This thesis comprises three essays on international business strategy with regards to services and technology. The first essay investigates why the average expense ratio paid by Canadian mutual fund investors is 50% higher than that paid in U.S. This discrepancy is commonly thought to exist because Canadian funds do not take advantage of economies of scale and have less competition. A monopolistic competition framework is used to develop a model for the mutual fund industry. By allowing each fund to have different attributes, the model permits funds to charge different expense ratios in equilibrium and is found to strongly fit the North American mutual fund market. Empirical analysis indicates that these two common explanations and measurable fund attributes account for 15% of the discrepancy. The second essay analyses the U.S. mutual fund decision to enter the Canadian market through either foreign direct investment (FDI) or trade in advisement services. The total value of U.S.-controlled funds amounts to 18% of the Canadian equity fund market. This paper investigates how the fund-level and firm-level characteristics affect the channel used to enter the Canadian market. Empirical results indicate that the funds offered through FDI are not especially successful in the U.S. market but are associated with companies with large market shares, whereas the funds offered through trade in advisement services are highly successful in the U.S. market and are from companies with relatively few successful funds. The third essay compares the motivation for acquisition between foreign and domestic acquirers of U.S. drug companies, especially with regard to technology transfer. An estimation of the acquisition decision reveals that foreign acquirers choose targets with high research intensity more as their own intensity decreases while domestic acquirers choose targets with high research intensity more as their own intensity increases. Domestic acquirers' post-acquisition innovative productivity increases mostly due to efficiency of knowledge synthesis because the targets are usually have familiar product lines. Foreign acquirers' innovative productivity does not increase after acquisition because they tend to take over firms in unfamiliar research areas that are usually highly technical and require a long-term commitment of R&D. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate

Since the onset of the global financial crisis, there have been calls to regulate those parts of the financial system that were previously either unregulated or lightly regulated. These proposals are being put forward as part of an international drive to bring parts of the financial sector within the ambit of regulation, with the overarching aim of protecting investors from bearing the brunt of regulatory failures, as was experienced in the 2007/2008 global financial crisis. The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of proposed regulation on the South African Hedge Fund industry.The focus of this research study was limited specifically to regulation in the Hedge Fund industry, although there are also proposals to strengthen regulations in other parts of the financial system. Qualitative research was conducted through a combination of face-to-face and telephonic interviews with stakeholders in the Hedge Fund industry.The research found that the proposed regulation would result in growth in the hedge fund industry by virtue of giving more credibility to the industry, thereby increasing the consumer base. The research also revealed that regulation would negatively impact the functioning of hedge funds and the quality of regulation in the industry was found to be good. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

The presented thesis deals with abilities of municipalities in the region NUTS II South - East to draw European funds. The aim is to analyze how well - informed are municipalties about this topic and how they can take advantage of their gained knowledge and use the financial instruments of the EU. Administrative division founded by the EU is needed for a possibility of a member state to use European funds. NUTS II South - East region covers two Czech regions - Jihomoravský a Vysočina - and it is also a region with the highest number of municipalities from all the NUTS II regions in the Czech Republic. Municipalities are one of the most active applicants for the European funds and their knowledge and abilities to use the funds is important. According to a Theory of learning regions there were set three criteria which created the basis of the research. Knowledge and abilities were divided into three phases depending on when the municipalities deal with them during the process of withdrawing. For gaining data for the research I used the mixed methods research that combine the quantitative and the qualitative research. Firstly there was a questionnaire among all municipalities in the region and then I have done interviews with five representatives of selected municipalities - Milotice, Švábov, Třebíč,...

