No abstract / Mini Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2019. / Taxation / MCom Taxation / Unrestricted

The research will compare the alignment of the remuneration between United States and South African banks with respect to the Economic Value Added, a measure of a firm's economic profit that adjusts profit by subtracting the cost of capital.South African banks have been widely recognised for their high standard of corporate governance and stability during the financial crisis. Executive remuneration based on short-term equity has been recognised by both academic literature as well as bank regulators as one of the causes of the financial crisis. The research seeks to understand the differences in remuneration alignment between the failed and surviving banks.Misaligned incentives within the United States banks are accepted by both academics and regulators as one of the causes of the 2008 financial crisis and subsequent economic downturn. This research puts this theory to the test by comparing the alignment of executive remuneration between South African banks that were internationally recognised for successfully navigating the financial crisis, and the largest United States banks, of which three failed catastrophically over the same time period.The remuneration for the largest United States and South African banks is tested for correlation against Economic Value Added (EVA®), share price and return on equity. Correlation between executive remuneration and the constructs is tested between the two countries before as well as after the financial crisis.South African bank executive remuneration correlated strongly with EVA® and this correlation strengthened after the financial crisis. In comparison, the United States sample banks exhibited strong correlation between share price and remuneration before the financial crisis. The failed United States banks had no correlations between executive remuneration any of the constructs, a pattern that has been repeated in the United States Banks that have survived the financial crisis.Practically, the research demonstrated the vast differences in executive remuneration alignment between the United States and South Africa. In South African banks, executive remuneration is far more closely aligned to EVA®, whereas the United States banks only correlated with share price before the financial crisis, raising the question of whether managers are able to exert excessive power. The research demonstrates the magnitude of the gap between the recommendations of regulators and remuneration policies, with South African banks far more closely aligned than their United States counterparts.The research findings concur with theory presented in literature that misaligned incentives based on equity contributed towards the financial crisis. Of particular concern is the change in remuneration correlation after the financial crisis, where South African banks increased correlation with EVA® while United States banks no longer correlated with EVA®, ROE or share price. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Management Summary Die Orthopädie- und Rehatechnik Dresden GmbH ist ein innovatives Unternehmen der Orthopädietechnik in Dresden und der kompetente Partner für Gesundheit, Wohlbefinden und Mobilität. Ein Schwerpunkt liegt bei der Fertigung orthopädischer Hilfsmittel. Dabei wird die gesamte Bandbreite möglicher Versorgungen abgedeckt. Diese sind: — Bein- und Armprothesen, — Bein- und Armorthesen, — Korsetts zur Behandlung von Wirbelsäulendeformationen, — Sitzschalen für Rollstühle, — Orthopädische Maßschuhe. Mit hoher handwerklicher Präzision werden die Hilfsmittel in der eigenen Werkstatt individuell für jeden Kunden gefertigt. Die Wertschöpfungskette besteht abhängig von der Versorgungsart aus unterschiedlichen Bestandteilen. Allgemeingültig für alle Versorgungen sind: — Maßnahme beim Kunden, — Modellierung und Erstellung von Positivmodellen, — Herstellung der Hilfsmittel bis zur Anprobe, — Anprobe und Anpassung der Hilfsmittel, — Endmontage und Fertigstellung der Hilfsmittel, — Einweisung in den Gebrauch sowie Auslieferung. Sinkende Vergütungen durch die Krankenkassen, stark zunehmende Versorgungszahlen und die immer schwieriger werdende Gewinnung von Fachpersonal erfordern eine Straffung der Wertschöpfungskette. Erreichbar ist diese Straffung nur über eine Umgestaltung der zugrundeliegenden Produktionsprozesse. Die Geschäftsführung entschied, innerhalbeines Projektes zu prüfen, ob der Einsatz digitaler Datenerfassungs- und Bearbeitungstechniken einen wirtschaftlichen Vorteil für die künftige Unternehmensentwicklung darstellt. Dabei sollen künftig die betroffenen Körperbereiche der Kunden individuell durch geeignete 3D-Digitalisiertechnik erfasst, aufbereitet, modifiziert und archiviert und schließlich als Modellvorlagen in einem CAD/CAM-Verfahren durch CNC-Fräsen hergestellt werden. Für die Orthopädie- und Rehatechnik Dresden GmbH als stark handwerklich geprägtes KMU ist dieses Projekt ein Meilenstein für die weitere Entwicklung, sowohl hinsichtlich des Investitionsbedarfes als auch der Projektorganisation und der Kommunikation der Änderungen im Unternehmen. Bedingt durch die Art der angebotenen Produkte und Dienstleistungen finden sich im Unternehmen Mitarbeiter, die über hochspezialisiertes Wissens und individuelle Fähigkeiten verfügen. Die hohe Mitarbeiterzahl im den Bereichen Orthopädie-technik und Orthopädieschuhtechnik erlaubt eine Spezialisierung von Mitarbeitern auf einzelne Produktgruppen. Diese ist der entscheidende Wettbewerbsvorteil in einem von starkem Wettbewerbsdruck geprägten Markt. Sie ist sowohl notwendig für den wirtschaftlichen Erfolg als auch für die erfolgreiche Umsetzung der Veränderungsprozesse. Eine Umgestaltung der Produktion wie Sie im Rahmen dieses Projektes angestrebt wird bedeutet eine tiefgreifende Veränderung des bisherigen Arbeitsumfeldes. Es entstehen neue, spezialisierte Aufgaben, Verschiebungen von Arbeitsinhalten sowie die Notwendigkeit, vermehrt Aufgaben zu delegieren.

