From 2008, employee stock bonus must debt expense according to national law and policy. How to get balance between employees and shareholders without eroding benefits becomes the most difficult challenge to many enterprises. The employee stock bonus has been implemented in Taiwan for a long time. This system does play a significant role in high-tech industry and make a great contribution to Taiwan¡¦s economics. However, since a series of business scandals starting with Enron case in 2001, this unique system has been broadly discussed and caused serious debates. One of the most controversial arguments claims that employee stock bonus will weaken the stock price and hurt equity. The study is based on pooled time-series data during 1998-2007 from the IC industry corporations trading on the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation and Over-The-Counter market. The purpose is to examine the impact of employee stock bonus on Taiwan stock market by analyzing the variation in Cumulative Average Abnormal Revenue (CAR). The empirical results are summarized as follows: 1.With the factor of employee stock bonus, the ex-dividend effects still existed in IC industry of Taiwan stock market. The negative CAR was particular in evidence on the three days prior to the ex-date. There were no obvious trends of ex-dividend effects during this decade. Both employee stock bonus and dividends were declined year by year which represented that corporation had adjusted their policy with a downward tendency. 2.Before the ex-date, the group of moderate employee stock bonus was beneficial to the CAR and created better performance of stock price with the least dilution effect. On the contrary, the group of low employee stock bonus came out the worst performance. After the ex-date, the group of high employee stock bonus exhibited the best ex-dividend effects and sustained the performance longer. But the group of low employee stock bonus still performed poorly with the most negative CAR. Base on above findings, employee stock bonus not really hurt the stock price but benefit equity if corporations use this system adequately. High employee stock bonuses maybe deliver a positive signal which implicates a bright future.

Bakgrund: Den 20:e april 2010 inträffade en explosion på BP:s oljeplattform Deepwater Horizon i Mexikanska Golfen. Explosionen uppstod på grund av metangas som under högt tryck expanderade på plattformen och sedan antändes. Detta ledde senare till att oljeplattformen sjönk och ett stort okontrollerat oljeläckage uppstod på cirka 1500 meters djup.          Att explosionen i den mexikanska golfen har påverkat BP negativt och varit mycket kostsamt för företaget är uppenbart, börskursen hade som mest sjunkit med cirka 60 procent. Det kan vara intressant att undersöka huruvida denna katastrof, utlöst av en enskild aktör, också har spridit sig över till andra aktörer i Olja & Gas sektorn. Syfte: Syftet med denna C-uppsats är att undersöka huruvida BP:s katastrof i den Mexikanska golfen har påverkat andra aktörer i samma sektor (Olja & Gas sektorn). Metod: Sekundärdata presenteras som en kvantitativ ansats i form av siffror och för att kunna dra slutsatserna använder vi oss av en deduktiv ansats.I denna studie tillämpas en metodikteknik i form av en eventstudie, där beräkningar av den abnorma och förväntade avkastningen baseras på marknadsmodellen. Vidare har två hypoteser testats, där syftet med Hypotes I är att pröva huruvida information om händelsen i den Mexikanska Golfen påverkar andra företag i samma sektor som BP. Syftet med Hypotes II är att testa samma företag under samma period som Hypotes I, men undersöker förändring i tradingvolymerna istället för i aktiekurserna. Teori: Effektiva Marknadshypotesen, Random Walk och Flockbeteende Slutsatser: Dessa båda undersökningar d.v.s. Hypotes I och Hypotes II pekar starkt på slutsatsen att eventet har haft inverkat på övriga bolag i sektorn. Vi kunde vid en jämförelse med tidigare studier som genomförts på andra katastrofer, konstatera att skeendet har både likheter och skillnader. / Background: On the 20th April 2010, the BP oil platform Deepwater Horizon, situated in the Mexican Gulf, exploded. The explosion was caused by methanol gas that, under high pressure expanded and thereafter ignited. The platform submerged and caused a severe and uncontrollable oil leakage at 1500 meters depth.It is obvious that the explosion in the Mexican Gulf has impacted BP in a negative manner and cause BP large financial loss, the company shares had at its worst point depreciated by 60 percent. It may be of interest to investigate whether this catastrophe, caused by one independent party, also have affected other companies within the Oil and Gas industry. Purpose: The aim of this assignment is to investigate whether BP’s catastrophe in the Mexican Gulf has affected other companies within the same industry. (Oil and Gas) Methodology: Secondary data is presented as a quantitative approach in the shape of values and we use a deductive approach in order to draw the conclusions.The methodology used in this study is event study, in which calculation of the abnormal and expected revenue are based on the market model. We will test two types of hypothesis, where the aim of Hypothesis I is to test in which way information about the event in the Mexican Gulf affects other companies in the same industry as BP. The aim of Hypothesis II is to test the same companies during the same period as Hypothesis I, but with a focus on analyzing trading volume instead of the stock market value. Theory: Efficient Market Hypothesis, Random Walk and Herd Behavior Conclusion: Both investigations, i.e. Hypothesis I and Hypothesis II indicate that the event has had an impact on other companies in the same industry. We could, in a comparative analysis with earlier studies, based on other catastrophes, conclude that the event demonstrates similarities as well as differences.