No abstract available.

Many countries such as Australia, Ireland, Netherlands, United Kingdom (UK), Spain, United States of America (USA) and South Africa (SA) among others have experienced an increase in housing prices, since the late 1990s. In SA, the abrupt increase in residential property prices, particularly during the period 1999 to 2007, resulted in an improvement in the level of households’ net wealth position. Empirical investigations, mainly from developed countries, provide evidence indicating that a house price increase has a significant impact on the households’ wealth, and thus house price gains increase housing collateral for homeowners which make it possible for them to take out equity in the form of refinancing or selling of the house to finance consumption. With the above in mind, this study investigates the relationship between aggregate expenditure on consumption by households and residential house prices in South Africa. Following the permanent-income/lifecycle hypothesis (PI-LCH), this study applies the vector error model (VECM) into the 1980:Q1 to 2007:Q4 quarterly data sample. The overall finding of the study indicates there is indeed a long-run positive relationship between housing prices and consumption in South Africa. / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2010.

The project investigated the problem of performance optimisation of computer systems at the systems level. It was ascertained that no generally accepted technique for approaching this problem exist. A theoretical approach was thus developed which describes the system, the workload and the performance in terms of matrices which are deduced from measured data. An attempt is then made to verify this theory by applying it to a real system in a controlled environment. A dummy workload is used and measurements are made on the computer system for various configurations. The results thus obtained are compared with the expected trends in system performance and conclusions are drawn which appear to verify the validity of the theory proposed. / Thesis (M.Sc.Eng.)-University of Natal, 1987.

Contingent valuation has been given a psychological interpretation, by Kahneman and colleagues, that claims willingness to pay bids represent psychological attitudes rather than personal economic valuations. Evidence reported here shows the need to qualify the role of this attitudinal explanation. In contradiction to the attitudinal hypothesis, the decision to bid zero or positive appears to represent a complex psychological appraisal. Furthermore, evidence of bid clustering on currency denominations implies fundamental differences concerning how people respond to a monetary scale. Whether interpreted as charitable contributions or imprecise welfare estimates there are serious implications for how economists interpret and use stated preference responses. (authors' abstract)

Studiens syfte är att undersöka och redovisa vilka förutsättningar räddningstjänsten har att implementera SROI-modellen som ett utvärderingsverktyg för sin verksamhet. Arbetet bör ses som en förstudie till ett sådant projekt. Inom ramen för undersökningen har fem djupintervjuer utförts med räddningschefer och utbildningssamordnare fördelade på fyra olika kommuner. Utöver detta har sekundärkällor i form av utbildningsmaterial samt andra undersökningar studerats. Slutsatser: Räddningstjänsten ombeds i allt högre grad redovisa sin verksamhet i form av mätbara mål. Ansvariga inom räddningstjänsten saknar ofta verktyg för att formalisera och redovisa det utvärderingsarbete som regelbundet genomförs. Det framgår att man i varje region utför regelbunden utvärdering, men generellt inte uppfattar det så. Undersökningen indikerar att SROI är ett lämpligt verktyg att implementera och använda för räddningstjänsten. SROI kan fungera som en mall för att formalisera utvärderingsprocessen för att göra den synlig för såväl interna som externa intressenter.

This study investigates a method for identifying human capital and its effect on company valuation. We devise a measure for the efficiency of human capital based on the personnel cost. We include all companies listed in the financial and industry sector on Nasdaq OMX Stockholm in an attempt to examine human capital and its effect on firm valuation. Our results indicate that a higher efficiency of human capital has a positive effect on return on assets. However, we find that our measure can be interpreted in two ways; either as a firm’s level of human capital efficiency or its dependency on human capital, to achieve its net sales and revenue. We also find indications that the market is valuing firms that rely on human capital lower than firms that don’t. Although our findings are statistically significant, the regressions can only explain a small part of what return on assests is comprised of or the value the market assigns a firm.

