The study examines the investment appraisal practices in the Namibian banking industry. It focuses on how the banks perform an investment appraisal, subsequent follow- up and measurement of project failure or success. The results reflect that both centralized and decentralized project decision making are practiced in the industry. Banking institutions have a tendency to use a single investment appraisal technique, mostly a discounted cash flow (DCF) model. They apply uniform appraisal techniques throughout the project life cycle. It was noted that firms apply a constant cost of capital across time and projects. The average cost of funds is found to be the main determiner of the companies' cost of capital. The firms pay attention to project risks and use financial measures to determine the project's success or failure. The alignment of the appraisal techniques used with the overall organization objectives was considered to be crucial in the banking industry. The paper was concluded on the note that the use of traditional investment appraisal techniques is far from over.s the investment appraisal practices in the Namibian banking. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2006.

The primary purpose of the study is to carry out an investigation into the role of listed real estate stocks in a mixed asset class investment portfolio in South Africa and what weighting should be allocated to this asset class. The study involved collecting data from the last ten years from January 1995 to December 2004 and then comparing the data against data collected from the investment management industry, especially those entities with exposure to direct property and listed property stock holdings over long periods. The study investigates the benefits of listed property stocks in an investment portfolio in South Africa, and empirically tests the data collected using the mean-variance theory to determine the impact of listed property stocks on the performance (maximising returns) and risk (minimising risk) of investment portfolios. The Elton and Gruber computer programme is used to test the data to give an optimal weighting to the sector and produce an efficient frontier. The weightings are then used to work out the efficiency of a portfolio as a result of the inclusion of listed property stocks, and comparing it to a portfolio of just two asset classes, namely equities and bonds, at 75% and 25% weightings respectively. The results demonstrated the benefits offered by listed real estate and revealed that the sector should be treated as a separate asset class from equities due to lower correlation of returns between these two asset classes. It also demonstrated that an increased allocation to the listed property sector would have resulted in better investment performance over the past ten years. The conclusions consistently pointed to the increased asset allocation of listed real estate in investment portfolios as the best long-term solution to diversification and volatility, as long as the liquidity and size of the sector improves. It is concluded in this study, that investment managers have underscored the relevance and allocation of listed real estate in investment portfolios in the past ten years, thus not optimising the performance and risk of their portfolios, as expected in retirement fund portfolios to the benefits of the members. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2006.

This research investigated the economic viability of a strategy of individuals' saving for retirement. The strategy is based on acquiring rental property over the working lives of such individuals, and funding post-retirement income from the rentals. The main aim of the study was to determine the role that professional personal financial planners can play in that determination of the economic viability, as well as the management of investment strategy implementation on behalf of their clients. The study thus approached the proposed investment strategy from the point of view of the planner . A financial planner has responsibility in terms of the law, to provide independent advice; this requirement means that such a planner needs to investigate various investment vehicles for clients to reach their objectives. Such investigation requires a thorough due diligence process on the part of the planner. This study applied techniques of traditional finance and market research, to perform such due diligence. The initial research was exploratory; the purpose was to obtain a sense of market conditions in the townhouse market in the target area. The researcher conducted informal interviews with estate agents in the area, and observed local newspapers for asking prices on townhouses as well the rentals they demanded. Two sets of questionnaires were then administered to tenants and rental agents in the area. Participants in the surveys were selected based on purposive sampling. The major finding of the study, is that based its net present value, the strategy is economically viable. The study also found that because investor decision-making is complex, the role of the financial planner is to support such investors within a structured framework, so that the investor's life goals can be achieved. The main recommendation of this study is that, the investment strategy is specialized, thus financial planners should only consider it with access to specialized knowledge of local real estate market conditions. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2009.

Tax incentives have been used by countries to stimulate foreign investment. Few countries doubt the effectiveness of tax incentives. Canada and Indonesia are among the many countries that offer tax incentives to attract investors. While Canada has a long history of using tax incentives to foster the development of the Alberta oil sands, Indonesia is just embarking on this strategy, especially in promoting foreign investment in remote areas. Drawing on the Canadian development of the Alberta oil sands, this thesis asks what lessons Indonesia can learn from that experience in relying on tax incentives to develop the industry. This thesis acknowledges that there are many important differences between Canada and Indonesia. Since most countries speak of using tax incentives to finance their petroleum industries, it is worth examining at least one instance of that strategy and see whether Indonesia can extract any thing of value from this examination.

Bakalauro baigiamajame darbe įvertinus UAB „Giftika“ plėtros galimybes, rengiamas investicinis projektas, bei vertinamas jo efektyvumas, rizika. Investicinio projekto pagrindą sudaro – įmonės savininkų investavimas į šį projektą nedaro neigiamos esminės finansinės įtakos buvusiems pagrindinės veiklos rodikliams. UAB „Giftika“ investuodama į projektą, jau sekančiais finansiniais metais gali gauti pelną. Darbo teorinėje dalyje analizuojami investicinio projekto rengimo aspektai, jo nauda, tikslai, rinkos ir konkurentų vertinimas. Analizuojama įvairių literatūros šaltinių medžiaga. Bakalauro baigiamojo darbo tiriamojoje dalyje analizuojama įmonės finansinė situacija, to pasekoje įvertinama, jog UAB „Giftika“ turi visas galimybes plėsti įmonės veiklai, skolintis lėšų investicijoms. Įvertinus knygų spausdinimo rinkos konkurencingumą, skaičiuojami investicinio projekto pinigų srautai. Numatomos dvi projekto alternatyvos. / Undergraduate thesis evaluation JSC “Giftika “ development opportunities, preparation of investment project, and evaluation of the effectiveness of risk. The investment project is based - the company owner to invest in this project does not adversely affect the former substantial financial key performance indicators. JSC “Giftika " investing in the project has the following financial year can make a profit. Working in the theoretical analysis of the investment project development aspects of its benefits, goals, market and competitor assessment. Analyze the various literary source materials. Undergraduate thesis analyzes the research part of the company's financial situation, as a consequence the verification that the JSC “Giftika” has every opportunity to expand business operations, borrow money for investment. The assessment of the book printing market competitiveness calculated by an investment project cash flows. Project provides for two alternatives.

