Background The shortage in Latin-American Primary Care (PC) workforce may be due to negative perceptions about it. These perceptions might be probably influenced by particular features of health systems and academic environments, thus varying between countries. Methods Observational, analytic and cross-sectional multicountry study that evaluated 9,561 first and fifth-year medical students from 63 medical schools of 11 Latin American countries through a survey. Perceptions on PC work was evaluated through a previously validated scale. Tertiles of the scores were created in order to compare the different countries. Crude and adjusted prevalence ratios were calculated using simple and multiple Poisson regression with robust variance. Results Approximately 53% of subjects were female; mean age was 20.4±2.9 years; 35.5%were fifth-year students. Statistically significant differences were found between the study subjects’ country, using Peru as reference. Students from Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Paraguay perceived PC work more positively, while those from Ecuador showed a less favorable position. No differences were found among perceptions of Bolivian, Salvadoran, Honduran and Venezuelan students when compared to their Peruvian peers. Conclusions Perceptions of PC among medical students from Latin America vary according to country. Considering such differences can be of major importance for potential local specific interventions.

M.Comm. (Financial Management) / Although general studies have been conducted on the agency problem, such studies have not focused on the relationship between executive remuneration and company performance. Many of the studies conducted abroad have focused on quantitative methods using regression analysis to understand the relationships between diverse financial performance measures and a variety of performance appraisal techniques. This study aims at establishing the relationship between executive remuneration and company financial performance on the basis of 20 of the largest companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange Ltd (JSE). It has been observed that JSE-listed South African companies have almost a standard governance framework for determining salary structures of CEOs and directors. Furthermore it can be seen that most performance-linked payouts for CEO's and directors are based on measurement criteria established which are based on actual performance levels achieved. For this reason, it may be concluded that short-term targets are crucial to keeping a business going, to ensure positive cash flows, manage working capital, and achieve year-on-year growth of revenues and profits. However, to ensure survival and sustainability of the business in the changing global and local environments, long-term strategies should be formulated and various steps should be taken by CEOs, supported by other executive and non-executive directors. This research focuses on short-term goals and their influence on executive remuneration for CEOs and CFOs. The performance measures selected for this study were revenues, profits, share price and net asset value. These performance measures selected are supported by the relevant academic literature. The results of this study reveal that CEOs and CFOs have received lower remuneration in the form of bonuses as a result of companies not achieving their short-term goals.

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The assessment of the motivational value of rewards in the world of work is interesting but difficult to understand. Variations in research reports and inadequate comprehension of the efficiency and motivational value of rewards have brought about confusions, controversies and contradictions among authors, researchers, consultants and practitioners in the field of Industrial and Organisational Psychology (Mangham, 2007; Muula, 2006; Muula & Maseko, 2005; Palmer, 2006; World Bank, 2004). As a consequence, organisations are applying theories and models of motivation selectively depending on their beliefs, ideological framework of values and assumptions (Dzimbiri, 2009). The study was therefore carried out as a positive contribution to the existing knowledge and debate on the motivational value of rewards for health professionals in the public health sectors of the developing countries. Through a systematic sampling method, 571 health professionals were sampled for the study. Data were collected through the use of a self-administered questionnaire which was composed based on the data collected from desk research/literature review, focus group discussions and interviews. The findings of the study revealed that the Malawi‟s Ministry of Health (MoH) is failing to attract, motivate and retain health professionals; there is perception of inequity of the rewards among the health professionals; health professionals develop coping strategies to supplement their monthly financial rewards; health professionals engage in corrupt practices to supplement their monthly financial rewards; and there is erosion of industrial democracy in the Malawi‟s Public Health Sector. While the statistical testing of the hypothesized model proved a lack of fit between the variables, the statistical testing of the re-specified model suggests that there is a positive relationship between financial rewards and reward-related problems being faced by health professionals in the Malawi‟s MoH. Through the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) exercise, an inverse (negative) relationship between financial and non-financial rewards was deduced, and scientifically and graphically demonstrated. Both the re-specified and graphical models symbolize a pragmatic departure from the theoretical model whose authors (Franco, Bennett, Kanfer & Stubblebine, 2004) are largely inclined to the use of non-financial rewards and suggest that financial rewards should be used with caution. These findings also reject the Herzberg‟s two factor theory (Herzberg, 1960) which claims that financial rewards (salaries) are not a motivator. The major recommendations of the study are that the Franco et al.‟s (2004) model should be adopted and adapted in the Malawi‟s MoH with the view that the value of both financial and non-financial rewards (as motivators) varies from individual to individual due to individual differences and prevailing factors/forces in both the work environment and wider society in which the MoH operates; a hybrid reward system combining the strengths of time-based, performance-based and competence-based reward systems should be developed and implemented; the results of scientifically testing the re-specified model and the inverse (causal) relationship established between financial and non-financial rewards (as demonstrated in a graphic model) should be re-tested with other samples in the public health sectors of the developing countries; and the motivational value of non-financial rewards should be scientifically established and compared with the motivational value of financial rewards used independent of each other in business organisations to make an objective conclusion on the rewards-motivation debate.

