Search results

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the property investment decision-making process of Australian unlisted property funds.

Drawing on previous research into property investment decision making by Australian REITs, a normative model of the unlisted property fund investment decision-making process is proposed. Based on exploratory investigation through semi-structured interviews with senior Australian unlisted property fund decision makers, a descriptive model of the property investment decision-making process by Australian unlisted property funds is developed. The normative model and descriptive model are compared and a prescriptive model of the Australian unlisted property fund investment decision-making process proposed.

A four-stage, 20-step process proposed in the normative model was found to be generally supported by the descriptive model developed, potentially comprising a possible prescriptive model for the Australian unlisted property fund investment decision-making process.

Further research is required to investigate risk-return issues, whether the prescriptive model is generalisable across other property investment decision-making groups or over time and whether it may lead to “good” decisions.

The prescriptive model proposed may contribute consistency and transparency to the decision-making process, if adopted by Australian unlisted property funds, potentially leading to better decisions.

Greater consistency and transparency in property investment decision making by Australian unlisted property funds may lead to the optimal allocation of capital and greater investor confidence in the sector.

The findings comprise the first possible prescriptive model of the Australian unlisted property fund investment decision-making process, forming a basis for comparative investigation of that process adopted by other property investment decision-making groups such as Australian REITs and Australian retail property funds.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate property investment decision making by Australian REITs.

Through an extensive literature review, a normative model of the property investment decision-making process is proposed. Based on semi-structured interviews with senior Australian REIT decision makers, a descriptive model of the property investment decision-making process by Australian REITs is developed. The normative model and descriptive model are compared and a prescriptive model of the Australian REIT property investment decision-making process proposed.

With the four stage, 20-step process proposed in the normative model found to be generally supported by the descriptive model developed, this may potentially comprise an effective prescriptive model for the Australian REIT property investment decision-making process.

Further research is required to investigate if the prescriptive model is generalisable across other property investment decision-making groups or over time and whether it may lead to “good” decisions.

The prescriptive model proposed may contribute consistency and transparency to the decision-making process, if adopted by Australian REITs, potentially leading to better decisions.

Greater consistency and transparency in property investment decision making by Australian REITs may lead to the optimal allocation of capital and greater investor confidence in the sector.

The findings comprise the first prescriptive model of the Australian REIT property investment decision-making process, forming a basis for comparative investigation of that process adopted by other property investment decision-making groups.

In Australia, the A$2.2 trillion managed funds industry including the large pension funds (known locally as superannuation funds) are the dominant institutional property investors. While statistical information on the level of Australian managed fund investments in property assets is widely available, comprehensive practical evidence on property asset allocation decision-making process is underdeveloped. The purpose of this research is to identify Australian fund manager's property asset allocation strategies and decision-making frameworks at strategic level.

The research was undertaken in May-August 2011 using an in-depth semi-structured questionnaire administered by mail. The survey was targeted at 130 leading managed funds and asset consultants within Australia.

The evaluation of the 79 survey respondents indicated that Australian fund manager's property allocation decision-making process is an interactive, sequential and continuous process involving multiple decision-makers (internal and external) complete with feedback loops. It involves a combination of quantitative analysis (mainly mean-variance analysis) and qualitative overlay (mainly judgement, or “gut-feeling”, and experience). In addition, the research provided evidence that the property allocation decision-making process varies depending on the size and type of managed fund.

This research makes important contributions to both practical and academic fields. Information on strategic property allocation models and variables is not widely available, and there is little guiding theory related to the subject. Therefore, the conceptual frameworks developed from the research will help enhance academic theory and understanding in the area of property allocation decision making. Furthermore, the research provides small fund managers and industry practitioners with a platform from which to improve their own property allocation processes.

In contrast to previous property decision-making research in Australia which has mainly focused on strategies at the property fund investment level, this research investigates the institutional property allocation decision-making process from a strategic position involving all major groups in the Australian managed funds industry.

