Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Moral and ethical aspects of Investment banking'

The growth of the managed investment industry brings with it the potential for institutional investors to exert their influence on boards of listed companies to deliver strong and sustainable growth. The concepts of socially responsible investment (SRI), responsible investment (RI) or ethical investment (EI) have become part of mainstream investment practices in many financial markets. While SRI is largely a qualitative concept, its survival and adoption by the mainstream investment community may, in part, be due to the formalising of its concepts into language that investors, asset managers and analysts can more readily understand: the benchmark index. SRI indices may hold the key to attracting attention to ESG issues in listed corporates and to help bring about positive outcomes in sustainable development. Figures show SRI investments in emerging markets are minimal when compared to those in developed markets but emerging markets hold great potential for growth and development of these tools. This research develops a tool for bringing together social construction theory and stakeholder theory in understanding the construction of SRI Indices and in development of new indices. The core of this research is an analysis of SRI indices in three major emerging markets of Hong Kong, India and China, together with an analysis of different perspectives of SRI in Asia. The purpose is to identify opportunities to building SRI indices through a stakeholder engagement approach. The research was conducted over several phases between October 2008 and August 2010 and can be defined by three different studies: 1. a comparative study on SRI indices and their ESG criteria; 2. a comparative study on SRI indices and their stakeholder engagement approach; and 3. an analysis on the feasibility of building SRI indices in Asian markets. The findings from the three studies indicate three main arguments. First, ESG assessment and criteria of SRI indices does have an impact on the creditability and value of the SRI indices. Due to the lack of transparency on the ESG assessment and criteria, SRI investors and other stakeholder groups are deterred from adopting SRI indices as SRI tool. Second, stakeholder engagement is essential for SRI indices. And lastly, SRI indices in emerging markets, especially in the three studied markets, are attractive to both global and local SRI investors; however, these SRI indices need to include local ESG contexts to reflect the actual ESG concerns of the societies and avoid blindly following developed markets’ SRI index model, which in the end become unrealistic and unpopular to investors and stakeholder groups. We recommend that stakeholder engagement in index criteria and corporate assessment be widened and deepened; that governments and stock exchanges can play a pivotal role in SRI development and should take the lead. We also recommend that SRI indices strengthen the institution of corporate research to rely less on secondary data when making their corporate assessments.
published_or_final_version
Kadoorie Institute
Doctoral
Doctor of Philosophy

This thesis includes four essays, of which each comprises two original contributions. Based on this thesis’ eight contributions, we add knowledge or understanding to the literatures on responsible investment, research output analyses and investment performance evaluation. First, we develop the first generic, reliable approach to benchmark research area output (e.g. journal articles or books), which we expect to appeal to governments’ increasing interest in monitoring their research funding investments. Second, we apply this approach to the research area of responsible investment, which is currently backed by an about $ 7 trillion industry. We find that the (quality weighted) quantity of responsible investment’s research output is statistically significantly under-proportional compared with peer research areas. One of several explanations for this result lies in the intransparency of the current responsible investment literature. Third, we develop an approach to research synthesis, which improves a research area’s transparency without experiencing many weaknesses of conventional literature reviews. We title this approach Influential Literature Analysis (ILA). Fourth, we apply ILA to the relatively intransparent responsible investment literature. One of our many findings is that responsible assets with their ceteris paribus under-proportional total risk might appear artificially unattractive when assessed by the most common investment performance measure, the Sharpe ratio, which is biased in favour of high risk assets due to its currently unsolved negative excess return problem. Fifth, we develop a generic, reliable and robust solution to the negative Sharpe ratio problem, which investors can customise according to their specific increasing incremental disutility of risk functions. Six, we generalise our solution to the negative Sharpe ratio problem, which allows us to solve the negative (excess) return problems of over twenty other investment performance measures. Seventh, we develop independent, statistically sophisticated tests of the sufficiency and quality of suggested solutions to the negative Sharpe ratio problem, since all existing tests a-priori assume the superiority of a specific solution. In contrast, our tests are only based on the Sharpe ratio itself and two basic axioms of investment theory. Hence, they are conceptually unrelated to our solutions. Eighth, we apply these tests using two different data samples to all existing solutions to the negative Sharpe ratio problem. We find that investors are best advised to use our solutions, the H⁶-, H⁷- or H⁸-measure, in their evaluation of investment performance from a Sharpe ratio like perspective.

Development and all issues that pertain to it, has been a hot topic since the turn of the century. Governments have set up programs and agendas that they would like to follow to implement development in areas such as social, education, health and environment. Traditionally developing of communities has always been a government’s mandate. Corporate society established that to live in harmony with its neighbours, it was better to plough back into the community. That said it was paramount to see how the both development and CSI/R can be intertwined reasons behind this qualitative research were to establish if the Kenya Pipeline Company CSI initiatives can be used to promote development. The research methodology used was interviews, distribution of questionnaire and document review. These methods were settled on since they allowed the researcher to gain more knowledge and a greater understanding of the data collected and in it’s the natural setting. Kenya Pipeline Company’s CSI/R policy is not quite in place and development could be pegged to the ethnic group or geographical region that the Managing Director comes from. Stakeholders do not quite contribute and are seldom involved in the decision making process. The first benefactors are the communities that fall by the way- leave of the pipeline moving out. A conclusive policy document needs to be put in place to curb the powers given to a single individual and to be able to involve the various stakeholders so as to ensure sustainable development initiatives.

