Purpose – The purpose is to develop a greater understanding of what is requested by customers with regards to e-commerce and mobile payments and how managers attitude can affect the technological adaption process. Furthermore, a suggested framework will be presented on how SMEs can adapt to these changes. Problem – The move towards the cashless society has changed the business environment and increased the demand for mobile payments and e-commerce. The transition to implement new technologies requires resources in terms of time, money and knowledge. Therefore, this process can be challenging for SMEs. Design-Methodology-Approach – Primary data is collected through case studies and secondary data from previous research conducted. Two SMEs within the retail business in Jönköping is investigated using semi-structured interviews. The combined data is analyzed together with previous literature within the field. Findings – The findings show that customers’ demand of e-commerce and mobile payments has increased. A positive correlation between managers’ attitude towards new technology and the implementation process is found. To adapt to these technological changes, it is important for SME managers to invest equally in knowledge and technology.

The main goals of this dissertation are to analyze balance of payments and foreign exchange rate and to examine mutual relations between these two concepts. The first part describes basic terms related to international finance. These terms are structure of balance of payments, foreign exchange rate and exchange rate regimes. The second part presents four selected foreign economics (Japan, South Africa, Paraguay, Dominican republic) which will be subdue to the analysis. The third and final part is devoted to the regression analysis. Relations between balance of payments and foreign exchange rate are analyzed by the method of ordinary least squares. Necessary data was gained from the IMF server.

This work is engaged with dependence of the Czech economy on the development of the German economy. At first, it describes the theoretical basis for the balance of payments, its elements and factors affecting the balance of payments. The practical part consists of a comparative analysis of Czech and German balance of payments, which is followed by a regression analysis, which purpose is to determine the dependence of the Czech economy to German one. The work also deals with the dependence of individual sectors of these economies to each other and outlines the resultant benefits and risks.

The objective of this thesis is to define how strong is the influence of investment and macroeconomic climate of Arab exporters on how countries of Gulf Cooperation Council treat their income from the export of hydrocarbons. I would like to answer the question whether they invest their funds in domestic economies or in markets in other part of the world. I will try to point out the weaknesses of the investment environment and opportunities for remedies, which would lead to the strengthening of internal and external balance and to increase in the competitiveness of the GCC countries in the global economy.

The aim of this thesis is to provide a comprehensive view on the issue of contactless payments in various forms, as well as capture the actual situation in the field of contactless payments. The first chapter is devoted to the emergence and development of payment cards as a forerunner of contactless cards. The second chapter characterizes contactless cards as a new payment product. Additionally it also includes a description of the technology, which is used for this kind of cards. Chapter also deals with the arrival of contactless cards to Czech Republic and Slovakia. The topic of third chapter is Near Field Communication, special technology, which is used for contactless payments and also for the other forms of contactless payments, such as mobile payments. The fourth chapter talks about mobile services that are actually used for mobile payments. These services are not available in our region yet, but we expect their further expansion into European countries in the future. Finally, the last chapter includes an analysis of data, where we used statistical data of contactless payments in Slovakia and Czech Republic. The aim was to outline the development of contactless payments in individual quarters in both countries separately and to compare the data of contactless cards and payments in these countries.

The thesis deals with the development of the external economic balance and the influencing factors. It describes the development of individual accounts of the balance of payments from 1993 to 2010 and it mainly focuses on last years and on the time of financial and economic crisis. Consequently in accordance to the basic theoretical concepts, it defines factors which can influence the individual parts of the balance of payments, and it analyzes the mutual relations. On the basis of analysis of the trade balance, current account, basic balance and total balance it was confirmed that the Czech Republic does not have a high risk of external imbalance. But during the financial and economic crisis the external balance worsened, the export of goods and import of direct investment decreased, the balance of income worsened. It was also approved that the external and internal income significantly influence the external balance of the Czech Republic.

This master thesis examines mutual relations between components of the balance of payments and the foreign exchange rate. The first part briefly describes the structure of the balance of payments and the theory of the foreign exchange rate as a macro-economical variable, which can be seen in many different systems. The next part brings the characteristics of historic and recent economic conditions and challenges of four selected countries: Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC). In the empirical part, relations between components of the balance of payments and the development of the exchange rate are analyzed by methods of the linear regression. The time-series consisted of annual data for a period of fifteen to seventeen years.

The thesis examines the impact of the global economic crisis on the economy of Ireland and Greece. The aim of this thesis is to evaluate the impact of the financial crisis and the balance of payments crisis on the economy of these countries. This thesis deals with the situation of the economies in the pre-crisis period, which examines the causes of the crisis. The post-crisis period compares the impact of the global economic crisis from a macroeconomic perspective. The thesis deals with the economic measures taken as Ireland and Greece, which should mitigate the effects of the crisis. The thesis focuses in detail on the balance of payments crisis. The thesis is divided into two main parts. The first part is devoted to the description of the kind of crisis, with a focus on banking crisis, debt crisis, financial crisis and a detailed analysis of the balance of payments crisis. The second part compares the impact of the crisis on the economy of Ireland and Greece in the context of the development of the main macroeconomic indicators

The evolution of various payment instruments shows a marked inclination away from the reliance on physical currency. This has, in turn, led to the construction of new manifestations of wealth. Due to revolution and developments of technology, payment can be made by various means such as physical delivery of conventional money (coins and bank notes) from the payer to the payee, but may also be made through tangible paying methods other than negotiable instruments such as debit or credit card or by way of electronic funds transfer. The development of payment systems makes it a reality for consumers to choose their preferred method of payment suitable for their banking needs and circumstances. Electronic funds transfer is a generic term that embraces any transfer of funds in which electronic techniques replace one or more of the steps in the process that were previously done by paper-based techniques. This includes automated teller machines, the transfer of funds at the point of sale, direct deposit or withdrawal of funds and funds initiated by telephone. The use of electronic funds transfer systems is described as the ultimate act of payment for not only is the value which is transferred reduced to a symbolic form, but the symbolic form itself is removed from the immediate possession of the parties to the transfer, payment also essentially becomes the transfer of information. Electronic funds transfer are easy and convenient to use. However, new technology has not only provided an ever-increasing range of electronic payment products, it has also had far-reaching effects on the way in which banks operate. Owing to the lack of legislation in South Africa to regulate the use of electronic funds transfer, banks rely on the law of contract and mandate to exempt themselves from liability. Therefore, the research problem that this dissertation aims to address revolves around the legal implications of electronic funds transfer, This includes the questions surrounding reversal and recovery of electronic funds transfer when payment is considered to be final and complete. Ultimately, I will attempt to address apportionment of liability between banks and consumers. / Mini Dissertation (LLM (Banking Law))--University of Pretoria 2020. / GCRA Bursary / Mercantile Law / LLM (Banking Law) / Unrestricted

This master's thesis describes the process of integration of electronic payment terminals into another technological solutions and eventually enabling the opportunity to make electronic payments using these solutions. It analyses the current situation on the field of electronic payments and the possibilities of own solution for these payments. It discusses the security aspects of payment operations and terminals and it also describes current legal situation involving the electronic payments in Czech Republic. It describes the process of implementation of the application for payment terminal integration and analyses the results of testing.