Business Commons^™

Esg Significance In Relation To Corporate Bankruptcy Prediction, Sama Elkady

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis aims to enhance corporate risk assessment through studying ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) significance in modeling bankruptcy. Through using artificial intelligence’ natural language processing (NLP), we develop a proxy for ESG scoring based on companies annual reporting retrieved through EDGAR. We integrate the derived ESG score with traditional financial ratios used to calculate Altman’s Z-score (1968) in predicting bankruptcy. Through S&P’s Compustat, we obtain a sample of 108 healthy & bankrupt firms -spanning 14 years of fiscal observations- and match them through time and industry. We use stepwise GLM regression to estimate bankruptcy probability observing that ESG and …

Policy Frameworks And Citizens’ Use Of Fintech Solutions: The Pros And Cons In Egypt, Salma Al-Mohamady

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis provides a comprehensive analysis of the significant influence of financial technology (FinTech) on the banking industry, consumer finance, and economic growth. It specifically concentrates on the swiftly changing FinTech environment in Egypt. The study investigates the impact of incorporating advanced technologies on worldwide financial practices, which has significantly transformed traditional banking models and facilitated the emergence of inventive financial services. The transition is clearly apparent in Egypt, where the expansion of FinTech has been driven by advances in regulations, adaptation to technology, and a population that is becoming more comfortable with digital solutions.

Using a combination of quantitative …

Financial Inclusion And Human Development: A Comparative Analysis Of Mena And Brics, Mohammad Eid

Theses and Dissertations

Various efforts to enhance human development in several countries has been underway for years now, but the level of human development attained by countries in BRICS and MENA regions vary. This study empirically examines the role of financial inclusion and its impacts on human development; it investigates whether financial inclusion can be used to drive human development by examining and comparing its results in MENA and BRICS countries. The dependent variable is the score of Human Development index HDI. This study provides a unique comparative analysis of the role of financial inclusion and its effects on human development in MENA …

Valuing Circularity: Sustainable Finance With Real Options Methodology, Mostafa Alloub

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents an enhanced framework for valuing circular investments based on the Value Hill model using real options analysis. We propose a new flexible numerical methodology for valuing circularity using the Least Squares Monte Carlo simulation (LSMC) method of Longstaff and Schwartz (2001). The Value Hill model of circularity represents the course followed by the value of an asset, specifically after primary use. To validate the efficiency of our model, we conduct an empirical study on the smartphone business using the case of Apple. Results of our empirical analysis show that investing in circularity enhances financial value. Our model …

Is Esg A Determinant Of Banks’ Resilience And Growth Everywhere? A Response From An Ai-Aided Approach, Mohamed Elklawy

Theses and Dissertations

There are many calls for banks to expand their contribution to the transition towards a sustainable world by sponsoring initiatives that promote the United National Sustainable Development Goals. This role is more materialized in developing countries as banks are the key source of funding; thus, they have the power of money to mutate the DNA of businesses to operate responsibly with respect to the surrounding environment and society. Various studies consider the reflection of adopting sustainable approaches by banks, though focusing on developed countries who took the initiative to lead this change. As the banks in developing countries try to …

An Examination Of The Determinants Of Ease Of Doing Business: Perspectives From World Economies, Omar Eldarawy

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis’ purpose is to explore the correlation between Ease of Doing Business sub-scores and the overall Ease of Doing Business score. The study includes a detailed quantitative study into the previously mentioned relationship. The Ease of Doing Business sub-scores comprise of scores representing starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, and resolving insolvency. This is conducted via a series of diagnostic tests to identify an appropriate regression model. These tests include the Hausman Test, RESET Test, and Breusch-Pagan Test. Based on the tests, …

An Examination Of The Impacts Of Macroeconomic Indicators On Conventional And Islamic Equity Fund Returns: Perspectives From The Mena Region, Amr Elshabouny

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the performance of conventional and Islamic equity mutual funds in the MENA region, and the influence of major macroeconomic determinants on the two types, by analyzing 503 conventional and 128 Shariah-compliant funds. It incorporates three major macroeconomic variables using Generalized Linear Models (GLM). The findings indicate no significant superiority of Islamic funds over conventional ones. The study also notes that while market performance and foreign exchange rates positively affect both fund types, GDP growth and inflation have a negative impact. Islamic funds are less influenced by excess market returns, GDP growth, and inflation compared to conventional funds, …

Optimizing Repayment Strategies For Egyptian Construction Companies With Multiple Loans, Moataz Elkady

Theses and Dissertations

Optimizing Repayment Strategies for Egyptian Construction Companies with Multiple Loans is of utmost importance to efficiently allocate monthly income for loan repayment. The conventional practice of paying the minimum balance due each month leads to increased interest charges and prolonged repayment periods. In response, this research proposes a model for multiple loan repayment that considers the computational complexity involved.

