Thesis (Ph.D.)--Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 130-134). Also available in electronic version.

This dissertation investigates the relation between firm disclosure, analyst forecast bias, and the cost of equity capital (COEC). Since analyst forecast bias is associated with both implied COEC estimates and disclosure, it is important to control for or remove it from COEC estimates when estimating the relation between disclosure and ex ante expected returns. I begin my analysis by predicting and removing systematic ex ante bias from analyst forecasts to produce de-biased analyst forecasts that better proxy for the market’s ex ante earnings expectations. I use these de-biased analyst forecasts to produce estimates of ex ante expected returns, both at the portfolio- and the firm-level. In addition, I develop a novel estimate of ex ante expected returns by applying Vuolteenaho’s (2002) return decomposition framework to ex post realized returns and accounting data. Finally, using several techniques to control for analyst forecast bias and self-selection bias, I find theoretically consistent evidence of a negative association between regular disclosure and ex ante expected returns. I predict and show that inferences can change when analyst forecast bias is controlled for.

Recent studies indicate that alcohol consumption may affect economic outcomes through its effects on health capital and social capital. If, in fact, differences in economic outcomes are causally linked to differences in alcohol consumption, then lack of adequate insight into such connectivity may adversely affect the labor market and retirement outcomes of some groups of individuals in society. In two essays, this dissertation examines the impact of alcohol consumption on wealth at retirement using data from the RAND Health and Retirement Study (HRS) from 1992 through 2002; and the effects of alcohol consumption on employment duration and earnings using the Geocode version of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY1979) micro dataset from 1984 through 1996. This dissertation relies on Grossman's 1972 health capital model. Empirically, the research relies on panel data methods and duration analysis to determine whether differences in economic outcomes can be explained by differences in alcohol consumption. The results indicate that drinking is positively related to improved socioeconomic outcomes as compared to total abstention, when endogeneity has not been taken into account under both duration analysis and panel data methods. When endogeneity is taken into account, alcohol consumption tends to shorten the duration of employment via survival analysis. Also, estimation via instrumental variables approach indicates that the relationship between alcohol consumption and socioeconomic outcomes (retirement wealth and earnings) is rather an inverted U-shaped for some panel data specifications. Moreover, the effects of alcohol consumption on retirement wealth and earnings tend to diminish with instrumental variables approach. These findings did not change even with abstainers partitioned into lifetime abstainers and infrequent or light drinkers (less than one drinking day per week).

This dissertation investigates the relation between firm disclosure, analyst forecast bias, and the cost of equity capital (COEC). Since analyst forecast bias is associated with both implied COEC estimates and disclosure, it is important to control for or remove it from COEC estimates when estimating the relation between disclosure and ex ante expected returns. I begin my analysis by predicting and removing systematic ex ante bias from analyst forecasts to produce de-biased analyst forecasts that better proxy for the market’s ex ante earnings expectations. I use these de-biased analyst forecasts to produce estimates of ex ante expected returns, both at the portfolio- and the firm-level. In addition, I develop a novel estimate of ex ante expected returns by applying Vuolteenaho’s (2002) return decomposition framework to ex post realized returns and accounting data. Finally, using several techniques to control for analyst forecast bias and self-selection bias, I find theoretically consistent evidence of a negative association between regular disclosure and ex ante expected returns. I predict and show that inferences can change when analyst forecast bias is controlled for.

This thesis analyses the concept of cosplay by critically engaging earlier theories that have claimed cosplay to be a form of escapism for fans of Japanese manga and animé. Theories have so far been concerned mainly with identifying cosplay as a type of theatre. By interviewing active cosplayers in focus groups, this thesis instead focuses on the ways in which cosplay functions as an arena for identity-creation. By looking at theories of identity, the thesis has analysed how identity is created, not by an individual, but in a reciprocal relationship with social groups. Cosplay is an element around which social groupings are built and through complex social structuring identity is created by attaching one self to the group. The group is structured by the amount of symbolic capital each member possesses, which is to say that knowledge about the stories within the group, and social relationships are determining the structure of the group. By looking at the structure of the group, we are able to gain insight into the question of cosplay as an object for identity-creation, and by looking at the interactions in the focus groups we are furthermore able to actively analyse the distribution of capital. This thesis thus asserts that cosplay does not function as a simple form of escapism that allows for cosplayer to escape their mundane lives, but that it is instead an important field for the creation of identity for the fans of manga and cosplay.

Syfte:                  Working Capital Management handlar om rörelsekapitalstyrning och är enligt litteraturen av vikt speciellt för mindre företag. Anledningen är att deras kapitalstruktur består av en hög andel omsättningstillgångar och kortfristiga skulder. Working Capital Management innebär i stora drag att optimera rörelsekapitalet i företaget. Eftersom denna uppsats är en pilotstudie är syftet att göra en förundersökning om arbetet med Working Capital Management inom mindre och medelstora företag. Avstampet tas i forskningsfrågorna Använder sig mindre och medelstora företag av Working Capital Management? Känner de till begreppet? Metod:                Den vetenskapliga metoden är en deduktiv, kvalitativ forskningsansats. Primärdata samlas in via webenkäter som sedan analyseras och tolkas utifrån en kvalitativt och hermeneutisk ansats. Slutsatser:           Begreppet Working Capital Management överlag inte är något som de mindre och medelstora företagen vet innebörden av. Respondenterna anger att de inte använder sig av detta begrepp men svar på andra frågor motsäger detta då flertalet av de modeller och nyckeltal som ingår i begreppet ändock används.

