word voorgestel wat met die bestuur van die virtuële onderneming op makro-vlak sal help. Gevolgtrekkings en aanbevelings word gemaak vir die aanwending van prestasiemeting om met die bestuur van die besigheidseenhede binne die virtuële onderneming van hulp te wees, en sodoende hierdie besigheidseenhede te help om finansieël te groei en volhoubaar te ontwikkel. Aanbvelings word ook gemaak vir die toepassing van die voorgestelde struktuur binne die konteks van die 3-D Besigheidsimulator.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:35:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2009-07-16Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:05:57Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 freitas_ch_dr_rcla.pdf: 1423658 bytes, checksum: 1cf47ffae9bf2508e9b8769ad2cd9369 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / As estradas causam a mortalidade de animais, bem como a remoção de hábitats, a fragmentação da paisagem, o efeito de borda e criam uma barreira física a muitas espécies. Alguns fatores estão relacionados aos atropelamentos, como por exemplo tipo de acostamento, topografia e vegetação. O desenho da estrada (curva ou reta) tem influência na velocidade dos veículos e é um importante fator condicionante que necessita ser considerado. Além disso, os atropelamentos podem atrair animais necrófagos ou domésticos (cães e gatos) para as carcassas, aumentando a probabilidade de novos atropelamentos. Embora vários estudos sobre atropelamentos de vertebrados tenham sido publicados no mundo, poucos tem documentado a mortalidade no Brasil. Nós realizamos um estudo que focou nos fatores causais bem como no valor (Disposição A Pagar – DAP) dos animais mortos em colisões com veículos. Nossa proposta foi documentar a composição de espécies e a riqueza e compreender os fatores espaciais e temporais relacionados a mortalidade na rodovia. Nós registramos e identificamos as espécies e o número de vertebrados atropelados em dois trechos de rodovias estaduais (97 Km da MG-428 e 63 Km da SP-334) no sudeste do Brazil. As rodovias foram amostradas semanalmente, de janeiro a dezembro de 2007. Além disso medidas de variáveis explanatórias relacionadas as estradas foram incluídas: tipo de acostamento, topografia, tipo de vegetação e desenho da estrada. Nós usamos estes dados para examinar a relação entre as variáveis explanatórias e a mortalidade dos grupos de vertebrados nas estradas ao longo do tempo. Foi realizado o teste do qui-quadrado de aderência para examinar a distribuição espacial dos atropelamentos. Nós também entrevistamos 601 motoristas para obter a disposição a pagar (DAP) pela conservação da fauna. Usamos a regressão logística para estabelecer... / Roads result in mortality on the road as well as habitat removal, landscape fragmentation, edge effects, and pose a physical barrier to many species. Some roadside factors are related to road-kills, e.g., type of shoulder, topography, and vegetation. Road alignment (curved or straight) has an influence on vehicle speed and is an important conditioning factor needing consideration. Additionally, road-kills may attract scavengers or domestic animals (cats and dogs) to carcasses, increasing the probability of new road-kills. Although many studies on vertebrate road-kill have been published around the world, few have documented road mortality in Brazil. We conducted a study that focused on causal factors as well as the value (Willingness To Pay) of animals killed by vehicle collisions. Our purpose was to document species composition and richness and to understand the spatial and temporal patterns of roadrelated mortality. We recorded the number and species identification of vertebrates killed on two state roads segments (63 Km of SP - 334 and 97 Km of MG - 428) in southeastern Brazil. The roads were surveyed weekly from January to December 2007. Additional road related explanatory variables measured, included: type of shoulder, topography, vegetation type, and road design. We used that data to examine correlations between the explanatory variables and the mortality of vertebrate groups on the roads over time. We performed the chi-square goodness of fit to examines the spatial road-kills distribution. We also interviewed 601 vehicle drivers to assess their Willingness To Pay (WTP) for fauna conservation. We used logistic regression to relate the independent variables with the location and number of mortalities we recorded. We used linear correlation to examine how certain aspects of the user profile (namely, monthly income, education level, and frequency of road use) were related... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-12T20:32:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Osvaldo Cesar Lauer.pdf: 4045663 bytes, checksum: ff3597c7d6baea25cd17296e3aff9714 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-11-29 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Among the different methodologies, that exist for the evaluation of companies, which are being analyzed in the present studies, it was shown, in practical terms, what the literature has been reaffirming: the vast majority of valuation processes is being made by means of the application of the methodology of the discounted cash flow. Since the privatization process of the electric sector, including its recent reform, from 1998 onwards, one of the sectors that has mostly attracted investments in Brazil, has been the transmission of electric energy. The transmission concessions are sold in auctions, by the regulating authority, for the lowest transmission tariff offered, demanding complex financial calculations. Thus, from the auctions of 1999 onwards, the frequent utilization of the discounted cash flow has been observed in the financial modeling to overcome successfully competing proposals in auctions. The present study has the objective to identify the principal aspects related to an electric energy transmission company, culminating in the analysis of a practical comparison of an acquisition process of five transmission companies, applying the methodology of the discounted cash flow. The parameters of the WACC, adopted by the ANEEL in the first periodic revision of the transmission companies (in process), were used, in a pioneering fashion, in order to compare the value of the company established by the market with the value of the company evaluated and established by the regulating authority, verifying its correlation and adherence. / Entre as diversas metodologias de avaliação de empresas existentes, as quais são analisadas no presente trabalho, comprovou-se em termos práticos o que a literatura vem reafirmando: a grande maioria dos processos de valuation vem ocorrendo através da metodologia do fluxo de caixa descontado. Desde o processo de privatização do setor elétrico, e com a sua reforma recente, a partir de 1998, um dos setores que mais tem atraído investimentos no Brasil é o de transmissão de energia elétrica. As concessões de transmissão são licitadas pelo órgão regulador, pela menor tarifa de transmissão ofertada, exigindo cálculos financeiros complexos. Neste aspecto, a partir dos leilões de 1999, tem se observado a grande utilização do fluxo de caixa descontado nas modelagens financeiras para vencer as propostas concorrentes nos leilões. O presente trabalho tem por objetivo identificar os principais aspectos relacionados a uma empresa transmissora de energia elétrica, culminando na análise de uma comparação prática de um processo de aquisição de cinco empresas transmissoras, pela metodologia do fluxo de caixa descontado. Inovando, utilizou-se os parâmetros do WACC adotados pela ANEEL na primeira revisão periódica das transmissoras (em processo), de modo a aferir o valor da empresa estabelecido pelo mercado com o valor da empresa na ótica regulatória, verificando a sua correlação e aderência.

