La thèse étudie les comportements en matière de structure de capital dans les pays en voie de développement d'Asie. Elle débute avec le cas du Vietnam qui prouve que l'objectif à long terme de ratio d'endettement existe dans le marché Vietnamien tandis que la Pecking Order Theory ne semble pas lui être applicable. Au Vietnam, tant les entreprises privées que publiques s'ajustent rapidement aux niveauxoptimaux d'endettement. La thèse élargit ensuite l'étude en prenant en compte les effets de la concentration bancaire et ceux de la liberté économique dans douze pays émergents d'Asie. Elle décrit une relation négative entre la concentration bancaire et l'endettement dans l'Asie émergente et confirme que ce signe corrélé change à un seuil donné. L'étude trouve aussi des effets significatifs directs etindirects de la concentration bancaire et de la liberté économique sur la dette. Enfin, l'article suggère que le déficit de dette et la fenêtre d'opportunités affectent sensiblement les décisions de financement des entreprises en Asie émergente. Il apporte des preuves qui démontre la domination de l'émission de titres de créances sur tout autre mode de financement en Asie émergente et cette domination s'accroit après la crise financière. / Case and find the results proving that the long-run target debt ratio does exist in the Vietnamese market while the pecking order theory seems not be applicable in Vietnam market. In addition, both Vietnamese private firms and state-owned firms rapidly adjust to their optimal levels of debt. The thesis continues toextend the study by considering the effects of bank concentration and economic freedom effects on debt in 12 developing countries in Asia. It describes a negative relationship between bank concentration and leverage in Asian developing countries and confirms that this correlated sign changes at a given threshold level. It also finds significant direct and indirect effects of bank concentration and economicfreedom on debt. Finally, the paper suggests that the debt deficit and window of opportunities significantly affect firms’ financing decisions in developing Asia. It provides evidence which indicates that pure debt issuance is dominant compared to other financing choices in Asian developing countries, and this dominance becomes more significant after the financial crisis.

The dissertation thesis analyzes the debt burden on the prosperity of enterprise that operate in the territory of the Czech Republic, where the prosperity of the companies is expressed in equity capital profitability. The main aim is the empirical validation of the conclusions of financial leverage applied to the specific economic conditions of enterprises in the Czech Republic. The dissertation thesis is focused on the issue of the financial leverage on enterprises. First, the relation of return on equity and debt was evaluated Followed by an analysis of the relation of the debt ratio and a dynamic degree of financial leverage. Also a static degree of financial leverage with increasing debt was quantified. The operational objective was to assess a methodological diversity of quantification of static and dynamic model degrees of financial leverages. The validity of conclusions on the degree of financial leverage was assessed on the basic of the model simulating the impact of debt financing on earnings per share while changing the output (i.e., earnings before interest and taxes). The variance analysis of the return on equity indicator was performed using functional methods. The result was to quantify the effects of partial analytical indicators to the return on equity, the top-level indicator analyzed, mostly the influence of the dynamic degree of financial leverage indicators as a casual factor.

The purpose of the study is to examine the application of selected variables from previous studies when applied to the capital structure of Swedish publicly traded companies. Five variables will be used to examine whether they have a similar effect on the capital structure of Swedish companies. The study is a quantitative research that is made up of data that was collected from two chosen line of businesses on the Swedish market, industrials and medicine. A large quantity of data was collected from 135 companies during the time period 2013-2017, the data was processed and converted before a regression analysis was performed. According to the regression analysis this study received the following result from the industrial line of business: the variable with the most explanatory effect regarding the capital structure was liquid assets, profitability, turnover assets, total assets (size) and tangible assets. In the medicine line of business the following variables had the most explanatory effects: liquid assets, total assets (size), turnover assets, tangible assets and profitability. The study shows the extent to which the variables are significant and what impact they have on debt in the Swedish market. The result was different between the industries, which is an interesting aspect to note that different variables were applied with different strengths in the industries depending on the company's financial position. Liquid assets were the variable that had the greatest connection to the degree of indebtedness in both industries in the Swedish market. The result regarding the variables used in this study had greater similarity in its applicability between the two industries in Sweden than the similarity to an earlier studyconducted in Romania with similar variables.