At the beginning of the 21st century the public interest in environmental and social sustainability, and corporate governance grew exponentially fuelled by recurring ecological and financial crises. The market demand for cleaner production and corporate transparency created opportunities for sustainability entrepreneurs in a variety of industries, including financial markets and investment management. An increasing number of financial institutions across the world now offer ethical or socially responsible products to meet the environmental, social and governance (ESG) aspirations of their clients. In the US, according to the Social Investment Forum (SIF), responsible investment (RI) assets reached US$ 2,29 trillion in 2007 (Mitchell, 2008). The European Sustainable Investment Forum (EuroSIF) estimated that total European SRI assets reached EUR 5 trillion in 2009 (Wheelan, 2010). In June 2011 the International Finance Corporation (IFC) reported that at the end of 2010 professional sustainable investment under management in South Africa approximately equalled US$ 122,6 billion (IFC, 2011:44). The statistics describing the rapid growth in the ESG-type investments are, however, complicated by the variety of names and definitions used to describe this emerging type of investment and a general market uncertainty about what constitutes the practice of RI. The purpose of this case study is to better understand responsible investment principles and practice as seen through the eyes of a South African private equity fund, which specializes in clean technology.

This study is a qualitative investigation into the areas of corporate social investment and public relations. The study examines the significance of corporate social investment within the field of public relations with specific reference to selected KwaZulu Natal corporations. The study looks at the corporate social investment and public relations departments of five corporations in the KwaZulu Natal region. The corporations that were interviewed were selected based on their location, and the number of years of experience in the field. The five companies, namely, The South African Sugar Association, NBS Boland Bank, Hillside Aluminium (Alusaf), McCarthy Retail and Richards Bay Minerals received immense coverage on their corporate social investment initiatives, in the Mail and Guardian’s April 1998 issue, ‘Investing in the future, special focus on social investment.’ The report presents an in-depth literature review, which examines the history of both corporate social investment and public relations. It thereafter examines the current practices of public relations and corporate social investment from a South African perspective. The prevalent approach to corporate social investment is also addressed. Apart from the study of the five corporations, the report also comments on other dedicated corporate social investment programmes. The programmes of each of the five companies are contrasted with current and relevant documentation from the 1999 Business and Marketing Intelligence report. Graphs and tables complement this information. The findings reveal that there is little public relations involvement in corporate social investment initiatives because corporate social investment practitioners do not see the need for the involvement of public relations practitioners in all areas of their corporate social investment initiatives. The results of the interviews gives the reader a broad perspective of corporate social investment and public relations within each company. The findings suggest that the role of public relations needs to be re-examined in the new millennium.

Corporate Social Investment (CSI) presents a platform for the business sector in South Africa to respond to challenges facing the Eastern Cape. Challenges facing this province are well documented, and it is important to measure and quantify how the business sector in South Africa currently contributes towards addressing those challenges. The Eastern Cape remains by and large undeveloped, with economic activity well below economic potential. Currently, economic activity is concentrated in Port Elizabeth, East London and Mthatha. Notwithstanding economic growth, high levels of unemployment and poverty persist, particularly in the rural areas where two-thirds of the population reside. The research study purposely sampled the top 30 companies from the top 100 listed in Trialogue. A total of 14 questionnaires were completed and returned by respondents. Five CSI managers were randomly selected from the 30 companies for in-depth interviews. The purpose of this exercise was to solicit further views to enable substantive triangulation of data from other sources. The research reveals that corporate groups in South Africa use different but complementary models and strategies in contributing towards poverty reduction. Education, particularly support for secondary school technology and science tuition, and also early childhood development (ECD), constitute key intervention areas by corporations in the Eastern Cape. This is closely followed by economic inclusion or enterprise development. There is no demonstrable evidence that corporate social investment in South Africa is informed by a coherent theoretical framework. The study revealed that education receives the largest share of CSI budgets in the Eastern Cape. Within education, mathematics and science is the most supported sub-programme focus area. This is followed by higher education which is also a preferred sub-programme focus area. A total of 40 percent of CSI spending has been channeled towards rural areas and towns in the former Transkei area. The ‘Mandela factor’ also plays an influential role in thedistribution of CSI spending, especially in the rural areas of the former Transkei. Donations ‘in kind’ are mostly distributed in urban areas.

