Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Financial services industry'

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2004.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 96-98).
Over the last few decades, we have seen an enormous evolution in the financial services industry driven by technology innovations. Indeed, we cannot imagine the current financial system without electronic fund transfers, ATMs, and Internet banking among many other innovative implementations. In fact, the financial services industry is the largest market to IT suppliers which makes the financial providers the preferred partners in many technological innovations such as mobile technologies, security devices and customer relationship management (CRM) tools. Although the importance of technology innovation is clear in transforming the financial services industry, we do not often find organizations getting sustainable competitive advantage though technology innovation. In fact, in most cases, financial providers have just been focused on being as good as the competition in terms of technology innovation, neglecting any sophisticated technology strategy that could enable them to primarily capture the value created by internal innovative ideas. The goal of this research is to evaluate the stage of technology innovation in the financial services industry, its strategic relevance to the organizations, and its governance models. Based on the information gathered through reviewing relevant literature and interviewing people involved with technology and financial services, our work will propose some technology strategies that could improve the effectiveness of innovation to different types of financial providers.
by Gustavo J.C. Roxo da Fonseca.
M.B.A.

This mixed methods study was to examine coaches who provided coaching for leaders to improve employee career development, defined as the individual's involvement and satisfaction with the organization in achieving his or her goals (Harter, Schmidt, & Haynes, 2002). The purpose is to determine if these coaches are able to be evaluated through assessments to determine who is more effective in coaching leaders in the financial services industry, and to determine the overall effectiveness in working with leaders to determine a non-traditional return on investment that an organization can use to measure coaching. One way to measure a coaching outcome is by goal achievement (Spence, 2007). The individual will be able to determine if measureable progress is being made toward goal achievement, which allows for earlier assessment of whether or not coaching is successful. This study was implemented to find out earlier if the coaching is working and to develop a more systemic way to assist high potential executives rather than leaving it up to each individual coach. The research creates a survey instrument and pilots its use in a financial services organization to evaluate the effectiveness of the questionnaire set created to conduct this study.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Political Science, 2009.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 136-138).
This thesis explores the congressional politics of the financial services industry in the United States between 1989 and 2008. Three approaches are pursued. First, I provide a detailed account of the major legislation concerning the industry during this period, with particular reference to interest group competition between commercial banks, securities firms and insurance companies and to the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999. I suggest that intraindustry conflict was instrumental in delaying Glass-Steagall's repeal until 1999, but that these eventually faded away in response to events outside the Congressional sphere and gave way to a period of intra-industry cooperation in the years after 1999 because the repeal of Glass-Steagall effectively aligned the interests of industry sub-sectors. Second, I present statistical evidence that suggest that these changes are reflected in the contribution strategies of PACs aligned with the financial services industry. Before the repeal of Glass-Steagall, competing groups within the industry valued certain individual legislator characteristics (above all, various committee memberships) at quite different levels. However, after 1999, the contribution strategies of the industry sub-sectors converge in patterns consistent with the reduction of interest group competition. Third, I present the results of statistical models that provide further evidence that the repeal of Glass-Steagall represents a turning point with respect to intra-industry competition. I show that after 1999 competing interest groups began to coordinate their contributions to members of committees with jurisdiction over financial services legislation; before the repeal of Glass-Steagall, there is no evidence of this. Taken together, these three approaches suggest that the regulatory environment shapes not only the business practices of corporations, but also the ways they attempt to influence public policy.
by Matthew Philip Clifford.
S.M.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 1999.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Neural networks are computer systems that attempt to mimic the operation of the human brain. In contrast to traditional systems these systems can learn and will change their behaviour over time. In the highly competitive business environment of today, neural networks is one of many technologies that can assist organisations in gaining a competitive advantage. Neural networks also find application in the financial services industry. Applications range from corporate distress or failure models to forecasting of stock prices and many others. Generally speaking, neural networks often offer an exciting alternative to traditional methods of forecasting and classification in this industry. Neural networks must be implemented with care and judgement, as their performance is sensitive with respect to their construction and architecture. Neural networks, as with other technologies, rarely operate in isolation. Neural networks can be integrated with expert systems, genetic algorithms, data mining and even traditional statistical and operational research techniques. Integration produces systems in which the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Neural networks are also researched and applied in the South African financial services industry, both at an academic and commercial level. Indications are that South Africa is not far behind the international community in exploring the benefits of neural networks.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Neurale netwerke is rekenaarstelsels wat poog om die werking van die menslike brein na te boots. In kontras met tradisionele stelsels, leer neurale netwerke en verander dus hul gedrag met verloop van tyd. In vandag se hoogs kompeterende besigheids omgewing, is neural netwerke een van vele tegnologieë wat organisasies kan gebruik om ‘n mededingende voordeel te bekom. Neurale netwerke het ook toepassing in die finansiële dienste industrie. Toepassings wissel van korporatiewe mislukkings modelle tot die vooruitskatting van aandele pryse en vele ander. Neurale netwerke bied ‘n opwindende alternatief tot tradisionele modelle vir vooruitskatting en klassifikasie. Toepassings van neurale netwerke moet egter met oorleg plaasvind, aangesien hul prestasie sterk afhanklik is van hul konstruksie en argitektuur. Soos met ander tegnologie, word neurale netwerke selde in isolasie geïmplementeer. Neurale netwerke kan met sukses geïntegreer word met ekspert stelsels, genetiese algoritmes, data ontginnings metodes sowel as tradisionele statistiese of operasionele navorsings metodes. Integrasie bied stelsels wat meer bied as die som van die onafhanklike komponente. Neurale netwerke word ook in die Suid-Afrikaanse finansiële industrie nagevors en toegepas. Alle indikasies dui daarop dat, met betrekking tot die navorsing van voordele van neurale netwerke, Suid Afrika nie ver agter die internasionale gemeenskap is nie.

Web services refer to a family of technologies that can universally standardize the communication of applications in order to connect systems, business partners, and customers cost-effectively through the World Wide Web. Web services will ease the constraints of time, cost, and space for discovering, negotiating, and conducting e-business transactions. As a result, they dramatically changed the way businesses design their applications as services, integrate with other business entities, manage business process workflows, and conduct e-business transactions. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the current state of Web services technology and to evaluate the potential effectiveness of this technology for financial industry. By conducting several case studies, the advantages of Web services implementation are discussed, including financial areas and other related E-businesses. Non-technical aspects of Web services such as the value added, cost reduction, implementation contraction, project reusability, and business expanding are discussed as well. To demonstrate the use of Web services for financial industry, three Web service application prototypes were built within different domains relevant to international trading procedure. This simulation project is judged to be a successful demonstration of the potential applications of Web services for financial industry.

Cette thèse améliore la notation des clients. L’évaluation des clients est importante pour les entreprises dans leurs processus de prise de décision parce qu'elle aide à résoudre des problèmes de gestion clés tels que le choix des clients à cibler pour une campagne de marketing ou l'analyse des clients qui sont susceptibles de quitter l'entreprise. La recherche effectuée dans le cadre de cette thèse apporte plusieurs contributions dans trois domaines de la littérature sur la notation des clients. Premièrement, de nouvelles sources de données sont utilisées pour évaluer les clients. Deuxièmement, la méthodologie pour passer des données aux décisions est améliorée. Troisièmement, la prédiction des événements courants du client est proposée comme une nouvelle application de la notation des clients. Tous les résultats présentés dans cette thèse sont issus de données réelles et sont non seulement d'une grande valeur académique, mais aussi d'une grande pertinence commerciale
This dissertation improves customer scoring. Customer scoring is important for companies in their decision making processes because it helps to solve key managerial issues such as the decision of which customers to target for a marketing campaign or the assessment of customer that are likely to leave the company. The research in this dissertation makes several contributions in three areas of the customer scoring literature. First, new sources of data are used to score customers. Second, methodology to go from data to decisions is improved. Third, customer life event prediction is proposed as a new application of customer scoring

