The diploma thesis „Indirect Tax Harmonization in the European Union“ deals with the indirect tax harmonization issues, which are related to accession the Czech Republic to the EU. It analyzes changes in harmonization with the focus on value added tax and its impact on businesses. The aim of this thesis is on a sample of respondents using a questionnaire to find out how the businesses look at this problem, which the harmonization of indirect taxes directly concerned.

This thesis focuses on the assessment of the economic performance of the company STARTECH spol. s.r.o. using the methods of financial analysis. It focuses on the development of the company in the years 2010-2013. Based on this information are suggested corrective measures which will help to improve the performance of this company.

This thesis is focused on study of process during the engagement in small company Podlahy Lakomý, which deals with realization of floor work. Thesis is divided to three main parts. First part is concerned with the theoretical knowledge. Second part focusing on the analysis of the current status process of order. In the last part are mentioned proposals for amendments, which leading to streamline entire order process.

No abstract available / Mini-Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Mercantile Law

his dissertation advocates that value and its creation are often misunderstood concepts since both lack robust comprehensive conceptual foundations from which to advance rigorous theoretical development and analysis. Furthermore, this dissertation characterized value as the subjective assessment of the total worth of benefits received for the price paid or costs, i.e. money, time, energy, etc. The purpose of this dissertation was to conduct a holistic examination of value through the lens of service-dominant logic (S-D) and several historical economic periods of thought. I conducted a comprehensive S-D literature review in conjunction with a conceptual Boardman Soft Systems Methodology to develop a systemigram that captured the most critical S-D concepts and interrelationships to clarify its purpose and future research opportunities. During this process, value was recategorized and simplified into five primary dimensions, i.e. nature, perspectives, measures, storage, and creation. I employed Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory to illustrate that value at the lowest level of abstraction is the efficient satisfaction of human needs. I also investigated value creation and introduced a comprehensive value creation conceptual framework. Value creation is seen as a continuum of activity of key processes, i.e. value co-production, value in exchange, and value co-creation, and key procedural elements, i.e. actors, resource integration, ecosystems, services exchange, institutions and institutional arrangements as essentials to value creation. In addition, this dissertation also presented a Leyden value concept to the S-D lexicon. This concept complements use-value to capture associate upstream co-production activities and efforts as stored potential value. This dissertation then employed this conceptual framework to perform two survey based empirical studies. The first tested Lusch et al. (2007) value-co-production framework and incorporated other constructs such as transaction cost, satisfaction, and future purchase intent into a single testable model. This study leveraged covariance based structural equation modeling with 477 respondents to simultaneously test the proposed model and advance Self Determination Theory and Transaction Cost Economics within the realm of value creation and S-D Logic. This research found that most of Lusch et al. (2007) hypotheses were supported and found statistical support for the inclusion of transaction cost as a construct that influences value-co-production. In addition, this study illustrated that value-co-production has a positive statistical association with satisfaction and its impact on consumer future purchase intent. Managerial, this study highlighted those customer characteristics and behaviors necessary to maximize value generation during co-production opportunities. Finally, this dissertation empirically investigated the importance of benefits and equivalent cost reductions to entice consumer purchase intention across two different products and services scenarios. In total, this research gathered over 2,500 observations through a series of eight between subject survey experiments. This research found that consumers choose benefits such as warranty enhancements for new vehicle purchases and complementary desserts for dining experiences to enhance purchase intention. In addition, this research often revealed that consumers significantly decrease purchase intention when offered small value enhancements, i.e. 1% price reductions. This research also discovered that narcissism is negatively associated with those consumers who chose a donation to social causes. Finally, enhanced value offerings for expensive vacations, either through benefit enhancements or cost reductions, fail to significantly impact consumer purchase intention. The results of this research advance rational choice theory into the realm of value creation and S-D. Managerially, this research found that benefits, whether singular or offered as a menu, are powerful tools for retailers to employ to enhance consumer purchase intention.

