High prepaid subscriber churn impacts on the service provider's profitability, financial evaluation and resource utilisation. Simultaneously it deprives subscribers of improved service because service providers are committing resources to subscriber acquisition and the management of subscriber retention instead of committing these resources to improving the value propositions offered to subscribers. A prepaid churn rate of just less than 50% in South Africa (2009) highlights the need for research into the factors that influence churned prepaid subscribers' choice of mobile-service provider. This in turn will increase the knowledge of retention and acquisition of prepaid subscribers. Using a telephonic survey on a sample of 861 prepaid subscribers, quantitative research was conducted to determine those factors that churned prepaid subscribers consider important when choosing a mobile-service provider. By making use of Analysis of Variance 4 out of 11 factors that, prepaid subscribers considered very important were identified when choosing a mobile-service provider. These included, in order of importance, Customer service quality, Mobile tariffs, Prepaid airtime and Starter-pack availability and Promotions. Discriminant Analysis highlighted 9 factors to be used to predict and classify groups of subscribers based on average monthly spend. The discriminate equation coefficients highlighted how these two groups of subscribers view the 9 factors when choosing a mobile-service provider. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

In this thesis, we propose architecture for a SaaS model in Cloud that would provide service to the financial investors who are not familiar with various mathematical models. Such finance models are used to evaluate financial instruments, for example, to price a derivative that is currently being traded before entering into a contact. An investor may approach CSP to price a particular derivative and specify the time, budget and accuracy constraints. Based on these constraints specified by investors, the service provider will compute the option value using our proposed FSM. To evaluate our proposed model, we compared pricing results with the classical model that provides a closed-form solution for option pricing to meet the accuracy constraints. After establishing the accuracy of our pricing results, we further ensured that the SLA between the FSP and the investors is honoured by meeting the constraints put forth by the investor who uses the Cloud service.

In this thesis, we propose architecture for a SaaS model in Cloud that would provide service to the financial investors who are not familiar with various mathematical models. Such finance models are used to evaluate financial instruments, for example, to price a derivative that is currently being traded before entering into a contact. An investor may approach CSP to price a particular derivative and specify the time, budget and accuracy constraints. Based on these constraints specified by investors, the service provider will compute the option value using our proposed FSM. To evaluate our proposed model, we compared pricing results with the classical model that provides a closed-form solution for option pricing to meet the accuracy constraints. After establishing the accuracy of our pricing results, we further ensured that the SLA between the FSP and the investors is honoured by meeting the constraints put forth by the investor who uses the Cloud service.

In the first part of the thesis I focus on credit markets in developing countries, and describe the competitive interaction between Microfinance Institutions (MFIs). Microfinance has recently attracted a lot of attention from investors, politicians, scholars and, most of all, people working on development. As a results, a huge number of MFIs are being created all over the world so that, as of today, practitioners reckon that about 100 millions of customers are being served. Remarkably, about 67% of them are women. The reason of this extraordinary effort is that Microfinance is considered the most promising development tool currently available. This belief is based on two important features of Microfinance: (i) It promises to be financially viable (and in some cases even profitable) since poor people have proven to be reliable clients. As a result, Microfinance is potentially a zero-cost development tool. (ii) It hinges on the entrepreneurial abilities of the poor. It is designed to help the poor to help themselves, in their own home countries, by allowing them to use their skills, ideas and potentials. This should progressively make developing countries independent of rich ones' help. The growth of Microfinance has been so fast that many issues and related research questions are still not answered. In my thesis I try to address one of them, that I believe particularly important: the increase of competition between MFIs. As economic theory predicts, competition can have dramatic consequences in terms of borrower welfare, profitability of the institutions and, therefore, on the attractiveness of the business for potential investors, donors and entrants. I use the tools of industrial organization and contract theory to understand these effects, measure them, and give some interesting policy advice. In the first paper, I analyze the effects of entry of a new MFI in a previously monopolistic microcredit market. In order to catch the salient features of financial markets in developing countries, I use a model of asymmetric information and assume that institutions can offer only one type of contract. I consider different behavioral assumptions for the MFIs and study their influence on equilibrium predictions. The model allows showing that competition can lead to equilibria in which MFIs differentiate their contracts in order to screen borrowers. This process can, unfortunately, make the poor borrowers worse off. Interestingly, the screening process we describe creates a previously unexplored source of credit rationing. I also prove that the presence in the market of an altruistic MFI, reduces rationing and, via this channel, affects positively the competitor's profit. In the second paper, I study the effects of competition in those markets in which, due to the absence of credit bureaus, small entrepreneurs can simultaneously borrow from more than one institution. As in the first paper, I analyze an oligopolistic microcredit market characterized by asymmetric information and institutions that can offer only one type of contract. The main contribution is to show that appropriate contract design can eliminate the ex-ante incentives for multiple borrowing. Moreover, when the market is still largely unserved and particularly risky, a screening strategy leading to con- tract differentiation and credit rationing is unambiguously the most effective to avoid multiple borrowing. The result of this paper can also be read as important robustness checks of the findings of my first paper. In the last part of the thesis, I depart from the analysis of developing countries to consider, more generally, the corporate governance of financial infrastructures. The efficient functioning of financial markets relies more and more on the presence of infrastructures providing services like clearing, settlement, messaging and many others. The last years have been characterized by interesting dynamics in the ownership regime of these service providers. Both mutualizations and de-mutualizations took place, together with entry and exit of different players. Starting from this observation, in the last paper (with Joachim Keller), we analyze the effects of competitive interaction between differently owned financial providers. We mainly focus on the incentives to invest in safety enhancing measures and we describe the different equilibrium market configurations. We use a model in which agents need an input service for the financial market they operate in. They can decide whether to provide it them selves by forming a Cooperative or outsource it from a Third Party Provider. We prove that the co-existence of differently governed infrastructures leads to a significant reduction in the investment in safety. In most cases, monopolistic provision is preferable to competition. Moreover, the decision rule used within the Cooperative plays a central role in determining the optimal market configuration. All in all, throughout my thesis, I use the tools of industrial organization and contract theory to model the competitive interaction of the different actors operating in financial markets. Understanding the dynamics typical of developing countries can help in gaining a deeper comprehension of the markets in richer countries, and vice-versa. I am convinced that analyzing the differences and the similarities of financial markets in different regions of the world can be of great importance for economic theorists, in that it provides a counterfactual for the assumptions and the results on which our predictions and policy advices are based.

