In the first chapter of this dissertation, I hypothesize that several non-tax-driven benefits of debt induce REITs managers to issue debt despite no apparent tax-driven benefit. Several methodologies and tests applied in capital structure literature are introduced to the literature of REITs capital structure. First, I investigate how the market prices leverage in absence of tax-deductibility benefit. Then, I diagnose the relative importance of several non-tax-driven benefits of leverage in deriving the capital structure decisions of REITs. Third, I conduct a thought investment experiment with debt-restricted vs. non-restricted REITs portfolios. I find weak evidence that leverage, by itself, creates value. Nevertheless, I find strong evidence that during financial crisis debt-restricted REITs perform better than non-restricted ones. Also I find evidence that lends support to the pecking order story of leverage. I conclude that REITs managers issue debt mainly to avoid issuing equity and to maximize wealth of existing shareholders. The second chapter addresses corporate diversification discount. I present and test a hypothesis that diversifiers exchange immediate diversification discount with future value gain attributed to unanticipated financial and strategic advantages of diversification. Two implications of this hypothesis are tested in this dissertation. First, the initial diversification discount found in static methodologies should be attenuated in a dynamic analysis. Second, diversifier's value evolution patterns are driven by the materialization of certain financial and strategic efficiencies. The overall results indicate that there is value recovery over time. Diversifiers' performance and value evolution is dynamically linked to synchronous improvements in market power, internal capital market activities, and cost efficiencies. Further, consistent with current evidence in diversification literature, related diversifiers outperform unrelated diversifiers. Moreover, related diversifiers witness faster value recovery relative to unrelated diversifiers.

e-Learning has been developed for a decade in Taiwan, where rapidly kept pace with advanced countries. Many industries create e-Learning best practice and become benchmark in a leading way in Greater China. Taiwan government plays a critical role to support digital learning development through counseling, project import, quality certification system, technology transfer and R&D subsidies. In this study, the author who has been a technical worker in an e-Learning company for years observes its development and improvement to analysis the key points in each stage of development. Furthermore, the case study is about the integration of group enterprises and its strategy corresponds to each stage to research the future of digital learning industrial chain development. The e-Learning industry is both competitive and cooperative. Every company¡¦s products are competing, but they also need to integrate with each other before they can offer clients the solutions and right services. Therefore, the study focuses on whether the group enterprises take advantage of its industrial value chain integration to raise the position and compete with the other companies to make the maximum performance. There is also hoped that the results of the study will provide the reference of success possibility for digital learning or new industry.

Mergers, acquisition, and unemployment have been on the increase in South Africa since 1994 when South Africa became a democratic country. Unemployment is a major challenge facing the South African economy. International researchers have found that in most countries where mergers and acquisitions are encouraged, employees of the acquired companies tend to lose employment in years subsequent to those mergers. This research paper aimed at establishing whether South African employees had similar experiences as those overseas. Altogether 42 listed companies that have been acquired in the period between 1996 and 2008 for the value exceeding R500 million were used for the research. An additional 11 companies not undergoing mergers were also selected. The outcome was that acquired companies negatively affect employment. These companies are able to grow their businesses but not in correlation to growing their workforce. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