The model is built on the foundation of mixed integer linear programming and aims to establish an optimal repayment schedule by minimizing the total cash required to repay the loans, prioritizing the repayment of loans before personal expenses. The implementation of …

Assessing The Effect Of Fintech Adoption On Country's Productivity, Mai Metwally

Theses and Dissertations

The relationship between total factor productivity of countries, for both low-income and high-income countries, and Fintech adoption will be examined in this paper. Also, a background on Fintech history will be discussed and explored briefly along with Fintech future risks and opportunities. Starting off with the importance of TFP, it is also known to be "Solow residual" (named after American Economist "Robert Solow"). TFP shows and examines the performance along with efficiency of the entity or country. It shows how well and efficient the firm or country in transforming its inputs to the desired outputs. Moreover, it is the ratio …

Fintech Companies Valuation Using Real Options: Fawry Empirical Study, Yassmen Abou Elwafa

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents an improved valuation approach for Fintech companies, which are high-growth technology-based firms. We first identify the shortcomings of traditional valuation methods in valuing high-growth technology firms. Then, an alternative valuation technique based on real options theory is discussed to value fintech companies. The relevance and validity of using real options valuation to value fintech firms are also discussed. We propose a new flexible framework for valuing fintech companies by extending the Schwartz-Moon (2001) model to include various types of real options. To validate the practical application of the Extended Schwartz-Moon model, we conduct an empirical study to …

Navigating Uncertainty: The Role Of Gold, Silver, Oil, Cryptocurrency, And Esg Indices In The Mena Region, Rahaf Zakaria Sakr

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the effectiveness of various financial instruments as hedges and safe havens during different market conditions in the MENA region. It compares traditional safe-haven investments ( gold, silver, and oil) and non-traditional safe-havens (cryptocurrencies and ESG stocks) to determine which investments function better as hedges and safe havens during different market conditions. The data covers eight years, starting in 2015 and ending in early 2023. DCC GARCH is utilized to examine time variation in conditional correlations. This study finds that Gold, Silver, and cryptocurrency can be considered strong hedges to the MENA market on average and weak safe …

The Effect Of Climate Change On Firm Level Costs With Focus On Mena Region, Farah Osama Saieed

Theses and Dissertations

This paper has a main objective of identifying the relationship between environmental factors and climate change on operating costs incurred by firms. This paper also attempts to compare the direction and intensity of the effect on different sectors in order to analyze whether climate change effect differs based on the nature of the business operations. Several papers have previously addressed the relationship between climate change factors ad profits. This literature will add to previous studies by observing the effect on the cost rather than the profits. In addition to providing results that minimize endogeneity, which is found in a large …

Can Blockchain-Supply Chain Announcements Create Shareholder Value? Evidence From An Event Study For International Initiatives, Alyaa Saleh

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates how Blockchain based Supply chain (BC-SC) announcements impact the stock market performance of the announcing firms. Using a sample of 104 news and firm announcements between 2016 and July 2021, we conduct an international event study to determine the effect of BC-SC announcements on the market performance. We find that an overall significantly positive market reaction of 1.45% to all BC-SC announcements on the announcement day. In addition, we find that the stock market reaction slightly differs when different SC challenges are targeted by the announcing firm. When blockchain is used for traceability purposes, the market response …

Trading The Days Vs. Days Of Trading: An Empirical Literature Survey On Calendar Anomalies Across Markets, Mariam Ashraf Kiryakos

