Business Commons^™

Vix Futures Term Structure And The Expectations Hypothesis, Ivan Oscar Asensio

Finance

Tests of the expectations hypothesis reveal that the slope of the VIX futures term structure predicts the direction but not the magnitude of the evolution of the short-end of the curve, but predicts neither the direction nor the magnitude of short-term changes in the long-end of the curve. Relative value seeking spread trades, constructed to exploit such violations, deliver excess returns with annualized Sharpe ratios equal or greater than those of volatility-writing strategies deployed by VIX ETN’s for a majority of the 32 spread trade combinations tested. I demonstrate that profits from beta-neutral variations of the spread trades, which are …

Why Do Countries Matter So Much In Corporate Social Performance?, Ye Cai, Carrie Pan, Meir Statman

Finance

Why do levels of corporate social performance (CSP) differ so much across countries? We answer this question in an examination of CSP ratings of more than 2,600 companies from 36 countries. We find that firm characteristics explain very little of the variations in CSP ratings. In contrast, variations in country factors such as stages of economic development, culture, and institutions account for a significant proportion of variations in CSP ratings across countries. In particular, we find that CSP ratings are high in countries with high income-per-capita, strong civil liberties and political rights, and cultures oriented toward harmony and autonomy. Furthermore, …

The Bid-Ask Spread In The Danish Stock Market: Evidence From The 1990s, Torben Voetmann

Finance

This paper investigates the cost components of bid-ask spreads around earnings announcements on the small Danish stock market in the 1990s. The results indicate that negative earnings surprises convey pricing information, suggesting the existence of significant information asymmetry between market makers and informed traders. Negative earnings surprises resulted in an increase in adverse-selection cost and trading volume while inventory-holding and order-processing costs decreased, leading to a combined decrease in the realized spread. The change in the realized spread is significant, while the change in the quoted bid-ask spread is negligible. Overall, the results suggest that informed traders’ ability to assess …

Location, Proximity, And M&A Transactions, Ye Cai, Xuan Tian, Han Xia

Finance

In this paper, we examine how the geographic location of firms affects acquisition decisions and value creation for acquirers in takeover transactions. We find that firms located in an urban area are more likely to receive a takeover bid and complete a takeover transaction as a target than firms located in rural areas, and takeover deals involving an urban target are associated with higher acquirer announcement returns, after controlling for the proximity between the target and the acquirer. In addition, a target's urban location significantly attenuates the negative effect of a long distance between the target and the acquirer on …

Bad Corporate Marriages: Waking Up In Bed The Morning After, Ye Cai, Hersh Shefrin

Finance

This paper examines corporate risk taking behavior in the wake of unsuccessful merger activities. We find that relative to other firms, firms that made bad acquisitions take both more systematic risk and more idiosyncratic risk. Moreover, higher risk is associated with greater value destruction and stronger corporate governance. The increased risk can be traced to increased cash flow volatility, increased leverage, decreased asset liquidity, more investment in R&D, and more equity-based executive compensation. These findings are in line with the behavioral approach suggesting that in the domain of losses, decision makers generally become more tolerant of risk.

Do Entrepreneurs Make Good Vcs?, Ye Cai, Merih Sevilir, Xuan Tian

Finance

Using hand-collected data on the backgrounds of venture capitalists (VCs), we show that in a typical venture capital firm in our sample, 13.9% of VCs have been entrepreneurs before becoming a VC, referred to as entrepreneur VCs. Both OLS and 2SLS analyses suggest that venture capital firms employing a greater fraction of entrepreneur VCs have better performance. In addition, the positive effect of entrepreneur VCs on venture capital firm performance is stronger for smaller and younger venture capital firms, and venture capital firms specializing in high-tech industries and in early-stage investments. We further explore performance implications of VCs with prior …

Are They Different? Ceos Made In Ceo Factories, Ye Cai, Merih Sevilir, Jun Yang

Finance

We examine the employment histories of CEOs at large US companies and find that a disproportionately large number of CEOs are originated from a small number of high-profile firms that are praised for their superior abilities in training and developing corporate leaders, referred to as CEO factories. Specifically, 20.5% of all CEOs appointed at the S&P 1500 firms from 1992 to 2010 came from 36 CEO factories. CEOs originated from those CEO factories are referred to as factory CEOs. Appointments of factory CEOs are associated with significantly larger announcement returns than the appointments of CEOs without work experiences at a …

Uses And Misuses Of The Black-Litterman Model In Portfolio Construction, Ludwig B. Chincarini, Daehwan Kim

Finance

The Black-Litterman model has gained popularity in applications in the area of quantitative equity portfolio management. Unfortunately, many recent applications of the Black-Litterman to novel aspects of quantitative portfolio management have neglected the rigor of the original Black-Litterman modelling. In this article, we critically examine some of these applications from a Bayesian perspective. We identify three reasons why these applications may create losses to investors. These three reasons are: (1) Using a prior without "anchoring" the prior to an equilibrium model, (2) Using a prior and an equilibrium model that conflict with one another, and (3) Ignoring the implications of …

A Case Study On Risk Management: Lessons From The Collapse Of Amaranth Advisors Llc, Ludwig B. Chincarini

Finance

No abstract provided.

