The thesis deals with an evaluation of the investment project for storage automation in an engineering company. The theoretical part of the thesis describes topics of investment and investment decision-making, methods of evaluation of investment projects, sources of investment financing and storage. At the beginning of the practical part of the thesis, the realized investment project was introduced and its technical specification was presented. In the analytical part of the thesis, the company's balance sheet was evaluated, gathering and analysis of calculation data was carried and a calculation of yearly revenues and costs was performed. Subsequently, calculations of investment efficiency were performed using dynamic methods of evaluation of investment projects and sensitivity analysis of input factors. In the final part of the thesis, the evaluation of the results was performed and recommendations for future investments of the company in the same technology were set.

The purpose of my master‘s thesis is to open new school within EWTO in Vysočina region, concretely in Žďár nad Sázavou, and consequently spread the influence of EWTO in Czech republic. Part of my thesis is dedicated to determine the best investment option, analyse external environment, define conditions for foundation of a new school, propose convenient pricing policy and compile entrepreneurial plan in order to get mid-term bank loan.

The Master Thesis focuses on an investment project’s economic effectiveness and stability of financing. In the theoretical part of the thesis there are basic ideas on investment projects explained and further the thesis deals with project lifecycle phases, cash flow predictions, methods of investment economic evaluation, factors that influence investment decision making and sources of project’s financing. In the practical part there are these theoretical findings applied on a real investment project and by analyzing it is searching for a recommendation for a project realization.

Studiens syfte var att undersöka om nudging kan påverka individers ekonomiska riskbenägenhet och om effekten av nudging som beteendeförändrings teknik skiljer sig beroende på upplevd ekonomisk knapphet under livsloppet. Studien har utgått från en kvantitativ metodologi och design. Metoden innehåller ett standardiserat frågeformulär med ett väl beprövat instrument som mäter ekonomisk knapphet och ett pre-experiment för att kunna mäta deltagarnas riskbenägenhet. Urvalet bestod av ett studenturval (N= 304) och studien utfördes på studenter vid Högskolan i Skövde. Nudging är ett verktyg som kan användas för att ge människor möjlighet att kunna fatta mer medvetna beslut och därmed undvika ett automatisk tänkande. Tidigare forskning visar att människor ofta har svårt att ta rationella beslut när de ställs inför komplexa val. I sådana situationer tenderar människor att använda sig av ett heuristiskt tänkande och därmed appliceras ett automatiskt tankesätt. Individer som upplever eller har upplevt ekonomisk knapphet har svårare att ta långsiktiga ekonomisk beslut. Forskningar har visat att en uppväxt under låga socioekonomiska förhållanden kan leda till systematiska skillnader i beslutfattande. Vilket kan resultera i att dessa individer gör mer riskbenägna och impulsiva val. Forskarna ville undersöka om effekten av nudging som beteendesförändringsteknik kan påverka riskbenägenhet. Studiens resultat visade att upplevd ekonomisk knapphet under livsloppet inte hade någon större effekt på deltagarnas ekonomiska riskbenägenhet. Det fanns en tendens som visade att effekterna av nudging som beteendeförändringsteknik skiljer sig beroende på upplevd ekonomisk knapphet under livsloppet, dock var resultatet ej statistisk signifikant. / The purpose of this study was to investigate whether nudging can impact individuals'economic risk taking and whether the effect of nudging as a behaviour change technique differs dependingon perceived scarcity during the life cycle.The study has been based on a quantitative methodology and design. The method contains a standardized questionnaire with an established instrument that measures scarcity and a pre-experiment to be able to measure the participants' risk taking. The sample consisted of a student sample (N= 304) and the study was performed on students at the University of Skövde. Nudging is a tool that can be used to give people the opportunity to make more conscious decisions and thereby avoid automatic thinking. Previous research shows that people often find it difficult to make rational decisions when faced with complex choices. In such situations, people tend to use heuristic thinking and thereby an automatic way of thinking is applied. Individuals who experience or have experienced scarcity find it more difficult to make long-term economic decisions. Research has shown that growing up in low socio-economic conditions can lead to systematic differences in decision-making, which can result in these individuals making more risky or impulsive choices.The researchers wanted to investigate whether the effect of nudging as a behaviour change technique can affect risk taking. The results of the study showed that perceived scarcity during the life cycle had no major effecton the participants' economic risk taking. There was a tendency that showed that the effects of nudging as a behaviour change technique differs depending on perceived scarcity during the life cycle, however, the result was not statistically significant.

