Thesis (M.B.A. (Rhodes Investec Business School)) - Rhodes University, 2008. / Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Master of Business Administration in the Rhodes Investec Business School (RIBS)

Thesis (MPhil (Information Science))--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Loyalty programmes have become very popular over the last 10 years and many businesses have chosen to implement such programmes to support their marketing strategies. Fundamental to the functioning and success of such loyalty programmes is the ability to gather, process, analyse and apply information regarding a business' customers. Such information is generated through customers' interactions with the programme and the business to which it is linked, as well as the various services and their providers that make up the programme. The aim of this research project is to investigate the question of whether an information-oriented strategy, based on the principles and paradigm of loyalty manifest in the global phenomenon of loyalty programmes, can deliver value to a business adopting them. In the process of the investigation, the primacy of information as the source of value for any business in the new economy will be discussed. This will be transposed onto the argument that the customer is the source of revenue generation and drives the flow of value in a business system. The results of these two streams of argument will show how the synergy between customers and their information, through the lens of loyalty economics, can be translated into business value with the achievement of core business objectives, i.e. sustainable revenue, growth, profit and competitive advantage. Evidence of these contentions will be provided by presenting and analysing local and international loyalty programmes as case studies manifesting this approach. In conclusion, the various findings of the research will be synthesised in the context of existing, sound business, customer, and information and knowledge management theory to derive an information oriented model of loyalty. This model is intended to be a strategic framework which a business can apply to provide insight into their decision making and assist in the achievement of their objectives. In further research beyond the limits of this paper, the model is intended to be tested. In application, the validated model's purpose will be to introduce to businesses and their leadership the paradigm of loyalty as a strategic tool. Furthermore, the model could be used as a foundation to assist in the creation, evaluation and development of loyalty programmes and their business implications in practice. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In die afgelope 10 jaar het lojaliteitsprogramme baie populer geword en baie besighede het verkies om sulke programme te implementeer om sodoende hulle bemarkingsstrategie te ondersteun. Die grondslag vir die funksionering en sukses van sulke lojaliteitsprogramme is die vermoe om informasie oor klante te versamel, te verwerk, te ontleed en toe te pas. Sulke informasie word gegenereer deur die klante se interaksie met die programme en die besigheid waaraan die program verbind is, asook die verskeie dienste en diensverskaffers waaruit die programme bestaan. Die doel van hierdie navorsingsprojek is om ondersoek in te stel na die vraag of 'n informasie georienteerde benadering, gegrond op die basis van lojaliteit, gemanifesteer in die wereldwye verskynsel van lojaliteitsprogramme, waarde kan toevoeg vir besighede wat hulle aanneem. Die belang van informasie as die bron van waarde vir enige besigheid in die nuwe ekonomie sal as deel van die ondersoek bespreek word. Dit sal saamgevat word in die argument dat die klant die bron is van inkomstegenerasie en dat die klant die vloei van waarde in 'n besigheidsisteem dryf. Die resultate van hierdie twee argumentlyne sal aantoon hoe die sinergie tussen die klante en hulle informasie, deur die lens van lojaliteitsekonomie, bydra to besigheidswaarde deur die bereiking van kern besigheidsdoelwitte, bv. volhoubare inkomste, groei, wins en mededingende voordeel. Bewyse van hierdie stellings sal verskaf word deur plaaslike en internasionale lojaliteits programme te beskryf en ontleed as gevallestudies wat hierdie benadering weerspieel. Ten slotte sal die verskillende bevindings van die navorsing saamgevat word in die konteks van bestaande, goeie besigheids-, klante- en informasie en kennisbestuur ten einde 'n informasie georienteerde lojaliteitsmodel te skep. Hierdie model se doel is om 'n strategiese raamwerk te skep wat 'n besigheid kan toepas om insig te gee in strategiese besluite en om doelwitte te bereik. In verdere ondersoek buite die bestek van hierdie werkstuk sal die model getoets word. In toepassing is die gevalideerde model se doel om besighede en hulle leiers bekend te stel aan die paradigma van lojaliteit as 'n strategiese hulpmiddel. Verder kan die model gebruik word as grondslag vir die skepping, evaluering en uitbreiding van lojaliteitsprogramme en hulle besigheidsimplikasies in die praktyk.

[pt] O Objetivo dessa dissertação é calcular o custo de capital e o valor econômico de cooperativas agrícolas no Brasil. Para isso, foi analisado os demonstrativos financeiros de 28 cooperativas agrícolas de diversos setores ao longo de 7 anos. Os resultados encontrados indicam que o custo de capital das cooperativas analisadas é, em média, de 6,63 porcento a.a. e que a maioria das cooperativas estão gerando valor para os cooperados, com média de 18.889 reais. / [en] The objective of this dissertation is to evaluate the cost of capital and economic value added of agricultural cooperatives of Brazil. For this purpose, it was analysed the financial statements of 28 agricultural cooperatives from differents sectors over 7 years. The results indicates that the weight average cost of capital is 6,63 percent per year and that most of cooperatives are generating value for their members, with means of 18.889 reais.

