Business Commons^™

The Impact Of Credit Watch And Bond Rating Changes On Abnormal Stock Returns For Non-Usa Domiciled Corporations, Benjamin Boon Ching Ee

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

In this paper, we investigate whether credit watches and bond rating changes issued by Moodys' and S&P Credit Rating Agencies provide significant new information to investors for Non-USA domiciled corporations. We also examine whether the stock related cumulative abnormal return (CAR) differs according to the classification of the country of domicile (emerging or developed) of the corporation, and varies by state of the local stock market during the time of the rating event.
We find that on average, negative credit watches as well as long term rating downgrades result in significant stock related CAR for Non-USA domiciled 4 corporations. However, …

Parental Payment Abuse Within The Supplemental Security Income Program, Darlean Taylor-King

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Management of Social Security Administration (SSA) has been challenged by the phenomena of overpayments with its Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program. Oversight authorities of SSA had expressed concerns about the overpayment abuse caused by parents as representative payees for disabled minor children. It was important to address this problem because the amount of overpayments prior to 1998 had caused integrity issues for management of SSA and increased federal debt from SSI claimants. The purpose of this study was to examine how management of SSA and the SSI program had responded to the concerns of the oversight authorities. Theoretical foundations for …

Three Essays In Options Pricing: 1. Volatilities Implied By Price Changes In The S&P 500 Options And Future Contracts 2. Price Changes In The S&P Options And Futures Contracts: A Regression Analysis 3. Hedging Price Changes In The S&P 500 Options And Futures Contracts: The Effect Of Different Measures Of Implied Volatility, Jitka Hilliard

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this work, I develop a new volatility measure; the volatility implied by price changes in option contracts and their underlyings. I refer to this as implied price change volatility. First, I examine the time series behavior of implied price change volatility and investigate possible moneyness and maturity effects. I compare these characteristics to those of the usual implied volatility measure and the historical volatility of the S&P 500 index. Then, I investigate the performance of the implied price change volatility in a regression setup and in hedging applications. I compare the performance of hedges using daily updated implied price …

The Relationships Between Ethical Climates, Ethical Ideology, And Organisational Commitment, Martinus P. Putranta

Theses

A critical problem which faces higher education institutions in Indonesia is that of being able to generate staff’s commitment notwithstanding the inability of the institutions to provide their staff with comparable remuneration. This research sought to ascertain the potential of alternatives to extrinsic rewards in facilitating staff’s commitment in the Indonesian Catholic higher education institutions context. Two ethics-related variables, namely, institutional ethical climates and staff’s ethical ideology were chosen as the possible predictors. The choice was deemed relevant in respect of the endeavours of the institutional leaders to introduce codes of ethics to their institutions. A conceptual model delineating the …

La Industria Maquiladora: El Camino Para El Desarrollo O La Via De La Dependencia, Joseph R. Martin

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of Online Consumer Reviews On New Product Sales : A Study Of Amazon.Com, Xiaoning Guo

Lingnan Theses

In recent years, online word-of-mouth (WOM) communication in the form of online consumer reviews has become a major information source for consumers planning to purchase a new product. With the help of online reviews, consumers can access diverse opinions from others who have bought or used the new products before making their purchase decisions. This study compares the impact of online reviews on the sales of two types of new products (experience vs. search products) over time, in terms of the volume and valence of online consumer reviews. Using the data collected from Amazon.com over a period of nine months, …

Firm Ownership, Institutional Environment, And Audit Collusion : Empirical Evidence From A Transitional Economy, Rui Wang

Lingnan Theses

Motivated by the renewed interest in, but insufficient empirical evidence of, collusion between auditors and corporate management, I examine this issue in the unique environment of China, which is characterized by a high level of government control over listed companies and auditors, strong competition for audit clients, and uneven economic and legal development across the country. In contrast to prior studies, I employ a two-stage regression approach to study the determinants of audit collusion in China. In the first stage, I develop an audit opinion prediction model of Big 4 auditors (viewed as “typical” auditors) that corrects for self-selection bias. …

Effects Of Ethical Context On Earnings Management, Organizational-Professional Conflict And Organizational Commitment In Chinese Enterprises, Zhihong Wang

