My objective in this dissertation was to understand the processes leading to incompletion of the high profile cross-border deals. A conceptual framework was developed which suggests that announcement of a cross-border merger and acquisition (M&A) deal starts a string of institutional processes that leads to incompletion of the bid. I proposed that less powerful host country actors threatened by the MNC’s bid proposal politicize the transaction turning the deal into a transgression. These actors publicize this transgression, initiating a scandal, to gather support of multiple audiences in their attempts to thwart the threat that the MNC poses. Thanks to their efforts in appealing to audiences and publicization of the deal as a transgression, these actors mobilize audiences who reveal hostile reaction against the MNC and the proposed bid. Such mobilization and hostile reaction, in turn, lead to proposed bid’s incompletion. Qualitative analysis results based on a sample of seven high profile cross-border transactions provided support for the conceptualized processes, namely politicization, scandal, mobilization and hostile reaction, while indicating a different order of process progression compared to the linear one conceptualized. I found that in all cases the process of scandal subsumed the other processes that kept scandal alive. In turn, scandal fed these processes giving more leverage to the mobilization efforts and/or increasing the hostility of the actors opposing the deal. The findings revealed that these processes happened simultaneously and that in cases where mobilization did not emerge, hostile reaction substituted for the lack of mobilization. Additionally, analysis showed that not only less powerful actors but also powerful actors, elites, sought to initiate a scandal when the host country political, legal or bureaucratic processes did not work for them in thwarting the deal. This dissertation by examining social construction, power and politics within the host country institutional environment in the context of high profile cross-border deals, presented a framework that explained how and why the hostility leading to deal incompletion emerges in the host country. In so doing, this dissertation strengthens institutional theory, theory of scandal, social movements theory and elite theory as powerful perspectives in international strategic -management. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2014. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

No description available.

A política de dividendos é um tema amplamente pesquisado no Brasil e no mundo ao longo de várias décadas. Consequentemente, inúmeras teorias foram desenvolvidas para explicar esse assunto. Contudo, recentemente, o arcabouço da Teoria de Agência tem proporcionado novas descobertas sobre os fatores que influenciam as políticas de dividendos das empresas. Especificamente, foram propostas teorias que sugerem que os dividendos refletem boas práticas de governança corporativa, tornando a distribuição de proventos um complemento à proteção legal do acionista. Em contrapartida, em um ambiente com proteção mais fraca e regras menos rígidas de governança, a distribuição de dividendos atua de maneira substituta à essa carência de proteção. No Brasil, devido às características legais mais frágeis quando comparada com mercados como o Norte Americano e do Reino Unido, seria esperado uma situação na qual os dividendos fossem substitutos à proteção oferecida pelos padrões de governança. Entretanto, pesquisas relacionadas à América Latina, aos mercados emergentes e, mais especificamente, ao mercado brasileiro, têm apontado para situações diferentes do que é apontado pela teoria, mas não de maneira unânime. Além disso, considerando o ambiente institucional brasileiro, de elevada concentração de propriedade, estudos anteriores não conseguiram determinar de que forma esse fenômeno influencia a política de dividendos das companhias. Assim, para contribuir com essa discussão, este trabalho investiga conjuntamente como a governança corporativa e a concentração de propriedade afetam as políticas de dividendos das empresas brasileiras. Esta pesquisa abrangeu 171 empresas no período de 2008 a 2017. De maneira inédita, foi utilizada como variável dependente o valor total dos dividendos dividido pelo patrimônio líquido. Os resultados das estimações por efeitos fixos com erros-padrão robustos por empresas mostraram uma relação positiva entre as proxys para governança corporativa e concentração de propriedade com a distribuição de dividendos. Como contribuições adicionais, foi mostrado que os resultados da estimação com a variável dependente dividendos pelo patrimônio líquido são melhores que os resultados da estimação com a variável dependente payout. Também foi identificado que a propriedade dispersa e altamente concentrada afetam positivamente e de maneira mais intensa a distribuição de dividendos, em comparação com outros níveis de propriedade do maior acionista / The dividend policy is a widely researched topic in Brazil and the world over several decades. Consequently, numerous theories have been developed