Although Pindar’s victory songs, or epinikia, were commissioned and performed to celebrate athletic victories, they present persistent reflections on the narrow limits of human prosperity, the inexorable cycle of success and failure, and the impossibility of appropriating any aspect of a godly nature. The present work provides a close reading of the Pythian series to illustrate how Pindar uses prayer, myth and gnomai to secure the moral and psychological reintegration of the athletic victor back into his close-knit community upon his homecoming (νόστος). As a re-integration rite, the challenging and dark elements of mortal limitation and failure are read as prophylactic statements against the destructive effects of hybris (ὕβρις). The Odes rest upon an archaic cosmology of reciprocal and harmonious exchange between humans themselves and between humans and the gods which is captured by the principle of charis or grace (χάρις). Ὕβρις is a breach of this reciprocity and the antithesis of χάρις since it is the unilateral claim of property, prestige, or privilege as well as the transgression against the divine dispensation which governs the cosmos (κόσμος). Modern psychological research shows how such concern for, and such precaution against, ὕβρις may be prudent given that victory fosters a drive for dominance. / Graduate / 0294 / gebeauva@uvic.ca

The UK competition authorities are responsible for regulating company mergers that were originally considered to have adverse effects that were “against the public interest”, or presently that could result in a “substantial lessening of competition”. The research in this thesis examines wider economic side effects of this regulatory policy that fall outside the remit of the competition authorities. Data on 63 merger cases that were subject to the merger regulatory process by the UK competition authorities between 1989 and 2002 are studied for effects on two economic aspects, shareholder value and managers’ motivations to undertake mergers. Some previous studies have suggested that competition regimes can destroy shareholder value. The research in this thesis confirms the finding from earlier studies of greater gains to shareholders in target rather than bidding companies, but does not find evidence supporting overall loss of shareholder value to target company shareholders when a merger is prohibited. It finds evidence that when the regulatory regime is stable and well understood the capital market behaves efficiently in response to new information. However, for a sub group of the mergers involving companies with a new regulatory regime, of which industry and the market had little or no experience with respect to mergers, the capital market operated less efficiently. A number of studies have also considered the motivation of managers to follow a merger strategy. Apparently, none has looked at the influence of competition regulation on merger motives using stock market data and event study techniques. This research examined data for the stock market’s perceptions of what motivated managers to pursue their initial merger bid. The findings suggest that Synergy and Hubris dominate as motivations for mergers and that, unintentionally, competition policy may help to reduce the number of mergers motivated by Managerialism.

My goal in the present work is to add to our understanding of Socratic protreptic. I do so by focussing on psychological traits and qualities of character in Socrates’ young associates. There are a number of candidates throughout the dialogues whose colourful depiction and careful psychological rendering offer us ample material for study. In this study, I focus on two characters in particular. First, I look at the presentation of Alcibiades in the final scene of Symposium. Here I explore how Plato uses hubris and shame to explain the failure of protreptic in this gifted Socratic associate. Next, I look at Theaetetus as presented in the eponymously named dialogue. His characterization as an able, intelligent and model candidate for philosophy gives us a penetrating insight into the Socratic ideal. Finally, I offer a reading of Eros in Phaedrus that examines the psychological dynamic between the lover and his beloved. While a number of types of lovers are envisioned in this dialogue, I argue that if a beloved is to succeed in turning toward philosophy his lover must be a philosophical lover motivated by other-regarding care for his beloved’s soul. / Thesis (Ph.D, Philosophy) -- Queen's University, 2012-04-02 11:04:07.292