<p>Bakgrunden till denna undersökning är den växande ASP-marknaden samt säkerhetsproblematiken som finns i en ASP-lösning.</p><p>Syftet är att utreda de säkerhetsaspekter som bör beaktas vid en Application Service Provider (ASP)-lösning. Olika aspekter har samlats in dels från litteraturen och dels med hjälp av intervjuer. En uppdelning har gjorts med avseende på mål, hot och kontroll. De mål som först och främst behandlas är de som berör integritet, konfidentialitet och tillgänglighet. De hot som tas upp och som delvis är specifika för en ASP-lösning är ASP-företagets ekonomi och personal samt kommunikationskanalen mellan ASP-företag och ASP-kund. Kontroller som tas upp är med hänsyn till hoten ovan bland annat kontroll av ASP-företagens ekonomi, att personalen kontrollerats samt kontroll av kommunikationsförbindelserna mellan ASP-företaget och kunden. Resultatet av undersökningen är bland annat tio kontrollpunkter med de viktigaste frågorna som en blivande ASP-kund bör ställa till ASP-företaget.</p>

Zugl.: Dresden, Techn. Univ., Diss., 2006

Zugl.: Regensburg, Univ., Diss., 2009

Bakgrunden till denna undersökning är den växande ASP-marknaden samt säkerhetsproblematiken som finns i en ASP-lösning. Syftet är att utreda de säkerhetsaspekter som bör beaktas vid en Application Service Provider (ASP)-lösning. Olika aspekter har samlats in dels från litteraturen och dels med hjälp av intervjuer. En uppdelning har gjorts med avseende på mål, hot och kontroll. De mål som först och främst behandlas är de som berör integritet, konfidentialitet och tillgänglighet. De hot som tas upp och som delvis är specifika för en ASP-lösning är ASP-företagets ekonomi och personal samt kommunikationskanalen mellan ASP-företag och ASP-kund. Kontroller som tas upp är med hänsyn till hoten ovan bland annat kontroll av ASP-företagens ekonomi, att personalen kontrollerats samt kontroll av kommunikationsförbindelserna mellan ASP-företaget och kunden. Resultatet av undersökningen är bland annat tio kontrollpunkter med de viktigaste frågorna som en blivande ASP-kund bör ställa till ASP-företaget.

Pricing models of Employee Assistance Programmes: experiences of corporate clients serviced by a leading Employee Assistance Programme service provider in South Africa. Pricing models is one of the sub-standards in programme design amongst the standards outlined in the Employee Assistance Programme Association of South Africa (EAPA-SA). According to EAPA-SA (2010:5), costing an EAP should be based on sound financial principles. Such costing will ensure the best possible application of financial resources with the objective of justifying the balance between expenditure and benefits. However, pricing is identified as a challenging area in the EAP field. Corporate clients are faced with a situation where EAP service providers bid for one contract, selling EAP services which are of a similar nature using varying pricing models with different prices. Such price competitiveness leaves the corporate client with no reason not to overlook the financial consequences of choosing one service provider over the other, since price becomes the critical deciding factor in purchasing decisions. The pricing issue in the EAP field and the impact on pricing models used prompted the researcher to pursue the study to understand the processes and complexities involved in the pricing models in the EAP field. The study focused on two samples which comprised of participants from corporate client who had terminated contracts with a leading EAP service provider, as well as participants from this leading EAP service provider. The research findings indicate that contracting in the EAP field is a complex process owing to a number of factors that have to be considered before contracting. The complexity impacts strongly on the choice of the pricing model eventually chosen for contracting purposes. The views shared by both groups of participants indicate that there are internal and external factors that influence the choice of a pricing model. These are the factors that must be considered when making decisions as to what should be made available to employees and to the company for the effective implementation of Employee Assistance Programmes. Informed by these factors, the researcher developed a guideline that could be applied in practice as a standard EAP pricing model. / Dissertation (MSW)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / lmchunu2014 / Social Work and Criminology / unrestricted

This thesis analyzes how prospective Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) professionals are enculturated through their educational pathways at one public university in Mississippi. I surveyed 24 current and prior students of the ABA program, as well as interviewed 1 prior and 10 current ABA students. Findings captured their perceptions of the field they are entering, through their experiences within the program. Results found that the ABA field appears to be split in a dual identity, existing in both educational and clinical spaces. Results showed that external perceptions of the institution viewed the ABA program as more clinical, while the students were preoccupied with the educational applications. The implications of these findings suggest that the ABA field’s role and circumstances are variable, given that they are outsourced as consultants to provide a medical service to an educational setting. Thus, students could benefit from more explicit cultural norms and setting-tailored practicum preparation.