to explain this subject. However, recently, the Agency Theory framework has provided new insights into the factors that influence corporate dividend policies. Specifically, theories have been proposed that suggest that dividends reflect good corporate governance practices, making the distribution of proceeds a complement to shareholder legal protection. On the other hand, in an environment with weaker protection and less rigid rules of governance, the distribution of dividends acts in a substitute way to this lack of protection. In Brazil, due to the more fragile legal characteristics when compared to markets such as the United States and the United Kingdom, a situation in which dividends would be a substitute for the protection offered by governance standards would be expected. However, research related to Latin America, emerging markets and, more specifically, the Brazilian market, have pointed to different situations than is pointed out by theory, but not unanimously. Moreover, considering the Brazilian institutional environment, with a high concentration of ownership, previous studies have not been able to determine how this phenomenon influences the companies\' dividend policy. Thus, to contribute to this discussion, this work investigates jointly how corporate governance and concentration of ownership affect the dividend policies of Brazilian companies. This survey covered 171 companies in the period from 2008 to 2017. In an unprecedented way, the total amount of dividends divided by shareholders\' equity was used as the dependent variable. The results of fixed-effect estimate with robust standard errors by companies showed a positive relationship between the proxies for corporate governance and concentration of ownership with the distribution of dividends. As additional contributions, it was shown that the results of the estimation with the dependent variable dividends by the equity are better than the results of the estimation with the dependent variable payout. It has also been identified that dispersed and highly concentrated ownership positively and more sharply affect the distribution of dividends as compared to other ownership levels of the largest shareholder

Esta pesquisa defende a tese de que a estrutura de propriedade das companhias influencia o conservadorismo contábil das companhias abertas brasileiras listadas em bolsa. Sugestões teóricas e recentes evidências empíricas subsidiam tal defesa. Empiricamente, LaFond e Roychowdhury (2008), Sánchez, Alemán e Martín (2011), Ramalingegowda e Yu (2012) e Haw, Ho, Tong e Zhang (2012) representam os principais trabalhos internacionalmente. No Brasil, Sarlo Neto, Rodrigues e Almeida (2010), até a publicação da tese, era o único trabalho nessa linha de pesquisa. Quatro características da estrutura de propriedade foram investigadas: a) concentração de direitos de votos pelo maior acionista último; b) divergência entre direitos de votos e fluxo de caixa do maior acionista último; c) presença de segundo maior acionista que não faz parte do bloco de controle; e d) controle exercido por meio de estruturas de propriedade piramidais. Os acordos entre acionistas foram levados em consideração nos cálculos. Ainda, as variáveis de estrutura de propriedade foram obtidas por meio das participações diretas e indiretas, a fim de o maior acionista último ser claramente identificado. Em relação ao conservadorismo, foram empregadas quatro métricas: duas advindas de Basu (1997) e as outras duas provenientes da pesquisa de Ball e Shivakumar (2005) e Khan e Watts (2009). Ademais, foram utilizadas as seguintes variáveis de controle nos modelos empíricos: tamanho, endividamento, market-to-book, governança corporativa e risco de litígio. O período da análise abrangeu dados de 2010 a 2013. Após o processo de seleção da amostra, restaram 260 companhias, que perfizeram um total de 887 observações. Para estimar a relação entre as variáveis foi empregada a técnica de dados em painel com efeitos fixos das unidades individuais e do tempo. Os resultados dos testes não indicaram haver efeito sistemático e significativo das características de estrutura de propriedade sobre o conservadorismo contábil. Não obstante, a tese apresenta contribuições tanto em nível internacional como nacional. Em comparação com as pesquisas internacionais na mesma linha de pesquisa, a tese é a primeira a considerar os efeitos dos acordos entre acionistas no cálculo das variáveis de estrutura de propriedade. Ademais, é a primeira a testar os efeitos das estruturas de propriedade piramidais sobre o conservadorismo. Em termos nacionais, a pesquisa contribui com a extensa linha acerca da estrutura de propriedade ao considerar o efeito do segundo maior acionista último, até então inédito na literatura nacional. Também, contribui com a linha de pesquisa em conservadorismo ao levar em conta o efeito de variáveis consideradas relevantes na literatura na estimação dos modelos, não apenas as variáveis de estrutura de propriedade. Além de escrutinizar os resultados por meio da utilização de quatro métricas para mensurar conservadorismo. / This research supports the thesis that