This dissertation considers the entire process originated by corporate events that impact the environment and the society (ES events). Using a rich hand-collected dataset with 1139 chronological incidents originating from negative corporate social responsibility (CSR)-related events, it explores stock market reactions to each stage within a chain of successive events triggered by negative ES events, including the recurrent, follow-up (either favorable or unfavorable), as well as companies’ response events. We find that the investors respond strongly negatively to negative events (origin, negative subsequent, and negative responses) and strongly positively to positive events (positive subsequent and positive responses). We also find that investors react more negatively to the negative subsequent and recurrent events, as well as company negative responses when they occur sooner after the origin events, whereas promptness of positive subsequent events and positive responses heighten the favorable market reaction. The study also reveals the presence of expectancy violation as investors of high-CSR firm react more negatively to the negative events. In addition, it provides observations suggesting that: (1) investors do not regard positive responses as agency-motivated events, instead they are more concerned about the availability of financial resources when a firm makes remedial responses to a negative ES event; and (2) the market cares about CSR events not solely due to their financial implications, but also because it considers socially responsible operations as a value-enhancing corporate duty.

Project finance is a financing arrangement for projects, and it is characterised by the creation of a legally independent project company financed with non- or limited recourse loans. It is observed that the popularity of project finance is increasing in the recent decades, despite of the impact of Asian financial crisis. Especially in emerging markets, project finance is very common among the public-private partnership projects. It is possible that project finance yields some benefits in project management that other forms of funding are not able to provide. This research aims to explore the impacts of project finance on the risk management of projects, as well as the mechanisms of the effects of various factors on project risk management. The research starts with a quantitative analysis which consists of project data from 32 projects in recent years. The regression analysis on these quantitative data reveals that factors such as the separation of legal entity and existence of third-party guarantees can effectively reduce the borrowing rates of the projects. The borrowing rates, expressed in terms of credit spreads over LIBOR, are regarded as a proxy for the overall risk level of the projects. The qualitative section which involves five structured interviews further explores the relationships of the attributes of project finance on project risk management. The interviewees largely agrees on the effects of the separation of legal entity, non- or limited recourse loans, and the existence of third-party guarantees in managing political and country risks, business risks, and principal-agency risks. The involvement of a larger number of stakeholders in the projects enable the project to enhance its risk management ability by gaining external expertise and knowledge, influences on government policies, and more importantly, closer supervisions on project activities. Apart from revealing the important features of project finance, and the potential benefits it may yield on project risk management, the effectiveness of these features are also discussed. The study also examines the relationships between these features and the common risk factors which may affect all projects. Some recommendations to enhance the benefits of project finance and reduce the associated transaction costs are made based on this study.

The thesis is aimed at business plan forming for a company establishment, which would provide services in area of grafic design and advertising. This thesis includes all specifics taken into consideration at business plan realization. The contents of this business plan are the environment analysis, financial plan, evaluation of investments and risk analysis.