Purpose: To examine how IR-related press releases affect share price for stock companies, and to explore how said companies practice Investor Relations. Methods: The study was conducted using an event study as well as e-interviews. The event study has a quantitative deductive research approach where the market model is used for calculating the abnormal return based on press releases. The e-interviews have a qualitative research approach and follow a semi structured interview guide. The study includes all listed stock companies within the Swedish construction industry and includes press releases from the last decade. Theory: The study is based on the efficient market hypothesis and its semi strong form, theories within Investor Relations and previous research. Results: The event study shows a significant negative abnormal return during a four day period starting the day after the press release event. The negative abnormal return could derive from investor relations being used by companies as damage control, or that the investors’ expectations are too high as a result of IR. No significant differences in how companies practice IR was found in e-interviews. To the contrary, companies show similar tendencies in IR practice. It can be concluded that stock companies, through investor relations, are able to affect their share price. / Syfte: Att undersöka hur IR-relaterade pressmeddelanden påverkar aktiekursen hos börsnoterade företag samt att undersöka hur företagen arbetar med Investor Relations. Metod: Studien är utförd med hjälp av en eventstudie tillsammans med e-intervjuer. Eventstudien har en kvantitativ deduktiv ansats där marknadsmodellen används för beräkning av avvikande avkastning baserat på pressmeddelanden. E-intervjuerna har en kvalitativ ansats och följer en semistrukturerad intervjuguide. Studien innefattar alla börsnoterade företag i den svenska byggindustrin och pressmeddelanden från det senaste decenniet. Teori: Den effektiva marknadshypotesen och dess halvstarka form, teorier inom investor relations tillsammans med tidigare genomförda forskning har legat till grund för studien. Resultat: Resultatet från eventstudien visar på en signifikant negativ avvikande avkastning med start dagen efter händelsedagen till och med fyra dagar efter händelsedagen. Den negativa avvikande avkastningen kan bero på att arbetet med IR försöker dämpa befintlig negativitet hos investerare, alternativt kan det bero på att investerares förväntningar är för höga på grund av positiv IR. Utmärkande strategier för hur IR-arbetet går till i praktiken bland de observerade företagen har inte funnits i e-intervjuerna, istället liknar företagens IR-arbete varandra i stort. Slutsatsen dras att börsnoterade företag kan påverka sin aktiekurs med hjälp av investor relations.

Debt holding by managers, i.e., inside debt, aligns the incentives of managers more closely with those of debtholders, reducing agency costs of debt (Jensen and Meckling (1976) and Edmans and Liu (2011)). My thesis investigates the effect of managerial ownership of debt on corporate risk-taking, bank loan contracting, and accounting conservatism. / In the first chapter I examine the effect of managerial ownership of debt on agency costs of debt problems related to risk-taking. I find that higher managerial ownership of debt implements lower corporate risk-taking, in terms of less investment in R&D, more investment in capital expenditures, and more corporate diversification. The role of inside debt in moderating risk-taking is more pronounced in firms with high level of default risk. These findings suggest that managers with large inside debt holdings are less likely to pursue risky projects that potentially transfer wealth from debtholders to shareholders. / In the second chapter I examine how terms of bank loans are related to managerial ownership of debt. Specifically, the analysis uncovers significant evidence of lower loan spreads for firms with larger debt ownership by CEOs. The negative relation is more pronounced when creditors face higher expropriation risk and when the CEO's expected retirement horizon is beyond loan maturity. I also find that loans to firms with larger managerial debt holdings are associated with smaller lending syndicates, fewer covenant restrictions, and less collateral requirement, consistent with lenders anticipating lower expropriation risk at these firms. / In the third chapter I examine the relation between accounting conservatism and managerial ownership of debt. Consistent with debt holdings by managers mitigating the debtholder-shareholder conflicts and reducing debtholders' demand for accounting conservatism, I find significant evidence of less conservative financial reporting at firms whose CEOs have accumulated more deferred compensation and pension benefits. This negative relation is more pronounced in firms with higher expected agency costs of debt and in firms that can credibly commit to a higher level of conservatism if required by debtholders. These findings are robust to using a number of alternative accounting conservatism measures and to correcting for potential endogeneity of managerial ownership of debt. / Xin, Xiangang. / Advisers: Danqing Young; Oliver M. Rui; Cong Wang. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 73-07(E), Section: A. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2011. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 134-140). / 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 Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese.