In this thesis, using Taiwanese companies investing in China as the sample, the impact of localisation and R&D intensity on the firm performance of MNE subsidiaries investing in an emerging market are examined. There has been limited previous research for this important topic. In order to strengthen the statistical results, the thesis includes two major models to compare: OLS regression model and binomial logit model. In the empirical part, five explanatory variables: local employment ratio (local worker linkage), local content ratio (local supplier linkage), local capital ratio (local financial linkage), local sales ratio (local sales linkage), and firm’s age will be employed to measure the scope and extent of localisation. The strategic goal and operation type of local-market-seeking FDI are significantly different from that of export-oriented FDI. Thus, I categorise Taiwanese manufacturing industries investing in China into two groups: the local-market-seeking group and the exportoriented group. It is noteworthy that for these two groups, each localisation variable and R&D intensity exert a different impact on subsidiary performance. Besides, the aggregate influence of these five localisation variables on the subsidiary-level performance of local-market-seeking group is larger than that on the subsidiary-level performance of export-oriented group. Therefore, it is suggested that local-market-seeking FDI is more affected by host country local business environment than is export-oriented FDI.

The popularity of KiwiSaver, combined with a demographic shift to an ageing population, will make savings invested in KiwiSaver an important source of income in retirement. To investigate the investment fund choices by KiwiSaver members a survey was circulated among 134 people; 87 KiwiSaver members, and 47 non-members. Respondents answered questions on their investment behavior, knowledge, and risk attitudes towards investment in general, and KiwiSaver. The results show investment in KiwiSaver tends to be conservative as a result of low levels of involvement, knowledge, and risk tolerance, and is more common among females. Investment in riskier growth funds is mostly by younger people and those who are risk tolerant as measured by the KiwiSaver Risk Profile.

This thesis studies the efficient organisation of economic institutions. In the first chapter we analyse how foreign direct investment projects can generate spillovers through backward linkages. An investment project can generate such spillovers if local competitors in the project's own industry can benefit from the upstream efficiency improvements that were induced by the entry of the foreign firm. The existence of the spillover effect depends crucially on the supplier arrangement that is chosen by the foreign firm. The foreign firm could avoid the spillover effect by producing the input itself or by contracting with only a small number of local suppliers. We use an incomplete contract framework to study the conditions under which the foreign firm optimally chooses a supplier arrangement that generates spillovers to the local industry. In the second chapter we study an incomplete contract model in which a buyer and a seller first agree on an efficient ownership structure and then bargain over the price of an input. We allow for asymmetric information at the ex post bargaining stage. The ownership structure that the agents agree on ex ante determines the payoff that each of them can realise before reaching agreement ex post. We show that an ownership structure that lowers the parties' joint pre-agreement payoffs accelerates ex post decision making but also makes delay in decision making more costly. We derive the ownership distribution that minimises the ex post bargaining inefficiencies. In the third chapter we compare the efficiency of private and public provision of contract enforcement services. We show that self-interested agents with coercive power may have an incentive to use this power to enforce contracts between third parties. However, such agents also engage in extortion. We analyse how social welfare depends on the number of self-interested agents with coercive power and whether such agents face democratic elections.

The energetics of lactation in domestic dogs was investigated. Two breeds were chosen of different masses, Labrador Retrievers (30kg) and Miniature Schnauzers (6kg). Labradors had larger litter sizes and invested more energy relative to adult weight during lactation. This was shown in a number of ways. During peak lactation they had relatively higher metabolised energy intakes, higher energy expenditures, higher ratios of litter metabolic mass to maternal metabolic mass and produced relatively more milk. In addition Labradors utilised body reserves, an investment the Schnauzers didn't make. Schnauzers, however, invested relatively more energy per pup, which was reflected by their relatively larger offspring energy expenditures. Offspring of both breeds increased significantly in mass over the experimental period of peak lactation, although the Labrador pups were significantly leaner and contained less fat in proportion to body mass than the Schnauzer pups. The gradient of the scaling relationship between litter size and body mass across different breeds of dog was significantly steeper and tighter than the interspecific scaling relationship calculated between different species of Canid of similar mass range. This is consistent with the more recent theories on the evolution of life histories, that interspecific allometric variation is an epiphenomenon of intraspecific variation. This suggests that physical constraints associated with size in dogs may limit offspring investment and milk production. The differences in energy investment during lactation between the two breeds might be explained by variations in their ability to sustain high energy expenditures. Central limitations to maximum metabolisable energy intake and energy expenditure might be important in determining reproductive output in the Labradors. Hence milk energy output might be limited by the ability of the alimentary system to acquire nutrients. In contrast, peripheral limitations might limit Schnauzers' ability to allocate energy to offspring. Hence milk production might be limited by mammary output capacity. A three dimensional model relating energy expenditure and fitness to body mass was produced. This advanced a number of predictions. For instance, it is predicted that the observed FMR/RMR ratio would be greater in larger animals. Second, that maximal sustained metabolic rate would be more likely to be limited peripherally in small mammals. Thus maximum energy intake required for single activities, such as lactation or thermoregulation, could represent peripheral limitations in small mammals but central limitations in large mammals.

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