Concentrated corporate ownership prevails in most countries, so the relationship between controlling shareholders and minority shareholders is an important principle-agent problem. Tunnelling, the transfer of assets and profit for the benefit of controlling owners, is the most important way of expropriating small shareholders. While tunnelling is rampant in emerging economies and even some developed countries, related research lacks convincing evidence. On the other hand, large shareholders sometimes use private funds to prop up firms in financial distress. Although there is plenty of anecdotal and indirect evidence on propping, it lacks direct large-sample examination. This study presents a pooled cross-sectional analysis of 4373 publicly listed companies in China between 2001 and 2004. The analysis not only examines the effects of various variables on the exploitation of related party transactions by controlling owners for tunnelling and propping, and also investigates the effects of tunnelling and propping on firm performance and valuation. The study reveals that the presence of controlling shareholders and higher control rights lead to higher levels of tunnelling. Conversely the existence of other large shareholders reduces the magnitude of tunnelling. In addition, the study shows that pyramidal-controlled firms and firms owned by the State display more incidences of tunnelling. When firms have better investment opportunity, however, their controlling shareholders tend to divert fewer funds for their private gains. It is also found that controlling shareholders offer funds to financially stricken firms under their control. This is the first study that finds direct evidence on the occurrence of propping although not all badly-performing firms are propped up. / While tunnelling negatively affects operating performance and firm valuation, propping has a positive effect on firm valuation. The occurrence and magnitude of tunnelling is greater than that of propping. Propping only occurs to partial firms in financial distress, yet there is no improvement in those firms’ performance. As propping from new controlling owners is more a way of back-door listing, they tend to engage in tunnelling when their control is secure. In short, when legal protection of minority shareholders is weak, controlling owners tend to tunnel for private benefit. Hence policymakers and regulators must recognise that to eliminate widespread expropriation, the establishment of strong corporate governance in well-functioning institutions and strong legal enforcement is important. Lower levels of tunnelling in years 2003 and 2004 justify the positive effect of stringent regulation. Yet, more needs to be undertaken beyond the legal and regulatory level such as an allowance for diversified corporate ownership and the transformation of non-floatable shares to be floated on the exchange to align interests of large and minority shareholders.

Thesis (MTech (Business Administration))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 65-67). Also available online.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of St Andrews, January 2008.

Thesis (MDes) - National School of Design, Swinburne University of Technology, 2008. / [Thesis submitted for degree of] Master of Design, to the [Faculty of Design], Swinburne University of Technology, 2008. Typescript. Bibliography: p. 159-165.

Abstract Standard macroeconomic models based on a representative firm ignore firm entry and exit. Therefore, these models miss a potentially significant channel of economic interactions through the firm dynamics. This doctoral thesis examines the role of firm dynamics in the economy through four essays. The first essay examines the impact of monetary policy on firm entry. The essay finds that substantial inertia exists in the firm entry process. Based on the empirical evidence on firm dynamics, the second essay develops a real business cycle model in which firm entry is endogenous and default rates are stochastic. The essay studies how default shocks affect the economy. We concentrate on the stochastic properties of the model and show that the stochastic default rate is a potential explanation for the observed low correlation between labor productivity and hours worked. The third essay contributes to the previous literature by studying how endogenous exit rates affect business cycle dynamics in an economy subject to technology and money supply shocks. The fourth essay concentrates on the impact of exchange rate shocks on competition and import prices. The paper finds weak evidence that the changes in competition after a currency devaluation increase import prices. However, this effect occurs only in the long run (i.e., one year after the shock), and its magnitude varies greatly across countries. / Tiivistelmä Tässä väitöskirjassa tutkitaan yritysten markkinoilletulon ja markkinoilta poistumisen vaikutuksia talouden dynamiikkaan. Väitöskirja koostuu neljästä erillisestä esseestä. Ensimmäisessä esseessä tutkitaan rahapolitiikan vaikutusta yritysten markkinoilletuloon. Siinä löydetään yritysten syntymiseen liittyviä kustannuksia, jotka hidastavat koko talouden sopeutumista rahapoliittiseen sokkiin. Toisessa esseessä tutkitaan stokastisen yritysten markkinoilta poistumisen vaikutuksia makrotaloudellisiin muuttujiin. Havaitaan, että yritysten poistuminen markkinoilta on mahdollinen selitys aikaisemmassa kirjallisuudessa todettuun työn tuottavuuden ja tehtyjen työtuntien väliseen alhaiseen korrelaatioon. Kolmannessa esseessä endogenisoidaan yritysten poistuminen markkinoilta ja tutkitaan teknologian ja rahapolitiikan sokkien vaikutusta yritysten konkurssien määrään. Neljännessä esseessä puolestaan tutkitaan, miten valuuttakurssimuutokset vaikuttavat ulkomaisten yritysten markkinoilletuloon ja hinnoitteluun. Esseessä löydetään heikkoja todisteita siitä, että valuuttadevalvaation jälkeinen ulkomaisen kilpailun muutos nostaa tuontihintoja. Tämä vaikutus ilmenee kuitenkin vasta yli vuoden kuluttua sokista, ja sen suuruus vaihtelee suuresti maittain.