Lingnan Theses

This study investigates the effects of the organizational ethical context (ethical climate and ethical culture) in Chinese enterprises on accounting professionals’ perceptions of earnings management, organizational-professional conflict (OPC) and affective organizational commitment (OC). We also test the effects of Machiavellianism on these factors, and the interactive effects of Machiavellianism and ethical context on OPC and OC. The findings, based on responses from 89 accounting professionals employed by Chinese enterprises at staff, supervisor and manager levels, indicate that in general the perceived ethical context did not affect judgments of the acceptability of earnings management. However, as anticipated, perceptions of a stronger …

The Impact Of Corporate Governance On The Choice Of Transfer Pricing Methods In China, Xue Han

Lingnan Theses

Recent scandals involving related party transactions (RPTs) have attracted researchers’ and governments’ attention. Because imperfections exist in the legislation of RPTs, business groups might abuse transfer pricing of such transactions for certain purposes. These purposes include earnings management of listed companies that seek to attract investors and profit shifting from subsidiaries to parent companies. This study investigates the impact of corporate governance on the choice of transfer pricing methods in China.

I classify transfer pricing methods into two major groups (i.e., market-based and cost-based methods). I hypothesize that companies with weak corporate governance are more likely to use cost-based pricing …

Goal Interdependencies And Opportunism For Supply Chain Partnership In China, Lanjun Wu

Lingnan Theses

The possibility of opportunistic behavior is an important barrier to the collaboration between partners in the supply chain as partners pursue their self-interests with guile. Opportunistic behavior threatens the partners’ relationships, influences their work accomplishment and prevents future collaboration. This study hypothesizes that opportunism is not just the result of people’s self-interests pursuit but depends on how they think their self-interests are related. Opportunism in organizational partnerships could be understood in terms of how partners perceive their goals are related to each other. When partners believe that their goals are competitively or dependently rather than cooperatively related, they are more …

The Impact Of Fiscal Support On Earnings Management : Evidence From Equity Offerings In China, Guanming He

Lingnan Theses

It is well documented in existing literature that firms manipulate earnings before IPOs (initial public offerings) and SEOs (seasoned equity offerings). This study contributes to prior research by being the first to examine whether fiscal support from local governments has impact on the earnings management behavior of Chinese listed firms. Using data from firms that conduct IPOs and SEOs from 1997 to 2006, I find that firms are less likely to manipulate earnings prior to the offerings if they enjoy more income tax savings attributed to the preferential tax favor or more financial subsidy from the local governments.

The findings …

Creation Of Principal-Agency Relationship Value : Social Capital And Dynamic Learning Capability Perspectives, Yan Bin Xie

Lingnan Theses

In this 'age of turbulence' (Greenspan, 2007), businesses, in response to challenges of globalized competition, escalated customer expectation, and disruptive technological innovations, find innovative value propositions (Slater, 1997) critical for survival and sustained competitiveness. In lined with relationship marketing that suppliers need target valuable custome r to establish long-term relationship for survival in fierce competition (Gronroos, 2000), scholars (e.g. Walter, Ritter & Gemunden, 2001) looking from supplier perspective identify direct and indirect value as two dimensions for supplier-perceived relationship value. Direct value-based drivers of business relationships consist of higher profits from the product and service offering (i.e. profit function), growth …

Susceptibility To Global Consumer Culture : Scale Development And Purchase Behaviour Of Shanghai Consumers, Yue Huo

Lingnan Theses

Global Consumer Culture (GCC) is a term emerged in early 1990s. It refers to generally accepted beliefs and consumer tendencies toward globally shared consumption-related symbols such as brands, product categories, and consumption activities and events. Although researchers sought insights in this area in the last decade, they mainly focused on the specific topic of Brand Positioning method under the context of GCC. Little efforts were made to examine what global consumers actually do and think when making their buying decision, and what the common characteristics global consumers share in the world. The existence and increasing influence of global consumers whose …

Perceived Organizational Forgiveness And Punitive Intent, Rommel Salvador

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Although management scholars have examined various antecedents of punishment in the workplace, there has been scant research on how perceptions of the organizational context influence decision-making regarding punishment. Building on the work of Cameron and colleagues (Cameron, Bright, & Caza, 2004; Cameron & Caza, 2002), I propose that one's perceived organizational forgiveness - the perception of the extent to which the workplace is forgiving - is negatively related with one's punitive intent in response to ethical misconduct. In addition, I identify variables involving the disciplinary agent and the ethical misconduct itself as moderators of this relationship. In a lab study …

