The following study is about business angels financing small business start-ups. It explores the aspect of starting up an entrepreneurial venture in which the entrepreneur seeks to secure start-up finance from lenders, raising the various issues that are known to characterise this engagement between the entrepreneur and the lender. Using the phenomenological paradigm, the study seeks to determine the awareness of small scale financing by entrepreneurs in South Africa, to determine the most commonly used source of start-up business funding in South Africa, to assess the extent to which business angel financing could be used to finance businesses in South Africa and to determine the factors impacting the use of business angel financing in South Africa. From these objectives, the study will also seek to determine the extent to which business angel networks could facilitate the financing of business start-ups. Small businesses invariably come up in different policy spheres as the main avenues to social and economic construction across national and regional lines. The importance of a successful business start up to a growing economy should not be underestimated. In line with this is the particular factor of gaining access to start up capital, which continues to emerge as a leading contributor to the success or failure of business start ups. Studies continue to verify that the most common challenge faced by most emerging entrepreneurs is start-up capital, either in the lack of this capital, the unfavourable conditions surrounding its availability, the lack of assets to serve as collateral for its use or the ambiguous flow of crucial information between lenders and providers of finance in the funding relationship (Abor and Biekpe, 2006: 69;Hernandez-Trillo, Pagan and Paxton, 2005: 435, ISPESE, 2005: 7, CDE, 2004: 5; Musengi 2003: 11). Roger Sorheim (2005: 179) refers to business angels as private individuals who offer risk capital to unlisted companies that are struggling to obtain start up capital to finance their business ideas. Business angels are further defined as high net-worth bearers of substantial private capital who predominantly invest in the early stage of high risk high potential return business ventures with a positive further growth potential. Business angel finance is typically a ‘once-off’ early stage form of small firm financing compared to the more frequent later stage venture capitalist funding. Studies show that business angels represent an underutilised wealth creation mechanism when it comes to small firm start-ups as most business angels contribute expertise in addition to finance to the start-ups they get involved in. This brings valuable business insight to the commercialisation of a good business idea. The business angel network exposes a range of potentially viable business prospects to willing investors by facilitating the flow of information about entrepreneurs and their businesses, thereby eliminating ambiguity, information asymmetry and transaction costs (Aernoudt and Erikson, 2002: 178; Van Osnabrugge and Robinson, 2000:374; Macht, 2006:1; Ehlrich, De Noble, Moore and Weaver, 1994:70; Sorheim, 2005:179). To achieve a holistic approach to a phenomenon which appears to be relatively new in South African business circles, the study will follow a qualitative approach in which two categories of populations will be used, one of small business operators and the other of business angels in South Africa. In the study, 20 small business operators and five business angels in Grahamstown will be approached using the convenience and snowballing sampling methods respectively. Face-to-face semi-structured interviews will be used as a data collection method and content analysis will be used as a data analysis tool (Collis and Hussey, 2003:156, Driver, Wood, Segal and Herrington, 2001:32, National Small Business Act ). There has been very limited research on business angels in the South African context, therefore the study would significantly contribute in entrepreneurship, government and small business development circles as it brings about attention to what the researcher predicts is an underutilised business start-up financing option.