In the last decade South Africa saw the introduction of s 8C into the Income Tax Act, no.58 of 1962, the introduction of IFRS 2 into the International Financial Reporting Standards and the promulgation of the 2008 Companies Act. Each of these changes is relevant to and impact on the consequences flowing from executive share incentive schemes, from the perspective of both the employer company offering the scheme and the employee participating in the scheme. The aim of this study was to analyse, from the employer company’s perspective, the implications of each discipline in isolation, as well as the interrelationship of the three disciplines. The further aims of this study were to utilise the findings from the analyses to identify where legislative amendment is required to close loopholes or ensure equitable results, to identify where the interrelationship of the three disciplines result in unintended consequences, and to provide recommendations on how to avoid these adverse consequences. The most significant findings of this study are summarised below. Due to the legal precedent created by the Supreme Court of Appeal in the Labat case, the mode of settlement – cash or equity – will be the determining factor as regards the availability of an income tax deduction in the hands of the employer company. It is submitted that legislative amendment is required to rectify this inequitable result. Where payment by the employer pursuant to a share appreciation rights scheme occurs in a year of assessment subsequent to the year of assessment in which vesting occurred, changes in the value of the underlying equity instrument from the vesting date to the payment date could result in adverse income tax consequences to the employer and/or the fiscus. To address this, it is recommended that the Income Tax Act should be amended to expressly bring cash-settled executive share incentive schemes within the scope of s 7B and to align the provisions of s 7B and 8C in order to avoid anomalies existing between these two sections in so far as the income tax consequences in the hands of the participating employees are concerned.

This dissertation consists of three separate essays. The first two essays focus on real estate brokerage; one studies the conditions for efficient employment in the real estate brokerage industry under fixed commission rates and the other examines the role of real estate agents in buyer-seller bargaining. The third essay presents an integrated analysis of housing investment and consumption choices that takes into account both the uncertainty in investment returns and liquidity constraints. Essay one presents a model of real estate trading with brokerage that integrates sequential search, two-sided matching, and the competitive entry and effort choice of real estate agents. The equilibrium employment pattern of the model helps to explain the observation that the number of agents is more sensitive to the expected transaction price than to the transaction volume. The condition for efficient employment requires the commission to be proportional to the opportunity cost of search time and the expected trading gain, with the proportion determined by the productivity of brokerage employment. Efficient employment also requires regulating the entry so as to achieve the productivity balance between the number of agents and individual effort. Essay two examines asymmetric information and bargaining within the model of real estate trading developed in essay one. The equilibrium outcomes of bargaining with and without information asymmetry are characterized with the help of mechanism design methodology, and the associated welfare levels are compared. The analysis is applied to evaluating the role of real estate agents in the bargaining. Agents seek compromises between the buyer and seller by providing credible information to both parties. Such a role is welfare improving when the scale economy of brokerage with respect to the stock of buyers and sellers is not strong and brokerage employment is sufficient. In essay three, Pratt's certainty-equivalent approximation is applied to the Henderson-Ioannides (1983) housing tenure choice model. The key trade-offs for housing investment and consumption choices induced by the uncertainty and liquidity constraints are clearly illustrated and the implications for tenure choice examined against the existing empirical evidence. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate

This study examined the effects of switching from an incentive pay system solely based on productivity to a scorecard-based incentive pay system. Performance of staff and senior accountants was analyzed across three departments for a two-year baseline and a three-year intervention period. Results showed that percent of charge hour goal remained high during the study. Once the scorecard-based incentive system was implemented, performance on the other line items increased or remained at or above goal levels. Incentive payouts were generally higher under the second incentive plan than under the first for top performers. Possible explanations for data trends, weaknesses of the measures within the scorecard, measure/line item alternatives and implications for future research are also discussed.