Thesis advisor: Jeffrey Pontiff / My thesis contains four essays on the pricing of financial assets and the role of non-professional investors. The first two essays describe the legal framework governing Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) and the liquidity transformation functions of ETFs. The third essay examines how trading by nine different types of market participants are related to characteristics that have previously documented to predict the cross-section of equity returns. The fourth and final essay examines whether and how orders originating from retail brokerages respond to analyst recommendations. In my first essay, I describe the legal framework that governs ETFs and theoretical benefits of the ETF security design relative to two other popular investment management security structures: open-end and close-end mutual funds. To do so, I briefly describe the history of the modern investment management industry. I describe the role of Authorized Participants (APs), the main security design innovation of ETFs, and highlight the key theoretical differences between the three classes of funds. Lastly, I describe SEC rulemaking that governs the behavior of ETF Managers and their APs. In the second essay, I document a hidden but substantial cost associated with the liquidity transformation that corporate bond exchange-traded funds (ETFs) provide. When creating new shares, authorized participants (APs) deliver a subset of the portfolio of bonds that underlie a corporate bond ETF. This subset contains bonds that realize low future returns, reducing ETF performance by 48 basis points per annum. This loss in performance cannot be attributed to forgone compensation for risk or illiquidity, but instead results from APs utilizing information regarding future changes in net asset values to strategically deliver bonds when those bonds are expected to realize poor performance in the near future. My third essay is joint work with Jeff Pontiff and David McLean. We provide the most comprehensive study of market participation to date. We assess the informativeness of 9 different participants’ trades, and how each participant’s trades relate to 130 different variables that together reflect the cross-section of expected stock returns. Firms and short sellers tend to be the smart money—both sell stocks with low expected returns, and their trades predict returns in the intended direction. Firms, however, also seem to possess private information, while short sellers do not. Retail investors buy (sell) stocks with low (high) expected returns and their trades predict returns opposite to the intended direction. All 6 types of institutional investors are weighted towards stocks with low expected returns, but none of their trades robustly predict returns. My fourth essay is joint work with Jeff Pontiff and David McLean. We ask whether retail investors are responsive to analysts’ revisions. We consider revisions in recommendations, price targets, and EPS forecasts, all of which predict returns. Revisions in recommendations and price targets portend greater retail trading in the direction of the revision. The effects are stronger for All-Star Analysts’ revisions, and retail investors also respond to All-Star’s revisions in EPS forecasts. Retail investors trade in anticipation of revisions in price targets and recommendations, consistent with analysts or brokers “tipping” some retail investors. Retail trades earn higher returns when aligned with analysts’ revision. The results show that retail investors are one channel through which analysts’ information gets into prices. Our findings also support the idea that spikes in retail trading reflect informed trading, some of which is informed by analysts. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2022. / Submitted to: Boston College. Carroll School of Management. / Discipline: Finance.

Thesis (M.M. (Finance & Investment))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Graduate School of Business Administration, 2013. / This thesis addresses the core issue of Funds Transfer Pricing (FTP) that has been brought about by the dynamic nature in the changes in the financial industry. This research has drawn up elements from a systematic historical perspective of how a funds pricing policy has been carried out among the banks. The research has made use of the elements of classical economic theory to formulate a conceptual model that will assist in the understanding of the dynamics of the driving changes in Funds Transfer Prices. In an effort to bridge the theoretical and empirical gap in classical economics and the value chain theory, a simple systematic model was constructed. This model was used to understand the dynamics of future changes in the Funds Transfer Pricing. This was done by first analysing the various components that have influenced the basic elements of the model. The basic elements are the liabilities, assets and the Treasury of banking institutions. The interaction of these elements forms the basis of the Funds Transfer Pricing model that was formulated. Using this model, banking institutions would be able to maximize profits and ensure customer satisfaction at the same time. The simple model proposed handles the problems that are caused by the more complex methods used and offers a practical and simple approach to Funds Transfer Pricing in commercial banks.

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Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2004. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In this study project, the performance and fund flows to open-end collective investment schemes available in South Africa that are advertised in the Personal Finance newspaper and Financial Mail magazine, are examined. The sample consists of 34 open-ended unit trust funds from 4 different asset managers. Two main objectives are addressed: the first main objective is to test whether collective investment schemes advertisements are used to signal superior management skills by examining the performance of the funds prior to placing the advertisement and measuring the performance in the post-advertising period. The second main objective is to test whether advertising is used to attract more fund flows to the funds. The results indicate that the fund managers advertised their funds at a time when the funds were under-performing, showing no significant superior performance. In the one-year period following the advertisement their performance was marginally better than the bench marked performance. The results indicate that superior fund management skills exist and that timing of the placement of the advertisement is important. The fund flow analysis shows that advertised funds attract significantly more money in comparison to the funds in a control group with similar characteristics. Once again the results could be attributed to superior fund management skills or the timing of the marketing department. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In hierdie studieprojek word die prestasie en fondsvloei van kollektiewe beleggingskemas wat in Suid-Afrika beskikbaar is en in Personal Finance koerant en Financial Mail tydskrif geadverteer word, ondersoek. Die steekproef bestaan uit 34 kollektiewe beleggingsfondse van vier verskillende batebestuurders. Twee hoofdoelwitte word bespreek: die eerste hoofdoelwit is om te toets of kollektiewe beleggingsfondse advertensies gebruik om superieure bestuursvaardighede aan te dui, deur die prestasie van die fonds voor die advertensieplasing en die prestasie in die post-advertensie periode te ondersoek. Die tweede hoofdoelwit is om te toets of advertensies gebruik word om fonds invloeie na die fonds aan te trek. Die resultate dui aan dat die fondsbestuurders hul fondse adverteer op 'n tydstip wanneer die fonds onderpresteer, wat nie enige betekenisvolle superieure prestasie voorstel nie. In die een-jaar periode na die advertensieplasing, was hul prestasie marginaal beter as die verwysingspunt (standaard) prestasie. Die resultate dui aan dat superieure bestuursvaardighede wel bestaan en dat die tydsberekening van die advertensieplasing belangrik is. Die fondsvloei analise wys dat geadverteerde fondse betekenisvol meer geld inbring in vergelyking met die fondse in 'n kontrole groep met gelyksoortige karaktertrekke. Weereens kan die resultate toegeskryf word aan superieure bestuursvaardighede of die tydsberekening van die plasing van die advertensie.

