Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Management of banking activities'

The present study aims to verify how outsourced (contracted) sale teams are managed by commercial banks which operate in credit on consignation competitive business in Ceara State, in order to assure a continuous, qualified and increasing business tide. First, were done teorethical approaches as âthirdâ and âfourthâ outsourcing, strategic administration, human capital management, financial market and credit on consignation negotiation. After bibliographical review, an exploratory and descriptive field research was done with commercial banks placed in Ceara which operate with lending on consignation product. Were administered four semi-structured quetionnaires to banks managers, banks correspondents, internal collaborators and collectors. After, collected iformations were tabulated and received qualitative and quantitative treatment, detecting that the outsourcing of selling activities by banks are motivated by margin, funding, decentralization of sale points and by operational simplicity, as well as was identified as a disadvantage of this outsourcing process the low managing and technical capacity of its correspondent (contracted).This operational simplicity setting, as well as low managing and technical capacity, roughly contribute towards the fragility of staff employee in third and fourth outsourcing sales team management techniques by contracted companies. We believe that the lack of human resources management practices within outsourcing work endangers strategic results of action of both companies involved on this process.<br>O presente trabalho objetiva verificar como as equipes de vendas terceirizadas (contratadas) sÃo geridas por bancos comerciais que operam no competitivo mercado de crÃdito consignado no Estado do Cearà para garantir um fluxo contÃnuo, qualificado e crescente de negÃcios. Primeiramente, foram feitas abordagens teÃricas tais como: terceirizaÃÃo; quarteirizaÃÃo; administraÃÃo estratÃgica; gestÃo do capital humano; mercado financeiro e o negÃcio crÃdito em consignaÃÃo. ApÃs a revisÃo bibliogrÃfica, realizou-se uma pesquisa exploratÃria, descritiva e de campo junto a bancos comerciais instalados no Cearà e operando com o produto emprÃstimo consignado, para a aplicaÃÃo de quatro questionÃrios semi-estruturados junto aos gestores dos bancos, correspondentes bancÃrios, colaboradores internos e angariadores. Em seguida, as informaÃÃes coletadas foram tabuladas e tratadas quantitativa e qualitativamente, constatando que a terceirizaÃÃo das atividades fins de vendas pelos bancos sÃo motivadas pela margem, funding, descentralizaÃÃo de pontos de vendas e pela simplicidade operacional, como tambÃm. Identificou-se como desvantagem desse processo de terceirizaÃÃo a baixa capacitaÃÃo gerencial e tÃcnica do correspondente (contratado). Esse cenÃrio de simplicidade operacional e baixa capacitaÃÃo gerencial e tÃcnica da gestÃo contribuem fortemente para a fragilidade das tÃcnicas da gestÃo de pessoal empregadas nas equipes de vendas terceirizadas e âquarteirizadasâ, pelas empresas contratadas. Acredita-se que a ausÃncia das prÃticas da gestÃo de recursos humanos no trabalho terceirizado compromete resultados estratÃgicos de atuaÃÃo das duas empresas envolvidas nesse processo.

Міжнародна спільнота на основі досвіду, отриманого за період фінансової кризи, особливу увагу приділяла питанням управління діяльністю банків. У даному руслі питання ефективного функціонування банку було пов’язане з проблемою перегляду попередніх і встановлення нових принципів корпоративного управління, враховуючи мотиви стейкхолдерів банків.

Погорілко, Д. Ю. Вдосконалення системи управління маркетинговою діяльністю банку (на матеріалах АТ КБ "ПРИВАТБАНК") : випускна кваліфікаційна робота : 075 "Маркетинг" / Д. Ю. Погорілко ; керівник роботи Т. А. Рябова ; НУ "Чернігівська політехніка", кафедра маркетингу, PR-технологій та логістики. – Чернігів, 2021. – 73 с.<br>Кваліфікаційна робота присвячена вдосконаленню управління маркетинговою діяльністю банку. Перший розділ роботи містить характеристику сутності управління маркетингом та особливостей маркетингу в банківській сфері. Другий розділ містить аналіз діяльності Приватбанку, аналіз маркетингового управління та оцінку середовища ринку банківських послуг України. У третьому розділі вноситься ряд пропозицій щодо вдосконалення процесу формування стратегії маркетингу, планування маркетингу в банку, оцінки ефективності заходів планування. Висновки відбивають основні результати проведення дослідження та пропозиції щодо вдосконалення роботи підприємства в банківській сфері.<br>Qualification work is devoted to improving the management of marketing activities of the bank. The first section of the work contains a description of the essence of marketing management and features of marketing in the banking sector. The second section contains an analysis of Privatbank's activities, analysis of marketing management and assessment of the banking market environment in Ukraine. In the third section, a number of proposals are made to improve the process of forming a marketing strategy, marketing planning in the bank, assessing the effectiveness of planning activities. The conclusions reflect the main results of the study and proposals for improving the enterprise in the banking sector.

Ключовим завданням в підтриманні банками ліквідності та довіри з боку учасників фінансово-кредитних відносин є уміння раціонально розподіляти фінансові ресурси шляхом формування збалансованої ресурсної бази банку та спрямовувати їх в інвестиційну та кредитну діяльність. Сьогодні особливо гостро стоїть питання кризового становища банків та невизначеності розвитку банківської системи України в цілому. Основним джерелом формування портфелю активів вважаються депозитні вклади.

Mestrado em Finanças<br>O risco de crédito para o sector bancário é um assunto muito importante. Nesse sentido, é primordial adquirir ferramentas para medir este risco com algum grau de segurança de modo a ser possível tomar as decisões corretas sobre o crédito cedido a clientes. O objetivo deste trabalho é compreender o quão importante é o risco de crédito para as instituições financeiras e apresentar uma forma de o medir associado com o crédito a empresas, analisando um modelo de score para avaliar que o mesmo seja avaliado. Este trabalho também descreve as atividades desenvolvidas nos principais departamentos de uma instituição bancária, de acordo com um estágio que teve lugar no Banco BIC, desenvolvendo desta forma uma revisão da literatura ao risco de crédito, uma descrição sobre a evolução da banca, modelos de avaliação assim como também uma análise a uma empresa, utilizando o modelo Z-Score, comparando o resultado obtido com a classificação fornecida por uma agência de rating. Os resultados provaram que o modelo em análise foi eficaz, proporcionando uma avaliação, dentro das suas limitações, de acordo com a classificação fornecida por esta agência de rating.<br>Credit risk in banking industry is a very important subject. Therefore, it is important to acquire tools to measure it, with some degree of reliability, in order to be possible to take the correct decisions regarding client loans. The objective of this final project is to understand the importance of the credit risk to financial institutions and to present a way of measuring this risk associated with loans to companies, analysing a score model to evaluate this risk. This project also describes the activities developed by the main departments of a banking institution in accordance to an internship which took place in Banco BIC, developing this way a literature review to credit risk, banking evolution and score models as well as analysing a company using the Z-Score model, comparing the results obtained with the rating provided by a rating agency. The results proved that the model under analysis was effective, providing a reliable output within its limitations, correspondingly to the rating provided by this rating agency.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, February 2006.<br>Includes bibliographical references.<br>This thesis consists of two chapters that investigate two important issues in banking of the past decade: the effect of banking consolidation on the borrowers and the regulatory capital requirements for banks. The first chapter analyzes the effect of bank mergers on loan prices, and the welfare implications for borrowers. In particular I test the hypothesis that mergers create efficiency gains which are, in fact, passed on to borrowers through a reduction in interest rates. The alternative hypothesis is that mergers lead to greater market concentration and in turn an increase in the cost of capital for borrowers. Using a proprietary loan-level data set for U.S. commercial banks, I find that acquiring banks, on average, reduce the spreads on their new commercial and industrial loans after a merger. The reduction in loan spreads is both larger and also more persistent for the smaller acquirers, with total gross assets less than $10 billion. These findings seem to be driven by cost efficiencies due to mergers, since the results are stronger for the sample of acquirers with larger than median declines in their operating costs after their mergers. Moreover, the reduction in spreads is much larger if the acquirer and the target have some geographical overlap of markets before the merger, and, consequently, more potential for cost savings.<br>(cont.) However, if the market overlap is so extensive as to significantly increase market concentration, market power effects dominate and loan spreads, on average increase. The findings are robust to using variation in dates of intrastate banking deregulation as an exogenous instrument for the timing of the in-market mergers. Contrary to what might be expected, bigger acquirers do not impose less favorable pricing terms for small businesses seeking to borrow. Indeed, the reduction in spreads is significant for small loans, showing that small borrowers typically pay lower interest rates to banks that have expanded during the previous few years through mergers. The second chapter models the incentives of banks to undertake "Regulatory Capital Arbitrage" (RCA), under the current capital adequacy rules. RCA is a substitution of high-risk assets for low-risk assets with no requirement to increase their risk-based regulatory capital. I show that in equilibrium banks making risky investments pool with the banks investing safely so that they can be subject to a lower amount of regulatory capital because the risk exposures of banks cannot be precisely measured. The chapter examines whether the proposed "Basel II" regulatory system would be more or less efficient and effective than the current system.<br>(cont.) Under the Basel II rules, banks will have an option to use their own internal risk assessment systems in determining their regulatory capital as long as they satisfy infrastructure requirements of the supervisors. I show that this Internal Ratings-based (IRB) Approach of Basel II can be interpreted as a way of forcing a separating equilibrium, in which good banks that do not pursue unduly risky strategies identify themselves to the regulators and are rewarded with a lower capital requirement. Such a separating equilibrium can only be sustained under an effective supervision system or by giving some incentives to the excessively risk-taking banks to stay in the current system rather than opting into the new IRB approach.<br>by Isil Erel.<br>Ph.D.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 1991.<br>Includes bibliographical references.<br>by Raghuram Govind Rajan.<br>Introduction and overview--Insiders and outsiders, the choice between relationship and armslength debt--Conflict of interest and the separation of commercial and investment banking.<br>Ph.D.

