The role of top managers in shaping the performance of the firms that employ them represents a central issue to strategic management research. Indeed, a substantial amount of research has examined potential linkages between the characteristics of top managers and firm performance. However the empirical results of research in this area have been ambiguous. This study attempts to theoretically and empirically extend research on the influence of top managers on firm performance by examining the relationship between managerial prestige and firm performance in the post-IPO context. Although upper echelons researchers have attempted to link top managers with firm performance in the past recent reviews of the upper echelons research note that little attention has been paid to top management characteristics other than those of top management team (TMT) heterogeneity, TMT size and TMT tenure. Additionally, recent reviews also suggest the need to consider potential intervening mechanisms between TMT characteristics and firm performance. This study addresses these two limitations of prior upper echelons research by examining the direct and indirect influences of managerial prestige on post-IPO firm performance.In this study I develop a model which incorporates the resource based view and resource dependence theory with insights from upper echelons research and research on the IPO context. Results for the model developed in this study suggest the following. First, executive undergraduate prestige is positively related to post-IPO firm growth. The other aspects of managerial prestige examined in this study were not found to influence post-IPO firm performance. Second, the influence of the key external resource holders identified in this study, namely prestigious alliance partners and institutional investors with stable equity portfolios, were found to enhance firm survival rates, but were negatively associated with firm growth. Third, executive undergraduate prestige was found to garner the support of prestigious alliance partners. The remaining aspects of managerial prestige were not found to influence the support of prestigious alliance partners or dedicated institutional investors. Finally, no support was found for prestigious alliance partners and dedicated institutional investors as mediators of the relationship between managerial prestige and post-IPO firm performance.

Through empirical research, this paper studies the impact of Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) on European football clubs and whether transitioning to public ownership is a desirable path for football clubs to follow. Research was carried out using a unique panel dataset of 19 publicly listed European football clubs from 9 national leagues. The study finds that IPOs do not lead to positive returns for a football club in terms of on-field performance and is not the best path to follow in order to assure the future success of a football club financially.

This study examines the extent to which principal-principal agency conflicts within venture capital (VC) syndicates lead to additional principal-agent conflicts in IPO firms in two institutional contexts. Using a matched sample of 274 VC-backed IPOs in the US and the UK, it shows that the diversity of a VC syndicate increases pre-IPO discretionary current accruals, used as a proxy for earnings management, but the impact of such diversity is higher in the US. There is also evidence of higher underpricing and lower aftermarket performance in firms with higher earnings management and VC diversity, and these negative performance effects are also higher in the US. Our findings indicate that local and informal institutions have a significant effect on multiple agency conflicts in IPO firms and performance outcomes.

Thesis advisor: Thomas Chemmanur / My dissertation consists of three chapters. In the first chapter, I analyze the impact of firms' innovation success on their corporate financial policies. I hypothesize that innovation success reduces the information asymmetry facing firms and, through the information channel, affects their capital structure and dividend policies. I measure innovation success using the quantity and quality of patents. I show that firms with higher innovation success face lower information asymmetry, measured using analyst coverage, dispersion, and forecast error. Further, I show that firms with higher innovation success have lower leverage ratios; have a greater propensity to issue equity rather than debt; and have lower dividend payout ratios. I establish causality using instrumental variable analyses with patent examiner leniency as an instrument for patent grants. In the second chapter, co-authored with Thomas Chemmanur, Xuan Tian, and Qianqian Yu, we analyze the impact of trademarks in entrepreneurial firms' success. We hypothesize that trademarks play two economically important roles for entrepreneurial firms: a “protective” role, leading to better product market performance; and an “informational” role, signaling higher firm quality to investors. We develop testable hypotheses based on the above two roles of trademarks, relating the trademarks held by private firms to the characteristics of venture capital (VC) investment in them, their probability of successful exit, their valuations at their initial public offering (IPO) and in the immediate secondary market; institutional investor IPO participation; post-IPO information asymmetry; and post-IPO operating performance. We test these hypotheses using a large and unique dataset of trademarks held by VC-backed private firms. We establish causality using an instrumental variable (IV) analysis using trademark examiner leniency as the instrument. For private firms, we find that the number of trademarks held by the firm is positively related to the total amount invested by VCs and negatively related to the extent of staging by VCs. We show that the number of trademarks held by a firm increases its probability of successful exit (IPOs or acquisitions). Further, for the subsample of VC-backed firms going public, we show that the number of trademarks held by the firm leads to higher IPO and immediate secondary market firm valuations; greater IPO participation by institutional investors; a lower extent of information asymmetry in the equity market post-IPO; and better post-IPO operating performance. In the third chapter, co-authored with Thomas Chemmanur and Jinfei Sheng, we develop testable hypotheses and empirically analyze the effects of outside investors having access to soft information such as online employee ratings from the Glassdoor website on firms' financing and investment policies. We find that higher online employee ratings are associated with larger equity issue announcement effects; a greater propensity to have positive announcement effects and to issue equity rather than debt to raise external financing; higher investment expenditures; greater equity issue participation by institutional investors; and better long-run post-issue operating performance. We establish causality using a difference-in-differences methodology relying on the staggered adoption of anti-SLAPP laws across U.S. states. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. Carroll School of Management. / Discipline: Finance.