the companies\' ownership structure influences the accounting conservatism of Brazilian public companies listed on the stock exchange. Theoretical suggestions and recent empirical evidence support such defense. Empirically, LaFond and Roychowdhury (2008), Sánchez, Alemán and Martín (2011), Ramalingegowda and Yu (2012) and Haw, Ho, Tong and Zhang (2012) represent the main international research studies. In Brazil, the work done by Sarlo Neto, Rodrigues and Almeida (2010), was the only study in this line of research until the publication of this PhD dissertation. For this dissertation, four components of the ownership structure were investigated: a) concentration of voting rights for the largest ultimate shareholder; b) divergence between voting rights and cash flow of the largest ultimate shareholder; c) presence of a second largest shareholder that is not part of the controlling block; and d) control exercised through properties of pyramidal structures. Shareholders\' agreements were taken into account in the calculations. In addition, the variables of ownership structure were obtained by direct and indirect equity participations, in order to clearly identify the largest shareholder. Regarding conservatism, four metrics were used: two coming from Basu (1997) and the other two from the studies conducted by Ball and Shivakumar (2005) and Watts and Khan (2009). In addition, the following control variables were used in the empirical models: size, leverage, market-to-book ratio, corporate governance and risk of litigation. The period of analysis covered data from 2010 to 2013. After the sample selection process, 260 companies remained, which resulted in a total of 887 observations. To estimate the relationship among the variables we used panel data analysis with fixed effects of individual units and time. Each component of the ownership structure was regressed individually on models. The test results did not indicate a systematic and significant effect of ownership structure components on accounting conservatism. Nevertheless, this dissertation presents contributions at both international and national levels. Compared with international studies in the same research line, this dissertation is the first to consider the effects of shareholders\' agreements in the calculation of ownership structure variables. Moreover, it is also the first to test the effects of pyramidal structures on the property of conservatism. Nationally, the research contributes to the extensive line about the ownership structure by considering the effect of the second largest ultimate shareholder, hitherto unheard of in the national literature. This study also contributes to the research line on accounting conservatism, taking into account the effect of variables that are considered relevant in the literature of model estimation, not just the variables of ownership structure. In addition, the use of four metrics to measure conservatism scrutinizes research findings.

A presente dissertação parte de uma análise dos principais corpos regulatórios nacionais e internacionais da governança corporativa para buscar os traços essenciais que caracterizam tal sistema. Uma vez identificados os traços essenciais a partir dos elementos regulatórios, passa o texto a analisar os elementos caracterizadores da governança corporativa por meio das principais disposições doutrinárias sobre o tema. Após estabelecido um conceito funcional de governança corporativa, busca-se compreender as bases econômicas que originaram e auxiliaram no desenvolvimento do sistema da governança corporativa. A partir deste ponto são levantadas as principais Indagações acerca do funcionamento do mercado em um ambiente de informações assimétricas, ressaltando-se o impacto advindo dos agency costs. Finalmente, após levantados os problemas relacionados à assimetria de informação, essencialmente focados no agency problem, se propõe a dissertação a vincular o desenvolvimento do sistema da governança corporativa à mitigação dos problemas de assimetria de informação. / The present work starts from an analysis of the main national and international regulatory provisions in connection to corporate governance searching for the essential traces that characterize such system. Once the essential traces are identified by means of the regulatory elements, the dissertation moves on to analyze the characterizing elements of corporate governance through the main academic considerations on the subject. After a concept of corporate governance is reached, the intent of the works shifts to comprehending the economic basis that have originated and further developed the corporate governance system. From this point forward, the dissertation addresses the main questions on the working of markets under asymmetric information, mainly taking into consideration the impacts arising from the agency costs. Finally, after the problems related to asymmetric information are addressed, basically related to agency problems, the work deals with the objective of bonding the development of the corporate governance system with the reduction of the problems arising from asymmetric information.