Despite the fact that Indonesia is a predominantly Muslim country, the market share of Islamic banking sector in Indonesia stands around 4 percent in 2011 (Indonesian Central Bank, 2012:127). Although a plethora of study regarding the Indonesian Islamic banking industry has been conducted, not many of them touch the issue of low market share from marketing perspectives. This research aims at exploring and examining the marketing developed and utilised by the Islamic banking industry in Indonesia. In doing so, this study aims at measuring the perceptions, attitudes, and opinions of the participants having accounts in Islamic banks in evaluating various dimensions of Islamic banking marketing in terms of process, consequence and outcome as well as their general perceptions on Islamic finance and banking. The study also aims to evaluate the marketing of Islamic banks through the norms of the Islamic moral economy as well as the perceived practices of marketing activities. During the process of primary data collection, 1063 questionnaires were gathered and were divided into three categories: conventional banking only depositors (412 respondents), dual banking only depositors (523 respondents), and Shari’ah banking only depositors (128 respondents). In addition, interviews were conducted by leading individuals from the Islamic banking industry. Apart from that secondary data collection was also conducted from various secondary sources. In general, one could argue that the three group of respondent share similar demographical characteristics. For Shari’ah banking only depositor, the only difference lies in respondents’ marital status, while for conventional banking only depositor, the difference lies in the income. In addition, almost all respondents prefer to bank with local Shari’ah bank. The primary reason for this is neither nationalism nor Halal and Haram issue, but rather the excellence of the product. In overall, respondents who are married, Muslim, highly educated, and have a domicile in Java are likely to go for Shari’ah bank. Knowledge regarding Shari’ah bank is also explored and it is shown that the amount of particular areas of knowledge gets better as with attachment to Shari’ah bank. Furthermore, respondents’ perceptions on several issues are also presented. In general, respondents perceive Shari’ah bank as positive except when they think that Shari’ah bank is only for the needy. Nevertheless, contrasting opinions could be seen on the perceptions regarding Shari’ah banking product: the more respondents get attached to Shari’ah bank, the more they perceive Shari’ah bank’s depositing product to be competitive. However, the more respondents get attached to Shari’ah bank, the more they perceive Shari’ah bank’s housing and vehicle financing product to be uncompetitive. On the issue of advertisement, the more respondents get attached to Shari’ah bank, the more positive is their opinions towards the statements. Moreover, when asked on the perceptions of advertisement characteristics, all respondents showed encouraging views. The same views are held regarding the actual experience with Shari’ah bank. Finally, the results regarding the perceptions in actual service and advertisement of Shari’ah bank vary across the three respondent groups. In light of these findings, this research proposes that the industry applies greater transparency by having national Shari’ah rating system. In addition, the industry should concentrate more on the non-price aspects. Furthermore, Shari’ah banks should launch more innovative products and communicate those products in accordance to Shari’ah. Moreover, improvement in employees’ salary, training and facilities should be made in order to amplify the quality of service. Also, socialization should be conducted regarding the fact that the industry is not religion-specific.

The scientific problem of the dissertation is search of adequacy of the trading portfolio risk management methods and models to the current economic, technological, and informational circumstances of financial institutions. The main features of science novelty characteristic to this research are the following: (i)the comparative study on Value at Risk estimation methods allowed to make important theoretic conclusion that selection of Value at Risk estimation methods depends mostly on characteristics of the portfolio under investigation; theoretic recommendations regarding selection of Value at Risk estimation methods were suggested as well; (ii) the comparative study on performance of volatility forecasting models allowed to make important theoretic conclusion that selection of Value at Risk estimation methods depends on characteristics of the data under investigation and selected criteria for assessment of forecasting accuracy; in the context of risk management, the priority was given to operational rather than statistical accuracy assessment techniques in the context of risk management; (iii)the comparative study on risk adjustment measures allowed making important theoretic conclusion that selection of risk adjustment measures depends mostly on characteristics of the portfolio under investigation; theoretic recommendations regarding selection of risk adjustment measures were suggested as well.<br>Sparčiai kintant finansinių institucijų veiklos sąlygoms, didėjant finansinių rinkų nepastovumui bei apimčiai, atsirandant vis naujoms finansinėms priemonėms, o kartu su jomis ir naujoms finansinių institucijų rizikos rūšims, ypač išaugo prekybinio portfelio rizikos valdymo poreikis. Prekybinio portfelio rizikos valdymas tampa vis aktualesnis ir Lietuvos finansinėms institucijoms, ypač investicinių bei pensijų fondų valdytojams, investuojantiems į užsienio vertybinius popierius, denominuotus kitomis valiutomis nei litai ar eurai. Prekybinio portfelio rizikos valdymas yra labai aktuali tema ir atskirų šalių centriniams bankams bei tarptautinėms finansų sistemos priežiūros institucijoms.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Economics, 2004.<br>Includes bibliographical references.<br>(cont.) Risk Management have begun implementing strategies to provide commodity price and weather insurance in the developing world. In Chapter 3 (joint with Professor Rob Townsend from the University of Chicago), we examine how shocks to the price of rubber, an important but volatile Thai export commodity, affect the income, consumption and intra-household remittances of rural Thai households. In contrast to related work on rainfall shocks, we find rubber price innovations are not well insured or smoothed--remittances, borrowing and saving play only small roles in ameliorating the effect of these shocks on the consumption of affected households. We argue that differences in the relative persistence of the two types of shocks provide a plausible reason for these divergent findings, drawing on the literature on buffer stock models of consumption behavior and risk sharing with limited commitment.<br>This thesis consists of three essays at the intersection of banking, corporate finance and macroeconomics. Unifying the essays are two themes: firstly a focus on how firms (Chapter 1 and Chapter 2) and individuals (Chapter 3) insure against, and react to, sources of macroeconomic risk; secondly the role of financial institutions in the transmission of macroeconomic shocks. Turning to specifics, Chapter 1 is a theoretical and empirical examination of risk management behavior amongst small and medium sized firms, in particular firms' choices between fixed and adjustable rate loan contracts. (Although theory suggests small, privately held firms should have strong incentives to engage in risk management, such firms are rarely studied in empirical work.) I develop a simple agency model of risk management behavior, and then present several pieces of empirical evidence that suggest small US firms do use the banking system to help manage interest rate risk, based on microeconomic data on bank dependent US firms. Chapter 2 presents evidence that banking relationships are most valuable to firms during periods of tight credit, in the extreme during a 'credit crunch'. Relationships alleviate delegated monitoring costs; when banks are credit constrained, these costs are extreme, so the informational advantage of relationships is magnified. I develop these intuitions using a simple agency model. Empirical evidence, based on data from a survey of manufacturing firms during the Asian financial crisis, supports the thesis. Several pieces of evidence also suggest my empirical results are not driven by the endogenous nature of bank relationship formation. Financial institutions in co-operation with the World Bank and the International Taskforce on Commodity<br>by James Ian Vickery.<br>Ph.D.