Brands can be one of the most valuable assets a company holds. These intangible assets are difficult tovalue and brand valuation is today a debated subject. By register or incorporate a trademark you can getsole right to it. This legal protection is a big part of the brand. The purpose of this essay is to analysethe value of a brand in an economical historical perspective with institutional theory and law andeconomics. I will describe how the legal framework for accounting (Bokföringslagen andårsredovisningslagen) and trademarks (varumärkeslagen) changes from 1960 to 2010. By looking atarticles from Nordiskt immateriellt rättsskydd (NIR) about trademarks and brands from 1960 to 2010 Iwill try to analyse how the view of brand valuation changes during these years. My result is that brandsget more and more popular and the value of a brand is more important in 1990 and forward then it wasin the 1960’s. I also find it hard to decide whether brands should be activated in company’s balancesheet because of the uncertainty and subjectivity in brand valuation.

The issue of dividends and what role it plays, has been the subject of discussion for decades. The main reason for this is that the chosen dividend policy for a company affects several different stakeholders, with shareholders being the most affected party. Determining dividend policy is influenced by multiple factors such as capital structure, potential stakeholder signaling and corporate culture concerning payouts. This study will investigate how the relationship between firm performance and stock price is affected by the level of dividends a firm pays. To explore this relationship, the authors will conduct a correlation and regression analysis that is performed on data collected on middle and large capitalization firms listed on the Stockholm stock exchange. The chosen time frame for this study is year 2007-2017. Several variables are included in the regression model in order to explore a potential relationship.  The findings of this study indicate that the stock price of high dividend yield firms are more dependent on financial performance compared to low dividend yield firms. However, an overall positive correlation is found between financial performance and stock price for both samples.

In essence, aspects of sports marketing can be viewed as a special case of marketing a brand. The brand-related marketing activities of rugby teams should therefore first focus on building awareness of the rugby team's brand. Branding is a new phenomenon in rugby, a sport that has recently become professional and commercialised in South Africa. Despite the importance of brands and consumer perceptions of brands, rugby unions in South Africa have not used a consistent definition or measurement technique to assess spectators' perceptions of rugby brands. If some understanding of spectators' perceptions of brands could be developed, rugby unions in South Africa might be able to determine the brand equity of their sports teams. The determination of brand equity defines what an organisation may be willing to invest in a brand, based on some type of expected return. Brand equity is a set of variables linked to a brand's name and symbol that adds to or subtracts from the value provided by a product or service to a organisation and/or that organisation's customers and can be grouped into four categories, namely brand awareness, brand associations, brand loyalty and perceived quality. By ascertaining spectators' awareness, the associations they make regarding the brands, as well as brand loyalty and perceived quality of the respective brands of the provincial, regional and national rugby teams of South Africa, the brand equity of these teams could be determined. The aim of this study was, therefore, to determine spectators' awareness of, their associations with, their loyalty to and their perceived quality of the respective brands of the provincial, regional and national rugby teams of South Africa so that the brand equity of these teams could be established. In this study it was found that the Stormers' brand had the highest brand awareness, but that the Springbok brand had the highest brand equity. / Business Management / D.COM (Business Management)