San Diego Center For Children Audit Committee Handbook, San Diego Center For Children

Finance

2012 edition of the San Diego Center for Children's Audit Committee handbook.

San Diego Center For Children Finance Manual, San Diego Center For Children

Finance

2012 edition of the San Diego Center for Children's Finance Committee handbook.

Board Connections And M&A Transactions, Ye Cai, Merih Sevilir

Finance

We examine M&A transactions between firms with current board connections and find that acquirers obtain higher announcement returns in transactions with a first-degree connection where the acquirer and the target share a common director. Acquirer returns are also higher in transactions with a second-degree connection where one acquirer director and one target director serve on the same third board. Our results suggest that first-degree connections benefit acquirers with lower takeover premiums while second-degree connections benefit acquirers with greater value creation. Overall, we provide new evidence that board connectedness plays important roles in corporate investments and leads to greater value creation.

Listings From The Emerging Economies: An Opportunity For Reputable Stock Exchanges, Nicholas Tay, Reza Olati

Finance

We provide current evidence to show that the numbers of sponsored depositary receipts created and cross‐listed have increased by more than two‐fold over the last decade and a substantial proportion of this growth came from the emerging and developing economies. We argue that the needs of this clientele and the inadequacies of existing legal and financial system create an opportunity for reputable stock exchanges to play the role of an information and reputation intermediary and in so doing allow exchanges to leverage on their reputation capital to compete more effectively for the growing business from the emerging and developing economies. …

Black Swans And Retirement Strategies: Is “Buy And Hold Best”?, Barry Doyle, Robert Mefford, Nicholas Tay

Finance

The recent market crash which has led to as much as a 47% drop in the value of the S&P500 index has made some of us wonder if there is a cost effective way for us to hedge our retirement portfolios against such a drastic loss. Our objective is to investigate empirically the tradeoffs that will arise from using a protective put strategy for hedging retirement portfolios over an investment horizon that is long enough to be comparable to the average holding period for retirement portfolios

What Financial Risk Managers Can Learn From Six Sigma Quality Programs, Barry Doyle, Robert Mefford, Nicholas Tay

Finance

As the financial crisis of 2008 has revealed, there are some flaws in the models used by financial firms to assess risk. Credit, volatility, and liquidity risk were all inadequately modeled by supposedly sophisticated financial institutions employing dozens of financial engineers with advanced degrees. It is now clear that some of the underlying assumptions of the statistical models utilized were seriously flawed, and interactive and systemic effects were improperly modeled. Correcting these modeling flaws is one approach to preventing a reoccurrence. However, another approach is suggested by Six Sigma quality programs used in manufacturing and service industries. Some basic tenets …

Specialty Food And Beverage: A Case Study Of Small Business Management, Barry Doyle, Arthur H. Bell, Dayle Smith

Finance

Specialty Food and Beverage is facing growing pains from its rapid expansion over the last decade and more. The case provides a summary of the challenges faced by the company in the areas of supply chain management, marketing plans, the creation of economic value, and the development of a long term strategy for profitable growth.

Financial Management For Nonprofit Organizations: Father Joe's Village, Anna Plaster, Karen Pretzer, Simi Rush, Jim Stone

Finance

What started as a modest shelter for homeless families in downtown San Diego, has grown into Father Joe’s Villages (FJV), a multi-program, multi-dimensional approach to break the cycle of homelessness.

Since 1982, Fr. Joe’s Villages’ vision and mission reflect the aim the organization is determined to achieve within the communities it serves: to ensure that all neighbors in need will have access to food, housing, career development, healthcare, and education that will promote independence, self-sufficiency and fulfillment of one’s potential. To address these needs, FJV provides short and long term transitional housing for homeless men, women and families, and offers …

Portfolios And Regressions, Manuel Tarrazo

Finance

This study examines the relationship between portfolios and regressions, which is desirable for educational, mathematical, and theoretical reasons. Educationally, understanding this relationship simplifies the teaching and learning of both procedures. Mathematically, portfolio optimization and regression systems are abstractly, algebraically, topologically, and structurally equivalent. One is obtained from the other as if modeling clay, without tears or discontinuities, and what one learns in one system can be applied to the other. We show portfolios and regressions are equivalent at a theoretical level as well. In the economic-financial context, this theoretical equivalence means that mean-variance, efficient portfolios are in fact optimal predictors, …