The purpose of this project is to design, build, and implement a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system for a bank. CRM BANKING is an online application that caters to strengthening and stabilizing customer relationships in a bank.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2000.<br>Title as it appears in MIT commencement exercises program, June 2000: Franchising of branches in commercial banking<br>In the increasingly competitive environment faced by commercial banks at the retail segment of the market, one of the greatest challenges is to build and maintain an efficient and effective distribution channel, offering a superior quality of services to the customers, with low operational costs and minimum initial investment. Although apparently paradoxical, all these factors are crucial for a bank in getting and sustaining competitive advantage on such a highly competitive market. The focal point of this thesis is the proposition of the franchise system for the network of branches at commercial banks, as a way to dramatically reduce the constraints faced when trying to improve the distribution channel and, as an ultimate consequence, becoming more competitive. I firstly set the backdrop for the thesis in analyzing the importance of the distribution channel on the competitiveness of a commercial bank operating on the retail segment. The conclusion of this analysis is that the traditional model of growth using owned branches and ATM's has two main drawbacks. The first is the lack of flexibility in fitting the channels to the demand. The second is that it does not address the main constraints of growth: free capital to invest in growth and human resources with the desirable profile. With the backdrop set, I propose a set of alternative models of growth that are intended to increase flexibility (and eventually efficiency) of the distribution channels, and mainly to reduce the influence of the constraints on the growth and efficiency. Among these alternative model it is the franchise system. Most of the thesis is devoted to the description of the franchise model for commercial banks, with the relevant operational aspects of the interfaces between the bank and the franchisees, as well as the importance of the design of the incentives in order to fully achieve the potential benefits of the system. Complementing the description of the potential benefits and the risks in adopting the new system, I establish a set of actions to reduce those risks as well as the basic requirements a bank must meet before initiating the process of implementing the franchise system.<br>by Marcelo Maziero.<br>S.M.

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2004.<br>Includes bibliographical references (leaves 112-115).<br>Banking channel management has become a crucial component in the drive for improved efficiency. Since the channel is the interlocutor between customers and products, banks are leveraging their knowledge of channels to efficiently address perfect product portfolio through the most cost-effective and profitable channel. This thesis describes some ideas currently influencing banking channel management strategy and how banks can manage and take advantage of these factors through focusing on efficiency, customer segmentation and channel interaction versus cost structure. It first provides a global perspective of the banking industry through a survey of four regions and countries, and then reviews current trends and strategies applied by banks and consulting firms. On this foundation, it makes recommendations as to how the industry can best adapt to changes in banking channel management in order to remain competitive and efficient.<br>by Renato Teixeira Catalan.<br>S.M.M.O.T.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2012.<br>ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Throughout the years, organisations were known for only reporting on their financial position, but due to stakeholders becoming more informed about the sustainability crisis, organisations realised the importance of moving away from only reporting on financial information and are now also including information about the impact of their activities on the society and environment in which they operate in sustainability reports. King II stipulated that organisations should produce a sustainability report during their reporting period, while King III recommends integrated reporting. Integrated reporting suggests that both the annual and sustainability report should be published at the same time. As a result, King III places a lot of emphasis on the alignment risk, performance, strategy and sustainability. This allows the integrated report to supply all stakeholders with forward looking information, as well as strategic direction. The purpose for this research is to evaluate the extent to which organisation in the banking industry disclose information about their strategy. Information were gathered and analysed to determine where aspects of strategy are disclosed at an above average to excellent level or whether strategy disclosure were lacking or below average. This study specifically focussed on information disclosed in the 2010 annual and sustainability reports of organisations in the banking industry such as Absa, Investec, Nedbank, Standard Bank and FirstRand. The study concluded that the level of disclosure for strategic information in annual and sustainability reports for organisations in the banking industry, is average at 53 percent.

Os avanços tecnológicos, a acirrada concorrência entre as empresas e as frequentes mudanças sociais e mercadológicas impõem uma constante busca por métodos, ferramentas e processos efetivos de gestão empresarial. Há firmas que buscam vantagem competitiva sustentável para se destacarem dos demais players que atuam no mesmo segmento de mercado globalizado. Existem também empresas que adotam estratégias com intuito apenas de sobrevivência do negócio e outras cujo foco é estritamente social, visando o desenvolvimento da sociedade, sustentabilidade ambiental, dentre outros. Dentro deste contexto, as práticas de gestão de portfólio de projetos estão sendo cada vez mais adotadas para melhoria de processos ou desenvolvimento de produtos e serviços inovadores. Um dos principais desafios enfrentados pelas organizações é definir de maneira adequada o processo de priorização dos projetos, objetivando cumprir as diretrizes estratégicas definidas pela alta cúpula administrativa. O objetivo do presente trabalho é identificar como esta priorização ocorre em instituições financeiras brasileiras. Os procedimentos metodológicos utilizados são a pesquisa bibliográfica e de campo, por meio de estudos de casos com quatro bancos brasileiros. Os resultados da pesquisa indicam a prática de priorização de projetos pelo comitê executivo composto por representantes de diversas áreas. Os projetos regulatórios atendem à demandas legais e são considerados prioritários. Espera-se que os resultados encontrados contribuam para o aumento do conhecimento sobre a priorização dos projetos, gerando novas reflexões e questionamentos acerca do gerenciamento de portfólio de projetos no Brasil.<br>The technological advances, the fierce competition among companies and the frequent social and market changes demand a constant search for effective methods, tools and processes of business management. There are firms that look for a sustainable competitive advantage to stand out from the other players that operate in the same globalized market segment. There are also companies that only adopt business survival strategies and others whose focus is strictly social, aiming at the development of society, environmental sustainability, among others. Within this context, project portfolio management practices is being increasingly adopted to improve processes or develop innovative products and services. One of the greatest challenges companies face is to define an appropriate projects prioritization process, to accomplish the strategic goals defined by top management. The objective of this work is to identify how this prioritization occurs in Brazilian financial institutions. The methodological procedures used is mainly bibliographical and field research, through cases studies with four Brazilian banks. The research results present business practices used in project priorization by the executive committee composed of representatives from different areas. Regulatory projects fulfill legal demands and are considered priorities. It is expected that the results should contribute to rise the knowledge about of the prioritization of projects, produzing new questionings about project portfolio management in Brazil.

