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Background: As opportunities grow for resource-constrained countries to use eHealth (digital health) to strengthen health systems, a dilemma arises. Wise eHealth investments require adequate appraisal to address opportunity costs. Economic appraisal techniques conventionally utilised for this purpose require sufficient economic expertise and adequate data that are frequently in short supply in low- and middle-income countries. This paper aims to identify, and, if required, develop, a suitable framework for performing eHealth investment appraisals in settings of limited economic expertise and data., Methods: Four progressive steps were followed: (1) identify required framework attributes from published checklists; (2) select, review, and chart relevant frameworks using a scoping review; (3) analyse the frameworks using deductive and inductive iterations; and, if necessary, (4) develop a new framework using findings from the first three steps., Results: Twenty-four candidate investment appraisal attributes were identified and seven relevant frameworks were selected for review. Analysis of these frameworks led to the refinement of the candidate attributes to 23 final attributes, and each framework was compared against them. No individual framework adequately addressed sufficient attributes. A new framework was developed that addressed all 23 final attributes., Conclusions: A new evidence-based investment appraisal framework has been developed that provides a practical, business case focus for use in resource-constrained African settings.

Knowledge of the value generated within higher education institutions is of great interest for various agents, particularly managers, as well as governments and society. University mission statements and their scope complicate any comparable measurement of the effects each university may have within a particular region. Perhaps the most adequate term for it and one that includes simple economic impact is value. This study is centered on the estimation of the short-term economic impact of the University of Granada (UGR). Using a method based on the input–output framework and multipliers, the total (direct, indirect, and induced) effects of UGR on production, income, and employment are quantified, differentiating between economic sectors. The total economic impact of UGR is 3.2 times the expenditure of the agents linked to the activities of the university, which implies that each Euro that the government invested was converted into 7.1 Euros. Its effect on total production surpassed two-thousand million Euros, with an income of one-thousand million Euros and over 25,000 equivalent jobs. Quantification of the impact is a measure of the importance of UGR within the province of Granada and the performance of public-sector investment in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the article the analysis of international data collection systems for analysis of investment projects. Examples of the international statistical, financial and audit organizations publish articles and data which are necessary in the analysis of investment at the level of a single project, and at the level of the country. Analyzes the volume of investments in EU countries and Russian Federation, as well as comparative analysis. In Russia the analysis of dynamics of investments in fixed capital by kinds of economic activities are considered sources of financing. According to the results of the analysis of the findings and practical recommendations for improving the efficiency of the organization's funds.

With regards to the strategic role of transport in a country's economic development and the large investments that are required, a thorough economic appraisal of these investments is of high importance. Therefore, it is appropriate to analyze and possibly modify existing methods for evaluating the economic efficiency of road construction at the scientific level, with the support of the real practice experience. Our research concentrates on evaluation of current methods of economic appraisal, their consecutive improvement and on incorporation of the LCCA agenda into the investment decision process. Consequently, it focuses on the possibilities to improve the effectivity of both, an investment decision process and a realization phase through the proposal of very concrete measures based on results of our research and on experience of real practice construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The automotive industry is one of the most investment-intense industries. The aim of this paper is to examine which capital budgeting techniques are applied by automotive companies headquartered in Germany to make investment decisions. This includes the examination of investment appraisal methods, as well as questions concerning hurdle rates and cost-of-capital models. The study is based on an analysis of empirical data that were collected in a survey of finance and accounting professionals. The sample consists of eight German companies from the automotive industry, which include both automobile manufacturers (original equipment manufacturers, OEMs) and automotive suppliers ranging from very large to medium-sized companies. The results show that the net present value (NPV) technique is the most widely used quantitative method of investment appraisal. Moreover, many of the companies make qualitative considerations in their investment decisions. The largest companies included in the survey additionally use value-based measures to evaluate investment opportunities. In terms of hurdle rates, most companies use the weighted average cost of- capital (WACC) as discount rate. This paper contributes to knowledge by providing new empirical data on capital budgeting in German automotive companies. Additionally, the author makes recommendations for further research opportunities in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydropower investments have been subject to intense criticism over environmental issues and the common experience with cost uncertainty. In this study we address