This study aims to identify the effect of the format of a presentation and the form of information on the decision-making process of non-professional investors in Indonesia. Investor behaviors, including acquisition, evaluation, weighting, judgment, and allocation decisions, are explained explicitly after taking a look at the form of the information and the way it is conveyed in various presentation formats.

This research used web-based experiments. It used a 2 × 2 between-subjects design. Eighty-nine selected students acted as surrogate investors. They were provided with company performance reports presented in different report formats (integrated versus non-integrated) and different forms of information (visual versus descriptive).

The results showed that information, when presented visually, is more influential on investment allocation decisions in Indonesia. In addition, the result of the post hoc test indicated that integrated reports are more influential than non-integrated reports.

The results of this study have significant implications for companies that publish financial and non-financial disclosures. The reports are required to be presented in an integrated and visual form in order to increase the investors' level of understanding so they can comprehend a company's performance holistically.

It is necessary for Indonesian policymakers to create regulations regarding the presentation of financial and non-financial information in an integrated and visual way.

This study fills a gap in the literature on integrated reports by showing that the visualization of information in such reports increases the level of understanding that underpins investment decision-making. Furthermore, this study contributes to cognitive load theory by providing evidence that the kind of presentation of information that facilitates people's cognitive ability is not only in the narrative form but visual presentation also works.

In the last four years, since Volume I of this Bibliography first appeared, there has been an explosion of literature in all the main functional areas of business. This wealth of material poses problems for the researcher in management studies — and, of course, for the librarian: uncovering what has been written in any one area is not an easy task. This volume aims to help the librarian and the researcher overcome some of the immediate problems of identification of material. It is an annotated bibliography of management, drawing on the wide variety of literature produced by MCB University Press. Over the last four years, MCB University Press has produced an extensive range of books and serial publications covering most of the established and many of the developing areas of management. This volume, in conjunction with Volume I, provides a guide to all the material published so far.

In a bid to broaden the understanding of the real estate investment decision-making framework, the purpose of this paper is to examine the real estate asset allocation decision-making practices of real estate funds in Nigeria, a developing economy. This is with a view to providing information toward enhancing real estate investment decisions.

A mixed-methods approach comprising a combination of literature review, expert interviews and semi-structured questionnaire survey is adopted for this study. Through literature review and expert interviews, the asset allocation decision-making process of institutional real estate funds was identified. Based on the literature review and expert discussions, a semi-structured questionnaire was developed and self-administered on fund/portfolio managers of 59 institutional real estate funds in Nigeria to investigate their asset allocation decision-making practice. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics for the closed-ended questions while the open-ended questions were content analyzed.

The findings revealed that the asset allocation decision-making process utilized by public and private real estate funds follows an opportunistic asset accumulation approach. The decision-making process also varies depending on the nature of the fund. Further findings showed that government policies, political uncertainties and regulatory mechanism motivate asset allocation decisions. Moreover, majority of the sampled real estate funds employed a combination of in-house personnel and external consultants (hybrid), while mean/standard deviation and cash flow analysis (DCF, NPV) were mostly utilized by the funds in making property investment decisions.

The findings implied that the real estate asset allocation decision-making process of institutional property investors in Nigeria deviates from the normative model of the asset allocation process prescribed in the literature and varies depending on the nature of the real estate funds. As such, familiarization of institutional investors with government policies, political climate and other regulatory mechanism (barriers to entry) guiding the ownership and operation of real estate assets in the country could improve their real estate investment decisions.

The study complements and extends existing literature on real estate asset allocation decision-making process of institutional investors from the viewpoint of the actors involved in a developing African economy.

This purpose of this paper is to provide insight through analysis of the data collected from a pilot study, into the decision-making process used by organizations in cybersecurity investments. Leveraging the review of literature, this paper aims to explore the strategic decisions made by organizations when implementing cybersecurity controls, and identifies economic models and theories from the economics of information security, and information security investment decision-making process. Using a survey study method, this paper explores the feasibility for development of a strategic decision-making framework that may be used when evaluating and implementing cybersecurity measures.