在經濟全球化的時代，外國直接、間接投資及企業間之併購行為紛紛崛起，然而外資湧入的同時亦時常對本國產業造成衝擊，因此為防止外資行為對本國企業造成威脅，各國相繼建立起對外國投資行為之「國家安全審查程序」作為外資進入本國市場的門檻，中國亦於2015年1月19日公佈之《中華人民共和國外國投資法（草案徵求意見稿）》中，設置國家安全審查制度，顯見該制度對中國之重要。 在「國家安全」之界定上，於《外資法草案》中增設概括條款，以彌補過去單純採取列舉式立法，所存在之審查範圍過於限縮缺陷。其次，在「外國投資者」之定義上，外國自然人投資者之認定有別於多數國家採用多重標準予以認定，其係單純以國籍作為認定標準，另於外國實體之認定上，為適應現今新形態之商業模式，參考外國法納入實質認定標準，彌補過去之立法漏洞，最後在「審查機構」之組成和建置上，則係由國務院建立外國投資國家安全審查部際聯席會議，作為主要審查機構。 惟於《外資法草案》雖解決許多過去立法之缺陷，卻仍存審查機構間權責不明、審查標準過於模糊及司法救濟缺位等問題，故宜參考美國外國投資委員會之組成結構，並增設監督機構，避免審查機構之獨斷。此外，該制度中更應加強對於外國投資者權益之保護，於審查標準中，重要名詞之界定仍存在模糊不清之情形，有待立法者對之明確定義，另在投資者救濟管道之設置上，於現行草案中付之闕如，應加以補正以符合程序正義之要求，如此方能同時兼顧保護國家經濟安全及促進國內經濟發展之目的。 / With the coming of economic globalization, a wide array of foreign investments, such as direct and indirect investments as well as enterprises mergers and acquisition, increases. However, these also pose a menace to domestic industry and even national security. As a result, national security reviews of foreign investments which aim to prevent this serious situation grow more prevalent. Following this trend, Mainland China also releases a draft version of Foreign Investment Law and a related Explanatory Note on January 19, 2015 to include national security reviews in it. The definition and range of national security is crucial. In order to solve the problems from enumerating which kind of investment is related to national security, China adds a general clause in the draft. In regard to the definition of foreign investor, it is divided into two categories, natural person and foreign entity. The former is determined merely by his or her nationality and the latter is determined not only by its place of registration but also by the actual controllers behind that foreign entity in response to the increasingly new business models. Furthermore, the draft appoints the State Council to establish an inter-ministerial joint committee to be responsible for the foreign investment national security review. However, there are some drawbacks in this draft, such as the unclear distinction of responsibility and accountability between the authorities, the ambiguities in the standard of review and the difficulties of judicial remedy. As a result, emulating the merits in the regulations on national security reviews in the USA and including the protection of investors are beneficial to solve these problems.

La présentation des exigences de profitabilité, de responsabilité sociale et de leur articulation dans les discours des dirigeants : le cas Carrefour. Notre recherche a pour objet d'analyser comment les dirigeants –au nom de leur entreprise- présentent et articulent, dans leurs discours, les deux exigences majeures du capitalisme d'aujourd'hui : celle de maximisation de la valeur pour l'actionnaire et celle de Responsabilité Sociale des Entreprises (RSE). La première, portée par les investisseurs institutionnels dans le cadre d'un « capitalisme financier », s'est constituée à l'adresse des entreprises cotées et de leurs dirigeants, et semble s'imposer au modèle français de gouvernement d'entreprise. La seconde, l'exigence de RSE -portée par les acteurs de la société civile- pousse les entreprises et leurs dirigeants à se préoccuper des dimensions sociales et environnementales de leur activité. Dans cette perspective, une étude empirique longitudinale a été menée sur les messages des Rapports Annuels et des Rapports de Développement Durable du Groupe Carrefour sur la période 1993-2007. Elle a permis d'observer une domination de plus en plus totale des critères du capitalisme financier sur les discours des dirigeants et de renforcer les thèses de la concomitance de l'émergence du discours de la maximisation de la valeur pour l'actionnaire et de la RSE et de la faible articulation des deux discours. / The presentation of requirements of profitability, social responsibility and their articulation in the CEO letters: Carrefour group case. Our research aims to analyze how leaders -in the name of their company- present and articulate, in their speeches, the two major requirements of today's capitalism: On the one hand, the requirement of maximizing shareholder value -driven by institutional investors through a "financial capitalism"- to public companies and their leaders seem to win the French model of corporate governance. On the other hand, the requirement for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) -originated by the actors of civil society- is forcing companies and their leaders to be concerned about social and environmental dimensions. In this perspective, an empirical study was conducted on the messages of the Annual and Sustainability Reports of Carrefour Group over the period 1993-2007. It was possible to observe a progressive domination of the criteria of financial capitalism in the speeches of CEOs and strengthen the arguments of the concomitance of the emergence of the discourse of maximizing shareholder value and CSR and the poor articulation of two discourses

