Agency theory proposes that the role of the board of directors is to control management (Fama & Jensen 1983). A structurally independent board, one with a high percentage of non-executive directors and a chairperson who is not the CEO, has been used as a proxy for the control role. Therefore, agency theory predicts a positive relationship between independent board structure and firm performance. These predictions have not been confirmed by meta-analytic reviews (Dalton, Daily, Ellstrand, & Johnson 1998; Rhoades, Rechner, & Sundaramurthy 2000). This thesis applies structural contingency theory to provide an alternative explanation for the relationship between board structure and firm performance. Structural contingency theory (Donaldson 2001) proposes that the relationship between an organization???s structure and its performance is moderated by contingencies. In this study the contingency is the salience of the board???s control role. I argue that structural independence of the board has a beneficial effect on performance only if it is in fit with control salience. For example, a firm with an independently structured board that gives high prominence to the control role will perform well. On the other hand, another firm with a less independently structured board that does not see its main role as controlling management will also prosper. Survey data were analyzed to measure the control salience for 98 Australian listed companies. Archival data provided measures of board structure and firm performance. Consistent with the meta-analytic reviews, there was no association between independent board structure and firm performance. There was some evidence that high control salience resulted in high performance, but this effect was evident chiefly when performance was measured by total shareholder returns. This may indicate that the share market was responding to the symbolism of high control salience. In contrast to the symbolic main effect of control salience, the fit between the control salience and the independent structure of the board caused increased return on equity. This reflects the board???s objective effect on profit when its structure is in fit with control salience.

Submitted by Renan Kenji Oshiro (renan.oshiro@gmail.com) on 2016-03-09T13:29:06Z No. of bitstreams: 1 OSHIRO - Estruturas de governança corporativa e financial distress.pdf: 1792395 bytes, checksum: 0816d14d773c954b257c5ad3f90312d1 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Renata de Souza Nascimento (renata.souza@fgv.br) on 2016-03-11T13:13:34Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 OSHIRO - Estruturas de governança corporativa e financial distress.pdf: 1792395 bytes, checksum: 0816d14d773c954b257c5ad3f90312d1 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-22T16:13:01Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 OSHIRO - Estruturas de governança corporativa e financial distress.pdf: 1792395 bytes, checksum: 0816d14d773c954b257c5ad3f90312d1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-02-15 / In this master’s thesis it was analyzed if there is a significant relationship among governance structures (structure and board composition) and financial distress. This essay focused on this issue because academic studies in corporate governance and its relation to financial distress are still largely unexplored. In addition, the topic has relevance in the corporate world, since understanding which board structures and its compositions would be more efficient to avoid financial distress is attractive for many stakeholders, mainly for shareholders and creditors. To check the existence of this relationship, it was used data from Brazilian public companies and logit models of financial distress were developed. With financial distress as response variable and starting from a base model with financial control variables, new determinants and combinations of these variables were added step by step to set up intermediate models. At last, the final model included all relevant explanatory variables. The variables can be classified into governance structure variables (DUA, GOV and COF), board quality (QUA) and ownership structure (PRO1 and PRO2). The following base models were used: Daily and Dalton (1994a) and an own model, which was developed to model better financial distress and its relation to the governance structure variables. In several tested models, significant relationships were found in the percentage of dependent directors (GOV), percentage of education’s elite directors (QUA), percentage of discriminated stock (PRO1) and percentage of relevant state stock ownership (PRO2). Hence, the hypothesis that more dependent directors, less education’s elite directors and less concentrated ownership structures contribute to a future financial distress situation cannot be rejected. On the other hand, in dummy variables as duality (DUA) and supervisory board (COF) were not found statistical significance. / Nesta dissertação foi analisada se há uma relação significante entre estruturas de governança (estrutura e composição de conselho) e financial distress. Este trabalho focou neste tema porque os estudos acadêmicos em governança corporativa e sua relação com financial distress ainda são pouco explorados. Além disso, o tema tem relevância no mundo corporativo, pois entender quais estruturas e composições de conselho seriam mais eficientes para evitar financial distress é interessante para diversos stakeholders, principalmente para os acionistas e os credores. Para verificar a existência dessa relação, foram utilizados dados de empresas brasileiras de capital aberto e foram desenvolvidos modelos logit de financial distress. Sendo a variável resposta financial distress, partiu-se de um modelo base com variáveis financeiras de controle e, por etapas, foram adicionadas novos determinantes e combinações dessas variáveis para montar modelos intermediários. Por fim, o modelo final contou com todas as variáveis explicativas mais relevantes. As variáveis de estudo podem ser classificadas em variáveis de estrutura de governança (DUA, GOV e COF), qualidade do conselho (QUA) e estrutura de propriedade (PRO1 e PRO2). Os modelos base utilizados foram: Daily e Dalton (1994a) e um próprio, desenvolvido para modelar melhor financial distress e sua relação com as variáveis de estrutura de governança. Nos diversos modelos testados foram encontradas relações significativas no percentual de conselheiros dependentes (GOV), percentual de conselheiros da elite educacional (QUA), percentual de ações discriminadas (PRO1) e percentual de ações de acionista estatal relevante (PRO2). Portanto, não se descartam as hipóteses de que mais conselheiros dependentes, menos conselheiros da elite educacional e estrutura de propriedade menos concentrada contribuem para uma situação de financial distress futura. Entretanto, as variáveis dummy de dualidade (DUA) e de conselho fiscal (COF) não apresentaram significância estatística.