ESG (Environmental, social, and governance) investing is an investment philosophy to inform holistic and sound decision-making of investors for the purposes of both, nourishing a stable economy with acceptable rates of return while at the same time addressing stakeholders' non-financial concerns to preserve an inhabitable planet. Some scholars in finance argue that institutions subject to norms, i.e. responsible investors pay a financial cost from engaging in ESG activities. Moreover, they see ESG investing as distracting, inappropriate, risky and legally challenging. In response, several studies have emerged to show that ESG investing is a growing interest with investors, helps to mitigate financial risks, and does not need to represent a financial cost. Despite convincing evidence in a growing body of academic literature, many questions are still open to debate. Therefore, the principal objective of this thesis is to explore three dimensions of ESG investing, namely corporate environmental responsibility, renewable energy, and ESG disclosure quality. The research questions address issues relating to pension funds' investment decisions and legal obstacles resulting from utilising ESG information, financial return and risk implications of investing in renewable energy, substitutability of renewable energy for fossil fuel investments, and the effects of ESG disclosure quality on the expected cost of capital. To answer these questions, the thesis employs several standard and alternative empirical methods from the asset pricing and risk literatures. The thesis concludes the following. First, the integration of environmental responsibility into pension fund investment decision-making processes does not impede the financial and risk performance of pension funds. This means that pension funds should be allowed to consider such information in their investment decision making processes as the information does not reduce the overall financial return of the tested portfolios and does not violate trust law, i.e. the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). Pension fund trustees have been prohibited to consider any non-financial criteria such as environmental, social, or governance criteria in their investment processes under trust law such as ERISA, when they could harm the finanical performance of the portfolio. To be more specific, a pension fund trustee breaches his fiduciary duties (the duty of loyalty and the duty of prudence), if he sacrifices the financial well-being of the pension fund for pursuing any other social goal (Langbein and Posner, 1980). In particular, the duty of loyalty is "... forbidding the trustee to invest for any object other than the highest return consistent with the preferred level of portfolio risk" (Langbein and Posner, 1980:98). Second, the thesis finds no evidence for sustained renewable energy equity premia. Furthermore, investments in renewable energy equity are considerably riskier than in fossil fuel energy equity, meaning that renewable energy firms are undergoing a period of high uncertainties related to their business model, low carbon prices, and lacking public and private infrastructure investment (Bohl et al., 2013; Kumar et al., 2012; Sadorsky, 2012b ). Finally, my thesis shows that companies with high ESG disclosure quality experience lower expected cost of equity and cost of debt financing, everything else equal.

Over the past five years, Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) have become a prominent phenomenon in contemporary capitalism. Described as government investment vehicles that invest state wealth in financial markets, the majority of the world's 60-plus funds have been established since the year 2000. Despite extensive treatments of SWFs' geopolitical and international significance, ethical and domestic level analyses are sparse. In response, this thesis interrogates three key normative questions raised by the funds for the domestic citizen-state relationship: (1) How (and by whom) should sovereign funds be managed? (2) How should sovereign wealth be invested? (3) How should the earnings of sovereign fund investment be distributed? In answering these questions, this thesis aims to dispel ambiguity over the ownership status of sovereign funds, evident in popular and academic discourse and within communities that establish these entities. For this task, it draws on recently revived fiduciary theory of the citizen-state relationship to argue that the rightful owner of these funds is the citizenry - not states or governments who enjoy physical and legal possession of SWFs. It goes on to examine the implications of this fiduciary state conception of SWF ownership, asking how citizen-owners should enjoy control over and benefit from the distinct constituent parts of their SWF property: the institution of the fund, the underlying sovereign wealth and the financial returns earned on the investment of its assets. The model of citizen ownership defended demands substantially increased popular control over SWF management and the investment of sovereign wealth, as well as direct benefit rights for citizen-owners to fund income through individualised distribution of investment returns. Examination of existing practice among SWFs demonstrates that this normative ideal is far, although not impossibly distant from current institutional practice.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2005.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This is an exploratory study that examines how companies within the South Africa insurance sector approach the area of Corporate Social Investment (CSI). South Africa is burdened with a number of pressing social problems- such as unemployment. HIV/AIDS and crime - and in many respects the insurance industry is on the front-line; as these problems have a direct impact on their core business. The primary research, upon which the findings are based, consist of ten qualitative interviews with individuals who were either responsible for CSI within their organisation or were involved in the decision-making process. Its main aim is to understand the motivations and drivers that underpin corporate giving programmes. In particular, the study focuses on how social investment is managed within the context of a society that is undergoing social transformation. It also touches on the question of self-interest and how this impacts on giving programmes. Notably. the study observed a major shift in how companies set-about their social investments post-1994. These include a more business-like approach in which corporations were managing CSI, a move away from utilizing CSI as a marketing tool, and integrating CSI with other aspects of corporate social responsibility. The research also identified a change in the rationale and philosophies underpinning involvement in CSI. Coupled with this is added external pressure from government and investors, as well as self-imposed drivers arising out of the Financial Sector Charter.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie is 'n ondersoekende studie wat fokus op die benadering van die Suid Afrikaanse versekerings sektor tot die area van Korporatiewe Sosiale Beleggings (KSB). Suid Afrika word geteister deur 'n aantal drukkende sosiale probleme - soos werkloosheid, MIV/VIGS en misdaad - en in baie gevalle is die versekeringsektor in die voorste linie deurdat hierdie kwessies direk impak maak op hul kern besigheid. Die primere navorsing in hierdie verslag is gegrond op tien kwalitatiewe onderhoude met individue wat verantwoordelikheid dra vir KSB binne hul organisasies, of ten minste betrokke is by besluitneming daarrondom. Die hoof doelstelling is om die motivering en drywers te verstaan wat KSB onderspan. In besonder kyk die studie na die bestuur van KSB binne die konteks van 'n samelewing wat sosiale transformasie ondergaan. Die studie raak ook die vraag aan van self-belang en hoe dit impak maak op skenkingsprogramme. Dit is nodig om te let op die punt dat daar 'n groot skuif was in die manier wat maatskappye KSB benader post 1994. Dit sluit 'n sterker besigheidsbenadering in, 'n beweging weg van KSB as 'n bemarkings-instrument, asook die integrasie van KSB met ander aspekte van korporatiewe sosiale verantwoordelikheid. Die studie het ook veranderinge identifiseer in die redes en filosofiee wat dien as grondslag vir KSB. Ook verwant aan dit is die addisionele druk van regering en beleggers, asook die self-opgelegde drywers wat voortspruit uit die Finansiele Sektor Handves.