Thesis (MComm (Business Management))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / This study aims to look at the definition of the group of alternative investments commonly known as ‘hedge funds’, in order to better understand why regulatory bodies the world over are vehemently working on introducing new legislation and guidelines as a means of maintaining market security and integrity in order to ensure adequate investor protection. This study posits that the two most viable options available to regulatory bodies to ensure effective implementation of these changes are (i) to either further restrict access to hedge funds and thereby curb their ‘retailization’ and/or (ii) to introduce rigorous levels of disclosure on the part of hedge funds and their intermediaries. It is the objective of this study to establish that for either of these options to be attained, tangible improvement in both the quantity and quality of information disclosure from hedge funds and their intermediaries about their positions, strategies and exposures in a manner that would enable them to continue to provide the market efficiency-enhancing services that they currently offer. After introducing all the key issues that have motivated this resolve, the study looks at the current regulatory environment and the challenges facing regulators such as the varying degrees of banking freedom offered by different states and jurisdictions. Proposed changes to current legislation are also considered across several jurisdictions. The results from the local market field study set the platform for recommendations to be investigated in future studies in order to provide guidelines for the supervision of the hedge fund industry.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2002. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The greatest potential worry that an on-line shopper has is what happens to his/her credit card details from the moment "submit" is pressed on the computer. Is it possible for someone on the Internet to intercept the message and use credit card details maliciously? Also, there is a lot of talk about personal details being encrypted, but how sure is one that this was indeed the case once "submit" has been pressed? Is there a way in which one can be sure that a transaction will occur only once? Many of the security issues are new and many experts are only learning how to deal with these now. This thesis offers suggestions and strategies a user can follow to minimize misuse and abuse of payment details. Electronic payment is the backbone of e-commerce, and the biggest threat towards widespread acceptance and usage of e-commerce is security. Many innovative solutions have been developed by vendors to address security issues. For example, the Secure Electronic Transfer (SET) protocol was developed to ensure that credit card transactions could be conducted safely and securely on the Internet. Secure Socket Layer (SSL) ensures that all communications and transactions are conducted in a tightly secure environment. This is critical for online or mobile banking and other financial activities. Others developments include payment systems that ensure that credit card details are never exposed to a merchant (e.g. SET), while some ensure that credit card numbers never enter the Internet. The five corner stones of security are confidentiality, privacy, authentication, integrity and non-repudiation. Authentication, non-repudiation and integrity can be resolved with digital certificates, digital timestamps and digital signatures. Message confidentiality, on the other hand, is ensured through the use of strong encryption. Encryption systems mutilate data or a message to such an extent that it is totally useless to someone who does not have the appropriate algorithm and key to decode it. The most widely used encryption schemes are the secret key and public key encryption systems. The public key cryptosystem generates two keys, called a public and private key. The public key can be made generally known, but the private key must be kept secret. A unique property of the scheme is that once data is encrypted with one key, only the corresponding other key of the pair can decrypt it. This makes it possible to address issues of authentication, integrity and non-repudiation. Traditional payment instruments such as cash, cheques, debit and credit card transactions are being replaced by their electronic equivalents. The