The present study represents an in-depth empirical investigation into the service elimination process in the British financial services sector. It aims to make a contribution towards the concise development of the literature on service elimination and to provide empirically based recommendations, which can improve the way financial service elimination is practised. The theoretical part of the study focused first on a review of the characteristics of services in general and of financial services in particular and of the service range management activities of financial institutions. Second, the literature on product and service elimination was reviewed. The bulk of this material refers to conceptual propositions and empirical evidence on elimination from manufacturing settings, while conceptual and empirical material from service and financial service settings is alarmingly sparse. The presents tudy conceptualisedth e service elimination process as consisting of three broad stages, a) the pre-elimination stage, b) the actual service elimination decision-making process and c) the post-elimination stage. The study adopted a research approach based on the broad hypothesis that service elimination decisions are not made in a vacuum (as the limited literature on service and financial service elimination assumes explicitly or implicitly) but that they are influenced by contextual organisational and environmental characteristics of companies. Based on the above conceptualisations, the research objectives were to a) identify the content of the service elimination process (i. e., the decision variables involved in the various steps of the process) b) measure the relative importance/frequency of use of the above content and c) measure the influence of a set of contextual independent variables on the relative importance/frequency of use of the content of the service elimination process. To meet the above research objectives, a pluralistic research method was adopted. For the identification component of the research objectives qualitative research (in-depth interviews) was conducted, while for the measurement component quantitative research was conducted(mail survey). The findings indicated that service elimination decisions were the outcome of a multi-step process, which with very few exceptions (i. e., the way in which British financial institutions identified financial services as candidates for elimination) was found to be largely informal and unsophisticated. Moreover service elimination was rated as the least important service range management activity and was allocated the least amount of resources (temporal, monetary and human). The findings also suggested that the content of the service elimination process was both similar and different to elimination practice in manufacturing settings. Among the most obvious similarities was the paramount importance of sales and profitability considerations in making products and financial services candidates for elimination. Among the most striking differences was that while a product is fully eliminated, partial elimination was the predominant outcome of the service elimination process in the studied setting. With regards to the contextual influence, it was found that the relative importance/frequency of the decision variables involved in the service elimination process varied in relation to the type and the size of individual financial institutions, the pursued overall business strategy, and degree of market orientation, the degree of formalisation of the service elimination process, the number of services in the range (service diversity), the type of financial service which is considered for elimination, the method of its delivery process, the intensity of competition and of the legislative environment and the volatility of the technological environment. As such, the findings confirmed the hypothesised dynamism of the service elimination decisions and suggested that any attempt to describe the service elimination process in a golden rule way that fits all companies, all financial services and all environmental circumstances would be misleading.

Financial services companies pride themselves on delivering quality services to customers. However, in order to sustain their revenue streams in challenging macroeconomic times and rapid technological growth, a shift in culture is required. The facets of corporate entrepreneurship (CE) are explored to determine whether or not it advocates worthy practices in driving service innovation (SI) in order to maintain the competitive advantage of financial services companies. A case study approach was taken that gathered individuals' responses from a leading South African bank. This approach enabled the researcher to understand the state of CE within the organisation and how CE has influenced SI. The case study used quantitative data gathered through an online survey utilising scales for CE and SI. A factor analysis on the gathered data was used to refine the number of data variables. Linear and multiple regression analyses were conducted against the resultant factors of CE and SI. The findings revealed that most of the underlying constituencies of CE are positively correlated to SI. A true assessment of the financial services industry was not attained. However, the insights gained from this study are useful to companies that are looking to find methods to revive or improve their commercial services offered to customers.
Mini Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2017.
zk2017
Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS)
MBA
Unrestricted

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Program in Real Estate Development in Conjunction with the Center for Real Estate , 2009.
This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.
Cataloged from student submitted PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 149-151).
The thesis aims to address the long lasting phenomena of evolution of financial services industry both in US and Europe. The topic has never been more emphasized since the Great Depression. The dramatic fact of cost cutting and diminishing the headcount in financial services industry creates question if the geographic location has substantial effect in their business activities. This study is conducted to analyze whether there is substantial change in the geographic preference of financial services industry which can result immigration away from the Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) like Chicago, New York in US and London, Paris in Europe to smaller MSAs. This thesis presents a quantitative model to find out about the historical trends, correlation with other significant variables and significance of the causalities between the variables. Furthermore, the qualitative part of the thesis will try to explain the motivations behind the change and the accelerations and decelerations of the trend at a certain point of time. The thesis examines and tests the hypothesis in two parts, US and Europe with a comparative approach. In the first section of the thesis, the specialization and concentration variables of US will be computed and ranked by taking 1974 as base year in order to observe the evolution since then for each category and subcategory of sectors. The trends of those variables along the time horizon as well as the correlation to other variables are explained for the top 4 and top 10 MSAs. Moreover, the significance of those variables is tested in order to verify the reliability of the results.
(cont.) In the second section, previously selected nine major cities in Europe are selected according to the criteria of availability of continuous data along the time period, level of the finance employment and total employment levels. Although the detailed data related to subcategories of the finance industry were not available, the value added measures of financial industry shed light on productivity measures at each city level. The outcomes of the two studies is compared and contrasted and the reasons of the deviations are investigated. Therefore, the study is also a gateway to project what trends may be expected in the future.
by Pinar Boyar and Onur Celen.
S.M.

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2003 [first author]; and, (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2003 [second author].
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 124-126).
Customer Relationship Management means great opportunities and great challenges for those who want to pursue a broad implementation. Despite investing millions of dollars in CRM initiatives, many companies are facing the frustration of failure. After considerable efforts, many financial services companies are simply not getting back the return they expected when they initiated CRM projects. We believe that blaming technology, project managers or simply characterizing CRM as "treacherous illusions" is not the answer. We discuss the challenges of implementing CRM under a strategic and managerial approach, focusing on relevant issues and showing that CRM can deliver value to financial services companies. After analyzing some reasons for CRM failures, we provide some recommendations to increase chances of implementation success. Technology plays a secondary role when it comes to finding reasons for CRM failures. Strategic alignment, organizational change and clear understanding of CRM goals seam to play a much important role to guarantee the success of CRM initiatives. The study was based on the experience of the authors, who had considerable experience in the financial services industry and with CRM implementations, on literature reviews and interviews with professors and professionals from the financial services industry.
by Luis Guilherme M.O. Bittencourt and Johann Sellmeister de O. Bueno.
M.B.A.
S.M.M.O.T.