In this research, our main goal rests in the analysis of the main determinants and the features of output performance of firms. First, we will investigate the direct and the indirect effects (spillovers) of Research and Development (R&D) investments on firms’ total factor productivity growth. To that end, we begin by estimating the returns to R&D by using international micro level data, as first proposed in Griliches (1979). We quantify the effects on firms’ productivity of exogenous variations in the state of technology and of the R&D of other firms (R&D spillovers, Jaffe, 1986). Second, we will try to take into account the firms’ ability to identify, assimilate and exploit existing information, that is their absorptive capacity (Cohen, Levinthal 1989). We assume that the elasticity of output (or value added) to national or foreign stock of spillovers depend on the chosen measure of Absorptive Capacity, which generally is represented by own R&D capital. The positive effect of the interaction between own R&D capital and the spillover pool term indicates the firm ability to absorb new ideas from outside, while its negative effect gives evidence of necessity to invest more in own R&D. Third, we will explore the question whether geographic and technological proximities affect the knowledge flows, proxied by patent citations for large international firms and how these effects change over time. We expect that the geographical proximity impact on knowledge flows is decreasing over time, since information travels at lower communication costs over time (Coyle, 1997 and Friedman, 2005). Yet, according to Evans and Harringan (2005), distance is still relevant in some technological sectors, where face-to-face interaction is fundamental and knowledge is tacit and hard to codify. Then, it is also interesting to analyse the impact of technological proximity on knowledge flows over time. / Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Många bostadsrättsköpare och bostadsrättshavare har enligt tidigare studier svårt att tolka och förstå bostadsrättsföreningars årsredovisning. Utöver detta så visar studier att många människor har en bristande finansiell förmåga, vilken dock sägs kunna förbättras genom utökad information. Syftet med studien är att pröva hur väl förädlingsvärdeanalysens utökade information fungerar som ett komplement till bostadsrättsföreningens årsredovisning. För att kunna besvara syftet har denna studie utgått från huvudfrågan på vilket sätt utökad redovisningsinformation i form av förädlingsvärdeanalys kan påverka förståelsen bland bostadsrättshavare avseende bostadsrättsföreningens ekonomi. Därtill har studien utgått från två delfrågor om vad det är som gör att bostadsrättsföreningars årsredovisning upplevs svårbegriplig, respektive hur väl modellen för förädlingsvärdeanalysen täcker bostadsrättshavarnas önskemål om utökad information till föreningens årsredovisning. För att besvara syftet har en kvalitativ metod använts där kunskapsinriktningen är deduktiv med inslag av induktion. Forskningsdesignen består av en fallstudiedesign med en kvasiexperimentell del. Data har samlats in via tio semistrukturerade intervjuer. De strukturerade frågorna analyseras och redovisas genom en jämförelse av medelvärden. De öppna frågorna tolkas textkritiskt och analyseras med hjälp av tematisk analys. Studiens resultat visar att den framtagna förädlingsvärdemodellen påtagligt bidrar till en ökad finansiell förståelse bland bostadsrättshavarna. Som svar på studiens huvudfråga kan slutsatsen dras att det i första hand är jämförbarheten mellan olika föreningar som ökar av informationen i förädlingsvärdemodellen. Därtill ökar även förståelsen för föreningens sparande, samt att förädlingsvärdemodellen bidrar till en upplevd ökad begriplighet av föreningens ekonomi. Förädlingsvärdeanalys har såvitt studiens författare vet aldrig tidigare applicerats på bostadsrättsföreningar. Detta innebär en utökning av förädlingsvärdeanalysens användningsområden i och med appliceringen på en bostadsrättsförening. Utöver detta innebär det även ett nytt och effektivt verktyg för bostadsrättsföreningar och deras ekonomiska rapportering. Ett förslag på vidare forskning är att modifiera förädlingsvärdemodellen ytterligare utifrån bostadsrättshavarnas önskemål och därefter testa modellen i större skala och på fler föreningar. Ett annat förslag är att kombinera förädlingsvärdemodellen med att testa den faktiska finansiella förmågan istället för den upplevda, för att på ett mer objektivt sätt mäta förädlingsvärdemodellens effektivitet. / According to previous studies, many condominium-buyers and condominium-owners have difficulties interpreting and understanding condominium compounds' annual report. In addition to this, studies show that many people have a lack of financial literacy, although it is said to be improved by expanded information. The aim of this study is to test how well the value-added analysis's expanded information works as a complement to the condominium compound's annual report. To answer the aim, this study has been based on the main question in what way expanded accounting information in the form of value-added analysis can affect the understanding among condominium-owners' regarding the condominium compounds' finances.As well as the sub-questions what is it that makes condominium compounds' annual report difficult to understand, and how well the model for the value-added analysis will cover the condominium-owners' wishes for extended information in the condominium compounds' annual report. A qualitative method has been used where the focus of knowledge is deductive with elements of induction. The research design consists of a case study design with a quasiexperimental part. Data were collected through ten semi-structured interviews. The structured questions are analysed and reported through a comparison of mean values. The open-ended questions are interpreted text-critically and analysed with the help of thematic analysis.  The results of the study show that the value-added model clearly contributes to an increased financial understanding among condominium-owners. In response to the study's main question, it can be concluded that it is primarily the comparability between different condominium compounds that increases through the information in the value-added model. In addition, the understanding of the condominium compound's savings also increases, and the value-added model contributes to a perceived increased understanding of the condominium compound's finances. As far as the study's authors know, value-added analysis has never before been applied to condominium compounds. This means an extension of the value-added analysis's areas of use with the application to a condominium compound. In addition to this, it also means a new and effective tool to condominium compounds for their financial reporting. A proposal for further research is to modify the value-added model further based on the condominium-owners' wishes and then test the model on a larger scale and on more condominium compounds. Another proposal is to combine the value-added model with testing the actual financial literacy instead of the perceived one, in order to measure the efficiency of the value-added model in a more objective way.