driving forces behind these are transactional security, efficiency and speed. Novel payment solutions and strategies have been devised to meet the challenges of this new economy. For example, smart cards can act as an electronic purse that can hold electronic money. Other information, such as personal details, medical records, driver's licence, etc. can also be stored on the card. Whilst many security experts are in agreement that security is not a barrier anymore for wider usage of the Internet for financial transactions, many consumers are still apprehensive about how secure and safe it really is. This work aims to diminish those fears and show that the Internet is safe for business. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Een van die grootste bekommernisse wat 'n kliënt met aankope op die Internet kan ondervind, is die onsekerheid wat presies gebeur nadat betalings aangegaan is en "Submit" is gedruk. Is dit moontlik dat iemand die boodskap kan onderskep en betaling besonderhede vir eie gebruik kan herwin? Daar is ook baie publisiteit oor kodifisering, maar hoe kan die klient verseker wees dat betalings besonderhede wel gekodifiseer is wanneer "Submit" gedruk was? Is daar 'n manier waarmee 'n mens verseker kan wees dat betaling slegs eenkeer gaan geskied? Baie van die sekuriteits lokvalle is nuut en sekuritiets kenners is tans besig om te leer hoe om die probleme te hanteer. Die werkstuk offer wenke en strategieë vir die verbruiker om die misbruik van betaling besondehede op die Internet te minimiseer. Elektronies betalings meganisme is die ruggraat van elektroniese besigheid, en die grootste struikelblok tot die grootskaalse gebruik daarvan is sekuriteit. Daar is baie innoverende oplossings om die probleme hok te slaan. By voorbeeld, die Secure Electronic Transfer (SET) protokol was ontwikkel om te verseker dat betalings met kredietkaart met hoë sekuriteit en veiligheid aangegaan kan word. Secure Socket Layers (SSL), verseker dat alle kommunikasies en transaksies in 'n sekuur en veilige omgewing plaasvind. Dit is veral krities wanneer die verbruiker gebruik maak van die Internet of vanaf selfone om transaksies aan te gaan met 'n bank. Ander ontwikkelinge sluit in betalings metodes wat verseker dat die handelaar nooit die kredietkaart besonderhede sien nie (bv. SET). Ander verseker weer dat die betalings besonderhede nooit oor die Internet hoef gestuur te word nie. Die vyf hoekstene van sekuriteit is konfidensialiteit, privaatheid, outentisiteit, integriteit en non-repudiasie. Outentisiteit, integriteit en non-repudiasie word opgelos deur die gebruik maak van digitale sertifikate, digitale tydstempels en digitale handtekeninge. Konfidensialiteit kan verseker word deur die boodskap te kodifiseer. Kodifikasie behels die verandering van data of boodskappe op so 'n wyse dat dit van geen betekenis is vir 'n persoon wat nie die korrekte algoritme en sleutel het om dit te dekodifiseer nie. Die geheime en publieke kodifiserings stelsels word die meeste gebruik om data te kodifiseer. Die publieke kodifiserings stelsel genereer twee sleutels, naamlik 'n privaat en publieke sleutel. Die publieke sleutel kan alom bekend gemaak word, maar die private sleutel moet slegs bekend wees aan sy gebruiker. 'n Unieke eienskap van die stelsel is dat indien 'n boodskap gekodifiseer is met een sleutel, slegs die ander sleutel van die paar dit sal kan dekodifiseer. Dit maak dit moontlik om outentisiteit, integriteit en non-repudiasie toe te pas. Die tradisionele metodes van betaling soos kontant, tjek en debiet of kredietkaart, gaan mettertyd vervang word deur hul elektroniese eweknie. Die dryfkrag agter die verskynsel is die hoë sekuriteit, doeltreffendheid en spoed waarmee transaksies op die manier gehanteer kan word. Vindingryke betaling metodes is ontdek om die besondere uitdagings van die nuwe ekonomie aan te speek. Byvoorbeeld, knap kaarte kan gebruik word as 'n elektroniese beursie wat elektroniese geld bêre. Ander persoonlike inligting, mediese records, bestuurlisensies, ens. kan ook op die kaart geberg word. Terwyl baie sekuriteits kenners glo dat sekuriteit nie meer 'n stuikelblok is om die Internet vir besigheids transaksies te gebruik nie, bly baie van die verbruikers skepties. Die werkstuk se doel is om daardie onsekerhede uit die weg te ruim, deur te verduidelik hoe sekuriteit toe gepas word, en om te bewys dat die Internet interdaad veilig is as a medium vir besigheids transaksies.