The corporate governance set-up in South Africa has undergone fundamental changes during the past decade, with the country today being responsive to most corporate governance issues. South Africa should be complimented for its King Code on Corporate Governance, the Companies Act and Johannesburg Securities Exchange Listing Requirements which have significantly strengthened the country’s corporate governance framework. These legal instruments have been influential in limiting directors’ powers and regulating the way directors are remunerated as a way of achieving good corporate governance. The research discusses the South African corporate governance framework with particular focus on the legal and regulatory framework that seeks to regulate directors’ powers and remuneration. An evaluation of the extent to which the legal and regulatory framework restrains directors’ powers and curbs excessive remuneration is undertaken. Recommendations are then provided on how the existing framework can be improved to adequately and effectively regulate directors’ powers and remuneration so as to achieve good corporate governance. / Mercantile Law / LL.M.

This dissertation comprises two essays; the first of which investigates sovereign credit risk interdependencies, while the second examines the reaction of corporate credit risk to sovereign credit risk events. The first essay titled, Characterizing Sovereign Credit Risk Interdependencies: Evidence from the Credit Default Swap Market, investigates the relationships that exist among disparate sovereign credit default swaps (CDS) and the implications on sovereign creditworthiness. We exploit emerging market sovereign CDS spreads to examine the reaction of sovereign credit risk to changes in country-specific and global financial factors. Utilizing aVAR model fitted with DCC GARCH, we find that comovements of spreads generally exhibit significant time-varying correlations, suggesting that spreads are commonly affected by global financial factors. We construct 19 country-specific commodity price indexes to instrument for country terms of trade, obtaining significant results. Our commodity price indexes account for significant variation in CDS spreads, controlling for global financial factors. In addition, sovereign spreads are found to be related to U.S. stock market returns and the VIX volatility risk premium global factors. Notwithstanding, our results suggest that terms of trade and commodity prices have a statistically and economically significant effect on the sovereign credit risk of emerging economies. Our results apply broadly to investors, financial institutions and policy makers motivated to utilize profitable factors in global portfolios. The second essay is titled, Differential Stock Market Returns and Corporate Credit Risk of Listed Firms. This essay explores the information transfer effect of shocks to sovereign credit risk as captured in the CDS and stock market returns of cross-listed and local stock exchange listed firms. Based on changes in sovereign credit ratings and outlooks, we find that widening CDS spreads of firms imply that negative credit events dominate, whereas tightening spreads indicate positive events. Grouping firms into companies with cross-listings and those without, we compare the spillover effects and find strong evidence of contagion across equity and CDS markets in both company groupings. Our findings suggest that the sensitivity of corporate CDS prices to sovereign credit events is significantly larger for non-cross-listed firms. Possible reasons for this finding could in fact be due to cross-listed firms’ better access to external capital and less degree of asymmetric information, relative to non-cross-listed peers with lower level of investor recognition. Our results provide new evidence relevant to investors and financial institutions in determining sovereign credit risk germane to corporate financial risk, for the construction of debt and equity portfolios, and hedging considerations in today’s dynamic environment.

La thèse analyse le recours, en droit pénal, à la technique énumérative, particulièrement aux listes d'infractions. Cette figure légistique, jadis utilisée dans les conventions bilatérales d'extradition, est aujourd'hui fortement répandue pour délimiter le champ d'application de règles exceptionnelles. Le droit pénal international, le droit pénal français et le droit pénal italien sont simultanément interrogés sur leurs recours à la technique énumérative. L'intérêt de ce rapprochement est de fournir un corpus d'étude riche et varié mettant en jeu différents systèmes et ordres juridiques. La liste n'est pas considérée sous le seul aspect légistique ; sa fonction politique est également analysée. Opérant une sélection d'infractions soumises à un régime différencié, elle est au service d'une répression aggravée ou innovante.L'utilisation de cette technique législative est évaluée à l'aune des résultats escomptés d'une part et avérés d'autre part. On découvre que l'extension, qui est naturelle à toute énumération, appelle une appréciation tantôt critique, tantôt positive. On regrette la dénaturation des listes d'infractions par des rédacteurs qui en détournent la vocation première. L'évaluation se fonde sur les grands principes du droit pénal, à savoir les principes de légalité et de proportionnalité, dont le respect effectif constitue in fine le remède proposé à la dénaturation des listes d'infractions. / The thesis analyses the utilization of enumeration through the "listing of crimes" as a legislative technique in criminal law. Such a method of legislative drafting was used historically in bilateral conventions, specifically in the area of extradition, but nowadays it is heavily employed in criminal law to delimit the scope of application of exceptional rules. Aiming at providing a rich and solid base of knowledge in a domain that is rarely studied, this work reviews various systems and legal orders. As such, the resort to "listing of crimes" will be examined in international criminal law as well as in French and Italian criminal law. Being a tool to select a group of crimes in order to treat them differently than the common crimes, the listing technique serves the needs of aggravated or innovative repression. In that regard, the "listing" technique is not only considered as a means of legislative drafting, but its political function is also analyzed. The utilization of this technique is assessed in the light of the expected as well as the verified results. The extension of an existing "list of crimes", a normal consequence of resorting to enumeration, is found to be positive in some cases but more or less criticized in other cases where legislatures deviate from the original reason for which this drafting technique has been elaborated. Examined from the perspective of the fundamental principles of criminal law, namely the principle of legality and the principle of proportionality, the usage of this technique is appraised. The respect of these two primordial principles constitutes the ultimate solution proposed for any deviated resort to "listing of crimes" as a legislative tool.