User-Is Partnership And Is Development Success, Jook-Ting Jt Shim

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Since 1970, high project failure rate and low user satisfaction has elicited research on users and their role in the process. It is believed that users' physical participation or psychological involvement in the development process can improve user satisfaction and/or system quality. Previous research treats users as a source of requirements and hypothesizes satisfaction to increase when requirements are fulfilled. However, inconsistent conclusions lead to confusion. Recently, a co-production concept has been proposed to understand consumer participation in product development process. In this reconceptualization, users, instead of requirement generator, should be part of the production. In this study, based on …

Top Management's Perceptions Of Service Excellence And Hospitality: The Case Of Dr. P. Phillips Hospital, Taryn Aiello

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated service excellence and hospitality in a healthcare setting. It is unique from other hospitality research in that it considers hospitality and service excellence as separate concepts, applicable across industries. Part of the premise of this study explores how hospitality extends past service excellence to create a comfortable and welcoming environment to combat patient anxiety and stress. Furthermore, this is one of the first qualitative studies on the importance of service excellence and hospitality in the healthcare industry. This case study measured top management's perceptions of service excellence and hospitality within one community-based hospital located in Orlando, Florida. …

Security Design That Addresses Agency Conflicts And Information Asymmetry, Manish Tewari

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study focuses on the role of structured derivative securities to meet diverse corporate financing objectives in the light of agency theory and asymmetric information. The focus is on the nonconvertible callable-puttable fixed-coupon bonds. The primary objective is to discern the marginal role of the put and put-deferred features in addressing the agency issues and asymmetric information. A sample of (159) securities issued over the period (1977-2005) are examined using Merton's (1974) structural contingent claims valuation model. The put option as well as the deferred put option incorporated in these securities is found to mitigate the asset substitution issue. It …

The Tax Gap: America's Underreported Revenues, Jennifer Granzow

Honors Program Theses

This paper will discuss the tax gap, both as an overall national issue and as related to individual business income. First, the relevance of the tax gap in today’s economy will be addressed and background information regarding the tax gap will be provided. Next the small business environment will be examined, focusing on why the tax gap is so prevalent there. Proposed tax gap reduction measures will be explored, including an examination of the benefits and shortcomings associated with each measure. Future challenges will also be looked at, focusing on the impact such proposed measures will have on the operations …

What Role Should Subsidies Play For Microfinance Institutions, Emily Anne Cormaney

Honors Program Theses

Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh were awarded the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize "for their efforts to create economic and social development from below" [Sengupta and Aubuchon 2008, 9]. The so-called "microfinance revolution" has come a long way since the establishment of the Grameen Bank in 1983. At present, it is estimated that there are between 1,000 and 2,500 microfinance institutions (MFIs) serving 67.6 million clients [Sengupta and Aubuchon 2008, 10].

MFIs provide financial services, such as loans, savings, and insurance, to the poor. The hope is that the services MFis provide will allow the poor to escape …

On Human Migration And The Moral Obligations Of Business, Linda H. Harris

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This work addresses to what extent businesses in the United States and the European Union have a moral obligation to participate in social integration processes in areas where they operate with the use of migrant laborers. It begins with the presupposition that a common framework as to what constitutes ethical behavior in business is needed and beneficial. It argues that the very industry that creates a need for migrant labor ought to also be involved in merging this labor successfully into the existing community and specifies that a discourse on business ethics and migration is gravely needed. This must be …

Student Satisfaction With Online Learning Effectiveness At A Connecticut Community College, Alina R. Payne

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In recent years, institutions of higher education have dramatically increased the number of online courses and degree programs offered to students, and yet it remains unclear what factors determine student satisfaction with online course and instructor effectiveness. Accordingly, the purpose of this exploratory correlation study was to examine how factors related to courses and instructors contributed to student perceptions of course quality (CQ) and instructor effectiveness (IE). Six stepwise regression procedures assessed the effects of specific course and instructor characteristics on perceptions of CQ and IE across one year of course evaluation data collected in a northeastern 2-year college. Results …

The Application Of Social Marketing In Reducing Road Traffic Accidents Among Young Male Drivers - An Investigation Using Physical Fear Threat Appeals., Brian Harman

Theses

In 2004, the Irish government rolled out its new two year road safety strategy which aimed to reduce road deaths in the Republic of Ireland to no more than 300 road fatalities by 2006. The strategy failed to reach its target. There were 368 road fatalities on Irish roads in 2006. The effects of the penalty points system, which was introduced in 2003, is considered responsible for reducing Irish road fatality figures to their lowest level since 1964 (335 deaths). However the beneficial effects of the penalty points system have proved transitory and road deaths have risen in recent years. …

"Assessing The Attitudes Of Regional Business Toward Research And Development (R&D) And Networking Activities In The South West Of Ireland", Denis O'Flaherty

Theses

This project seeks to understand and measure the levels of Research and Development (R&D) and Networking Activity amongst regional business in the South West of Ireland. The South West region of Ireland is a unique and beautiful place, but presents challenges and obstacles in terms of running a business within the region.

