Corporate diversification continues to be an important phenomenon in the modern business world. More than thirty years of research on diversification suggests that the degree of relatedness among a firm's business units is a factor that can affect firm performance, but the true effect of diversification relatedness on firm performance is still inconclusive. The purpose of this dissertation is to shed more light on this inconclusive association. However, attention is focused on the performance implications of individual diversification actions (e.g., acquisitions and joint ventures) rather than on the overall performance of firms with different levels of diversification. A non-experimental, longitudinal analysis of secondary data was conducted on over 450 unique acquisitions and on more than 210 joint ventures. Results suggest that even when individual diversification actions rather than entire business portfolios are examined, an inverted curvilinear association between diversification relatedness and performance is likely to emerge. This pattern is observed in both acquisitions and joint ventures. However, the association between diversification relatedness and performance in acquisitions is moderated by the level of industry adversity, though factors such as corporate coherence and heterogeneous experience do not moderate the association between diversification relatedness and performance. This study augments the body of knowledge on diversification and adds refinement to the traditional curvilinear finding regarding relatedness. By studying acquisitions and joint ventures independently, the results reveal differences in both slope and inflection points that suggest the relative impact of relatedness may vary depending on the mode of diversification.

This study seeks to understand whether there exists a relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and firm performance (FP) and whether this is applicable in the context of the South African metals and engineering industry. An exploratory quantitative study of 125 SMEs and large firms in the metals and engineering industry was undertaken in 2012 to investigate the existence of the relationship between EO and FP. EO is measured using the Hughes&Morgan (2007) EO scale which incorporated the five dimensions of Lumpkin&Dess (1996). The Hughes&Morgan (2007) EO scale is used to study the independent effects of these multi-dimensions on FP. A Chi-square test is used to test the significance independence of the relationship between the multi-dimensions of EO and FP. This cross-section study finds out that there is convincingly a moderate to strong relationship between EO and FP. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

The new knowledge economy has created a global interest on the valuation of intellectual capital as well as its impact on firm performance and value. Developing economies have relatively only begun to investigate this relationship and progress has already been made in South Africa by a few researchers. The purpose of this study is to add to this investigation by exploring the relationship between intellectual capital and firm performance for South African listed firms in intellectual capital-intensive industries. A gap exists in South African research regarding the long-term impact of intellectual capital on firm performance. This relationship is important to define as firms may well make inappropriate decisions based on short-term relationships that do not create long-term value. This study applies a lag model in an aim to investigate this relationship in addition to the short-term relationship that exists between intellectual capital and firm performance. The study involves a quantitative analysis of data collected from firms in intellectual capital-intensive industries and makes use of the VAIC model developed by Ante Pulic to value intellectual capital. Measures of firm performance used are return on assets, total asset turnover and market capitalization. This study also makes use of panel data covering 62 JSE listed companies over 10 years. Empirical results show mixed outcomes regarding the relationship between intellectual capital and firm performance for both short-term models and lagged models. In some instances, no association was observed between intellectual capital and performance.

This paper investigates the impact of related party transactions on a firm’s operating performance and market-based performance, as well as the impact of institutional ownership on the use of related party transactions. Using a sample of 1218 deals from S&P1500 firms from 2007 to 2018, we propose and examine three relevant hypotheses: (a) related party transactions, especially, “Red-flag” related party transactions are negatively related to firm’s operating performance, (b) related party transactions, especially, “Red-flag” related party transactions are negatively related with firm’s marketbased performance, (c) institutional ownership is negatively related with related party transactions. In summary, we do not find a significant relationship between related party transactions and firm’s operating performance, such as ROA, Profit Margin and COGS. As for firm’s market-based performance, we found related party transactions are positively related with Tobin’s-Q, but are not significantly related with 12-months buy and hold abnormal return. Finally, we do not find any significant relationship between overall institutional investors and RPTs, but we find short-horizon institutional investors reduce the use of related party transactions, but long-horizon institutional investors do not limit the use of RPT

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Yes / This study aims to contribute to the relevant accounting, corporate gover-nance, and corporate social responsibility (CSR) literature by examining thevalue relevance of mandatory CSR disclosures in China. Using a difference-in-differences (DID) research design and a sample based on propensity scorematching (PSM) over the period from 2003 to 2020, our findings suggest thatmandatory CSR disclosures are negatively associated with firm' values. We alsofind that firms with a high level of institutional ownership and leverage experi-ence a relatively lower drop in firms' values as a result of the mandatory CSRdisclosures. These findings remain robust to alternative sampling design, use of market to book value as an alternative measure of firms' market-based performance, and a parallel test to validate our DID analysis. Our findings have useful implications for managers, regulators, policy makers and other stakeholders.