This dissertation assesses how Islamic finance fares as an example of 'civil compromise' in Islamic law. By focusing on the Islamic project finance sector, my research examines how the industry's main stakeholders (representing faith, capital, and power) cooperate and compete to bring about this compromise through the 'Game of Islamic Bank Bargains'. The Islamic finance industry is a work in progress, and while it has made some significant strides, it is still a niche in the global conventional financial order rather than an alternative to it. It has fallen short of fulfilling its originally-stated social justice aspirations, but has provided a previously unavailable form of banking and finance for Muslims to transact, at least formalistically, in accordance with widely-believed tenets of their faith. Thus, those who hold up Islamic finance as a universal panacea or dismiss it outright as a fraud have both got it wrong. It is neither. It is, rather, a complex myriad of incentives and aspirations of a multitude of stakeholders muddled together across numerous geographies and evolving incrementally and constantly. The state of the industry is the result of how the stakeholders (the shariah scholars, lawyers, bankers, government officials, and customers) have pursued their self-interest in the Game of Islamic Bank Bargains. My research examines who are the 'winners' and 'losers' of this game, and what religious, commercial, and political factors have influenced this outcome. I assess what may incentivise the incumbent 'winners' to guide the Islamic finance industry away from a formal and legalistic approach towards one that also incorporates principles from Islamic economics. I explore how the 'losers' - whose interests are not accounted for due to their lack of sufficient financial and political clout - can sway the outcome of the game in their favour.

The current trends in sustainable development (SO) were examined in this study, which brought about the realisation that SO has become a business imperative. Mining, which is a highly impacting industry, is faced with the dilemma of implementing the principles of SO despite the realisation that its activities are severely limited by· the finite nature of the resource it is capitalising on. This reality, however, does not detract from the non-negotiable requirement for the industry to meet the increasing pressures to act responsibly towards the environment and the community in which it operates. Gold Fields has stepped up to the plate and has already taken several steps to achieve this end. These include the adoption of SO in its Vision, Values and strategies and the development and implementation of a SO framework to ensure the integration of the principles of SO into the business. Furthermore, Gold Fields has also entered into voluntary activities that further cement the commitment the company has towards so. These other initiatives include, inter alia, its International Council on Mining and Metals membership, UN Global Compact participation, becoming a signatory to the cyanide code, IS014001, and so on. This study focussed on several indicator categories and the identification of a set of supporting sustainable development indicators (SOls) for each, which included environmental, social, economic, technological, and ethics, legal and corporate governance (not in order of priority). These indicators were assessed by a carefully selected group of respondents whose collective wisdom and expertise were used to identify and weight supporting SOls for each of the indicator categories. These supporting SOls were in turn used to develop a model that is able to assist in the business's decision making processes when capital investment is being considered . A water treatment project that is currently being considered by Gold Fields was utilised to demonstrate how the decision making model can be applied to two different scenarios. The result clearly and successfully demonstrated that by proactively taking environmental, economic, social, technological, and ethics, legal and corporate governance considerations into account, a gold mining company is able to increase the level of SO of a capital investment project.