This study provides a systematic description of the nature and evolution of major transactions in the U.S. apparel sector, using a theory that applies across sectors. This research investigates the determinants of the existence and magnitude of major inter-firm transactions, relying on a unique longitudinal dataset of over 2,000 of the largest transactional (buy-sell) relations between publicly traded firms in the U.S. apparel sector. The results indicate the importance of inter-firm complementarity, rather than inter-firm similarity, in explaining the sector architecture; thus contributing to the future improvement of industry classification systems. This study also contributes to a deeper understanding of the apparel sector focusing on the change in the relative importance of manufacturing activities versus service activities and in the involvement of firms from the outside apparel sector. Implications of inter-firm transactions are discussed regarding industry policies, and human and environmental welfare in manufacturing and raw materials industries.

This thesis is about firm dynamics, and relates to the size and growth-rate distribution of firms. As such, it consists of an introductory and four separate chapters. The first chapter concerns the size distribution of firms, the two subsequent chapters deal more specically with high-growth firms (HGFs), and the last chapter covers a related topic in distributional estimation theory. The first three chapters are empirically oriented, whereas the fourth chapter develops a statistical concept. / <p>QC 20130215</p>

This dissertation focused on the longitudinal analysis of business start-ups using three waves of data from the Kauffman Firm Survey. The first essay used the data from years 2004-2008, and examined the simultaneous relationship between a firm’s capital structure, human resource policies, and its impact on the level of innovation. The firm leverage was calculated as, debt divided by total financial resources. Index of employee well-being was determined by a set of nine dichotomous questions asked in the survey. A negative binomial fixed effects model was used to analyze the effect of employee well-being and leverage on the count data of patents and copyrights, which were used as a proxy for innovation. The paper demonstrated that employee well-being positively affects the firm's innovation, while a higher leverage ratio had a negative impact on the innovation. No significant relation was found between leverage and employee well-being. The second essay used the data from years 2004-2009, and inquired whether a higher entrepreneurial speed of learning is desirable, and whether there is a linkage between the speed of learning and growth rate of the firm. The change in the speed of learning was measured using a pooled OLS estimator in repeated cross-sections. There was evidence of a declining speed of learning over time, and it was concluded that a higher speed of learning is not necessarily a good thing, because speed of learning is contingent on the entrepreneur's initial knowledge, and the precision of the signals he receives from the market. Also, there was no reason to expect speed of learning to be related to the growth of the firm in one direction over another. The third essay used the data from years 2004-2010, and determined the timing of diversification activities by the business start-ups. It captured when a start-up diversified for the first time, and explored the association between an early diversification strategy adopted by a firm, and its survival rate. A semi-parametric Cox proportional hazard model was used to examine the survival pattern. The results demonstrated that firms diversifying at an early stage in their lives show a higher survival rate; however, this effect fades over time.

One neglected yet very important feature of family business is its internal homogeneity. Different from heterogeneity which focuses on differences across family firms, homogeneity here refers to the continuity and similarity of decision-making patterns either over time or across business units in a single family firm. This dissertation attempts to explore homogeneity in family businesses as well as its antecedents and performance consequences. To distinguish different types of homogeneity, strategic persistence is defined as homogeneity of strategic patterns over time and the pursuit of a dominant strategy as the homogeneity across related business units. Based upon S&P 1500 manufacturing firms from 1996 to 2013, it is found that family firms have a higher level of strategic persistence and a more consistent dominant strategy than nonamily firms. In addition, it appears that being older, with less organizational slack and having higher family involvement in ownership and management tends to strengthen the two kinds of homogeneity in family businesses. Finally, it is found that high homogeneity in decision-making can result in better performance in family business compared to nonamily firms, especially for those with high family involvement in management. Theoretical implications and limitations are discussed.

Consumer demand for organic products has increased due to growing awareness of climate change and sustainability. However, the higher price of organic products is a barrier for some consumers. Previous research has examined various factors that influence consumers’ perceptions of organic products, but little attention has been paid to the influence of small firm cues. Understanding how small firm cues affect consumer behaviour could fill this gap and help small wineries overcome resistance to the price premium.  This study aims to investigate how the perception of small firm cues influences consumers’ willingness to pay for organic products, using organic wine as an example. Understanding this relationship can help small wineries market their products effectively and encourage them to switch to organic farming.  To fulfil the purpose of this thesis, a quantitative study was conducted. An online survey was developed with an experimental design to answer the research question empirically. Respondents were randomly assigned to either the control group or the experimental group. The experimental group was shown an organic wine label with a small firm cue and the control group with no cue.  The analyses showed that signalling a company’s small size did not affect consumers’ willingness to pay. Factors such as trustworthiness, perceived quality, and made with love did not affect the relationship between small firm cues and consumers’ willingness to pay. However, presenting a small firm cue resulted in increased consumer perceptions that the product is made with love. Nevertheless, this perception did not correspond to a higher willingness to pay.