This Master’s Thesis concerns the technical problems and solutions in the Telia Mobile’s Golden Gate Architecture. The Golden Gate project will bridge service control from the IPnetwork to the circuit switched network. Connecting the different users of PSTN, GSM, W-LAN, and GPRS networks together will require solutions to many problems. Most of the problems have already been defined by Telia. Our task is to evaluate two parts of the Golden Gate architecture, namely the Interconnect- and Service Provider roles. The Interconnector provider connects networks of different technical standards and enables other network operators to reach Service Providers on the Internet or other IP-based networks. The role concerns mainly mapping between SS7 signaling and the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), charging and billing. Via the Interconnector the Service Provider can connect different services to any network. We will describe the SIP-protocol in detail and then we will look into the mapping between SS7 and SIP. We will also propose a charging model. It is important to have a solution that supports roaming between the different networks, we will evaluate such a solution. Most of the protocols (INAP, ENUM, MAP and ISUP) that are involved in the Golden Gate architecture are not completely defined. There are many Internet Drafts that discuss the possible functionality of the protocols and the interworking between them. Many different Internet-workgroups are working with these issues. No one seems to have the right answers for the interconnection between the protocols involved. Since the IP-telephony will probably replace today’s telephony systems, it is important to ensure a suitable Quality of Service (QoS), security that guarantees privacy, and a fair billing function. These are the three major problems in the IP-telephony world. IP-Telephony or Voice over IP (VoIP) has been on the market for a long time, there are many 'free IP-call sites' that use VoIP, but the quality of the calls are not yet good enough to replace traditional telephony. Our task here is to make sure that the necessary quality of service is provided, and a reliable charging model is used.

The general mindset of most vendors is that if they have a valid tax invoice, they can claim all their input VAT. They are, however, not aware of the requirements of section 17(1) of the Value-Added Tax Act. Section 17(1) explains that vendors cannot claim all their input tax if their expense relates to both taxable and non-taxable supplies and that, consequently, input tax need to be apportioned in some or other way. There are several methods of apportionment available to vendors of which the turnover-based method is the only approved method by the South African Revenue Service (SARS) for which no ruling is necessary. This study investigates the most common methods used by vendors, how these methods function and also under which circumstances these methods are recommended. The sectors that are influenced the most by this provision in the Value-Added Tax Act are banks, universities and municipalities. These sectors have large amounts of exempt supplies but also taxable supplies with expenses incurred that cannot be allocated specifically to a certain income. Therefore, a method of apportionment should be used to allocate the input VAT. Information was obtained through financial reports and questionnaires from 29 entities in South Africa. The information was used to calculate an average percentage of apportionment in each sector and also to establish which method of apportionment is the most commonly used method of apportionment in each sector. The conclusion was drawn that there might, under certain circumstances, be uncertainty on whether some income should be included or excluded in the apportionment calculation. Under these circumstances, it is recommended that a ruling should be obtained from SARS to avoid problems in the future. Copyright / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Taxation / unrestricted

It is generally well understood that venture capital (VC) is an important and significant source of financing for small firms. Questions revolving around the increased likelihood of a firm backed by Venture Capitalists (VCs) to be export oriented have yet to be fully explored. Responding to this research gap, a sample of Canadian VC backed firms is used to compare the performance of Canadian VC firms in terms of facilitating internationalization among their portfolio companies. The particular reference of this study is Export Development Canada (EDC), a crown corporation mandated to promote export among Canadian firms. This research finds that EDC as a VC investor and export-oriented consultant has no association with the increased probability of exporting. Also, stage of the investment does not show any relationship with internationalization. These results run contrary to previous speculation that syndication of VCs increases the probability of internationalization among portfolio firms.

