Business Commons^™

The Role Of Strategic Leadership In Banking Profitability, Joseph Ochien'g Witts

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A study on corporate leadership failure in America by Vugt and Ronay has shown that the failure rate of business leadership in meeting profitability targets is as high as 60%. Most organizations fail to attain profitability targets due to limited experience and exposure to strategic leadership. The aim of this single case study design was to explore the role of strategic leadership in banking profitability. Twelve purposively selected senior bankers and members of the board of directors with over 10 years of experience in banking and profitability and 3 years in the top management team participated in the study in …

Multinational Corporations' Return On Investment Optimization In Nigeria's Business Environment, Funlola Francesca Fajinmi

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Trade between the United States and Africa decreased 32% from US$125 billion, in 2011, to US$85 billion, in 2013; however, MNCs from other regions have continued to increase investments in Africa. Multinational corporations (MNCs) generate most of their return on investment (ROI) from the Western world. Globalization, increasing middle classes in emerging markets, and decreasing population in the Western world have lead to unsustainable ROI. Nigeria, the most populous and largest economy in Africa and the 27th largest economy in the world, offers new opportunities with an annual growth rate forecast of 6% to 8%. Utilizing the diamond theory of …

Implementation Of International Financial Reporting Standards By Listed Companies In Nigeria, Emmanuel Inalegwu Ogbenjuwa

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This study is on implementation of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) by reporting entities in Nigeria. Since Nigeria adopted IFRS in 2010, managers of reporting entities have been confronted with organizational changes both in the structures and processes of financial reporting. Previous studies have not assessed the claims that adopting IFRS improves the quality of financial reports and managerial efficiency. This study evaluated the assertion that IFRS adoption impacts the quality of financial reports, operational costs, and operational efficiencies of management. The theoretical frameworks which undergirded the study were theories of organizational behaviors and attitudinal change. Data were collected via …

Study Of Reit Etf Beta, Stoyu Ivanov

Faculty Publications

PurposeThe aim of this study is to examine real estate investment trust exchange-traded funds (REIT ETFs) and test for the existence of the “asymmetric beta puzzle” phenomenon in these financial instruments that are relatively new and are gaining popularity. The “asymmetric beta puzzle” phenomenon is used to identify the hedging and diversification benefits of a financial instrument. “Asymmetric beta puzzle” exists when betas in declining markets are higher than betas in advancing markets.Design/methodology/approachTo study 14 REIT ETFs by using monthly and daily Center for Research in Security Prices (CRSP) data. Capital asset pricing model (CAPM) and Fama–French three-factor model were …

An Investigation Of The Role Of Finance In The Development Of Value Added Products, John O'Sullivan

Theses

Traditionally Ireland focused on commodity based food products. In recent years there has been a shift towards value added food products. There has however been little academic research undertaken investigating the role of finance in developing value added products. This study will examine the importance of the value added food sector in the Irish food industry and will also examine new product development (NPD) processes to highlight the role finance plays in developing value added food products. The researcher used semi-structured interviews of seven industry experts as the research technique.

Value added products have many benefits including higher margin and …

A Financial Analysis Of Professional Baseball Player Worth, Jocelyn R. Pearce

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects

By using data from the 2014 Major League Baseball season, this paper examines the current market of baseball. I mainly look to offer clarity to the debate questioning if players are paid their marginal revenue product. By using a two-step model, I first estimate the effect team statistics have on team winning percentage, and next how that team winning percentage affects team revenue. After obtaining results from the regressions, I use those calculations in two formulas aimed at quantifying a player’s marginal revenue product. I find that overall, players are paid close to their respective marginal revenue products. An age …

The Ownership And Trading Of Debt Claims In Chapter 11 Restructurings, Victoria Ivashina, Benjamin Iverson, David C. Smith

Faculty Publications

Using a novel data set that covers individual debt claims against 136 bankrupt US companies and includes information on a subset of claims transfers, we provide new empirical insight regarding how a firm’s debt ownership relates to bankruptcy outcomes. Firms with higher debt concentration at the start of the case are more likely to file prearranged bankruptcy plans, to move quickly through the restructuring process, and to emerge successfully as independent going concerns. Moreover, higher ownership concentration within a debt class is associated with higher recovery rates to that class. Trading of claims during bankruptcy concentrates ownership further, but this …

Vaccination Rates Are Associated With Functional Proximity But Not Base Proximity Of Vaccination Clinics, John Beshears, James J. Choi, David I. Laibson, Brigitte C. Madrian, Gwendolyn I. Reynolds

Faculty Publications

Background: Routine annual influenza vaccinations are recommended for persons 6 months of age and older, but less than half of US adults get vaccinated. Many employers offer employees free influenza vaccinations at workplace clinics, but even then take-up is low.