違規給企業帶來的主要後果是企業名譽的損失。然而，我們對以下問題卻知之甚少：企業在違規事件中是怎樣損失名譽的？為什麼同樣程度的違規給不同企業帶來的名譽損失卻不同？等等。本文綜合了來自犯罪學、財務學和社會心理學方面的文獻，把企業名譽定義為利益相關者對企業的情感，同時把違規事件看成是導致這種情感變化的誘因。 / 本文構建了一個綜合的理論模型，研究企業股東和企業自身的情感和情感變化。首先，本文提出，企業違規違反了股東對企業的道德期望和基本情感，使股東的情感發生偏移，並最終導致企業名譽的損失。在情感偏移的形成過程中，股東傾向于根據違規線索的診斷性特徵，把他們的基本情感用作透視鏡或者參照點來評價違規企業。第二，本文認為，違規企業通過在致歉公告中列出恢復性行動或語言，可以恢復股東對企業的基本情感並且減少企業名譽的損失。然而在情感恢復過程中，股東傾向于將恢復性行動或語言的心理距離與違規線索的心理距離進行比較，並據此調整他們對企業的評價和情感。第三，與其他違規企業相比，那些表達了愧疚感的違規企業在未來會約束自己的行為，降低了反復違規的傾向。但是隨著本次懲罰強度的不同，以及企業直接或間接地被懲罰經歷的不同，違規企業對本次懲罰的目的和道德意義的評價也會不同，並由此影響企業表達愧疚感的傾向。 / 本文的貢獻主要集中在以下四個方面。首先，通過強調情感在企業和股東關係中的重要性，豐富了關於公司治理的研究。第二，本文從情感視角去探討存在于股東和企業在資訊評價中各種的偏見，而這些偏見會影響他們對違規事件的情感和行為反應，以此拓展了集中於經濟視角的企業違規研究。第三，本文通過借鑒解釋層次理論中的觀點來研究企業恢復性行動和語言的特徵以及他們在股東情感恢復和企業榮譽恢復過程中的作用，這豐富了關於企業層的影像管理和危機管理研究。第四，本文通過強調企業內化懲罰在約束企業違規行為方面的作用，這對補充了關於懲罰的研究，並具有現實意義。 / A consequence of corporate fraud studied in the literature is reputational penalty on the fraud firm. However, little is known about how a fraud firm loses its reputation after the fraud incident and why firms receive different levels of reputational penalty given the same level of fraud severity. Integrating literatures from criminology, finance, and social psychology, this dissertation conceptualizes firm reputation as stakeholders’ (mainly shareholders here) sentiment toward the firm and a fraud incident as a trigger of shareholders’ sentiment changes. / In this dissertation, I develop an integrated model that examines the sentiment changes of shareholders and sentiment restoration efforts made by the fraud firms. In the first study, I propose that corporate fraud violates shareholders’ normative expectations and fundamental sentiments toward the fraud firm, which leads to shareholders’ sentiment deflection and subsequently propels them to implement behavioral penalty on the fraud firm, that is, reputational penalty. During the process of sentiment deflection, shareholders tend to use the fundamental sentiment that they have adapted to as reference points to evaluate the fraud firm, depending on the salience of the fraud incident and the salience of the fraud firm. In the second study, I argue that the fraud firm can restore shareholders’ sentiment and minimize its reputation loss by expressing restorative actions in public apology announcement. However, during the process of sentiment restoration, shareholders tend to adjust their evaluation of the firm based on the relative psychological distance of the restorative actions compared with that of the fraud cues and sentiment cues. The third study focuses on guilt sentiments of the fraud firm, which have been found to have long-term impact on the fraud firm by transforming their future behaviors. I propose that fraud firms that express guilt sentiments after fraud punishment are more likely to restrain from repeated fraudulent behaviors in the future. However, variations in punishment intensity, together with the fraud firms’ direct and indirect punishment experiences, will influence their tendency to express guilt sentiments. / This dissertation aims to offer several contributions. First, by underscoring the importance of sentiment in the firm-shareholder relationship, it contributes to the corporate governance literature that mainly uses cognitive frameworks in the analysis. Second, it takes a sentiment approach to explore various biases embedded in shareholders’ and the firm’s evaluation of the informational cues that could influence their sentimental and behavioral reactions to the fraud incident, thus extending the corporate fraud literature that predominantly focuses on economics perspectives. Third, by examining the characteristics of firms’ restorative actions and languages and their effects on shareholders’ sentiment restoration and firm reputational repair, this dissertation contributes to the literatures of corporate turnaround and organizational-level impression management. Finally, it also contributes to the punishment literature by highlighting the internal transformation of the fraud firms, thus providing implications to stock exchange regulator and policy-makers in emerging economies. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Xu, Yuehua. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2012. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 117-137). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese. / ABSTRACT --- p.I / CHINESE ABSTRACT --- p.III / ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS --- p.V / LIST OF TABLES --- p.IX / LIST OF FIGURES --- p.X / Chapter CHAPTER 1 --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Motivation and Research Questions --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- Theoretical Framework and Premise --- p.4 / Chapter 1.3 --- Contributions --- p.9 / Chapter 1.4 --- Organization of the Dissertation --- p.11 / Chapter CHAPTER 2 --- STUDY ONE: A SENTIMENT MODEL OF FIRM REPUTATIONAL PENALTY FOLLOWING CORPORATE FRAUD --- p.13 / Chapter 2.1 --- Introduction --- p.13 / Chapter 2.2 --- Theoretical Background --- p.15 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Corporate Fraud and Reputational Penalty --- p.15 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- Sentiment --- p.19 / Chapter 2.3 --- Theoretical Framework and Hypotheses --- p.21 / Chapter 2.3.1 --- Re-conceptualization of Firm Reputation and Theoretical Framework --- p.21 / Chapter 2.3.2 --- Stimuli - Sentimental Reaction - Behavior: The Process from Fraud Detection to Reputational Penalty --- p.26 / Chapter 2.3.3 --- Adaptive Levels of Moral Sentiment and Sentiment Rigidity --- p.28 / Chapter 2.3.4 --- The Moderating Effects of Cue Diagnosticity and Firm Visibility --- p.30 / Chapter 2.4 --- Methods --- p.34 / Chapter 2.4.1 --- Empirical Setting --- p.34 / Chapter 2.4.2 --- Sample and Data Collection --- p.35 / Chapter 2.4.3 --- Measurement --- p.37 / Chapter 2.5 --- Results --- p.45 / Chapter 2.6 --- Discussion --- p.56 / Chapter CHAPTER 3 --- STUDY TWO: FIRM RESTORATIVE EFFORTS AND REPUTATIONAL REPAIR AFTER CORPORATE FRAUD --- p.59 / Chapter 3.1 --- Introduction --- p.59 / Chapter 3.2 --- Theoretical Background --- p.61 / Chapter 3.2.1 --- Firm Efforts to Turn Around from Fraud Incidents --- p.61 / Chapter 3.2.2 --- Apology --- p.63 / Chapter 3.3 --- Theoretical Framework and Hypotheses --- p.65 / Chapter 3.3.1 --- Sentiment Restoration and Pragmatic Attitudes toward Restorative Efforts --- p.65 / Chapter 3.3.2 --- The Construal Level of Restorative Cues --- p.68 / Chapter 3.3.3 --- The Distance of Problem Cues: The Delay of Punishment --- p.70 / Chapter 3.3.4 --- Shareholders’ Negative Sentimental Reaction: Media Negative Comments --- p.72 / Chapter 3.4 --- Methods --- p.74 / Chapter 3.4.1 --- Sample and Data Collection --- p.74 / Chapter 3.4.2 --- Measurement --- p.75 / Chapter 3.5 --- Results --- p.79 / Chapter 3.6 --- Discussion --- p.84 / Chapter CHAPTER 4 --- STUDY THREE: THE EFFECTS OF PUNISHMENT ON FRAUD FIRMS’ GUILT SENTIMENT EXPRESSION --- p.86 / Chapter 4.1 --- Introduction --- p.86 / Chapter 4.2 --- Theoretical Background: Punishment --- p.88 / Chapter 4.3 --- Theoretical Framework and Hypotheses --- p.90 / Chapter 4.3.1 --- The Expression of Guilt Sentiment and Repeated Fraud --- p.91 / Chapter 4.3.2 --- Punishment Intensity and Guilt Sentiment --- p.93 / Chapter 4.3.3 --- Normalization: The Moderating Effects of Direct and Indirect Punishment Experience --- p.95 / Chapter 4.4 --- Methods --- p.98 / Chapter 4.4.1 --- Sample and Data Collection --- p.98 / Chapter 4.4.2 --- Measurement --- p.99 / Chapter 4.5 --- Results --- p.102 / Chapter 4.6 --- Discussion --- p.110 / Chapter CHAPTER 5 --- DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION --- p.111 / Chapter 5.1 --- Conclusion --- p.111 / Chapter 5.2 --- Contributions to Theory and Practice --- p.112 / Chapter 5.3 --- Limitations and Implications for Future Research --- p.115 / REFERENCES --- p.117