Thesis (MDF (Business Management))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die langtermynversekeringsindustrie het voorheen slegs finansiële produkte en dienste ontwerp, wat gefokus was op die middel tot hoër inkomstegroepe. Die armes was dus uitgesluit, primêr as gevolg van die laer inkomstegroepe wat nie lewensversekeringsprodukte kon bekostig nie. Inteendeel, arm huishoudings is, en was, meer kwesbaar vanweë die feit dat hulle geredelik blootgestel word aan meer diverse risiko’s – mensgemaakte, sowel as natuurlike risiko’s - terwyl hulle juis diegene is wat minder middele het om dit bestuur. Hierdie toedrag van sake het egter drasties verander gedurende die afgelope paar jaar. Die onderskeie partye, insluitend verteenwoordigers van die langtermynversekeringsindustrie, het konsensus bereik ten opsigte van die ontwikkeling van die Finansiële Sektor Handves wat in ooreenstemming is met die nasionale swart ekonomiese bemagtigingstrategie. Die oogmerk van die Finansiële Sektor Handves was nie net om mense in die laer inkomstegroepe te bemagtig nie. Dit het ook ten doel om finansiële insluiting te verseker, en mettertyd, die aktiewe deelname van die armes in die hoofstroom van die Suid-Afrikaanse ekonomie. ’n Stel toegangstandaarde was gevolglik ontwikkel en geïmplementeer, wat die langtermynversekerings-produkaanbiedinge aan LSM 1-5 reguleer (met ander woorde vir die doeleindes van hierdie verslag, huishoudings wat minder as R3 000 per maand verdien). Die doel van die standaarde wat ontleed word in hierdie verslag, is om te verseker dat die langtermynversekeringsindustrie geskikte produkte ontwerp wat die minimum standaarde soos beskryf in die Finansiële Sektor Handves, nakom. In beginsel word die toepaslikheid en geskiktheid van die toegangstandaarde in hierdie verslag geëvalueer, met die oogmerk om te bepaal wat die standaarde inhou vir beide die verbruiker asook die lewensversekeraar van ’n verslaggewingsperspektief. Die eerste deel van die toegangstandaarde wat goedgekeur is deur die Finansiële Sektor Handves in 2007, het slegs begrafnisdekking ingesluit, terwyl die tweede deel gefokus het op nie-begafnisprodukte en sedert 2008 geïmplementeer is. Laasgenoemde het die volgende dekking ingesluit: lewensversekering, dekking vir fisiese ongeskiktheid, kredietlewensversekering en gewone lewensversekering. Die toegangstandaarde wat van toepassing is op verbandlenings is egter nog nie gefinaliseer nie en is gevolglik nie ingesluit in hierdie verslag nie. ’n Fundamentele vraag ten opsigte van die daarstelling van toegangsprodukte vir die laer inkomstegroepe, is wat die rol is van die publiek vergeleke met die privaatsektor en dié van die regering. Terwyl die regering optree as die wetgewer, moet dit ook daarteen waak om nie te veel van ’n rigiede proses vir die privaatsektor daar te stel nie. Die wetgewer moet die relevante reëls en regulasies stipuleer en sekerheid verskaf ten opsigte van die inhoud daarvan. Terselfdetyd moet die wetgewer ook die privaatsektor asook `n klimaat van innovasie ondersteun, sowel as die daarstelling van ’n stabiele regulerende atmosfeer. Behalwe die ontwikkeling van geskikte, bekostigbare en minder komplekse produkte, berus die verantwoordelikheid op die privaatsektor om vertroue te skep in die langtermynversekerings-industrie asook om die noodsaaklikheid van risiko-dekking te propageer. Versekeraars het verder nodig om die laer inkomstegroepe as ’n winsgewende segment te beskou, terwyl die armes versekering as ’n noodsaaklike vereiste moet beskou. Hoe meer vertroue geskep word deur die versekeringsindustrie, hoe minder sal mense in die laer inkomstegroepe hul geld belê in die informele sektor wat gekenmerk word deur die afwesigheid van regulering, minder sekuriteit en hoër risikos. Dit is verder noodsaaklik vir die sukses van die verskaffing van toegang tot finansiële produkte, om in gedagte te hou watter impak dit op die verbuiker sal hê. Met betrekking tot die produkte wat ontwikkel en bemark word deur die lewensversekeringsindustrie: spreek dit werklik die behoeftes van die laer inkomstegroepe aan en dra dit positief by tot transformasie? Die privaatsektor is as gevolg daarvan grotendeels afhanklik van marknavorsing en analises oor verbuikerstendense gemeet oor tyd. Die impak wat finansiële produkaanbiedinge het op die laer inkomstegroepe, kan gevolglik nie onafhanklik beskou word nie want die behoeftes, verwagtinge en profiel van die onderste deel van die piramide sal met verloop van tyd verander. Mededinging dra as sulks ook positief by tot die daarstelling van toegang tot finansiële produkte en dienste. Dit dwing die privaatsektor (die lewensversekeringsmaatskappye) om vorendag te kom met innoverende wyses om effektiewe toegangsprodukte en dienste te kan lewer aan die armes. Die bring mee dat die verbruiker waarde vir geld kry wanneer finansiële produkte en dienste aangekoop word van lewensversekeraars. Met verwysing na die toepaslikheid van die langtermynversekeringsindustrie se toegangstandaarde en of dit die behoeftes van die armes bevredig: die lewensversekeringsindustrie het inderdaad baie bereik gedurende die afgelope paar jaar, deurdat konstruktiewe geleenthede geskep is vir die laer inkomstemark. Gegewe die minimum-vereistes soos uiteengesit in die Finansiële Sektor Handves, kan die armes nou ook langtermynversekeringsprodukte bekom wat uitdagings soos fisiese beskikbaarheid, toegang tot transaksies, bekostigbaarheid, diskriminasie en kompleksitiet aanspreek. Dit is daarom noodsaaklik vir die doeleindes van effektiewe finansiële insluiting, om vir verbruikersopleiding ook voorsiening te kan maak. Finansiële geletterdheid sal in beginsel die laer inkomstegroepe in staat stel om hulself te kan bemagtig en terselfdertyd die teikengroep in staat stel om meer ingeligte besluite te kan neem ten opsigte van hul finansies. Laasgenoemde kan egter nie in isolasie geskied nie. Finansiële geletterheid en dus verbruikersopleiding, is minstens net so belangrik. Dit is juis daarom dat, bo en behalwe die regering wat die rol as wetgewer vertolk deur die toepassing van die reg, al die betrokke partye veronderstel is om ’n gemeenskaplike oogmerk te hê. Met ander woorde, dit verwys direk na transformasie en die doelwit om mense in die laer inkomstegroepe te bemagtig – nie net om finansiële insluiting te bewerkstelling nie, maar van meer belang, om te verseker dat die armes oor die vermoë beskik om meer ingeligte besluite te kan neem oor hul finansies. Hierdie aspek sal veral bydra tot effektiewe toegang tot finansële dienste in die ware sin van die woord - as die armes ’toegelaat’ word om meer aktief deel te kan vorm van die hoofstroom van die land se ekonomie.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Previously, the long-term insurance industry only developed financial products and services that were mainly targeted at the middle to high income groups. The poor have thus been excluded, primarily due to them not being able to afford financial products and services offered by life insurers. However, poor households are, and have been, more vulnerable because they are often exposed to more diverse risks, both ‘man- made’ and natural, whilst having fewer instruments to manage them. This state of affairs has drastically changed during the past couple of years. The respective stakeholders, including representatives from the long-term insurance industry, reached consensus with regards to the development of the Financial Sector Charter which is aligned to the national black economic empowerment strategy. The objective of the Financial Sector Charter is not only to empower people in the lower income groups. It also aims to ensure financial inclusion and, eventually, the active participation of the poor in the mainstream of the South African economy. A set of access standards that governs life insurance products and services offered to LSM 1-5 (i.e. for the purposes of this report, households earning less than R3 000 per month), were developed and implemented accordingly. The objective of the access standards, analysed in this report, is to ensure that the long term insurance industry develops appropriate products that meet the minimum standards defined in the Charter. In principle, this report evaluates the feasibility of the access standards with the aim of ascertaining what the standards imply for both the consumer as well as the life insurer from a reporting perspective. The first set of access standards, approved by the Financial Sector Charter in 2007, included funeral products only, whereas the second phase, which focused on nonfuneral products, came into effect in 2008. The latter is applicable to the following financial products: life cover, physical impairment cover and credit life cover. The access products standards relevant to mortgage protection are not yet finalised and have therefore been excluded from this report. A fundamental question in terms of providing access to the low income groups is the role of the public versus private sector delivery as well as that of government. Whilst government acts as the lawmaker, it also needs to be sensitive towards not creating too much ‘red tape’ for the private sector to comply with. The regulator should therefore stipulate and clarify the relevant rules and regulations, but at the same time support the private sector and encourage a climate of innovation as well as creating a stable regulatory environment. Apart from developing appropriate, affordable and less complex insurance products, the private sector’s responsibility is to create trust in the insurance industry as well as to promote the need for risk insurance. Insurers thus need to see low income earners as a profitable segment, whereas poor people need to see insurance as a necessity. The more trust is created by the insurance sector, fewer people in the low income groups will invest their money in the informal sector which entails no regulation, less security and higher risks. It is furthermore pivotal for the success of access to financial services to take into account how this will impact on the consumer. With respect to the products developed and marketed by the life insurance industry: does it really meet the needs of the poor and does it contribute positively to transformation? The private sector is therefore heavily dependent on research and analyses of consumer trends measured over time. As a result, the impact that financial product offerings have on the low income earners cannot be dealt with on its own, because as time passes so will the needs, expectations and profile of the bottom of the pyramid change. On its own, competition tends to also contribute positively towards access to financial services. It forces the private sector (i.e. life insurance companies) to come up with innovative ways of providing effective access, products and services to the poor. This ensures that the end user gets value for money, when procuring financial products and /or services from life insurers. In respect of the viability of the long-term insurance industry’s access standards and whether or not it speaks to the needs of the poor: the life industry has indeed achieved a lot over the past couple of years, by creating constructive opportunities for the lower end of the market. Given the minimum requirements as per the Financial Sector Charter, poor people can now also obtain long-term insurance products that address challenges with regards to physical accessibility, transactional access, affordability, non-discrimination and the level of complexity. However, more important for the low income group to participate effectively in the mainstream of the South African economy, is the fact that the need for financial literacy is even bigger. It is one thing to have the right of entry (i.e. access) to the financial services sector in terms of life insurance product offerings, but it is different if that same target audience does not have the ‘know-how’ to use and implement the products developed. It is hence an imperative for the purposes of effective financial inclusion to also make provision for consumer education. In principle, financial literacy will enable the lower income groups to become more empowered and at the same time, ensure that the target audience is equipped to make more informed decisions about the finances. Given the latter, it can however not happen in isolation. Financial literacy and thus consumer education, is equally important - if not more. It is therefore critical that, apart from government fulfilling its role as regulator by upholding the rule of law, all the stakeholders should have a universal goal. In other words, this directly addresses transformation and the objective of empowering people in the lower income groups – i.e. not only to ensure financial inclusion, but more importantly to enable poor people to make more informed decisions about their finances. And only this will contribute to effective transformation in the true sense of the word - if poor people are ‘allowed’ to become more actively involved in the mainstream of the South African economy.

