Title: The future of Real estate lies in the Internet of Things Date: 2018-05-22 Grade: Bachelor Thesis Authors: Fabian Henningsson & Harley Ljungdahl Supervisor: Navid Ghannad Purpose: Understand how IoT can create value when implemented within real estate companies Frame of reference: In this part we will present our frame of reference. Our key concepts when gathering this secondary data was IoT, Value creation. These key concepts formed how our model for Value Creation in IoT for real estate companies would look like. Method: In this chapter we have described the method we used to collect our primary data. We have also presented a discussion about why we have chosen the methods we have used and what relevance they have for our survey. Finally, we present the reliability and validity of our sources and research. Empiric: We have interviewed three companies active on the Swedish real estate market. How they use and how they look at the use of IoT technology in an enterprise perspective. Analysis: We have made both a within and cross case analysis on the empirical findings and this has resulted in our model explaining the primary value drivers of IoT in real estate companies. Conclusion: With the help of our primary value drivers in our model and innovation, it´s suggested that the real estate companies can create value with the help of IoT solutions. Keywords: IoT, IoT and real estate, Smart cities, value creation, IT and value creation, IoT value creation and value chain model. Examiner: Thomas Helgesson

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his dissertation advocates that value and its creation are often misunderstood concepts since both lack robust comprehensive conceptual foundations from which to advance rigorous theoretical development and analysis. Furthermore, this dissertation characterized value as the subjective assessment of the total worth of benefits received for the price paid or costs, i.e. money, time, energy, etc. The purpose of this dissertation was to conduct a holistic examination of value through the lens of service-dominant logic (S-D) and several historical economic periods of thought. I conducted a comprehensive S-D literature review in conjunction with a conceptual Boardman Soft Systems Methodology to develop a systemigram that captured the most critical S-D concepts and interrelationships to clarify its purpose and future research opportunities. During this process, value was recategorized and simplified into five primary dimensions, i.e. nature, perspectives, measures, storage, and creation. I employed Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory to illustrate that value at the lowest level of abstraction is the efficient satisfaction of human needs. I also investigated value creation and introduced a comprehensive value creation conceptual framework. Value creation is seen as a continuum of activity of key processes, i.e. value co-production, value in exchange, and value co-creation, and key procedural elements, i.e. actors, resource integration, ecosystems, services exchange, institutions and institutional arrangements as essentials to value creation. In addition, this dissertation also presented a Leyden value concept to the S-D lexicon. This concept complements use-value to capture associate upstream co-production activities and efforts as stored potential value. This dissertation then employed this conceptual framework to perform two survey based empirical studies. The first tested Lusch et al. (2007) value-co-production framework and incorporated other constructs such as transaction cost, satisfaction, and future purchase intent into a single testable model. This study leveraged covariance based structural equation modeling with 477 respondents to simultaneously test the proposed model and advance Self Determination Theory and Transaction Cost Economics within the realm of value creation and S-D Logic. This research found that most of Lusch et al. (2007) hypotheses were supported and found statistical support for the inclusion of transaction cost as a construct that influences value-co-production. In addition, this study illustrated that value-co-production has a positive statistical association with satisfaction and its impact on consumer future purchase intent. Managerial, this study highlighted those customer characteristics and behaviors necessary to maximize value generation during co-production opportunities. Finally, this dissertation empirically investigated the importance of benefits and equivalent cost reductions to entice consumer purchase intention across two different products and services scenarios. In total, this research gathered over 2,500 observations through a series of eight between subject survey experiments. This research found that consumers choose benefits such as warranty enhancements for new vehicle purchases and complementary desserts for dining experiences to enhance purchase intention. In addition, this research often revealed that consumers significantly decrease purchase intention when offered small value enhancements, i.e. 1% price reductions. This research also discovered that narcissism is negatively associated with those consumers who chose a donation to social causes. Finally, enhanced value offerings for expensive vacations, either through benefit enhancements or cost reductions, fail to significantly impact consumer purchase intention. The results of this research advance rational choice theory into the realm of value creation and S-D. Managerially, this research found that benefits, whether singular or offered as a menu, are powerful tools for retailers to employ to enhance consumer purchase intention.