Includes bibliographical references<br>This paper provides an assessment of Africa's first "bad bank", the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) and its role in resolving non-performing loans (NPLs) in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. It is a case study that primarily investigates the effectiveness of AMCON in addressing the banking crisis in Nigeria based on evidence from different sources ranging from economic indicators to media reports and newspaper interviews. The establishment of AMCON in 2010 helped to resolve the non-performing loans crisis in Nigerian banks, through a transparent removal of toxic assets and by providing the affected banks with a fresh start, while eliciting a minimal moral hazard effect as far as financial institutions were concerned . Other African countries such as Ghana are now considering adopting a similar "bad bank" solution. However, the AMCON solution has been at a considerable cost to the Nigerian taxpayers as AMCON has been running at a huge loss, partly funded by the taxpayer through the government. Data analysed in the study cover the period from 2008 to 2013. The analysis showed that the AMCON solution was successful as the balance - sheet sanitization effort helped to neutralize many of the banking sector 's n on - performing loans, and spurred improvements in the sector's aggregate loan book quality with in its first two years . As at December 2012, AMCON had purchased more than 95% of the banking sector's NPLs, leaving the industry's NPLs at less than 5%. This offered banks a fresh start and the leeway to concentrate on building new and sustainable lending models. This outcome of this study supports prior empirical work which only examined bad banks in developed economies (the US A and Europe) and in the Asia Pacific. It should be noted that the "bad bank" concept is new to Africa and so there is very little empirical work on this topic. This study contributes to the discussion by its exposition on the overall positive trends in Nigeria's banking sector post - crisis and the impressive growth in bank credit , GDP and the equity market after the financial crisis.

The recent extending empirical evidence regarding the power of factor models versus the traditional CAPM has motivated the research in the current thesis. Substantial controversy has been raised over two issues: 1) Are the new factors, market value and book-to-market equity, the most important sources of risk? and 2) Is it time to consider CAPM as a useless model? Effectively, these are the main questions we attempt to address in the current research within a unified framework of firm attributes and more aspects of the econometrical applied approaches. The main findings of the empirical research in this thesis show that, firstly the beta portfolio returns exhibit the highest volatility, confirming thus the beta as the most significant risk source. Secondly, the market portfolio absorbs the excess returns of the majority of value-weighted factor portfolios which is partly attributed to the mitigation of the January effect. In the seasonality area, we identify a strong October effect with high volatility but not high returns, a phenomenon that cannot be explained with a rational story. The re-examination of the Fama and French 1992 model with corrections of econometrical problems and the application of panel data methodology reveals that the sole significant factor over all the candidate variables is the price variable. Yet, even the power of the price factor is eliminating with the application of non-linear systems where the CAPM constraints are directly validated but with a negative sign. However, the presence of negative risk premium is consistent with the valid application of CAPM in a financial world where the occurrence of bad states of world is more frequent than the presence of up markets. Overall, the results of this thesis contribute to a thorough understanding of the factor models' performance which plays a key role in the financial investment decisions. The implication is that the CAPM should be still regarded as the basic financial model in the risk-return management process.

This thesis investigates whether firms use real activities manipulation for income-decreasing earnings management purposes. Managers can use different tools to manage earnings. Given that managers have the authority to apply their own judgment in the preparation of financial reports and to make decision about business activities of their incumbent companies, the opportunity to manipulate earnings is twofold: the first is to manipulate financial reports using accounting techniques and the second is to manipulate underlying transactions. After the introduction of new regulations that were meant to restrict accounting choice as a response to high-profile accounting scandals at the turn of the century, there has been growing literature on the use of real activities manipulation for earnings management. While more control over financial reporting can potentially reduce earnings management through accounting choice, as real activities manipulation concerns non-accounting decisions of management, tighter accounting standards are not able to restrict manipulation of activities. This shift toward real activities manipulation is supported by empirical evidence. Whilst prior studies indicate that managers have incentives for both income-increasing and income-decreasing earnings management, the overwhelming majority of authors have concentrated on income-increasing attempts. However, one would expect that real activities manipulation would also be used for income-decreasing purposes. This study links two lines of research in the area of earnings management; downward earnings management and earnings management through real activities manipulation. Using a large sample of US firms for the period 2002-2011, the present thesis examines whether and how real activities manipulation is used for income-decreasing earnings management. To this end, firms that substantially outperformed their last year performance, or suspect firms, which are considered as more likely to exhibit income-decreasing earnings management are compared with the rest of the sample in terms of various measures of real activities manipulation. The results indicate that firms with extra earnings by the end of third quarter of fiscal year manage earnings downward by means of real activities including sales, production and discretionary expenses. The results are generally robust to a number of sensitivity tests.

Business Administration<br>Ph.D.;<br>My dissertation consists of three essays. The first paper explores the determinants of the share of workers' compensation benefits provided by self-insured employers over the period 1983-2000. We examine hypotheses that the self-insurers' share is determined by industry affiliation, price level, firm size, along with statewide levels of loss severity and frequency. Prior studies have produced mixed results concerning whether self-insurers are primarily high-risk or low-risk. Our panel regression analysis indicates that a positive and statistically reliable relationship exists between self-insurance and the health services sector which is characterized by high nonfatal incidence rates. Our findings put forth evidence that employers in the high-risk health industry are very likely to self-insure. The second article explores the determinants of self-insurance for workers' compensation liability by hospitals. Using cross-sectional hospital data in Pennsylvania, this study examines firm-specific characteristics of self-insurers. The logistic regressions suggest a link between the control type of a hospital and self-insurance. Nonprofit hospitals are more likely to self-insure, while for-profit hospitals prefer market insurance. Aside from large size, self-insured hospitals are associated with concentration of businesses within a state and the self-insurance pattern of their competitors. The prevalence of self-insurance among hospitals provides evidence that high-risk employers tend to choose alternative risk transfer. The decision to self-insure can be isolated from residual market arguments. The third investigates whether insurance activities (underwriting and agency) enhance the financial performance of financial holding companies (FHCs). Stiroh and Rumble (2006) and Yeager et al. (2007) have argued that extension of banking to non-banking activities provides no diversification benefits for FHCs eligible to consolidate banking and insurance services. Using quarterly panel observations of 510 FHCs over the period 2003-2005, we obtain two main results: First, when we employ the aggregate non-interest income as a measure of expansion, risk-adjusted return of FHCs is positively associated with a shift toward non-interest activities. Second, when we disaggregate the sample by FHC size, risk-adjusted return is positively associated with insurance agency activities in small-sized FHCs and positively associated with insurance underwriting activities in large-sized FHCs. An implication of our finding is that both small and large FHCs can reap diversification benefits as long as they choose the right niche.<br>Temple University--Theses