As the fast development of mobile communication technology, mobile value added service (VAS) kept booming, the maturation of the mobile payment solutions also promoted the industry to become more consummate and profitable. As the cost of duplicating e-products is low while the return on investment is considerable high in this industry, many mobile VAS company are searching for bigger and challenging market such as China. The general aim of this thesis project is to provide practical solutions for these companies to successfully enter into the Chinese market. To fulfill this goal, the thesis studied behavior patterns of Chinese mobile VAS users by questionnaires, results indicated that variables and factors assessed in this study can significantly affect customers’ consume behaviours. Furthermore feasible business models and corresponding cooperative strategies were proposed and discussed in perspectives of value network, profitability and product control, which are tightly correlated to the commercialization of product. Moreover, this thesis introduced different marketing strategies to support the implementation of business models and introduced open and closed innovation conceptions for strategic development of mobile VAS companies’ growth in future.

Den här studien syftar till att undersöka serviceerbjudande för logistisk outsourcing genom 3PL och 4PL leverantörer och deras roll i leveranskedjor. Detta med bakgrunden för de trender som finns inom branschen gällande outsourcing, där företag efterfrågar nya smarta lösningar för deras verksamheter och för att bibehålla och stärka sin konkurrenskraft.  För att undersöka dessa förhållanden har en kvalitativ studie genomförts, där fyra informanter har deltagit i semistrukturerade intervjuer mot frågor som framtagits med grund i de teorier som presenteras. Informanterna som deltagit har bakgrund inom företag som tillhandahåller tjänster inom både 3PL och 4PL. Vad som konstaterats i analysen är hur de olika alternativen skiljer sig, främst i det fysiska resursutnyttjandet, men även de likheter i hur större värden kan ges till kundorganisationer. Av studien så kan ett vidare behov av både forskning och utveckling av tjänsterna ses för differentiera de två alternativen för logistisk outsourcing. / This study seeks to examine the different service offers for logistical outsourcing through 3PL and 4PL suppliers and their role in supply chains. This with the background of the trends within the industry regarding outsourcing, where companies are seeking new and smart solutions for their business, and to maintain and strengthen their competitiveness. To examine these relationships of the suppliers, a qualitative study has been conducted, where four informants have participated in semi structured interviews with questions that have their base in the presented theories. The informants that participated in the study have their background in supplier-companies with services of both 3PL and 4PL solutions. The analysis of the empirical material gathered through the interviews has shown how the solutions differ, primarily in regards to their physical resource utilization, but also the similarities in how greater values can be created for the customer organizations. Through the study the need for both research and development of services can be seen, to be able to differentiate the two alternatives for logistical outsourcing.

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between and among various demographic and test score data with American College Testing (ACT) scores in 281 Tennessee high schools. This study also addressed which high school characteristics were related to the number of students meeting the ACT requirement for Tennessee lottery scholarships. In addition, this study examined Tennessee Value Added Assessment System's (TVAAS) assessment of ACT scores and its distribution of grades to Tennessee's high schools based upon its Value-Added analysis. The researcher performed correlations and multivariable linear regressions using socioeconomic status, ethnicity, dropout rate, graduation rate, attendance, average daily membership, per-pupil expenditure, teacher salary, Gateway exams, English I scores, and math foundations scores as independent variables and ACT scores as the dependent variable. The strengths of the correlations were examined and the best combination of independent variables was used to predict future ACT scores. Schools were divided into quartiles, based upon average daily membership and attendance rates, in order to analyze the differences in r2 values among the quartiles when running regressions to predict ACT scores. Quartiles, based upon the percentage of students qualifying for free/reduced meals, ethnicity, and average daily membership were used to study the difference in TVAAS' grade distribution based upon its assessment of ACT scores. The findings indicated that English I and II scores are most strongly associated with ACT composite scores including the four ACT subtests: math, English, reading, and science. English scores were found to be more strongly associated with ACT math scores than Algebra I scores and more strongly associated with ACT science scores than biology scores. It was found that the 21 composite ACT score requirements of Tennessee's lottery scholarships predominantly favored Caucasian students who did not qualify for free/reduced-priced meals. It was also discovered that TVAAS' ACT grades were unevenly distributed when schools were divided into quartiles based upon the percentage of students qualifying for free/reduced-priced meals, ethnicity, and average daily membership. Only one school in the quartile containing the schools with the highest percentage of students qualifying for free/reduced-priced meals scored above the state's average gain in the reading section of the ACT test.