Syfte: Årsredovisningar är ett av de viktigaste informationsdokumenten som börsnoterade företag ger ut till sina aktieägare, läsbarheten i dessa blir således viktig. Det finns incitament för chefer inom företagen att vilja mörka sämre prestationer för egen vinning. Styrelsesammansättning kan även tänkas påverka ä̈sbarhet i finansiella dokument då kvinnor och män kommunicerar olika och oberoende styrelseledamöter antar en mer objektiv roll. Syftet med detta examensarbete är att utifrån årsredovisningars filstorlek undersöka om det finns ett samband mellan rapporternas läsbarhet och företagens lönsamhet, redovisade resultat samt andel oberoende och kvinnliga styrelseledamöter. Metod: Studien har genomförts med en kvantitativ metod. Data har samlats in genom innehållsanalys av årsredovisningar från företag listade på NASDAQ OMX Stockholm Large Cap. Analys av data har skett genom att en korrelationsmatris och två regressionsmodeller har skapats. Resultat & slutsats: En lägre andel oberoende styrelseledamöter samt en sämre lönsamhet visar tendenser till att vara förknippat med sämre läsbarhet i årsredovisningar. Redovisat resultat och andel kvinnliga styrelseledamöter visar inget samband med årsredovisningarnas läsbarhet. Studien visar däremot på samband mellan större företag och årsredovisningar med sämre läsbarhet. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: För fortsatta studier föreslås att flera börslistor inkluderas och även fler redovisningsår. Det skulle vara intressant att undersöka om liknande resultat hittas för olika börslistor och då skulle en jämförelse vara möjlig mellan börslistorna och även över tiden. Uppsatsens bidrag: Denna studie undersöker läsbarheten i svenska företags årsredovisningar vilket breddar tidigare studier som främst undersökt amerikanska företag. Examensarbetet bidrar också genom att relationer mellan årsredovisningars läsbarhet och finansiella prestationer samt styrelsesammansättning studeras ytterligare. / Aim: Annual reports are one of the most important documents for information from public companies to their shareholders, readability in these documents are therefor of importance. There are incentives for managers to withhold information about poorer earnings for their own benefit. The board may also potentially affect the readability of the annual report since men and women communicate in different ways and independent board members act more objective. The aim of this final thesis is to investigate if there is a correlation between readability in annual reports based on file size and earnings, net income and proportion of independent and female board members. Method: This study was conducted by a quantitative method. Data have been collected through content analysis of annual reports from companies listed on NASDAQ OMX Stockholm Large Cap. Analysis of the data was done by a correlation matrix and two multiple regressions. Result & Conclusions: A lower proportion of independent board members and lower earnings tend to be associated with annual reports that have lower readability. Net income and proportion of female board members shows no association with readability of the annual reports. However, this study concludes that larger companies are related to annual reports that have lower readability. Suggestions for future research: For future research we suggest that more stock exchange lists are included and also more different years. It would be interesting to investigate whether similar results are found for different exchange lists and that would make a comparison possible between the exchange lists and also over time. Contribution of the thesis: This study examines the readability of annual reports issued by Swedish companies, which broadens previous studies that have primarily examined US companies. The thesis also contributes since readability in annual reports related to financial performance and board composition is further studied.

