This research compares the real estate markets of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar, focusing on opportunities and challenges for European businesses and portfolio investors. The study integrates theoretical frameworks, empirical findings from interviews, and analysis of official reports. The theoretical insights highlight the importance of economic factors, cultural understanding, and risk management. The empirical findings reinforce these concepts, revealing varying risk tolerance levels among investors. The analysis indicates that the UAE offers more significant investment opportunities than Qatar due to sustained economic growth and infrastructure development. The research provides practical implications for investors and sets the foundation for future studies.

No / Organisational learning is often presented as one way in which firms may respond to increasingly competitive market conditions by managing their knowledge assets in more effective ways. Although theoretically and conceptually plausible, there is limited empirical evidence, particularly from smaller firms, in support of this view. This study aims to provide some evidence that links organisational learning and performance. Extant theory suggests that organisational learning may range from a passive orientation (working within a current paradigm) to an active orientation (questioning a current paradigm) at both the individual and the collective levels. This study examines the learning orientations of 300 smaller manufacturing and service firms in terms of an active¿passive learning construct. The results suggest that higher-growth manufacturing firms have a more active learning orientation. These firms make greater use of knowledge assets than do their lower growth counterparts, and this may have important implications for the management of learning in smaller manufacturing firms.

С момента появления смартфона стало ясно, что клиенты быстро перенимают даже очень сложную и дорогую технологию, если она облегчает им жизнь. Другими словами, пользователи ценят удобство и простоту. Эти основные ценности превратили автомобиль в определяющий технический культурный объект 20-го века. Теперь пришло время перевести эти свойства в контекст сегодняшних — и завтрашних — технологий и общества. Магистерская диссертация состоит из введения, трех глав, заключения, библиографического списка, включающего 150 наименований. Работа включает и 50 рисунков. Общий объем магистерской диссертации составляет 81 страницу. / Since the introduction of the smartphone, it has become clear that customers are quick to adopt even highly complex and expensive technology if it makes their lives easier. In other words, users value convenience and ease. These core values turned the automobile into the defining technical cultural item of the 20th century. Now it is time to translate these properties into the context of today's – and tomorrow's – technology and society. Master's thesis) consists of an introduction, three chapters, a conclusion, a bibliographic list, including 150 titles. The work includes and 50 figures. The total volume of the Master's thesis is 81 pages.

In this study, we analyze the impact of financial development and market conditions on investment-cash flow sensitivity during the 2006-2014 for 76 countries. First, the results show a relationship between investment-cash flow sensitivity and an index of financial development and its components. Second, 68 countries are affected by the 2008-2009 financial crisis, but only 16 countries exhibit a higher investment-cash flow sensitivity during the crisis. Third, investment-cash flow sensitivity is lower in countries with a larger primary debt market, while the size of the primary equity market has no impact. Finally, analyzing investment-cash flow sensitivity over time, we find lower sensitivity during years associated with higher primary debt market activity. / Neste estudo, analisamos o impacto do desenvolvimento financeiro e das condições de mercado sobre a relação fluxo de caixa-investimento (\"investment-cash flow sensitivity\") para 76 países no período de 2006 a 2014. Primeiro, os resultados mostram que existe relação entre \"investment-cash flow sensitivity\" e o indicador de desenvolvimento financeiro e seus componentes. Segundo, 68 países são afetados pela crise financeira de 2008-2009, mas apenas 16 países apresentam um incremento da relação fluxo de caixa-investimento durante o período de crise. Terceiro, a relação fluxo de caixa-investimento decresce em países com maiores mercados de títulos de dívidas, enquanto o mercado acionário não apresenta efeito sobre o coeficiente. Por fim, ao analisar a relação fluxo de caixa-investimento no tempo, encontramos que o coeficiente decresce na presença de maior atividade de emissões de títulos de dívidas por parte das empresas.

In this study, we analyze the impact of financial development and market conditions on investment-cash flow sensitivity during the 2006-2014 for 76 countries. First, the results show a relationship between investment-cash flow sensitivity and an index of financial development and its components. Second, 68 countries are affected by the 2008-2009 financial crisis, but only 16 countries exhibit a higher investment-cash flow sensitivity during the crisis. Third, investment-cash flow sensitivity is lower in countries with a larger primary debt market, while the size of the primary equity market has no impact. Finally, analyzing investment-cash flow sensitivity over time, we find lower sensitivity during years associated with higher primary debt market activity. / Neste estudo, analisamos o impacto do desenvolvimento financeiro e das condições de mercado sobre a relação fluxo de caixa-investimento (\"investment-cash flow sensitivity\") para 76 países no período de 2006 a 2014. Primeiro, os resultados mostram que existe relação entre \"investment-cash flow sensitivity\" e o indicador de desenvolvimento financeiro e seus componentes. Segundo, 68 países são afetados pela crise financeira de 2008-2009, mas apenas 16 países apresentam um incremento da relação fluxo de caixa-investimento durante o período de crise. Terceiro, a relação fluxo de caixa-investimento decresce em países com maiores mercados de títulos de dívidas, enquanto o mercado acionário não apresenta efeito sobre o coeficiente. Por fim, ao analisar a relação fluxo de caixa-investimento no tempo, encontramos que o coeficiente decresce na presença de maior atividade de emissões de títulos de dívidas por parte das empresas.