Context The number of Initial Public Offerings on the Swedish market has increasedrapidly over the last decade, reporting over 100 IPOs only in 2021. Although theincrease has been extraordinary, the majority of the IPO performance researchhas been conducted on larger markets such as the US, Germany, and China. Thiscreates a gap in the research regarding the performance of IPOs on the fastgrowing Swedish stock market.  Purpose The purpose of this thesis is to fill the identified research gap and examine howthe Swedish IPOs perform in relation to established firms listed on the OMXSSmall Cap. Findings on long-term over-or underperformance would lay afoundation for potential investment strategies as well as show signs ofinformation asymmetry and mispricing. To further extend the use of ourfindings, firm-specific factors will be tested in a regression model to find ifspecific firm characteristics have a positive or negative impact on the long-termperformance of the IPOs.  Questions at issue 1. Does the Swedish Initial Public Offerings over/underperform comparedto the OMXS Small Cap in the long run? 2. Which firm-specific factors affect the long-term performance of an IPO? Methodology To find if the IPOs over-or underperform the OMXS Small Cap index, the Buyand Hold Abnormal Returns over 24 and 36 months are calculated with theOMXS Small Cap as a benchmark index. Further, a regression analysis with 15explanatory variables is performed with the received BHAR results as thedependent variable to find if there are any significant relationships between thefirm-specific variables measured before the IPO and the long-term performance.  Results The Buy and Hold Abnormal Returns presented a positive abnormal return forboth periods measured, with a significant overperformance of 9,91% over the36-month period, and 21,14% for the 24-month period. Further, the regressionanalysis showed a positive relationship between firm performance and firm sizeand Return On Equity, indicating that a high ROE, as well as a larger firm sizeat the date of the listing, increases the chances of higher long-term returns.

Combining agency theory and the resource-dependence perspective as well as signalling theory, this thesis examines the role venture capitalists (VCs) and founders play with respect to both structural board characteristics and board capital in terms of experience and prestige and whether these are linked to performance. It claims that VCs and founders shape the governance system of the firms going public and are influential in the professionalisation of the ventures especially in terms of human and social capital of its board of directors. It also argues that the board of directors represents a signal of firm quality in the initial public offering (IPO) market and should thus be linked to performance. Similarly, according to the venture capital certification hypothesis, being funded by VCs signals a firm¿s quality and potential. In order to assess these claims, this thesis employs a unique sample of matched venturecapital- backed and non-venture-capital-backed entrepreneurial IPOs that floated either on the London Stock Exchange¿s Official List or the Alternative Investment Market (AIM). Extending previous research this thesis employs more fine-grained measures and introduces new conceptually relevant variables in the analysis. The findings indicate that VCs and founders are influential in shaping corporate governance of IPO-stage ventures both from an agency and resource-provision perspective. Findings from the examination of governance and professionalisation characteristics with respect to IPO short-run performance (underpricing) indicate that it may the involvement of prestigious auditors that signal firm quality while a founder bias discount seems to exist. While evidence is found that VC involvement (and to a lesser extent director/board characteristics) is related to post-IPO market performance, this seems to depend on the time period following the IPO examined, whereas auditor prestige shows a positive association in all of these time periods. / Bradford University School of Management

This study examines asymmetric information content of REIT IPOs as compared to that of industrial IPOs matched by similar asset size, underwriter reputation ranking, and partial adjustment of the offer-price from the midpoint of the original file range. The asymmetric information level is proxied by the relative bid-ask spread (RELSPREAD), adverse selection component of Glosten and Harris (GH, 1988), and the adverse selection component of Lin, Sanger, and Booth (LSB, 1995). All three measures are estimated over 45- and 60-day windows. Using a sample of 78 equity REIT IPOs and 123 Industrial IPOs for the period of January 1, 1993 to December 31, 2007, the results indicate that REIT IPOs have less asymmetric information content as compared to mature industrial firms. All results control for leverage, beginning assets size, issue proceeds, underpricing, partial adjustment, number of IPOs within the same year, venture capital backing, underwriter reputation, average daily volume, average daily price, specialist’s inventory risk, and the turnover ratio. The results also control for the Nasdaq and NYSE rule change of minimum tick increments from 1/8th to 1/16th on June 2, 1997, and June 24, 1997, respectively. The findings provide strong support for the hypothesis that REIT IPOs have less asymmetric information content than non-REIT IPOs.