A dupla listagem é uma estratégia que supostamente pode minimizar os efeitos de uma crise financeira internacional sobre as empresas. Este estudo buscou analisar se esta suposição é válida para companhias brasileiras, no contexto da crise de 2008. O problema de pesquisa que direcionou este estudo foi: A dupla listagem internacional fez com que os impactos da crise financeira de 2008 sobre determinados indicadores das empresas fossem compatíveis com os previstos na literatura e fossem diferentes daqueles sofridos pelas empresas domésticas? O objetivo foi analisar se a dupla listagem pode minimizar os efeitos gerados pela crise financeira de 2008 sobre determinados indicadores associados às empresas listadas. Os efeitos da crise de 2008 foram também comparados com os sofridos pelos papéis de empresas domésticas, sem dupla listagem. Os indicadores analisados foram: liquidez, volume, risco, retorno, custo de capital, alavancagem financeira, valor da empresa e concorrência. O teste de hipóteses foi utilizado para verificar se houve impacto significativo nas variáveis das empresas antes e após a crise financeira. Foram utilizadas para a amostra 37 empresas duplamente listadas (EDL) e 37 empresas domésticas (ED). Os resultados obtidos com o estudo sugerem que, durante uma crise financeira internacional, a maioria dos indicadores das EDL apresenta diferença significativa quando comparados os períodos pré e pós-crise. Os resultados das empresas domésticas foram semelhantes. Estes resultados estão em consonância com os apresentados nos estudos de Bailey, Chan e Chung (2000), Huang e Stoll (2001), Bin, Blenman e Chen (2004), mas contradizem os resultados de Huang e Stoll (2001). Em relação às diferenças entre os dois grupos de empresas Chandar, Patro e Yezegel (2009) afirmam que empresas com dupla listagem ficaram mais protegidas no período da crise; porém, Chira e Marciniak (2014) comprovaram que por serem duplamente listadas as empresas ficaram mais expostas durante as crises financeiras. As duas conclusões principais do estudo são que a crise afetou de forma semelhante os dois grupos de empresas e que, portanto, a dupla listagem não minimizou seus efeitos / The cross-listing is a strategy that supposedly can minimize the effects of an international financial crisis on businesses. This study sought to analyze if this supposition is valid for Brazilian companies, in the context of the crisis of 2008. The research problem that directed this study was: The international cross-listing has meant that the impact of the financial crisis of 2008 on certain indicators of the companies were compatible with the expected in the literature and were different from those experienced by domestic firms? The objective was to analyze if the cross-listing can minimize the effects generated by the 2008 financial crisis on certain indicators associated with listed companies. The effects of the 2008 crisis were also compared with those suffered by the papers of domestic companies, without cross-listing. The indicators analyzed were: liquidity, scale, risk and return, cost of capital, financial leverage, firm\'s value and competitors. The hypothesis testing was used to verify if there was significant impact on the variables of enterprises before and after the financial crisis. The hypothesis testing was used to verify if there was significant impact on the variables of enterprises before and after the financial crisis. They were used for the sample 37 cross-listed firms (CLF) and 37 domestic firms (DF). The results of the study suggest that, during an international financial crisis, most of the indicators of the CLF presents significant difference when compared to the periods before and after the crisis. The results of domestic companies were similar. These results are consistent with those presented in studies by Bailey, Chan and Chung (2000), Huang and Stoll (2001), Bin, Blenman and Chen (2004), but contradict the results by Huang and Stoll (2001). Regarding the differences between the two groups of companies Chandar, Patro and Yezegel (2009) state that companies with cross-listing were more protected in times of crisis; however, Chira and Marciniak (2014) confirmed that cross-listed companies were more exposed during the financial crisis. The two principal conclusions of the study are that the crisis affected in a similar manner both groups of companies and, therefore, the cross-listing did not minimize their effects

