Finance and Financial Management Commons^™

Microfinance: Combating World Poverty One Small Business At A Time, Alison Basney

Senior Honors Theses

Poverty is a major problem that reaches millions of people around the world. Although many organizations and individuals work daily to combat this, much of the work done to reduce poverty lacks sustainability and serves only to remedy to the effects of poverty, rather than create a solution to the causes of poverty. Microfinance can be very basically defined as the provision of banking to the impoverished who would not otherwise have access to these services. This purpose of this thesis is to show that microfinance is the ideal solution to the poverty problem by using research and evidence from …

Additional Evidence On The Impact Of The International Financial Reporting Standards On Earnings Quality: Evidence From Latin America, Mauricio Melgarejo

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

The purpose of this paper is to explore whether the adoption of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) has an impact on the quality of earnings in Latin America. Studying a sample offirms from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, and Peru, I find that management reports a lower level of discretionary accruals after the implementation of the IFRS. In addition, this study provides evidence that earnings are more persistent and stock prices are more associated with earning numbers after the application of IFRS. This paper provides evidence that earnings quality has increased after the adoption of IFRS in Latin America.

Key Findings: 2017 Atrs Global Airport Performance Benchmarking, Chunyan Yu

Publications

The ATRS Global Airport Benchmarking Project measures and compares the performance of several important aspects of airport operations: Productivity and efficiency, unit costs and cost competitiveness, financial results and airport charges. The report also examines the relationships between various performance measures and airport characteristics as well as management strategies in order to provide a better understanding of observed differences in airport performance. This report includes 206 airports and 24 airport groups of various sizes and ownership forms in Asia Pacific, Europe and North America. This presentation highlights key findings on efficiency and cost.

Do Credit Ratings Matter? An Examination Of The Relationship Between Sovereign Ratings And Capital Flows Pre And Post Financial Crisis, Greg Violante

Economics Department Student Scholarship

This paper examines the relationship between sovereign credit ratings and international capital flows to emerging market economies (EMEs). More specifically, it analyzes how ratings impact capital flows (FDI and portfolio investment) before and after the 2007-2008 financial crisis. This study breaks the data into two samples, pre-crisis (1995-2006), and the post crisis (2007-2015). After using a System GMM method for 20 EMEs, the paper compares the pre- and post- financial crisis credit rating coefficients. The results indicate that the ratings have become more impactful overtime, for both FDI and portfolio investment, although the coefficients are not statistically different. Interestingly however, …

Key Findings: 2016 Atrs Global Airport Performance Benchmarking, Chunyan Yu

Publications

The ATRS Global Airport Benchmarking Project measures and compares the performance of several important aspects of airport operations: Productivity and efficiency, unit costs and cost competitiveness, financial results and airport charges. The report also examines the relationships between various performance measures and airport characteristics as well as management strategies in order to provide a better understanding of observed differences in airport performance. This report includes 205 airports and 24 airport groups of various sizes and ownership forms in Asia Pacific, Europe and North America. This presentation highlights key findings on efficiency and cost.

Experience And Fdi Risk-Taking: A Microfoundational Reconceptualization, Peter J. Buckley, Liang Chen, L. Jeremy Clegg, Hinrich Voss

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Studies of how firms respond to host country risk have assigned explanatory primacy to organizational capability and managerial risk preference. The organization-level account is built on the premise that capability is a prerequisite for risk-taking while the individual-level account focuses on the managers' intrinsic behavioral attitude. Without integrating one with the other, the former is open to many alternative explanations while the latter remains only a source of heterogeneity. We propose that employing the microfoundations approach can address the limitations of each account and yield a fuller understanding of FDI risk-taking. Drawing upon behavioral decision theory and the concept of …

The Identification And Exploitation Of Terrorist Financing, Jacob S. Gordon

Senior Honors Theses

Terrorism and the threat of terrorist attacks have forced the United States to place a high priority on developing a comprehensive counterterrorism strategy. A crucial component of this overarching strategy focuses on targeting the finances of a terrorist organization, hoping to eliminate or stifle their sources of funding in an effort to render the organization incapable of launching successful operations due to an absence of funding. By analyzing the most common financing options that terrorist groups use, the United States can hone its ability to disrupt the funding operations for terrorist groups. Likewise, developing a method for tracking the laundering …

Banco Solidario S.A.: The Recovery Strategy, 2000–2004, Karina Caballero, Mauricio A. Melgarejo, Enrique Ogliastri