Magister Philosophiae - MPhil

Syfte Studien handlar om att undersöka hur olika styrelsesammansättningar arbetar med könsfördelning och jämställdhet samt hur man kan öka kvinnlig representation i styrelsesammanhang. Metod Kvalitativ metodansats med semistrukturerade intervjuer, som analyseras med tematisk analys. Urvalet består av ett strategiskt urval av styrelsemedlemmar. Teori Teoriavsnittet bygger på tidigare forskning inom ämnesområdet. Det utgörs även av tidigare teorier och information kring kvinnors representation i styrelser. Empiri Empiriavsnittet utgörs av studiens insamlade data, i form av semistrukturerade intervjuer. Där manliga ochkvinnliga styrelsemedlemmar intervjuats. Diskussion I analysen och diskussionen så sammanfattas hela studien och mäter studiens syfte samt frågeställning till den empiriska datan. / Purpose The purpose with this study is to find the boarders characteristics attributes from a gender perspective. This study is about investigating and finding how different boarders operate with distribution in terms of gender, but also finding what kind of experiences the boarders have in equality. Methodology A qualitative approach has been used with semistructured interviews. The main data consists of five interviews with different respondents who have alot of experiences of board work. Theoretical Perspectives The theory part contains economic theories that are relevant based on the study’s purpose and question formulations. The theory section also includes the applicable concepts. Empirical Foundation The study’s empirical information is based on interviews. The collected data contains semistructured interviews with five board members. These five board members tell their own experience of board structure. Discussion The discussion part contains the authors thoughts about board work and equality that interlock with relevant theories and concepts.

This study shows the effects of the ‘soft’ board gender quota in Sweden enacted in 2006. Using a sample of 2,181 firm-year observations, Swedish listed firms do increase the percentage of females after the enactment of the quota, but this effect is not coming due to the quota. Neither more firms comply to the quota of 40 per cent caused by the quota enactment. Firms with state involvement are more likely to comply to the quota and increase the percentage of females. Internationalized firms have elusive results on the percentage of female directors and quota compliance. On average, more female directors in board positions have a positive effect on firm performance as measured in Tobin’s Q and ROA. The increase in the percentage of females and the positive effect on firm performance is more pronounced in the later time period (2012-2017) than the period short after the quota (2006-2011).

The diploma thesis deals with a one-tier (monistic) board structure of a European company (Societas Europaea) which has its registered seat in the Czech Republic. The governance of a European company is largely dependent on the national legislation, which has been in the Czech Republic significantly amended by a substantial recodification of private law. The thesis focuses on some of the interpretative difficulties that the new legislation has brought to the regulation of the monistic European Company, and presents some possible solutions thereto. In addition the statistical overview over the current state of European companies within Europe is included and commented upon. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

Cette thèse est construite autour de trois essais empiriques examinant les niveaux d’efficience et les effets de la gouvernance d’entreprise et de la diversification sur l’efficience des banques de l’ASEAN. Avec le premier essai, le modèle AFS de Kumbhakar et al. (2014) est utilisé pour mesurer les niveaux d’efficience des banques commerciales de l’ASEAN. Les résultats font apparaître que les banques de l’ASEAN sont très économiques mais peu rentables. Les banques malaisiennes sont les plus rentables mais les moins économiques, alors que les banques indonésiennes sont les moins rentables mais les plus économiques. Aucune tendance générale à la progression ou au recul du niveau d’efficience ne se dégage sur l’ensemble del’échantillon. Le second essai utilise le modèle Dynamic System GMM pour estimer les effets de différents aspects de la gouvernance d’entreprise sur l’efficience des banques, afin de vérifier toutes les formes d’endogénéité. Il en ressort que les banques ayant les plus fortes participations de l’État et la plus faible indépendance de l’organe de direction ont un meilleur rapport coût-efficience. En outre, on ne trouve pas d’élément de preuve déterminant quant aux effets de la structure de proprieté et des caractéristiques du conseil sur l’efficience profits. Le dernier essai estime l’influence de la diversification sur l’efficience des banques. Les résultats généraux font apparaître une relation positive entre diversification et rapport coût-efficience, mais une relation négative entre diversification et rentabilité. D’autre part, les banques ayant un financement diversifié et une participation de l’État ont un meilleur rapport coût-efficiencemais une rentabilité inférieure à celle des autres banques. De plus, la diversification des financements et des actifs pourrait rendre les banques étrangères moins rentables. / This thesis consists of three empirical essays examining the efficiency levels and the effects of corporate governance and diversification on efficiency of ASEAN banks. Chapter 1 uses Kumbhakar et al.’s (2014) SFA to measure the efficiency levels of ASEAN commercial banks. The results show that ASEAN banks are highly cost efficient but very low profit efficient. Malaysian banks are found to be the most profit efficient but the least cost efficient, while Indonesian banks are the least profit efficient but the most cost efficient. No general trend of increasing or decreasing in efficiency levels is found for the whole sample. In chapter2, to estimate the impacts of various aspects of corporate governance on bank efficiency, the Dynamic System GMM is used with the purpose of control for all forms of endogeneity. The results suggest that banks with higher degrees of government ownership and lower levels of board independence exhibit higher levels of cost efficiency. In addition, no significant evidence is found for the effects of ownership structure and board characteristics on profit efficiency. Chapter 3 estimates the influence of diversification on bank efficiency. The general findings suggest a positive relationship between diversification and cost efficiency buta negative relationship between diversification and profit efficiency. On the other hand, funding-diversified banks associated with government ownership demonstrate higher cost efficiency but lower profit efficiency compared to other banks. While, funding and asset diversification could make foreign banks less profit efficient.