A pilot study was conducted to evaluate the ways in which decisions are made as it relates to cybersecurity spending. The purpose of the pilot study was to determine the feasibility for developing a strategic framework to minimize cybersecurity risks. Phase 1 – Interview Study: The qualitative approach focused on seven participants who provided input to refine the survey study questionnaire. Phase 2 – Survey Study: The qualitative approach focused on information gathered through an online descriptive survey study using a five-point Likert scale.

The literature review identified that there is limited research in the area of information security decision making. One paper was identified within this area, focusing on the research completed by Dor and Elovici [22]. This exploratory research demonstrates that although organizations have actively implemented cybersecurity frameworks, there is a need to enhance the decision-making process to reduce the number and type of breaches, along with strengthening the cybersecurity framework to facilitate a preventative approach.

The partnership research design could be expanded to facilitate quantitative and qualitative techniques in parallel with equal weight, leveraging qualitative techniques, an interview study, case study and grounded theory. In-depth data collection and analysis can be completed to facilitate a broader data collection which will provide a representative sample and achieve saturation to ensure that adequate and quality data are collected to support the study. Quantitative analysis through statistical techniques (i.e. regression analysis) taking into account, the effectiveness of cybersecurity frameworks, and the effectiveness of decisions made by stakeholders on implementing cybersecurity measures.

This exploratory research demonstrates that organizations have actively implemented cybersecurity measure; however, there is a need to reduce the number and type of breaches, along with strengthening the cybersecurity framework to facilitate a preventative approach. In addition, factors that are used by an organization when investing in cybersecurity controls are heavily focused on compliance with government and industry regulations along with opportunity cost. Lastly, the decision-making process used when evaluating, implementing and investing in cybersecurity controls is weighted towards the technology organization and, therefore, may be biased based on competing priorities.

The outcome of this study provides greater insight into how an organization makes decisions when implementing cybersecurity controls. This exploratory research shows that most organizations are diligently implementing security measures to effectively monitor and detect cyber security attacks. The pilot study revealed that the importance given to the decisions made by the CIO and Head of the Business Line have similar priorities with regard to funding the investment cost, implementing information security measures and reviewing the risk appetite statement. This parallel decision-making process may potentially have an adverse impact on the decision to fund cybersecurity measures, especially in circumstances where the viewpoints are vastly different .

Cybersecurity spend is discussed across the literature, and various approaches, methodologies and models are used. The aim of this paper is to explore the strategic decision-making approach that is used by organizations when evaluating and implementing cybersecurity measures. Using a survey study method, this paper explores the feasibility for development of a strategic decision-making framework that may be used when evaluating and implementing cybersecurity measures.

Stock markets are considered as the largest and most important units for the development and growth of the economy. The present study attempts to provide a comprehensive view of factors influencing investment decision making process of stock market investors. A multi group analysis of gender is also carried out on the proposed model.

The data of 402 valid responses are collected through structured questionnaires from individual investors of North India. SPSS 23 is used to do the descriptive analysis and AMOS 22 is used to establish the validity of the constructs and for hypotheses testing. For performing multi group analysis, several invariance tests have also been conducted to check the robustness of the model.

The results reveal that all the factors such as firm image, accounting information, neutral information, advocate recommendation and personal financial needs significantly influence investment decision making concluding image of the firm being the most influential factor and advocate recommendation being the least influential factor for investment decisions. No significant differences between males and females were found.

The current study suffers from the limitation of restricted geographical area of North India. Moreover, there is also a scope to incorporate more demographic factors for predicting investment decisions.

This study incorporates a range of factors which covers all the aspects of investment decision making. This study also highlights the notion of signaling theory, thus contributing to the limited literature in Indian context.