This thesis provides an empirical investigation on how different public listing locations affect the CEO (chief executive officer)’s pay of Chinese SOEs (State Owned Enterprises) and whether such a pay differential would in turn affect the listing location choice by those firms, which have not received much attention in the current literature. In particular, we focus on two stock markets, the mainland (including Shenzhen and Shanghai) A-share market and Hong Kong H-share market. Unlike what have been found in many other markets, where firms listed in the foreign markets can normally enjoy a price premium, Chinese firms listed in the Hong Kong market (H-share) usually face a discount in prices comparing to what they can get in the domestic stock markets (A-share). So it is a real puzzle why they are eager to be listed in Hong Kong. Explanations have been sought in the past regarding to access to international capital markets and reputation or image effects for the Chinese firms. Our study contributes to the current oversea-listing literature by examining CEOs’ personal factors that affect listing location choice of SOEs in China. In this thesis, we aim to examine the association between CEO’s pay and different listing locations. Our sample covers all the Chinese listed SOEs in both A-share and H-share over the period of 1990-2009. First, we examined the effect of different listing locations on CEO’s pay and found that a positive CEO’s pay differential exists for H-share listing other things being equal, which means a wage premium for H-share CEOs. Furthermore, our evidences also support the hypothesis that such a wage premium does provide an incentive for CEOs to choose to list in Hong Kong.

This thesis includes estimating the probability of informed trading, PIN, developed by Easley, Kiefer and O’Hara (1996, 1997a, 1997b), for a large sample of listed firms in China from 2002 to 2008, and I use PIN to explore two independent research questions in corporate finance. First, the probability of informed trading is applied to explain the discount in value for firms with diversified business operations. Although aiming to increase firm value, the corporate diversification decision usually results in a firm value discount, for a variety of reasons, one of which is the transparency problem. My study directly tests the relation between the information asymmetry revealed from the stock market and the firm value discount due to diversification decision. The results show that the corporate diversification decisions result in a lower firm value in China, mainly because the diversified firms suffer from a higher level of information asymmetry or a lower level of transparency. After controlling for the measure of information asymmetry, the strategy of diversification itself does not reduce firm value. Second, the probability of informed trading is applied to explain the payperformance sensitivity of CEO compensation in Chinese listed firms. The payperformance sensitivity measures the change in managerial compensation based on the change in shareholder wealth. A higher information asymmetry helps and encourages shareholders to spend more on incentivizing the management team. My results show that higher level information asymmetry is associated with higher payperformance sensitivity of CEOs in China. The result also holds if information asymmetry is approximated by analysts’ forecast errors. According to the estimates of PIN in this thesis, Chinese firms are shown to exhibit a higher level of information asymmetry than what has been found in the U.S. market. The thesis ends with a brief discussion of the results and what future research could follow.

The diploma thesis is about the current problem of the lack of nurses, in particular general, children and practical nurses in the environment of the Czech health care. In the introduction of the theoretical part, there is an overall view of the current lack of workers in these professions and the consequences that this deficit brings to the Czech hospitals. Furthermore, the theoretical part is about several topics that are generally identified as causes of the lack of interest in this profession due to the lack of nurses. These are especially the issues of education of nurses, salaries and also the prestige of a nurse's profession. The area of competence in nursing professions is elaborated as a supplement chapter, to the overall view of current issues. The empirical part includes eleven interviews with nurses in senior positions (ward and head nurses in hospitals), the topics of which are processed in the theoretical part. The interviews were processed as thematic analysis with the help of open coding. Particularly, data obtained from a discussion group of nurses on social networks was used to illustrate the situation. The final part of the thesis contains the evaluation of the interviews, the answers to the research questions, the comparison of the opinions of the respondents with the publicly...