Denna studie presenterar ett branschspecifikt perspektiv som tillägg till forskningen angående faktorer som påverkar underprissättning i börsintroduktioner. Mätningarna har ämnat att undersöka om det föreligger branscher som har avvikande förstadagsavkastning i förhållande till genomsnittet för samtliga branscher. Studien ämnade också att undersöka om avkastningsvariationerna för börsintroduktioner kan förklaras av att bolag tillhör olika branscher. Det underliggande argumentet för hypoteserna byggs från tidigare forskning som stödjer att bolag inom olika branscher står inför olika förutsättningar vilket kan påverka värderingen inför en börsintroduktion. Som tillägg i studiens huvudsakliga forskningsproblem har även en nyare typ av mätning tillämpats för en djupare analys av börsintroduktioner. Denna mätning ger indikationer till investerare om vilken del av börsintroduktioner som genererar mest avkastning. Studiens mätningar visade att det inte rådde signifikanta avkastningsavvikelser för någon bransch i förhållande till genomsnittsavkastningen för samtliga branscher. Mätningarna kunde inte heller påvisa att variationer i förstadagsavkastning förklaras av att bolag tillhör olika branscher då förklaringsgraden för dessa variabler var låga. Däremot påvisades signifikanta skillnader i genomsnittliga avkastningar mellan specifika branscher i samband med studiens regression. Detta indikerar att ytterligare undersökningar borde göras i syfte att undersöka genomsnittliga förstadagsavkastningar mellan specifika branscher. / This paper adds an industry-specific perspective to the research concerning factors that affect underpricing in Initial Public Offerings. The measurements are intended to investigate whether there are industries that have deviating initial returns in relation to the average for all industries. The study also intends to examine whether the return variations for Initial Public Offerings can be explained by the fact that companies belong to different industries. The underlying argument for the hypotheses is built from previous research that supports that companies in different industries are faced with different conditions when they are to be valued for their Initial Public Offerings. In addition to the study's main research problems, a more recent type of measurement has also been applied for a deeper analysis of IPOs. The more recent type of measurement gives indications to investors over which time around an Initial Public Offerings the most money is earned. The study's measurements showed no significant return deviations for any industry in relation to the average return for all industries. Nor could it be demonstrated that variations in the first day return are explained with that companies belong to different industries since the degree of explanation for these variables were low. However, significant differences were found in average returns between specific industries in connection with the study's regression. This indicates that further investigations should be carried out to examining the average first day yield between specific industries.