This study views broadly the concept of competitive advantage by exploring it from different angles. Approaches on competitive advantage are made from management, marketing and service quality literature. By exploring the subject widely, this study adds insight to competitive advantage literature and shows the competitive area among financial institutions, including banks and insurance companies. Thus, the purpose of this study is to discover the factors in finance organizations’ services, which affects positively on customers by creating customer loyalty. The study is implemented as a qualitative multi-case study so empirical material is gathered and analyzed for this purpose. The empirical material consists from fifty semi-structured interviews, where the interviewees have been selected to meet the criteria of this study. The empirical research was constructed to explore three aspects, firstly to solve the key factors that effect on customers’ satisfaction and loyalty within financial industry. Secondly, to achieve information of behavior elements with their vendors, and thirdly, to determine the factors, which are linked to customer defection. All these aspects were analyzed as the model for competitive advantage was created. Positive perceived quality on core services, such as price, billing, and Internet bank account are the foundation of the relationship between a customer and a bank or insurance company. Still, customer loyalty cannot be built around core services because they only produce averagely satisfied customers. The key factors that create competitive advantage through customer’s loyalty are personalization, communication, experience, company’s reputation and positive experiences from service employees. All these factors were linked to trust, which played a central role with loyalty. Conclusions indicate that the positive factors for customer loyalty are strongly related with the positive experiences that the customers had with companies’ employees, since majority of the cases were linked to experiences from employees, thus the loyalty was depended on employees, not core services. The competitive benefit of customer loyalty came through in four areas: in positive word-of-mouth, in choosing behavior, in duration of relationships and in centralizing behavior. The new findings suggest that personalization of bank and insurance services is the top factor for loyalty and that they should actively reach out to their customers. As for insurance companies, insurance policy claims appear to act like a complaint management experience, and a competitive strategy can be built around health insurances. The results also point out that customer become more price-sensitive as their service costs go up, thus customers with low costs are more loyal than customers with high costs. Based on the findings of this study it can be said that managers are misguided when trying to enhance competitive advantage by concentrating on IT-solutions. The study shows that business in finance sector is very people-centric, where the relationships are formed between persons. Companies should discover new ways to please and impact their customers’ emotions because that is the area, which gives back the lost bargaining power by raising their switching costs. There is also no room for service errors for it is the main reason why companies are losing customers, followed by core product failure and loss of trust.

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.

Includes bibliographic records.
The Southern Life Association Limited, a South African Insurance company, is at the edge of a major transformation. At the beginning of the first research cycle undertaken for this thesis, the company was preparing itself for significant internal changes. At the end of the cycle the company has been sold and is preparing itself to merge with another company to form a Financial Services Industry giant. At both the start and the end of the research, the company had a vision, which was significantly different from its past. Translating this vision into practical actions that drive the company into the future is critical. When significant changes are required, a vital window period exists that allows companies to effectively, efficiently manage and implement change. Should the period, or opportunity, be missed, companies could find themselves lagging behind their competitors, ineffective and having to plough additional resources into ensuring that they catch up. This window period, if effectively managed, can give the company the opportunity to project itself forward and gain a competitive edge. The management at Southern Life had realised the need to change the company. They also knew that the Board of Directors required an improved return on investment. An eighteen-month period was set aside to design and implement the necessary changes. This thesis attempts to look at what management can do to best utilise this window period to the company's best advantage. In order to intervene effectively an Inquiry Framework, or Philosophical Framework of Inquiry as it is referred to, was utilised. This Inquiry Framework is based on the theories and principles of Action and Applied Research, Epistemology, Pragmatism, the Scientific Method and Systems Thinking. When applied rigorously the framework leads one down a path of understanding the situation, raising concerns, developing the hypothesis or question, and providing and evaluating an answer. The research and inquiry process acts like a funnel, allowing the researcher to start broadly and generally and with each cycle, narrowing down to the specific. It aims to facilitate management problem intervention, change and learning in an operational environment. For practical purposes, the thesis focuses on the operational area of the Employee Benefits Division of the company. It reviews the history of the Division in the belief that historical decisions made have led to the current situation. This being a situation of unprofitability, complexity and a multitude of problems.

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.

Thesis (MTech (Business Information Systems))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2017.
Knowledge Management (KM) is a role player in assisting organisations to accomplish their desired goals and objectives by managing the knowledge embedded within individuals and available in systems. Furthermore, knowledge management considers the use of advanced technology to enhance existing knowledge, create new knowledge, and transfer knowledge. However, the process of managing knowledge cannot be successful without proper communication. When this knowledge and the associated expertise are not transferred, organisations are faced with a loss of intellectual capital as employees enter and leave with knowledge and expertise. It is therefore critical to understand who knows what, who needs to know what, and how to transfer the knowledge throughout the organisations. Hence, this research explores the dynamics of knowledge transfer in relation to communication strategies, tools, methods or systems that the selected company can implement in order to transfer knowledge between interest groups and throughout the organisation. The research philosophy adopted is subjectivism with an interpretivist stance. A qualitative research approach was applied. The data were collected using semi-structured questionnaires and analysed using descriptive data analysis techniques. The results point to poor levels of understanding the concept of knowledge management and knowledge transfer in the organisation, resulting in departments following silo processes in an effort to transfer knowledge within their specific areas. However, these processes are not sufficiently effective and cause crucial man risk within departments. The results of this study should help the organisation improve its knowledge management processes and organise internal communication in a way that will improve knowledge transfer.

This study seeks to understand the financial socialising agents which play a role in the South African context, in addition to the role and influence of family financial socialising and financial socialising by agents such as friends, peers, formal financial education and multimedia. If there is a clear understanding of how financial socialisation takes place and what informs financial behaviours, government and business can focus their efforts to ensure that South Africans have an increased financial capability. This will improve financial literacy and lead to increased financial security which is a necessity for overall wellness. A hypothetical model (Figure 2) was created from concepts that emerged during the literature review. An online questionnaire was completed by 300 participants in the financial services sector, examining factors which influenced the financial literacy and financial security of individuals. Principal Component Analysis was used to identify the components while Chi-square tests and Spearman s Rho was used to analyse the data for associations. Different factors influence financial literacy and financial security. This study did not find parents to be a significant influencer of financial socialising. Peers, friends and work colleagues were also not found to be a significant influencer of financial literacy and had a negative influence on financial security. Certain components of multimedia such as reading books were found to influence an individual s level of financial literacy and education, including formal financial education influenced the level of financial security. Demographic factors such as race and income also influence financial literacy and security. Keywords Financial
Mini Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2015.
sn2016
Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS)
MBA
Unrestricted

This thesis seeks to examine the marketing practices, strategies and organisational characteristics of companies in the UK retail financial services industry. The research utilises both quantitative and qualitative methods, seeking to determine what, if any, differences in approach exist between companies of different types or with different levels of performance. Three methods are used to evaluate performance; self assessment, peer assessment and expert assessment. Data was gathered using a semi-structured questionnaire as the basis for interviews with managers. Quantitative analysis utilised contingency table analysis and discriminant analysis to test for differences between different groups of companies. Account was taken of problems due to small sample size. The Delphi technique, a form of anonymous polling of experts over several rounds with feedback between rounds, was used to construct the expert assessment based measure of performance. Companies with better performance were found to have a different strategy from those with poor performance. Better performing companies were found to have products better at meeting customer needs than those of competitors, and to charge more for them. Better performing companies were found to be faster at new product development and to show a balance in their strategy between finance and market performance based factors. Companies of different types were also found to differ in their marketing approaches. A high level of consistency was found between the various measures of performance used. The measures were highly correlated and the sets of variables found to be related to performance level measured by different means had considerable overlap.

