This paper examines the IPO pricing processes of two different markets, each of which employs bookbuilding methods for marketing the IPO shares. For each market we investigate two questions: Does bookbuilding serve mainly as a method for distributing shares, or also as a means for gathering information? And, to what extent do underwriters respond in IPO pricing to any information that they obtain through bookbuilding? We find that a direct comparison of these two markets sheds light on the bookbuilding process in each. For Nasdaq IPOs we find evidence consistent with informational rents being earned by investors for providing information during bookbuilding. On the Neuer Markt there is no such evidence. Instead, we find evidence consistent with rents being paid for information that helps underwriters to set indicative price ranges prior to bookbuilding. The two markets differ further in how underwriters respond to information in pricing IPOs. For the Neuer Markt, this response is severly constrained since underwriters do not set prices above the price ranges. We estimate the total cost of this "restriction" to be approximately one billion Euros for our sample of IPOs. While there are no such apparent restrictions for Nasdaq, we show that also on this market IPO prices are "sticky" in that underwriters respond less to information received later in the pricing process. / Series: Working Papers SFB "Adaptive Information Systems and Modelling in Economics and Management Science"

No abstract available / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / Mercantile Law / unrestricted

Izapa, a Late Preclassic regional center located in southern Mexico, was heavily excavated by the New World Archaeological Foundation from 1961-1965. However, much remains unclear regarding the details of those excavations, specifically in regards to Group B. In this thesis I hope to present important details derived from those excavations in a way that is meaningful and useful. The purpose of this thesis project is to: (1) reconstruct the excavation history of Izapa Group B, (2) to provide a reconstruction of Group B's architectural history as revealed through the excavations, and (3) to identify and present descriptions of the contents and context of the plaza's numerous burials and offerings. Group B, containing the oldest known constructions at Izapa, is a special place and vital to understanding the growth and development of Izapa as a regional center.

This dissertation consists of two essays on corporate finance. Essay one examines whether corporate governance affects firm performance after capital investments. I find that among firms with weak corporate governance, those with high abnormal capital investments have significantly lower stock performance than those with low abnormal capital investments. In addition, a significant portion of the difference in abnormal stock performance between the two subgroups occurs around earnings announcements. In contrast, the level of abnormal capital investments is not related to subsequent stock performance or earnings announcement returns at firms with strong corporate governance. These findings indicate that corporate governance structure enhances firm value by mitigating the over-investment problem. Essay two examines how insider trading activity prior to seasoned equity offerings (SEOs) is related to subsequent investment, operating, and financing decisions of the issuer. I find that SEO firms with more abnormal insider sales issue more seasoned equity, hold more cash and increase dividend payouts more. They also perform more poorly. Following the SEO, these firms also issue less equity and the effects of the SEO on their capital structures gradually reverses. These findings suggest that SEO firms with more abnormal insider sales are more likely to have overpriced stock, while those with less abnormal insider sales are more likely to have good investment opportunities. Insider trading activity prior to the SEO provides valuable information about the firm’s incentives to issue seasoned equity and help to predict the real activities of the issuer following the SEO. / text

The aim of this study is to present venture creation as an alternative form of alleviating poverty and contributing positively to the economic growth of every African government. This study draws to the attention of policy-makers, the importance of venture creation in emerging economies. The author goes on further to highlights the challenges with the current models used for financing/funding new ventures, in an emerging African economy. The objective of this paper is to also highlight what needs to be done by policy-makers, to create a thriving economic environment for emerging entrepreneurs. This study seeks to highlight some of the prospects, as well as some of the impediments, experienced by the venture capital industry and start-up enterprises. The environment in which the creation of new ventures operates under in emerging African markets is reviewed, and the exit of those enterprises when they mature and graduate from a small, private company, to a publicly held company - through an Initial Public Offering (IPO) process, is examined. The benefits of exiting these ventures through an IPO, versus the more aptly applied private placement exit method, are also discussed. The impact that the behaviour and psychology of investing have on the investment trends in African economies is also discussed. The author used the qualitative research methodology to achieve the results presented in this paper. The outcomes of the study are outlined in chapter four of this paper. The respondents to the survey indicated the importance of the venture capital sector and the critical role that policy makers should be playing. There were no clear responses around the human behaviour in determining the suitable exit platform. What came out clearly in this study; was that each region in the African economy will use a different exit platform driven mainly by the economic environment. The author goes on further to conclude on the outcomes of the study and suggest further research on the topic on venture capital and initial public offerings. The participants who responded to the survey agreed with the literature reviewed, in particular around the adequate form of financing for starting up new enterprises.

The research questions investigated are: 1. Are the expected post-issue fractional holdings of the directors and officers, venture capitalists and institutions signals of firm value? 2. Are the expected post-issue fractional holdings of the directors and officers, venture capitalists and institutions signals of underpricing? and 3. Are the directors and officers, venture capitalists and institutions monitors of IPO investments? The signaling theory developed by Grinblatt and Hwang (1989) (GH) and the monitoring theory for IPO investments have been used to develop the hypotheses for this dissertation. Four factors make my methodology unique. These factors are: 1. I apply and test the GH IPO signaling model over a unique data set collected from the IPO prospectuses, proxy statements and annual reports; 2. I disaggregate the expected post-issue holdings of the different groups of pre-issue blockholders and insiders and hypothesizes that these individual groups represents signals of firm value and underpricing; 3. I hypothesize that these groups, in aggregate and separately, monitor IPO investments over the long term; And 4. I develop signaling and monitoring hypotheses to make predictions at the two stages of the IPO. The results show that firm value is positively related to the level of underpricing, at a given variance of the firms cash flows; the level of underpricing is positively related to the holdings of the directors and officers as a group and the aggregate of the directors and officers, VCs and institutions, at given variances of the firm's cash flows; the firm value is not related to the level of underpricing, at a given level of capital outlay and holdings of either the aggregate blockholders, directors and officers, VCs or institutions. For the monitoring hypotheses, the results show that the long-run buy-and-hold-returns are positively related to the investment bank reputation and the gross spread. Also, the results do not support the theories that the holdings of the VCs, institutions and the aggregate holdings of the different groups, represent the level of monitoring. Therefore, these groups do not increase the value of IPO investments over the long-run.