Esta tese é composta por três ensaios que analisam a estrutura ótima de capital em setores de infraestrutura regulados. O primeiro ensaio, uma revisão da literatura, sistematiza diversos artigos que tratam de possíveis efeitos decorrentes de um ambiente economicamente regulado sobre a definição da estrutura ótima de capital. Estes artigos indicam que a relação estratégica existente entre entes reguladores e firmas reguladas afeta a decisão destas com relação à sua estrutura ótima de capital. O segundo ensaio tem por objetivo analisar esta questão de forma empírica, pela ótica dos entes reguladores. Para isso, primeiramente se levanta os procedimentos usualmente praticados pelas agências reguladoras nacionais na definição regulatória da estrutura ótima de capital, buscando-se avaliar se as mesmas atentam aos efeitos esperados do ambiente regulado sobre as decisões das firmas com relação às suas estruturas ótimas. Este levantamento demonstra que, até o momento, esta não tem sido uma preocupação dos órgãos reguladores nacionais. Ainda neste segundo ensaio, realiza-se, a partir de informações econômico-financeiras de firmas reguladas e não reguladas, uma análise em painel para verificar se o ambiente regulado, conforme indica a literatura, realmente afeta a estrutura ótima das firmas reguladas. Finalmente, o terceiro ensaio, também empírico, analisa a composição do endividamento das firmas reguladas e realiza duas verificações: (a) se as variáveis explicativas que a literatura indica como determinantes para a definição da quantidade de dívida apresentam intensidades diferentes por tipo de fonte (financiamentos bancários tradicionais ou debêntures); e (b) se, para cada tipo de fonte, os determinantes apresentam intensidades diferentes entre empresas reguladas e não reguladas. / This thesis consists of three essays on the optimal capital structure in infrastructure sectors that are subjected to economic regulation. The first essay, a literature review, organizes different articles that analyze the effects of an economically regulated environment over the optimal capital structure. These articles demonstrate that the existent strategic relation between regulators and regulated firms affects the firms\' decision in regard to its optimal capital structure. The second essay aims to an empirical test, from the point of view of regulators. First, the usual procedures adopted by the Brazilian regulators for measuring the optimal capital structure are systematized, showing that the potential effects of the regulated environment over the optimal capital structure have not so far been addressed by them. After that, a quantitative analysis is carried out, seeking to measure if a regulated environment really affects the optimal capital structure - the database consists of Brazilian regulated and unregulated firms, using a panel approach. Finally, the third essay, also empirical, breaks down the debt (long term loans and bonds) of firms and performs two analyses: (i) do different kinds of debt have different determinants?; and (ii) for each kind of debt, are there different determinants between regulated and unregulated firms?