Prospektteorin presenterades av Kahneman och Tversky år 1979. Teorin förklarar hur beslutsfattande sker under risk. Kahneman belönades år 2002 med Alfred Nobels Ekonomipris för sitt arbete inom beslutsfattande, riskbedömning och rationalitet. Hans forskning nådde den breda massan med boken Tänka, snabbt och långsamt. Sedan boken släpptes år 2011 har den getts ut i över 30 länder och utsågs till en av årets bästa böcker av The Wall Street Journal, The Economist och The New York Times. Studiens syfte var att med hjälp av prospektteorin förklara hur investerare fattar beslut om hållbara investeringar under risk inom den svenska gruvindustrin. För att uppnå syftet identifierades investerares uppfattning av konsekvenser i svenska gruvföretag. Studien utfördes genom att låta investerare bedöma konsekvenser utifrån ett flertal scenarier och sedan fatta beslut om en hållbar investering. På så sätt erhålls en djupare förståelse för hur beslut fattas under risk. Den kvalitativa empiriinsamlingen gjordes i två steg. En inledande intervju gjordes för att fånga respondenternas uppfattning om gruvindustrins risker och potentiella konsekvenser. Därefter utformades med grund i prospektteorin och tidigare studier ett flertal scenarier samt ett mätinstrument för att analysera resultatet. Resultatet bekräftar att investerares beslutsfattande inom den svenska gruvindustrin påverkas i enlighet med prospektteorins grundantaganden kring beslutsfattande under risk. Det visade även att den finansiella risken var avgörande i majoriteten av besluten. Att testa konsekvensernas påverkan på besluten utifrån givna scenarion har bidragit med en fördjupad förståelse för investerares uppfattning om risk inom den svenska gruvindustrin utifrån prospektteorin. / Prospect theory was presented by Kahneman and Tversky in 1979. The theory explains how decision-making takes place under risk. In 2002, Kahneman was awarded the Alfred Nobel Finance Prize for his work in decision making, risk assessment and rationality. His research reached the broad mass with the book Thinking, fast and slow. Since the book was released in 2011, it has been published in over 30 countries and was voted one of the best books of the year by The Wall Street Journal, The Economist and The New York Times. The purpose of the study was to explain how investors make decisions about sustainable investments under risk with the help of prospect theory. To achieve this purpose, investors' perceptions of the consequences in Swedish mining companies were identified. The study was conducted by allowing investors to assess the consequences based on several scenarios and then decide on a sustainable investment. In this way, a deeper understanding of how decisions are made under risk is obtained. The qualitative empirical data collection was done in two steps. An initial interview was conducted to capture respondents' perceptions of the mining industry's risks and potential consequences. Subsequently, based on prospect theory and previous studies, several scenarios and a measuring instrument were developed to analyze the results. The result confirms that investors' decision-making in the Swedish mining industry is affected in accordance with the prospect theory's basic assumptions about decision-making under risk. It also showed that the financial risk was decisive in most decisions. Testing the impact of the consequences on decisions based on given scenarios has contributed to a deeper understanding of investors' perceptions of risk in the Swedish mining industry based on prospect theory.

The mutual fund industry in Sweden has grown rapidly over the past years. Research has been made on the topic for over 50 years, however there are still uncertainties about the determinants of fund performance. The purpose of this study was to examine what determines the risk-adjusted performance of mutual equity funds available to Swedish investors.  A side-purpose was included to examine to what extent the Efficient Market Hypothesis holds in Sweden. A simple random sample was conducted where 500 equity funds were included. From Refinitiv/Thomson Reuters Eikon Datastream fund characteristics were downloaded. To find the abnormal return of mutual equity funds, a hybrid Fama-French Carhart factor model was used which includes both domestic Swedish factors and global factors. The model was used to calculate the yearly risk-adjusted performance for each fund using 12 months return. This was denominated Alpha which was used as the dependent variable in the regression models. Further, to determine the characteristics which affect risk-adjusted performance two multiple regression models with six independent variables and three control variables are constructed. Further, a one sample t-test was conducted to test the market efficiency for mutual funds available to Swedish investors. Eight statistical hypotheses were created and tested in which two found a significant result which were that alpha differs from zero and Total Expense Ratio determines the risk-adjusted performance.   To conclude, findings showed only the character Total Expense Ratio determines risk-adjusted performance of mutual equity funds available to Swedish investors. In conclusion the control variables year, geographical focus and currency affect the fund performance. The study is an interesting aspect for Swedish investors and fund managers since the study implies deeper knowledge about the mutual fund industry in Sweden and therefore should be concerned by the variable TER to earn abnormal returns. Further, the study contributes with a theoretical discussion in line with the results concerning Efficient Market Hypothesis, the Diversification Effect and Modern Portfolio Theory. Conclusions are drawn based on our result that the Efficient Market Hypothesis does hold in the Swedish fund market. Although only one character determines the risk-adjusted performance and average investor should choose funds that follow the market, based on the skill level of average investors.

