Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Value added – Case studies'

In the process of Chinese central companies’ restructuring, the strategic merger is becoming the popular trend nowadays. The thesis chooses a specific case of Shanghai International Port Group (hereafter referred to SIPG) stock swap absorption merging Shanghai Port Container Company (hereafter referred to SPCC) which is the listed subsidiary company of SIPG for initial public offering in the whole happened in 2006. From the two aspects of financial indicators and market reaction, the thesis uses the method of financial analysis and event study analysis to do the value-added research about the case. One purpose of the research is to measure the current and follow-up value-added at and after the merger. Another purpose of the research is to find whether the value-added measured is abnormal or reflects the true intrinsic value.

In this paper, the Economic Value-added (hereafter referred to EVA), the Market Value-added (hereafter referred to MVA) and the Future Growth Value (hereafter referred to FGV) are used to measure the current and follow-up value added at and after the stock swap absorption merger between SIPG and SPCC. Through the research on the pivotal time point, the horizontal comparison of the EVA, MVA and FGV in the same time point and the vertical comparison of the value-added among different time points are taken respectively, which puts the emphasis on the research of the value-added before and after the merger in 2006 (2005, 2006) and the follow-up two years value-added after merger (2007, 2008).The analysis finds that both the economic value-added and the market value-added after the merger are above zero. The research shows that the market value-added is far more than the economic value-added and the future growth value has high proportion in the market value, which indicates the market value-added is more caused by the market anticipation than the incremental true intrinsic value and the economic value.

In this paper, event research method is used to do the research about the market response / reaction on the stock swap absorption merger between SIPG and SPCC. The event study which is based on the historical data of stock transactions chooses the appropriate event window, observes the change of stock price, calculates the abnormal return (hereafter referred to AR) and cumulative abnormal return (hereafter referred to CAR), and then detects whether the market value-added of listed company is abnormal or not. The study concludes that the market has the positive reaction about share swap absorption merger between SIPG and SPCC. The event of share swap merger can assuredly bring short-term abnormal value-added.

Finally, through combining the research findings and focusing on the value-added of companies before and after the merger, the thesis proposes some suggestions to the value manager of companies from financial management, corporate strategy, market tactics and information asymmetry problem which can help value managers to realize the companies’ goal of maximizing the value.

Competition in the logistics service industry has constantly increased over the last decades which has lead to the traditional services offered by third-party logistics (TPL) providers becoming commodities and no longer offering attractive profit margins. When the company’s core product becomes a commodity, the company’s performance of supplementary services becomes vital for competitive advantage. The term “value-added service” is defined as a service adding extra feature, form or functions to the basic service and stands for all types of activities which are not directly based on services traditionally offered by TPL providers, i.e., transportation and warehousing. The term value-added service is mainly used in the logistics literature while supplementary service is used in the service management literature. Although value-added services can offer obvious advantages in form of customer lock-in and improved competitive advantage, such services are still offered at a low level and there is much space for development.

The purpose of this thesis is to analyse how TPL firms develop value-added services and to investigate what the driving forces and barriers for developing and providing such services are. In the frame of reference, literature within service management, outsourcing, third-party logistics, value-added services, innovation and learning have been used.

In the thesis, an inductive research approach is used and qualitative study has been carried out by applying multiple case studies as a research strategy. The empirical material is gathered from three TPL providers: Bring Logistics Solutions, Aditro Logistics and Schenker Logistics. Data was collected through several interviews conducted at the three target companies and the findings have been analysed using the existing theory stated in the frame of reference.

The main conclusions from analysing the development process of value-added services are that this process in most cases is initiated by customer request and that development of value-added service can occur both in the beginning or during an ongoing relationship, though a lack of information about a customer’s business in the beginning of the relationship can hinder the TPL provider to develop value-added services. Apart from the TPL provider and the customer, firms such as IT companies, transport suppliers and other companies can be involved in the development process. No formal innovation process is applied for developing value-added services. The main driving force behind value-added services is meeting customer demands. Lack of proactiveness from the TPL provider’s side can be a barrier for developing value-added services, as well as problems with achieving successful organizational learning. The difficulty for the TPL firm to coordinate offering so many different services can be also seen as a barrier.

Taxable persons’ right to deduct input VAT is an integral part of the VAT system and may in principle not be limited. Carousel schemes deprive the Member States a great deal of tax revenue, investigations show that up to EUR 100 billion disap-pear every year. In order to stop these trading arrangements and reduce the big amount of tax revenue which disappears every year, some Member States would like to deny traders involved in carousel frauds the right to deduct the input VAT.