The implication that first day returns of initial public offerings are a consequence of the imbalance of power between issuer and underwriter has been suggested more than it has been tested. An important tool in such an analysis has been missing. Using a resource contribution approach to bargaining power, measures of underwriter and issuer power are created. Significant results with both measures show that consistent with theory, underwriter power is positively associated with underpricing, while issuer power's association is negative. The underwriter power measure compares favorably in this study to Carter-Manaster's prestige measure. The theory presented also suggests that issuers and underwriters engage in a short-term cooperative agreement to bring critical resources to issuers to enhance their initial public offering. Contributed resources form the basis for each firms bargaining power which is strongest when setting the initial file price. Results show the importance of resource power on the distribution of proceeds and how power changes during the registration process. Finally this theory expands signaling theory and suggests that issuers under the influence and direction of their underwriter make pre-IPO organizational changes to send signals of quality to preemptively address investor's concerns. These pre-IPO gambits are intended to increase IPO proceeds, but come at a price. Theories of power are used to create a measure of the relative strength of these actors and find that making TMT changes significantly decreases underpricing. Although underwriter power is significantly associated with change, relative power does not reduce the amount of change signaled. / Business Administration

This thesis examines the efficacy of markets, using both quantitative and qualitative methods in a complementary way. Specifically, it starts (in Part II) by using the results from a quantitative analysis of initial public offering (IPO) underpricing as a barometer for corporate governance failure. This quantitative work identified Russia, China and India as extreme outliers. The data set used for this work was the cross-section sample of 45 countries developed by Loughran, Ritter & Rydqvist (2008). More broadly (in Part III), the thesis takes the lead of the quantitative evidence to examine, in a qualitative framework, possible sources of corporate governance failure in China, India and Russia. This was done categorically, under the headings of Globalisation, Corporate Governance, Institutional Structure and Competitive Strategy. Data were gathered by eldwork in China, India and Russia, and these findings were then benchmarked against findings from further fieldwork in the United Kingdom. This created a unique 56,000 word database, which was used for both cross-site and within-site analysis. This indicates how both unique attributes (e.g. rule of law, transparency, regulation, etc.), and common attributes (e.g. transition from a socialist/Marxist regime, market immaturity, asymmetric information etc.), combine to explain the different morphologies of corporate governance in these three countries. The quantitative analysis (Part II) consists of exploratory data analysis (EDA) and econometric work. The exploratory data analysis establishes, through graphical means and regression techniques, a negative correlation between IPO underpricing and globalisation (as measured by the KOF index, see Dreher, 2006). Building on this, the subsequent econometric modelling suggests that economic, demographic and institutional factors are all significant determinants of IPO underpricing. The qualitative analysis carried out in Part III of the thesis, builds on and extends the quantitative analysis of Part II. This is consistent with the multiple method approach, which combines both quantitative and qualitative analysis to achieve a synthesis of findings. The qualitative analysis uses evidence from semi-structured interviews with finance professionals and opinion makers, as well as evidence from additional primary and secondary sources, which was also made available through fieldwork contacts. This analysis emphasises the especial importance of board composition, information flows, the judicial system, the stock exchanges, and financial regulators for forms of corporate governance.

Cette thèse s'intéresse au rôle des analystes financiers lors de la couverture des introductions en bourse dans un contexte international. Nous traitons de la valeur informationnelle des couvertures des analystes et de leur conséquence sur la performance à long terme des entreprises nouvellement introduites en bourse. Nous examinons si les recommandations des analystes financiers permettent de réduire le comportement irrationnel des investisseurs en situation de forte incertitude. Nous espérons qu'en réduisant les asymétries d'informations, les analystes financiers aident les investisseurs à mieux cibler la valeur de l'IPO. Cette thèse s'articule autour de deux parties : la première est consacrée au positionnement théorique et à nos hypothèses de recherche ; la seconde se focalise sur la vérification empirique d'un échantillon d'IPOs internationales (Etats-Unis, Angleterre, Allemagne et France) sur la période 1991 à 2005. Les résultats révèlent une sous performance des IPOs plus sévères pour les orphelines (sans couverture des analystes) que pour les non orphelines. Il apparaît que la couverture des analystes est importante pour les IPOs mais que le marché n'en perçoit pas toute la valeur. D'autres analyses soulignent que cette meilleure performance des non orphelines provient du nombre élevé de couvertures. Nous établissons que les recommandations des analystes sont significativement reliées à la performance à long terme des IPOs. Ainsi, nous vérifions le rôle crucial des analystes financiers dans la production et l'interprétation des informations. / This thesis explores the role of financial analysts' coverage on IPOs in an international context. We deal with the informational value of research coverage and the consequence on long run performance of newly public firms. We examine whether financial analyst recommendations allow alleviating the irrational investors' behaviour in the context of strong uncertainty. We expect that by reducing the information asymmetry, financial analyst recommendations help investors to define progressively the true value of the IPO. The thesis is organized in two main parts: the first part presents a survey of literature and define research hypothesis. The second part consists in an empirical validation of an international sample of IPOs (US, United Kingdom, Germany and France) over the 1991-2005 period. The results reveal that long run underperformance is much severe for orphans' IPOs (without financial recommendation) than non orphans' IPOs. The evidence suggests that analyst coverage is indeed important to issuing firm but the market do not fully incorporate the perceived value of this coverage. Further analysis reveals that this outperformance by non orphan stems from high coverage. We establish that analyst recommendations are significantly related to long run performance of IPOs. Hence, we corroborate the crucial role of financial analysts in producing and interpreting IPOs' financial releases.