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Information plays a significant role in the success of investment strategies. Within a non-advisory context, individual investors elect to build and manage their investment portfolios to avoid the cost of hiring professional advisors. To cope with markets’ uncertainty, individual investors should acquire, understand, and use only relevant information, but that task can be affected by many factors, such as domain knowledge, cognitive and emotional biases, information overload, sources’ credibility, communication channels’ accuracy, and economic costs. Despite an increased interest in examining the financial performance of individual investors in Saudi Arabia, there has been no empirical research of the information behavior of individual investors, or the behavioral biases affecting the investment decision making process in the Saudi stock market (SSM). The purpose of this study was to examine this information behavior within a non-advisory contextualization of their investment decision-making process through the use of an online questionnaire instrument using close-ended questions. The significant intervening variables identified in this study influence the individual investors’ information behavior across many stages of the decision making process. While controlling for gender, education, and income, the optimal information behavior of individual investors in the SSM showed that the Experience factor had the greatest negative effect on the Information Seeking Behavior of individual investors. This was followed by Risk Tolerance, Financial Self-Efficacy, Emotional Biases, Education Level, Formal Information Access, Regret Aversion Bias, and Subjective Financial Knowledge. The Information Acquisition and Information Searching Behavior was influenced by the Acquisition Skepticism, Regret Aversion Bias, Formal Information Access, Overconfidence, and Information Seeking Behavior. Furthermore, the findings indicate that Formal Information Sources have a statistically significant positive effect on the Information Seeking Behavior, and on the Information Acquisition and Information Searching of individual investors in Saudi Arabia. Finally, the Socioeconomic Status (SES) of individual investors in Saudi Arabia was significantly influenced by the employment status, work experience, age, marital status, and income.

För att uppnå FN:s hållbarhetsmål krävs en hållbar omställning. Denna omställning kommerkräva stora investeringar inom innovation och äldre industrier. I norra Sverige pågår ett stortarbete med den gröna omställningen vilket har medfört ökad efterfrågan på arbetskraft iregionen vilket även höjt efterfrågan på bostäder. En omfattande underhållsskuld gällandefastigheter inom svenska kommuner visar på behovet av fastighetsinvesteringar i Norrbottenskommun samt övriga i Sverige. Strategiska investeringsbeslut är komplexa med mångapåverkande faktorer. Syftet med studien är därför att beskriva och förklara användandet avstyrmodeller under planeringsprocessen för strategiska investeringsbeslut inomfastighetsbranschen. Studien är kvalitativ med en abduktiv ansats där semitstruktureradeintervjuer genomförts på 6 olika organisationer inom fastighetsbranschen. Insamlad empirivisade på att investeringsbeslut fattas effektivare jämfört med vad planeringsprocessen utgjordeenligt teorin. Alla respondenter i studien uttryckte en stor potential i den hållbara omställningsom sker, gällande ämnet som helhet samt i organisationens perspektiv. Studiens resultat visaratt formell styrning implementeras i ett tidigt skede av planeringsprocessen genom finansiellakalkyler och mått. Det vanligaste måttet på en investering var totalavkastning. Studiens resultatredogör även för att informell styrning i form av erfarenhet och intuition kan påverkainvesteringsbeslut. Till sist resulterar studien i att den kommunala verksamheten till stor delpåverkas av politiska faktorer samt att dess likheter med privata organisationer är få. / To achieve the United Nations sustainability goals the world is required to make extensivechanges. A great number of investments are needed within innovation and outdated industries.In northern Sweden a substantial project of a green conversion is proceeding. These biginvestment leads to an increasing demand of labor which also leads to an increasing demand ofreal estate in the region. An extensive maintenance debt regarding real estate shows the needfor real estate investments in the municipality of Norrbotten and the rest of Sweden. Strategicinvestments are complex with a lot of influencing factors. The purpose of the study is thereforeto describe and explain the use of management control systems during the planning process forstrategic investment decisions in the real estate industry. The research method of this study isqualitative with an abductive approach, semi structured interviews were conducted with 6organizations in the real estate industry. Collected empirical evidence showed that investmentdecisions are made more efficiently compared to the planning process in theory. All respondentsin the study expressed great potential in the sustainable change that is taking place, regardingthe subject as a whole and in the organization's perspective. The results of the study show thatformal management control systems are implemented at an early stage of the planning process,through financial calculations and measures. The most common measure of an investment wastotal return. The results of the study also state that informal management control systems in theform of experience and intuition can influence investment decisions. Finally, the study showsthat municipal activities are being largely influenced by political factors and that its similaritieswith private organizations are few.

