| Author | Fernando, M. Susith J. S. K. D. |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.SM-02-9 |
| Subject(s) | Capital investments United Kingdom
|
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of
Business Administration. |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | With the underlying motivation of filling the gap in empirical evidence of capital
investment practices, this study is largely a survey of capital investment practices in the
United Kingdom. Conceptualisation and modelling of the survey was backed by literature
on such research conducted in Western nations and some selected Asian countries. This
research serves the purpose of revealing the actual management practices related to capital
investment decisions in the small and medium manufacturing companies in the UK context
and providing a research account to make a comparison with that of a study conducted in
the Sri Lankan context for the improvement of such practices.
Being a survey research, the study focuses on small and medium industrial companies in
Oxfordshire County in the UK, and all non-large manufacturing companies categorized
under this region in the KOMP ASS company info1mation register were selected for the
study. Companies selected for the study were categorised into three groups: small,
medium and large on the basis of their turnover and, then differences as to the actual
practices among these categories were tested using inferential statistics, in addition to the
descriptions given in te1ms of descriptive statistics. The principal data collection method
of the survey was a personally administered questionnaire covering the conceptual
dimensions of the survey model.
Conceptually, the survey concentrated on two major dimensions of capital investment
process: general issues and technical issues of capital investment practices. General issues
therein mainly dealt with the interaction between the capital investment process and the
overall organisational interface of strategic decision making. Technical issues covered the
procedural and evaluative sides of the capital investment process.
The study found that sophisticated as well as naive capital investment techniques were
widely used by the UK companies. On most occasions, there was no statistically
significant difference found in company size with respect to the dimensions of the
research. On some occasions, it was revealed that there was greater use of theoretically
recommended techniques by large and medium companies.
Findings of the present research related to the UK context were compared with the results
of a similar research conducted in the context of Sri Lanka. It was found that UK
companies exhibit a higher degree of usage of theoretically valid quantitative methods of
capital investment techniques (except few occasions) than Sri Lankan companies do. This
comparative finding is coupled with the finding that UK companies tends to be more
multiple objective oriented in the financial analysis than Sri Lankan companies do.
This survey research, it is believed, will help develop a rational and theoretically valid
managerial perspective in capital investment practices at the firm level, which in tum will
contribute to the socio-economic development of the nation. |
| Year | 2002 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Management (SOM) |
| Department | Other Field of Studies (No Department) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Master of Business Administration (MBA) (Publication code=SM) |
| Chairperson(s) | Ramachandran, N.; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Sununta Siengthai;Swierczek, Fredric W.;Gupta, Jyoti P. |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Asian Development B |
| Degree | Thesis (M.B.A.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2002 |