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Commerce Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy
Ethical investing has become increasingly prevalent in recent years and mirrors a rise in shareholder activism, consumer ethics and corporate social responsibility. Shariah funds are a subset of ethical funds. The rise in popularity of ethical funds has raised questions as to whether ethical funds perform better than conventional funds, and whether ethical funds are riskier than conventional funds. A number of studies have been carried out in different countries utilising the traditional performance measures as well as factor models to determine the risk profile and returns of ethical funds compared to conventional funds. These studies have shown that the results are country specific and hence each country needs to be analysed separately. The aim of this study is to investigate ethical funds (incorporating Shariah funds) in the South African context. The study examines the performance and risk profile of ethical funds relative to conventional funds utilising traditional performance methods as well as the CAPM model and Fama French 3-factor model. Furthermore, the study determines the factors that influence investors to invest in ethical funds and to examine their investment preferences when choosing between conventional funds and ethical funds through a survey of Muslim investors. Finally, the study examines the role of advertising in ethical fund investment and investigates whether the marketing material of ethical funds is aligned to investor requirements by utilising content analysis to compare the fact sheets of various mutual funds for the presence of factors identified as important by investors. The empirical results show that conventional funds outperformed ethical funds with a greater variability of return over a truncated time period. Both ethical and conventional funds were driven primarily by the market return with no clear style bias. In fact, ethical funds had a stronger beta to the ALSI than to the JSE SRI index. The qualitative analysis showed that the sampled investors perceived conventional funds as offering better returns, but being more risky. The sampled investors were willing to undertake financial sacrifice in order to invest according to their faith. The most important source of information regarding investments was cited as professional advice, followed by word of mouth and advice from family and friends. Advertising came in behind these factors and was not an influential source of information for the sampled investors. The factors most important to investors when deciding to invest in a fund was the philosophy of the fund (i.e. it’s investment strategy or ideology) followed by the risk profile of the fund and past returns of the fund. The content analysis showed that the factsheets of South African mutual funds were aligned to the factors identified by the sample of investors as most important with influencing their decision to invest. Moreover, conventional funds focused more on returns than risk, with ethical funds focusing more on risk than return – thus funds tended to emphasise their strong points most in their factsheets.
MB2016

M.Com. (Business Management)
Corporate social investment (CSI) does not have a universal definition, but corporations tend to interpret it according to the extent of their activity in community social programmes of development. It is of particular importance in South Africa given the fact that South Africa is still a developing country that struggles with high unemployment and inequality. This dissertation explores this concept of CSI in research that was conducted in the community of Letswaleng (Embalenhle), in Mpumalanga, in order to establish whether there is a relationship between the mining company that operates in the community and the community within which it operates. Mining corporations continue to assume little responsibility for the health, education or housing of the families of their black employees while operating in monopolistic conditions and making exorbitant profits. A wide variety of these mining opportunities have attracted multinational enterprises and local firms to invest in the region of Mpumalanga. The purpose of the research was to explore the relationship between the community and the mining company in terms of CSI initiatives. It was also to establish if there are any community structures to ensure that the mining company does consult with the community in making sure that they are kept informed concerning the plans of the mining house within the community. The nature of this research was exploratory, qualitative research and, for this reason, structured interviews were conducted and these were face-to-face. Corporate social investment is an issue that the government needs to take seriously by setting up audit committees to monitor the implementation of these ventures. Government structures such as the Department of Trade and Industry need to fund community structures in order for them to be more effective.

One of the reasons for firms decentralising aspects of their operations is to enable managers to gain specialised knowledge of local conditions. For credit managers in a banking firm, this may take the form of knowledge of investment opportunities and the risk profiles of each of these opportunities. In light of principal-agent problems that arise when information is asymmetrical, the focal point of this dissertation is the development of incentive-compatible mechanisms that facilitate the free and accurate disclosure of the private information of managers on the risk profile of investments to the centre of the bank at the time investment decisions are being implemented. These mechanisms are required because managers may have strong incentives to misrepresent their private information when doing so has the potential to favourably impact on the size of their remuneration. This, in turn, has a direct impact on the ability of the centre to optimally allocate the capital of the bank and effectively price risk into bank investments. The dissertation commences by examining which internal risk measures act to align the investment decisions of managers in a bank with the risk/return goals of the centre of the bank. This requires knowledge of the bank risk preference function. It is initially assumed that managers have developed specialised knowledge of the opportunity set of available investments, and have no reason to misrepresent this information to the centre. This assumption is later removed and the implications assessed. In order to ensure incentive-compatibility between the centre and managers, a truth-revealing mechanism is employed in the capital allocation process and tied to the compensation payment function of the bank. This mechanism acts to ensure managers disclose their private information on the expected risks and returns in the investments under their control, and facilitates the efficient investment of capital within the bank.
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

A research article submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of Witwatersrand, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Administration Johannesburg, 2018
MT 2019