<p>Companies<strong> </strong>that seek to venture into providing services in addition to providing products have many business issues to consider as there are many differences between providing service and product offerings.  One factor that needs to be considered in service offerings is the aspect of time, as services are offered for an extended period of time, creating a unique type of relationship between the customer and the service provider.  With product offerings, the point of sale is usually the end of the product provider and customer relationship.  The added time aspect in the service offering brings with it the issues of uncertainty as service contracts are made for a certain period of time in the future, where things are unknown.</p><p> </p><p>This thesis looked at types of uncertainties important to service offerings, especially in the manufacturing industry.  The uncertainties have an impact on how service offering contracts are constructed, as they can affect the profit and costs of the service provider. The three types of uncertainties that were examined were product malfunction uncertainty, service delivery uncertainty, and customer requirement uncertainty. Using these three types of uncertainty, mathematical models were constructed to represent the cost and revenue of different contract types. The different contract types were identified through a case study with a product manufacturer in Sweden.  Different probability distributions were selected to model the three types of uncertainty based on a literature review.  The mathematical models were then used to construct a software program, the uncertainty simulator tool, which service contract designers can use to model how uncertainties affect cost and revenue in their contracts.</p>

Companies that seek to venture into providing services in addition to providing products have many business issues to consider as there are many differences between providing service and product offerings.  One factor that needs to be considered in service offerings is the aspect of time, as services are offered for an extended period of time, creating a unique type of relationship between the customer and the service provider.  With product offerings, the point of sale is usually the end of the product provider and customer relationship.  The added time aspect in the service offering brings with it the issues of uncertainty as service contracts are made for a certain period of time in the future, where things are unknown.   This thesis looked at types of uncertainties important to service offerings, especially in the manufacturing industry.  The uncertainties have an impact on how service offering contracts are constructed, as they can affect the profit and costs of the service provider. The three types of uncertainties that were examined were product malfunction uncertainty, service delivery uncertainty, and customer requirement uncertainty. Using these three types of uncertainty, mathematical models were constructed to represent the cost and revenue of different contract types. The different contract types were identified through a case study with a product manufacturer in Sweden.  Different probability distributions were selected to model the three types of uncertainty based on a literature review.  The mathematical models were then used to construct a software program, the uncertainty simulator tool, which service contract designers can use to model how uncertainties affect cost and revenue in their contracts.

Title: A quantitative study of the attitudes towards loyalty programs among students   Course/ course code: 2FE16E – Independent degree project of the marketing program with integrated method, 30 hp   Authors: Sjöberg, Amelie 880410; Svensson, Daniel 890329   Background: In today’s global market, companies strive to gain a competitive position and attract as many customers as possible. One of the most important factors within the retail industry is customer loyalty. Loyalty program have become a common tool for companies to carry out in order to attract and keep customers and make them loyal to the company. However, little research has been conducted to understand what attitude customers have towards the programs. Are they really that value adding and effective for customers as companies think they are?   Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe students’ attitudes towards loyalty programs within the grocery retail industry. To get an understanding of what offerings that are attractive within a membership in a loyalty program, as well as to see if a membership affects the behavior of customers.    Method: This quantitative study has been carried out by a deductive approach with questionnaires as the data collection method. The research design has been based on a descriptive design.                                                                                      Conclusion: The study found that students have favorable attitudes towards the usage of loyalty programs. Further, the attitudes toward offering segmented loyalty programs were also favorable from students. The study also found signs that indicated that membership inICA’s loyalty program, lead to an increase in frequency of store visits. Additionally the research also found that student’s value economical benefits as the most attractive offerings in a loyalty program, such as discounts and personally customized discount.                                                                  Keywords:    Attitude, loyalty program, frequency, segmentation, offerings, ICA.

Prior researches find that advertising is the most common marketing strategy and also one of the most effective way to influence consumers¡¦ purchasing decisions. On the other hand, innovation plays an important role to enhance competitiveness of firms. However, little attention has been paid to the relationship among advertising, innovation and firm values in the existing literature. The main purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of pre-IPO advertising and innovation on the level of IPO underpricing. Furthermore, this study examines whether market states influence the impact of pre-IPO marketing expenditures and innovation on IPO underpricing levels. The empirical results show: (1) without considering market states, pre-IPO advertising expenditures significantly reduce IPO underpricing levels; (2) without considering market states, pre-IPO innovation activities significantly increase IPO underpricing levels; (2) pre-IPO innovation activities significantly increase IPO underpricing levels; (3) pre-IPO advertising expenditures cannot significantly reduce IPO underpricing levels in bull markets; and (4) pre-IPO advertising expenditures can significantly reduce IPO underpricing levels in bear and correction markets; and (5) pre-IPO innovation activities significantly increase IPO underpricing levels in bull, bear and correction markets.