A highway construction cost index (HCCI) is an indicator of the purchasing power of a highway agency. Thus, it must reflect the actual construction market conditions. However, current methods used by most state departments of transportation are not robust enough to meet this primary goal due to (1) a significantly insufficient sample size of bid items used in HCCI calculation; and (2) inability to address the need to track highway construction market conditions in specific submarket segments such as, but not limited to, various project types, sizes, and locations. This study proposes an advanced methodology to overcome these apparent limitations using two new concepts: (1) dynamic item basket; and (2) multidimensional HCCIs. The dynamic item basket process identifies and utilizes an optimum amount of bid-item data to calculate HCCIs in order to minimize the potential error due to a small sample size, which leads to a better reflection of the current market conditions. Multidimensional HCCIs dissect the state highway construction market into distinctively smaller sectors of interest and thus, allow state Departments of Transportation to understand the market conditions with much higher granularity. A framework is developed to integrate these two concepts and a standalone prototype system, named the Dyna-Mu-HCCI System, is developed to automate the data-processing part of the framework. The historical bid data of the Montana Department of Transportation are used to evaluate the performance of the Dyna-Mu-HCCI System and measure the effects of the dynamic item basket (DIB) and multidimensional HCCIs. The results show an eightfold increase in terms of the number of bid items used in calculating HCCIs and at least a 20% increase in terms of the total cost of bid items used. In addition, the multidimensional HCCIs reveal different cost-change patterns from different highway sectors. For example, the bridge construction market historically shows a very different trend compared with the overall highway construction market. The new methodology is expected to aid state Departments of Transportation in making more-reliable decisions in preparing business plans and budgets with more accurate and detailed information about the construction market conditions. Further, the prototype Dyna-Mu-HCCI System is expected to significantly facilitate the HCCI calculation process and rapidly implement this new system.

Bakgrund: Människor tenderar att i större grad investera i bekanta företag i närområden, detta psykologiska fenomen kallas för home bias. Det kan bli problematiskt då det kan medföra att investerare inte optimerar sina portföljer utifrån risk, avkastning och korrelation mellan tillgångarna i portföljen. Tidigare forskning kring home bias har indikerat på att fenomenet kan drivas av olika förklaringsmekanismer, exempelvis marknadsförhållanden, volatilitet och transaktionskostnader. Forskningen kring home bias har i mindre skala fokuserat på hur home bias förändras i olika marknadsförhållanden dessutom finns endast begränsad forskning om detta för svenska fonder vilket är varför det var intressant att undersöka denna kunskapslucka. Syfte: Syftet var att undersöka och analysera potentiell exponering och förändring av home bias i svenskregistrerade fonder vid marknadsförändringar i ekonomin mellan år 1994–2018. För att definiera olika marknadsförhållanden används termerna bear-marknad vilket är en kontraherande marknad och bull-marknad som är motsatsen. Detta har sedan undersökts och analyserats tillsammans med de två valda förklaringsmekanismerna volatilitet och transaktionskostnader. Metod: Studien var kvantitativ med en deduktiv ansats. Den primära datan har bestod av den totala svenska fondförmögenheten mellan 1994–2018 och den totala världsmarknadsportföljen. Dessutom har indexdata använts för att fånga marknadsförändringar och svenska genomsnittliga fondavgifter för att beskriva transaktionskostnader. Att inkludera volatilitet och transaktionskostnader grundade sig på den tidigare forskningens tyngdpunkt på dessa två mekanismer. Analysmetoden har främst utgått från hypotestest för dessa variabler. Slutsats: Resultatet av studien hittade signifikanta samband för home bias för svenskregistrerade fonder både för bear-och bull-marknad, vilket ligger i linje med tidigare forskning som har sett att bear-marknader leder till ökning av home bias på grund av att osäkerheten i omvärlden gör investerare i större grad villiga att placera i det bekanta. Dessutom har tidigare forskning visat att home bias minskar under säkrare perioder vilket denna studies resultat av sambandet mellan bull-marknaden och home bias indikerat. Vidare visade båda förklaringsmekanismerna att de har ett signifikant samband med home bias. Resultatet har därmed bidragit till kunskap om home bias i marknadsförhållanden för den svenska fondmarknaden och kan i större grad motverka investerare att hamna i psykologiska fällor som leder till sämre investeringsbeslut. / Background: People tend to invest a large portion of their investments in familiar companies near their home area, this psychological phenomenon is called home bias. This can become problematic thus it means that investors do not optimize their portfolios based on risk, return and correlation between assets in the portfolio. In addition, there are studies that indicate that home bias is driven by various explanatory mechanisms, for example market conditions, volatility and transaction costs. Research about home bias has in a smaller scale focused on how home bias changes in different market conditions, especially in Sweden and for funds, therefore it would be interesting to investigate this knowledge gap. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine and analyze the relationship between funds registered in Sweden and their potential exposure to home bias in various market conditions in the economy between 1994-2018. To define market conditions, the concepts bear market is used when the market is in a contracting phase and bull market is used when the opposite conditions occur. This has been examined and analyzed together with the two selected explanatory mechanisms volatility and transaction costs. Method: The method for this research is quantitative with a deductive approach. The primary data used to investigate home bias comes from statistics of total Swedish fund assets between 1994-2018 and the total world market portfolio. Furthermore, index data is used to capture market changes and data of average fund fees are used to examine transaction costs. The choice to include volatility and transaction costs is based on the previous research emphasis on these two mechanisms. The method of analysis is based primarily on hypothesis testing for the mentioned variables. Conclusion: The result of the study shows that the relationship between bear and bull markets and home bias for funds registered in Sweden are significant. Which is in line with previous research that states that bear markets lead to an increase in home bias because the uncertainty around the world makes investors to a greater extent willing to invest in the familiar. In addition, previous research has shown that home bias decreases during safer periods, which the results of the relationship between the bull market and home bias indicate in this study. Furthermore, both explanatory mechanisms showed that they are significantly associated with home bias. The result has contributed to the knowledge of home bias for the Swedish fund market in various market conditions and can in a larger scale counteract investors to fall in to psychological traps and go through with badly made investment decisions.