This paper investigates the impact of diversification and the financial crisis on firm performance in India.The dataset of this paper is focused on Indian publicly listed firms between 2006 and 2012. By analyzingaccounting-based and market-based measures of firm performance, this study tries to explain the factorsthat influences the costs and benefits of diversified firms compared to non-diversified firms. This studyfound that diversified firms have on average a higher firm performance than non-diversified firms.During the global financial crisis, the performance of both diversified and non-diversified firms in Indiadeteriorated caused by a meltdown of global economic activities. This study does not find evidence thatdiversified firms perform relatively better than non-diversified firms during crisis times. Diversification isexpected to be more beneficial in the absence of well-developed and integrated capital markets due theeffects of “more money” and “smarter money”, arising from an increased efficiency of the internalcapital market. The analysis gives an impression that the total number of diversified firms increased afterthe crisis.

The purpose of this thesis is to analyse the effect of corporate governance on firm performance and information leakage in the Chinese securities market. As one of the major emerging markets in the world, the results of this thesis are valuable not only to the Chinese market, but also to other emerging markets. To achieve this purpose, data is collected from most of the non-financial listed companies in the two Chinese stock exchanges, which are the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the Shenzhen Stock exchange. The data sample covers the period from 2004 to 2008, since there was a series of new reforms in the Chinese stock market at that time. These reforms include new legislation and the reduction of non-tradable shares. Then this thesis employs the panel technique and the pooled OLS to estimate the effect of corporate governance on firm performance and information leakage in Chinese listed companies. Firstly the relationship between corporate governance and firm performance in Chinese companies is empirically evaluated. The empirical results of this thesis find that the ownership structure of Chinese companies will affect their firm performance. In this thesis, proxies of ownership structure include the proportion of institutional ownership, the proportion of the state ownership, the proportion of shareholdings of the largest shareholder, and the proportion of tradable shares in Chinese companies. A greater proportion of institutional ownership has positive effects on firm performance in Chinese companies. Board subcommittees also help Chinese companies to increase firm performance. The market reforms of 2006 also help Chinese companies to increase their firm performance. However, the board of directors and board of supervisors do not affect firm performance in Chinese companies. Secondly, information leakage in the Chinese Stock Market is empirically assessed. If investors receive corporate material information before the public disclosure, this phenomenon is known as information leakage. The thesis finds that information leakage in the Chinese market is widespread. Finally, the thesis empirically examines the effects of corporate governance on information leakage in Chinese companies. Board subcommittees have negative effects on information leakage in Chinese companies. Other variables of corporate governance do not affect information leakage in Chinese companies. Additionally, the thesis finds that market reform promotes more information leakage in Chinese market. On the basis of the empirical results, the thesis provides the following recommendations. First, the Chinese Stock Market needs to reform the relevant legislation. Second, Chinese companies need to reform their ownership structure. These suggestions may strengthen the internal governance of Chinese listed companies, thereby, increasing firm performance and decrease information leakage.

This study finds leader genuine emotion does influence firm performance in two ways. First it can result in positive effect on subordinate attitude which, in turn, increases firm performance. Second, it can result in negative direct effect on firm performance after controlling for the indirect effects just mentioned. These results are interpreted herein to provide support to the claims by many (Ashforth & Humphrey, 1993; Gardner et al., 2009a; Humphrey et al., 2008; Hunt et al., 2008) that properly managed genuine leader emotion should lead to positive outcomes and improperly managed genuine leader emotion should lead to negative outcomes. Here, proper management is contingent upon displaying emotions that “correspond” with display rules, situational requirements, and audience expectations. Thus, it is recommended herein that leaders closely monitor their behavior, predominately using genuine emotional displays when appropriate and deep acting when their genuine emotions do not align with the requirements of their role.

This study extends previous research on the effects of executive board diversity by examining the relationship between age-, gender- and nationality diversity on firm performance in the Netherlands. Based on a sample of 79 Dutch listed firms studied over the period 2010-2015, this study reports a positive link between board diversity and firm performance. Firm performance is, hereby, estimated using a forward-looking market performance measure (Tobin’s Q) and a backward-looking accounting measure (ROA).