[pt] Desde o trabalho seminal de Modigliani e Miller (1961), muito se aprendeu sobre as decisões de endividamento corporativo. Tipicamente, empresas maiores e com uma proporção maior de ativos imobilizados são mais endividadas, e as mais lucrativas possuem endividamento mais baixo (Rajan e Zingales, 1995). Lemmon, Roberts e Zender (2008) mostram, porém, que uma parte substancial do endividamento é determinado por características não observáveis constantes no tempo. A importância dessas características é consistente com a persistência do endividamento das empresas americanas de capital aberto e a sua convergência para alvos que mudam ao longo do tempo. Será que características não observáveis constantes no tempo também são relevantes para o endividamento das empresas brasileiras? Há razões para crer que não. A economia brasileira é marcada por uma alta volatilidade de fatores macroeconômicos como taxas de juros, taxas de câmbio e inflação. Tal volatilidade talvez magnifique fatores conjunturais a um ponto que solape fatores mais estruturais das decisões de endividamento. Nesse caso, a documentada convergência do endividamento alvo das empresas americanas pode simplesmente não existir no Brasil. O objetivo principal desta dissertação é estudar os fatores permanentes e transitórios das decisões de endividamento no Brasil, verificando em que setores da economia os primeiros são mais importantes do que os últimos, e avaliando se as combinações desses fatores transitórios descarta a existência de um endividamento alvo médio para as empresas de capital aberto no Brasil. / [en] Since the seminal work of Modigliani and Miller (1961), much has been learned about corporate debt decisions. Typically, larger firms with a higher proportion of fixed assets are more indebted, and the more profitable have lower indebtedness (Rajan and Zingales, 1995). Lemmon, Roberts and Zender (2008) show, however, that a substantial part of the indebtedness is determined by unobservable characteristics that are constant in time. The importance of these characteristics is consistent with the continued indebtedness of US publicly traded companies and their convergence to targets that change over time. Are non-observable characteristics constant in time also relevant to the indebtedness of Brazilian companies? There are reasons to believe that not. The Brazilian economy is marked by a high volatility of macroeconomic factors such as interest rates, exchange rates and inflation. Such volatility may magnify cyclical factors to a point that overlaps more structural factors of debt decisions. In this case, the documented convergence of the target debt of US companies may simply not exist in Brazil. The main objective of this dissertation is to study the permanent and transitory factors of indebtedness decisions in Brazil, verifying in which sectors of the economy the former are more important than the last, and evaluating if the combinations of these transitory factors rule out the existence of a target debt average for publicly traded companies in Brazil.

There is increasing concern about potential climate-driven regime shifts– large abrupt shifts in social-ecological systems that could have large impacts onecosystems services and human well-being. This paper aims to synthesize the potentialpathways for building resilience to such regime shifts. Ten examples from the RegimeShift Database provided the cases for analysis. Causal loop diagrams were used toanalyze feedback mechanisms at different scales and identify “leverage points” –places to intervene in the system in order to build resilience. Sixteen of these leveragepoints were identified, most of which relate to agricultural management. Mostfeedback mechanisms include at least one leverage point highlighting the potential forbuilding resilience to climate-induced regime shifts. The most common leverage pointsidentified in our analyses were vegetation cover, algae volume and atmospherictemperature. These leverage points were compared to mitigation strategies discussedby the IPCC. This comparison indicates that current climate change mitigationstrategies do not alter most of the leverage points directly. This suggests that IPCCstrategies should be broadened in order to reduce the risk of regime shifts, and theassociated impacts on human well-being.

Human society faces serious environmental and social threats as a result of systemic unsustainable actions and values. This is a time of cultural self-evaluation and profound change. This study examines how 13 social and environmental change-based organizations, through network partnerships and a robust organizational knowledge-base, are responding to these challenges. A systems perspective was used as a guide to promote a holistic understanding of the actors within the system, their perceptions of success, strategies, actions and tools used to guide them toward sustainability. The results indicate that organizations seeking to scale-up their impact toward sustainability might benefit from the following success factors: 1. Collaboration with diverse partners to contribute to more effective interventions in complex systems, 2. Integrating comprehensive definitions of sustainability with organizational vision to facilitate success, 3. The application of leverage points and transparent prioritization processes to asure congruence between organizational purpose and actions, 4. Practices of dialogue and deep listening build rewarding partnerships and, 5. Metrics that support partnerships and gauge progress toward sustainability. In conclusion network partnerships have the potential to generate widespread sustained change and can be supported by complex systems science and a Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development.

