http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/7737 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/47878 A new approach to product development in Islamic finance Tahir, Muhammad Rehan Islamic Finance is a banking sector which caters to the Muslim population's banking needs by complying with the Islamic financial law. In this research some of the most prevalent financial products in Islamic Finance are surveyed and various forms of Islamic asset securitizations (Sukuks) are studied. Two issues of Islamic asset securitizations (Sukuks) are analyzed in detail. This analysis involves determining how well Sukuks serve the needs of Islamic Finance customers and also their shortcomings. In order to develop more customer-need centric financial products in Islamic Finance a new product development template is proposed. This template is a step-by-step process of developing Islamic financial products and is derived from the best practices of product development in the engineering domain. This methodology aims to formalize and improve the product development process in Islamic Finance. As an illustration of the proposed template, a new product is developed for Islamic Finance using this template. This example illustrates how religious restrictions in Islamic Finance dictate the form and substance of financial products during their development. Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program, June 2009. "September 2008." Title page has the copyright date of 1994. Includes bibliographical references. Wed, 29 Oct 2008 22:58:59 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/47876 America disrupted : dynamics of the technical capability crisis Sturtevant, Daniel Joseph This study investigates the cause of the nearly twenty-five year decline in the percentage of U.S. born undergraduates earning degrees in engineering. This dramatic decline has occurred despite incredibly high pay and low unemployment among individuals holding engineering degrees. On the surface, this situation appears to be violating the basic laws of labor-market supply and demand. A system dynamics model was created to represent the institutional forces and feedback loops present in the real-world system. This model internally represents the economic forces governing the choice to pursue science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, distinguishing features of highly quantitative knowledge that constrain its transmission, and factors determining the overall quality of STEM education in our schools. This work presents a theory that high industry pay for STEM workers and low pay for STEM K-12 teachers directly cause long-term labor shortages that are self perpetuating. A scarcity of STEM workers will cause wages to rise as employers bid up the price of those skills in the short-term. Schools are left with fewer qualified and lower quality teachers. This makes labor shortages worse ten to twenty years down the road. The fact that mathematics knowledge is highly sequential with strong dependencies on past-performance exacerbates the situation. Students who fall behind in mathematics find it nearly impossible to catch up. (cont.) This work explores many societal shifts that occurred in the 1950's through 1980's that could have resulted in the perplexing behavior seen from 1985 until the present day. Finally, policy proposals to correct the situation are simulated in the model to test their ability to move the system in a more positive direction. The system is found to exhibit "tipping point" behavior. Small reforms will have negligible impact while larger reforms have the potential to make the system move into a fundamentally better pattern of behavior, but only after considerable delays. In addition, this work presents a speculative hypothesis for the cause of Kondratieff economic long-waves briefly in an appendix based on unanticipated behaviors present in portions of the model. Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program, 2008. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 151-154). Mon, 29 Oct 2007 22:58:59 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/47875 Risk analysis in oil and gas projects : a case study in the Middle East Zand, Emad Dolatshahi Global demand for energy is rising around the world. Middle East is a major supplier of oil and gas and remains an important region for any future oil and gas developments. Meanwhile, managing oil and gas projects are becoming more challenging and riskier than ever before. Therefore, risk analysis and development of strategies to manage risk are crucial to the reduction of potential future delays and cost overruns in oil and gas projects. This thesis focuses on analysis and management of the technical and institutional risks involved in oil and gas projects in the Middle East. In the first section, we describe various types of risk and introduce a framework for risk management. We then conduct a case study to highlight some of the most important risk factors involved in oil and gas projects as well as recommendations to deal with such risks. The case is based on publically available information and includes two distinct projects with similar geologies under two separate legal regimes in Iran and Qatar. Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program, 2009. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 65-66). Wed, 29 Oct 2008 22:58:59 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/47874 A study of the correlation between pre-IPO venture funds and founder characteristics with high-tech firm growth Zaheer, Safwan High-tech firms are among the fastest growing in the United States. The four industries with the most rapid growth -internet, software, semiconductors, and technology hardware - have almost doubled their share of industry output in the United States over the last decade. These firms are not only an important stimulus to the national economy but also have spawned new industries and spearheaded the development of innovative products and services. It is for these reasons that these firms are of particular interests to managers, investors, and academics. By examining these firms, researchers can help managers, investors, and academics better understand the attributes associated with firm growth. The purpose of this study was to determine whether any correlations existed between the size of the pre-IPO (initial public offering) venture fund and founder characteristics with firm growth. Twenty different high-tech firms were studied. These firms were divided into two different samples. One sample consisted of 10 firms that went public well before the 2000 recession and the other sample consisted of 10 firms that went public close to the 2000 recession. A 5 year time period beyond an IPO was used for calculating the firm's average growth rate. The results showed a negative correlation between the size of the pre-IPO venture funds and firm growth. No significant correlation between founder age and prior entrepreneurial experience of the founder with firm growth was found. (cont.) As far as the prior relevant industry experience of the founder is concerned, an average experience of 6+ years was found to be positively correlated with firm growth. Even though, no correlation was found between founder education and firm growth; founders having a masters or a PhD degree outperformed those with a bachelor's or even a high-school degree. The results serve to provide contextual information to managers, investors, and academics who wish to consider their firm's growth potential or in general invest in high-tech firms. In addition, the study adds to the rich literature on the impact of pre-IPO venture funds and founder characteristics on firm success. Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program, 2008. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 57-58). Mon, 29 Oct 2007 22:58:59 GMT