Problem: In the world of today’s business, there is a trend for investors not only to base their decisions whether to invest in a company on the basis of its financial results. These days more features are taken into consideration. Corporate identity is a crucial aspect to bear in mind for investors, as it demonstrates what the company is, how it works and where it is going. Corporate Communication is a process that allows companies to share their information with the stakeholders. Not every company is aware of the significance of communicating its corporate identity to investors. These represent a basis for the company, since their support is needed to achieve the organization’s objectives. Furthermore, communication of corporate identity to investors represents an opportunity for a company to achieve its goals. The importance and relation of corporate identity and communication to investors is becoming a relevant issue not only for them but also for stakeholders.

Corporate Communication Management (CCM) is an important concept within the communication and marketing discipline. The term corporate communication came to the attention of the general public more than 40 years ago, due to changes in global business environments. Although corporate communication received great attention from scholars and the business community, its complex concepts are still unclear. Furthermore, many scholars believe there are influences of corporate culture, ICT diffusion innovations and corporate leadership on corporate communication and its impact to organisational performance, yet there is a paucity of studies on the validation of this theoretical assumption. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to address this gap by providing an elevated understanding of the concept of CCM and its antecedents, and in consequence, focus on organisational performance from the managerial perspectives. This study employs a two tier mixed-method research process involving qualitative and quantitative approaches. The first tier commences with a semi-structured interview (with 12 respondents) to refine a conceptual framework developed based on existing literature. Then, content validity (with 10 expert opinions) and pilot test (with 35 respondents) follow, to develop a measurement scale with good validity and reliability. The second tier involves online survey data (with 223 respondents) and secondary data (from Thomson DataStream) to test the research hypotheses and proposed conceptual model. In this stage, structural equation modelling (SEM) is employed. Results indicate a very good fit to the data, with good convergent, discriminant and nomological validity and reliability stability. The findings of this research show that corporate culture, ICT diffusion innovation and corporate leadership are factors that influence CCM directly. While CCM correlates positively with financial performance, it has no effect on mission achievement. Corporate culture was found to have a positive relationship with mission achievement but negative relations with financial performance. Furthermore, ICT diffusion innovation demonstrates a positive association with mission achievement. Despite corporate leadership having a positive relationship with mission achievement, there was no effect on financial performance. Therefore, this study answered the antecedents and consequences of CCM, and they were found to be influential factors. In addition, the study demonstrates that managers rely on internal factors such as corporate culture, ICT diffusion innovation and corporate leadership to predict and assess CCM. The findings have implications for knowledge of theories and practices, and also contribute in the development of a model that explains the CCM functions and shows that functions have a definite positive impact on financial performance. Furthermore, the research adds an insight to a growing body of communication literature (primarily corporate communication) and makes recommendation for future research directions.

Univ., Diss.--St. Gallen, 2004.

Zugl.: Diss. Univ. Ilmenau, 2006.

Bachelor-Arbeit Univ. St. Gallen, 2004.