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

Five years passed since, in April, 2000, Kurt Koenigsfest took over as the Chief Executive Officer at Banco Solidario S.A. (BancoSol), in La Paz, Bolivia. BancoSol had become the top Latin American bank specializing in providing microbusiness services. Since its beginning in 1992, BancoSol achieved excellent results and became an international reference in the microcredit area. In mid-2000, external and internal factors caused its performance to deteriorate. Kurt and his management team set and implemented a strategy that led the bank to be rated as the best financial institution in the Bolivian financial system in 2004. The time had come …

Taca, Pedro Raventos, Mauricio A. Melgarejo

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

The airline industry is energy intensive, has high fixed costs and its demand is very sensitive to the economic cycle. After the industry worldwide undergoes deregulation, starting with the United States in 1978, two distinct business models develop. Traditional carriers operate hub and spoke networks, offer onboard service and engage in price discrimination, whereas low cost carriers operate point to point, charge for all services and have simple tariffs. TACA begins operations in Central America in 1931 and, by 1943, has a footprint that extends from the United States to Argentina. In 1998–2001 TACA faces increased competition and a significant …

Key Findings: 2015 Atrs Global Airport Performance Benchmarking, Chunyan Yu

Publications

The ATRS Global Airport Benchmarking Project measures and compares the performance of several important aspects of airport operations: Productivity and efficiency, unit costs and cost competitiveness, financial results and airport charges. The report also examines the relationships between various performance measures and airport characteristics as well as management strategies in order to provide a better understanding of observed differences in airport performance. This report includes 211 airports and 25 airport groups of various sizes and ownership forms in Asia Pacific, Europe and North America. This presentation highlights key findings on efficiency and cost.

Innovation Outcomes Of Knowledge-Seeking Chinese Foreign Direct Investment, Xianming Wu, Nathaniel C. Lupton, Yuping Du

Faculty Publications

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigates how organizational learning, absorptive capacity, cultural integration, specialization of the acquired firm and characteristics of transferred knowledge impact innovation performance subsequent to overseas acquisitions.

Design/methodology/approach

Survey responses from 222 Chinese multinational enterprises engaged in overseas acquisitions.

Findings

Differences between acquiring and acquired firms’ capabilities, while having a positive direct influence, suppress the positive impact of organizational learning and absorptive capacity, suggesting that multinationals require some basic level of capabilities to appropriate value from overseas acquisitions.

Research limitations/implications

This paper investigates the impact of knowledge-seeking overseas acquisition of Chinese multinationals on innovation …

Salesforce.Com, Sean Bielawski, Charles Kempe, Austin Mcdaniel, Adam Tate, Jeffrey S. Harrison

Robins Case Network

Innovation! One of the most innovative companies, and also one of the best companies to work for, is losing money. This case traces the meteoric rise of the number one customer relationship management service provider against huge rivals such as Microsoft and Oracle. Detail regarding their highly innovative Scrum system is provided, along with detail regarding their marketing approach. How can Salesforce.com regain profitability while continuing to grow in a highly competitive industry?

Ryanair Holdings, Nicole Blake Tran, Jamie Perkinson, Caron Sinnenberg, Lionel Tarcia, Jeffrey S. Harrison

Robins Case Network

The crass Irish CEO of Ryanair presides over a modern miracle. Ryanair, with its ridiculously low prices and poor reputation for service, has become one of Europe’s largest and most successful airlines. Employees pay for their own training, flights are cancelled if they won’t be full enough to be profitable, and the concept of “no frills” is heartily embraced. However, some new competitors have come on the scene, and Ryanair may be forced to improve its service and reputation to keep up.

Investcorp, Jeremy Kappes, Haynes King, Jamie Mattioli, Prasad Vaze, Timothy Kyle Benusa, Sam Gottwald, Thomas Arnold, Jeffrey S. Harrison

Robins Case Network

Investcorp is a publicly traded global alternative asset management company headquartered in Manama, Bahrain. It manages a huge hedge fund, along with other assets. The case describes Investcorp’s history, investment strategies, and major competitors. The company has a highly aggressive growth strategy, but it is also facing the retirement of its CEO.

Key Findings: 2014 Atrs Global Airport Performance Benchmarking Project, Tae Hoon Oum, Sam Choo, Chunyan Yu

Publications

The ATRS Global Airport Benchmarking Project measures and compares the performance of several important aspects of airport operations: Productivity and efficiency, unit costs and cost competitiveness, financial results and airport charges. The report also examines the relationships between various performance measures and airport characteristics as well as management strategies in order to provide a better understanding of observed differences in airport performance. This report includes 200 airports and 26 airport groups of various sizes and ownership forms in Asia Pacific, Europe and North America. This presentation highlights key findings on efficiency and cost.