The public sector often invests in large projects in different sectors, such as education, health care and infrastructure. It can be argued that investment appraisal process in these projects should differ from conventional approaches due to the complex interests the public sector holds, which often implies that several aspects need to be considered. Conventional techniques may not suffice and therefore this thesis aims to investigate the applicability of real options analysis and multi-criteria analysis in a combined approach. The study is conducted in the form of a case study at publicly owned Sundsvalls Logistikpark, where options in the form of the utilization of development areas and the non-monetary aspect reduction of carbon dioxide are included in the appraisal. The model developed compares two alternative strategies where one is based upon conventional usage of the area and the other represents the environmentally friendly alternative. The results show that including the value of flexibility in the appraisal significantly raises the initial valuation, whereas the comparison of the strategies show that the results either details which strategy is preferred, if input to both strategies are available, or where the threshold for indifference lies. It is concluded that this model is applicable in terms of its ability to capture the value of flexibility and inclusion of several aspects of the decision problem. However, it is also concluded that the numerous simplifications made may lead to unreliability in the results, and the process of obtaining accurate input may time-consuming, depending on the case. The usability of the model is high in terms of its potential, but lower in terms of the knowledge-based threshold required of the user.

I dagsläget har alla människor en sorts relation till sin bank. Relationen kan vara alltifrån sparande, lån, aktier och med mera. Produkter och tjänster mellan de olika bankerna har blivit likartade efter avregleringen år 1986. Detta har medfört att det har blivit alltmer viktigare för banker att vara konkurrenskraftiga i sina produkter och tjänster till sina kunder. I detta fall har fler banker investerat mycket på sina resurser för att få lojala kunder. Relation skapas i en bank då sammanhängande faktorer såsom kommunikation, åtagande, kompetens samt konflikthantering uppnås. Detta leder till studiens syfte, vilket är att utforska huruvida bankrådgivarna använder sig utav de psykografiska- och relationsfaktorerna för att kunna uppnå en god relation till sin kund. I studien har man använt sig utav hermeneutisk forskningsfilosofi, detta tillsammans med en abduktiv ansats, samt en kvalitativ metod. Denna metod används för att skapa en djupare inblick och förståelse för forskningsområdet. Genom intervjuundersökningarna har denna uppsats analyserats för att kunna ge svar på uppsatsens forskningsfråga, samt syfte. Grunden till intervjufrågorna kommer ifrån olika teorier. Intervjuerna ägde rum på Sparbanken 1826 i Kristianstad, där bankkunder, privatrådgivare samt personalansvarige intervjuades. Studien indikerar på om de psykografiska- och relationsfaktorerna används i en svensk bank. Studien påvisar att alla fyra relationsfaktorer används utav banken, däremot används inte samtliga psykografiska faktorer, då det endast är värdering som verkställs på banken. / Nowadays customers have a sort of relationship with their bank. The relationship can be from savings, loans, stocks and more. Products and services between the different banks have become similar after deregulation in 1986. For that reason, it is significantly important for banks to offer competitive products and services to their customers. This has resulted to more banks have invested many of their resources in order to have more satisfied and loyal customers. Relationship is created in a bank when interrelated factors such as Communication, Commitment, Competence and Conflict handling are achieved. This leads to the purpose of this research, which is to explore if the psychographic factors have an impact on the advisers relationship with the customers. The study has used hermeneutic research philosophy combined with an abductive and a qualitative approach. The method is used to create a deeper insight and understanding of the research area. This study has been analyzed through field studies in order to provide answers to the study´s problems and purposes. The bases of the interview questions were selected and gathered from different theories. The interviews were conducted at Sparbanken 1826 in Kristianstad, where bank customers, private advisors and staff officer were interviewed. The study indicates if the psychographic- and relationship factors are used in a Swedish bank. The study demonstrates that all four relationship factors used by the bank, however, all the psychographic factors are not used, where there were only valuations executed on the bank

Informational privacy of individuals has significantly gained importance after information technology has become widely deployed. Data, once digitalised, can be copied, distributed, and long-term stored at negligible costs. This has dramatic consequences for individuals that leave traces in the form of personal data whenever they interact with information technology, for instance, computers and phones; or even when information technology is recording the personal data of aware or unaware individuals. The right of individuals for informational privacy, in particular to control the flow and use of their personal data, is easily undermined by those controlling the information technology. The objective of this thesis is to study the measurement of informational privacy with a particular focus on scenarios where an individual discloses personal data to a second party which uses this data for re-identifying the individual within a set of other individuals. We contribute with privacy metrics for several instances of this scenario in the publications included in this thesis, most notably one which adds a time dimension to the scenario for modelling the effects of the time passed between data disclosure and usage. The result is a new framework for inter-temporal privacy metrics.