L’objectif de cette thèse est d’étudier quelle composition du conseil d’administration permet d’assurer l’efficacité de ses fonctions de surveillance et de conseil. Dans le chapitre 1, nous étudions si la présence d’administrateurs qui sont liés à des actionnaires minoritaires peut constituer un mécanisme efficace de gouvernance d'entreprise pour limiter l'expropriation par les actionnaires majoritaires, sans exacerber les risques. L’étude empirique de ce chapitre est réalisée sur un échantillon de banques avec un actionnariat concentré. Les résultats indiquent que la présence d’administrateurs minoritaires permet d’augmenter l'efficacité du conseil d'administration des banques dans la mesure où elle entraîne une valorisation de marché plus élevée, sans augmentation du risque. Le chapitre 2 complète le premier chapitre afin de déterminer les facteurs, tant au niveau de la banque que du pays, qui peuvent favoriser la présence d’administrateurs minoritaires dans les conseils de banque. Les résultats montrent que: (i) l’importance des droits de vote des actionnaires majoritaires, la qualité des recommandations envers le conseil d'administration dans les codes de gouvernance d'entreprise et le niveau de protection des actionnaires sont des facteurs qui favorisent la présence d’administrateurs minoritaires au sein des conseils des banques; (ii) des régimes de surveillance stricts et une forte opacité réduisent la présence d’administrateurs minoritaires dans les conseils d'administration des banques. Nos travaux suggèrent que les autorités bancaires devraient recommander aux banques avec un actionnariat concentré d'inclure un minimum d’administrateurs minoritaires dans leur conseil d'administration. Dans le chapitre 3, nous examinons l'impact de l’imposition d’un quota minimum de membres de chaque sexe sur la performance des entreprises et leurs décisions, en prenant le cas de la Belgique, la France et l'Italie comme expérience naturelle. Notre analyse statistique montre que le pourcentage de femmes augmente de manière significative et que les caractéristiques des membres du conseil d’administration changent considérablement après la mise en place du quota. Les résultats empiriques montrent que les quotas n’ont pas d’impact significatif sur la performance des entreprises et leurs décisions. Nos résultats appuient la mise en place d’un quota afin d’assurer une représentation équilibrée des hommes et des femmes au sein des conseils d’administration des entreprises. Ils montrent cependant que les régulateurs créent des attentes irréalistes quant à la capacité des femmes à améliorer les performances des entreprises, du moins à court terme lorsque les effets négatifs de l’imposition d’un quota sont potentiellement les plus importants. / His thesis aims to provide some answers to the question of what makes a board effective in carrying out its monitoring and advising functions. In Chapter 1, we examine whether board structures that include directors that are related to minority shareholders can be an effective corporate governance mechanism to limit expropriation by controlling shareholders, without exacerbating risk. We focus our empirical analysis of this chapter on banks with a concentrated ownership structure. We find that the inclusion of such minority directors does indeed increase the effectiveness of bank boards, as it results in higher market valuations, without increasing risk. Chapter 2 complements the first chapter to determine the factors, at the bank and at the country level, that could favor the presence of minority directors on bank boards. We find that: (i) the voting rights of controlling shareholders, the quality of recommendations for boards of directors in Corporate Governance Codes and higher shareholder protection are factors that promote the presence of minority directors on bank boards; (ii) the degree of opacity and stronger supervisory regimes reduce the presence of minority directors on bank boards. Our work suggests that bank authorities should recommend banks with concentrated ownership structure to include a minimum of minority directors in their board. In Chapter 3, we investigate the impact of gender quotas on firm performance and corporate decisions using Belgium, France and Italy as a natural experiment. Our statistical analysis shows that the percentage of female directors significantly increases, and board members characteristics significantly change after the implementation of the gender quota. The results of our empirical analysis show evidence that gender quotas do not have a significant impact on both firm outcomes and corporate decisions. Our findings support the decision of policy-makers to use mandatory rules to force firm to achieve gender balance on corporate boards. Our results suggest that policy-makers create unrealistic expectations for women to boost firm performance, at least in the short-run when negative side effects of mandatory rules are potentially strongest.

