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An economic recession can disproportionately affect the financial stability of churches because their income relies primarily on voluntary contributions. The purpose of this phenomenological study, framed by servant leadership theory, was to explore lived experiences and perceptions related to church leaders' strategies for coping with the economic downturn in 2008. A purposive sample of 20 church leaders from Tennessee was recruited to explore the changes that have been made in church operational strategies in order to cope with the recession. The interview data were iteratively examined by using keywords, phrases, and concepts and were coded into categories, which led to the identification of the following themes: (a) implementing cost reduction efforts and increasing the reliance on volunteers for facility upkeep, (b) collaborating with other church leaders for assistance referrals and fraud detection, and (c) sharing facilities and dividing expenses. The study results contribute to positive social change by providing strategies that church leaders can implement to mitigate the negative effects of a financial downturn, strengthen their financial position and stability, and enable them to provide necessary community support. Financial stability in neighborhood churches is conducive to a stronger community because churches serve as focal points for volunteerism and assistance delivery.

Inadequate environmental scanning, poor financial strategy, and misaligned customer focus are responsible for 79% of retail profitability losses. The purpose of the qualitative study using a multiple-case study design was to explore the strategies needed to align financial strategy with customer-oriented processes in the retail industry. The research question involved understanding trends and operational risks influencing the establishment of financial alignment strategies. Porter's five forces model of customer influence, Pearce's environmental and economic factors affecting society values, and Albright's strategic planning of environmental influence served as the theoretical foundations for the study. 30 executives, managers, and team leaders in 2 Midwest U.S. organizations completed interviews. Interview data were coded for emergent themes. Themes included advanced strategic planning, improved customer-buying power, enhanced business viability, and reduced business uncertainties as components of a guiding strategy needed to align financial strategy with customer-oriented processes. Implications for positive social change include increased profitability that can result in improved employment opportunities.

This analysis examines the impact that personal characteristics like gender, race, years participating in the labor force, education, and previous entrepreneurship have on the amount of funding a startup receives from venture capital investors. Data for the analysis is taken from online venture capital database, Crunchbase, and includes investments made by venture capitalists between the years of 2002 and 2014. Findings from the regression analysis conclude that gender, the number of years a founder has been in the labor force, and a founder’s education background are significant determinants of the amount of funding a company receives in funding rounds. In addition, the sector the company falls under and the venture capital firms that the company seeks investment from are both significant determinants of the amount of funding received by the company and the founder.

In this paper I analyzed the intra-industry competitive and contagion effect during bond defaults in China. The analysis is performed using bond price, since the Chinese stock market is immature and has incredible amount of volatility. The sample includes 15 cases of default across 10 different industries since 2014, and the cumulative effect of the industry portfolio is positive over 11-day event window (competitive effect) with a t-statistic of 6.22. In addition, I found that SOE defaults overall have a significant positive abnormal return on their industry portfolios during 11-day event window with a t-statistic of 4.72, indicating a competitive effect. In contrast, Non-SOE defaults overall have a significant negative abnormal return on their industry portfolios over 3-day window with a t-statistic of -3.36, showing a contagion effect. But this difference could be due to the characteristics of industries as opposed to the nature of SOE. By analyzing the condition and characteristics of each industry, I found that the significance of abnormal return depends on the level of competition of the industry and the level of information available. In terms of contagion and competitive effect, industries showing a contagion effect offer products that are difficult to differentiate, such as cement and water bottle. Industries showing a competitive effect offer products that are highly specialized and rely heavily on technology innovation, such as the special equipment industry and electric equipment industry.

This paper focuses on understanding the higher than average punishment to Greek stocks and bonds and the overall investor reactions to the worsening economic situation in Greece from 2000 to 2014. Were Greek stock and bond values driven by fiscal and financial conditions, macroeconomic indicators and event shocks to the economy? Time series regressions, Granger Causality Wald tests and impulse response functions are used to answer the question. The proxies for Greek stock and bond market performance include the Athens Stock Exchange Index growth rate and the short run and long run interest rate spreads between Greece and Germany. The macroeconomic variables include debt to GDP ratio, the National Bank of Greece return on equity growth rate, real GDP growth rate, inflation rate, and M1 and M2 money supply growth rates. The significant events include Greece joining the Euro in 2001, the Greek government admitting to lying about budget deficits in 2004, Greece’s first bailout in 2010 and the resignation of Prime Minister George Papandreou in 2011. Results show that most variables are significant and stock and bond market performance are dependent on macroeconomic indicators and event shocks.

In the United States, the number of female entrepreneurs who receive venture capital funding is significantly lower than the number of male entrepreneurs who receive venture capital funding. This thesis explores some of the economic, sociological, and psychological principles behind why this gender disparity in venture capital might exist. This thesis then surveys the current efforts in place to lessen the disparity, and lastly prescribes future ways in which female entrepreneurs can gain more access to capital for their businesses.

This paper researches the relationships between sub-center cities, satellite cities and core cities in Jingjinji Area, Huninghang Area and Pearl River Delta. It also covers the connections between Chinese housing market and stock market. It uses an unique dataset called China Real Estate Index System (CREIS) to measure the Chinese housing prices. Through correlations, Granger causality tests and regression models, this paper concludes there are indeed connections for the movements in housing prices in the surrounding cities relative to Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen in the three city groups, and there is no sufficient evidence to show the existence of the connection between Chinese housing market and stock market.

The United States is one of the few developed countries in the world that has not adopted the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) as its primary financial reporting guidelines. Instead, most American companies prepare financial statements adhering to the United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (US GAAP). In recent years, there has been much debate regarding the feasibility and impact of a US adoption of IFRS. One area of financial reporting that would be significantly impacted by a switch from US GAAP to IFRS is inventory accounting. Specifically, inventory measurement and costing methods. The goal of this research is to examine the impact that a US adoption of IFRS would have on inventory reporting practices and investor perception of inventory-related accounts. To achieve this goal, I propose several business scenarios that each highlights a different aspect of inventory accounting, then proceed to analyze how these scenarios would be financially represented under IFRS and US GAAP. Results indicate that while the two sets of accounting standards result in different annual account balances, these differences even out over time. As such, I argue that experienced investors will not be significantly impacted should the United States ultimately choose to adopt IFRS.

The present paper explores the effects of championships won and financial stability of the clubs on share price returns for publicly traded football clubs in Europe. The study uses samples from 2012-2017 of 14 publicly traded clubs on different exchanges such as Borsa Italiana, London Stock Exchange, New York Stock Exchange, Germany Stock Exchange, Paris CAC Index, Borsa Lisbon, Copenhagen Stock Exchange as well as the Turkish Stock Exchange. The initial analysis assesses share price returns’ links with team performance and team financial variables as well as two indices: STOXX 600 Market Index and the STOXX Football Index. Further analysis includes looking at revenues and the different variables that affect returns to see the correlation and understand profitability vs win maximization due to the effect of sugar daddy owners. There appears to be a negative and significant correlation between profit margin and returns, and I also conduct event studies for the biggest transfers of the clubs and conclude that in the short term, there is a significant effect on share prices when transfers occur.