the issue of uncertainty in cost projections by applying reference class forecasting (RCF) in order to improve the reliability of costs used for making decisions under uncertainty. This technique makes it possible to closely link contingency estimates to the likely incidence of uncertainty of construction costs for hydroelectric dams. A case study, the Bujagali dam in Uganda, is used to demonstrate how investment appraisal can be enhanced to better account for the risk of cost overruns. While this project has suffered from cost overruns, the net benefits of the dam are still expected to be substantial. We conclude that if historical information from the major financiers of dams is accessible, learning from the past can help to reduce the cost of uncertainty in power planning worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing penetration of variable renewable energy is becoming a key challenge for the management of the electrical grid. Electrical Energy Storage Systems (ESS) are one of the most suitable solutions to increase the flexibility and resilience of the electrical system. This paper presents an innovative methodology for the appraisal of the investment in ESS. The methodology is based on the Real Option Analysis and is able to properly consider investment risks and uncertainties as well as the options available for the investor. The paper assesses the value of the option to wait for a change in the market conditions before investing and re-evaluates the profitability of the investment after each step of the development of the ESS project. In order to exemplify relevant results, this method is applied to the UK energy market and assesses the technical and economic feasibility of investing in ESS operating price arbitrage and Short Term Operating Reserves. The results show that the implementation of the Real Option Analysis increases the economic performance of ESS. Nevertheless, ESS still requires limited incentives to be economically viable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the current practices of large UK organisations with respect to post-audits of capital projects with the aim of improving management decision making in the future. The investment process has been clearly mapped out in the literature, with the initial project proposal, appraisal, selection (investment decision), implementation, completion, and finally the post-audit. It is this latter stage which is ignored by so many organisations and has received less attention in the academic literature, a gap the author hopes to fill. Design/methodology/approach – The empirical data are collated from a postal questionnaire, semi-structured interviews, followed by a short e-mail questionnaire. A methodological triangulation of empirical data obtained from the questionnaires and interviews, were undertaken to overcome some of the deficiencies from just using one method of data collection. The research is empirical and uses exploratory descriptive analysis to interpret the findings. The author focuses on the aspect of organisational learning theory as a process of continuous improvement, learning from past experience, especially in the management decision-making paradigm. Findings – The author discovered nine important reasons for undertaking post-audits and ten for not. An important observation is that while those organisations which do not undertake post-audits attach a greater level of importance to “the reasons for not carrying out post-audits” and “the problems faced in the implementation of post-audits”, these difficulties have been overcome by those organisations that undertake post-audits. Evidence suggests that the current change in business culture, as a result of the recent financial crisis, may be refocusing the aims of post-audits from a learning exercise to one of managerial responsibility. Research limitations/implications – The research may be limited (in forming general conclusions) as it is based on a relatively small sample size. The author does not, however, believe that this distracts from its importance. Practical implications – The author argues that training the non-users to overcome the perceived difficulties would enhance the investment decision-making process by encouraging them to learn from the experience of those that undertake post-audits. Originality/value – The research is original as it reports on a current survey and will fill, what the author perceives to be, a gap in the literature. The respondents to the research consists of some of the most senior executives from the largest UK organisations and their views on academic issues are, in many cases, difficult to obtain; this research therefore has value in this respect. The findings point the way to new lines of enquiry in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Risk management is an important component of project management. Nevertheless, such process begins with risk assessment and evaluation. In this research project, a detailed analysis of the methodologies used to treat risks in investment projects adopted by the Banco da Amazonia S.A. was made. Investment projects submitted to the FNO (Constitutional Fund for Financing the North) during 2011 and 2012 were considered for that purpose. It was found that the evaluators of this credit institution use multiple indicators for risk assessment which assume a central role in terms of decision-making and contribute for the approval or the rejection of the submitted projects; namely, the proven ability to pay, the financial records of project promotors, several financial restrictions, level of equity, level of financial indebtedness, evidence of the existence of a consumer market, the proven experience of the partners/owners in the business, environmental aspects, etc. Furthermore, the bank has technological systems to support the risk assessment process, an internal communication system and a unique system for the management of operational risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Material Flow Cost Accounting (MFCA) is an instrument with a considerable potential for gaining transparency of