Thesis (MTech (Public Relations Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2017. / Investor Relations (IR) has become a key area of focus in academic and professional debates over the last few decades. Although the identity of the field is contested, with both finance and communication disciplines claiming the fledgling field, there is consensus across disciplines that communication is paramount in IR success. However, a number of scholars (see Schutzmann, 2013; Laskin, 2011; Watson, 2008) argue that IR is not being fully utilised to maximise fair valuation and obtain favourable return on company investments due to lack of strategic communication expertise among IR practitioners who usually have a purely financial background. It is against this background that this study evaluated communication strategies employed by IR practitioners in South Africa to build and maintain relationships with investor stakeholders. The purpose is to contribute towards theoretical debates on strategic communication practice in IR, an area that remains under theorised and understudied, especially within a developing country context. The theoretical frame of the study was derived from public relations Excellence theory and the two-way symmetrical communication (Grunig and Hunt, 1984). The research methodology of the study was qualitative and employed an explorative design to gather data through a combination of document analysis, indepth interviews and content analysis. The findings show that financial and non-financial information is disseminated to investor stakeholders. However, the communication of financial information by IR professionals to investor stakeholders remains dominant in South Africa. Importantly, two-way symmetrical communication and two-way asymmetrical communication strategies are used in different ways to build and maintain relationships and to disclose mandatory key corporate information to investor stakeholders. One-on-one meetings in different formats and online dialogue with closed feedback emerged as the dominant key two-way symmetrical communication strategies of nurturing and sustaining relationships with investor stakeholders. This includes two-way asymmetrical communication strategies such as the corporate publications and IR websites. IR policies that promote two-way symmetrical communication, trust, honest, transparency and credibility emerged in the study as being implemented by IR professionals of South Africa. In addition, the findings show that such characterised IR policies advances the rules of investor stakeholder relationship building and engagement. However, it remains unclear from a South African standpoint whether IR professionals are ready to engage in an open dialogue with investor stakeholders using social media. The findings show that IR in South Africa has trascended into a synergy era where two-way symmetrical communication is emphasised. It further shows that the theoretical frame of the study as derived from public relations Excellence theory and the two-way symmetrical communication (Grunig and Hunt, 1984) has positive implications in the investor relations efforts of building relationships and information disclosure. However, investor stakeholder preferences of engaging with IR professionals require further exploration. This will assist in theorising communication strategies ideal for IR practice.

M.Com. (Financial Management) / The idea that strategies should be judged by the economic value which is created in terms of them is well accepted in the business community. Based on surveys of practice there is, however, great uncertainty regarding the way in which strategies and subsequent company performance should be evaluated. The best measure of corporate success is therefore a vexed issue. Accounting numbers and ratios are generally perceived to be poor measures of changes in economic value. The problem can be said not to lie with accounting, but in its inappropriate use. Accounting measures are constrained by accrual accounting conventions and financial reporting objectives; they are not designed to measure changes in a finn's economic value. Some of the limitations are the fact that earnings can be computed in different ways (depending on management's choice of accounting policy), earnings do not reflect differences in risk and it ignores working capital and fixed capital investments. These shortcomings imply that traditional accounting measures (like earnings and earnings per share) are not reliably linked to increasing the value of the company's stock price. When a business wants to determine the economic value of an investment, it discounts the investment's forecast cash flow by the company's cost of capital. This technique, known as discounted cash flow (DCF) analysis, is widely used in capital budgeting and lease versus buy decisions. Until recently, managers have generally been reluctant to extend the approach beyond piecemeal applications to an entire business plan. The shareholder value approach applies the DCF analysis to the business as a whole - treating it as a portfolio of cash-generating strategies...

Corporate governance issues have become increasingly important to financial managers and shareholders. Firms that are plagued by poor performance, incompetent managers, or excess agency costs have become the subject of a dramatic increase in shareholder activism. Dissident shareholders, who are unable to launch costly takeover bids or proxy contests, have initiated a process of governance reform through the use of shareholder sponsored proposals. Shareholder proposals are a direct attempt to reverse operating or voting policies, such as a proposal to repeal a classified board. Managers announce shareholder proposals in a proxy statement and typically include a vote recommendation against the proposal. In the first essay, I find an unfavorable stock price reaction to the announcement of a shareholder proposal. In some cases, however, management supports the proposal and negotiates an agreement with the proposing shareholder. Stock prices react favorably to a settlement announcement. If managers are willing to negotiate with shareholders, they are perceived to be acting in the best interest of shareholders. If managers are unwilling, shareholders believe a severe agency problem exists. In the second essay, the effect that ownership structure has on voting outcomes of shareholder proposals is examined. I find a direct relationship between the percentage of votes cast in favor of the proposal and levels of institutional ownership. There is an inverse relationship between the percentage of votes and managerial ownership and firm size. Large firms with powerful owner-managers present the greatest obstacle to the success of shareholder proposals. The repeal of shareholder rights plans is one of the most frequently used shareholder proposals. By adopting the rights plan, managers increase the probability of defeating a takeover, but increase their power in negotiating with a potential acquiring firm. In the third essay, I find that firms who combine a rights plan with high debt levels construct a powerful defense against a hostile takeover. Shareholders target these high debt firms and design proposals to repeal the rights plan.