Studying how firms and individuals respond to tax policy changes is key to assess their trade-off between equity and efficiency. Among individuals, taxpayers at the top of the income distribution have received special attention in the Public Economics literature. Progressive tax systems disproportionately rely on high income individuals to raise revenues, making them susceptible to strategies adopted by these taxpayers to reduce their tax liability. In the first two chapters of this dissertation, I provide new empirical evidence on the characteristics of high income individuals that can inform the design of tax policies. Chapter 1, focusing on the UK, shows that migrants have become more prevalent among high income individuals, thus altering the composition of individuals in the top 1 percent. Chapter 2, focusing on Italy, provides evidence of long term persistence in economic status among present-day descendants of noble dynasties. These chapters shed light on the characteristics of high income taxpayers and their path to the top of the distribution in these two countries. Understanding the composition of individuals at the top of the income distribution is key for analyzing their response to tax policies and for informing the trade-off between equity and efficiency. Firms too are a central part of the tax system of developed countries. They remit payment of the vast majority of government revenues, either fulfilling their own tax liabilities or on behalf of third parties. As a result, governments implement enforcement strategies to reduce evasion while minimizing their costs. In Chapter 3, I analyze one of these government interventions aimed at curbing tax evasion of Value Added Tax (VAT) in Italy and I provide evidence on a new margin of response adopted by businesses. As the government shifted the responsibility to remit VAT from the seller to the buyer for a subset of transactions in the economy, it altered the distribution of costs between the two sides of the transaction. I show that smaller firms face the largest increase in costs and, thus, exhibit higher exit rates, leading to higher market concentration. Chapter 1, which is joint work with Arun Advani, Felix Koenig, and Andy Summers, studies the contribution of migrants to the rise in UK top incomes.Using administrative data on the universe of UK taxpayers we show that migrants are over-represented at the top of the income distribution, with migrants twice as prevalent in the top 0.1 percent as anywhere in the bottom 97 percent. These high incomes are predominantly from labor, rather than capital, and migrants are concentrated in only a handful of industries, predominantly finance. Finally, we calculate the contribution of migrants and natives to the observed growth in the UK top 1 percent income share over the past 20 years. We find that almost all (92 percent) of the observed growth can be attributed to migration. Chapter 2 documents that present-day descendants of aristocratic dynasties enjoy high economic status in Italy, several decades or centuries after their ancestors received a title. Over this period of time, Italy experienced wars, annexations, political reforms, and a structural transformation of the economy. Yet, the income distribution of noble taxpayers living in Milan in 2005 is shifted to the right relative to the one of all other taxpayers. On average, noble descendants obtain 41,125 Euros (or 1.77 times) more, controlling for observables. Moreover, aristocrats are three times more likely to be involved in firms, either as shareholders or company officials. Chapter 3 analyzes how firms and markets adapt to a reform of the collection of Value Added Tax (VAT), combining a new administrative dataset on firm-to-firm links from Italy and a quasi-experimental research design. The reform shifted the responsibility to remit payments of VAT from sellers to “trusted" buyers, such as government entities and large firms. I present three main findings. First, firm-to-firm links subject to the new rules are more likely to become inactive after the introduction of the new rules. Second, I find that the reform was costly for the average firm. Firms more exposed to the reform experienced lower sales and higher exit rates, relative to the counterfactual. Third, I document that the burden of the reform was not evenly distributed across firms. Small firms were hit hardest, while large firms did not appear to be negatively affected. As a result, I show that markets more exposed to the reform became more concentrated.

The literature on nexus between trade and business cycle synchronization have provided mixed and weak evidence of the effect of trade on business cycle synchronization as a result of lack of value-added bilateral trade data which provides solution for overestimation or underestimation of shock exposure when using gross trade data. Also, due to limited data on sectoral bilateral value-added trade, the literature has not been able to pinpoint the sectors where synchronization is necessary in order to economically direct all effort to these sectors in forging economic integration. The paper uses value-added trade data to examine the impact of trade on business cycle synchronization at the aggregate level and sector level and find a highly significant and highly positive effect of trade on the aggregate level. Estimates for agriculture, manufacturing, construction, total business, electricity gas and sewer, and other service sectors yield a positive significant effect in the service sector, indicating that attention should be focus on the service and business sector when integrating economically.In this paper we examine output cycle synchronization patterns of the countries that joined the Eurozone later and countries that are in preparation or committed to join in relation to the original Eurozone members. We analysis this in the contest of before, during and recovery periods of the global financial crisis investigate the differences in the patterns of synchronization for late and future members of the Eurozone. For more understanding, we examine the pattern on disaggregate level using data for agricultural, manufacturing, construction, utility, total business and other services sectors from 1995-2015. Also, we examine the importance of trade on output synchronization both on the aggregate and disaggregate level using System GMM which not only solves the problem of endogeneity, but it estimates the persistence of business cycle synchronization efficiently. The result provides evidence of a positive persistence; however, synchronization pattern differs between late and future member states. Also, the financial crisis had a negative effect on synchronization in the European sub region as result the difference in the response by member states. The result shows a weak evidence of the importance of trade as a channel of synchronization. Even though previous studies have provided evidence improvement in UK and the Eurozone output comovement, Brexit came to pass. This has questioned the potency of the Enlargement of the Eurozone Initiative. This paper reexamines the degree of business cycle synchronization between the Euro area countries and United Kingdom in attempt to find an economic reason for Brexit. We also examine if the disaggregate economy have share similar pattern as the aggregated economy using the output synchronization in the agricultural, manufacturing, constructions, utility, total business and other service sectors between the euro area countries and United Kingdom. Using valued-added trade data between 1995 and 2015 from WTO-TiVA database we further examine effect of trade (sectoral trade) on the output (sectoral output) synchronization. Furthermore, we analyze the same questions in the contest of before and after the global financial crisis. The result show that the UK-EMU trade channel is no important to the output cycles synchronization. Also, due the unstable pattern or persistence of UK-EMU synchronization the EMU will have little effect from the Brexit if there exit one.