A política de dividendos é um tema amplamente pesquisado no Brasil e no mundo ao longo de várias décadas. Consequentemente, inúmeras teorias foram desenvolvidas para explicar esse assunto. Contudo, recentemente, o arcabouço da Teoria de Agência tem proporcionado novas descobertas sobre os fatores que influenciam as políticas de dividendos das empresas. Especificamente, foram propostas teorias que sugerem que os dividendos refletem boas práticas de governança corporativa, tornando a distribuição de proventos um complemento à proteção legal do acionista. Em contrapartida, em um ambiente com proteção mais fraca e regras menos rígidas de governança, a distribuição de dividendos atua de maneira substituta à essa carência de proteção. No Brasil, devido às características legais mais frágeis quando comparada com mercados como o Norte Americano e do Reino Unido, seria esperado uma situação na qual os dividendos fossem substitutos à proteção oferecida pelos padrões de governança. Entretanto, pesquisas relacionadas à América Latina, aos mercados emergentes e, mais especificamente, ao mercado brasileiro, têm apontado para situações diferentes do que é apontado pela teoria, mas não de maneira unânime. Além disso, considerando o ambiente institucional brasileiro, de elevada concentração de propriedade, estudos anteriores não conseguiram determinar de que forma esse fenômeno influencia a política de dividendos das companhias. Assim, para contribuir com essa discussão, este trabalho investiga conjuntamente como a governança corporativa e a concentração de propriedade afetam as políticas de dividendos das empresas brasileiras. Esta pesquisa abrangeu 171 empresas no período de 2008 a 2017. De maneira inédita, foi utilizada como variável dependente o valor total dos dividendos dividido pelo patrimônio líquido. Os resultados das estimações por efeitos fixos com erros-padrão robustos por empresas mostraram uma relação positiva entre as proxys para governança corporativa e concentração de propriedade com a distribuição de dividendos. Como contribuições adicionais, foi mostrado que os resultados da estimação com a variável dependente dividendos pelo patrimônio líquido são melhores que os resultados da estimação com a variável dependente payout. Também foi identificado que a propriedade dispersa e altamente concentrada afetam positivamente e de maneira mais intensa a distribuição de dividendos, em comparação com outros níveis de propriedade do maior acionista / The dividend policy is a widely researched topic in Brazil and the world over several decades. Consequently, numerous theories have been developed to explain this subject. However, recently, the Agency Theory framework has provided new insights into the factors that influence corporate dividend policies. Specifically, theories have been proposed that suggest that dividends reflect good corporate governance practices, making the distribution of proceeds a complement to shareholder legal protection. On the other hand, in an environment with weaker protection and less rigid rules of governance, the distribution of dividends acts in a substitute way to this lack of protection. In Brazil, due to the more fragile legal characteristics when compared to markets such as the United States