Objective: To determine whether employees are significantly more likely to get vaccinated if they have a higher probability of walking by the clinic for reasons other than vaccination.

Method: We obtained data from an employer with a free workplace influenza vaccination clinic. Using each employee’s building entry/ exit swipe card data, we test whether functional proximity—the likelihood that the employee …

Shareholder Value And Risk Effects Of Strategic Alliances, Thomas Turk, Candace Ybarra, Jeremy C. Goh, Hsu Junming, Li-Ling Li

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This study examines how alliances affect the value and systematic risk of smaller and larger alliance partners. We find smaller partners generally gain from alliances and larger partners generally suffer significant losses. We examine this pattern for different types of alliances, experience with alliances, R&D intensity and relatedness of alliance partners. Gains to the smaller partners are particularly pronounced for technical partners, for smaller partners with high R&D intensity, and for related technical alliances. We also provide evidence that the systematic risk of both alliance partners declines following an alliance announcement, possibly explaining why larger firms engage in alliances with …

Misalignment: Corporate Risk-Taking And Public Duty, Steven L. Schwarcz

Faculty Scholarship

This article argues for a “public governance duty” to help manage excessive risk-taking by systemically important firms. Although governments worldwide, including the United States, have issued an array of regulations to attempt to curb that risk-taking by aligning managerial and investor interests, those regulations implicitly assume that investors would oppose excessively risky business ventures. That leaves a critical misalignment: because much of the harm from a systemically important firm’s failure would be externalized onto the public, including ordinary citizens impacted by an economic collapse, such a firm can engage in risk-taking ventures with positive expected value to its investors but …

Perspectives On Regulating Systemic Risk, Steven L. Schwarcz

Faculty Scholarship

This book chapter, which synthesizes several of the author’s articles, attempts to provide useful perspectives on regulating systemic risk. First, it argues that systemic shocks are inevitable. Accordingly, regulation should be designed not only to try to reduce those shocks but also to protect the financial system against their unavoidable impact. This could be done, the chapter explains, by applying chaos theory to help stabilize the financial system. The chapter then focuses on trying to prevent excessive corporate risk-taking, which is one of the leading triggers of systemic shocks and widely regarded to have been a principal cause of the …

Keynote Address, Regulating Corporate Governance In The Public Interest: The Case Of Systemic Risk, Steven L. Schwarcz

Faculty Scholarship

There’s long been a debate whether corporate governance law should require some duty to the public. The accepted wisdom is not to require such a duty—that corporate profit maximization provides jobs and other public benefits that exceed any harm. This is especially true, the argument goes, because imposing specific regulatory requirements and making certain actions illegal or tortious can mitigate the harm without unduly impairing corporate wealth production. Whether that is true in other contexts, this paper—delivered as the keynote address at the June 2016 National Business Law Scholars Conference at The University of Chicago Law School—questions if it’s true …

Shadow Banking And Regulation In China And Other Developing Countries, Steven L. Schwarcz

Faculty Scholarship

The rapid but largely unregulated growth in shadow banking in developing countries such as China can jeopardize financial stability. This article discusses that growth and argues that a regulatory balance is needed to help protect financial stability while preserving shadow banking as an important channel of alternative funding. The article also analyzes how that regulation could be designed.