Thesis (MBA (Business Management))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Aangesien dit in praktyk erken word dat strategie ‘n natuurlike komplekse saak is, is die relevante strategiese prosesse en aktiwiteite binne organisasies ondersoek, met die doel van die studie om dieper begrip te verkry van die strategiese rolle wat lei tot die formulering en uitvoering van die strategie. Daar word bevind dat mededingende voordele gevind word uit unieke strategiese prosesse binne die organisasie, wat weer afhanklik is van spesifieke faktore, gedrag, redevoering en kommunikasie, asook op die vlak van verdeelde strategiese verstandhouding binne die organisasie. Die finansiële dienste industrie in Namibië vorm die fokus van hierdie studie. Finansiële dienste maatskappye word geag as gewaagde, hoogs komplekse instansies, as gevolg van die verskeidenheid ontasbare produkte en dienste wat hulle aanbied. Die besigheidsmodelle wat aangewend word, het ontwikkel in hoogs gesofistikeerde prosesstelle wat gewigtige beleggings in tegnologie en besigheidssisteme vereis. Capricorn Investment Holdings (CIH) is as praktyk studie gebruik om ondersoek in te stel na die mikro-strategie en leiding binne die finansiële dienste industrie in Namibië. Vir die rede is die fokus op die bankwese (Bank Windhoek) en versekerings maatskappye (Welwitschia Nammic Versekerings Makelaars en Santam Namibië). Bank Windhoek, Welwitschia Nammic Versekerings Makelaars en Santam Namibië is dogtersmaatskappye van CIH. Daar is baie voordele verbonde aan die ondersoek van die beplanning van die mikro-strategiese perspektief, soos deur beide die dinamiese en die nagevolge van die strategie aksie te beklemtoon, terwyl daar vergunning gemaak word vir ‘n baie beter begrip van die veelvoudige faktore wat die strategiese prosesses beinvloed. Hierdie sluit in sosiale, politieke en ekonomiese samehang waarin strategiese aksie plaasgevind het. Die hoofbevindings van hierdie studie is dat strategiese prosesse minder gestruktureerd is by groepsvlak, as in die dogtersmaatskappye. Die kultuur van die organisie, insluitende die gedrag en optrede van die leiers, bepaal die strategiese dink vermoeë van die werknemers. Verder bewys die bevindings dat strategiese bekwaamheid sterker is by die leierskap vlak en dat bekwame maatskappye waarskynlik meer belanghebbendes sal insluit in die formulering van hul strategie. Die bevindings stel ook voor dat daar ‘n behoefte is om instinktiewe benaderings-praktyke tot die strategie ontwikkeling in te sluit. Ten laaste, formele beplannings prosesse oortref die interaksies waar strategie ontwikkel is, deur informele gesprekke en besprekings.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Since it is recognised that strategy-as-a-practice is an inherently complex affair, the relevant strategic processes and activities within organisations were explored, with the purpose of the study being to gain a deeper understanding of the strategising roles that lead to the formulation and implementation of strategy. It was found that competitive advantage comes from unique strategic processes within the organisation, which, in turn, depend on specific actors, behaviours, discourse and communication, as well as on the level of shared strategic understanding within the organisation. The financial services industry in Namibia formed the focus of the study. Financial services companies are regarded as risky, highly complex institutions, because of the mostly intangible products and services they offer. The business models they employ have evolved into highly sophisticated sets of processes that require heavy investments in technology and business systems. Capricorn Investment Holdings (CIH) was used as a case study to examine micro strategy and strategising within the financial services industry in Namibia. Focus was therefore placed on banking (Bank Windhoek) and insurance companies (Welwitschia Nammic Insurance Brokers and Santam Namibia). Bank Windhoek, Welwitschia Nammic Insurance Brokers and Santam Namibia are subsidiary companies of CIH. Examining strategising from the micro strategic perspective has many advantages, such as highlighting both the dynamics and the consequences of strategic action, while allowing for a much richer understanding of the multiple factors that influence strategic processes. These include the social, political and economic contexts within which strategic action has occurred. The main findings of this study are that strategising processes are less structured at group level than within the subsidiary companies. The culture of the organisation, including the behaviours of leaders, determines the strategic thinking capabilities of staff. Moreover, the findings show that strategising capabilities are stronger at leadership level and that mature companies are likely to involve more stakeholders in the formulation of their strategy. The findings also suggest that there is a need to include intuitive approaches in strategy development. Lastly, within CIH formal strategising processes outweigh those interactions where strategy is developed through informal talks and discussions.

Abstract Seventy percent of small and medium-sized U.S. companies experience negative performance because of leaders' lack of knowledge of corporate social responsibility (CSR) program implementation. CSR implementation is complex and requires organizational resources such as expertise, personnel, time, and money. Implementing CSR programs is challenging for many leaders. Research on CSR implementation in the U.S. financial services industry is scarce, and leaders of financial services firms do not have a clear understanding of how to make CSR implementation successful. The purpose of this study was to explore optimal strategies for making corporate social responsibility program implementation effective. The central research question that drove this study was determining how leaders can make CSR program implementation effective. Data collected from a purposeful sample of 10 face-to-face interviews, direct observations, and document review were coded and analyzed. One of the emergent themes suggests that leaders lack the knowledge to understand how CSR activities contribute to a better world. The lack of knowledge for successful CSR implementation causes 60% of leaders to treat CSR programs as side projects. Another theme for successful CSR programs was the leaders' commitment to transparency. Without trust, leaders cannot align stakeholders' interests with CSR activities. Implications for positive social change included opportunities for leaders to define key CSR stakeholders, establish CSR goals, and select CSR activities to meet the CSR goals. This could lead some leaders to gain the knowledge of how to integrate CSR into their firms' daily operations.

Business owners and leaders have committed resources, time, and funding to understand and mitigate the phenomenon of employee turnover. The purpose of this study was to explore the strategies that managers used to mitigate employee turnover in the financial services industry in Nigeria. The transformational leadership model was the conceptual framework for this single case study. Semistructured face-to-face interviews were conducted with 10 middle-level managers who had experience and knowledge of employee turnover at an organization in the financial services industry in Nigeria. The company's policy documents and audited financial statements were also reviewed. Thematic coding was used for data analysis, and qualitative data analysis software was used to achieve accuracy in data classification and organization of the analysis. Data analysis led to the emergence of 8 themes: human resources, industry comparison and benchmarking, training, good relationship management and communication, conducive work environment, rewards and compensation, low employee turnover as a post strategy implementation benefit, and increased productivity and efficiency as a post strategy implementation benefit. The implications of this study for positive social change include the potential to reduce the unemployment rate, create financial independence, and reduce the poverty level in the financial services industry in Nigeria. Leaders and business owners may use the strategies from this study to promote satisfied employees who earn a satisfactory income, find fulfillment in their jobs, and support for their families and communities.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Georgia State University, 2007.
Title from title page. Richard Phillips, committee chair; Larry Wall, Harold Skipper, Robert Klein, Martin Grace, committee member. Electronic text (155 p. : ill. (some col.)) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed Oct. 8, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 104-116).

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2004.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Competition in the long-term insurance industry is intense and is increasing. This market is highly sophisticated and competitive and has developed substantially over the last few years with increasing integration into the world economy. Many companies have come to a crossroad as far as expansion of their market share is concerned. They have to operate in this highly competitive market and are under increasing pressure from legislation. New customers are in a short supply and competition is fierce. These facts are forcing companies to look at alternative ways of increasing their market share, especially through projects that try to maximise the value of existing clients. This paper looks intrinsically at information quality and how it coincides with customer relationship management projects for it to be effective and to give companies a competitive advantage. Through qualitative exploratory methods I was able to get a clear picture of how one of South Africa's biggest insurance companies tries to increase its market share in such a saturated market using information about their customers to gain competitive advantage. I first develop a thorough theoretical background on the terrain of information quality and how it relates to customer information management, which in turn has a great impact and forms the foundation of customer relationship management. Then, I explain how the company sees customer relationship management and how customer information management and information quality playa role in this view. Finally, I look at practical examples of quality information management at work within a framework of customer relationship management.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Kompetisie in die langtermyn versekerings-bedryf is intens. Die mark is hoogs gesofistikeerd en kompeterend en het substansieel ontwikkel in die afgelope paar jaar met 'n verhoogde integrasie in die wêreld-mark. Vele maatskappye bevind hulself tans by 'n kruispad- met betrekking tot die uitbreiding van hulle aandeel in die mark. Besigheid moet gedoen word in 'n baie kompeterende mark en dan is daar ook die ewig toenemende druk wat toegepas word met betrekking tot wetlikheid en konformiteit. Dit, tesame met die feit dat kliënte al hoe minder raak, dwing maatskappye om na alternatiewe maniere te kyk om verdienstes op te stoot, en spesifiek deur projekte wat probeer om die waarde van bestaande kliënte te verhoog. Die werkstuk kyk spesifiek na informasie-kwaliteit en hoe dit verband hou met kliënte verhoudingsbestuur projekte om dit effektief te maak. Daar word ook gekyk na hoe dit die maatskappy 'n kompeterende voordeel gee. Deur kwalitatiewe ondersoekende metodes kon ek 'n helder beeld kry van hoe een van Suid Afrika se versekerings-maatskappye probeer om verdienstes te verhoog in so 'n versadigde mark deur gebruik te maak van informasie oor hulle kliente om 'n kompeterende voordeel te verkry. Eerstens ontwikkel ek 'n deeglike teoretiese agtergrond oor die gebied van informasie kwaliteit, en hoe dit verband hou met kliënte informasie-bestuur, wat op sy beurt weer 'n groot impak het en die grondslag vorm van kliënte verhoudingsbestuur. Tweedens verduidelik ek hoe die maatskappy kliënte verhoudingsbestuur sien en hoe kliënte informasie bestuur en informasie-kwaliteit 'n rol speel in die siening. Laastens kyk ek na praktiese voorbeelde van kwaliteit informasie-bestuur en die impak wat dit het op kliënte verhoudingsbestuur.