and the United Kingdom, a situation in which dividends would be a substitute for the protection offered by governance standards would be expected. However, research related to Latin America, emerging markets and, more specifically, the Brazilian market, have pointed to different situations than is pointed out by theory, but not unanimously. Moreover, considering the Brazilian institutional environment, with a high concentration of ownership, previous studies have not been able to determine how this phenomenon influences the companies\' dividend policy. Thus, to contribute to this discussion, this work investigates jointly how corporate governance and concentration of ownership affect the dividend policies of Brazilian companies. This survey covered 171 companies in the period from 2008 to 2017. In an unprecedented way, the total amount of dividends divided by shareholders\' equity was used as the dependent variable. The results of fixed-effect estimate with robust standard errors by companies showed a positive relationship between the proxies for corporate governance and concentration of ownership with the distribution of dividends. As additional contributions, it was shown that the results of the estimation with the dependent variable dividends by the equity are better than the results of the estimation with the dependent variable payout. It has also been identified that dispersed and highly concentrated ownership positively and more sharply affect the distribution of dividends as compared to other ownership levels of the largest shareholder

Throughout the period of neoliberal globalisation the ability of nation states to shape economic outcomes has been significantly diminished. Not only the number of policy tools at their disposal has been reduced, but the pressures of global integration have decreased the effectiveness of those remaining. This dissertation discusses how the state can increase the effectiveness of these remaining policy tools and promote more desirable economic outcomes by shaping corporate governance arrangements and by making use of state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Chapter 2 provides a brief analysis of the global economy since the end of World War II (WWII). It examines the major ideological underpinnings and economic features of two distinct periods – the embedded liberal and the neoliberal. In addition, this chapter also discusses the impact of neoliberal globalisation on national economic sovereignty. Chapter 3 critically examines the Anglo-Saxon model of corporate governance, which is considered as the ‘best practice’ by the neoliberal doctrine with regards to this matter. It is argued that the theories that legitimise this model are fundamentally flawed, and an alternative framework for analysing corporate governance is proposed. Chapter 4 examines the evolution of corporate governance arrangements in three advanced economies – the United States, Japan and Germany – since the end of WWII. In addition, this chapter also addresses the relationship between corporate governance arrangements, national competitiveness, and the effectiveness of policy tools. Chapter 5 analyses the ‘rise’ of SOEs in the early post-WWII period and their subsequent ‘fall’, from empirical and theoretical standpoints. Some important recent developments regarding SOEs are also discussed. Chapter 6 is devoted to examining the Singaporean development experience with special reference to SOEs. The peculiarities of Singaporean SOEs and the role played by them at different stages of Singapore’s economic development are analysed. In addition, different aspects concerning the relevance of SOEs in the contemporary Singaporean economy are assessed.

