This study provides empirical evidence of a positive relationship between operating leverage and systematic risk of the U.S. airline industry. This paper contributes to the literature related to operating leverage by developing a method to estimate the degree of operating leverage using publicly available information on aircraft capacity and operating expenses of the publicly listed airlines. The results suggest that, holding other financial characteristics constant, a rise in operating leverage of an airline is associated with an increase in systematic risk as perceived by the investors. In order to achieve desirable levels of operating leverage, the airlines are advised to contemplate decisions on capacity adjustments and operating expenses management in reactions to changes in economic conditions.

This dissertation investigates the association of operating leverage with stock returns, the value premium, and the profitability premium. Results in the first essay support the hypothesis that operating leverage is related to stock returns and the value premium across the sampled countries. Results are robust to cross-country differences, typical controls, multiple definitions of operating and financial leverage, and while controlling for the endogeneity of operating and financial leverage. This suggests that the rational explanation for the presence of the value premium lies in the underlying risk exposure of fixed asset risk of operating leverage which is expressed through the value premium. Results further support the hypothesis of strengthening labor protection increasing operating leverage. In turn, increased labor protection marginally negatively associated with the value premium, suggesting that labor protection reduces the value premium through financial leverage. However, because operating and financial leverage are oppositely affected by employment protection, the joint effect of this association may be cumulatively washed out in estimating value premium with employment protection legislation. Results in the second essay further support the hypothesis that operating leverage is related to stock returns and additionally support the hypothesis of operating leverage being associated to the profitability premium. The profit premium tends to be insignificant when generated within operating leverage portfolios, and the profit premium only tends to be significantly positive in the higher operating leverage portfolios. Furthermore, once operating leverage and profitability are orthogonalized from one another, the estimated coefficient of profitability is reduced by a magnitude of roughly 10. These results provide evidence in support of the profit premium being based on the riskiness of the firm through operating leverage, and therefore the profit premium is a rationally priced risk factor in stock returns. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2018. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

A debate exists regarding the effect of labor protection laws on labor costs. Whether labor protection laws increase or decrease labor costs has implications for risk exposure of affected firms. If the labor costs go up, all else the same, the firm’s breakeven point goes up. Facing increased business risk, the firm must resort to strategies that inhibit the risk exposure, especially if the higher labor costs cannot be transferred, without adverse consequences, to consumers. The strategies include reigning in, if at all possible, operating leverage and financial leverage. Conversely, if the labor costs decrease, a firm’s business risk declines, and the firm has options to increase its operating leverage and/or financial leverage, lower the product price, or do nothing. By examining the Chinese firms’ reactions to the 2007 labor protection laws, we draw conclusions about laws’ directional impact on labor costs. We find that Chinese firms attempt to reduce business risk by lessening labor intensity, and labor-intensive firms are able to reduce the labor intensity at a significantly higher rate than capital-intensive firms. Neither group is able to significantly reduce asset tangibility. We also find that all firms significantly reduce their financial leverages. Consequently, firms’ investments, as measured by sales growth, decline in the post-reform period. These results are consistent with the cost of labor increasing as a result of the stricter labor protection laws.

This thesis investigates the theoretical and empirical relationships between a firm’s R&D investment intensity and the systematic risk of its common stock in Sweden. This is done by examining 38 Swedish firms between 1997 and 2005. An overlapping set of 5-year window is chosen to apply to calculate the variables of the samples. In this thesis, three factors are introduced as a proxy of main constituents of systematic risk: intrinsic business risk, degree of financial leverage and degree of operating leverage. And we use these three constituents to analysis the relationship between R&D investment and systematic risk. The results from Monte Carlos simulations and correlation analysis of our sample show that, in Sweden, firms with higher R&D intensity do face higher stock price volatility in the stock market. At the same time, we attempt to test the relationship among R&D and systematic risk’s three constituents, but find that R&D intensive firms have more financial leverage which is opposite to our expect, which might due to the shortage of data and limitation of our sample selection, and R&D intensive firms do not have obvious relations directly with intrinsic business risk, degree of financial leverage or degree of operating leverage.

Previous research on the tradeoff between operating and financial leverage has come to contradicting results, thus, there is no consensus of opinion regarding van Horne’s tradeoff theory. This study investigates whether there is support for the tradeoff theory on a sample of 347 Swedish, listed firms. Unlike previous studies, we employ a method with direct measures using guidance provided by Penman (2012), rather than using the more common degree of operating and financial leverage as proxies. During the time period 2006-2011 we find a statistically significant negative relationship of 0.214 using an OLS regression with financial leverage as the dependent variable, giving support for the tradeoff theory. The adjusted explanatory power (adjusted R2) is however rather low, despite adding four control variables, reaching only 7.4%.

<p>This thesis investigates the theoretical and empirical relationships between a firm’s R&D investment intensity and the systematic risk of its common stock in Sweden. This is done by examining 38 Swedish firms between 1997 and 2005. An overlapping set of 5-year window is chosen to apply to calculate the variables of the samples.</p><p>In this thesis, three factors are introduced as a proxy of main constituents of systematic risk: intrinsic business risk, degree of financial leverage and degree of operating leverage. And we use these three constituents to analysis the relationship between R&D investment and systematic risk.</p><p>The results from Monte Carlos simulations and correlation analysis of our sample show that, in Sweden, firms with higher R&D intensity do face higher stock price volatility in the stock market. At the same time, we attempt to test the relationship among R&D and systematic risk’s three constituents, but find that R&D intensive firms have more financial leverage which is opposite to our expect, which might due to the shortage of data and limitation of our sample selection, and R&D intensive firms do not have obvious relations directly with intrinsic business risk, degree of financial leverage or degree of operating leverage.</p>