Andelen kvinnor i bolagsstyrelser i Norden har under en tid ökat. Det första landet i världen som införde en lag kring könssammansättningen i styrelser för att skapa mer jämställda styrelser är Norge. Den norska kvoteringslagen infördes 2006 och kräver att minst 40 procent av respektive kön ska representeras av styrelsens ledamöter. Företagen gavs två år att fullfölja de nya restriktionerna, och om lagen inte efterföljs är sanktionen tvångslikvidation, avvecklande av verksamheten. Under urvalsperioden för denna studie, 2002 till 2010, ökade antalet kvinnor i norska bolagsstyrelser från 12 procent till 43 procent, vilket är en ökning på 256 procent. Detta var ett väntat resultat då syftet med lagen var att göra styrelserna mer jämställda och skapa fler platser åt kvinnor. Styrelsestorleken förblev dock densamma, vilket indikerar på att företagen inte valde att utöka styrelsestorleken för att göra plats åt de nya kvinnliga ledamöterna och samtidigt behålla de manliga ledamöterna. Företagen valde istället att byta ut en del av de manliga ledamöterna mot kvinnliga och därmed behålla storleken på styrelsen. Det är inte heller någon signifikant förändring i Tobin’s Q mellan perioden före införandet av könskvoteringen och perioden efter. Däremot påverkade andelen kvinnor Tobin’s Q positivt innan könskvoteringen infördes. Detta indikerar på att när det inte finns restriktioner kring könssammansättningen i styrelser är företag med könsbalanserade styrelser i större utsträckning mer lönsamma. Tidigare studier har visat på att kvinnor tenderar att ha lägre ekonomisk kompetens än män. Detta borde då resultera i att när andelen kvinnor ökar borde den ekonomiska kompetensen i styrelser försämras. Däremot tenderar individer, oavsett kön, med en hög utbildningsnivå att ha en högre ekonomisk kompetens än individer som inte har en hög utbildning. Då resultaten från denna studie visar på att utbildningsnivån i styrelserna har förbättrats efter andelen kvinnor ökat indikerar detta på att den ekonomiska kompetensen i styrelserna inte har försämrats, den har snarare förbättrats. / The percentage of women on corporate boards have increased the last decades, especially in the Nordic countries. Norway was the first country in the world that implemented a gender quota to increase the percentage of women on corporate boards. The quota’s purpose is that corporate boards in listed companies is forced to have at least 40 percent of each gender represented by the directors and if they refuse to form a gender-balanced board they would face forced liquidation. The purpose of this study was to examine what the effects of the Norwegian gender quota did have on these companies’ financial performance and if the boards’ level of education was altered. The results show that the quota led to an increase in the percentage of women on corporate boards. This result was not surprising because the purpose of the law was to increase the gender equality on corporate boards. However, the results show no evidence that the quota had effects on the financial performance, measured in Tobin’s Q. The size of the board was still the same after the introduction of the quota, this indicate that they exchanged some of the sitting board members with new members, rather than to expand the boards and keep all the sitting male directors. Earlier studies show that women have, to a greater extent, a lower financial literacy than men. This should indicate that when the percentage of women increase on corporate boards, the financial literacy should be lower than before. However, there is a connection between a higher financial literacy and a higher education. The results show that the education level increased after the implementation of the quota, this indicates that the financial literacy on boardrooms haven’t deteriorated, but rather improved.

In chapter 1, we examine the nature and scale of the relationship between returns on sector Equity Traded Funds (ETFs) and their volatility. We discuss the source and direction of the effect between returns and risk and whether behavioral biases are prominent among sector ETFs. The study has implications for financial sector practitioners and investors, as it provides more information about the risk in sector ETF and whether that risk differs from that of other investment instruments. To this end, we test three hypotheses based on the relevant literature on volatility and returns: the leverage effect hypothesis, feedback hypothesis, and behavioral biases in assets pricing. We employ two measures of volatility in this chapter; specifically, we use the GARCH (1, 1) model and the Range-based autoregressive model. Chapter 2 presents an examination of the factors that affect payout policy in a frontier market. MSCI classifies the Saudi stock exchange as a large frontier market and proposes to be reclassified as an emerging market by next year. The Saudi market is characterized by the high governmental influence and dominance of individual traders on daily transactions. By studying the 12-year panel data, we assess the effect government, board characteristics, social norms and major shareholder on Saudi firms’ decision to distribute dividends. The government presence and investor taste, especially for Islamic-compliant firms, are discussed. This chapter provides valuable information for investors and practitioners by identifying the factors that should be considered when making finance and investment decisions in frontier markets.