In the first essay using a sample of 3437 U.S. companies over the period 1992-2014, I demonstrate that international business activities of newly listed firms influence their corporate policies. Specifically, firms earning foreign pre-tax income at an early phase of their growth and development have higher investment and a higher propensity to acquire. I show that cash holdings are lower for firms involved in foreign activities, supportive of Duchin’s (2010) coinsurance theory. Further, CEOs of globally diversified firms have less pay-for-performance sensitivity than those of purely domestic firms. The second essay examines the impact of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX, 2002) on excess valuation calculated with the “chop shop” approach, which is typically used to measure the diversification discount. The results indicate a significant drop in excess valuation after SOX for both pure-play and multi-segment companies. Additional investigation of the calculation methodology and a difference-in-differences model show no distinction in this impact between un-accelerated and accelerated companies. There is no evidence to support that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act leads firms to diversify or focus. I run several robustness tests by including 2003 observations, creating a 2000-2006 subsample, excluding geographic segments. Finally, when in a firm's life would it fit for it to become involved in global strategies? What are the important influences on the decisions of young and mature firms to go international? I answer these questions in the third essay by examining the determinants that affect the choices of born-globals (BGs) and born-again globals (BaGs) to expand worldwide. My study is based on pre-existent theories of diversification, and I place specific emphasis on the conceivable role of peer influence and the motivation or desire for growth. I further study the entrenchment, the idiosyncratic risk, and the innovation caliber hypothesis. My results document that innovation efficiency strongly enhances BG’s propensity to global diversify. On the other hand, peer pressure, CEO ownership and idiosyncratic risk level significantly influence BGs not to globalize. In contrast, BaGs are positively influenced by their industry peers, showing how competition works in the financial markets for youthful versus mature companies.

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Despite policy efforts by the Chinese state to eradicate gender inequality, statistics show that the issue of gender discrimination in the work domain has become increasingly acute in modern day China. The prevailing gender inequality derives from China’s deeply rooted masculine oriented cultural and societal structure, and traditional norms and values towards women in the work domain are fighting the policies against gender inequality that the Chinese state has implemented. Studies show that foreign affiliations have the ability to transplant corporate culture internationally, which also infers a transplantation of certain policies. One of the many western countries that have seen its corporations establish offices in China is Sweden - a country which puts a lot of focus and emphasis on promoting gender equality. Chinese and Swedish cultural and societal structure differs a lot, and so does the focus on gender equality. The theory suggests that gender equality is highly prioritized in Sweden, while it is less prioritized in China. This constitutes an interesting phenomena regarding how managers at Swedish based corporations, established in Shanghai, manage Swedish gender equality policies cross-culturally. The purpose of this study is to describe and explore how Swedish based corporations that are established in Shanghai, China, manage gender equality policies cross-culturally. In order to answer our research question, we performed four face to face semi-structured interviews together with four suitable Swedish based corporations at their offices in Shanghai. The results from this study concluded that the Swedish based corporations transfer the vast majority of their policy framework to their offices in Shanghai, particularly gender equality policies. The gender equality policies were often included in the corporations Corporate Social responsibility (CSR) framework. The study could conclude that even though no adaption was done to the policy documents per se, the Swedish corporations did adapt modestly to how they manage the policies in practice in Shanghai. This followed as a consequence of a wish to respectfully adapt to Chinese legal and cultural prerequisites. Due to China's legal prerequisites, some policies, such as parental leave, could not be fully implemented at the Shanghai offices. In other words, in those instances, the policy documents were trumped by legal employment regulations. Cultural prerequisites affected how the managers in the shanghai offices dealt with the policy documents in practice. Our study could found that policy management was closely connected to the corporate culture in the Shanghai offices. Our study could thus conclude that the Swedish based corporations adapt the policy management in practice to the meet Chinese culture, without compromising the Swedish corporate culture and values. / Oberoende av de satsningar som den kinesiska staten har infört för att utrota ojämlikhet mellan män och kvinnor visar statistik att könsdiskriminering inom kinas företagsvärld ökar. Den rådandeojämlikheten härstammar från Kinas maskulint orienterade samhälle, och traditionella