It exist different opinions regarding taxable persons’ ability to deduct input VAT when involved in carousel frauds. The ECJ has given judgements in three interest-ing cases dealing with the right to deduct in case of carousel fraud. In the Optigen case, it was established that taxable persons who do not know or have any reason to believe that they are involved in a carousel fraud cannot be denied the right to deduct the input VAT. In the FTI case, it was concluded that taxable persons in-volved in carousel frauds can be jointly and severally liable to pay the VAT to-gether with the person, actually liable to pay the VAT. A precondition for making a taxable person jointly and severally liable is that the taxable person has to be aware or should have been aware that the transaction made, was involved in such a scheme. If the taxable person did not know or had no reason to suspect this, he cannot be made jointly and severally liable. The ruling in the Kittel case confirms the Optigen judgement as well as concludes that when a taxable person is aware or should have been aware that he is involved in a carousel scheme, he is not enti-tled to deduct the input VAT. If this is the case, it is possible for the tax authori-ties in the different Member States to deny taxable persons this right as well as claim a refund.

These judgements clarify when the national tax authorities can deny a taxable per-son the right to deduct input VAT when the transactions are made in a chain of fraud. However, another problem occurred, it is up to the national courts to de-cide when a taxable person should be aware that he is involved in a carousel fraud. This decision shall be based upon objective factors, no guidelines or any other help as to what these objective factors should consist of have been published. This creates an interpretation gap for the national courts followed by the risk of having an outcome with different interpretations from the courts in the Member States.

Den avdragsrätt som beskattningsbara personer besitter utgör en oskiljaktig del av mervärdesskattesystemet och kan därför i princip inte inskränkas. Karusellhandel berövar medlemsstaterna på stora mängder skatteinkomster. Olika undersökning-ar visar att upp till 100 miljarder euro försvinner varje år till följd av karusellbe-drägerier. Vissa medlemsstater vill kunna neka avdragsrätt för beskattningsbara personer som är inblandade i olika typer av karusellhandel som ett försök att stoppa dessa arrangemang och för att minska de skatteintäkter som årligen förlo-ras.

Det finns olika åsikter om möjligheten att neka avdragsrätt för beskattningsbara personer involverade i karusellhandel. EG-domstolen har avkunnat domar i tre in-tressanta mål som rör avdragsrätten vid karusellhandel. I Optigen målet fastställ-des att beskattningsbara personer som inte vet eller har någon anledning att miss-tänka att de är inblandade i en karusellhandel inte kan bli nekade att dra av den in-gående mervärdesskatten. I FTI målet drogs slutsatsen att beskattningsbara per-soner involverade i karusellhandel kan bli solidariskt betalningsansvariga för sälja-rens mervärdesskatteskuld. Förutsättningen för att sådant ansvar skall kunna åläg-gas är att den beskattningsbara personen visste eller hade skälig anledning att misstänka att han var involverad i ett karusellbedrägeri. Däremot kan en beskatt-ningsbar person som inte visste eller hade skälig anledning att misstänka att han var inblandad i ett karusellbedrägeri inte åläggas solidariskt betalningsansvar. Do-men i Kittel målet bekräftar Optigen domen samtidigt som den fastställer att be-skattningsbara personer som medvetet eller som haft skälig anledning att misstän-ka att han är inblandad i ett karusellbedrägeri kan förlora avdragsrätten. Om så är fallet kan följaktligen de nationella skattemyndigheterna neka avdragsrätt för en beskattningsbar person samt kräva en återbetalning av redan utbetalad mervärdes-skatt.

Dessa domar klarlägger när de nationella skattemyndigheterna kan neka en be-skattningsbar person avdragsrätten när en transaktion är genomförd i samband med ett karusellbedrägeri. Ett annat problem uppstod dock eftersom det är upp till de nationella domstolarna att bestämma när en beskattningsbar person skall ha skälig anledning att misstänka att han är involverad i ett karusellbedrägeri. Detta beslut ska baseras på objektiva faktorer, det finns emellertid inga riktlinjer eller annan hjälp att ta till för att bestämma vad dessa objektiva faktorer skall vara. Det-ta skapar ett tolkningsproblem för de nationella domstolarna, vilket kan resultera i olika tolkningar mellan medlemsstaterna.

The purpose of this master’s thesis is to examine the process of creating values in a purchasing organisation; meaning in which areas created values can be added and what affects the possibility to do so. In addition, the study looks into what can be improved to further enlarge the business spectrum. Through these outlines, a survey has been made to investigate the view on created values from a purchaser, management and supplier perspective. This gives several aspects of within which areas you can work with added values. The study is based on a questionnaire to 60 purchasers at Scania CV AB. The thesis demonstrates that to a certain extent sourcing managers already work with increasing the business spectrum by adding values. But even though Scania is a company with a mature purchasing organisation there are still several areas where the work with created values can be improved, for example within process development and administration.