The purpose of this thesis is to gain a deeper understanding of the term impact investing and examine how Nordic impact investors manage risk, return, and social and/or environmental in emerging markets. Relevant aspects to impact investing have been identified to enable this thesis to be conducted. The thesis derives from a qualitative research method, this to gain a deeper understanding of the term and how Nordic impact investors conduct their business in emerging markets. The thesis is based on a deductive research approach due to that the term impact investing has a limited amount of previous research.   The literature review highlights relevant theories related to the research questions. The concepts presented are impact investing, emerging markets, dual interest, and risk management. These theories have later been put into a conceptual framework to showcase the interconnections. From the conceptual framework, three main concepts (impact investing, dual interest, and risk management in emerging markets) have been established and then later analysed based on the empirical data gathered from a multi-case study.   The analysis chapter includes a comparison and discussion between the empirical findings and the literature review in order to answer the thesis research questions. Furthermore, the analysis follows the same concepts presented in the operationalization. The final chapter reveals the conclusions drawn based on the analysis conducted. The final chapter further highlight implications both theoretical and practical, followed by suggestions for future research. The theoretical implications of the thesis pinpoint that impact investing require conceptual clarity to raise more awareness and gain recognition. Furthermore, risk management is an essential part of conducting investments in emerging markets. The practical implications showcase that impact investing can be conducted in several different ways and that there are no distinct patterns on how to manage impact investments best. Furthermore, the thesis stresses the importance of impact investing in emerging markets.

El presente proyecto de investigación está enfocado en la evolución de los procesos y herramientas del sector financiero. Es decir, cómo las finanzas se han adaptado a la tecnología y ha permitido generar nuevas soluciones para sus usuarios. Al respecto, las metodologías del crowdfunding permiten a todo tipo de proyecto, contar con un sustento y apoyo económico de distintas fuentes. A continuación, se presentarán los argumentos para validar esta idea de negocio enfocada en los pequeños emprendedores e inversores, con la finalidad de abarcar ese nicho que presenta un problema al momento de recibir soporte de una entidad financiera. En primer lugar, fue necesario validar la problemática y para ello se entrevistó a emprendedores e inversionistas para conocer sus principales dificultades al solicitar un préstamo o rentabilidad en inversión, respectivamente. Esto permitió que se identifique lo tedioso que es afrontar una solicitud de préstamo para pequeños emprendedores, ya que esta tiene muchos requisitos. En cuanto a inversionista, la rentabilidad ofrecida por las entidades financieras no son las más atractivas. Por otro lado, se desarrolló una plataforma digital con el nombre Take it!, con la finalidad de ofrecer una alternativa de solución ante este problema. Take it! es el intermediario entre pequeños emprendedores e inversionistas que esperan mejores y constantes retornos. Finalmente, las nuevas incursiones tecnológicas exigen una actualización y adaptación en todos sus medios. Además, generó ideas de negocios donde los intermediarios como Take it! puedan actuar como facilitadores de información y seguridad entre los principales actores: Emprendedores e inversionistas. / The present business plan develops the focusing and a projected analysis about the implementation of a Fintech in the Peruvian reality. This purpose of this project is to satisfy and solve the problems that many Peruvian enterprises present when requesting financing. In the first place, it was necessary to validate the problem and for this, entrepreneurs and investors were interviewed to find out their main difficulties when requesting a loan or investment return, respectively. This allowed us to identify how tedious it is to face a loan application for small entrepreneurs, since it has many requirements. In addition, with respect to the investor, the profitability offered by financial institutions is not the most attractive for them. On the other hand, a digital platform with the name Take it! Was developed in order to offer an alternative solution to this problem. Take it! it is the intermediary between small entrepreneurs and investors who expect better and constant returns. Finally, the new technological forays require an update and adaptation in all its means. In addition, it generated business ideas where intermediaries such as Take it! They can act as facilitators of information and security between the main actors: Entrepreneurs and investors. / Trabajo de investigación