This dissertation investigates why a substantial number of common stocks is held by companies in many countries, especially in Japan. Chapter 1 gives an overview of historical and legal issues regarding corporate shareholding in Japan. Chapter 2 reviews how researchers have, theoretically and empirically, approached corporate shareholding issues. Chapter 3 elaborates on a corporate shareholding model which incorporates a standard principal-agent model with Aoki's managerial risk sharing argument (Aoki, 1988). The model finds that a risk-averse manager of a firm invests in other firms if managerial reward is linked with the value of the firm she manages, and if the operating profits of investing and invested firms are negatively correlated. Corporate stock investment is larger if the invested (and/or investing) company's operating profit is less volatile and/or if the covariance in the operating profits of the companies is more strongly negative. Although a stronger link between corporate performance and managerial reward increases managers' incentive to exert efforts, it also increases the risk that managers must bear. If the risk is too high, managers would leave their companies. Corporate stock investment reduces the risk, and enables shareholders to offer a higher incentive to the managers and to earn a higher (expected) income. Chapter 4 examines three major arguments concerning the rationale behind the practice of corporate shareholding: the competitive-effect, risk-sharing, and control-rights arguments. Predictions drawn from those arguments are tested using panel data of 186 Japanese corporate group firms from 1980 to 1988. The main findings of this study are as follows. (1) The competitive-effect argument is clearly supported by the data. Firms in the same industry do tend to invest more in one another. (2) The evidence in favor of the risksharing argument is weaker — although firms with less risky operating profits tend to attract more investment, the relationship between investment and the covariance in the firms' operating profits is ambiguous. (3) The strongest empirical support is given to the control-rights argument. Indeed, the evidence confirms that a firm is more likely to invest in other firms that hold more of its own shares. Chapter 5 concludes this dissertation.

This thesis provides evidence enabling an analysis of systemic director-auditor links, their nature, their determinants, their association with audit quality as an important component of corporate governance, and investor confidence in companies displaying these links. / The motivation for examining interpersonal associations between directors and auditors comes from several sources. First is the observation that auditing is a knowledge-based service the quality of which is difficult to evaluate even after the product has been experienced, adding to the complexity of the purchasing decision (Murray 1991). The use of personal contacts to scan the business environment, disseminate information and reduce uncertainty is likely to assist that evaluation and so aid in auditor selection. One manifestation of these personal contacts is directors who hold directorships on more than one board, creating networks of ties between companies known as interlocking directorates. It tends to be non-executive or external directors who create these ties because they have more time to devote to multiple directorships. Interlocking directorates are a long-standing phenomenon that has been examined in the economics, organisational behaviour and sociology literatures and are argued to engender trust, and mediate transactions. Some countries restrict such directorate ties between industry competitors because of their potential to encourage collusion and competitive disadvantage but Australia has no such restrictions. / In order to promote practice growth and firm survival, public accounting firms are known to tap into these networks, which often include former employees, encouraging personal contacts with, amongst others, directors of clients and potential clients. In this way, it is argued, companies interlocked through common directors tend to be audited by a common audit firm with the links extending to even audit partners. Extensive analysis of these interlocking directorates supports these arguments and finds that the association between interlocking directorates and director-auditor links becomes stronger as intra-industry and within confined geographical region data partitioning occurs and varies across audit firms. This variation across firms is subsequently used to model with some success auditor choice - even within the Big 6. / Systematic ties between directors and audit firms and/or audit partners potentially threaten at least the appearance of auditor independence, if not the fact. On the other hand, following the DeAngelo (1981)auditor size argument, the potential loss of a ‘family’ of clients associated with a single director if audit quality is degraded may actually enhance audit quality. This thesis argues that directors value personal contact in auditor-client relationships but are aware of the potentially damaging connotations arising from such interpersonal associations and the potential for investor disquiet about them. Implicit in this argument is an assumption that investors are both interested and active in matters of corporate governance, including the audit as a component of corporate governance. As such, the formation of director-auditor links is argued to be contingent on the balance of power between directors and shareholders and the strength of other aspects of corporate governance beside the audit function. Empirical results support this hypothesis only for interlocking created between two or more directors of companies in the same industry. / Evidence of director-auditor link association with audit quality is then sought by analysing qualifications and discretionary accruals in the presence of these links. Although alternative explanations are possible, some evidence is found of reduced audit quality. However, using the frequency with which an investor chooses to invest across companies audited by the same auditor as a measure of investor confidence in that auditor, results show that audit quality attributes are valued by investors and that director-auditor links are not associated negatively with investor confidence. Additional tests that examine the association between director-auditor links and various measures of organisational performance find little evidence of negative connotations. Public policy implications flow from the findings and these are discussed together with limitations and ideas for future research.