Digitalization is an important aspect for future growth of all organizations, and especially in times like the past year where most of the world has been faced with covid-restrictions and lockdown. Dermarome is a leading skincare and beauty distributor and are currently in the process of launching a new B2B website and web-shop. The aim of this research is to provide an answer to the following interrelated research questions:   1. How do the management of Dermarome decide on their investments in the business- to- business IT infrastructure?    2. How will the launch of the business- to- business website affect the purchasing behaviour of the business- to- business customers?    To answer these research questions a qualitative study has been made and the top management at Dermarome has been interviewed for this purpose. 5 interviewees were selected based on their knowledge and experience. All interviews that participated in this research were anonymous.    The result of this thesis is divided up into two parts, firstly, it describes how Dermarome has used the Payback rule and SWOT in order to make a decision regarding the investment in the B2B website. Secondly, it describes how Dermarome believes the saloon and spa customers purchasing behaviour will change due to this website, as it will lead to an increase in Dermarome’s sales.

El discernimiento de la situación financiera en pequeñas y medianas empresas es muy importante, debido a estos cambios continuos deben tomar mejores decisiones, incluidas las decisiones de inversión para mejorar el rendimiento; se considera que el aporte del presente análisis beneficiará a aquellas empresas que enfrentan este problema por falta de conocimiento. La presente investigación tiene como objetivo determinar el equilibrio financiero frente a la toma de decisiones para la inversión de la panadería El Padrino en el periodo 2020-2021 en la Ciudad de Chiclayo. La investigación es de carácter descriptivo con un diseño no experimental. Se recolectó información de la técnica de análisis para la revisión de los Estados Financiero y Estado de Resultados, a través de la entrevista con el Gerente y Contador de la panadería. Se expone, conocer el equilibrio financiero a través de un Diagnóstico Financiero, debe ser uno de los principales objetivos de las empresas para lograr una mejor liquidez y solvencia lo largo de la vida de las empresas, es por ello que por medio del objetivo general de este artículo, se dar a conocer el análisis del equilibrio financiero en la que se encuentra la empresa para la toma de decisiones de inversión. / Discernment of the financial situation in small and medium-sized businesses is very important, due to these continuous changes they must make better decisions, including investment decisions to improve performance; It is considered that the contribution of this analysis will benefit those companies that face this problem due to lack of knowledge. The objective of this investigation is to determine the financial balance in the decision making process for the investment of the El Padrino bakery in the period 2020-2021 in the city of Chiclayo. The research is descriptive in nature with a non-experimental design. Information was collected from the analysis technique for the review of the Financial Statements and Income Statement, through the interview with the Manager and Accountant of the bakery. It is stated that knowing the financial balance through a Financial Diagnosis should be one of the main objectives of companies to achieve better liquidity and solvency throughout the life of the companies, which is why through the general objective In this article, the analysis of the financial balance in which the company finds itself for making investment decisions will be made known.