Academic literature on the analysis of value creation in private equity industry is still in its infancy. The approach to value attribution is still a contended subject by both academic and professional writers. The purpose of this research was to determine how South African Private Equity industry generates value in portfolio companies. This was achieved by gathering 24 transactions from institutional investors and private equity firms and disaggregating their returns into value drivers. Identified value drivers were financial leverage, revenue growth, EBITDA multiples and EBITDA margin. Contrary to the common belief that the private equity model is more dependent on cutting costs and less on growing businesses, the findings of the study revealed that revenue growth was the biggest relative driver of value while operational efficiency, the least. Results regarding the importance of financial leverage in value creation in the last 10 years could not confirm the popular argument which states that as the private equity model matures the industry is moving towards other value levers. While descriptive statistics confirmed that the level of gearing and size of companies influence the relative importance of EBITDA margin and revenue growth, results from statistical tests were in several cases inconclusive. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

In this paper, we study the problem of uniqueness on meromorphic functions involving in differential polynomials and obtain some results which extend and improve the theorems of M. Fang and W. Hong et al.

There has been a growing interest in recent years in the Value Added Tax (hereinafter referred to as the VAT). Interest in tax reform is perennial but the factor which has generated such wide interest in the VAT has been its adoption by the member countries of the European Economic Community (EEC). The recent entry of Britain into the EEC and her adoption of the VAT have increased South African interest 1n the system because of the strong trading ties between our two countries. The Franzsen commission on taxation in South Africa gave some attention to VAT but in their own opinion not enough. This is clear from their statement: "The Commission is aware of the fact that a transition from the selective sales tax which rests on a commodity basis to a Value Added Tax, which is essentially a turnover tax, implies important administrative changes. It is felt, nevertheless, that the Value Added Tax merits further study". This thesis hopes to satisfy some of that need for further study. The aim of the thesis is not to arrive at a definite conclusion as to whether South Africa should or should not adopt the VAT, indeed, it may be impossible to answer this question completely objectively. Rather the thesis sets out to examine the implications, both theoretical and practical, of a VAT, and to present certain guide-lines as to what may constitute the best form of a VAT should it be decided to introduce this mode of taxation. There is no separate section on South Africa. Instead, the implications for South Africa have been integrated into the main body of the text. For this reason, the emphasis throughout has been on the VAT replacing the selective sales tax and, to a lesser extent, the profits tax. It is felt that the selective sales tax would be the tax most likely to be replaced by the VAT in South Africa, and that the added revenue which could be collected from the broader-based VAT could possibly be off-set against the revenue lost on a reduction in company profits tax. Such a measure would certainly be well received among business men.

This thesis aims to provide insights on how private-sector inter-organizational collaboration creates interaction and synergistic value towards sustainability. Value propositions are directed towards individuals, organizations and society at large. To achieve this purpose, an explorative, in-depth case study on the NextWave initiative is conducted to address the sustainability challenge of marine plastic pollution. An abductive research approach is applied, matching main theories of both private-sector partnerships and value co-creation with empirical data gathered through semi-structured interviews with NextWave members. The study looks at individual as well as collaborative activities leading to the cocreationof interaction and synergistic value. It is further analyzed, how these created values lead toexternal system change towards sustainability. Key findings are limited to the case of NextWave as the intent of the study is an initial exploration of the topic. The data leads the authors to an affirmative conclusion, delivering a number of activity and process examples that foster collaboration and promote interaction and synergistic value. That, in turn, allows for system change and a more sustainable development. Therefore, this thesis makes valuable contributions to the theoretical knowledge of collaboration and value creation. Additionally, a conceptual and analytical framework based on contemporary literature contributes to the body of knowledge as well as allows practical application.

The purpose of this paper was two-fold. To examine the hardware and software purchased, training taken, and benefit recieved by farmers recently purchasing micro computers and to demonstrate a systematic approach of evaluating software. Over five hundred farmers that use microcomputers were surveyed on farm size and type, personal and computer system characteristics, and perceived benefit from the computer. Farmers that use computers were found to be younger, have higher incomes and benefit more from their computer systems with time than averages for all farmers. The use of printers and/or modems appeared to be justified for all levels of income. Indicated optimal levels of hardware, software, and weekly use were derived based on past farmer experience. Thirty eight programs were evaluated as to ease of use, programming quality, and developer documentation and support.

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