normer och värderingar motarbetar de jämställdhetsfrämjande policyer som den kinesiska staten har implementerat. Studier visar att globala företag har möjlighet att överföra och etableraföretagskulturen internationellt, vilket även innefattar specifika policyer. Ett land vars företag har etablerat många företagskontor i Kina är Sverige: ett land som har ett högt fokus på att främjajämställdhet. Den kinesiska kulturen och dess samhällsstruktur skiljer sig avsevärt från den svenska, vilket även inkluderar att arbetet för jämställdhet skiljer sig mycket mellan de två länderna. Teorin förklarar att jämställdhet är högt prioriterat i Sverige, medan den är mindre prioriterad i Kina. Avvikelsen mellan länderna leder till ett spännande forskningsfenomen, nämligen kring hur de svenska företag som är etablerade i Shanghai hanterar jämställdhetspolicyer interkulturellt. Syftet med vår studie är att beskriva och utforska hur svenska företag som är etablerade i Shanghaihanterar jämställdhetspolicyer interkulturellt. För att besvara vår forskningsfråga har vi genomfört fyra semi-strukturerade intervjuer med fyra lämpligt utvalda svenska företag på deras kontor i Shanghai. Resultatet av vår studie visar att de svenska företagen överför majoriteten av sina policyer till kontoren i Shanghai, framförallt de policyerna som är relaterade till jämställdhet. Dessa jämställdhetspolicyer är oftast inkluderade i företagens ramverk för Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR, företagets samhällsansvar). Studien kan dra slutsatsen att svenska företag inte anpassar innehållet och betydelsen av sina jämställdhetspolicyer, men att de anpassar och förändrar hur de hanterar och arbetar med dem på kontoren i Shanghai. Anledningen till anpassningen är att de svenska företagen vill bemöta kinas kulturella och legala förutsättningar. Till följd av Kinas legala förutsättningar kan inte alla policyer etableras likadant i Shanghai som i Sverige; exempelvis vad gäller föräldraledighet. Sådana policyer övervins av de lokala legala bestämmelserna. De kulturella skillnaderna påverkar hur chefer på de kinesiska kontoren hanterar policyerna i praktiken. Studien visar att policyhantering är nära relaterat till företagskultur, och att det är genom företagskulturen som policyerna hanteras i praktiken. Således visar studien att de svenska företag som deltog i vår forskning anpassar hur de hanterar jämställdhetspolicyer i praktiken för att bemöta den kinesiskakulturen, utan att kompromissa den svenska företagskulturen och dess värderingar.

Submitted by Cristiane Shirayama (cristiane.shirayama@fgv.br) on 2011-06-03T16:31:04Z No. of bitstreams: 1 66080100249.pdf: 1182255 bytes, checksum: b59b105479cee83b704a0f4cc998ba5f (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Vera Lúcia Mourão(vera.mourao@fgv.br) on 2011-06-03T16:50:07Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 66080100249.pdf: 1182255 bytes, checksum: b59b105479cee83b704a0f4cc998ba5f (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Vera Lúcia Mourão(vera.mourao@fgv.br) on 2011-06-03T17:01:47Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 66080100249.pdf: 1182255 bytes, checksum: b59b105479cee83b704a0f4cc998ba5f (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2011-06-03T18:58:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 66080100249.pdf: 1182255 bytes, checksum: b59b105479cee83b704a0f4cc998ba5f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-02-14 / We listen to 56 financial and investor relations officers from companies listed on BM&F Bovespa about the intensiveness of financial constraints observed during the credit crisis of 2008/09, distinguishing among firms that stated to have suffered financial constraints during the crisis to those that declared themselves unconstrained. Evidence tells us that the group of restricted firms lowered prices and fired employees in a higher degree than the unrestricted group. Constrained companies also report a substantial rise in debt, while unconstrained companies are able to manage their sources of funding, in a quest to maintain reputation inside the market. About 65% of restricted firms recognize that financial constraints end up affecting their capacity to accept attractive projects, and 25% say they were forced to bypass/cancel appealing investments. We believe that, by comparing our direct measure with usually adopted proxies, this study contributes to the set of tools used to measure the impact of financial constraints over corporate decisions. / Por meio de um survey, ouvimos 56 gestores financeiros e de relações com investidores de empresas listadas na BM&F Bovespa sobre o grau das restrições financeiras observadas durante a crise de 2008/09, contrapondo diferenças entre firmas que declararam ter sofrido restrições àquelas que disseram não terem sido afetadas. Nossa evidência aponta que as restritas rebaixaram os preços praticados e demitiram colaboradores em dose maior do que as irrestritas. As restritas também acusaram salto pronunciado no endividamento, enquanto as irrestritas conservaram suas fontes de financiamento, buscando preservar reputação no mercado. Cerca de 65% das firmas restritas indicam que as restrições financeiras afetaram a capacidade de aceitar projetos atrativos, e 25% dessas firmas se viram forçadas a postergar/cancelar investimentos vantajosos. Comparando a medida direta de nosso survey frente a proxies usualmente adotadas, cremos que este trabalho agrega ao espectro de ferramentas empregadas para avaliar o impacto de restrições financeiras sobre as decisões corporativas.