本論文研究了累積投票對中國上市公司業績的影響。我們主要研究三個問題。第一個問題是研究哪类所有权机构的公司更易于采取累积投票，第二是通過累積投票產生董事會成員和通過直接投票產生的董事會成員可能存在的差異。第三個問題是研究累積投票選出成員對公司治理和公司業績產生的影響。通過控制公司的特點，我們發現，控股股东占很大比例的公司（即便是在30%规定采取累积投票线下）更易于采用累积投票，其二，累積投票選舉產生的董事會和監事會更可能是專業人士，而且平均而言，累積投票選出的董事和監事會成員，比那些由直接投票選舉產生的董事會和監事會成員，擁有更多的公司股票. 此外，有證據表明他們更有可能代表股東利益而非管理層或大股東利益，這些證據不僅表明他們更有能力履行其職責，並且表明他們的個人利益與公司利益之間更為一致。本文延伸了現存的研究，並且證明了累積投票選舉產生的董事會對公司績效有積極的影響。但是，證據表明累計投票監事的比例增加並不會顯著改善公司績效。這些證據表明，累積投票在某種程度上改進了中國上市公司的公司治理狀況。 / This paper investigates the impact of cumulative voting on the performance of listed corporations in China. We focus on three main issues: investigating effects of corporations’ ownership structure on cumulative voting adoption, exploring differences (if any) in personal attributes between the board members elected by cumulative voting and those elected by straight voting, and identifying the influence of cumulative voting members on corporate governance and firm performance. Controlling firm characteristics, we find that corporations with controlling shareholder who owns a larger proportion (even under the 30% regulatory cumulative voting cut-off) of the shares are more likely to adopt accumulative voting but the ownership concentration of other block shareholders tend to be uncorrelated or even negatively correlated with cumulative voting. In addition, both directors and supervisors elected by cumulative voting are (a) more likely to have professional titles, (b) own more stocks on average than those elected by straight voting, and (c) are more likely to be shareholder- rather than management-affiliated or controlling shareholder (typically the largest shareholder-affiliated). Such evidence indicates that they are more capable of fulfilling their duties and suggests that their personal interests may be more compatible with those of the listed corporations. In addition, we extend the existing literature by showing a positive correlation between the percentage of cumulative voting-elected directors sitting in the board of directors and firm performance. However, we did not find a significant relationship between the increase of proportion of CV supervisors and firm performance. In summary, these results demonstrate that cumulative voting, to some extent, improves corporate governance in China’s listed corporations. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Qian, Jinghui. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2012. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 65-69). / Abstracts also in Chinese. / ABSTRACT(ENGLISH) --- p.i / ABSTRACT(CHINESE) --- p.ii / ACKNOWLEDGEMENT --- p.iii / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.iv / LIST OF TABLES --- p.v / Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- The notion of cumulative voting --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- The situations in China --- p.3 / Chapter 1.3 --- Issues to be investigated in the paper --- p.5 / Chapter 2 --- Literature Review --- p.7 / Chapter 2.1 --- Theoretical effects of cumulative voting --- p.9 / Chapter 2.2 --- Empirical findings --- p.10 / Chapter 2.3 --- Cumulative voting in China --- p.14 / Chapter 3 --- Theory and Hypothesis --- p.16 / Chapter 4 --- Data and Methodology --- p.23 / Chapter 4.1 --- Data --- p.23 / Chapter 4.2 --- Methodology --- p.25 / Chapter 4.2.1 --- Propensity score matching --- p.26 / Chapter 4.2.2 --- Barber and Lyon matching --- p.32 / Chapter 4.2.3 --- Comparison between directory and supervisory members --- p.34 / Chapter 4.2.4 --- OLS and difference-in-differences regressions --- p.35 / Chapter 5 --- Empirical Results --- p.38 / Chapter 5.1 --- Sample characteristics of cumulative voting elections (CVEs) --- p.38 / Chapter 5.2 --- Comparison between cumulative voting and non-cumulative voting --- p.40 / Chapter 5.2.1 --- PSM statistical description and regression results --- p.40 / Chapter 5.2.2 --- Barber and Lyon matching --- p.49 / Chapter 5.2.3 --- Differences between CV members and NCV members --- p.50 / Chapter 5.3 --- Effects of Proportion of CV directors and CV supervisors on firm performance --- p.54 / Chapter 5.4 --- Robutness analysis --- p.59 / Chapter 6 --- Conclusions and Discussions --- p.61 / Chapter 6.1 --- Summary of findings --- p.61 / Chapter 6.2 --- Theoretical contributions and limitations --- p.63 / REFERENCES --- p.65 / Chapter Appendix I --- Variables and Descriptions --- p.70 / Chapter Appendix II --- Supplementary PSM Regression --- p.73 / Chapter Appendix III --- Supplementary Comparison CV members vs. NCV members --- p.75 / Chapter Appendix IV --- Robustness of the Regression --- p.79 / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.82