Sweden is a country that stands out in terms of attracting highly skilled workers and having a large number of young firms. However, with the young age and specifically put in a concrete context of the COVID-19 pandemic, young firms may face the risk of losses due to a lack of funds to maintain or having volatile financial sources.  Therefore, this thesis tries to provide insights on the relation between knowledge management activities (KMAs) and financial performance in young firms from 5 to 10 years old in Sweden. In other words, the thesis aims to understand how young firms in Sweden have implemented KMAs inside their firms. More specifically, striving to determine which knowledge management enablers influence KMAs, what kinds of KMAs young firms are applying, and at what level those kinds of activities impact young firms’ financial performance. A mixed-method approach has been selected to utilize both qualitative and quantitative methods. Together with semi-structured interviews, Exploratory Sequential Design is applied in the thesis, which enables defining the impact of KMAs on the financial performance of young firms in Sweden and the availability of the presented conceptual framework in practice.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2013.<br>ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The convergence of the Internet, wireless technologies, and mobile devices has led to the development of a new paradigm of transacting, namely, mobile commerce. Because banking activities are easily digitised and automated, banks have seized the mobile transacting opportunity and have developed cellphone banking applications that allow more flexibility for bank clients than internet banking in terms of anywhere, anytime banking. For banks, considering the benefits associated with multi-channel customers, the ideal situation would be that bank clients using internet banking also adopt and continue to use cellphone banking in the future. Therefore, to assist marketing managers with the development of marketing strategies to enhance the concurrent use of internet and cellphone banking, this study investigates the influence of internet banking cognitive evaluations on the perceived usefulness and the perceived ease of use of cellphone banking in the formation of the intention to use and the continuance of use intention of cellphone banking. A literature review revealed that two consumer behaviour theories can guide crosschannel cognitive evaluations between the internet banking and cellphone banking channel namely, expectation-transfer theory and status quo bias theory. In the context of this study, expectation-transfer theory can explain cross-channel evaluative synergies from the internet banking channel to the cellphone banking channel, as well as dissynergies; whilst status quo bias underpins only evaluative dissynergies. These theories point to internet banking beliefs that could influence the perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness of cellphone banking. Based on the literature review, a conceptual model was developed of the formation of intention to use and the continuance of use intention of cellphone banking in an internet banking context. To assess the validity of the model empirically, data were collected from 678 users of only internet banking and 491 users of both internet and cellphone banking. The data collected in the empirical phase of the study were analysed using the structural equations modelling (SEM) software program AMOS 20.0. The results revealed that the perceived convenience and time saving of internet banking positively influence the perceived usefulness of cellphone banking for the users of both internet and cellphone banking. On the other hand, only the perceived convenience of internet banking influenced the cellphone banking usefulness perceptions of the users of only internet banking. Furthermore, internet banking trust and risk perceptions only influenced the cellphone banking usefulness perceptions of the users of only internet banking. Expectation-transfer in both cohorts was also confirmed between the ease of use perceptions of internet banking and the perceived ease of use of cellphone banking. The results also confirmed that internet banking facilitating conditions negatively influence the perceived usefulness of cellphone banking (evidence of status quo bias). The theoretical contribution of the study is apparent at three different levels. Firstly, the conceptual model of cross-channel cognitive evaluations extends the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) with beliefs of a related technology as the determinants of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. Secondly, the study provides more insights into how cross-channel cognitive evaluations influence the formation of intention to use and the continuance of use intention of cellphone banking. And lastly, the study identifies additional sources of expectation-transfer and status-quo bias in the multichannel marketing context. The study provides valuable insights into internet – cellphone banking multi-channel consumer behaviour that should be considered by managers in the development of cellphone banking marketing strategies. To facilitate the conversion from internet banking to the concurrent usage of internet and cellphone banking, managers of cellphone banking services must ensure that the internet banking service is reliable and risk free. Equally important, cellphone banking must be marketed as a complementary channel to internet banking. In other words, the usefulness of cellphone banking must be emphasised in situations when the bank client is not near a computer to do internet banking or when he/she does not have the time or money to use a computer for internet banking. And lastly, to enhance the adoption of cellphone banking marketing communications must emphasise the similarities between internet and cellphone banking so that expectation-transfer between the two channels can influence behavioural intentions to adopt cellphone banking. Based on the results of the study, several recommendations can be made to enhance the continuance of use of cellphone banking. Firstly, marketing communications must remind the concurrent users of internet and cellphone banking of why they are using cellphone banking. The most important reason to remind them of is the usefulness of cellphone banking in situations where there is a lack of internet banking facilitating conditions. Marketing managers should also take note that cellphone banking users do not draw on internet banking trust and risk perceptions to form perceptions of the usefulness of cellphone banking. It may be that they only consider trust and risk perceptions directly related to cellphone banking. This conclusion emphasises the importance of cellphone banking trust and risk perceptions in cellphone banking continuance of use behaviour. Finally, the study quantified the influence of internet banking cognitive evaluations on the formation of intention to use and the continuance of use intention of cellphone banking. Considering this result, the study provides valuable information for marketing managers of cellphone services. The methodology employed can also guide future studies exploring cross-channel evaluations in a multi-channel marketing context.<br>AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die sameloop van maklike toegang tot die Internet, die ontwikkeling van draadlose tegnologieë en die beskikbaarheid van mobiele toestelle het gelei tot ʼn nuwe transaksieparadigma, naamlik mobiele handel. Aangesien bankaktiwiteite maklik digitiseer en outomatiseer, het banke die mobiele verrigtingsgeleentheid aangegryp en selfoonbankaanwendings ontwikkel wat vir bankkliënte meer buigsaamheid as internetbankdienste inhou wat ‘enige plek, enige tyd’ bankwese betref. Gegewe die voordele van multikanaal gebruik, is die ideaal vir banke dat kliënte wat internetbankdienste gebruik, ook selfoonbankdienste aanvaar en in die toekoms bly gebruik. Met die oog daarop om bemarkingsbestuurders by te staan in die ontwikkeling van bemarkingstrategieë om die gelyktydige gebruik van internet- en selfoonbankdienste te bevorder, ondersoek hierdie studie die invloed van kognitiewe evaluerings oor internetbankwese op die waargenome nuttigheid en waargenome maklike gebruik van selfoonbankdienste in die vorming van die gebruiksvoorneme en voortgesette gebruiksvoorneme ten opsigte van selfoonbankdienste. ʼn Literatuuroorsig het getoon dat twee verbruikersgedragsteorieë kruiskanaal kognitiewe evaluerings tussen die internetbankkanaal en selfoonbankkanaal kan voorlig, naamlik, Verwagtingsoordragteorie (“Expectation-transfer Theory”) en Status Quo Vooroordeel Teorie (“Status Quo Bias Theory”). In die konteks van hierdie studie kan Verwagtingsoordragteorie kruiskanaalevalueringsinergieë en dissinergieë van die internetbankkanaal na die selfoonbankkanaal toe verduidelik, terwyl Status Quo Vooroordeel Teorie slegs evaluerende dissinergieë stut. Hierdie teorieë belig internetbankoortuigings wat die waargenome nuttigheid en waargenome maklike gebruik van selfoonbankdienste kan beïnvloed. ʼn Konseptuele model van die vorming van die gebruiksvoorneme en voortgesette gebruiksvoorneme van selfoonbankdienste in ʼn internetbankkonteks is op grond van die literatuuroorsig ontwikkel. Met die oog daarop om die geldigheid van die model empiries te bepaal, is data van 678 gebruikers van slegs internet bankdienste en 491 gebruikers van internet sowel as selfoonbankdienste ingesamel. Die data wat tydens die empiriese fase van die studie ingesamel is, is met behulp van die strukturele vergelykingsmodelleringsagtewareprogram (“structural equations modelling” (SEM)) AMOS 20.0 analiseer. Volgens die resultate het die waargenome gerieflikheid en tydbesparing van internetbankwese die waargenome nuttigheid van selfoonbankdienste positief beïnvloed by gebruikers van beide internet en selfoonbankdienste. Hierteenoor het slegs die waargenome gerieflikheid van internetbankdienste die selfoonbankdiensnuttigheidswaarnemings van gebruikers van slegs internetbankdienste beïnvloed. Verder het internetbankdiensvertroue en risikowaarnemings slegs die selfoonbankdiensnuttigheid van die gebruikers van slegs internetbankdienste beïnvloed. Verwagtingsoordrag in beide kohorte is ook bevestig tussen die maklike gebruik persepsies van internetbankdienste en die waargenome maklike gebruik van selfoonbankdienste. Die resultate bevestig ook dat internetbankfasiliteringsomstandighede die waargenome nuttigheid van selfoonbankdienste negatief beïnvloed (manifestering van status quo vooroordeel). Die teoretiese bydrae van die studie blyk op drie vlakke. Eerstens brei die konseptuele model van kruiskanaal kognitiewe evaluerings die Tegnologie Aanvaardingsmodel (“Technology Acceptance Model” (TAM)) uit ten opsigte van oortuigings oor ʼn verwante tegnologie as die bepalers van waargenome nuttigheid en waargenome maklike gebruik. Die studie bied tweedens ook insigte in hoe kruiskanaal kognitiewe evaluerings die vorming van gebruiksvoorneme en voortgesette gebruiksvoorneme van selfoonbankdienste beïnvloed. Die studie identifiseer laastens ook addisionele verwagtingsoordrag- en status quo vooroordeel bronne in die multikanaalbemarkingskonteks. Die studie bied waardevolle insig oor internet – selfoonbankmultikanaal-verbruikersgedrag wat bestuurders in die ontwikkeling van selfoonbank-diensbemarkingstrategieë moet oorweeg. Om die oorskakeling van internetbankdienste na die gelyktydige gebruik van internet en selfoonbankdienste te fasiliteer, moet bestuurders van selfoonbankdienste verseker dat internetbankdienste betroubaar en risikovry is. Wat net so belangrik is, is dat selfoonbankwese as ʼn komplementêre kanaal tot internet bankwese bemark moet word. Die nuttigheid van selfoonbankwese moet, met ander woorde, beklemtoon word in situasies waar die kliënt nie naby ʼn rekenaar is vir internetbankgebruik nie of wanneer hy/sy nie die geld of tyd het om ʼn rekenaar vir internetbankdienste te gebruik nie. Laastens, om die aanvaarding van selfoonbankwese te versterk, moet bemarkingskommunikasiemateriaal die ooreenkomste tussen internet en selfoonbankwese op so ʼn wyse beklemtoon dat verwagtingsoordrag tussen die twee kanale gedragsvoornemens om selfoonbankdienste te aanvaar, beïnvloed. Verskeie aanbevelings spruit voort uit die resultate oor hoe die voortgesette gebruik van selfoonbankdienste verhoog kan word. Eerstens moet bemarkingskommunikasieboodskappe die gelyktydige gebruikers van internet en selfoonbankwese herinner waarom hulle selfoonbankdienste gebruik. Die belangrikste rede in hierdie verband is die nuttigheid van selfoonbankwese in situasies waar internetbankfasiliteringsomstandighede afwesig is. Bemarkingsbestuurders moet ook in ag neem dat selfoonbankgebruikers nie op internetbankvertroue en risikowaarnemings steun om persepsies oor die nuttigheid van selfoonbankwese te vorm nie. Hulle oorweeg waarskynlik net vertroue en risikopersepsies wat direk met selfoonbankdienste verband hou. Hierdie gevolgtrekking beklemtoon die belangrikheid van vertroue in selfoonbankdienste en riskowaarnemings in voortgesette selfoonbankgebruikgedrag. Laastens, die studie kwantifiseer die invloed van kognitiewe evaluering oor internetbankwese in die vorming van selfoonbankwese gebruiksvoorneme en voortgesette gebruiksvoorneme. Veral in die lig van hierdie resultaat bied die studie waardevolle inligting vir selfoonbankdiensbemarkingsbestuurders. Die metodes wat gebruik is, kan ook verdere studies waarin kruiskanaalevaluerings in ʼn multikanaal-bemarkingskonteks ondersoek word, rig.

