Business Commons^™

Comparing Portfolio Diversification Strategies In Different Market Environments, Kyle Tobias Koerten

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Analysis Of The Impact Of Contagion Flow On Firm Value And Application To High Yield Bond Portfolio Optimization, Wendy Ann-Swenson Roth

Doctoral Dissertations

Portfolios of financial instruments are designed to increase returns and manage risk. In high-risk investment strategies, central measures of risk must be complemented with controls on tail measures of risk. An unanticipated event that impacts securities of one firm can contagiously effect those of other firms through a contagion flow process that may occur via a set of network connections. Such connections among firms arise due to a variety of factors, such as a shared supply chain member or auditing firm. These connections spread the contagion, potentially impacting numerous other firms in the network. This can adversely affect the level …

Liquidity In The 144a Debt Market, Karen Ann Craig

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation presents my research analyzing the liquidity component of corporate bond spreads for bonds issued privately under Rule 144A during the period 2003 – 2011. Rule 144A bonds are limited to trading among qualified institutional investors and therefore are inherently less liquid than registered corporate bonds. I assess an amendment to Rule 144 modifying the restrictions on public resale of Rule 144A bonds intended to increase the liquidity of 144A bonds and decrease the cost of capital to firms issuing these securities. This amendment provides an ideal exogenous shock to evaluate 144A bonds. Assessing the liquidity premiums and yield …

Board Of Directors Monitoring Of Ceo Insider Trading: Before And After The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Alireza Ebrahim

Doctoral Dissertations

This study investigates the impact monitoring by the board of directors had on the incidence of insider trading by firm chief executive officers (CEO) and on the abnormal returns they realized from 1996 to 2008. The study also analyzes the impact the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) had on this relationship. The results show that CEOs earned significant abnormal returns on their buy and sell trades during this period. Furthermore, the results show that internal governance mechanisms such as board independence and CEO/Chairman duality reduce abnormal return and the intensity of CEOs' insider trades. The results are particularly significant for …

Designated Directors In The Boardroom: Their Impact On Governance And Performance And Shareholder Wealth Effects, Laura Seery Cole

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines the appointment of designated directors on boards of directors. Designated director appointments are uncontested board appointments by activist investors, whereby normal nominating and voting election procedures are circumvented. Instances such as these, where directors are appointed rather than elected, are a form of shareholder access to the proxy. In this dissertation, new evidence is provided that is relevant to the proxy access debate by investigating the hypothesis that firms with appointed designated directors have different firm and governance characteristics than firms with elected directors. In particular, the following questions are asked: what are the shareholder wealth effects …

Exploring The Effectiveness Of Environmentally Sustainable Practices In Municipal Government: A Case Study Of The City Of Knoxville’S Department Of Parks And Recreation, Anthony Michael Brown

Masters Theses

Sustainability practices produce programs and services that meet current needs while preserving the environment and natural resources for the future. City parks and recreation departments are facing budget shortfalls and increasing expectations from customers. Governments are now embracing sustainability practices to create financial savings while also fostering relations with customers.

The purpose of this single case study was twofold: (1) to examine the effectiveness of one city department’s strategies in outsourcing its environmental sustainability program through a performance contract with Ameresco; and (2) to examine the perceptions of key department employees about the effectiveness of the sustainability initiative. A …

Ceo Serps: Are They Related To Firm Risk And Who Approves Them?, Colin D. Reid

Doctoral Dissertations

This paper investigates whether CEO supplemental executive retirement plans (SERPs) are associated with firm risk. Sundaram and Yermack (2007) show that CEOs manage their firms more conservatively as their debt incentives increase. Using new executive compensation disclosures mandated by the SEC, I find a negative association between CEO SERPs and firm risk but only for unsheltered SERPs. I find that when a CEO SERP is protected by a lump sum payment or by a trust (i.e. sheltered), the negative association between SERPs and firm risk is greatly diminished and even eliminated in some models. Furthermore, I show that having a …

Is All Goodwill Created Equal? An Analysis Of The Association Between Agency Conflicts, Board Monitoring, And Goodwill In U.S. Mergers And Acquisitions, Matthew L. Hoag

Doctoral Dissertations

The objective of this study is to examine the association between goodwill and governance structures – specifically, potential agency conflicts and internal and external board monitoring mechanisms – over a four-year period (2004-2007). To do this, I perform two distinct analyses to test (1) whether governance structures appear to be determinants of aggregate goodwill, and (2) whether governance structures appear to moderate investors’ perceptions of aggregate goodwill. I then extend these tests to a sample of U.S. merger and acquisition (M&A) transactions where I calculate a more refined measure of residual goodwill and re-perform the tests using this alternative goodwill …

Local Financial Services Innovation: Local Management, Strategy And Change; A Field Investigation, Ann Catherine Nave

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Analysis Of Investment Account Among Tennessee Banks, 1945-1966, Parvez Mahmud

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to determine the changes in the investment account of the Tennessee banks and study the underlying causes of variations and trends in the behavior of investment account management.

The data for the study was obtained from statistics compiled by the Department of Finance, The University of Tennessee, The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Federal Reserve Banks publications were the other major source of data. The study was restricted to the analysis of data for the period 1945-1966.

In the analysis of data, the following relationships were observed:

1. Size of the investment account had …