Chapter 2 provides the literature survey on investor protection and liquidity provision. Work in related studies and the latest developments in these areas are reviewed. / Chapter 3 coven the institutional details of the Hong Kong stock market and the specification of datasets. The descriptive statistics of the trading activities of the sample companies are also presented. An understanding of these descriptive statistics is useful in choosing the appropriate theoretical model and econometric techniques in the analysis. Apart form using regression analysis to investigate the impacts of transitory volatility on market depth and order-flow composition; additional control measures are also implemented. For instance, matched samples based on market depth, transitory volatility, daily trading volume, etc. are constructed. Statistical Tests are employed to investigate the influence of investor protection. / Chapter 4 presents the results of the regression models. Apart form investigating the impacts of transitory volatility on market depth and order-flow composition, this chapter also contributes to the literature by examining the distinction (of this interaction) between companies under different regulatory environment. It is found that the liquidity replenishments for Hong Kong-based companies are more rapid than their Chinese counterparts. The results show that companies ruled by strict governance regulations provide more liquidity when liquidity is most needed. Additional test results also suggest that this difference is robust to various control criteria. / Chapter 5 gives the summary and conclusions. / In this dissertation, data on the Hong Kong Exchange (HKEx) are employed. The Hong Kong equity market lists companies from distinct investor protection environments. These companies are traded under the same market mechanism even though they have different levels of legal protection for investors e.g. Hang Seng Index (HSI) Constituents versus H-shares/red chips. The HKEx is also a very good example of pure order driven markets. Stock prices are determined by the buy and sell orders submitted by traders without liquidity providers of the last resort. Therefore, the Hong Kong equity market provides a unique opportunity to compare the liquidity replenishment process across diverse regulatory environments, but still under one pure order driven market trading with the same mechanism and currency. The choice of Hong Kong data is also justified on the grounds of the size of the Hong Kong market and the increasing importance of Hong Kong in worldwide financial market. / The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the importance of investor protection for the dynamics between liquidity provision and transitory volatility in a pure order-driven market. I posit that environments with better investor protection lead to a more stable ecological system of the supply and the demand of liquidity. / This dissertation has five chapters. Chapter 1 is the introduction that covers the motivation and major findings of the dissertation. / Leung Chung Ho. / "June 2007." / Adviser: Raymond So. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-01, Section: A, page: 0320. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 305-308). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest dissertations and theses, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / School code: 1307.