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis provides a comprehensive theoretical and empirical review of over five decades of research on two of the most examined calendar anomalies: the day-of-the-week and weekend effect. The expansive literature is classified into five different phases to demonstrate and review the evolution of research on these two seasonal anomalies. It also reconciles empirically the seemingly contradicting evidence documented by prior studies by adopting the lens of Adaptive Market Hypothesis (AMH) and conducting a cross-market analysis on the two calendar anomalies using the headline stock market indices of the ten largest economies by GDP as of 2019. The main methodology …

An Examination Of The Determinants Of Optimal Corporate Credit Hegde: Perspectives From Firms Listed In Djia30 And Nasdaq100, Dina Rofael

Theses and Dissertations

Raising number of corporate defaults could threaten the financial stability, thus modelling credit risk is a key ingredient of financial stability analysis. This paper tries to answer a specific question regarding the drivers of this risk: idiosyncratic risk (industry-specific or firm-specific) and/or systematic risk (macro-economic specific). As a first step, the paper estimates the optimal hedge ratio based on the interest coverage ratio, that acts as a measure for the probability of default. Against this background, the paper applies one of the fundamental-based models of credit risk, known as hybrid model after estimating the proposed indicator variable. The suggested model …

Stock Market Manipulation Detection Using Continuous Wavelet Transform & Machine Learning Classification, Sarah Youssef

Theses and Dissertations

Stock market manipulation detection is important for both investors and regulators. Being able to detect stock manipulation and preventing it gives investors the confidence in the market fairness and integrity. It also helps maintaining liquidity of the stocks and market efficiency. Implementing data mining algorithms in manipulation detection is a relatively recent technique but in the past few years there has been an increasing interest in it's applications in this domain. The benefit of monitoring manipulative trade behavior is that it can be implemented on live feed of stock data, which saves a lot of time in detecting stock price …

An Intelligent Market Cycle Detection System, Michael Azer

Theses and Dissertations

The detection of stock market cycles has attracted the attention of finance scholars and market practitioners. Accurately identifying the direction of a market can significantly increase the returns of investors. Despite this importance, conventional methodologies in the literature have predominantly attempted to evaluate the effect of subsets of factors as precedents to stock market cycles and with little agreement on what constitutes critical factors. There seems to be a lack in the literature for a comprehensive study that examines a multitude of factors at the same time on the S&P500 as the laboratory. Factors are categorized into: political events, economic …

Stock Prediction Using Natural Language Processing Sentiment Analysis On News Headlines During Covid-19, Mina Ibrahim

Theses and Dissertations

Stock prediction based on NLP sentiment analysis is one of the most researched topics due to the revenues they generate for investors. Researchers have used various tools to achieve this, especially fundamental and technical analysis based on historical data helped to achieve this target. Due to the technological advancement and abundance of data, the introduction of machine learning tools accelerated that approach. However, as the public mood affects the stock market, the need for another analysis emerged. Natural language processing sentiment analysis on data from various sources was able to capture public events and moods. NLP is one of the …

Stock Markets Performance During A Pandemic: How Contagious Is Covid-19?, Yara Abushahba

Theses and Dissertations

Background and Motivation: The coronavirus (“COVID-19”) pandemic, the subsequent policies and lockdowns have unarguably led to an unprecedented fluid circumstance worldwide. The panic and fluctuations in the stock markets were unparalleled. It is inarguable that real-time availability of news and social media platforms like Twitter played a vital role in driving the investors’ sentiment during such global shock.

Purpose:The purpose of this thesis is to study how the investor sentiment in relation to COVID-19 pandemic influenced stock markets globally and how stock markets globally are integrated and contagious. We analyze COVID-19 sentiment through the Twitter posts and investigate its …

The Impact Of The Capital Market, The Insurance Sector And The Mortgage Finance Sector On Economic Growth In Egypt, 2005-2019, Hana Anis

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis aims to explore the relationship between financial markets and economic growth in Egypt for the 15 years period, starting from 2005 to 2019. The study concentrates on the non-banking financial sector which includes the stock market, the debt market, the mortgage and the insurance sectors. The Vector Autoregressive (VAR) model is utilized to describe the relationship between GDP growth rate, as a proxy for economic growth, and a number of variables from the financial sector. Results of the analysis show that there is a significant relationship and statistical causality between the growth rate and the debt market, represented …