The Macroprudential Quandary: Unsystematic Efforts To Reform Financial Regulation, Kern Alexander, Steven L. Schwarcz

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Price Is Book-Built: The Decision To Use Book-Building Pricing Mechanisms For Ipos In The Philippines, Gabriel A. Ayala

CMC Senior Theses

In 1998, the Philippines introduced book-building pricing mechanisms for Initial Public Offerings. Almost all capital raised through IPOs in the Philippines is done using a book-building pricing method, however a significant number of IPOs still occur using non-book-building methods. Understanding why book-building has become the dominant pricing mechanism but yet non-book-building methods still survive is the aim of this paper. I find that unlike other countries where the introduction of book-building leads to higher total issue costs for individual issuers and unlike theory which suggests the increased effort of book-building should come with increased costs, IPOs that use book-built pricing …

Financial Decision-Making And The Normalization Of Deviance, Dilata Ranadive

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Two perspectives have dominated the discourse on the causes of the financial crisis of 2008. The first attributes the financial crisis to intentionally malevolent behaviors, whereas the second attributes it to the natural market fluctuations. However, there is still a third, possible perspective. While the first two perspectives focus on the intention of the actors, the third perspective focuses on the response of the observers. This is what Vaughan (1996) refers to as "normalization of deviance". In normalization of deviance actions or decisions that are initially regarded as aberrant or atypical are re-conceptualized and adopted as the new criterion. The …

Product Market Competition, Corporate Investments And Risk, Hussein Ali Ahmad Abdoh

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This doctoral Dissertation examines the impact of product market competition on the cash flow investments and risk. The Dissertation is comprised of three essays. First essay investigates the link between a firm's competitive environment and the ratio of idiosyncratic volatility to systematic volatility. I postulate that competition has a higher effect on idiosyncratic volatility than the systematic volatility for two reasons. First, market power works as a tool that passes on firm-specific cost shocks to customers but is irrelevant to passing on the industry-wide cost shocks. Second, firm's competitive advantage relative to its peers in the industry is affected by …

Quantifying A Mining Investability Quotient To Mitigate Junior Mining Investment Risk, Jonathan Mickey Merguerian

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Uncertainty and risk are inherent features of investing in mineral exploration ventures. Investors rely on qualitative and quantitative analysis to evaluate risk of capital. The distinction between risk and uncertainty pertaining to mineral exploration is that risk is an opportunity for loss and uncertainty can be described as the range of probabilities that some condition may occur (Rose, 1987). Stakeholders rely on a combination of investment conferences, risk analysis equations, press releases, financial reports, and investment research to determine if an investment potential. J. M. Cozzolini developed a formula for Risk Adjusted Value (RAV) of an exploration venture. The study …

Essays In Accounting And Finance, Sayan Sarkar

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In my first essay, I investigate changes in a number of firm characteristics surrounding the change in debt policy (i.e., becoming unlevered). I do so to investigate why firms may lower their debt levels, and add insights to the zero-leverage puzzle. My main findings are that tax based explanations and market timing explanations do not explain the observed behavior of firms that become totally unlevered. My findings are most consistent with the pecking order theory (Myers and Majluf, 1984) and with Jensen's (1986) theory of free cash flows. I also investigate whether financial constraint is somehow related to the decision …

Ceo Ownership And Firm Performance: Evidence From The 2003 Dividend Tax Cut, Hong Kim Duong

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study investigates whether and how CEO ownership impacts firm performance by using the large tax cut on individual dividend income enacted in 2003 (The 2003 Dividend Tax Cut) as an exogenous shock. My findings suggest that CEO ownership of dividend payers significantly increased after the shock in the form of higher annual restricted stock grants and more option exercises. I document that the change in CEO ownership has an asymmetric impact on firm performance and investment efficiency. Only dividend payers with CEOs who moved closer to optimal ownership experienced improvement in investment efficiency and performance. In contrast, dividend payers …

2015 Q4 Market Pulse Report, Craig R. Everett

Pepperdine Market Pulse Report

The quarterly IBBA and M&A Source Market Pulse Survey was created to gain an accurate understanding of the market conditions for businesses being sold in Main Street (values $0-$2MM) and the lower middle market (values $2MM -$50MM). The national survey was conducted with the intent of providing a valuable resource to business owners and their advisors. The IBBA and M&A Source present the Market Pulse Survey with the support of the Pepperdine Private Capital Markets Project and the Graziado School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University.

