https://hdl.handle.net/10182/42 2017-12-11T10:32:45Z https://hdl.handle.net/10182/8781 An empirical analysis of the Christchurch residential mortgage market: post-earthquake Rao, Yanzhen The housing and mortgage market in Christchurch experienced significant changes since the 2011 earthquake, especially after the reconstruction of the city. The increasing speed of Christchurch average house price exceed the average house price of the whole country, as well as the number of new dwellings. By this regard, this study surveyed the households in Christchurch to analyze the effect of the earthquake on housing and mortgage market. This includes factors such as housing price, interest rate, government policy and socioeconomic factors in terms of age, gender, educational attainment, income, marital status and family life cycle. Logistic regression model is used to analyze the data. The study provides an overview of the housing market and mortgage market in Christchurch. The logistic regression, results show changes on sensitivity between the socio-economic factors and house purchase, as well as mortgage borrowing pre- and post-earthquake. The result indicates that the earthquake in Christchurch has affected households’ decision on house purchase and mortgage borrowing. 2017-07-27T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/10182/8752 Sovereign debt default and bank risk in China Chen, Ryan (Dong) Following the 2008 global financial crisis, sovereign default risk has become an important issue in Europe, as many Eurozone countries such as Greek and Portugal fell into serious debt problems. The sovereign default problem in these countries not only negatively impacts the overall economy of the countries, but also slows down the recovery process or even endangers the financial system of the Eurozone as a whole. Some researchers have studied the sovereign default problem in Eurozone countries. For example, Reinhart and Rogoff (2010) tested the relationship between government debt and bank crisis, and found a strong link between them. In addition, Gennaioli, Martin and Rossi (2014) claimed that public default weakens the balance sheets of banks which hold public bonds. Further Reinhart and Rogoff (2010) confirmed that the run-up in debts acceleration is an important signal of a bank crisis. The debt issue is not confined to Eurozone countries. Based on JP Morgan reports, at the end of 2012, the total Chinese government debt (central and local government debts) in terms of GDP ratio was 187%, reaching 282% in 2015. This high government debt level can potentially endanger the financial stability of China and its overall economy. In addition, it may result in a bank crisis in China. This study tests a potential sovereign debt problem and bank risk in China’s financial market. This includes the origin of the sovereign debt problem (what factors contribute to sovereign default), the negative impact of sovereign debt issues (for example the impact on economic growth and the financial system) and the interaction of sovereign debt and bank sectors (that sovereign default can negatively impact the banking system. On the other hand, banking factors also impact the sovereign debt problem). This study tested the sovereign debt dynamics of China. The results confirmed a sovereign debt problem in China since 2009, which could be the result of the massive government expenditure since 2008. Secondly, this study estimated the sovereign risk of China based on macroeconomic fundamentals. The results found significant impact of macroeconomic fundamentals (debt burden, government revenue, debt interest rate, economic growth and inflation) on the sovereign risk in China. This provides a potential mechanism for the Chinese government to make concerted decisions to control the sovereign debt risk. Finally, this study investigated the impact of sovereign risk on bank risk in China. The results showed strong link between sovereign risk and bank risk especially for government-owned banks in China, which warn banks and government of China to pay attention to the spillover effect between sovereign risk and bank risk. 2017-02-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/10182/8690 The evolution of working capital management research Darun, Mohd R.; Roudaki, Jamal; Radford, Joseph J. This study aims to develop an understanding about the evolutionary process of Working Capital Management (WCM) research, explaining WCM in particular environments from the 1900’s until the present. The study discusses relevant studies in the literature, exploring the relevance of models, concepts or frameworks developed to serve managers needs in particular operating environments and speculating future research directions. The evolution of WCM and influencing factors illustrate the integrative nature of WCM, appears to be dynamic as changes in managerial focus would reflect how companies manage WCM components. However, the review reveals that the WCM literature unable to provide relevant information to explain WCM in current environment. The study is particularly value in making sense of WCM research today and likely future directions. The pathway of development while vital for research exposes needs and responds that is fundamental for forecast of future prospects of WCM. 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/10182/8648 An exploratory investigation into human resource practices and employee retention outcome in the Malaysian ICT industry Gill, Parveen This thesis explores the human resource practices and employee turnover problem in several local and international ICT companies in Malaysia. Human resource practices are used as an intervention to investigate the turnover problem because various strategic human resource management (strategic HRM) and IT/ICT employee management studies advocate that companies should invest in employee-friendly and advanced human resource practices that are beneficial for their employees, because employees’ positive responses will benefit the employers eventually, for example, by lowering the companies’ turnover rates. However, by adopting the constructivist paradigm, qualitative research methodology and constructivist grounded theory approach along with interviews with senior managers, Human Resource Managers and ICT employees, this thesis finds that the impact of human resource practices on employees and employers is not as straightforward as what has been claimed in the studies. This thesis discovers three types of human resource practices, i.e. Paternalistic, Formal and Informal, which affect employees and employers in four different ways ranging from mutually benefitting both parties to not benefitting both parties. In addition to the three types of human resource practices, this thesis also discovers four types of employee outcomes and two types of employer outcomes, which when compiled together, provides an in-depth understanding of what is happening in the Malaysian ICT industry in relation to adoption of human resource practices and employee retention outcomes. Author name as given on title page: Parveen Kaur Sukhdarshan Singh 2017-01-16T00:00:00Z