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2004.<br>Includes bibliographical references (leaves 151-152).<br>The banking industry is known to have certainty only about uncertainty, change is only constant in adopting the technologies for developing innovative products and services, and yet the opportunities of arbitrage are everywhere including in economical settings and business strategies. The retail banking industry will be analyzed to understand why some banks make sustainable profits while others are less successful. We will analyze what business strategies would best work for such dynamic industry even as banking appears to be a commodity business. A systematic study will be set out to model the dynamics of different positioning of Delta Model and the effect of the underlying interactions. We will walk through the analysis of why the innovation along with the customer targeting and the operational effectiveness are crucial to implement the right business strategies. We also study banking case studies relevant to the business strategies. Finally, we present the conclusions with some recommendations in order for banks to thrive in the industry for years to come during both war times and peace times.<br>by Harry Reddy.<br>S.M.M.O.T.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2003.<br>Includes bibliographical references (leaves 69-77).<br>This paper was written acknowledging that technology has become an indispensable part of banking and its purpose is to analyze the effects of technology in the retail bank-client service delivery and will only refer to the back-office aspect of banking (and related technologies) as it becomes necessary to support the arguments or descriptions, therefore depth regarding this area will be intentionally limited. The paper is organized in 5 chapters. Chapter 1, Retail Banking Industry, definition and analysis. This chapter defines "retail banking" for the purpose of the paper, and presents a value chain and a five forces analysis to determine where technology could be more beneficial for the retail banks. Chapter 2, Non-financial competitors, discusses examples of existing and potential technology enabled non-financial firms to offer financial services ranging from just an information source to full blown payment channel. Chapter 3, Analysis of Relevant Technologies, brings some perspective on how technologies already adopted by end-users could be used (or are already been used) to deliver banking services. It also presents statistics about these technologies and a brief discussion on how consumers have changed their behaviors to embrace these new technologies. Some of these technologies are payment cards, mobile communication devices, internet, software agents and telematics Chapter 4, Security and Privacy Concerns, due to the nature of the products and services in the banking industry, the issue of security and privacy are extremely important and they enhance or hinder consumer adoption of new technologies. That is why these concerns will be discussed in a separate chapter. Chapter 5, Putting it All Together, building on the information gathered in the previous 4 chapters this fifth chapter presents a potential scenario of how these technologies could change the way we will do banking in the near future.<br>by Ernesto Borbon.<br>S.M.

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2003.<br>Includes bibliographical references (leaves 108-110).<br>This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.<br>In this study, we investigate and discuss IT investment and related issues in the Japanese banking industry. And we insist that banks should take account of technology trend as one of heavy IT users and switch long-term-strategy and IT-migration-strategy appropriately in order to make the best of IT. First of all, we show some back grounds of Japanese banking industry and IT revolution. Next, we show three case studies of a Japanese bank. We will find that, over the last ten years, Japanese banks have been struggling with deregulation, the IT revolution and the long resection of the Japanese economy. These external changes have made corporate strategies and traditional information systems are obsolete and inefficient. After then, we analyze IT investment allocation issues in the banking industry. As summary of our analysis, we show some key success factors and recommendation to a Japanese bank. Finally, Japanese banks should always consider Long-Term Strategy with a long-time viewpoint; during the period of IT migration, they should find a path in which they should follow based on IT Migration Strategy.<br>by Tatsuya Taniai.<br>S.M.M.O.T.

A study on corporate leadership failure in America by Vugt and Ronay has shown that the failure rate of business leadership in meeting profitability targets is as high as 60%. Most organizations fail to attain profitability targets due to limited experience and exposure to strategic leadership. The aim of this single case study design was to explore the role of strategic leadership in banking profitability. Twelve purposively selected senior bankers and members of the board of directors with over 10 years of experience in banking and profitability and 3 years in the top management team participated in the study in western Tanzania. The resource-based view framed the discussion regarding strategic leadership skills needed to enhance banking profitability. Data were collected through semistructured interviews using open-ended questions to elicit in-depth responses from the participants. Other data sources included social media, company websites, and annual reports. The modified van Kaam approach was used in the data analysis. Meaningful statements were grouped into larger units to form themes. Findings confirmed that strategic leadership skills development had an important influence on banking profitability. Five themes emerged from the study results including strategic leadership and organization performance, planning, risk management, training and skills development, and the unique resources. Findings may also help to improve banking profitability, create employment, and contribute to social change to the poor and unbanked communities in Tanzania.

This thesis focuses on the study of the complexity of entities in the US banking sector. To this end, three lines of research are pursued in this thesis. We start with an investigation analysing the importance of strategic fit for post-M&A performance, which is one of the necessary prior steps for a financial institution to become complex. Second, we extend our investigation to analyse the effectiveness of the Dodd-Frank Act. 2010 to control the risk and non-traditional banking activities of complex bank holding companies. This law is considered one of the main avenues for the US government to control the continuously growing complexity of financial institutions. Lastly, we explore the influence of the complexity of banks on the composition of their board according to the degree of busyness of board members in terms of sitting on other boards. Using different econometric approaches and different samples, we present robust evidence for several findings. Firstly, strategic fit plays a key role as a performance enhancing factor for banks that decide to expand their market and/or diversify their products portfolio through pursuing merger deals. The subsequent analysis finds that the Dodd-Frank Act. 2010 has distinct effects on the risk and non-banking activities among the different types of complex BHCs. Moreover, we present differences between large and consolidated BHCs in their “shadow” banking activities following the enactment of this law. Furthermore, we observe that banks continue increasing their proportions of independent directors. However, banks require independent board members with fewer commitments from outside boards. Lastly, the busyness degree of the executive board members is related to the organisational complexity between banks and their subsidiaries. The empirical results give rise to numerous important policy implications. The supervision of a proper degree of strategic fit in key aspects between merging entities before a merger approval might increase the probability to achieve positive post-mergers outputs and reduce early bailouts that affect local economies. Furthermore, the recent re-regulatory changes have achieve to partially increase the stability of BHCs in which policy makers should consider the nature of complexity to have a better control of their risk, especially placing limits on their risky non-traditional banking activities. Finally, it has highlighted the importance of laws, related to the appointment of the board members, to take into account the individual complexity of each banking institution.