The UK competition authorities are responsible for regulating company mergers that were originally considered to have adverse effects that were “against the public interest”, or presently that could result in a “substantial lessening of competition”. The research in this thesis examines wider economic side effects of this regulatory policy that fall outside the remit of the competition authorities. Data on 63 merger cases that were subject to the merger regulatory process by the UK competition authorities between 1989 and 2002 are studied for effects on two economic aspects, shareholder value and managers’ motivations to undertake mergers. Some previous studies have suggested that competition regimes can destroy shareholder value. The research in this thesis confirms the finding from earlier studies of greater gains to shareholders in target rather than bidding companies, but does not find evidence supporting overall loss of shareholder value to target company shareholders when a merger is prohibited. It finds evidence that when the regulatory regime is stable and well understood the capital market behaves efficiently in response to new information. However, for a sub group of the mergers involving companies with a new regulatory regime, of which industry and the market had little or no experience with respect to mergers, the capital market operated less efficiently. A number of studies have also considered the motivation of managers to follow a merger strategy. Apparently, none has looked at the influence of competition regulation on merger motives using stock market data and event study techniques. This research examined data for the stock market’s perceptions of what motivated managers to pursue their initial merger bid. The findings suggest that Synergy and Hubris dominate as motivations for mergers and that, unintentionally, competition policy may help to reduce the number of mergers motivated by Managerialism.

Dans les trois chapitres de cette thèse nous explorons le lien entre les performances des entreprises et les caractéristiques psychologiques des dirigeants. Dans un premier chapitre conceptuel, nous étudions les fondements théoriques des travaux en finance comportementale d'entreprise en analysant l'hubris et les concepts qui lui sont apparentés. Nous suggérons des pistes de recherche futures qui, pour certaines, sont mises en oeuvre dans les deux autres chapitres de ce travail. Dans le second chapitre, nous étudions l'impact du narcissisme des dirigeants acquéreurs et cibles sur les aspects privés d'un échantillon de fusions-acquisitions américaines. Nos résultats indiquent que desniveaux de narcissisme plus élevés chez les dirigeants acquéreurs sont associés à une plus forte probabilité que l'acquéreur initie l'opération et à une période plus courte entre l'initiation de l'opération et son annonce publique. Nos résultats suggèrent également que des niveaux de narcissisme plus élevés chez les dirigeants cibles sont positivement associés à la prime offerte et négativement associés aux rendements anormaux cumulés de l'acquéreur. Dans le troisième chapitre, nous analysons l'effet du leadership authentique du dirigeant sur les performances boursières etd'exploitation d'un échantillon d'entreprises du SBF 250. Nous collectons des données sur le leadership authentique par le biais de questionnaires. Nous analysons la différence entre les performances des entreprises en les affectant à trois portefeuilles selon le niveau de leadership authentique en utilisant l'analyse en trois facteurs de Fama et French. Nous ne trouvons aucun lien significatif entre le niveau de leadership authentique du dirigeant et la performance boursière. Dansles analyses des performances d'exploitation, nous trouvons un lien positif et significatif entre le niveau de leadership authentique et la rentabilité économique (ROA). / We study the effect of CEO psychological characteristics on firm performance in three papers. We first consider the theoretical background to work in behavioral corporate finance in a conceptual paper analyzing hubris and related psychological concepts. In this paper we put forward ideas for future research, some of which we implement subsequent papers. In paper 2, we study the effect of acquirer and target CEO narcissism on the private aspects of the takeover process in a sample of US M&A deals. We find that higher levels of acquirer CEO narcissism are associated with a higher probability of deal initiation by the acquirer and with a shorter length of time between deal initiation and announcement. Concerning value effects, our results suggest that higher levels of target CEO narcissism are positively related to bid premium and negatively related to acquirer cumulative abnormal returns. In addition, the difference between acquirer and target CEO narcissism is a significant factor in explaining the different aspects of the takeover process. In the third paper, we analyze the effect of CEO authentic leadership on the market and operating performance of a sample of listed French firms. We collect data on CEO authentic leadership using questionnaires. We analyze the difference in performance of firms sorted into three portfolios according to the level of CEO authentic leadership using a Fama French three factor analysis. We fail to find a significant relationship between CEO authentic leadership and market performance. In the operating performance analyses, we find a positive association between CEO authentic leadership and ROA.

This paper examines the relationship between national culture differences and five-day cumulative abnormal returns of acquirers around cross-border merger announcements. The sample consists of 1,200 cross-border deals by frequent acquirers from emerging countries for the period of January 1, 1985 to June 30, 2008. The main objective is to analyze the relation between the difference in Hofstede (1984)’s four cultural dimensions --- power distance, individualism, masculinity, and uncertainty avoidance and the merger performance. The results imply the compatibility of some cultural dimensions, individualism in particular, that result in gains in merger. The results also show that the cultural effects vary with the firm size. In addition, the evidence provides support for the hubris hypothesis by Roll (1986).