Transnational Regulatory Regimes In Finance: A Comparative Analysis Of Their (Dis-)Integrative Effects, Katharina Pistor

Faculty Scholarship

Financial markets have become increasingly interconnected with financial intermediaries and instruments linking local and national markets to form regional or even global ones. The global financial crisis of 2008 demonstrated once more that financial interdependence can be both a blessing and a curse. It facilitates the movement of capital and the expansion of credit, and as such promotes economic development in good times; however, in bad times it transmits liquidity shortages throughout the system triggering financial crises and economic recessions where credit expansion earlier fuelled expansion and growth. A critical question therefore is how to structure the governance of transnational …

Harmonizing Choice-Of-Law Rules For International Insolvency Cases: Virtual Territoriality, Virtual Universalism, And The Problem Of Local Interests, Charles W. Mooney Jr.

All Faculty Scholarship

This paper explores the potential content and feasibility of a set of harmonized choice of law rules (HICOL Rules) that would apply in insolvency proceedings. It contemplates a main insolvency proceeding opened in a debtor’s center of main interests (“COMI”) and the existence of (or possibility of opening) one or more non-main (or secondary) proceedings. It also contemplates the possibility that an insolvency representative in a main or non-main proceeding may seek and be granted recognition in another state under the UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency (codified as Chapter 15 of the Bankruptcy Code in the U.S.) Under HICOL …

How Large Are The Benefits Of Emerging Market Equities?, C. Mitchell Conover, Gerald R. Jensen, Robert R. Johnson

Finance Faculty Publications

We perform a comprehensive evaluation of the benefits of emerging market equities by extending previous research in four fundamental ways. The contribution of this study is that it 1) evaluates a more complete sample; 2) examines performance measures that account for asymmetric return distributions; 3) separates emerging markets by region; and 4) considers the influence that the market environment has on the benefits of emerging market investments. Our results suggest that previous research has understated the benefits associated with investing in emerging markets. We find that broad emerging market indices have relatively low downside risk, which results in Sortino ratios …

Extraterritorial Impacts Of Recent Financial Regulation Reforms: A Complex World Of Global Finance, Lawrence G. Baxter

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Comments On The September 29, 2014 Fsb Consultative Document, ‘Cross-Border Recognition Of Resolution Action’, Steven L. Schwarcz, Mark Jewett, Bruce Leonard, Catherine Walsh, David Kempthorne

Faculty Scholarship

This CIGI Paper No. 51 was released on December 3, 2014 by the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) as a response to the Financial Stability Board’s (FSB) Consultative Document, “Cross-Border Recognition of Resolution Action.” Principally authored by CIGI Senior Fellow Steven L. Schwarcz (who works with the think tank’s International Law Research Program), the Paper comments on the policy measures proposed by the FSB, an international body that monitors and makes recommendations about the global financial system, to address the cross-border legal uncertainties of troubled systemically important financial firms. In that context, the Paper explains why a statutory approach …

Outward U.S. Foreign Direct Investment Performance During Recent Financial Crises, Lucyna Kornecki

Accounting, Economics, Finance, and Information Sciences - Daytona Beach

Foreign direct investment (FDI) plays an extraordinary and growing role in the global markets and represents an integral part of the U.S. economy. This research has descriptive character and focuses on the latest trends in outward United States foreign direct investment (US FDI) illustrating the impact of the recent financial crises on FDI performance.

The study analyzes the outward US FDI stock contribution to the global FDI stock and its performance during the last decade including geographical and sectorial distribution. The next paragraph focuses on outward US FDI corporate players ranking MNC’s by revenue and foreign assets. The essential part …

Key Findings: 2013 Atrs Global Airport Performance Benchmarking Project, Tae Hoon Oum, Yap Yin Choo, Chunyan Yu

Publications

The ATRS Global Airport Benchmarking Project measures and compares the performance of several important aspects of airport operations: Productivity and efficiency, unit costs and cost competitiveness, financial results and airport charges. The report also examines the relationships between various performance measures and airport characteristics as well as management strategies in order to provide a better understanding of observed differences in airport performance. This report includes 195 airports and 26 airport groups of various sizes and ownership forms in Asia Pacific, Europe and North America. This presentation highlights key findings on efficiency and cost.