<p> As the need for cost-efficient, talented teams continues to grow, leaders often consider the use of globally dispersed teams, also defined as virtual teams. Despite the apparent benefits, the unique needs of virtual team members are often overlooked in general leadership, change management, and retention discussions. Leaders need to understand contributing factors to the attrition of virtual workers. The foundation for this research included theories of employee retention and change management. The research question for this qualitative phenomenological study focused on the lived experiences of current or former virtual financial services workers regarding job retention. Participants were chosen using purposeful sampling resulting in the selection of 15 individuals who had worked on a virtual financial services team within the past 3 years. The researcher used open-ended interview questions to report the lived experiences of virtual team members related to attrition, retention, and change. The researcher used the phenomenological descriptive approach for the analysis. A combination of hand coding and coding software revealed recurring themes. Themes from the results of the study included challenges of the virtual environment, leadership improvements, productivity impacts resulting from disengagement of the leader, and improvement of communication strategies. Suggestions for further research include frequency of communication, leadership training, team member selection, and further theory development for virtual leaders. The impact to positive social change occurs when virtual workers are satisfied in their role, thus impacting their ability to provide for their family, engage more frequently in activities within their community, and contribute to the success of the company.</p><p>

Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Glasgow, 1994.<br>Ph.D. thesis submitted to the Department of Management Studies, University of Glasgow, 1994. Includes bibliographical references. Print version also available.

An ethical organizational environment ensures a trustworthy organization. This case study explored strategies that banking managers in the United Arab Emirates used to create an ethical organizational environment, one that emphasized the inclusion of ethical values, moral principles, and commitment to society. The target population included senior managers who created and implemented strategies to ensure employees adopted the ethical values in pursuit of an ethical environment. Ethical climate theory provided the conceptual framework for this study. Interviews with 5 managers and company documentation contributed the data for this research. Data were analyzed following inductive investigation and case description. Connecting corporate values with measurable indicators emerged as the most prominent strategy among these 5 managers. Translating soft value statements into hard performance factors allowed for the creation of an ethical environment that signaled consistent messages about appropriate behavior. Employee engagement was another prominent finding. Providing opportunities for informal interaction allowed employees to establish relationships and facilitated cross-functional collaboration. Other important strategies were related to maintaining transparency and leadership role-modeling. Implications for positive social change include the potential to regain trust in banking by providing banking managers with a guideline to create an ethical organizational environment.

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2004.<br>Includes bibliographical references (leaf 132).<br>In this study, I identify and discuss innovation strategies for the Japanese banking industry, with special focus on the R&D process through which banks are seeking to create new e-business opportunities. Traditionally, it was thought to be difficult to undertake well-organized R&D activities in a service industry because the intangible nature of banking services made it difficult to conduct R&D in a typical laboratory setting. Therefore, many service firms did not organize formal R&D activities. Furthermore, Japanese banks faced environmental obstacles to innovation, including government regulations, non-performing loans, and legacy assets that were difficult to abandon, such as the backbone banking system supported by major mainframe architecture. Today, emerging Internet technologies are at last triggering R&D activities among Japanese banks, and they are achieving some success in this field. This thesis identifies empirical R&D methods that have become more commonly used by Japanese banks, as well as the problems encountered in the effort to generate creative and effective ideas, screen them, perform trial-and-error iterations, and manage tests on real-life situations to gain customer input. I identify four factors that can help banks achieve innovation: managing institutional matters, managing legacy assets, acquiring a better understanding of customer needs, and organizing reality tests early to obtain feedback and make appropriate responses. The thesis begins by introducing some formal, empirical R&D methods. Next, I describe the business and technology environment of the Japanese banking industry, and depict the difficult situations that hamper innovation in the industry. Then, I review various organizational issues facing<br>(cont.) R&D in banking, followed by an analysis of the actual R&D processes taken in actual cases undertaken by the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi.<br>by Yasushi Iguchi.<br>S.M.M.O.T.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2004.<br>Includes bibliographical references (leaves 86-89).<br>Since the collapse of the bubble economy in 1990, Japanese securities houses have suffered serious damage and have not been able to keep up with the progress of the global investment banking industry. During this period, foreign investment banks have grown rapidly, diversified the coverage of business, and expanded to the global market. Japanese investment banks were first developed in the late 1990s, after the "lost decade". They have competed with Japanese and foreign rivals mainly in the domestic market. This thesis explores both the external and internal strategic challenges confronting a Japanese investment bank seeking to survive and become a global player in the industry. First it confirms the findings of a recent stuffy of the Japanese investment banking industry and then explores two key lessons learned from historical experience in U.K. and U.S. financial markets. The current policy of Japanese government is also reviewed. With regard to the analysis of future challenges of Japanese investment banks, this thesis employs the game approach to understanding external challenges while the learning approach is applied to better understand internal challenges.<br>by Yasutaka Suehiro.<br>S.M.