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Yes / We examine how ties with multiple host-country political institutions contribute to MNE subsidiary performance in countries with weak formal institutions. We suggest that forging relationships between subsidiaries and host-country government actors, local chieftains, and religious leaders generates regulative, normative, and cultural-cognitive political resources. We integrate institutional and configuration theories to argue that similarity to an ideal configuration of the three political resources contributes to MNE subsidiary performance, and that the more dysfunctional host country institutions, the greater the impact on performance. We test our hypotheses using primary and archival data from 604 MNE subsidiaries in 23 Anglophone sub-Saharan African countries and find support for our hypotheses. In our conclusion we discuss the wider theoretical, managerial, and public policy implications of our findings.

Airlines have endured a prolonged period of intense competition with the advent of deregulation in 1978. Market innovations and price-cutting dramatically expanded the number of travelers utilizing the national air transportation network. Bankruptcies and mergers reduced the number of contestants in the industry and eventually produced four national carriers controlling 80-85 percent of the passengers and routes. This new market power of the dominant airlines is resulting in industry changes designed to reduce operational uncertainty but is also having detrimental effects on many airports, particularly the smallest airports. This study employs qualitative and quantitative methods to explore the viability of the nation’s smallest primary commercial service airports. Three journal articles are fused in examining different aspects of the viability question. In Article 1, a longitudinal comparative analysis presents historic growth patterns for various sized airports during deregulation and reveals a distinctly lower growth rate for nonhub airports than their larger rivals. Even with a burgeoning market for travelers, growth for nonhub airports was anemic and the industry experienced massive passenger migration to the 60 largest airports. Article 2 addresses the topic of consumer switching, expands on extant literature with qualitative analyses, and proposes a theoretic, conceptual framework of four primary types of traveler purchasers. Each traveler type has its own distinct switching rationale and creates leakage patterns contoured to the features of their preferred airport. Building on the migration and switching findings of the first two articles, Article 3 explores converging market conditions and factors that are threatening future airline service for dozens of the smallest airports. By extracting findings from contemporary research, a comparative analysis of airports identifies 33 airports that face the highest risk of losing air service. The explanatory model places the airports in rank order by weighting various threat criteria. Qualitative interviews of air service professionals offer insider observations generally not known to the public, confirm observations found in existing research and verify that market forces are acting to reduce the number of airports in the network. The key contribution of the three articles of the thesis is its description of how key actors (firms, customers, agencies) interact and respond to policy decisions that have unintended consequences to small airports and their regional economies. There are predictable patterns in the relational linkages of these actors that contribute to our understanding of how a particular industry evolves under various pressures and how it interacts with factors outside the industry. The preponderance of the evidence from this study reveals that current market trends are generally caustic to the continued operation of small airports. Industry experts are reticent in acknowledging that the next phase of deregulation is underway with the consolidation of the nation’s nonhub airports.