This study investigates what three large, multinational hospitality companies do in practice when evaluating and making IT investment decisions. This study was launched in an attempt to 1) learn more about how multinational hospitality companies evaluate, prioritize, and select IT investments in the context of hotel GDS; 2) call attention to an important and costly topic in hopes of improving current practices; and 3) fill a noticeable literary void so that future researchers on IT and hotel GDS would have a foundation and starting point. The perennial question of any business is "How does an organization add value?" Value can be defined from many different perspectives and may result from tangible and intangible factors. Principal stakeholders include shareholders (investors), customers, and employees. Shareholders typically measure value in terms of economic return on their investment based upon some level of perceived risk. For customers, value is assessed in terms of a price-value relationship; that is, how much they received in terms of product and services for the price they paid. For employees, value is measured by salary and by the intrinsic rewards of the job. Yet, one of the most elusive questions with respect to information technology is "How can value be measured?" Hospitality executives are being pressured daily to invest more in information technology (IT) - especially in the area of hotel global distribution systems (GDS), which have become the cornerstone of a hotel firm's IT infrastructure and portfolio. There are a number of sweeping changes on the horizon impacting hotel GDSs and requiring the development of a well-crafted strategy for global distribution systems. These broad changes include bypass theories to remove airline GDSs and travel agents, the introduction of new and emerging player, and innovative approaches to pricing and promotion. Many of these developments offer promise to hoteliers, but they also threaten their control over their customer relationships and their inventory and add to the complexity and cost of distribution. Selecting the appropriate distribution channels is paramount to success and important if hotel firms are to grow top-line revenue and control overhead; yet the number of choices facing hotel executives is overwhelming. They are also at a loss for measuring value derived from IT. One of the greatest issues plaguing the advancement of technology in the hospitality industry is the difficulty in calculating return on investment. Until recently, most technology investment decisions have been considered using a support or utility mentality that stems from a manufacturing paradigm. Under such thinking, business cases could be built around an application or technology's ability to reduce costs or create labor savings. However, management's attitudes towards technology have been shifting in recent years. The more technologically savvy hospitality companies are looking to IT to build strategic and competitive advantages. These types of investments yield results over time, and seldom in the short-run. This is problematic among owners and investors who demand more immediate results. Moreover, it is difficult to quantify and calculate the tangible benefits of technology when it is used for strategic purposes. Today's financial models are inadequate for estimating the financial benefits for most of the technology projects under consideration today. While the hospitality industry has disciplined models and sufficient history to determine the financial gains or success of opening a new property in a given city, it lacks the same rigorous models and historical data for technology, especially since each technology project is unique. Although this problem is not specific to the hospitality industry, it is particularly problematic since the industry tends to be technologically conservative and unwilling to adopt new technology applications based on the promises of its long-term merits if it cannot quantify the results and calculate a defined payback period. When uncertainty surrounds the investment, when the timing of the cash flows is unpredictable, and when the investment is perceived as risky, owners and investors will most likely channel their investment capital to projects with more certain returns and minimal risk. Thus, under this thinking, technology will always take a back seat to other organizational priorities and initiatives. Efforts must be made to change this thinking and to develop financial models that can accurately predict and capture the financial benefits derived from technology. Given the present predicament and difficulties surrounding the current tools, techniques, and measures, executives are faced with an important choice. They can 1) continue to use the present methods despite their shortcomings, 2) dispense with ROI, cost-benefit, and discounted cash flow analyses altogether for IT projects, or 3) develop new methods, tools, and measures that can accommodate the complexities of IT and quantify the intangibles. This study is a call to action in favor of the latter because the measures determine not only which projects will be accepted but also how their success will be evaluated. Having a rigid evaluation process forces executives to identify a project's potential contribution and align the project's objectives with the firm's strategic goals and objectives. Using the co-alignment principle as its theoretical underpinning, this study employs a multiple-case design to investigate the resource allocation processes used with respect to information technology and global distribution systems. It looks at how three leading, multinational hospitality firms address IT project/investment evaluation and decision-making, the measures they use, and the frustrations they encounter. These frustrations include problems that arise from a hotel firm's fragmented ownership as well as from hotel executives' inability to measure the results of IT through definitive cause-and-effect relationships. The results of the study provide affirmation of the co-alignment principle and document linkages and co-alignment between strategy and IT. Clearly, decisions involving IT and hotel GDSs require multivariate measures, multidimensional perspectives, and multidisciplinary involvement. However, research from the marketing discipline is noticeably absent in this area. This study concludes that because IT plays an important enabling role for marketing initiatives and is redefining the supply chain of a hotel firm, marketing researchers can no longer stand on the sidelines. This study also identifies three important constructs, or classes of variables (context, process, and project), the variables comprising each, and their influences on the evaluation and decision-making processes. These findings add to the understanding of IT evaluation, measurement, and decision-making in the context of hotel GDS. This study clarifies the intangible aspects in hopes that useful measures can be developed in subsequent research to quantify and evaluate these costs and benefits. Finally, this study provides a series of prescriptions or recommendations gleaned from the three companies that were the focus of this study in hopes that they will lead to the development of best practices in the hospitality industry. / Ph. D.