by Lok Ka Chiu, Wong Huck Keung.<br>Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1995.<br>Includes bibliographical references (leaves 121-122).<br>ABSTRACT --- p.ii<br>ACKNOWLEDGEMENT --- p.iv<br>TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.v<br>LIST OF TABLES --- p.ix<br>Chapter<br>Chapter 1. --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1<br>Chapter 1.1 --- Scope and Objectives --- p.1<br>Chapter 1.1.1 --- Evaluation and Control of Risks --- p.2<br>Chapter 1.1.2 --- Measurement of Performance of Treasury Activities in a Dealing Room --- p.4<br>Chapter 1.2 --- Methodology and Sources of Information --- p.6<br>Chapter 2. --- EVALUATION AND CONTROL OF RISKS --- p.8<br>Chapter 2.1 --- Scope of Risk Management --- p.12<br>Chapter 2.1.1 --- Board and Senior Management Oversight --- p.14<br>Chapter 2.1.2 --- Independent Risk Management and Control Functions --- p.16<br>Chapter 2.1.3 --- "Integration of People, System and Organisation" --- p.17<br>Chapter 2.2 --- Risk Management Process --- p.18<br>Chapter 2.2.1 --- Risk Management --- p.19<br>Chapter 2.2.2 --- Limit Control System --- p.21<br>Chapter 2.2.3 --- Reporting System --- p.22<br>Chapter 2.2.4 --- Management Evaluation and Review --- p.22<br>Chapter 2.3 --- Various Types of Risks --- p.24<br>Chapter 2.3.1 --- Market Risk Management --- p.24<br>Chapter 2.3.1.1 --- Mark to Market Evaluation --- p.25<br>Chapter 2.3.1.2 --- """Worst Reasonable Case"" Scenario / ""Stress"" Scenario Analysis" --- p.26<br>Chapter 2.3.2 --- Liquidity Risk Management --- p.29<br>Chapter 2.3.2.1 --- Controlling the Liquidity Risks --- p.30<br>Chapter 2.3.3 --- Credit Risk Management --- p.30<br>Chapter 2.3.3.1 --- Limiting / Controlling Credit Risk --- p.31<br>Chapter 2.3.3.2 --- Credit Risk Limit --- p.31<br>Chapter 2.3.4 --- Operation Risk Management --- p.31<br>Chapter 2.3.4.1 --- Proper Management and System Support --- p.32<br>Chapter 2.3.4.2 --- Proper Internal and Operational Control --- p.33<br>Chapter 2.3.5 --- Legal Risk Management --- p.34<br>Chapter 2.3.5.1 --- Enforceability of Agreements --- p.34<br>Chapter 2.3.5.2 --- Making Use of Netting Agreements --- p.35<br>Chapter 2.4 --- Internal Control and Audit --- p.35<br>Chapter 2.4.1 --- Internal Audit Activities --- p.36<br>Chapter 3. --- PREVAILING MARKET FOCUS ON RISK MANAGMENT --- p.37<br>Chapter 3.1 --- Management Supervision and Internal Control System within Local --- p.38<br>Chapter 3.1.1 --- Branch and Additional Monitoring at Head Office<br>Chapter 3.1.2 --- Client Suitability and Risk Disclosure --- p.39<br>Chapter 3.1.3 --- Resources to Support Existing Range of Treasury Products --- p.39<br>Chapter 3.2 --- A Central Banker's View on Derivatives --- p.40<br>Chapter 4. --- THE CASE OF AN INTERNATIONAL BANK IN HONG KONG RE: EVALUATION AND CONTROL OF RISK --- p.43<br>Chapter 4.1 --- Overview of Activities of the Chosen Bank --- p.44<br>Chapter 4.2 --- Reasons for Choosing one Particular Bank for this Case Study --- p.46<br>Chapter 4.3 --- Organisational Structure of Global Control Department --- p.47<br>Chapter 4.4 --- Risk Control System of the Chosen Bank --- p.47<br>Chapter 4.4.1 --- Board and Senior Management Oversight --- p.47<br>Chapter 4.4.2 --- Independent Risk Management and Control Function --- p.49<br>Chapter 4.4.3 --- Risk Management --- p.49<br>Chapter 4.4.3.1 --- Description of Risk Management Systems --- p.50<br>Chapter 4.4.3.2 --- Limits for each type of risks involved in its treasury activities --- p.53<br>Chapter 4.4.4 --- Operational Risk Management --- p.57<br>Chapter 4.4.5 --- Legal Risk --- p.57<br>Chapter 4.4.6 --- Internal Control and Audit --- p.59<br>Chapter 4.5 --- Problems in Implementing Sound Control System --- p.60<br>Chapter 4.5.1 --- Limited Human Resources --- p.60<br>Chapter 4.5.2 --- Powerful Risk Analytical Tools too costly for an individual branch --- p.60<br>Chapter 4.5.3 --- Management Philosophy Biased towards Profit Making --- p.61<br>Chapter 4.5.4 --- Necessary Skills in Control Department are in Short Supply --- p.61<br>Chapter 4.5.5 --- Time Lag in Coping with Fast Growing Market Development --- p.62<br>Chapter 4.6 --- Suggested Areas for Further Improvement --- p.63<br>Chapter 4.6.1 --- Change in Management's attitude and philosophy towards risk Management --- p.63<br>Chapter 4.6.2 --- Setting up of Independent Control and Reporting Channel --- p.63<br>Chapter 4.6.3 --- More Rigorous Management Supervision --- p.64<br>Chapter 4.6.4 --- Upgrade the Status and Delegate more authority to the Control Staff --- p.64<br>Chapter 4.6.5 --- Training and Development of Existing Staff --- p.65<br>Chapter 4.6.6 --- Explore the Benefits of Netting Arrangements --- p.65<br>Chapter 4.6.7 --- Modify the Bonus System for Traders --- p.65<br>Chapter 4.6.8 --- Follow the Market Trend towards more Disclosure to Customers --- p.66<br>Chapter 4.6.9 --- Installation of Value-at-risk Evaluation Model for Complex Products --- p.66<br>Chapter 5. --- MEASUREMENT OF PERFORMANCE OF TREASURY ACTIVITIES IN A DEALING ROOM --- p.68<br>Chapter 5.1 --- Principles for Performance Measurement --- p.69<br>Chapter 5.2 --- Other Important Aspects of Performance Measurement From a Practical Perspective --- p.73<br>Chapter 5.3 --- Dealers' General Attitude towards Performance Targets --- p.77<br>Chapter 5.4 --- Possibilities of Over-exaggeration of Trading Results / Hiding of Losses --- p.78<br>Chapter 5.5 --- Actions to be Taken by Banks to Reduce the above Risks --- p.79<br>Chapter 6. --- THE CASE OF AN INTERNATIONAL BANK IN HONG KONG RE : MEASUREMENT OF PERFORMANCE OF TREASURY ACTIVITIES IN A DEALING ROOM --- p.81<br>Chapter 6.1 --- Situation before Implementation of New Computer System --- p.81<br>Chapter 6.2 --- Current Situation --- p.84<br>Chapter 6.3 --- Reasons for Inability to Measure the Performance of Treasury Activities Satisfactorily --- p.91<br>Chapter 6.4 --- Suggested Areas for Further Improvements --- p.94<br>Chapter 7. --- PRACTICES OF OTHER FOREIGN BANKS IN HONG KONG --- p.97<br>Chapter 7.1 --- General Situation --- p.97<br>Chapter 7.2 --- Current Practices of Some Active Players --- p.99<br>Chapter 7.2.1 --- Overall View on Dealing Room Activies of these Banks --- p.100<br>Chapter 7.2.2 --- Policies and Procedures on Risk Management --- p.100<br>Chapter 7.2.3 --- Independent Risk Managment Unit --- p.100<br>Chapter 7.2.4 --- Risk Management --- p.101<br>Chapter 7.2.5 --- Dealings in Derivatives with Customers --- p.101<br>Chapter 7.2.6 --- Involvement of Internal Auditors --- p.102<br>Chapter 7.2.7 --- Performance Measurement --- p.102<br>Chapter 8. --- CONCLUSION --- p.103<br>APPENDIX 1. Summary of Response on Questionnarie --- p.108<br>APPENDIX 2 . Brief Background Information --- p.115<br>APPENDIX 3 . Procedure Manual on Benchmark Rates --- p.116<br>BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.121<br>GLOSSARY --- p.123

碩士<br>銘傳大學<br>財務金融學系碩士班<br>95<br>Domestic banks aggressively pursued and developed nontraditional activities in light of impacts from both financial liberation and narrowing of traditional bank loan-deposit spread. Studies from Rogers (1998) uncovered that, there were significant improvements observed in both cost and profit efficiencies for banks practicing nontraditional activities. Hence, this thesis is to explore whether the domestic bank financial performance is affected through engaging in nontraditional activities. And for banks that are grouped based on levels of participation in nontraditional activities, this research also explore factors that are conducive to elevate financial performance, in addition to facilitate bank mounting nontraditional activities. This research adopts 30 domestic commercial banks as study subjects in the duration between 1997 and 2004. And “panel data Stochastic Frontier Approach” is employed to calculate cost efficiency and profit efficiency, in conjunction with “panel data threshold regression model” which is used to objectively group the sampling data. This research also intends to probe whether significant differences exist among samples from different groupings. This research summarizes verified findings as follow: 1. 15 out of 30 sample banks are improved in cost or profit efficiency after pursuing nontraditional activities. Thus, engaging in nontraditional activities definitely affect financial performance. 2. For banks that are high on the percentage of nontraditional activities, the lower the percentage of nonperforming loans and financial capital rate in addition to non-affiliated to financial holdings, the better the financial performance will be. As for banks that are low on the percentage of nontraditional activities, the larger the magnitude, the higher the financial capital rate, or the time and duration that the market interest rates are up, the better the financial performance will be. 3. For banks that are high in the percentage of nontraditional activities, the more the number of bank branch and ATM, the higher the financial capital rate and liquid asset to total asset rate will be. And for private banks, the lower the ratio for core deposits to assets, the better the nontraditional activities for banks will perform. As for banks that are low in the percentage of nontraditional activities, their nontraditional activities will significantly increase under the conditions of higher consumer loan, bigger the bank magnitude, more ATMs, higher the rate of liquid assets to total assets or lower the rate of core deposits to assets, the net interest margins and the rate of nonperforming loans.