The issue leading to this study is the purported lack of short-term consideration of climate change materiality on investment portfolios. The on-going research argument deliberates the roles and motives of institutional investors in considering environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues, including climate change, in investment decisions. The purpose of this study was therefore to explore the underlying motives of South African institutional investors for the incorporation of climate change in their short-term investment decision-making. The study was conducted through a qualitative, exploratory enquiry, whereby seven semi-structured interviews were conducted with institutions in the South African asset management industry. Participants’ views were analysed and indicated the following themes: The state of climate change awareness and the incorporation of ESG and climate change in investment decision-making; tactical valuation of assets using ESG/climate change screening and methods of monitoring ESG/climate change practices; and motives, incentives and constraints of responsible investment (RI) practices to incorporate climate change. These are supported by business conditions that enable consideration of climate change in investment analysis. Industry practitioners can lead by implementing RI to include climate change in order to attract potential clients to their portfolios.
Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2014.
zkgibs2015
Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS)
Unrestricted

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Education in the Department of Educational Planning and Administration at the University of Zululand, 2003.
The study investigates the extent to which communication is used as a management tool for Corporate Social Investment (CSI) programmes. To this end, the following objectives were formulated; To (a) determine if communication between funding business organisations and communities facilitate the realisation of mutually beneficial goals, (b) determine if communication between funding business organisations and communities is regular, (c) determine if communication between funding business organisations and communities is empowering to communities, (d) determine if corporate social investment managers find a difference in communication efficiency between corporate social investment programmes in education and training on the one hand and other forms of CSI programmes on the other hand. In order to investigate the aims of the study two instruments were used viz, a closed-ended questionnaire and an interview schedule. There were two samples for the study which were corporate social investment practitioners (Public Relations Managers, Community Affairs Managers, Corporate Communications Managers or any other person designated to perform such a role) and the community members who are recipients of CSI funding. The close-ended questionnaire was administered to corporate social investment practitioners and the interview schedule was used, to solicit data from recipients of funding. For the analysis of data a chi-square one sample test was used for the first four research objectives. After the analysis and interpretation of data was done, the study came to the following conclusions (a) Communication within CSI programmes facilitates the realisation of mutually beneficial goals between funding business organisations and the community (b) Communication between funding business organisations and communities is regular because there are scheduled dates for meetings and both parties observe these scheduled meetings (c) Communication between funding business organisations and communities is empowering to communities, and (d) There was a difference in communication efficiency between education and training programmes on the one hand and other sectors on the other hand.

M.Com. (Financial Management)
The concept of social responsibility has been in existence for centuries, but the modern notion of corporate social investment (CSI) only emerged in the 1950s. Since then, the adoption of initiatives and integration of CSI by corporations has seen a steady growth, primarily driven by stakeholders. The rise of CSI can also be attributed to a better understanding of its associated business benefits. The relationship between CSI and company performance has been investigated since the mid-1970s and consensus about this relationship has still not been reached. In this study, secondary data from company reports is used to perform a panel regression analysis to determine the relationship between CSI and company financial performance for 30 South African companies listed on both the FTSE/JSE Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) Index and FTSE/JSE Top 40 Index for the period 2010 to 2013. The relationship between the financial performance measures, return on assets (ROA), earnings per share (EPS) and CSI was confirmed as positive while the relationship between CSI and return on equity (ROE) was confirmed as negative. Mixed or inconsistent results makes it impossible to support the notion of a positive or negative relationship for the study overall. The results of this study only prove a relationship between CSI and financial performance in South Africa for the relevant companies and cannot therefore be generalised.

