scholarly journals Public Venture Capital in a Regional Economy: The Welsh Development Agency, 1976–1994

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 978-1006 ◽  
Author(s):  
LEON GOOBERMAN ◽  
TREVOR BOYNS
Keyword(s):  
Venture Capital ◽  
Financial Performance ◽  
Market Failure ◽  
Regional Economy ◽  
Commercial Activity ◽  
Development Agency ◽  
Equity Investments ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Public Venture Capital

Between 1976 and 1994 the UK Government’s Welsh Development Agency made 2,304 loan and equity investments totaling £117.8 million. The agency aimed to address difficulties faced by firms in obtaining finance, and such intervention was justified by the market failure and spillover hypotheses. This article assesses the agency’s investment activities against both justifications. It finds that while some investments succeeded, the portfolio’s financial performance was poor, and the agency did not address widespread market failure. Evidence of spillover returns existed, but cannot be quantified accurately across the portfolio. The article argues that the agency’s two venture capital objectives, to assemble a profitable portfolio and to grow employment levels through boosting commercial activity, were incompatible within a poorly performing regional economy. Although spillovers can justify public venture capital in such economies, expectations as to financial performance should be realistic in the absence of an ecosystem that facilitates demand for capital.

scholarly journals TWO DECADES OF DBFO ROADS IN THE UK AND SPAIN: AN EVALUATION OF THE FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE

2018 ◽  
Vol 90 (2) ◽  
pp. 269-289
Author(s):  
Basilio ACERETE ◽  
Mar GASCA ◽  
Anne STAFFORD
Keyword(s):  
Financial Performance ◽  
The Uk

scholarly journals CSR Committees and Their Effect on ESG Performance in UK, France, Germany, and Spain

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (18) ◽  
pp. 5077 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisa Baraibar-Diez ◽  
María D. Odriozola
Keyword(s):  
Financial Performance ◽  
Reporting Quality ◽  
Panel Data Models ◽  
Listed Firms ◽  
Independent Variables ◽  
Social Governance ◽  
Multidisciplinary Nature ◽  
Governance Models ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Corporate Social

The multidisciplinary nature of a corporate social responsibility (CSR) committee reflects the commitment as well as the expectations and demands of diverse stakeholders. So far, CSR committees have been mainly considered as variables of control in larger corporate governance models and independent variables that determine CSR or environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosure and its reporting quality. However, the effect on corporate performance has been biased to financial performance, so the potential of the analysis of the effect it may have on different facets of non-financial performance has not been exploited. Which it should, since it can be a fundamental tool to achieve sustainability. The objective of this contribution is to test whether companies with a CSR committee not only leads to higher economic scores, but also to higher ESG (environmental, social, governance) scores. To do this, we used regression panel data models in 197 listed firms in Spain, France, Germany, and the UK during the period 2005–2015 including the perspective of European organizations and completing the extant studies in US-based samples. Our results showed that 90% of companies in the sample had a CSR committee in 2014, and that those companies had significantly different ESG scores than those without a CSR committee. Having a CSR committee also triggered better non-financial performance when considering the four scores and the four countries independently (except for the economic scores in Spain). These results have great implications for practitioners, reflecting the importance of promoting these tools in an organization to enhance non-financial performance and sustainability.

scholarly journals ASSESSING REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT ALTERNATIVES: A MULTI-CRITERIA AND MULTI-STAKEHOLDER DECISION AID TOOL

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vasileios A. Mantogiannis ◽  
Fotios A. Katsigiannis
Keyword(s):  
Real Estate ◽  
Financial Performance ◽  
Investment Decision ◽  
Investment Decisions ◽  
Real Estate Investment ◽  
Solution Approach ◽  
Decision Environment ◽  
Multi Stakeholder ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Severe Uncertainty

Investment decisions in private real-estate demand the consideration of several qualitative and quantitative criteria, as well as the different or even conflicting interests of the participating stakeholders. Meanwhile, certain indicators are subject to severe uncertainty, which will eventually alter the expected outcome of the investment decision. Even though multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) techniques have been extensively used in real-estate investment appraisals, there is limited evidence from the private rented sector, which constitutes a large part of the existing real estate assets. The existing approaches are not designed to capture the inherent variability of the decision environment, and they do not always achieve a consensus among the participating actors. In this work, through a rigorous literature review, we were able to identify a comprehensive list of assessment criteria, which were further validated through an iterative Delphi-based consensus-making process. The selected criteria were then used to construct an Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) model evaluating four real world, real estate investment alternatives from the UK private rented market. The volatility of the financial performance indicators was grasped through several Monte Carlo simulation runs. We tested the described solution approach with preference data obtained by seven senior real estate decision-makers. Our computational results suggest that financial performance is the main group of selection criteria. However, the sensitivity of the outcome indicates that location and property characteristics may greatly affect real estate investment decisions.

How screening started

Screening ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Angela E. Raffle ◽  
Anne Mackie ◽  
J. A. Muir Gray
Keyword(s):  
Cervical Screening ◽  
Informed Choice ◽  
Commercial Activity ◽  
Best Value ◽  
Randomised Control Trials ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Scientific Challenge ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The Uk

This chapter explains how health screening began, how the aims have evolved, how evidence and organisation influenced matters, and how challenges in the future will give rise to continuing change. It begins with Gould’s address in 1900 to the American Medical Association and charts events that led, almost by accident, to the institution of comprehensive annual testing of healthy adults in the USA, and to 5 day hospital-based ‘Human Dry Dock’ screening for Japanese executives. Scientific challenge then came from two randomised control trials, which failed to find benefit, but by then screening had become an important commercial activity. Using the UK cervical screening programme as a case study, the chapter explores how the optimism of the 1960s led through disillusionment, then to programme organisation and, by the 1990s, an era of realism. Evolution of the Wilson and Jungner criteria as an aid for policy making is covered. A key challenge now is to ensure best value policy, high quality systematic programme delivery and informed choice in the face of commercial forces that lead to the glossing over of screening’s complexities and far reaching consequences.

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