The Cost Of Culture The Impact Of National Culture On The Pass-Through Of Commodity Shocks, Christine Gerrity

Honors Projects in Finance

This study analyzes the impact of national culture on the pass-through of commodity price shocks to retail goods. In particular, this study explores the commodities of coffee, cotton and steel. Through the use of regression analysis, this study looks to determine the relationship between two key predictive variables: risk tolerance of a country and commodity shocks within a company’s associated commodity market, and their impact on the value of companies within that country. Additional factors are explored at the firm financial level and the firm country level. The purpose of this study is to examine if consumers of one country …

Private Governance, Public Implications And The Tightrope Of Regulatory Reform: The Isda Credit Derivatives Determinations Committees, John Biggins, Colin Scott

Transnational Business Governance Interactions Working Papers

Regulatory relationships in financial markets exemplify the importance and changing nature of transnational business governance interactions (TBGI). These interactions involve reciprocal forces of influence between private and public regulators. This paper examines one key case of private governance in financial markets: the emergence, structures and decision-making of Credit Derivatives Determinations Committees (DCs) of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA). The paper highlights the mechanisms or 'pathways' of interaction between ISDA, governments, courts and public regulators. Interactions between state and non-state actors are shown to occur in both operational and policy spheres. ISDA is found to be a particularly resilient …

Integrated Risk Study For Chinese Commercial Banks With Fuzzy Comprehensive Appraisal Method, Hongmei Li, Haigang Zhou

Business Faculty Publications

The Basel Capital Accord II proposes that commercial banks should supervise not only credit risk but also market risk, liquidity risk and operational risk. Using the fuzzy comprehensive appraisal method based on the Basel Capital Accord II, this paper measures the integrated risk of Chinese commercial banks. Our results indicate that the average values of the four types of risks are higher than the integrated risk of the four risks, indicating an overestimated whole risk. Our results illustrate the importance of considering the correlation between the different risk sources in order to efficiently allocate financial resources.

The Stock Market’S Reaction To Accounting Information: The Case Of The Latin American Integrated Market Abstract, Mauricio A. Melgarejo, Eduardo Montiel, Luis Sanz

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

The purpose of this paper is to explore the stock market’s reaction to quarterly financial statements. We focus our study in two countries that are participating in the Latin American Integrated Market (MILA): Peru and Chile. We find that the cumulative abnormal returns and the absolute value of the cumulative abnormal trading are explained principally by the quarterly earnings surprises around the financial statements release date. We find that these effects are more pronounced in small firms, confirming that due to the lower level of pre disclosure information accounting numbers are the main source of information. Key words: Accounting Information, …

Further Evidence On The Ability Of Fifo And Lifo Earnings To Predict Operating Cash Flows: An Industry Specific Analysis, Brock Murdoch, Bruce Dehning, Paul Krause

Accounting Faculty Articles and Research

The continuing convergence of U.S. GAAP with International Accounting Standards has brought into question the future use of the LIFO inventory method in the U.S. Since the Financial Accounting Standards Board (2010) has stipulated that earnings should aid investors and creditors in their quest to forecast future cash flows to the enterprise, this research examines whether FIFO earnings or LIFO earnings is preferable, for this purpose, as an aid to ex ante operating cash flow itself,over a three-year forecast horizon. We conclude that ex ante operating cash flows are quite useful in forecasting operating cash flows across industries for up …

Sony Corporation: Reinventing Itself To Rediscover The Technological Edge, Chatterji Dheeman, Hayes Schildwachter, Jeffrey S. Harrison

Robins Case Network

Sony is a global conglomerate with a wide variety of businesses in its portfolio, but a heavy emphasis on electronics and related products. Due to a number of setbacks such as the earthquake in Japan and a weak global economy, the firm has experienced sales declines and negative earnings in recent years. In early 2012 the company announced a major restructuring and new strategy to regain its edge. However, Sony has an uphill battle.

Is China’S Outward Investment In Oil A Global Security Concern?, Ilan Alon, Aleh Cherp

Faculty Publications

The dramatic increase in investment by Chinese SOEs in overseas oil assets is primarily driven by energy security concerns. Whether such investment will benefit or harm energy security of other countries is hotly contested. On one hand, this investment can supplement the overall lack of investment in the sector, benefiting all consumers. On the other hand, it may exacerbate environmental and political problems associated with fossil fuels.

Virtue, Vice, And The Globalization Of World Economies, Stephen Preacher

Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study postulates that the recent world financial crisis, symptomatically manifested in the financial markets, is more fundamentally the result of a systemic disregard for moral constraints. This has occurred at macroeconomic levels within the industrialized nations and has pervaded the global economy. Moral relativism has become the dominant ethical system in society and government, and has undermined the virtuous ideals and self-restraint that foster the benefits of capitalism. Coupled with advances in technology and globalization, the effect of vices such as avarice, irresponsibility, excessive risk tolerance and criminal activities have been exacerbated. Government manipulation and intervention has further served …