Abstracts in English, Zulu and Southern Sotho
This thesis examines organisational transparency in South African banking after the financial crisis of 2007-2009. The crisis upset the global economy and resulted in general mistrust in banks and the global financial system. In addition to poor governance standards, inadequate transparency was identified as a key issue to be addressed in order to prevent future crises. The nature and consequences of banking transparency became a matter of worldwide debate. While the extant literature focuses mainly on banking transparency in the context of accounting, this study uses a communication perspective, examining transparency as a dynamic social and organisational phenomenon that is constituted through and reflected in organisational discourse, with both symbolic and practical implications. The primary objective of this study was to establish how the discourse in the institutional field of banking in South Africa after the Financial Crisis shaped the construction of the meaning of transparency in banking, and consequently how organisational field level discourse contributed to the institutionalisation of transparency practices in South African banking. The study adapted several conceptual frameworks previously used in discourse studies in order to analyse a banking field discourse at meso-level. From the data analysis perspective, the qualitative content analysis was performed with the aid of ATLAS.ti 8 software. The sample for the study comprises 76 purposively selected documents produced by the actors within the institution field of banking from the onset of the Financial Crisis until 2018. This study underlines the importance of the discourse within the institutional field of banking in South Africa and the construction of what is normal, acceptable and expected in terms of banking transparency, and its institutionalisation, thus highlighting the historical and social embeddedness of banking transparency. The data analysis identifies the main discursive strands within the banking discourse: one that is focused on market conduct transparency and the other, which addresses the importance of banks’ transparency in maintaining stability in the financial system. The results also reveal multiple meanings of transparency in South African banking and draw attention to the historical and discursive events that trigger change in institutional fields.
Le thesisi iphenya ukusebenza shashalazi kwenhlangano eNingizimu Afrika ngemuva kwenhlekelele yezimali ukusukela ngo 2007 ukufika ngo 2009. Le nhlekelele yaguqula isimo somhlaba kwezomnotho yaze yadala izinga lokungasathembeki kwamabhangi nohlelo lwezimali emhlabeni wonke. Ukwengeza phezu kwamazinga angagculisi okuphathwa kwamabhizinisi, ukungasebenzi shashalazi ngokwanele kuye kwabonwa njengodaba oluyinkinga okufanele luxazululwe ukugwema izinkinga esikhathini esizayo. Ubunjalo besimo kanye nemiphumela yohlelo olushashalazi lwemboni yezamabhangi kugcine sekuba wudaba oluxoxwa umhlaba wonke. Njengoba umbhalo wobuciko okhona ugxile kakhulu phezu kohlelo olushashalazi lwamabhangi kweze-accounting, lolu cwaningo lusebenzisa umqondo wezokuxhumana, luhlola uhlelo olushashalazi njengohlelo lwenhlangano yomphakathi oluguqukayo futhi olwakhekayo, kanti lolu hlelo lubonakala njengodaba lwenhlangano, ngendlela yophawu nangendlela ephathekayo. Inhloso yokuqala yalolu cwaningo kwabe kukuthola indlela lesi sifundo emkhakheni weziko lezamabhangi eNingizimu Afrika ngemuva kokuthi iziNhlekelele zeZimali zishintshe isakhiwo sencazelo yegama lokusebenza shashalazi kwezamabhangi, bese ekugcineni ingabe udaba lwezinga lomkhakha wenhlangano lube negalelo elinjani ekwakhiweni kwezingqubo zohlelo olushashalazi embonini yezamabhangi eNingizimu Afrika. Ucwaningo luguqule izakhiwo zegama ezimbalwa ebezisetshenziswa esikhathini esedlule ezifundweni zocwaningo ukuhlaziya udaba lomkhakha wezamabhangi ezingeni lomhlaba. Ngokomqondo wokuhlaziywa kwedatha, ukuhlaziywa ngendlela egxile kwingxoxo yolwazi olumumethwe kwenziwa ngosizo lwe-ATLAS.ti 8 software. Isampula yocwaningo iqukethe imibhalo engama-76 ekhethwe ngenhloso ekhiqizwe ngabadlali abangaphakathi komkhakha weziko lezamabhangi ngesikhathi sokuqala kweNhlekelele yeZezimali ukufika ngonyaka ka 2018. Ucwaningo lugcizelela ukubaluleka kwesifundo esingaphakathi komkhakha weziko lezamabhangi kanye nokwakhiwa kwalokho okuthathwa ukuthi kujwayelekile, kuyamukeleka futhi kulindelwe mayelana nohlelo lokusebenza shashalazi kwamabhangi, kanye nokkwakhiwa kwalolu hlelo, ngakho-ke lokhu kuveza umlando kanye kanye nabantu ohlelweni lokusebenza shashalazi kwezamabhangi. Ukuhlaziywa kwedatha kwenze ukuthi kuphawuleke izimpawu ezibalulekile ezidukisayo ngaphakathi kohlelo lwezamabhangi; olunye lugxile phezu kohlelo olushashalazi mayelana nokuziphatha kwamabhangi, kanti olunye lubhekene nokubaluleka kohlelo olushashalazi kwezamabhangi ngenhloso yokugcina ingqubo ezinzile ohlelweni lwezezimali. Imiphumela nayo iveza izincazelo eziningi zohlelo lokusebenza shashalazi kwamabhangi eNingizimu Afrika kanye nokuxwayisa ngomlando nangezehlakalo ezidukisayo eziphembelela ukuthi kube nezinguquko emikhakheni yamaziko.
Phuputso ena e hlahloba ponaletso ya mokgatlo lekaleng la dibanka tsa Afrika Borwa kamora koduwa ya ditjhelete ya ho tloha 2007 ho isa ho 2009. Koduwa ena e ile ya ferekanya moruo wa lefatshe mme ya fella ka ho se tsheptjwe ha dibanka le tsamaiso ya ditjhelete ya lefatshe. Ntle le maemo a mabe a puso, ponaletso e sa lekanang e ile ya hlwauwa e le taba ya mantlha e lokelang ho rarollwa ho thibela mathata a kamoso. Sebopeho le ditlamorao tsa ponaletso ya dibanka ebile taba ya puisano ya lefatshe ka bophara. Leha dingodilweng tse fumanehang hona jwale di shebile ponaletso ya dibanka haholo-holo maemong a ho boloka dibuka, phuputso ena e sebedisa pono ya puisano, e lekolang ponaletso e le taba e matla ya phedisano le mokgatlo e hlophisitsweng ka, mme e bontshitswe puong ya mokgatlo, ka diphello tsa matshwao le tse sebetsang ka bobedi. Morero wa mantlha wa phuputso ena e ne e le ho tiisa hore na puo lefapheng la dibanka Afrika Borwa kamora Koduwa ya Ditjhelete e thehile kaho ya moelelo wa ponaletso dibankeng jwang, le hore na puo ya boemo ba mokgatlo e kentse letsoho jwang ho hlophiseng mekgwa ya ponaletso dibankeng tsa Afrika Borwa. Phuputso e ile ya hlophisa meralo e mmalwa e neng e sebedisitswe diphuputsong tse fetileng tsa dipuo e le ho manolla puo ya lekala la dibanka maemong a bohareng. Ho latela pono ya manollo ya lesedi, manollo ya boleng ba dikateng e entswe ka thuso ya software ya ATLAS.ti 8. Sampole ya phuputso e na le ditokomane tse kgethilweng ka boomo tse 76 tse hlahisitsweng ke ba amehang lefapheng la dibanka ho tloha qalong ya Koduwa ya Ditjhelete ho fihlela 2018. Phuputso ena e totobatsa bohlokwa ba puo kahare ho lefapha la dibanka Afrika Borwa le kaho ya se tlwaelehileng, se amohelehang le se lebelletsweng mabapi le ponaletso ya dibanka, le tlhophiso ya yona ka hona ho totobatsa ho kenella ha nalane le phedisano ho ponaletso ya dibanka. Manollo ya lesedi e hlwaya dikarolwana tse ka sehloohong tse ka hare ho puo ya banka: e nngwe e shebane le ponaletso ya boitshwaro ba mmaraka, ha e nngwe e bua ka bohlokwa ba ponaletso ya dibanka ho boloka botsitso tsamaisong ya ditjhelete. Diphetho di boetse di senola ditlhaloso tse ngata tsa ponaletso dibankeng tsa Afrika Borwa le ho lebisa tlhokomelo diketsahalong tsa nalane le tse amanang le puo tse bakang phetoho makaleng a ditsi.
Communication Science
D. Phil. (Communication)