Ai Stock-Screening Methodology For Portfolio Construction, Omar Ahmed Khater

Theses and Dissertations

Selecting profitable stocks is crucial in constructing an all-equity portfolio. Investors need to rely on screening mechanisms to aid investment decision making. New stock selection methods are highly desired, and existing methods are constantly improved. In this research, we investigate the potential of relying on artificial intelligence to guide the stock selection process. The developed model employed genetic algorithms to optimize the selection of screening rules from among a set of widely accepted fundamental indicators. The model robustness and performance are tested using stock market real data over a 14-year period from 2006 till 2019. Based on portfolio quality factors …

Performance Of Islamic Stocks Versus Conventional Stocks During Crisis And Non Crisis Period: Evidence From Mena Region., Eshraq Abou El Enein

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the performance of both Islamic and conventional stocks, and to investigate whether the Islamic filtering criteria acts as a shield of protection for investors during crisis or not, based on a panel sample of 12 countries in the MENA region covering 10 different sectors from 1998-2018. Using panel fixed effect regression. We divided out sample into three periods; 1998-2006 pre-crisis period, 2007-2008 crisis period and 2009-2018 post crisis period. Our main finding is that the filtering criteria has a positive relation with the returns significant for the post crisis period and positive …

Preferences Of Institutional Investors: Evidence From The Arab Region, Mohamed Ahmed Magdy Elsayed

Theses and Dissertations

In this research, we examine the preferences of institutional investors in the Arab region. Institutional investors’ investment decisions are based on various factors or measures that are used in assessing the worthiness of a company for investment. The research uses measures for stock risk and return, financial leverage, profitability, ownership concentration and trading activity, as well as measures for company size, value, sector, and country as predictor variables for the rate of institutional ownership and analyzes the impact of these variables. Using a cross-sectional model, the research gathers evidence from the Arab region’s leading stock markets by market capitalization for …

Political Risk Effect On Financial Market Returns; Between Magnification And Neglection: Evidence From Egyptian Stock Market, Salma Mohamed Alaaeldin

Theses and Dissertations

There is extensive debate on whether political risk is an important factor that influences financial markets and investment decision, especially in developing economies. The main aim of this thesis is to analyze the effect of political risk on stock market returns while controlling for financial risk, economic risk, interest rates and foreign exchange rates. The main methodology involves estimating the model using a regime switching model to account for changes in volatility. The sample period starts from January 2007 to August 2017. The data includes: EGX30 returns over the period, Political risk as proxied by International Country Risk Guide (ICRG) …

Repayment Determinants For Egyptian Microfinance Institutions, Reem Nabil Hashad

Theses and Dissertations

Finance is one of the core development axes and is the basis for job creation, income, poverty reduction and economic growth. Financial resources in Egypt are both idle and misallocated. Access to finance is a major constraint especially to the poor stratum of the Egyptian society. Microfinance is one of the means through which the poor can gain access to finance. However, Egyptian microfinance institutions (MFIs) are inefficient and are unable to supply 90% of the demand for microcredit. This research focuses on how the supply-demand gap of microcredit in Egypt can be reduced. Hence this paper examines what are …

Pre-Requisites Of Political Decentralization In Egypt: Case Studies Of Local Popular And Executive Councils In The Villages Of Shubra Babel (Al-Gharbeya Governorate) And Al-Mahamid (Qena Governorate), Omar Ahmed Fouad Abdalla

Archived Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Islamic Finance : A Study Of Malaysian Banks From 1999-2005, Tamer Elgindi

Archived Theses and Dissertations

Islamic finance has been developing rapidly in the last forty years with Islamic financial institutions expanding at enormous rates all over the world. Islamic finance offers both an equity based system dependent on profit-and-loss sharing modes along with other debt-based instruments that facilitate trade. Comparison between the performance of Islamic banks and conventional banks has been under study for several years with some studies suggesting that Islamic banks were able to outperform conventional banks in certain areas, other studies suggest the opposite. This study focuses on eight banks in Malaysia that are incorporated under the Islamic Banking Scheme and offer …

Streamlining The Regulatory Procedures For Small And Medium Enterprises, Manal Hussein

Archived Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

A Comparative Study Of Job Satisfaction In Two Egyptian Hotels, Amany Ibrahim Shahin

Archived Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Administrative Problems In The Implementation Of The Privatization Program In Egypt, Ayman Dahroug

Archived Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.