Hedge funds introduce considerable volatility into global financial markets. Given the volume of capital they mobilize, hedge funds are capable of precipitating 'herding'---the underlying dynamic behind the transmission of financial distress and the precursor to systemic crises. Greater regulatory oversight of hedge-fund activities could reduce these excesses without necessarily impinging on the self-correcting mechanism of the free market. Presently, there is no regime or monetary authority in place that would compel states to undertake efforts to enhance existing regulatory structures so as to mitigate the exigency of systemic risk. That coordination has not been achieved exposes both the obstacles facing monetary cooperation for establishing a more robust international financial order and the limitations of liberal theories of international cooperation. It also makes evident the importance of hegemonic participation in the construction of economic regimes in an era of accelerating financial globalization.

In recent year, there has been virtually no research into the strategic management practices of the Thai financial services sector. The aims of this research is to explore the strategic management practices of the Thai financial services sector (both banking companies and non-banking companies), and also seeks to identify whether there are differences in the strategic management practices on the basis of size, business type, and ownership respectively. The findings from this research will provide a benchmark against which further research into strategic management in Thailand can be undertaken. The Thai economic crisis (approximately 1997 to 1999) has impacted very strongly on the Thai financial services sector, as evidenced by the reduction in the number of companies and the dramatic increase in non-performing loans. It is against this background, that this research investigates the strategic management practices (including the general environments, the immediate environments, the internal environments, the corporate strategies, and the planning and planning system) of the Thai financial services companies to gain an understanding of their strategic management practices (year 2000) and the changes to their strategic management practices. This research also examined the impact of both internal environmental factors and external environmental factors on the strategic management practices of the Thai financial services companies. The process for this research was based on a through literature review, an analysis of the industry, the development of a conceptual framework (building on prion research overseas), and the development of a survey approach based on personal interviews with carefully selected respondents. This research has selected all the companies in the Thai financial services sector (13 domestic banks, 5 major government banks, 33 foreign bank�s branches, 33 finance and securities companies, and 10 credit foncier companies) who survived the economic crisis in Thailand. In total of the 99 approached to participate companies, 71 (72%) Thai financial services companies participated in the survey, consisting of 26 finance and securities companies, 18 foreign bank�s branches, 13 domestic banks, 9 credit foncier companies, and 5 major government banks. In respect to the data analysis, both qualitative and quantitative methods were utilised in this study, using both univariate and multivariate techniques. Of the 71 companies who participated in this research, 80% (N=57) had a formalised strategic planning (FSP) system, which presented 94% of large companies, 100% of medium sized companies, which was 97% of banking companies and 63% of non-banking companies. Whereas, 72% of the small companies has no formalised strategic planning (NFSP) system which was 100% of credit foncier companies and 15% of finance and securities companies. This research also shows that only 6% of foreign majority ownership companies and 32% of Thai majority ownership companies in the Thai financial services sector did not have FSP system. Of the NFSP companies, 50% would implement a FSP system over the next five years. These findings show that the Thai financial services companies have adopted a fairly traditional approach to strategic management and rely heavily on formalised strategic planning system. For these reasons, the major focus of the analysis of this research is on the FSP companies. Of the FSP companies, define their strategic management as the process of sharing the organisational structure, the company�s resources, the company�s culture and managerial style, the company�s long-term goals, the company�s mission statement, the company�s strategies, the company�s planning, and the external environmental factors to build a market position strong enough and an organisational capable enough to achieve successful performance despite unforeseeable events, potent competition, and internal problems. This research shows that there are significant differences in the organisational structure, process, and system either for size, business type, and ownership aspects. Overall, the large companies that comprised most of the domestic banking companies with Thai majority ownership and the foreign bank�s branches believe they were more likely to be strategically managed through their structures, processes and systems than the other groups of FSP companies. The findings in this thesis shows that these banking companies identified a much clearer managing of planning and planning system which including corporate plans, second level long-term plans, planning�s objectives, planning�s roles, planning�s processes, planning�s coordination issues, planning�s structures than the other group of FSP companies. In contrast, of the NFSP companies, the strategic issues and strategies emerged from the vision of the CEO, whereas did not appear to have roles, objectives, etc. for their strategic issues identification and strategy development process, anywhere as clearly as the FSP companies identified for their planning. The evidence from this research shows that the FSP companies were more likely to consider they were strategically managed than the NFSP companies. This research has identified a schematic representation of the strategic management practices of the companies with a FSP system and a NFSP system. The results of this research enables a better understanding of the strategic management practices of the Thai financial services sector. Also, prospective researchers can use data and the conceptual model generated from this research to further develop the theories of strategic management and to explore whether meaningful differences occur between strategic management practices of other Thai industries and the Thai financial services sector. This research as the first significant study of strategic management practices for the Thai financial services sector, provides an important benchmark for future research e.g. strategic management practices of the Thai financial services companies in the next five years, how the Thai financial services companies seek to recover from the major economic crisis etc. Both further research and replication of this research would enhance a meaningful understanding of strategic management practices.

International financial centre (IFC) development is a hot topic in today’s global arena at the political state level and within academic circles as they can have a significant impact on national, regional and local economies. A critical review of the literature on this topic reveals that not much scholarly attention has been directed towards how IFCs develop from within, more specifically how local entrepreneurial activity contributes to the advancement and evolution of an IFC. In addition, a number of different theories such as path dependence and the concept of social networks have been used as alternative frameworks to explain the phenomena of spatial agglomeration in international financial centres (IFCs); however, these theories haven’t either been properly constructed in a geographical context, empirically applied in a convincing manner or been further investigated using different methodological frameworks. Through the lens of the entrepreneurial hedge fund (EHF) firm and by incorporating a multiple methodological approach (quantitative, descriptive and spatial analysis); this research investigates four separate empirical lines of inquiry in regard to either the firm, its proprietor or the IFC that focuses on micro characteristics, spatial characteristics, the general business arena and development mechanisms. The major empirical findings are that the EHF firm can be classified as small and large based on a number of different factors; while the proprietor is a well educated individual who was previously employed as a high level manager of a large multinational corporation and has previous career ties to the investment banking and traditional fund management sectors. EHF firms agglomerate in IFCs with the most intense clustering occurring within close proximity to the nucleus of the main financial district and other agglomeration patterns are evident. Categorically, government and regulatory factors and people factors are considered as the most important competiveness factors of an IFC. When compared as a whole with previously conducted studies, the findings were found to be statistically indifferent; however, at the individual factor level there are distinct differences. The factors that trigger entrepreneurial behavior are endogenous in nature and the top barriers encountered were customer related followed by employee recruitment and regulatory issues. Finally, human agency and social networks are an integral part of the entrepreneurial process and can be categorized into five separate groups with professional and associate considered to be the most important. This study makes three theoretical contributions on developmental aspects of IFCs. First, a spatial agglomeration model is proposed based on areal differentiation that is derived from the established and changing patterns in the human landscape and its institutions. Second, the theory of path creation is introduced along with social network interaction to account for the genesis of new financial firms at a micro level and a ‘path as processes’ model that incorporates ‘place dependence—path creation—path dependence’ as an economic process is proposed to illustrate the development of the alternative asset management sector which ultimately contributes to the advancement and evolution of an IFC in the defined study area.
published_or_final_version
Geography
Doctoral
Doctor of Philosophy