As empresas familiares geralmente são conhecidas como empresas com propriedade detida e gestão exercida por pelo menos um membro de uma família empresária. Historicamente, essas empresas foram um objeto pouco estudado pela academia, apesar de sua importância. Esta dissertação tem como objetivo geral analisar os efeitos da propriedade familiar sobre os eventos de fusão e aquisição, por meio da investigação do efeito da propriedade familiar sobre a propensão a realizar fusões e aquisições, do efeito da participação percentual da família no capital sobre essa propensão e da comparação do retorno anormal acumulado de empresas familiares e não familiares após eventos de fusão e aquisição. Para testar as hipóteses de pesquisa foram utilizadas as técnicas estatísticas Probit e regressão linear simples. A população de estudo foi composta por companhias abertas brasileiras com registro em bolsa de valores. Com base nessa população construiu-se uma amostra de 216 empresas. O período de investigação incluiu os anos de 2007 a 2011. Os resultados encontrados confirmaram a hipótese de que as empresas familiares são menos propensas a realizar fusões e aquisições do que as empresas não familiares. Esses resultados são relevantes na medida em que confirmaram a única constatação equivalente disponível na literatura. Contudo, a participação percentual da família no capital não mostrou nenhuma relação com a propensão a realizar fusões e aquisições. Por fim, os resultados não mostraram evidências para suportar a hipótese de que o retorno anormal acumulado após eventos de fusão ou aquisição seja superior para as empresas familiares. / Family firms are generally known as companies whith property held and management exercised by at least one member of an entrepreneur family. Historically, these companies have been an object little studied by the academy, despite their importance. This work aims to analyze the effects of family ownership on merger and acquisition events, by investigating the effect of family ownership on the propensity to carry out mergers and acquisitions, the effect of family\'s percentual participation on this propensity and the comparison between the abnormal return of family firms and non-family firms after merger and acquisition events. To test the research hypotheses the statistics techniques Probit and simple linear regression were used. The study population was composed by Brazilian public companies listed in the stock exchange. Based on this population a sample of 216 companies was built. The research period included the years 2007 to 2011. The results confirmed the hypothesis that family firms are less likely to conduct mergers and acquisitions than non-family firms. These results are relevant to the extent that they confirmed the unique equivalent conclusion available in the literature. However, the family\'s percentual ownership had no relationship with the propensity to carry out mergers and acquisitions. Finally, the results showed no evidence that the cumulative abnormal return after merger or acquisition events is higher for family firms.

In this dissertation, I try to advance our understanding of how managerial discretion and corporate financial flexibility affect various corporate outcomes such as failure, excessive (sub-optimal) continuation, firm growth and investment, in three novel ways. First, I show that the empirical effect of finance is not merely a misspecified real influence but rather that the financial structure of firms matter for firm growth and investment where the real effects of finance arise out of the imperfect substitutability between internal funding and external private credit. Second, using managerial mergers and acquisitions (M&A) investment decisions as an identification mechanism, I find that managerial discretion combined with corporate financial flexibility may lead to distortions in corporate investment and financing policies, and those distortions cost the various stakeholders of the firm dearly. Furthermore, using another sample of distressed firms worth more dead than alive, I, along with a co-author, show that most of these firms continue operations long after the optimal exit time. The failure to liquidate costs the typical sample firm over three years 8.7% of its assets in lost earnings relative to the industry median. Finally, I find that capital market does not fully internalize the costs associated with managerial sub-optimal behaviors in the short run. Although the market disciplines managerial sub-optimal behaviors in the long run, the market disciplinary mechanisms may not be swift enough to forestall falling values for the various stakeholders of the firm. Succinctly, the findings in this dissertation suggest that managerial discretion and corporate financial flexibility entail real consequences for various firm dynamics. The traditional line of argument, ``Blame It on the Market," may not be well grounded, and firms need to carefully examine their investments and financing policies in good times to cushion against systematic shocks in bad times.

In this dissertation, I try to advance our understanding of how managerial discretion and corporate financial flexibility affect various corporate outcomes such as failure, excessive (sub-optimal) continuation, firm growth and investment, in three novel ways. First, I show that the empirical effect of finance is not merely a misspecified real influence but rather that the financial structure of firms matter for firm growth and investment where the real effects of finance arise out of the imperfect substitutability between internal funding and external private credit. Second, using managerial mergers and acquisitions (M&A) investment decisions as an identification mechanism, I find that managerial discretion combined with corporate financial flexibility may lead to distortions in corporate investment and financing policies, and those distortions cost the various stakeholders of the firm dearly. Furthermore, using another sample of distressed firms worth more dead than alive, I, along with a co-author, show that most of these firms continue operations long after the optimal exit time. The failure to liquidate costs the typical sample firm over three years 8.7% of its assets in lost earnings relative to the industry median. Finally, I find that capital market does not fully internalize the costs associated with managerial sub-optimal behaviors in the short run. Although the market disciplines managerial sub-optimal behaviors in the long run, the market disciplinary mechanisms may not be swift enough to forestall falling values for the various stakeholders of the firm. Succinctly, the findings in this dissertation suggest that managerial discretion and corporate financial flexibility entail real consequences for various firm dynamics. The traditional line of argument, ``Blame It on the Market," may not be well grounded, and firms need to carefully examine their investments and financing policies in good times to cushion against systematic shocks in bad times.