It is now generally accepted by policy-makers that Ireland is going to become increasingly dependent upon its indigenous businesses, most of which can be classified as Small-to- Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The question of R&D and networking was framed within the context of location, given the physical characteristics of …

' An Investigation Into The Impediments Of Rfid Adoption In Ireland, Emer O'Connor

Theses

Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology increases the ability of organisations to acquire a vast array of data about the location and properties of any entity that can be physically tagged, and wirelessly scanned within certain technical limitations. Many companies can benefit from its adoption, companies such as Manufacturing, Logistics, FMCG/Retail, Libraries and Pharmaceutical. This Research investigates the impediments to RFID adoption in Ireland. Internationally the lack of standards, cost of the technology along with other factors are cited as major constraints to the adoption of RFID. In an Irish context these factors hold true. Following an extensive research process, this …

The Cognitive Moral Reasoning Of Salespeople, Wayne Marshall Slough

Theses and Dissertations

This study revealed whether training programs designed to improve the moral reasoning of business-to-business salespeople in large company settings have an effect. It also revealed whether there were differences in the moral reasoning of two categories of those salespeople: marketers of products (tangible; produced, then sold) and services (intangible, perishable; can be produced, sold, and consumed simultaneously). Finally, it assessed salespeople's perceptions of company-provided ethics training programs.

Representing 21 different Fortune-1000 companies scattered across the Mid-Atlantic, Northwestern, and South-Central United States, 100 salespeople agreed to serve as study participants. Approximately half the participants were products marketers and half were services …

Developing A Multi-Objective Decision Model For Maximizing Is Security Within An Organization, Jeffrey Lee May

Theses and Dissertations

Numerous IS researchers have argued that IS Security can be more effectively managed if the emphasis goes beyond the technical means of protecting information resources. In an effort to adopt a broader perspective that accounts for issues that transcend technical means alone, Dhillon and Torkzadeh (2006) present an array of 9 fundamental and 16 means objectives that are essential for maximizing IS security in an organization. These objectives were derived using a value-focused thinking approach and are organized into a conceptual framework. This conceptual framework provides a rigorous theoretical base for considering IS security in a manner that accounts for …

Corporate Social Disclosures By Indonesian Listed Companies, Juniati Gunawan

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The issue of corporate social disclosure (CSD) has been of growing concern among businesses and communities globally, including those in Indonesia. As one of the big developing countries which offers a large domestic market and workforce. lndonesia is exposed to this issue. This study examines the extent of CSD in Indonesian listed companies by applying the content analysis method to company annual reports for the years 2003 to 2006. Prior studies have focused on exploring the theoretical framework, seeking the motivation for disclosures and obtaining certain stakeholder's opinions regarding CSD. However, those studies were limited to developed countries and to …

The Enhancement Of Operational Safety Of Engine Room Machinery Through Training On Cbt Type Of Engine Room Simulator On Board Ships, John F. Harvey Jr.

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Process Of Redesigning A Business Identity, Britta Lundborg

Honors Capstones

Capstone submitted as a graduation requirement for the BSU Honors Program.

The Consumer Choice Of E-Channels As A Purchasing Avenue: An Investigation Of The Communicative Aspects Of Information Qualtiy , Jaejoo Lim

All Dissertations

A conspicuous paradox is evident in the statistics concerning purchases over the internet. While a majority of the US population uses the internet to seek product information for purchasing decisions, less than two percent of actual retail sales occur on the Internet. To explain this small ratio of e-channel choice for purchase, a comprehensive model that extends DeLone and McLean's (2004) e-commerce success model was developed. The model centers on the importance of perceived information quality and its relationship to e-channel choice as a purchasing channel. Using the overarching theoretical frame of motivation, two questions were examined: (a) what influences …