El presente trabajo de investigación tiene como objetivo explicar la incidencia del control de gestión a la gestión de inventaros en el valor económico agregado en estaciones de servicio – grifos del distrito de Surquillo, 2019. El trabajo está divido en cinco capítulos comenzando con el Capítulo 1, Marco teórico, donde se ha definido los conceptos básicos de la investigación como son las variables del control de gestión, gestión de inventarios y valor económico agregado. Así como, definiciones sobre el sector de comercialización de hidrocarburos. En el Capítulo 2, se ha determinado el plan de investigación, en cual se detallado el problema en cuestión y objetivo general como especifico. De igual modo, el planteamiento de las hipótesis tanto general como específicas. En el Capítulo 3, se ha desarrollado la metodología de investigación empleada, se definió la muestra para el debido análisis de los instrumentos cualitativos y cuantitativos. Por consiguiente, en el Capítulo 4, se procedió con el desarrollo de la aplicación de instrumentos como son las encuestas y entrevista recopiladas de los especialistas en el tema. También, se realizó el caso práctico. Finalmente, en el Capítulo 5 se realizó los análisis obtenidos por las encuestas y entrevistas. Además, se analizó el caso práctico. Adicional a ello, se procedió con las conclusiones y recomendaciones. / The objective of this research is: “To explain the incidence of the management control to inventory management on the economic value added in gas stations located on Surquillo’s district, 2019. This research is divided in five chapters which are: Chapter 1, theoretical framework; on this section the basic concepts are defined in management control variables, inventory management and economic value added. As well as definitions about hydrocarbon sellers sector. On chapter 2, it was determined the research plan, there is detailed the main problem and objective as well as the specific ones. In the same way, the hypothesis approach are general and specifics. On chapter 3, the used methodology was defined with a sample for the analysis using the qualitative and quantitative instruments. Therefore, chapter 4 was developed gathering process from the research instruments: surveys from gas station managers and interviews made to experts in this topic. There was also made a case of study on a real gas station. Finally, in chapter 5, the analysis was made from surveys and interviews. There also is the case of study analysis and conclusions and recommendations. / Tesis

The effects of NaCl (1 and 2%), added-water (AW; 30 and 40%), milk protein hydrolysate (MPH; 1, 2 and 3%), and end-point cooking temperature (EPT; 71.1 and 76.7 C) were examined. Regardless of the formulation, all turkey-beef frankfurters contained less than 0.4% fat. As levels of NaCl in the formula increased, the frankfurters had lower (P< 0.05) penetration values (total energy and peak force) but higher shear stress and shear strain. In addition, higher salt levels resulted in lower cooking loss, moisture content, protein content, and darker frankfurters. Increasing AW level reduced (P<0.05) penetration values (total energy and peak force), shear stress, shear modulus, and hardness but increased cohesiveness. Higher levels of AW not only resulted in higher (P<0.05) moisture content but also resulted in higher cooking loss and purge loss. Higher AW products were lighter (P<0.05) in color and less red. Increasing the amount of MPH increased (P<0.05) shear stress and shear modulus but lowered shear strain. Higher MPH reduced cooking loss and produced (P<0.05) darker, more yellow, and less red frankfurters. Higher EPT increased (P<0.05) cooking loss, shear stress, and shear modulus but decreased penetration values (total energy and peak force), shear strain, and cohesiveness. Higher EPT produced lighter (P<0.05) colored frankfurters. There were some two and three-way independent variable interactions (P<0.05) for shear stress, shear strain, and cohesiveness. Of the four independent variables evaluated, AW and EPT most influenced textural properties. By using various combinations of these four independent variables, meat processors would have the ability to improve the quality characteristics of fat-free frankfurters. / Master of Science