La surévaluation des capitaux propres implique le danger que le dirigeant adopte des stratégies d’investissement discrétionnaires destructrices de valeur. Pourtant, la croissance externe pourrait également être utilisée comme moyen d’accéder à de nouvelles ressources et compétences clés qui font naître de nouveaux produits. Quel est le rôle de la gouvernance de l’entreprise dans une situation de surévaluation des capitaux propres ? Va-t-elle privilégier la voie disciplinaire en encadrant le comportement opportuniste du dirigeant, ou privilégier la voie exploratoire, c’est-à-dire la découverte de nouvelles opportunités de croissance ? Dans cette perspective, l’étude se concentre sur l’analyse des stratégies de sept groupes de communication à l’aube de la bulle Internet. Ayant édifié un cadre conceptuel élargi intégrant la stratégie de diversification, la gouvernance de l’entreprise et les mesures de création de valeur, nous concentrons notre analyse sur l’étude des différents leviers stratégiques de création de valeur attribuables à une stratégie de diversification : synergies entre flux de trésorerie, synergies en capacité managériale ou synergies organisationnelles à travers le partage de ressources stratégiques et de compétences distinctives. Puis, l’analyse se focalise sur le rôle de la gouvernance dans le processus de création de valeur : quel composant soutient l’adaptation d’une stratégie de diversification concentrique, liée, verticale et conglomérale ? L’étude propose un modèle intégral mesurant l’impact des différentes variables et formule des propositions visant à améliorer la surveillance du management dans un contexte de surévaluation des capitaux propres. / The overvaluation of the stockholders' equity implies the danger of the CEO adopting discretionary strategies having a negative impact on shareholders` value. However, diversification strategies could also be used as means of reaching new resources and key competencies that give birth to new products and markets. What is the role of corporate governance in a situation of overvalued stockholders' equity? Will it privilege the disciplinary way by framing the opportunistic behavior of the chief executive officer, or will it privilege the exploratory way, i.e. the discovery of new growth opportunities? From this point of view, the study concentrates on the analysis of the diversification strategies of seven media groups at the dawn of the Internet bubble. Having built a widened conceptual framework integrating the strategy of diversification, the governance of the company and the measures of value creation, we will concentrate our analysis on the study of different strategic levers ascribable to a diversification strategy: synergies between treasury flows, synergies in managerial capacity or organizational synergies through the sharing of distinctive competencies and strategic resources. Then, the analysis focuses on the role of corporate governance in the process of value creation: which component has an influence on the implementation of concentric, linked, vertical or conglomerate diversification? The study will summarize the different results within an integral model and propose different suggestions aiming at the monitoring of top management in the context of overvalued stockholders' equity.

This thesis investigates corporate social responsibility reporting in Mexico. It is built across three studies. First, we analysed the content and semantic properties of annual reports, sustainability reports and corporate websites of 73 Mexican and foreign companies operating in Mexico to describe the extent to which these companies disclose their corporate social responsibility. Second, with the data gathered in the first study, we built thirteen disclosure scores to explore whether corporate governance and corporate social responsibility reporting in annual reports can be seen as complementary mechanisms used by companies to enhance relations with stakeholders. Third, we conducted an in-depth case study of a Mexican company acquired by a multinational company; we analysed the sustainability reports and news items during the time prior to and after the purchase to investigate the changes in corporate social responsibility reporting as a result of the acquisition. Our study contributes to the scarce literature exploring corporate social responsibility reporting in Mexico and adds to the methodological research in the field by conducting a survey of corporate social responsibility reporting across industries and reporting media and by utilising a content analysis approach of considerable measurement detail. We provide empirical evidence to previous literature suggesting that foreign ownership may have a positive impact on themes of disclosure such as the environment, but have a negative impact on community. We also contribute to corporate social responsibility reporting research in the context of mergers and acquisitions, by providing empirical evidence which suggests that company responses in the form of corporate social responsibility disclosure to institutional pressures consider both stakeholders salience and business culture.