Shareholders can utilize internal and external governance mechanisms to minimize agency costs. Internal governance mechanisms purport to improve the alignment between shareholders' interests and those of management by empowering the board of directors, setting value-maximizing compensation packages, employing leverage, and using other internal policies. Extensive discussion on corporate governance and regulations has motivated financial experts to conduct research on governance mechanisms and their relations to firm value. This study is focused on one particular aspect of corporate governance, which is executive compensation. Specifically, this study investigates executive compensation restrictions during the regulatory period and their effect on the performance of firms that received Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds. TARP is a U.S. government program intended to restore the U.S. economy by purchasing assets and equities from troubled institutions. This study is important since it showcases the efficacy of government regulations to revamp unsound executive compensation and governance practices. It also contributes to the governance and regulatory literature by showing whether the public and shareholders benefit from the compensation rules. Using a clean sample of 84 public TARP firms that received at least $50 million from the government, with the period of analysis from 2003 to 2010, I find that firm performance is positively and significantly related to total compensation as well as to both of its components, i.e., equity-based pay and cash-based compensation. However, the magnitude of the relationship between cash compensation and firm performance is much lower than that for equity-based compensation. Testing the pay-for-performance sensitivity in three sub-periods of analysis, the findings show that the relationship between executive compensation and firm performance was significantly positive in the pre-crisis period. However, during the financial crisis and the regulatory periods, this relation was not statistically different from that during the pre-crisis period. During the crisis period, TARP firms did not make necessary adjustments to executive compensation despite the fact that they had been faced with financial difficulties. I also find that the change in firm value is negatively and significantly related to the change in total compensation for TARP firms that have paid back their debts to the government by December 11, 2009, but this relation is less negative than that for TARP firms that have not repaid the bailout money.

The increasing use of the internet has created a new opportunity for companies to disseminate different types of information to their current and potential investors via the internet. This type of voluntary disclosure, Corporate Internet Reporting (CIR), can improve the disclosure quality and the transparency to satisfy all users’ needs. Furthermore, corporate governance has attracted considerable global attention, especially after the collapses that have occurred in the financial markets. Recently, a growing interest has evolved in exploring corporate governance in emerging markets due to the increased demand for transparency by stakeholders. To provide new insights, this study aims to explore the extent of CIR, examine its relationship with some corporate governance and firm characteristics variables, and to determine the impact of CIR on firm financial performance. These associations are investigated by employing a quantitative method dependant on a multi-theoretical framework. The study uses a self-constructed disclosure index, which includes 196 items, to measure the CIR of 170 Saudi listed companies. The findings indicate that the level of CIR is, on average, moderate compared to their counterparts in developed countries. Further, the empirical results reveal that firms which are large in size, with low liquidity rate, distribute dividends, have board which is meet less frequently and have less independent members in the audit committee are more likely to have high CIR level. In addition, the results indicate that firm growth, leverage, industry type, audit type, board size, board independence, role duality, block holder ownership, directors ownership, institutional ownership, government ownership, audit committee size and audit committee frequency of meeting appear to be insignificant predictors for CIR total. However, the findings show that the significance of these variables varies among the CIR components: content, presentation, timeliness, usability and audit. Finally, it is statistically evident that CIR has no significant impact on firm financial performance in Saudi listed companies. These findings suggest that further effort is required to enhance the awareness of good corporate governance and that other variables may be more relevant to CIR in the Saudi context.

abstract: Affected by the macro environment factors, such as economic growth rate of decline, China's real estate market net profit growth rate decline gradually. With the central limit of limited loans and a series of sound policy introduced, the real estate market is gradually showing signs of stabilizing, the industry overall revenue increase, but the profit rate began to decline, how to improve the performance of enterprises to profit growth, has become a practical problem enterprises must face. Through theoretical research and case analysis, research management innovation impact on business performance. Effect of Zhong’an real estate marketing partner and business partner system on corporate performance, in order to validate the research theme. The main conclusions are as follows: (1) Management innovation has significantly enhance enterprise performance. The effectiveness of the marketing partner and business partner has significantly enhance enterprise performance. Business partner has a great role in promoting the operation of the project management, is the overall level of a project management; marketing partners, is mainly in terms of sales and cost impact on enterprise performance. (2) Partner institution granting autonomous decision-making team, reduced decision-making mistakes to achieve an efficient management; at the same time encourage and cultivate internal talent, improve the staff's initiative and enthusiasm. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Business Administration 2017

abstract: By matching a CEO's place of residence in his or her formative years with U.S. Census survey data, I obtain an estimate of the CEO's family wealth and study the link between the CEO's endowed social status and firm performance. I find that, on average, CEOs born into poor families outperform those born into wealthy families, as measured by a variety of proxies for firm performance. There is no evidence of higher risk-taking by the CEOs from low social status backgrounds. Further, CEOs from less privileged families perform better in firms with high R&D spending but they underperform CEOs from wealthy families when firms operate in a more uncertain environment. Taken together, my results show that endowed family wealth of a CEO is useful in identifying his or her managerial ability. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Business Administration 2018

This study uses the absorptive capacity perspective and adds the firm's commitment to enhance the internationalization process of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). It is proposed that each of the dimensions of absorptive capacity should be considered a separate capability that exists prior to internationalization and that enhances and reinforces the firm's ability to take advantage of its resources to advance international expansion and that internationalization has an effect on firm performance. Based on the absorptive capacity perspective, it is further proposed that an SME's organizational learning, which is gained from international expansion, will influence the relationship between internationalization and the firm's performance. The central theme of the proposed model is, therefore, that understanding the relationships among an SME's absorptive capacity, its abilities, and its commitments to internationalization can improve understanding of the relationship between internationalization and performance. The conceptual framework presented in this study indicates that the process of absorptive capacity which flows across SMEs is complex and it involves multiple levels of analysis. I argued that the moderating effect of absorptive capacity needs to be explicitly transferred to SMEs if it is to have a sustained effect on firm performance through internationalization. Adapting absorptive capacity perspective, my model derives key determinants that influence SMEs' performance, through internationalization, and examines how absorptive capacity leads to the creation of internationalization of SMEs. The perspective advanced here describes how all four facets of absorptive capacity -acquiring, assimilating, transforming, and exploiting -are geared toward internationalization of SMEs and produced competitive advantage for SMEs.