O objetivo desse trabalho é analisar os efeitos do anúncio da dupla-listagem sobre o comportamento das ações no mercado doméstico das empresas que promoveram a listagem de ADRs. Os aspectos do comportamento analisados são os retornos anormais, os padrões de liquidez e volatilidade de preços. Foram analisados 22 programas de ADRs. Para cada uma das características analisadas foi utilizada uma diferente técnica empírica. A análise dos retornos anormais foi realizada através de um estudo de eventos para 5 diferentes janelas de estudos. A segunda técnica empírica utiliza-se do Índice de Negociabilidade, uma métrica desenvolvida pela Economática envolvendo o número de negócios diários e o volume diário transacionado da ação para medir potenciais alterações na liquidez das ações e, por fim, a terceira técnica utilizada utiliza a variância dos retornos como medida relevante de alteração de volatilidade dos mesmos. Embora com limitações, o estudo apresentou resultados em linha com parte da literatura de referência, demonstrando, excetuando-se pela janela de 5 dias pré e pós evento, que não é possível afirmar que os retornos das ações estudadas após o anúncio da emissão das ADRs são diferentes dos retornos apresentados pelas ações antes do anúncio. Com relação à análise de impacto sobre a liquidez das ações (INM 50d), foi possível rejeitar a hipótese de que o programa não causa impacto na liquidez com um nível de significância de 10% após comparar a liquidez das ações das empresas que emitiram ADRs com a liquidez das ações das empresas que compunham as carteiras dos grupos de controle. Finalmente, ao estudar a volatilidade das ações, foi possível observar que, para os testes-F realizados, das 22 ações testadas, 11 apresentaram resultados que permitem rejeitar a hipótese nula e, portanto, inferir que, para essas companhias, a variância dos retornos durante o período de 50 dias pós-evento foi diferente da variância dos retornos durante o período de 50 dias pré-evento dentro de um nível de significância de 5%. Para as outras 11 empresas testadas, não foi possível rejeitar a hipótese nula e, portanto, não foi possível concluir, para essas empresas, que o evento do anúncio da emissão de ADRs exerceu qualquer influência sobre a volatilidade dos retornos das ações subjacentes. Essa dissertação contribui para o entendimento mais aprofundado das consequências da emissão de ADRs. Tal processo, caro e demandante, expõe as companhias a diferentes níveis de regulação e exige um nível mais elevado de governança e, portanto, deve ser bem entendido por gestores, bancos e consultores. / The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effects of the cross-listing announcement on the behavior of the shares of Brazilian companies that enroll in ADR programs. The analyzed aspects of the domestic shares’ behavior are the abnormal returns, the liquidity levels and the volatility of the returns measured by their variance. 22 ADR programs were analyzed. For each of the characteristic studied, a different empirical technique was utilized. The abnormal returns analysis was conducted through an event study for 5 different study windows. The second empirical technique rely on the “Indice de Negociabilidade”, a metric developed by Economatica which involves the number of daily trades of the market and of the shares to measure potential changes in the liquidity levels of the shares. Finally, the third method used analyzes the variance of the returns of the domestic shares as relevant measure of volatility of returns. Although with limitations, the study presented results aligned with part of the reference studies and bibliography, demonstrating, except for the window of 5 days pre and post event, that it is not possible to assert that the returns of the shares analyzed after the announcement of the issuance of the ADRs are different from the returns presented by the shares before the announcement. With regard to the analysis of the impact on shares’ liquidity (INM 50d), it was possible to reject the hypothesis that the program does not impact liquidity with a significance level of 10% after comparing the liquidity of the shares of the companies that issued ADRs with the liquidity companies’ shares that composed the portfolios of the control groups. Finally, in studying volatility of the shares, it was possible to observe that for the F-tests performed, of the 22 shares tested, 11 presented results that allow the rejection of the null hypothesis and, therefore, infer that for these companies, the variance of returns during the 50-day period postevent was different from the variance of returns over the 50-day period previous to the event within a significance level of 5%. For the 11 other companies tested, it was not possible to reject the null hypothesis and therefore it was not possible to conclude, for these companies, that the event of the announcement of the issuance of ADRs had any influence on the volatility of the returns of the underlying shares. This dissertation contributes to a more in-depth understanding of the consequences of issuing ADRs. Such an expensive and demanding process exposes companies to different levels of regulation and requires a higher level of governance and therefore must be well understood by managers, banks and consultants.

This exploratory research study examines changes in food and foodways (food habits) among Arab migrant families in a small community in Tampa, Florida. It also explores how those families’ children may play a role in the process of change. Within this community, I conducted my research study at a private school, where I recruited families with children between the ages of eight and seventeen. In applying the ecological model of food and nutrition and the developmental niche theoretical framework, this research draws on qualitative methods, including structured interviews with parents; focus group discussion with parents; a food survey; and children’s focus groups that included engaging activities such as vignettes (role playing), free-listing and sorting, and one-day food menus. I used MAXQDA 18 software for qualitative data analysis, and the results show that the main factors aiding in post-migration food and foodways changes are time constraints (lifestyle), ingredients, and availability and accessibility of permissible food (halal). Parent did not mention their children as a main factor; however, they perceive influence of their children. Feeding practices such as rewarding, restriction, forcing, and family meals were emerging themes, and children express their agency around those practices. Children developed their own agency regarding food because of their social and physical environments. Older children perceived their influence on their families’ food and foodways by introducing food items to their own families.