material (and energy) flows and corresponding costs and, thereby, supporting the systematic striving for a higher degree of resource efficiency. However, a use case from the aluminum industry reveals some restrictions of MFCA due to its focus on material, the input-orientation, and the short-term orientation. Thus, this paper suggests extending the scope of Material Flow Cost Accounting by methodical refinements concerning the modeling of energy flows, divergent flow system outputs, especially revenues, and long-term monetary effects caused by investments. For demonstrating these methodical refinements of Material Flow Cost Accounting, the aforementioned use case is taken up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to propose a model of external evaluation of investments in tourism with a focus on process and sustainability, since today it is a requirement for the development of tourist destinations to improve the decision making process that will lead to the approval of investments. The relevant aspect of this proposal is the integration of three processes that in theory and practice they usually appeared in separated form: the external evaluation ex-before, while (investment) and ex-post, as well as the system of tools and techniques used for the evaluation. The model was designed based on the study of different models presented in the literature studied, the consultation to experts in the field, as well as the experience gained by the authors in the research process in Cuba and Cape Verde. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Commercial profitability of poplar cultivation was analysed in an artificial poplar plantation in Serbia. The aim of this study was to validate the invested financial means in the artificial poplar plantation, on the basis of the analysis of costs and receipts during a 42-year rotation, on alluvial semigley, at a discount rate of 12%. Methods of dynamic investment calculation (net present value - NPV, internal rate of return - IRR, benefit-cost method - B/C and payback period - PBP) were used. The investigated plantations were established from Populus x euramericana cl. I-214, with a planting spacing of 6 x 3 m. At the calculation discount rate of 12%, the project for the production cycle of 42 years was not cost-effective from the economic aspect. The discount rate of 6% can be accepted in the studied plot because of the better site (alluvial semigley), but the oldness of the stand is unfavourable. For the studied sample plot, IRR was 5.51 %. B/C at r=12% in the study compartment was 0.24. The analysis shows that PBP is practically unacceptable for the investor at the discount rate of 6%. In practice, it is necessary to improve the position of producers in getting financial means for investment in poplar cultivation, so as to stimulate the establishment of artificial poplar plantations, especially in the private sector (on private land). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this study, investment appraisal techniques and risk analysis methods are evaluated and a new simulation-based computer program developed for helping investment appraisal applications for natural building stone deposits is introduced. Finally, case study and its results are presented. The study proved that simulation programs can be used for decision making concerning potential investments in NBS deposits. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Serbian government has recently introduced the system of feed-in tariffs for electricity generated from renewable sources. The proposed feed-in tariff for photovoltaic electricity is set to 0.23€/kWh paid for 12 years, with the PV electricity produced after the first 12 years being sold at the grid electricity market price for the rest of the plant lifetime. Although such FIT could have been justified by the small, average retail grid electricity price of just 0.054€/kWh for Serbian households, the investment appraisal of a real case of 2.82kWp PV power plant in two Serbian cities of Zlatibor and Negotin, clearly illustrates that the proposed FIT framework is not sufficient to attract investments into PV in Serbia. In the second part of the paper, we have analyzed alternative, more reasonable feed-in tarrif frameworks, with the goal of selecting those able to sustain the PV adoption and diffusion in Serbia. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: PPP contracts most often have durations of between 20 and 35 years, but in some cases even longer. The main reason for this is the wish of the Public side to minimize its financial contribution, by including in the contract many years of revenue generation by the project to help cover the investment contribution of the private partner. Implicit however is the need to fully amortize the initial investment, which in many countries is even included in the relevant legislation. PPP contracts are normally framed around the delivery of a range of services during the lifetime of the contract, those services requiring the initial construction or recovery of an expensive infrastructure. The specification of the financial clauses of the contract requires the estimation of demand for those services over the period of the contract and this is usually taken as the major incidence of uncertainty in the contract. Indeed, experience shows that demand forecasts often fail substantially, in many cases by more than 20%, mostly by excess, as State side project promoters (and the bidding private partners) tend to be excessively optimistic about the development of such demand. But when we consider the nature of these contracts we should recognize the existence of at least two other very important types of uncertainty: first, the socially desirable scope and specification of the services to be offered as technology and social preferences evolve; and second, the policy guidelines relative to the total quantity and the social distribution of those services, as that quantity may be causing congestion in other parts of the system, or it may become important to (positively or negatively) discriminate some user segments. In