This study investigates the effect of board networks on M&A transactions. I select 331 samples of M&A transactions among U.S. Fortunate 500 companies which are also U.S. public companies from 2002 to 2011. In addition, I use definition of board networks by Cai & Sevilir (2012) to identify whether there exist board networks in each sample. About research design, first I use event study methodology to estimates cumulative abnormal returns (CAR), and then examine the relationship between the board networks and M&A performance through regression analysis. Empirical analysis results are as follows:¡G 1. M&A announcement brings significantly negative abnormal returns to the U.S. Fortunate 500 companies. 2. The board networks will decrease the M&A performance for the U.S. Fortunate 500 companies. 3. The board networks are not efficient information channels for the U.S. Fortunate 500 companies.

As empresas familiares geralmente são conhecidas como empresas com propriedade detida e gestão exercida por pelo menos um membro de uma família empresária. Historicamente, essas empresas foram um objeto pouco estudado pela academia, apesar de sua importância. Esta dissertação tem como objetivo geral analisar os efeitos da propriedade familiar sobre os eventos de fusão e aquisição, por meio da investigação do efeito da propriedade familiar sobre a propensão a realizar fusões e aquisições, do efeito da participação percentual da família no capital sobre essa propensão e da comparação do retorno anormal acumulado de empresas familiares e não familiares após eventos de fusão e aquisição. Para testar as hipóteses de pesquisa foram utilizadas as técnicas estatísticas Probit e regressão linear simples. A população de estudo foi composta por companhias abertas brasileiras com registro em bolsa de valores. Com base nessa população construiu-se uma amostra de 216 empresas. O período de investigação incluiu os anos de 2007 a 2011. Os resultados encontrados confirmaram a hipótese de que as empresas familiares são menos propensas a realizar fusões e aquisições do que as empresas não familiares. Esses resultados são relevantes na medida em que confirmaram a única constatação equivalente disponível na literatura. Contudo, a participação percentual da família no capital não mostrou nenhuma relação com a propensão a realizar fusões e aquisições. Por fim, os resultados não mostraram evidências para suportar a hipótese de que o retorno anormal acumulado após eventos de fusão ou aquisição seja superior para as empresas familiares. / Family firms are generally known as companies whith property held and management exercised by at least one member of an entrepreneur family. Historically, these companies have been an object little studied by the academy, despite their importance. This work aims to analyze the effects of family ownership on merger and acquisition events, by investigating the effect of family ownership on the propensity to carry out mergers and acquisitions, the effect of family\'s percentual participation on this propensity and the comparison between the abnormal return of family firms and non-family firms after merger and acquisition events. To test the research hypotheses the statistics techniques Probit and simple linear regression were used. The study population was composed by Brazilian public companies listed in the stock exchange. Based on this population a sample of 216 companies was built. The research period included the years 2007 to 2011. The results confirmed the hypothesis that family firms are less likely to conduct mergers and acquisitions than non-family firms. These results are relevant to the extent that they confirmed the unique equivalent conclusion available in the literature. However, the family\'s percentual ownership had no relationship with the propensity to carry out mergers and acquisitions. Finally, the results showed no evidence that the cumulative abnormal return after merger or acquisition events is higher for family firms.