The focus of this study is twofold: first to determine the impact of agency costs on firm performance, measured using operating expenses to sales ratio and total asset turnover ratio, for Greenfield firms (private to public) and Heritage firms (spin-offs of already public companies) types of initial public offerings after one and five years; second to compare the performance, as measured market to book value per share, of Greenfield and Heritage firms after one and five years. Thus addressing the question of whether initial differences between Greenfield and Heritage firms at the time of the IPO are evident after one and five years. The results showed that Heritage firms have a significantly lower expenses/sales ratio one year after the IPO. The study confirmed that after five years Greenfield firms would have similar expense/sales ratio and show similar performance to Heritage firms.

abstract: Firms compete for profitable positions in their technological environments by capitalizing on their design and other capabilities to conceive and realize marketplace strategies more effectively and more efficiently than rivals do. However, research on how technological environment characteristics change the payoff from these capabilities is minimal. Given that possessing superior firm capabilities is a primary source of competitive advantage for firms, this study seeks to fill these critical research gaps in the literature. This dissertation, which is composed of two essays, seeks to answer what capabilities pay off more in various technological conditions. It benefits from the most comprehensive sample to date that includes 2132 publicly traded firms in the United States (US) over 34 years. All the technological industry conditions are captured by using the entire data of utility patents in the US. The first essay shows that design is a firm capability that enhances sales growth. Its effect, however, is attenuated by technology intensity because, in markets with high technology intensity, design attributes become less salient. Moreover, technological competitive intensity and maturity amplify design capability’s positive effect because when technical attributes of products provide limited differentiation, design attributes receive more attention, and consumers overweight them in decision making. The second essay examines the effect of marketing and research and development (R&D) capabilities on return on assets (ROA) in three technological market conditions: Technological turbulence, uncertainty, and acceleration. It shows that all the technological environments amplify the positive ROA performance outcomes from marketing capability, with technological turbulence having the most potent effect. R&D capability, however, is most influential in technologically accelerating markets. Finally, the second essay unveils that marketing and R&D capabilities are complementary only in technologically turbulent markets. These studies thus provide valuable insights to researchers and managers on the payoff from these capabilities and offer new guidance on which capabilities firms should emphasize on under different technological market conditions. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Business Administration 2020

Two major objectives of organisations are to achieve firm performance and to maintain a competitive advantage; strategies to achieve these objectives differ widely. Research at the entrepreneurship and marketing interface investigates the application of both dimensions on firm activities, processes and behaviour to achieve different performance parameters. In the field of entrepreneurial marketing research two key approaches are discussed: a market-driven and a market-driving approach. Market-driven approaches, though applied by many organisations, are less successful in allowing organisations to outperform others and create long-term competitive advantage. Market-driving, on the other hand, is considered to contribute to enduring competitive advantage. Current research indicates that the construct of market driving and the factors that influence it are not well understood. The purpose of this study is therefore to measure market driving and determine firm-internal factors that influence an organisation’s market-driving ability in the South African healthcare industry. In this research, constructs drawn from the literature study were used to formulate the conceptual framework and statistical model. The empirical part of the study used a fully structured telephonic questionnaire and the respondents were managers in organisations in the South African healthcare industry. Data analysis employed structural equation modelling. The results indicate that market driving can reliably be measured by three activities: market sensing; influencing customer preferences; and alliance formation. Entrepreneurial behaviour, strategic orientation and entrepreneurial capital have a more positive impact on market-driving ability than corporate entrepreneurial management. The study demonstrated that market-driving ability significantly benefits firm performance and relative competitive strength. The study provides a solid basis for future research in the field. Moreover, the results of the study can be applied by organisations in a three-step process. First, organisations can assess their current level of market driving. Second, they can assess influencing factors, and finally identify areas for improvement. Through continuous reassessment organisations can work on their market-driving ability to achieve their organisational objectives. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Business Management / unrestricted

In recent years, diversification has become a common strategy used by companies in emerging markets. It is believed that diversification operations could help firms get better performance and gain higher profits from a larger internal market. However, contradictory results reveal that diversification empirically hurts firm value and other studies show the relationship between diversification and firm performance is complicated that should be studied in separate industries. The opinion is inconclusive on this topic. This study developed a performance index to see how diversification impact on various perspectives of firm performance. Conclusions as follow. International diversification has a positive correlation with firm performance in several aspects whereas industrial diversification helps firms’ developing ability. However, due to the unavailability of long-term data, we can not rule out the possibility that well-performed firms go for international diversification. Besides, The relationship between diversification and firm performance affected by different industries. The agricultural and natural resource firms tend to exceed manufacturing firms in the efficiency aspects whereas manufacturing companies tend to have advantages in the sustainability aspect compared to service firms. There is also evidence showing that the largest shareholders’ holdings rates have a positive impact on firm performance and state-owned rate has a negative relation with firm performance.

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