published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

Crises of food production, poverty and deepening inequality are common problems around the world and constitute the distinctive features of the global social landscape including the poorer regions. In the poorer regions and in Southern Africa particularly, land is a key asset in sustaining livelihoods. Ironically, the majority of the people in these poorer regions are landless. The land resource is however of crucial importance to the economies of the Southern African region contributing a major share of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employment. Colonial land policies institutionalised racial inequality with regard to land in southern Africa. Recent attempts to confront the consequences of historical land expropriation and to redress contemporary land-based inequities, discriminatory legislation and institutions have generated renewed racial conflict in the sub region and created a life of insecurity on the continent, particularly in the southern African region. The objective of human security is to achieve safety from chronic threats such as hunger, disease etc, and secure protection from sudden and hurtful disruptions in the patterns of daily lives. Land policies are of paramount importance in pursuit of human security. Access to land in this regard determines who lives or dies. The study explores post independence and post apartheid land policies in southern Africa using South Africa and Zimbabwe as case studies. It interrogates the linkage between land policy and human security; in particular determining how land policies affect human security. Recent activities in both countries - land invasions and economic collapse in Zimbabwe and high rate of unemployment, inequality and poverty in South Africa - attest to the land issue and clearly spell out the need for land reform. The study shows that Africa’s disadvantaged position (in power and wealth terms) in the international system has made it difficult for African states to address local or national preferences on the issue of land access. Major donor countries and international finance institutions such as the World Bank and the IMF have tended to prevail on African governments to adopt market liberalization mechanisms in tackling the land question. The argument behind this is that land should be given to those who can work it the most and productively while the returns can be distributed to all. As such, the market should be left to determine who has access to land. But the market oriented economic policies which African governments are often forced to adopt through structural adjustment programmes are essentially designed to strengthen multi-national corporations and to integrate elites in the southern African region into the international capitalist system. The reward-and-punishment system facilitated by the free market economy may benefit the local elite but it alienates the poor and undermines human security. Human dignity, food security and poverty reduction demand development agencies, governments and other organisations responsibly devise policies and strategies that will enable assets building and promote self-reliance of poor people and communities. Human security comprising food security, environmental security of individuals, and social and political security among others is critically affected by access to land.

This thesis will try to combine shareholder ownership of a company with the notion of viewing thecompany as a social contract.Even if viewing the company as a social contract is usually considered to be part of the stakeholdertheory this view is not incompatible with the shareholder centred approaches.Through motivating the social contract view of businesses and discussion the advantages ofadopting a shareholder centred approach to company ownership this thesis will form the basis of asocial contract that would be agreed by the shareholders of the company. A part of this paper will also be dedicated to discussing how the shareholders could change the current companies to reflectmore closely on the contract they would initially have agreed on.

This thesis investigates the effect of profit sharing and employee share ownership schemes on employee job attitudes and behaviours by taking into account the critical role of participation in decision making. The data were obtained from a large British retail organization operating profit sharing (PS) and save-as-you-earn (SAYE) schemes. This is a quantitative study in which the data were gathered through a questionnaire. The unit of analysis is the individuals who responded to the survey, and the study is cross-sectional. To analyse the data a variety of statistical techniques, namely frequency, Pearson correlation, partial correlation, t-test, chi-square (X2), reliability, multiple regression, hierarchical regression, and path analyses, were conducted using SPSS. The sample comprised 1,000 employees subdivided into groups of managerial and non-managerial employees, and participants in schemes and non-participants in schemes. The administration of the questionnaire resulted in 450 returns (430 usable), an overall response rate of 45%. This study addresses four main research questions: (1)What are the effects of profit sharing and employee share ownership schemes (financial participation) on the job attitudes of individual employees in a large organization? (2) What are the effects of participation in decision making on employee job attitudes in a large organization? (3) What are the relative effects of financial participation in comparison to the effects of individual participation in decisions? (4) Does the combination of financial participation and participation in decision making produce more favourable effects on employee job attitudes than does participation in decision making on its own? The aim of this study was to construct a more advanced model of profit sharing and employee share ownership schemes by reviewing the theoretical and empirical literature and testing two theoretical frameworks, those developed by Long (1978) and Florkowski (1989). After reviewing the employee participation literature and testing Long's and Florkowski's models, it was found that both financial participation and participation in decision making have separate effects on employee job attitudes and behaviours, even if financial participation has a small (not statistically significant) impact on some attitudes and behaviours. Since financial participation shows a negligible effect on some job attitudes, and participation in decision making has a stronger effect on job attitudes than has financial participation, the new model is constructed on the assumption that both (a) the combination of financial participation and participation in decision making and (b) participation in decision making produce favourable effects on employee job attitudes, such as integration, involvement, commitment, satisfaction, motivation, perceived pay equity, and perceived performance-reward contingencies. The test of the new model shows that both (a) the combination of fmancial participation and participation in decision making and (b) participation in decision making produce favourable effects on employee job attitudes and behaviours, but the combination of financial participation and participation in decision making does not produce more favourable effects on employee job attitudes than does participation in decision making on its own. It should be noted that it is not known in this research whether financial participation changed employees' actual influence in decision making, as the study did not collect any data on this question. Therefore, there is the possibility that if the same study were conducted in organizations with financial participation schemes which increase employees' influence in decision making, the effect of the combination of financial participation and participation in decision making might be found to be stronger than that reported in this dissertation.