Cette thèse présente une étude mythocritique de la production romanesque de Manuel de Lope [1949] postérieure à son retour en Espagne en 1993 et jusqu’à aujourd’hui : El libro de piel de tiburón (Alfaguara,1995); Bella en las tinieblas (Alfaguara,1997), (Suma de Letras, 2000), (RBA, 2010) ; Las perlas peregrinas (Espasa-Calpe,1998), (RBA, 2007) ;
 La sangre ajena (Editorial Debate, 2000); Otras islas (RBA, 2008). En effet, un séjour de vingt-cinq ans hors d’Espagne lui a permis d’exercer un regard extérieur et fécond sur son propre pays où désormais, il vit et écrit. Son œuvre romanesque recourt aux mythes antiques pour développer les thématiques essentielles dans l’Espagne de ce début de XXI ème siècle que sont la mémoire et l’oubli face à l’Histoire, la quête identitaire à travers les mythes du labyrinthe, du caïnisme, de Dionysos, de Saturne et de Chronos. Tous ces mythes s’organisent autour d’un mythe dominant, celui de Chronos, grâce à une image phare qui éclaire l’identité collective espagnole, image déjà présente dans l’ œuvre goyesque : celle de Saturne dévorant ses fils. / This thesis presents a mythocritical analysis of the novels written by Manuel de Lope (born in 1949) from 1993, when he returned home to Spain, until nowadays: El libro de piel de tiburón (Alfaguara,1995); Bella en las tinieblas (Alfaguara,1997), (Suma de Letras, 2000), (RBA, 2010) ; Las perlas peregrinas (Espasa-Calpe,1998), (RBA, 2007) ;
 La sangre ajena (Editorial Debate, 2000); Otras islas (RBA, 2008). As he had stayed away from Spain for twenty-five years, he was able to look with an external and creative perspective at his own country where he is now living and writing. In his fiction he resorts to ancient myths in order to develop the themes which are essential in the Spain of the early 21st century: memory and obliviousness as regards history as well as the search for identity through the myths of the Labyrinth, cainism, Dionysus, Saturn and Chronos. In Manuel de Lope's work, all these myths are structured around a dominant myth - that of Chronos- thanks to a highly influential image which sheds light on Spanish cultural identity, an image which was already present in Goya's work: Saturn devouring his sons.

The first chapter of this dissertation examines the returns to frequent acquirers from emerging markets and analyzes the cross-country variations in cumulative abnormal returns. The sample consists of 5,147 transactions carried out by firms from 17 common and civil-law countries during the period of January 1985 to June 2008. I find that the cumulative abnormal returns decline over the deal order and it is more pronounced in civil-law countries than in common-law countries. There is also evidence that the premiums paid by acquirers from civillaw countries with a first successful acquisition are higher than those from common-law countries. These findings are consistent with agency problems and the hubris hypothesis, first introduced by Roll (1986). The second chapter examines the information links across futures markets in different nations, using Vector Autoregressive (VAR)-Dynamic Conditional Correlation (DCC) model. The data comprise a large set of commodity and financial futures traded in U.S., U.K., China, Japan, Canada, and Brazil during the period from August 1998 to December 2008. The primary finding is that market interactions are relatively high for commodities for which information production generally is more diverse (metal commodities), while moderate for commodities for which information is more concentrated (agricultural commodities). Furthermore, the strength and persistence of interactions among futures markets decline after excluding the most informative markets. These findings indirectly support the breadth of information being a relevant factor in the extent of information linkage. The results also indicate that the dynamic correlation in futures markets is high in most commodity and financial futures if there is a significant bi-directional return and volatility spillover. Additionally, I estimate a market’s contribution to the price discovery process. In general, the market that has a stronger price impact and a stronger volatility spillover tends to be the market that has greater contribution or leadership in price discovery.