The topic of my diploma thesis is: The Account Mistakes and Tax Evasion. I chose this topic because tax has become a common part of our lives and that is why it is important to know about the problems as much as possible to avoid possible mistakes and faults. It is interesting that the most of account and tax mistakes do not appear in unusual situations but in common and everyday cases. The group of the problems connected with accountancy and taxation is realy wide and alternatives of account and tax faults are infinite. The goal of this work is to least partly contribute to elimination of these faults. I explain the interpretation of a mistake in the resorts of law, accountancy and taxation in the teoretical part. I give the most often mistakes in the resort of accountancy in costs. The theoretical part also contains the most common mistakes in the resortof taxation, especially of income tax of physical and legal entity. The practical part contains examples of tax evasion and the resort where it occur most frequently. Part of my practical work also mention examples of tax evasion of value added tax, fuel, problems in the resort of foreign workers and evasion caused of denatured alcohol.

This master thesis's aim is to determine the price of the individual components of the company´s capital and to consider approaches to capital costs including their influence on the scale of the business performance. The thesis is divided into two main parts. In the theoretical part I deal with the capital structure of property, theories of its optimization, approaches to cost calculation of the equity and foreign capital. Also the weighted averages costs of capital were described. Furthermore, the economic value added as a method of an evaluation of busi-ness performance was defined. In the practical part there are several basic information about the rated compa-ny defined in the introduction. In the next part of the thesis I detect the price of the individual components of the company's capital and I judge approaches to capital cost, including their impact on economic value added. As a basis for the evaluation serve the financial statements of the company and information from company's management. To determine the cost of capitals following models were used: capital asset pricing model (CAPM) and the modular model. Overall financial situation of the business can be assessed negatively. In all three variations of calculating economic value added, the company didn´t generate an economic profit within years 2010 2014.

Made available in DSpace on 2010-04-20T20:20:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 68060200595.pdf: 1170117 bytes, checksum: 1f88df9950e1765c7208d3f5f3b8b119 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-09-30T00:00:00Z / The globalized and competitive scenario drives technological advances and promotes new opportunities to the development of innovations and new solutions. In this context, the role of Information Technology has evolved from an operational standpoint to a more strategic emphasis which enables a partnership in the creation of sustainable competitive advantage and thus, contributes to the creation of value in businesses. Investments in Information Technology have increased over the last decades followed by burgeoning questions of return on investments. Despite the various work developed in the area, there are still some controversies regarding the real value generated by Information Technology which make the topic both challenging and interesting to be developed. This dissertation presents a case study conducted in a well known chemical multinational company in Brazil which implemented a Managerial Information System, known as Business Intelligence. The study shall verify if the Usage of Information Technology through tools of Business Intelligence has provided benefits to the Organization. The Simplified Model of Information Technology Usage in benefits of businesses and The Balanced Scorecard have been used to structure and help conducting the case study. The theoretical concepts used in the discussion and analysis of the case comprise IT Usage, Management of IT, Information Systems, Benefits and IT Value. / O cenário globalizado e competitivo impulsiona os avanços tecnológicos e proporciona novas oportunidades para o desenvolvimento de inovações e novas soluções. Neste contexto, o papel da Tecnologia da Informação antes atribuído às atividades mais operacionais evolui para um enfoque mais estratégico e de parceria na criação de vantagem competitiva sustentável e assim, contribui para a geração de valor nos negócios. O aumento nos investimentos de TI nas últimas décadas tem sido acompanhado de questionamentos a respeito de retornos de investimento. Apesar dos diversos trabalhos desenvolvidos na área, há ainda controvérsias a respeito do real valor de TI o que torna o tema ao mesmo tempo desafiador e interessante para ser trabalhado. Neste sentido, este trabalho apresenta um estudo de caso de uma empresa multinacional do ramo químico no Brasil, na qual foi implementado um Sistema de Informação Gerencial, o Business Intelligence. Verificar-se-á se o uso de TI através da ferramenta de BI trouxe benefícios para a Organização. O Modelo simplificado de uso de Tecnologia da Informação em benefícios dos negócios e o Balanced Scorecard foram utilizados para sistematizar e auxiliar a condução do trabalho. Os fundamentos teóricos utilizados na discussão e análise do caso abrangem o Uso de TI, a Gestão de TI, Sistemas de Informação, Benefícios e Valor de TI.

The aim of the thesis is the analysis of the relation of the place of VAT taxation, i.e. the destination of the country in which the goods is subject to taxation, and the INCOTERMS terms of delivery so that their mutual connection can be found out although primarily no direct connection is discovered.

This thesis deals with the creation and measuring value added in company and at the regional level. Value added is considered a crucial indicator of all economic activity. Companies produce added value which contributes to create value for the national economy, and thus they create value added for the region they are located in. Such generated gross value added is an important indicator used to calculate gross domestic product by production method. For the analysis of value-added will be chosen the company TONAK a.s. located in the Moravian-Silesian Region.

The main objective of this diploma work is the application of various methods and indicators for fundamental and technical analysis on the data of H + S bussi, Ltd. company in the years 2006 - 2010 and based on the results obtained to evaluate the financial situation of the company. The first part of this work provides information problems of fundamental and technical analysis. The second part focuses on the characteristics of the enterprise itself and the methods of evaluation of financial health.

The thesis is focused on comparing the different forms of taxation models of financial lease by value added tax and evaluating the effects of choosing a particular form of taxation in the accounts. In reaching the goal of work, it is compared the different ways of acquiring property. It especially deals with the acquisition of own resources, the loan financing, the two types of financial lease and the ensuring the liability by the transfer of rights. Comparison of methods of property acquisition is performed using both net present value, both tax aspects.