The last General Valuation in Cyprus, in 1980, took about twelve years to be completed by the Lands and Surveys Department. The comparison method was adopted and no computerised (mass appraisal) method or tool was used to assist the whole process. Although the issue of mass appraisal was raised by Sagric International, who had been invited to Cyprus as consultants, and recently by DataCentralen A/S with the development of a mass appraisal system based on regression analysis, there has been little literature and no research directly undertaken on the problems and the analysis of immovable property taxation in Cyprus and the development of an artificial neural networks valuation system for houses and apartments. The research project approached the issue of property taxation and mass appraisal through an investigation into Cyprus's needs for an up-dated tax base for equitabileness and for an assessment system capable of performing an effective revaluation at a certain date, with minimum acceptable mean error, minimum data and minimum cost. Investigation within Cyprus and world-wide indicated that this research project is a unique study in relation to Cyprus's property taxation and the development of a computer assisted mass appraisal system based on modular artificial neural networks. An empirical study was carried out, including prototyping and testing. The system results satisfy IAAO criteria for mass appraisal techniques, compare favourably with other studies and established a framework upon which future research into computer assisted mass appraisal for taxation purposes can be developed. In conclusion, the project has contributed significantly to the available literature on the immovable property taxation in Cyprus and the development of a computer assisted mass appraisal system for houses and apartments based on modular artificial neural network method. The proposed approach is novel not only in the context of Cyprus but also world-wide.

This study investigates international equity joint ventures (IJVs) and South African partner firm value creation at formation. In addition, it tests whether four contentious formation characteristics, namely, the geographical location of the IJV partner, the level of economic development in the IJV partner’s home country, the level of equity held by the South African firm and the industry of the South African firm, can explain when South African IJVs are value enhancing and when they are value diminishing. IJVs are a popular business mode and an important channel for infrastructure and skills investment in developing countries. However, despite their popularity and potential social benefits, these IJVs are predominantly created by the decisions of private firms to collaborate with foreign firms and governments. Consequently the preservation and development of the IJV investment channel is dependent on the encouragement of private firm IJV participation. It is at uncovering potential tools to encourage IJV participation by South African firms that IJV firm value creation becomes important because it stands as a motivator for South African firms’ involvement in IJVs. Existing literature on IJVs and partner firm value has presented conflicting evidence with support for the views that they are value enhancing, value diminishing or of no immediate consequence to their partners’ firm value. Consequently, previous research offers limited firm value support for IJVs. For South African firms considering joint ventures and national policy makers determined to promote IJVs there is a need for an investigation of South African partner IJV firm value effects. Moreover, it is also necessary to test potential explanatory variables that may help to explain when the IJVs are value enhancing and when they are not as this will inform IJV contract negotiations and how limited national government resources are used to promote IJVs. In order to assess firm value creation for South African firms this study performed event studies on IJV formation announcements from 1998 to 2011 using daily share returns from the Johannesburg Securities Exchange taking care to incorporate recent developments in the event study methodology. The study found that while the market responds to IJV announcements, its responses do not, on average, reflect that IJVs are firm value enhancing for their South African partners at formation. This stands in contrast to considerable empirical literature and IJV firm value creation theory. In addition, factoring in formation characteristics, argued to potentially help explain cases of value creation and destruction from IJVs, provided limited explanation for positive and negative wealth effectsfor South African firms entering IJVs. This result has important value for IJV participants, national economic policy makers and IJV researchers. For IJV participants and national policy makers, the results caution unfettered entry/support for IJVs and challenge the role of equity distribution in determining the value of the IJV to its partner firms. For IJV researchers, the results present new evidence questioning IJV firm value creation at formation and provide a potential explanation for the conflict in previous IJV research. The study makes four key contributions to the existing knowledge of IJV firm value creation. Firstly, it assesses IJV wealth effects for the hitherto untested South African IJVs. Secondly, in doing so it adds a new data set (South African IJVs) to the current IJV literature. Thirdly, in reviewing the literature on IJV firm value creation the study presents a disaggregated model of IJV firm value creation from which to develop IJV research and potentially solve the persistent conflict in empirical results on IJV partner wealth effects. Finally, it informs future South African IJV agreements by uncovering factors that influence and do not influence partner wealth effects for South African firms.

This Thesis deals with the Accounting and tax aspects of accounting for inventories according to CAS and IFRS. Theoretical part contains characteristics of inventories, methods of valuation and accounting of inventories according to CAS. Another part of the theory describes the inventories, their valuation and reporting in accordance with IFRS. In the practical part is characterized the selected company with demarcation its inventories. Practical part it also contains an analysis of the differences between the methods and procedures used by the entity and methods authorized in IFRS in the valuation of own production and consumption of inventories. In another part is an analysis of the influence of valuation methods of consumption inventories on economic result. At the end of each chapter are suggested improvements or solution of the problem. Finally it is shown a total comparison of the reporting for inventories according to CAS and IFRS.