Pricing Disintermediation: Crowdfunding And Online Auction Ipos, A. Christine Hurt

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Dynamic Interrelationships In Returns And Volatilities Among Shipping Freight Markets, Avinash Kumar

World Maritime University Dissertations

This paper explores and analyzes the return lead-lag relationships and volatility transmission among dry bulk, container and tanker shipping freight market after the financial crisis in 2008. However, there are few numbers of studies that investigates such interactions between shipping freight markets, but no studies that also consider potential linkage between container and tanker freight market. This study fills the gap by examining lead-lag and volatility spillover effects among these three shipping freight markets. The Granger causality test and the co-integration analysis are applied to investigate the lead-lag relationship among the Baltic dry index (BDI), Shanghai (export) containerized freight index …

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 …

The Effect Of The Dodd-Frank Act On Risk In The Financial Sector, Beatrix S. Haddon

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, commonly known as the Dodd-Frank Act, was passed in 2010 in an attempt to increase transparency and accountability in the financial system. The purpose of this thesis is to discover what effect, if any, the Dodd-Frank Act had on both systematic risk and total volatility in the financial sector. My study shows that while the legislation significantly reduced systematic risk in only one out of the seven industries within the financial sector in the time period I analyzed, it successfully reduced total volatility in all seven industries.

Retirement Planning Decisions Using The 2013 Survey Of Consumer Finances, Yun Doo Lee

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

This dissertation consists of two essays. The first essay analyzes financial preparation for retirement of American men and women, using the 2013 Survey of Finances. Specifically, for retirement plan, income is an important factor for men and women aged 35-45 because of their insufficient income, health (excellent) for men and women aged 46-59 because of continuing work, number of weeks worked per year for men and women aged 60-67 because they have already retired or will retire and many of them are participating in a part time job. Also, health has significantly positive effects on the share of the …

Predictability Of International Stock Returns With Sum Of The Parts And Equity Premiums Under Regime Shifts, Mahtab Athari

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This research consists of two essays. The first essay entitled” Stock Return Forecasting with Sum-of-the-Parts Methodology: Evidence from Around the World”, examines forecasting ability of stock returns by employing the sum-of-the-parts (SOP) modeling technique introduced by Ferreira and Santa-Clara (2011).This approach decomposes return into three components of growth in price-earnings ratio, earnings growth, and dividend-price ratio. Each component is forecasted separately and fitted values are used in forecast model to predict stock return. We conduct a series of one-step ahead recursive forecasts for a wide range of developed and emerging markets over the period February 1995 through November 2014. Decomposed …

An Applied Credit Scoring Model And Christian Mutual Funds Performance, Esther E. Castro

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation comprises two different financial essays. Essay 1, “An Applied Credit Score Model,” uses data from local credit union to predict the probability of default. Due to recent financial crisis regulation has been enacted that makes it essential to develop a probability of default model that will mitigate charge-off losses. Using discriminant analysis and logistic regression this paper will attempt to see how well credit score can predict probability of default. While credit score does an adequate job at classifying loans, misclassification of loans can be costly. Thus while credit score is a predictor, there is danger in relying …

Two Essays In Finance And Economics: “Investment Opportunities In Commodity And Stock Markets For G7 Countries” And “Global And Local Factors Affecting Sovereign Yield Spreads”, Selma Izadi

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In chapter 1, I investigate the return links and dynamic conditional correlations between the equity and commodity returns for G7 countries from 2000:01 to 2014:10. The commodity futures include BCOM Index which contains the futures and spot price of 22 commodities, Brent and Crude oil futures, gold and silver futures, Wheat, Corn and Soybean futures and CRB index. The finding indicates that during the full sample period GOLD, WHEAT and CORN have the smallest dynamic conditional correlations with all the Equity indexes. In addition, the correlations between the GOLD/Equity pairs are negative during the financial crisis. This fact indicates the …

Vulnerability And Resistance: An Evaluation Of Hostile Takeover Defenses Proposed By: Carissa Wilson, International Business & Business Economics, Carissa Laurel Wilson

Senior Theses

Within the context of mergers and acquisitions (“M&A”), hostile takeovers comprise a complex and pivotal area of study. It is hostile takeovers, rather than friendly ones, that give rise to the need for most buy- and sell-side tactics related to strategic M&A. This paper focuses primarily on sell-side tactics, or “target defenses,” used to deflect undesired takeover attempts and prevent changes in corporate control. It will attempt to present a high level, comprehensible, and comprehensive listing of defensive tactics in the target arsenal, with references to related case law.

Target defenses developed preemptively, or before an official takeover offer has …