Much has been written during the past decade to explain the relationship between financial and operating leverage and stock-price volatility. However, the relationship between combined leverage and stock-price volatility has yet to be fully explored. Mandelker and Rhee's (MR) recent study uses both operating and financial leverage in a regression (equivalent to the traditional total leverage—DTL) and shows that both types of leverage are positively associated with common stock betas. Huffman recently demonstrated that there are interactions between operating leverage and financial leverage. Therefore, MR's model could be oversimplified. This study examines the relationship between firms' combined leverage and their stock-price volatility. The study also examines industry and industry growth to see if the relationship is influenced by these factors. The question is whether DOCL is a better risk measure than DTL and whether there is an interaction between operating and financial leverage. The inferences that can be drawn from the study's results are as follows: (a) Stock risk is a function of combined leverage; (b) Industry significantly influences the relationship between stock risk and DOCL; (c) High growth increases the relationship between stock risk and DOCL; (d) Combined leverage (DOCL) is a better risk measure than total leverage (DTL). Further, the problem with the traditional total leverage measure is the omission of the interaction between DOL and DFL. This is consistent with Huffman's theory and suggests Mandelker and Rhee's model is oversimplified.

Os incentivos fiscais concedidos pelos entes públicos às empresas nacionais suscitam cada vez mais o interesse de estudos aprofundados em relação a seu impacto dentro das organizações. Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo analisar os efeitos dos incentivos fiscais, especificamente, da desoneração da folha de pagamento instituída pelo Plano Brasil Maior do Governo Federal em 2011, no grau de alavancagem operacional de uma empresa start-up brasileira. A pesquisa foi realizada através de um estudo de caso em uma empresa start-up atuante no Brasil no setor de tecnologia desde 2011. As análises do estudo de caso confirmaram que há uma relação direta entre a desoneração da folha de pagamento e o grau de alavancagem operacional de uma empresa. A interpretação dos dados sugere que para uma melhor eficiência dos incentivos fiscais, estes devem alterar o comportamento dos custos e despesas fixas para variáveis, diminuindo assim a exposição ao risco operacional da empresa. / Tax incentives granted by public entities to domestic companies tend to raise more interest of extensive studies in relation to its impact within organizations. This research aims to analyze the effects of tax incentives, specifically, the payroll tax exemption established by the \"Plano Brasil Maior\" of the Brazilian Federal Government in 2011, on the degree of operating leverage of a Brazilian start-up company. The research was conducted through a case study of a start-up company operating in Brazil in the technology sector since 2011. The analysis of the case study confirmed that there is a direct relation between the payroll tax exemptions and the degree of operating leverage of a business. The interpretation of the case suggests that, for a more efficiency of the tax incentives, the incentive must directly modify the fixed and variable costs and therefore reducing the company\'s exposure to operational risk

A valid and accurate capital asset pricing model (CAPM) may help investors and mutual funds managers in determining expected returns and thus, may increase profits which can be reflected on the community resources. The problem is that the traditional CAPM does not accurately predict the expected rate of return. A more accurate model is needed to help investors in determining the intrinsic price of the financial asset they want to sell or buy. The purpose of this study was to examine the validity of the single-factor CAPM and then develop and test the validity of a multifactor CAPM in the Jordanian stock market. The study was informed by the modern portfolio theory and specifically by the single-factor CAPM developed by Sharpe, Lintner, and Mossin. The research questions for the study examined the factors that may explain the variation in the expected rate of return on stocks in the Jordanian stock market and the relationship between the expected rate of return and factors of market return, company size, financial leverage, and operating leverage. A causal-comparative quantitative research design was employed to achieve the purpose of the study by testing the listed companies on the Amman stock exchange (ASE) for the period from 2000 to 2015. Data were collected from the ASE database and analyzed using the multiple regression model and t test. The results revealed that market return, company size, and financial leverage are not predictors of the expected rate of return while operating leverage is a predictor. The results of this study may contribute to positive social change by changing the way the individual investors and mutual funds managers select their investing portfolios which can lead to better resource distribution in the economy.

Os incentivos fiscais concedidos pelos entes públicos às empresas nacionais suscitam cada vez mais o interesse de estudos aprofundados em relação a seu impacto dentro das organizações. Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo analisar os efeitos dos incentivos fiscais, especificamente, da desoneração da folha de pagamento instituída pelo Plano Brasil Maior do Governo Federal em 2011, no grau de alavancagem operacional de uma empresa start-up brasileira. A pesquisa foi realizada através de um estudo de caso em uma empresa start-up atuante no Brasil no setor de tecnologia desde 2011. As análises do estudo de caso confirmaram que há uma relação direta entre a desoneração da folha de pagamento e o grau de alavancagem operacional de uma empresa. A interpretação dos dados sugere que para uma melhor eficiência dos incentivos fiscais, estes devem alterar o comportamento dos custos e despesas fixas para variáveis, diminuindo assim a exposição ao risco operacional da empresa. / Tax incentives granted by public entities to domestic companies tend to raise more interest of extensive studies in relation to its impact within organizations. This research aims to analyze the effects of tax incentives, specifically, the payroll tax exemption established by the \"Plano Brasil Maior\" of the Brazilian Federal Government in 2011, on the degree of operating leverage of a Brazilian start-up company. The research was conducted through a case study of a start-up company operating in Brazil in the technology sector since 2011. The analysis of the case study confirmed that there is a direct relation between the payroll tax exemptions and the degree of operating leverage of a business. The interpretation of the case suggests that, for a more efficiency of the tax incentives, the incentive must directly modify the fixed and variable costs and therefore reducing the company\'s exposure to operational risk