Financial regulation is a subject that is more often than not regarded as distant and yet another level of bureaucracy that has to be endured by both the public and private sectors. The significance of creating and maintaining an efficient and effective system to regulate financial markets, financial institutions and financial service providers is a salient feature in the development of a country’s economic health. The recent global economic crises of 2007/2008 and the economic hurdles accompanying those events are perhaps the most dramatic instances of how necessary the implementation of efficient and effective financial regulation is. The international financial system has experienced a retinue of changes in the last two decades. One of the main challenges of financial regulators has been to keep abreast of as well as adapt to these changes, which are of an international nature. In a majority of countries, the financial sector is one of the most intensely regulated and supervised industries. Over a period of time, it has become evident that regulatory arrangements have a formidable impact on: i. The size, structure and efficiency of a financial system; ii. The business operations of financial institutions and markets; iii. Competitive conditions both overall and between sub-sectors of the system. The impact of regulation can either be stagnant or progressive; this depends on how the objectives of regulation are defined and how efficiently regulatory arrangements are related to their objectives. The issue at hand is to engage regulatory institutions, structures and mechanisms for supervision and enforcement need to be implemented because they are pertinent to the formal regulatory requirements in the overall regulatory regime. Effective financial regulation would be unable to exert its objectives in the absence of efficient supervision and enforcement. In numerous countries the institutional structure of regulation has experienced change or is in the process of change. Different models of institutional structure are availed such as the single/consolidated model, the twin-peak model and the multiple regulator model. For example, the United Kingdom has embraced the single/consolidated regulator model while Australia has employed the twin-peak regulator model. Kenya operates on the multiple regulator model. This report addresses the role of financial regulators in the Kenyan economy. The objectives of the research are to: Provide comprehensive information about the theory and practice of financial regulation; Identify the financial regulators in Kenya and define their roles; Address the issue of multiple regulators and the duplicity of roles; Discuss international trends in regulation and examine different regulatory regimes; Consider the viability of a single/consolidated regulatory regime in Kenya; Suggest a possible future regulatory regime for Kenya and identify the key issues associated with such a regime; Suggest areas for further investigation and research.The approach of this report will constitute the following: Chapter 1 discusses the rationale for the research, objectives, scope and scale of the research, preliminary literature review and the research methods to be employed. Chapter 2 focuses on financial regulatory systems in general as well as an extensive analysis of financial regulators in Kenya. Chapter 3 combines the research methods employed and also contains a comparative analysis of the regulatory regime. Chapter 4 examines the findings of the research, the lessons learnt and the regulatory responses. Chapter 5 includes recommendations towards improvement of regulatory systems and an executive summary of outstanding policy issues and priorities in Kenyan financial regulation.

The challenges of Big Data (BD) and Big Data Analytics (BDA) have attracted disproportionately less attention than the overwhelmingly espoused benefits and game-changing promises. While many studies have examined BD challenges across multiple industry verticals, very few have focused on the challenges of implementing BDA solutions. Fewer of these studies have focused directly on the financial services industry, and none have quantifiably measured the severities of the challenges. That created gaps as BDA solution implementers in the financial services industry could neither access a roadmap to guide their steps against obstacles that lay ahead, nor compute the severities of the challenges. This study addressed those gaps through two research questions: (1) What are the challenges of implementing BDA solutions in the financial services industry; and (2) What are the rankings of these challenges, in terms of importance and relative severities, such that BDA implementations can devote more research attention to or hedge better against those challenges? To answer these questions, the study used a mixed methods approach to content-analyze 75 BDA documents and collate a comprehensive list of 22 BDA challenges. As well, 36 financial services industry BDA-subject-matter-experts (SMEs) were surveyed to validate the list, rank the challenges, and measure their impacts. The research findings showed that the challenges of implementing BDA solutions in the financial services industry are mostly strategic and people-driven, rather than process-induced or technology-driven. Specifically, miscommunications and misconception of the meanings, intents, and the value-added benefits of BDA implementation in the financial services industry were found to be the top challenge. Details of the results, its implications for the BDA communities of practice and discourse, and opportunities for future research were discussed. The results can be generalized if scaled with a bigger sample size and better measures-of-intangibles.

The effectiveness of loyalty programmes continues to be questioned, especially as their cost to firms increase together with their adoption rate across industries worldwide. Given the divergent industry specific findings predominantly focusing on the retail and airline industries, and the lack of previous consideration of important moderating variables type and timing of rewards, this study extended the research to service industries, investigating the effects of customer perceived benefits on loyalty programme effectiveness in terms of both attitudinal and behavioural loyalty. Hypotheses established the extent to which reward design elements (customer perceived benefits and type and timing of rewards) develop customer relationships (perceived relationship investment and brand relationship quality) which are market-based assets driving future revenue for the firm, and resulted in customer loyalty in the financial services industry. A quantitative methodology and survey approach was adopted with a randomly selected stratified sample of respondents. The results supported the validity and reliability of the construct measures and a satisfactory adjusted SEM model fit. The study provided industry-specific outcomes, indicating that social (integration with customer values), exploratory (exposure and access to relevant and timeous knowledge), monetary (financial value) and entertainment benefits drive customer loyalty in the financial services industry, with timing of rewards having no moderating impact and type of reward only impactful for consumers that prefer indirect (non-financial) exploratory and entertainment benefits. Importantly, the benefit of recognition was found not to have a significant influence. The study further supported divergent reward design elements as antecedents of customer loyalty across industries, as a result of the divergent nature of customer relationships between industries. Limitations of the research were consideration of customer characteristics, segments, and the relationship between attitudinal and behavioural loyalty. The study’s theoretical contribution provides for a more comprehensive conceptual model of loyalty programme effectiveness, leveraging customer relationships which are grounded in market-based asset theory, as well as an empirical analysis of previously untested relationships between important variables. The research also confirms the requirement for industry-specific design elements for effective loyalty programmes. For practitioners, the findings provide guidance on design elements of an effective programme within the financial services industry.
Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2018.
Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS)
PhD
Unrestricted

Thesis (Ph.D)--University of New Orleans, 2003.
Title from electronic submission form. "A dissertation ... in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Economics and Finance"--Dissertation t.p. Vita. Name on thesis title page: Abdullah Al Mamun. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (MSc. (Agricultural Extension)) -- University of Limpopo, 2015.
Financial Services cooperatives are member based financial institutions formed, owned and controlled by members to provide financial services to their members. The concept of cooperative banking is new in South Africa and it is promoted to address financial services needs of the rural poor who would otherwise have no means of accessing financial services and use from formal banks. The study was undertaken to determine members perceptions towards financial services co-operatives in Lehurutshe, Lothlakane, Motswedi, Kraaipan and Disaneng FSC’s in the Ngaka Modiri Molemo District of North West Province. Population included 236 participants who were selected using non-probability purposive and convenience sampling method. Different data collection methods, namely, Focus group discussion, Product attribute ranking, Likert-scale and questionnaires were used. Data was analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) computer program and presented in descriptive statistics percentages and tables. The study revealed that FSC’s members were satisfied with services and products that were offered in the cooperatives; however issues of governance, fiduciary, regulatory and member participation require immediate attention. Recommendations to strengthen the regulatory framework for FSCs and FSCs’ institutional capacity were made.