Qualified investors' funds and asset management comparable to management of an investment funds The main aim of the submitted diploma thesis is particularly a description and analysis of the regulation of qualified investors' funds and asset management comparable to management of an investment funds, and the comparison of their usage in practice, especially in terms of numerical representation of individual legal forms. Apart from the descriptive and analytical methods, I frequently use the comparative method and also methods of deduction and induction. The diploma thesis consists of six chapters. The content of the first chapter is a brief introduction to the capital market law, in the second one, we find the regulation of investment funds in the Czech Republic. In the third chapter, I deal with the definition of the investment fund and analyse activities, which are directly related to the investment fund, i.e. management, administration and marketing of investments. The fourth chapter provides an overview how the current regulation divides investment funds. Emphasis is put on differences in regulatory requirements between establishing an internally managed and externally managed investments fund. In the fifth chapter, I deal with qualified investors' funds. First, I adress the definition of a...

This Thesis aims at hedge funds analysis focused on legal regulation. Hedge funds are not very well-known in our country, they represent a specific kind of investment funds. A term which describes these funds most closely within our legal environment is "Funds of qalified investors". The first part of this Thesis is focused predominantely on general descsription of hedge funds, their histroy and specific features. The second part of the Thesis deals with strategy, legislation and some other aspects of hedge funds.

Ce travail porte sur une étude de l’efficacité des régimes protecteurs d’investissements directs étrangers actuellement au Cambodge, en faisant une comparaison avec ceux connus des pays étrangers, spécialement de la France. La protection internationale des investisseurs directs étrangers se définit comme l’ensemble des principes et des règles, de droit international comme de droit interne, qui ont pour objet ou pour effet d’empêcher ou de réprimer toute atteinte publique à l’existence ou à la consistance de l’investissement international. La sécurité de l’investisseur étranger est un point essentiel pour attirer des investissements internationaux. L’atteinte publique ou une mesure prise par le Cambodge ne peut pas créer des obstacles à l’investissement étranger. En voulant protéger mieux des investisseurs directs étrangers, le Cambodge est en train de se doter de règles juridiques, spécialement le droit des investissements afin d’attirer des investisseurs étrangers. C’est la raison pour laquelle, le Cambodge a adhéré à l’Association des Nations de l’Asie du Sud-Est (ANASE ou ASEAN) en 1999 et à l’OMC le 13 octobre 2004. Le Cambodge coopère également avec d’autre Pays en concluant des conventions bilatérales dans la matière de la protection de l’investissement. / This work focuses on a study of the effectiveness of the current legal rules which protect foreign direct investments in Cambodia, by making a comparison with the foreign countries’ legal rules, especially the French legal rules. The international protection of foreign direct investment is defined as the set of principles and rules of international law and domestic law, which have as their object or effect of preventing or suppressing any public detriment to the existence or consistency of international investment. The security of the foreign investor is a key point for attracting international investments. Public involvement or action taken by Cambodia can not create barriers to foreign investment. In wanting to better protect foreign direct investors, Cambodia is establishing legal rules, especially the investment law to attract foreign investors. That is why, Cambodia joined the Association of Asian Nations Southeast (ASEAN) in 1999 and the WTO on October 13, 2004. Cambodia also cooperates with another Country by concluding bilateral agreements in the field of the protection of the investment.