Korsägande definieras som en horisontell ägarstruktur och strukturen har fått ett ökande intresse inom den svenska fastighetssektorn. Finansinspektionen och större branschmagasin inom branschen har lyft fram den ökade risk som korsägande innebär. Därför syftar denna uppsats till att förtydliga definitionen av korsägande och de risker som ägarstrukturen medför. Utöver det kommer korsägandet mellan svenska noterade fastighetsbolag kartläggas och analyseras. Studien genomfördes med både kvantitativa och kvalitativa metoder. Kombinationen av de två tillvägagångssätten möjliggjorde en kartläggning av ägarstrukturerna som sedan kunde positioneras i direkt jämförelse med litteraturen och respondenter. Metoden innehåller en visualisering hämtad från ägardata och intervjuer med respondenter inom branschen. Av den information som samlats in i denna studie kan man sluta sig till att korsägande inte förekommer mellan de börsnoterade svenska fastighetsbolagen. Istället tillskriver branschen begreppet korsägande till en mer omfattande definition än vad den teoretiska gör. Vidare dras slutsatsen att de bakomliggande orsakerna till korsägande beror på flera faktorer. Det kan till exempel vara ett resultat av den starka marknadsutvecklingen där lönsamheten har bidragit till att en del av det tillgängliga kapitalet avleds till andra Fastighetsbolag inom branschen. Emellertid visar både teori och empiri också att det finns strategiska fördelar med korsägande, vilket också har ansetts vara en bakomliggande orsak. De primära riskerna är att det finns incitamentsproblem, systemrisker och minskad transparens. / Cross-ownership is defined as a horizontal ownership structure and has gained an increasing interest within the Swedish Real Estate sector. However, the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority and major publications within the industry have highlighted the increased risk that cross-ownership entails. Therefore, this thesis aims to clarify the definition of cross-ownership and the risk it entails. Also, the cross-ownership between Swedish-listed real estate companies will be mapped and analyzed.  This study is conducted using both quantitative and qualitative methods. The combination of these two approaches provides the opportunity to chart the ownership structures and position the literature in direct comparison with the respondent’s answers. The method contains a visualization derived from ownership data and interviews with respondents within the industry. From the information collected in this study, it can be derived that cross-ownership does not occur between the listed Swedish real estate companies. Instead, the industry attributes the concept of cross-ownership to a more extensive definition than the theoretical does. Furthermore, it is concluded that the underlying causes of cross-ownership are due to several factors. For example, it can be a result of the strong market development where profitability has contributed to a portion of the available capital being diverted to other Real Estate companies within the industry. However, both theory and empiricism also show that there are strategic advantages to cross-ownership, which have also been considered an underlying cause. Lastly, there are several risks with cross-ownership, which are primarily attributable to incentive problems, systemic risks, and reduced transparency.

Thesis (M.P.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1992.

Thesis (M.P.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1992.

Thesis (M. Hous. M.)--University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M. Hous. M)--University of Hong Kong, 1995. / "31st December, 1994"--P. [i]. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 94-96).

Thesis (M. Hous. M.)--University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 116-126).