<p>Physicians are supposed to act as sick-listing experts and they possess a role as gate-keepers to the social insurance system. Earlier studies have demonstrated variation between physicians and physician categories regarding sick-listing practice. In addition to the patient's disease and its severity, a number of other factors may be expected to influence sick-listing practice. Most earlier studies have focused on the patient's disease and his or her work place as cause for sickness absence.</p><p>The aims of this study were to analyse variation of sick-listing practice between physician categories and the influence of physician characteristics on sick-listing practice, the influence of structure, organisation and remuneration of health care on physician sick-listing practice, the influence of local structural factors in the community, and the influence of a legislative change on physician sick-listing practice.</p><p>The study was conducted as a cross-sectional epidemiological study of 57563 doctors’ certificates for sickness absence, received by 28 local social insurance offices in eight Swedish counties, during four months in 1995 and two months in 1996.</p><p>Patient age, sex, and diagnostic group, issuing physician category, presence of a hospital in the municipality, municipality population size and county were all significantly and independently correlated to number of net days of sick-listing. Physician characteristics, such as age, sex and degree of specialisation were all associated with number of net days of sick-listing. Physicians working in general practice issued significantly shorter periods of sick-listing than the other physician categories. Reimbursement of general practice and participation in financial co-operation with social insurance were significantly correlated to length of sickness episode issued by general practitioners. A legislative change performed during the study period was associated with small effects in sick-listing practice.</p><p>In conclusion, a number of factors other than disease and disease severity and other patient and physician linked factors were found to influence the variation of sick-listing practice. It appears that the closer the influencing factor was to the place were the decision was taken, i.e., the patient-physician consultation, the higher the impact on the decision appeared to be.</p>

Physicians are supposed to act as sick-listing experts and they possess a role as gate-keepers to the social insurance system. Earlier studies have demonstrated variation between physicians and physician categories regarding sick-listing practice. In addition to the patient's disease and its severity, a number of other factors may be expected to influence sick-listing practice. Most earlier studies have focused on the patient's disease and his or her work place as cause for sickness absence. The aims of this study were to analyse variation of sick-listing practice between physician categories and the influence of physician characteristics on sick-listing practice, the influence of structure, organisation and remuneration of health care on physician sick-listing practice, the influence of local structural factors in the community, and the influence of a legislative change on physician sick-listing practice. The study was conducted as a cross-sectional epidemiological study of 57563 doctors’ certificates for sickness absence, received by 28 local social insurance offices in eight Swedish counties, during four months in 1995 and two months in 1996. Patient age, sex, and diagnostic group, issuing physician category, presence of a hospital in the municipality, municipality population size and county were all significantly and independently correlated to number of net days of sick-listing. Physician characteristics, such as age, sex and degree of specialisation were all associated with number of net days of sick-listing. Physicians working in general practice issued significantly shorter periods of sick-listing than the other physician categories. Reimbursement of general practice and participation in financial co-operation with social insurance were significantly correlated to length of sickness episode issued by general practitioners. A legislative change performed during the study period was associated with small effects in sick-listing practice. In conclusion, a number of factors other than disease and disease severity and other patient and physician linked factors were found to influence the variation of sick-listing practice. It appears that the closer the influencing factor was to the place were the decision was taken, i.e., the patient-physician consultation, the higher the impact on the decision appeared to be.

本研究係探討強制採用國際財務報導準則(IFRS)對在美國掛牌上市之外國企業，其應計項目異常現象之影響。實證結果顯示，在美掛牌上市且採用IFRS之外國企業，在2005年後裁決性應計項目之異常報酬顯著降低。此外，裁決性應計項目之負向報酬預測力亦顯著降低。由此可知，無論美國未來是否採用IFRS，根據本結論，其餘各國強制採用IFRS後，透過提供更高品質之財務報導及降低資訊落差，仍能為美國投資者帶來效益。 / I examine whether the mispricing of accruals among foreign firms cross-listed in the U.S. are affected by the mandatory adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Consistent with the impact of information environment on the accrual anomaly documented in the literature, I find significant reductions in the annual abnormal returns and in the negative return predictability of discretionary accruals among cross-listers from IFRS adopted countries after IFRS adoption. The evidence implies that irrespective of whether the U.S. adopts IFRS, the mandatory IFRS adoption elsewhere can still benefit U.S. investors by providing financial reporting with high quality and reducing their information disadvantages.