both cases, it is almost impossible to foresee at the time of writing the initial contract if, when and in what direction such types of socially beneficial changes in the provision of the services would intervene, but this rigidness may bear a great loss of social welfare in relation to a more adjustable framework. This criticism affects not only PPPs but all kinds of concession contracts with long duration, so it is not the “partnership” element that must be questioned but rather the duration of the contract. An alternative way is relatively straightforward: abandon the assumption that these contracts must provide full amortization of the infrastructure, which allows adoption of contracts with a shorter life, and the use of multiple such contracts over the lifecycle of the infrastructure. The first generation contract would still have to face the full cost of the construction, but the private partner would receive the unamortized part at the end of that contract, to be paid by the State, directly from the public budget if no more private participation is wanted, or indirectly through the acquisition fee for the contract to be paid by the partner to the second life segment. But, crucially, the State recovers the right to re-specify the terms of the service to be provided without the need for any indemnity, and also the uncertainty associated with the evolution of demand in that period will be much smaller, as this will be my then a mature system in operation. This may seem to increase the transaction costs for the State as more contracts (although of a similar type, especially from the second onwards) may have to be negotiated and signed. But if we take into consideration the difficulties of the frequently needed renegotiations of long duration contracts and the conditions of asymmetry of information in which the State normally finds itself in such cases, we will conclude that, besides avoiding the loss of welfare due to the poor fit of the contract after 20 years or so, this solution after all may also reduce the transaction costs associated with negotiations over the duration of the traditional contracts. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Purpose -- The purpose of this paper is to develop a dynamic, stochastic, mechanistic simulation model of a dairy business to evaluate the cost and benefit streams coinciding with technology investments. The model was constructed to embody the biological and economical complexities of a dairy farm system within a partial budgeting framework. A primary objective was to establish a flexible, user-friendly, farm-specific, decision-making tool for dairy producers or their advisers and technology manufacturers. Design/methodology/approach -- The basic deterministic model was created in Microsoft Excel (Microsoft, Seattle, Washington). The @Risk add-in (Palisade Corporation, Ithaca, New York) for Excel was employed to account for the stochastic nature of key variables within a Monte Carlo simulation. Net present value was the primary metric used to assess the economic profitability of investments. The model was composed of a series of modules, which synergistically provide the necessary inputs for profitability analysis. Estimates of biological relationships within the model were obtained from the literature in an attempt to represent an average or typical US dairy. Technology benefits were appraised from the resulting impact on disease incidence, disease impact, and reproductive performance. In this paper, the model structure and methodology were described in detail. Findings -- Examples of the utility of examining the influence of stochastic input and output prices on the costs of culling, days open, and disease were examined. Each of these parameters was highly sensitive to stochastic prices and deterministic inputs. Originality/value -- Decision support tools, such as this one, that are designed to investigate dairy business decisions may benefit dairy producers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to discuss a multiscale pricing model for the French stock market by combining wavelet analysis and Fama-French three-factor model. The objective is to examine the relationship between stock returns and Fama-French risk factors at different time-scales. Design/methodology/approach - Exploiting the scale separation property inherent to the maximal overlap discrete wavelet transform, the data set are decomposed into components associated with different time-scales. This wavelet-based decomposition scheme allows the three Fama-French models to be tested over different investments periods. Findings - The obtained results show that the explanatory power of the Fama-French three-factor model becomes stronger as the wavelet scale increases. Besides, the relationship between the portfolio returns and the risk factors (i.e. the market, size and value factors) depends significantly upon the. considered time-horizon. Practical implications - The proposed methodology offers investors the opportunity to construct dynamic portfolio management strategies by taking into account the multiscale nature of risk and return. Moreover, it gives a new insight to fund rating and fund selection issues in relation to - heterogeneous investments periods. Originality/value - The paper uses wavelets as a relatively new and powerful tool for statistical analysis that allows a new understanding of pricing models. The paper will be of interest not only for academics in the field of asset pricing but also for fund managers and financial market investors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - Corporate risk management is one of the critical concerns of managers when they make investment allocation decisions among multiple projects. The purpose of this paper is to address corporate investment issues illustrated by target-beating in capital budgeting, and further discuss their applications in financial management, especially in venture capital finance. Design/methodology/approach - Value-at-risk, a typical down-side risk measure which is considered more appropriate for economic agents, is