Thesis (Ph.D.)--Victoria University (Melbourne, Vic.), 2010.

Assignment (MComm)--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / Bibliography. Also available via the Internet.

Research and development (R&D) covering diseases that disproportionately affect developing nations is grossly inadequate. In particular it has been noted over a long period that governments of countries with high tuberculosis (TB) disease burden under invest in TB R&D, despite having 40% of the world’s notified TB cases. For instance, South Africa’s (SA) annual expenditure on TB R&D, of US$1,2 million in 2012, is insignificant relative to its disease burden, of 1 003 per 100,000 population. New tools are required to stop TB; these tools require R&D investment. However a recent report has noted that for the first time in eight years, global spending on TB R&D decreased in 2012 compared with the previous year. This drop in R&D investment threatens to undermine the possibility of any future insights from TB research. The important question remains: how can public investment in TB R&D be stimulated or incentivised, especially within those countries of high prevalence and sizeable R&D budgets (such as India, SA, China and Russia)? In an attempt to answer such a question, this research followed a quantitative, case study methodology based on secondary data analysis of information from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the SA National Strategic Plan (NSP) 2012-2016, looking at the costs associated with TB treatment in SA and identified areas of potential savings as a consequence of well directed R&D. For additional information on external funding and TB R&D investment, the study used the Organisation for Economic and Development (OECD) and Treatment Action Group (TAG) data. A return on investment estimation method for suitable R&D projects was then used to compute the optimal TB R&D investment range. The results of the research show that there are higher returns on the optimization of TB drug regimens versus new drug development. The argument proposed by this research is that further TB R&D expenditure can be justified from a purely economic return on investment consideration, considering that expenditure of public funds on TB treatment is high and significant savings can be made through improvements to the current drug regimen optimisation. This report will help policy makers in increasing public health R&D expenditure from present levels to those targets set by the World Health Organisation’s Consultative Expert Working Group (CEWG) and others. This return on investment will only be realised if public-funded R&D is focussed more directly on public health priorities. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / lmgibs2014 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

M.Com. (Business Management) / The study focuses on the return on marketing investment (ROMI) in the life insurance industry in South Africa. Although this is a growing industry, it is characterised by high competitiveness and similar product offerings from the different insurance providers. Therefore, in competing for the larger market share, the companies differentiate themselves by relying more on their unique strengths. They compete by promoting themselves and their products through various above-the-line and below-the-line marketing activities and campaigns in order to drive sales, build awareness, manage reputations, and to be top of mind to consumers. This study focuses on establishing whether these various marketing activities are measured to determine whether they contribute to the bottom line/ profit margins (basic purpose of ROMI) and to what extent. The ultimate goal is to establish whether ROMI is considered as being important to measure in the life insurance industry and whether spending on marketing activities does contribute to profit margins. A total of 16 recognised life insurance companies were identified and a sample size of seven companies selected. The sampling frame consisted of marketing managers, who happened to be heads of departments in this case. Structured interviews were conducted with these managers, and feedback was transcribed and analysed. Only marketing managers were interviewed as they are directly responsible for the marketing budget, and are accountable for marketing spending and the overall success of the department. It was identified in the study that in order to measure ROMI, it starts by being accountable for the marketing spending. The overall results of the study indicate that spending on marketing does contribute to profits margins and that ROMI is considered by the life insurance industry as important to measure. The study was limited only to the Gauteng province, thus it can be generalised to the life insurance companies in South Africa, but cannot be generalised to other insurance industries, e.g. short-term insurance, thus allowing for the possibility of a comparative study in the future, in addition to future studies listed in chapter 5.

The value of an investment project is a function of the magnitude and the distribution over time of the current capital outlay and future cash benefits pertaining to the project. Three basic problems must be resolved in capital budgeting and decision-making during project implementation: 1) It is difficult to estimate capital costs and cash benefits. 2) The realization of future benefits is uncertain. 3) Future benefits must be compared with current capital costs. Generally, risk and uncertainty associated with an investment project are given implicit consideration by basing decisions on the most likely single-valued estimates of capital cost and cash flow. However, recent developments in investment management techniques enable risk and uncertainty to be given explicit consideration by assignment of a priori probability distributions to capital cost and cash flow estimates. These methods are enabled by the introduction of Monte Carlo computer simulation. The problem of comparing current capital costs with future benefits can be resolved by discounted cash flow (dcf) or net present value (npv) analysis. Both methods enable the distribution over time of the cash flow to be explicitly taken into account. The minimum acceptable yield for a project is dependent upon the firm's cost of capital. The decision to undertake a project included in the set of viable projects available to the firm is constrained by the availability of resources, particularly financial and managerial resources. A normative model of a large industrial capital project can be divided into seven reasonably distinct phases: 1) Idea Generation, 2) Preliminary Analysis, 3) Comprehensive Feasibility Study, 4) Project Development, 5) Project Implementation, 6) Start-Up, and 7), Post-Completion Audit. A decision to proceed with a project is generally made at the completion of the feasibility study phase; however, the decision can reasonably be reviewed and revoked at the completion of the project development phase. Beyond this point the implementation process is essentially irreversible, as cash outlays accelerate for fixed and intangible assets which have little or no salvage value. To ensure optimization of the project's value to the firm, a competent and sufficient management team must be provided to direct the implementation. For a large single undertaking, definable in terms of a specific end result which is unique, complex and involves a high degree of interdependence of task accomplishment, a project or task force organization is invariably utilized. The uniqueness, frequency, and critical importance of project decision-points demand a high degree of senior executive attention and control. Modern network methods (PERT/CPM) enable the separation of the planning and scheduling functions and aid in the establishment of an efficient, coordinated work flow. Network diagrams provide an explicit means of considering dependencies between events, even for large projects which include several thousand or more significant activities. Network analysis enables critical activities to be distinguished from non-critical activities, and thus project durations can be controlled or minimized by application of resources to specific key areas. Established computer routines are available to systematically 'crash' projects and to aid in schedule formulation which facilitates stabilization of resource input levels. A case study of a hypothetical industrial project is used to illustrate the comprehensive feasibility study, project development, and project implementation phases. Although confidential requirements prevented the use of a specific project, the case is realistic in that the data base was synthesized from several actual projects of corresponding scope. Examination of the methodology of capital project management on an overall basis indicates that the integrated systems concept approach is required for maximum efficiency of resource utilization. The future will undoubtedly see rationalization of the fragmented approach to problems in economics, finance, engineering and administration; as well as more widespread application of modern techniques in data processing, management science and information system design. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate

M.Ing. / As the manufacturing environment evolved over the past century, the nature of investments in manufacturing capabilities changed dramatically. Automation can be seen as the single biggest driver of this evolution; enabling the manufacturing fraternity to develop smarter technology in order to exploit the opportunities that were created by the volatility that exist in most markets. This lead to the development of flexible manufacturing technology. Constructing a definition of manufacturing flexibility is difficult mainly due to the various views and perspectives that exist of flexibility. In short, flexibility can be defined as the ability to react ( to any change ) with little penalty in time, effort, cost or performance. These technologies that enable a manufacturing system to be flexible in a certain manner are generally difficult to justify in terms of traditional financial yardsticks. This can be contributed to the diverse benefits to be gained from these investments; and often these benefits are of a nonfinancial nature. Furthermore, when reviewing investments in flexible manufacturing technology within a process environment there appears to be an even bigger problem. The relatively fixed nature of the design output of process equipment, and the enormous quantities of capital outlay initially required to erect and commission process plants, often makes it near impossible to justify any investment that does not deliver good financial returns within the short term. Thus it becomes clear that the traditional methods of investment appraisal within the process environment have become generally unsuitable; and this call for a re-evaluation of the processes applied to guide value adding investments. This study set out to deliver a logical approach to appraising investments in manufacturing flexibility by defining a framework to be applied. The proposed framework consists of the following 4 primary steps. Firstly the strategic direction followed by the business is defined; then an analysing of the manufacturing flexibility required is performed. The third step is to evaluate the manufacturing technology available and furthermore a suitable performance measured criteria is defined to evaluate the proposed investment. This model is set within the strategic context of the manufacturing strategy of a business and thus should ensure the development of manufacturing capabilities that will ensure business growth over the medium to long term.

Technological obsolescence has a more profound impact on the future economic life of long-term operating assets today than it had in the past. Therefore, the periodic capacity costs required to sustain current revenues should not only include the wear and tear costs of using long-term operating assets but also the costs related to their technological obsolescence. In reality, however, firms often record depreciation and amortization (D&A) expense that do not capture the effect of technological changes, resulting in misleadingly low D&A expense and overstated earnings. In this paper, I propose a measure of maintenance capex that attempts to measure the economic capacity cost required for a firm to sustain its current level of revenue. I find that the median firm recognizes 25% lower D&A expense compared to the estimated level of maintenance capex. This results in overstatement of operating income by 7%. I show that under-depreciating firms, which report lower D&A expense than their estimated maintenance capex, experience future write-offs and negative future earnings. Moreover, under-depreciation is also associated with significantly negative future abnormal stock returns, suggesting that stock prices do not fully reflect the implications of the under-depreciation for future earnings. In sum, my measure can help financial statement users identify under-depreciating firms, anticipate negative future earnings, and adjust reported earnings for valuation purposes. Additionally, I show that the well-documented negative relationship between investment and future stock returns is partly attributable to investors’ inability to differentiate between maintenance and growth capex.

The aim of this thesis is to discover useful measures and worthwhile lessons in increasing savings for capital formation to promote economic growth in underdeveloped countries. In order to accomplish this goal, the following steps will be taken: (1) The various kinds or concepts of savings, i.e., voluntary saving (including savings from utilization of under-employed labor), compulsory saving through taxation, and forced saving from inflation resulting from deficit financing of investment by means of bank loans or fiat money will be examined, analyzed, and discussed with the aim of finding useful measures for increasing savings from them to promote capital formation.; (2) The ideas of various writers on economic development that are directly related to the problem will be analyzed to discover worthwhile lessons from them.; (3) The relevant experiences of certain developed and underdeveloped countries will be looked into, and any useful measures or lessons discovered from them will be presented and their significance indicated.

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