Our essay focuses on short-term capital inflows and their effects on China’s economy.The reason for this work was the increasing vulnerability of China’s economy and the risk of newupcoming world financial crisis, all because of uncontrollable amounts of speculative capitalflows. Because of this problem, we raised a main question that we try to answer in this essayhowto reduce the possibility and the severity of the future financial crisis in China? In order tosolve this problem, first we searched for the existing theory of capital flows, mainly short-termcapital inflows. We analysed why investors choose capital flows and some specific countries,why it is profitable, but also risky and what could be done by countries, to stop these inflows orat least to diminish their effect on domestic markets. After that, we looked for past experiencesof countries faced with surges of capital flows and their measures for controlling them, weanalysed, if the theoretical tools were actually effective in reality. To finish the model, weapplied these measures to China’s economy and gave our viewpoint on what could be changedin order to avoid the dangers of short-term capital inflows. Last, we sum up the whole essay andsuggest the best mix of measures that China could use to control capital inflows as well as theireffects on the economy.

<p>I study the effect of human capital on firms' leverage decisions in a structural dynamic model. Firms produce using physical capital and labor. They pay a cost per employee they hire, thus investing in human capital. In default a portion of this human capital investment is lost. The loss of human capital constitutes a significant cost of financial distress. Labor intensive firms are more heavily exposed to this cost and respond by using less leverage. Thus the model predicts a decreasing relationship between leverage and labor intensity. Consistent with this prediction, I show in the data that high labor intensity leads to significantly less use of debt. In the model a move from the lowest to the highest decile of labor intensity is accompanied by a drop in leverage of 21 percentage points, very close to the 27 percentage point drop in the data. Overall, I argue that human capital has an important effect on firm leverage and should receive more attention from capital structure researchers.</p><p>Furthermore, I study a two-period contracting problem in which entrepreneurs need financing but have limited commitment. If an entrepreneur chooses to default, he can divert a proportion of the project's output. Entrepreneurs are heterogeneous with respect to their ability to divert output. In particular, I focus on the special case with only two types of entrepreneurs. "Opportunistic'' entrepreneurs can divert output, but "dependable'' entrepreneurs cannot. I find that, if the proportion of dependable entrepreneurs is sufficiently high, it is optimal to write contracts that induce second period default by the opportunistic entrepreneurs. This critical proportion generally decreases with the severity of the agency problem. The model delivers both cross-sectional and time-series predictions about default, investment, and output.</p> / Dissertation

With the global environment changed rapidly, traditional sources of competitive advantage can no longer provide a sustainable strength for business, the approach to global business strategy point to core competencies, invisible assets, and organizational capabilities as key factors influencing MNC¡¦s long-term success in global markets. Benefited by resource-based view (RBV), strategic human resource management (SHRM), and organization behavior (OB) theories as theoretical groundwork, and our contributions include of (1) We built up a theoretical framework from the perspective of human capital to investigate how learning organizational capital facilites firm¡¦s innovative capabilities through human capital flexibility as a mediator. (2) Define human capital flexibility and its seven dimentions. (3) Define learning organizational capital with three dimensions derived from human capital perspective of knowledge-based literatures. Using sample of 184 subsidiaries of Taiwanese MNCs with SEM technique, our empirical result further indicates that human capital flexibility and learning organizational capital has positive effects on firm¡¦s innovative capabilities. Also, human capital flexibility plays a key role as a strong mediator that enhanced organizational capital to exert firm¡¦s innovative capabilities

Besides the three traditional ICs(Intellectual Capital) including Human Capital, Structural Capital and Customer Capital, Social Capital(SC) has been recognized as a forth critical IC of an organization in the network economy. In the 21st century, various kinds of collaborations among organizations such as strategic alliance or virtual organization play a major role in the global competition marketplace; no one can do their business alone. Therefore, only an inter-organizational collaborative team with strong relationships and network ties among the members can more efficiently and effectively discover, evaluate and exploit the emerging entrepreneurial opportunities. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of a firm¡¦s social capital on its capabilities to discover, evaluate and exploit the entrepreneurial opportunities. Three dimensions of a firm¡¦s social capital are canalized. (Nahapiet & Ghoshal, 1998) (1)structural dimension: includes network ties and network configurations (2)cognitive dimension: includes shared codes, languages and narratives (3)relational dimension: includes trust, norm, obligations, and identifications. Moreover, since a firm¡¦s absorptive capability of new knowledge and its past related knowledge base also influence the effectiveness of its exploitation of entrepreneurial opportunity, Absorptive Capability Theory (Cohen & Levinthal, 1990) and current knowledge base of a firm are also used as two variables in the research model to increase the integrity of the model. An empirical survey methodology is applied to test the research model and hypotheses proposed in this study. Five out of nine hypotheses are validated in our research model with Path Analysis. The research result reveals that the structural dimension of a firm¡¦s social capital has the most impact on its abilities of entrepreneurial opportunities; on the other hand, a firm¡¦s absorptive capability of knowledge is affected by the structural and relational dimensions of social capital. Furthermore, the result validates that both absorptive capability and the abilities of entrepreneurial opportunities of a firm exhibit significant path dependency. This result will be useful to both the academic and business particularly in its advocacy of the cultivation of the structural dimension of a firm¡¦s social capital.