applied to the analysis. Probability theory and optimal control methodologies are used to derive analytical solutions. Findings - By maximizing the probability of beating a pre-determined target, an analytical optimal corporate investment allocation strategy is presented, and the corresponding probability and expected earliest time of success derived. Research limitations/implications - Various types of utility functions of economic agents and other dynamic downside risk measures can be considered in future research along this line. Practical implications - This paper paves the road for applications of continuous-time downside risk in making corporate investment decisions, especially in the field of new venture finance. Originality/value - As one of the early studies investigating optimal investment decisions in continuous-time downside risk-based capital budgeting system, this project sheds light on corporate risk management, and provides risk-averse decision makers with an effective tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses business investment appraisal techniques and expectations formation. The paper begins with a comparative analysis of the links between fixed asset investment theories and real world investment appraisal techniques, focusing on the underlying assumptions about rationality and expectations. In the empirical sections, these ideas are tested via an analysis of business behaviour based upon survey evidence from a sample of Cambridgeshire manufacturing firms. The statistical analysis focuses on hypothesis testing, ordered probit estimations and simulations. The evidence presented reveals that whilst conventional production function analysis does provide some explanatory power in describing the objective determinants of firm investment activity, subjective and behavioural factors are also important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Illiquidity, volatile returns and lack of information are sources of the high risk that characterise the investments made by venture capitalists (VCs). Despite the importance of such investments in the contemporary business and technological environment, and the associated risk-related difficulties, little Australian research has been conducted into the decision-making processes of VCs. This study investigates both the investment process and some of the strategies used by VCs for reducing selected risks. The specific source of risk examined is information asymmetry, which is caused by lack of information on the part of the VCs, and which can lead to the added risks of adverse selection and moral hazard. Four Australian VC firms were surveyed using a comprehensive open-ended questionnaire. A manual content analysis was employed to analyse the questionnaire responses. Consistent with prior research, the Australian VCs sampled are found to employ Berger and Udell's three steps of investment: selection, contracting and monitoring. Furthermore, the semi-formal selection step of the investment process is found to consist of three distinct stages: deal sourcing, screening and evaluation. A number of techniques are used to minimise the risks of information asymmetry during the screening and evaluation stages, as well as during the later steps of contracting and monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous work has shown that while most conventional investment appraisal techniques appear ill-suited for use in the water industry of England and Wales, the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) offers considerable potential as an investment decision making tool. This study accounts for much of the criticism of the BSC technique, proposing methodological changes to overcome these difficulties. A more comprehensive treatment of the modified methodology, illustrated by BSC development and application flowcharts, demonstrates how this technique might operate in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Privatization has increased the number of players in the decision-making process for major transport investment decisions. The main argument of this paper is that this fragmentation is creating opportunities for strategic decision-making by each actor and that this is particularly obvious in the context of demand forecasting. This paper explores some of the specific causes and consequences of this new situation, including the perverse incentives, linked to the diversity of the objectives across the actors and to the risk allocation induced by the regulatory regime. It illustrates the issues and possible solutions from a wide range of modal and country experiences. In particular, it discusses the role of the newly independent sector regulators in reconciling these diverse goals and their limitations in view of the major information asymmetries problems they face. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Despite the rapid development of retailing as an academic subject in its own right, research into financial management in the retailing sector remains an underdeveloped area. This paper provides a brief synopsis of some of the main issues in corporate finance, with a view to highlighting areas which could constitute a worthwhile programme of research in the retailing sector. The availability of financial databases such as Extel and Datastream, containing timeseries of the accounts of retailing companies in the United Kingdom, makes this more than feasible. In an attempt to stimulate interest and avoid a completely abstract theoretical discussion, the paper also reports on the results of a survey on financial management practice, based on a sample of United Kingdom retailers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the findings of a longitudinal study of capital budgeting practices within 100 large UK companies between 1975 and 1992. Such an approach enables a more meaningful comparison of changes in investment practices over time and helps to clarify the confusing picture built up from comparison of prior surveys with different research designs and often low response rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]