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Management Sciences Business Administration, Durban University of Technology. Durban, South Africa, 2017.
The discipline of corporate finance has undergone numerous transformations over the past two-and-a-half decades. One such change has been in the area of corporate finance. Driven by certain behavioral biases, it has been observed that managers sometimes make subjective decisions that do not always follow the norms of traditional corporate finance. One such behavioral influence is overconfidence or optimism. There is a paucity of research on the impact that managerial overconfidence through corporate investments has on the general movement of a company’s share price. This study bridges that gap by investigating the effect of managerial overconfidence on the share price of 10 companies from the JSE/FTSE top 40 index. Its main objective was to inspect the relationship between managerial overconfidence and share price. The results show the presence of managerial overconfidence observed through the investment-cash flow sensitivity of firms. The fixed effects panel regression reveals that Tobin’s Q which is the proxy measure of the investment-cash flow sensitivity of a firm, does affect the share price. Holding every other explanatory variable constant, an increase in Tobin’s Q causes the share price to rise, which leads to the conclusion that managerial overconfidence does have an influences on the stock price. It is further observed that managerial overconfidence tends to increase with firm size. This is shown by the weak positive correlation between the Q ratio and LnTA, and Q ratio and sales. In order to avoid the possible loss in value of a firm caused by an overconfidence manager, it is recommended that shareholders or owners ensure that the manager clearly understands the company’s objectives and vision. Due to the resultant influence of managers’ on the value of a company’s stock, investors should not only look at a company’s past performance, as well as the price earnings ratio (PE ratio), dividend yield, DPS, or any other market value ratios. They should also consider the characteristics of the CEO before making their investment decisions.
M

Since their creation in Europe in the seventeenth century, pension funds have grown to become one of the main sources of capital in the world. A number of role players ultimately manage the pension money of members on their behalf. Accordingly, the focus of this study is on the role players involved in the actual investment of pension fund money. For the purposes of the study, the key role players in the pension fund investment chain are identified as pension fund trustees, asset managers and asset consultants. These role players have a specific responsibility in terms of the service that they ought to provide. One of the key aspects of this dissertation is therefore determining whether their responsibility is a fiduciary responsibility. The main purpose of the study is, however, to answer one overarching research question: Does fiduciary responsibility create barriers to the implementation of responsible investment in the South African pension fund investment chain? Clearly, there are two key terms in this research question, fiduciary responsibility and responsible investment. It is suggested that responsible investment takes at least two forms: a “business case” form1 in which environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues are considered only in so far as they are financially material; and a social form in which ESG issues are considered over maximising risk adjusted financial returns. Three key questions were asked in order to find qualitative descriptions and interpretations of fiduciary responsibility: Question 1: Are the key role players in the pension fund investment chain fiduciaries? Question 2: If so, to whom do the key role players owe their fiduciary duty? Question 3: What are the fiduciary duties of the key role players in the pension fund investment chain? It is also suggested that the duty to act in the best interests of beneficiaries could be described as the all-encompassing fiduciary duty. Two main interpretations of the
Private Law
(LL.M.(Private Law))