Thesis (MDF)--Stellenbosch University, 2015.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: It is accepted that financial sector development contributes to economic growth, equality and poverty alleviation. Economic development in many developing economies is constrained by the failure of financial markets to provide appropriate financial services products to enable these economies to address structural transformation and enable sustainable economic growth. Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) have emerged as an effective institutional vehicle to provide financial services to support the development and financing needs of market segments, particularly in developing economies, which the commercial financial sector is unable or unwilling to serve. DFIs provide financing to markets with a perceived high investment risk by developing appropriately structured innovative financing solutions and risk mitigation instruments needed to address the infrastructure and development financing gaps within these economies. DFIs are able to address commercial financial market failure by providing financing to support long-term private sector investment in infrastructure, financing products that service high-risk market sectors that lack collateral and financing to support public sector efforts to provide adequate social and economic infrastructure in countries with a high-risk investment rating. Specialist advisory skills are a critical resource that DFIs deploy to identify, package and finance sustainable and bankable solutions to support transformative growth. For DFIs to operate optimally they need to implement an integrated loan approval process that enables effective investment decision-making. By deploying specialist advisory services at each stage of the investment value chain, DFIs comply with international best practice standards, package development finance solutions to meet potential clients’ needs and ensure financial sustainability. An extensive literature review on DFI practice revealed that the predominant literature on DFIs focuses on the mandate and governance relationships within these institutions. This research assignment addressed the gap in available DFI literature. The research assignment aimed to build on the available literature on DFI investment decision-making and to contribute to the body of knowledge of the DFI investment value chain. The research assignment focused on DFI operations and investment decision-making procedures and considered how DFIs deploy specialist advisory services to enhance the application of an integrated loan approval process, mitigate investment risk and enable the optimal allocation of scarce resources to enhance sustainable development. The assignment identified the various institutional approaches and methodologies DFIs adopt to utilise specialist advisory services and identified the challenges, opportunities and limitations within the process. Chapter 1 introduces the key themes addressed in the research assignment. Chapter 2 provides a literature review of DFI practice and application of best practice considerations in investment decision-making. Chapter 3 details the research methodology deployed to conclude the research assignment. Chapter 4 addresses the research findings emanating from a case study analysis of the specialist advisory services deployed by the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Land Bank of South Africa. The assignment concludes with findings and recommendations. The research assignment found that limited investigation has been conducted on the operational execution of specialist advisory services within the investment value chain. Specialist advisory services provide DFIs with a key resource to assist in assessing potential loan applications in ensuring that clients meet mandate criteria to qualify for DFI loan applications, assist in assessing whether clients meet investment standards, and ensure that financially sustainable transactions are supported. To enhance DFI practice, further research is required to unpack the various investment modules applied within the investment value chain.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2014.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In an increasingly competitive and cost conscious business environment, the Chief information officer and business leaders are seeking to extract greater value from their technologies. At the same time, business employees are more technically proficient than they have ever been, largely on the back of emerging trends such as the consumerisation of Information and communications technology. The convergence of this need to extract greater value from technology, and an increasingly technology savvy employee is the trend known as user empowerment. User empowerment implies the transfer of responsibilities and activities traditionally performed within the Information and communications technology function of a business to the business operations function. In this report, the implementation of a user empowerment program is explored via a case study at Maitland Group South Africa, a financial services firm based in Cape Town, South Africa. Through this study, user empowerment is shown to have significant benefits to the business operations, improving the job satisfaction experienced by business employees who felt they were able to add additional value to the daily operations. In addition, user empowerment is shown to decrease risk, increase operational agility, increase efficiency and improve quality, thereby resulting in an improved customer experience. The experience at Maitland Group South Africa as explored through the case study survey is aligned to this, with the business having achieved all of these benefits. The business has also experienced some negative impacts, especially in the first few months following the implementation of the program, resulting from a weak understanding and appreciation of Information and communications technology governance amongst business users. The concept of user empowerment is challenging to the Information and communications technology function, especially those who have traditionally favoured a centrally run command and control type model. The aversion the traditional Information and communications technology leader might have to user empowerment is realised if sufficient understanding of the software development lifecycle and associated governance processes are not transferred to business operations. In those instances where end-users are empowered to perform activities traditionally performed within Information and communications technology, without the appropriate understanding of best practice and good governance procedures, the overall risk to the business can be increased by empowering users. This risk is driven by poorly designed process, usually on the back of poor testing and weak supporting documentation. Overall though, if properly and appropriately executed, the benefits to the business of user empowerment far exceeds the possible negative consequences.

Thesis (MComm)--Stellenbosch University, 2005.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: South Africans earning less than Rl 440 per month (18 million adults) and less than R2 880 per month (29 million adults) are regarded as poor and relatively poor respectively. Of the relatively poor, 78% are unbanked, i.e. do not have access to a formal bank account, while 86% of the poor are unbanked. These figures show clearly that commercial banks do not meet the financial needs of many people, especially the poor for savings, credit, transmission and insurance services. Therefore the importance of those institutions that do not form part of the formal financial sector and provide micro savings and micro credit services, generally referred to as micro finance, to the poor at the local level on a sustainable basis. The objective of this research is twofold. Firstly, a review of the literature on micro finance in general to establish the financial needs of the poor, the constraints formal financial institutions face in providing micro financial services and to identify best practice regarding the provision of financial services to the poor in order to be in the position to form an opinion on institutional success. Secondly, to analyse a specific South African micro finance initiative, Financial Services Cooperatives (FSCs), to identify how FSCs relate to the international best practice and to establish whether they are successful in addressing the financial needs of the poor. A FSC is a financial institution through which micro finance services (savings, credit, transmission and insurance) are extended to unbanked households in a rural village. It utilises a community's rules, customs, relationships, knowledge, solidarity and resources combined with formal financial methods and concepts. The FSC is initiated, owned, financed and managed by the villagers themselves. FSCs are registered cooperatives under the Cooperative Act of 1981 and may accept deposits from their members in terms of an exemption from the Bank Act of 1990. Currently, FSCs experience problems in providing credit, transmission and insurance services, preventing them from intermediating between borrowers and savers. After reviewing the above-mentioned international best practice the conclusion reached with regard to FSCs includes the following: FSCs only provide savings services and therefore do not intermediate between borrowers and savers as required for a financial institution. This in tum prevents them from being sustainable. FSCs' failure can be ascribed to the restrictive legislation, unsuccessful regulation and supervision. New legislation is currently under review that will change the landscape for micro finance and specifically for FSCs.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Suid-Afrikaners wat minder as Rl 440 per maand (18 miljoen volwassenes) en minder as R2 880 per maand verdien (29 miljoen volwassenes) word onderskeidelik as arm and relatief arm bestempel. Agt-en-sewentig persent van dié wat relatief arm is, het nie toegang tot 'n formele bankrekening nie, terwyl 86% van dié wat arm is, geen toegang het nie. Hierdie syfers toon duidelik dat kommersiële banke nie aan die finansiële behoeftes, met betrekking tot spaar-, krediet-, transmissie- en versekeringsdienste van baie mense voldoen nie, veral nie die armes nie. Daarom dat instellings wat nie deel vorm van die formele finansiële sektor nie en mikrobesparings en mikro-krediet, algemeen bekend as mikro-finansies, in 'n plaaslike gebied en op 'n volhoubare basis verleen, belangrik is. Die doel van hierdie navorsing is tweeledig: Eerstens, bied dit 'n oorsig oor die mikro-finansiering literatuur ten einde die finansiële behoeftes van die armes te ondersoek en die beperkings wat formele finansiële instellings ondervind om mikro-finansiële dienste te verskaf, aan te stip. Beste praktyk rakende die voorsiening van finansiële dienste aan die armes word geïdentifiseer, om sodoende in 'n posisie te wees om 'n opinie te kan vorm oor institusionele suksesfaktore. Tweedens, om a spesifieke Suid-Afrikaanse mikro-finansiële inisiatief, Finanical Services Cooperatives (FSCs) te ondersoek, ten einde vas te stel hoe hierdie inisiatief vergelyk met internasionale beste praktyk en hoe suksesvol dit is in die voorsiening van finansiële dienste aan die armes. 'n FSC is 'n finansiële instelling waardeur mikro-finansiële dienste (spaar-, krediet-, transmissie- en versekeringsdienste) verskaf word aan diegene in 'n plattelandse nedersetting wat nie toegang tot formele bankdienste het me. FSCs maak gebruik van 'n gemeenskap se reëls, gebruike, verhoudings, kennis, solidariteit en hulpbronne en kombineer dit met formele finansiële metodes en konsepte. Dit is 'n inisiatief van die gemeenskap en word deur die inwoners van die nedersetting besit, finansier en bestuur. FSCs is geregistreerde koëperasies in terme van die Ko-operatiewe Wet van 1981, en mag ook deposito's van hulle lede aanvaar op grand van 'n vrystelling van die Bankwet van 1990. Tans ondervind FSCs probleme in die verskaffing van krediet-, transmissieen versekeringsdienste wat hulle verhoed om as tussenganger tussen leners en spaarders op te tree. Na die oorweging van die internasionale beste-praktyk, kan die volgende gevolgtrekking rakende FSCs gemaak word: FSCs tree nie op as tussenganger tussen leners en spaarders nie, soos vereis word van 'n finansiële instelling nie. Dit beperk gevolglik volhoubaarheid. Die mislukking kan toegeskryf word aan beperkte wetgewing, onsuksesvolle regulering en supervisie. Nuwe wetgewing is tans onder oorweging wat die landskap vir mikro finansiering en veral vir FSCs sal verander.