Bakgrund: IFRS 13 behandlar värdering och upplysningskrav för värdering till verkligt värde som är en marknadsbaserad värdering. Banksektorn är en verksamhet som får tydliga konsekvenser med svårigheterna att värdera sina finansiella tillgångar till verkligt värde. En finansiell tillgång som bankerna har är utlåning till allmänheten. Mindre banker får fler förfrågningar om lån med hög risk och för att undvika en felbedömning av utlåningen bör en riskbedömning göras. Om en bank gör denna riskbedömning felaktigt kan bankerna få en förlust och förlora eget kapital. Syfte: Syftet med arbetet är att granska skillnaderna mellan några mindre bankers värdering till verkligt värde av posten utlåning till allmänheten. Syftet är dessutom att belysa både problem och möjligheter med bankernas riskhantering för både banksektorn och externa parter. Metod: Undersökningen har baserats på en kvalitativ metod med fyra stycken personliga intervjuer samt två telefonintervjuer med ekonomiansvarige på mindre banker. En telefonintervju genomfördes även med en revisor för att få mer förståelse över lagverket och få en revisors syn på värdering till verkligt värde. Slutsats: Bankerna hanterar värderingen med tanke på risken genom att försöka säkra lånen så mycket som möjligt. Bankerna hanterar risken mellan företagslån och konsumentlån på samma sätt. Bankerna ser dock en större risk med företagslån därför att dessa lån inte har någon säkerhet. Säkerhet och återbetalningsförmåga är A och O för bankerna när det gäller riskhantering av utlåningen. Bankerna värderar allmänhetens utlåning till verkligt värde på två olika sätt. Två av bankerna värderar posten utlåning till allmänheten korrekt enligt IAS 39 medan fyra banker inte gör denna värdering. Anledningen till dessa skillnader är att det finns en tydlig tolkningskonflikt på vad som är verkligt värde. Detta påvisar att det är problematiskt för mindre banker att tilllämpa regelverket och detta kan leda till att de mindre bankerna vänder sig till större banker för att få hjälp. På så vis kommer bankerna eventuellt bli institutionaliserade med tiden. / Background: IFRS 13 deals with the valuation and the disclosure requirements of fair value valuation, which is a market-based value. The banking sector is an organization that gets clear implications with the difficulties to value their financial assets to fair value. One financial asset that banks have is their lending, a loan portfolio. Small banks get more requests of loans with high risk and to avoid a misjudgment of the loan portfolio, they should do a risk assessment. If one bank does this risk assessment incorrectly it could put the bank in a worse scenario and lose equity. Purpose: The purpose with the study is to examine the differences between some small banks valuation to fair value of loans to the public. The purpose is also to illustrate problems and opportunities with the banks risk assessments to the bank sector and to external parts. Methods: The investigation has been based on a qualitative method with four personal interviews and two telephone interviews with the financial managers in smaller banks. One telephone interview was also carried out with an accountant to get more understanding over the rules and regulations and to get an accountants approach to fair value. Conclusion: With the risk in mind, the banks are dealing with the valuation by ensuring the loans as much as possible. There is no difference in treating the risk whether it’s a loan to a business or a consumer. However, the banks are seeing greater risk with loans given to a business because they don’t have any security. Security and the ability to return loans is everything for the banks when it comes to dealing with the risks of lending. Loans to the public are by the banks valued to fair value in two ways. Two of the banks value their loans to the public correctly according to IAS 39, while four banks don’t use this way of valuation. The reason for these differences is the clear interpretation conflict on what fair value really is. This points to the complication for smaller banks to apply these rules and that they will turn to larger banks for help. This is how the banks possibly are to become institutionalized over time.