Universiẗat, Diss.--St. Gallen, 2004.

Europ. Business School, Diss.--Oestrich-Winkel, 2002.

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität St. Gallen, 2002.

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Master of Technology: Public Relations Management in the Faculty of Informatics and Design at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology 2013 / This study sought to understand how Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in the Western Cape use social media to communicate with their stakeholders (from a dialogic, interactive and relational perspective). The secondary objective of the study was to explore how social media are being integrated into organisations‟ stakeholder relations management strategies in order to nurture and sustain relations. The literature review explores the relationship between social media and public relations as well as stakeholder relationship approach. The theoretical frame of the study is derived from Grunig and Hunt‟s (1984) two-way symmetrical model and Freire‟s (1970) dialogical communication. This is predominantly a qualitative study employing a two-stage design consisting of in-depth interviews and qualitative content analysis. The findings of the research revealed that the sampled NGOs are using social media in different ways to build and sustain stakeholder relations. NGOs are communicating dialogically and in a two-way manner with their stakeholders. They are using social media to pursue their strategic goals which centre on the creation of public value. The study also revealed that NGOs have integrated social media into their communication strategies. Social media platforms present an immediate and real-time contact point for NGOs and other social media users. They are used to communicate, nurture and sustain stakeholders' relations. It is also clear that social media are allowing stakeholders to connect online (establishing relationships). This creates dialogue online between NGOs and their stakeholders. The study proposes a working model of integrating social media within the ambit of NGOs communication strategies. The findings of this research show that social media channels are useful tools, however, a higher level of intelligent creator-generated input is needed to stimulate and steer conversations about desired topics, as well as monitor any user-generated content and comments. In terms of recommendations, this study argues that for social media to work there is need for integration of the management of online conversations and strategic communication

Controversy currently exists over whether abnormal returns (ARs) are earned by shareholders of bidder and target banks through a Merger and Acquisition (M&A). The state of the economy in which the firms operate is often mentioned as a reason for firms engaging in M&As, however, the extent to which economies influence the ARs of shareholders is unknown. Following MacKinlay (1997), the aim of this study is to determine the average ARs earned or lost by shareholders of several banks around the world during an M&A. The results obtained may indicate that shareholders of bidding firms consider an M&A to be a wealth-destroying event irrespective of the state of the economy. It would seem that target firms’ shareholders consider M&As to be wealth-creating events when they occur during a period of real economic expansion. However, during periods of real economic contraction, target firms’ shareholders consider M&As to be wealth-destroying events. Thus, the state of an economy during an M&A can affect average ARs considerably.

The research problem this study seeks to address is that confusion exists regarding the nature, management and organisation of financial communication. Six objectives guide the research efforts. Theoretical perspectives surrounding investor relations, public relations and accounting are used to describe the current approach to financial communication (Objective 1). Two main shortcomings of the current approach are identified (Objective 2): - a lack of integration in the management and organisation of financial communication; and - a narrow focus on communication with the financial community alone. This leads to Objective 3 (theoretical justification for an inclusive approach to financial communication). Perspectives from the corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, stakeholder and public relations as relationship management literature are used to prove that organisations need to engage in financial communication with all relevant stakeholders, not only "financial" stakeholders. In order to achieve Objective 4, the theoretical perspectives mentioned above are used to develop a conceptual model for an inclusive and integrated approach to financial communication. The model provides a point of departure for future research. The empirical component of the study supplements the theoretical component. Quantitative, exploratory survey research is done to establish whether a number of South African companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange follow an inclusive and integrated approach to financial communication (Objective 5). The main conclusions are: - that there are indications of an inclusive approach to financial communication, although respondents varied in their opinions; and - that there are indications of an integrated approach to financial communication, although the majority of respondents indicated that a single department takes responsibility for financial communication. Similarities and differences between the results of this study and those of studies conducted previously in the USA, United Kingdom and Europe, are also identified (Objective 6). Finally, the limitations of both the theoretical and empirical components are used to formulate recommendations for future research. It is recommended that future efforts concentrate on the contributions that disciplines such as marketing, law, economics and financial management can make to financial communication. The research strategy (qualitative or quantitative) also needs to be carefully considered. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Communication Management / MCom / Unrestricted