This thesis consists of four essays or chapters that investigate acquisitions made by UK firms. The main focus of the research is the acquirers’ abnormal returns that are associated with the announcement of domestic and cross-border acquisitions. The research provides empirical evidence on some of the significant issues that have been raised in the literature, particularly focusing on measuring operating performance for domestic and cross-border acquisitions over the long-term. The first essay investigates acquirers’ announcement abnormal returns for acquisitions that have been conducted by UK firms, either domestically or internationally. The principal finding is that acquisitions of domestic firms appear to generate larger returns, whereas acquisitions classified as cross-border do not appear to add value to the acquiring firm. The second essay examines the characteristics of the deal, and how these impact the acquirers’ returns for both domestic and cross-border acquisitions. The characteristics considered are the method of payment, the industrial relationship between the acquirer and the target, the relative size of the acquirer to the target, the type of the target firm and the Book-to-Market ratio of the acquiring firm. The third essay investigates the directors’ overconfidence and its impact on the acquirers’ returns. Directors’ overconfidence is examined depending on the self-attribution bias by distinguishing between the abnormal returns to frequent and infrequent acquirers. The fourth essay examines insider trading via studying the relationship between the private investment decisions of the directors and the firm’s investment in respect of acquisitions it makes over the announcement date of the acquisition. Two different methods are proposed to classify directors into optimistic and neutral based on these personal portfolio trades. The fifth empirical chapter focuses on domestic and cross-border acquisitions with public targets, and studies their synergy gains and operating performance for a 3-year period after the announcement year. The aim is to try to understand what these firms gain from such acquisitions, given the apparent absence of a gain in value at the announcement of the investment. It is essential to add that the importance of this thesis comes from shedding a light on the role of acquisition activity in UK market within last 10 years domestically and internationally. Furthermore, providing a significant advice to firms not to allocate their capital in acquisitions with public targets because there is not benefit from investing in these types of investment.

"Mémoire présenté à la Faculté des études supérieures en vue de l'obtention du grade de Maîtrise en droit des affaires" / Il nous appartiendra au fin de ce mémoire, d'observer comment les autorités de la concurrence communautaires, américaines et canadiennes assurent la régulation des pratiques anticoncurrentielles prenant leur source ou produisant leur effets au sein de leur marché. Il conviendra donc à cet égard de se pencher sur les spécificités de chacun de ces régimes juridiques, afin d'étudier les similitudes et différences existantes quant à la définition de la notion de marché du marché pertinent, la qualification juridique des différentes infractions (ententes ou cartels - abus de position dominantes ou monopolisation concentration d'entreprise ou fusionnement ou même mergers) ainsi que la procédure permettant à ces différentes autorités d'autoriser, d'amender ou d'interdire ces différentes pratiques. Il conviendra par la suite de démontrer comment et sur quel fondement chacun de ces systèmes peuvent avoir une interaction entre eux en élargissant notamment leur champ de compétence respectif par le recours à une application extraterritoriale de leurs lois antitrust. Ce mémoire aura également pour objectif de se pencher sur les tentatives des différents législations étudiées pour arriver à une harmonisation de leurs normes et pour favoriser une plus ample coopération internationale. Pour conclure il conviendra de faire le point sur les travaux visant à la mise en place d'un droit antitrust international qui pourrait selon les cas reposer soit sur un traité international, soit un code multilatérale ayant trait aux pratiques restrictives à la concurrence. / The purpose of this memoir is to observe how the antitrust authorities of the European Union, the United States of America and the Canada are controlling and enforcing cartels, monopolizations or attempts of monopolizations and mergers and acquisitions which have sometimes the effect of restricting the competition in a specifie market. In order to do so, the differences and similarities between this three different antitrust legislation will be highlight especially those concerning the definition of the relevant market, the qualification and the nature of aIl this practices and the process by which, each authority permit, amend or fordid the supposed infringement. In a second time this memoir will have to demonstrate the basis of the extraterritorial application of their nationallegislation by national antitrust authorities, on foreign market or foreign company. Finally the last goal of this memoir is to take stock on evolution of an international antitrust legislation inspired by a treaty or a multilateral guide, which be bounding for each actor of the economic process.