Submitted by Patrícia Kawai Sauan (p_kawai@yahoo.com) on 2014-03-25T02:46:02Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2014-03-24 Dissertacao PKS VFinal.pdf: 2179513 bytes, checksum: 5938093282b2d659f4a253b27f7e61db (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by PAMELA BELTRAN TONSA (pamela.tonsa@fgv.br) on 2014-03-25T11:29:10Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2014-03-24 Dissertacao PKS VFinal.pdf: 2179513 bytes, checksum: 5938093282b2d659f4a253b27f7e61db (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-03-25T13:05:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2014-03-24 Dissertacao PKS VFinal.pdf: 2179513 bytes, checksum: 5938093282b2d659f4a253b27f7e61db (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-02-25 / Nas últimas décadas, diversos estudos empíricos foram desenvolvidos na área de operações analisando a relação entre práticas operacionais de gestão e desempenho das empresas de manufatura. Os resultados, em sua maioria, indicam um efeito positivo das práticas sobre o desempenho, embora alguns deles tenham apresentado resultados contrários. A inconsistência na análise conjunta de tais estudos pode ter origem na utilização de diferentes designs de pesquisa, na abordagem individual de cada prática e nos diferentes contextos que adicionam imprecisão a estudos multisetoriais. Além disso, os estudos pouco trataram dos fatores que favorecem ou dificultam a adoção e evolução das práticas de gestão nas empresas. Apesar dos supostos benefícios amplamente divulgados no ambiente corporativo, não está claro o que leva algumas organizações a enfrentar dificuldades na adoção e utilização de tais práticas. Buscando minimizar duas possíveis causas de inconsistências citadas anteriormente, a presente pesquisa estudou os efeitos de um amplo grupo de práticas de gestão no desempenho das empresas e os fatores internos que influenciam na sua adoção e evolução em um ambiente controlado e comparável, por se tratar de um único setor. A lente teórica emprestada foi a Visão Baseada em Recursos (Resource-Based View – RBV), perspectiva prevalente na literatura de gestão estratégica. A abordagem utilizada nesta pesquisa trata práticas operacionais de gestão como rotinas que executam atividades relevantes para os objetivos da empresa. Estas rotinas incorporam o resultado das interações entre várias formas de conhecimento, tornando-se cada vez mais específicas e, portanto, menos transferíveis. A dificuldade de observar estas complexas inter-relações e a natureza tácita e dependente do caminho de cada rotina individualmente levam a fortes barreiras à imitação. Práticas de gestão, sob esta perspectiva, acumulam conhecimento, são específicas e difíceis de copiar tornando-se competências, respectivamente, valiosas, raras e de difícil imitação ou substituição. Segundo a RBV, este cenário leva a vantagens competitivas sustentáveis, podendo contribuir para o aumento do desempenho da organização. O estudo fornece evidências, a partir da análise de dados obtidos em 124 entrevistas realizadas com executivos e gestores exclusivamente do setor de embalagens no Brasil, de que um alto grau de utilização de grupos de práticas de gestão tem influência direta no desempenho superior medido pela lucratividade, crescimento do faturamento e produtividade das empresas. Em especial, foram encontradas evidências de que quanto maior o porte, maiores as chances de a empresa apresentar alto grau de utilização das práticas de gestão. Na direção oposta, o excesso de autoconfiança dos gestores (hubris) mostrou-se fator de influência negativa na evolução de tais práticas. Não foram encontradas evidências que o tipo de estrutura societária familiar influencie na adoção de práticas de gestão.

This thesis examines the performance of serial acquirers in the Nordic market between 2006-2016. We investigate how serial acquirers perform in the short-term and long-term and if serial acquirers are affected by hubris, or if they learn by experience. The payment method is examined to determine if cash-financed deals outperform equity-financed deals. The short-term performance study is measured by the Cumulative Abnormal Return (CAR) and the long-term performance study is measured by the Calendar-Time Portfolio (CTP) combined with the Fama-French Four-Factor model. The main findings show that serial acquirers underperform relative to single acquirers only in the short term. No significant results are found for the hubris and learning hypotheses. In addition, we find that acquirer size and the deal size have a significant effect on the short-term post-M&A performance.