Dans un contexte de réforme générale des politiques publiques et d’adaptation de l’outil de Défense aux nouvelles contraintes géostratégiques, Les friches militaires sont de plus en plus nombreuses.Alors que la ville, autrefois gourmande d’espace foncier sur ses franges, s’efforce aujourd’hui de rationnaliser la trame urbaine dans une logique de développement durable, elle s’intéresse davantage à ses espaces délaissés et tente de mettre en place une logique de reconversion qui puisse s’appliquer toutes ces friches, quelle que soit la nature de leurs activités initiales. Parmi ces sites en attente de reconversion, les fiches militaires urbaines pourraient offrir de réelles opportunités dans le cadre de r requalification et ainsi participer au renouvellement urbain.L’objectif de ce travail est double : il s’agit d’envisager dans quelle mesure la friche militaire urbaine peut être banalisée dès lors que son activité initiale a cessé. Ensuite, à la lecture des résultats de la reconversion dans le cadre d’un quatrième temps de la friche, il s’agit déterminer si la requalification d’une friche militaire urbaine peut avoir un effet levier pour une ville ou une région.Cinq terrains d’étude sont analysés afin de répondre à ces questions / In a context of general reform of public policies and of adaptation of the tool of Defence to new geostrategical pressures, Military brownfields are growing.In the past, the city used easily the land space on its fringes. While it is today trying to rationalize the urban network in the frame of sustainable development, it is more interested in its derelict lands and it tries to set up a logic of urban regeneration which could be applied to all these wastelands, whatever is the nature of their initial activities. Among these waiting of renewal sites, the urban military wastelands could give real opportunities as part of regeneration and so participate to the urban renewal.The objective of this thesis is twofold: It is to consider how the military urban brownfields can be unmarked since their initial activity has ceased. Then, by reading the results of the regeneration with the fourth time of wastelands, it is about to determine if the regeneration of an urban military brownfields can have a leverage effect for a city or region.Five study sites are analyzed to answer these questions

This thesis examines asset pricing and capital structure of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in three essays. Firm finance and asset pricing are areas of voluminous research in the literature. Most of this research observes firms trading on public stock exchanges. In my thesis, I examine privately-owned SMEs where relatively little research has been done. I use a proprietary database of over 16,000 SMEs that sold from 1990 to 2010, reporting market valuations and accounting information. My findings contribute to the literature on asset pricing and capital structure of private firms that benefits researchers, entrepreneurs, investors, and analysts. The first essay examines whether the size effect in returns found in traded stocks is present in SMEs. The size-effect literature generally observes listed firms and finds that smaller firms tend to have higher returns. Using the SME database, I document the size effect in private firms using market valuations. I also find the size premium is concentrated in smaller SMEs. In firms smaller than $2.5 million in market value, the size effect is nearly 13 times stronger compared to larger firms. The second essay explores the effects of investor sentiment and marketwide liquidity in SME returns. Prior studies find these factors have effects in returns of listed firms. I find that SME returns are negatively related to sentiment and liquidity. As sentiment or liquidity rise, SME returns tend to fall. This study also finds that the effects of sentiment and liquidity are concentrated in smaller firms and weaken or disappear in larger SMEs. Apparently investors in smaller SMEs are more influenced by sentiment and liquidity. I also find that sentiment and liquidity have conditional effects on the magnitude of the size premium. The third and final essay examines SME capital structure. Firm capital structure has been one of the most contentious issues in finance theory for over 50 years. Relatively little research examines private firm finance and no previous studies to my knowledge have examined SME capital structure using market-based leverage ratios. I examine relations between leverage and capital structure determinants suggested by theory using market-based and book-value leverage ratios. I find support for both the trade-off and pecking-order theories. This study also finds that SMEs tend to use short-term debt much more than long-term debt and firms appear to practice maturity matching where managers tend to match borrowing terms with asset life. Evidence also suggests that capital structure determinants suggested by theory have greater explanatory power for market-based leverage ratios than for ratios based on book values.

Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2015-12-14T12:53:27Z No. of bitstreams: 1 larissadeoliveiraresende.pdf: 1915896 bytes, checksum: 731399b3817433fd3e32339e37fec9c9 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2015-12-14T15:51:25Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 larissadeoliveiraresende.pdf: 1915896 bytes, checksum: 731399b3817433fd3e32339e37fec9c9 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-12-14T15:51:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 larissadeoliveiraresende.pdf: 1915896 bytes, checksum: 731399b3817433fd3e32339e37fec9c9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-01-16 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Considerando que os métodos de avaliação de empresas e ativos mais utilizados atualmente sejam fundamentados no pressuposto de dívida sem risco, negligenciando os efeitos colaterais da dívida e não estimando o retorno justo do capital próprio desalavancado que não pela fórmula de Hamada (1969), baseada na dívida sem risco, acredita-se que a avaliação de ativos alavancados sob risco sofra um viés que distancia o valor calculado desses ativos de seu real valor de mercado. Dessa forma, torna-se de extrema importância o estudo do custo da dívida, consideradas as possibilidades de inadimplência e demais riscos nela embutidos e, consequentemente, seus impactos nos custos do capital próprio e do ativo. Essa dissertação se propôs a responder à seguinte pergunta: em um contexto de dívida com risco, a partir do custo do capital e risco sistêmico do capital próprio alavancado observáveis no mercado, como os métodos de avaliação deveriam estimar: o retorno justo da dívida; o retorno justo do capital próprio desalavancado; o custo médio ponderado de capital da firma; e o valor da firma. A partir de uma analise detalhada dos processos de Avaliação de Ações apresentadas em Laudos de Avaliação divulgados para empresas selecionadas (Braskem e NET); foi estimado o custo da dívida a partir dos retornos históricos das ações e do modelo de Cooper e Davydenko (2007); estimou-se o beta da dívida a partir da regressão da série de custos da dívida estimados em relação ao prêmio de risco do mercado; foi calculado o beta não alavancado num contexto de dívida com risco; se estimou o retorno justo sobre o capital próprio desalavancado num contexto de dívida com risco; foi calculado o valor das empresas analisadas e seu preço por ação segundo métodos do FCFF/WACC, APV e CCF; e, em seguida, se comparou o valor encontrado com o valor fornecido por modelos convencionais de avaliação que não consideram o efeito da inadimplência esperada no custo da dívida, com o preço de mercado e com o valor patrimonial por ação. Se concluiu, então, que o uso de modelos mais consistentes teoricamente podem contribuir para uma melhor avaliação do valor justo de uma ação, projeto ou firma. / Whereas the methods of valuation of companies and assets used nowadays are based on risk-free debt assumption, overlooking the side effects of debt and not estimating the fair return on unlevered equity by other means than Hamada (1969), which is based on debt without risk, evaluation of leveraged assets at risk may suffer a bias that distances the calculated value of the assets of its real market value. Thus, it is extremely important to study the cost of debt, considered the possibilities of default and other risks embedded in it and hence their impact on equity costs. This thesis aims to answer the following question: in a context of risky debt risk, estimated from the cost of capital and systemic risk of leveraged equity, observable in the market, how return on unlevered equity; the weighted average cost of capital of the firm; and the value of the firm differ from those calculated without considering the risk of debt properly? From a detailed analysis of the Stock Assessment Processes presented in Valuation Reports disclosed to selected companies (Braskem and NET), it was estimated the cost of debt from the historical returns of stocks and Cooper and Davydenko model (2007) applied; after that, we estimated the debt beta from the regression of the number of estimated debt costs in relation to the market risk premium; we calculated the unlevered beta in systematic risk debt framework; we estimated the fair return of unlevered equity; we calculated the value of the analyzed companies and its share price by methods of FCFF / WACC, APV and CCF; and then compared the value found with the value provided by conventional valuation models that do not consider the effect of expected default in the cost of debt, with the market price and with the book value per share. We concluded that, the use of more robust models can theoretically contribute to a better assessment of the fair value of an asset, project or firm.