Naked short selling occurs when a short seller fails to deliver shares on the settlement day. The business press and many corporate managers characterize it as abusive price manipulation, alleging that selling nonexistent shares causes a price decline regardless of fundamentals. To curtail the practice, the SEC issued regulations, first to restrain and later to prohibit all naked short selling (i.e., Reg. SHO in 2004 and its amendment in 2009). Contrary to allegations, I find that the naked short selling component of total short interest is significantly associated with accounting and market fundamentals, indicating proper information usage. Further, naked short interest is highly significant in predicting one-quarter ahead abnormal stock returns, and it dominates covered short interest when both measures are included. I also calculate returns from a zero-investment trading strategy that buys (sells) shares with low (high) levels of both covered and naked short interest. I find abnormal returns are approximately 3.9 times larger than when using only covered short interest. Empirical evidence therefore indicates that recent actions by regulators to eliminate naked short selling are likely to impede arbitrage and thereby reduce market efficiency.

Summary in Chinese. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--The Chinese University of Hong Kong. / Bibliography: leaves 208-209.

M.Comm. / A review of literature reveals that salespeople may have misperceptions of their own role and these misperceptions may influence their performance. Selling has also become more complex and scientific in these tough economic times, and more salespeople are involved in selling teams that provide customised solutions to customers’ needs. Salespeople often need to depend on other types of salespeople within the supply chain to be able to successfully perform their own role. Therefore, salespeople may have misperceptions of the roles of other salespeople with whom they work and on whom they depend. These misperceptions may influence the performance of salespersons. Salespeople play an important part in the successful selling of an organisation’s products and the eventual success of the business itself. This study aims to contribute to improving the performance of salespeople by investigating the role perceptions and possible role misperceptions, of mutually dependent Key Account Managers and Sales Agents. Taking into consideration the identified research problem, the primary objective of this study was to investigate the role perceptions of salespeople regarding their own, and their mutually dependent counterparts’ role in the supply chain of a fast-moving consumer goods organisation, and the impact that such perceptions may have on performance. The study employed a mixed method approach to measure the role perceptions of mutually dependent salespeople within the supply chain of a fast-moving consumer goods organisation. The researcher used an exploratory mixed method design. The first phase comprised the collection of qualitative data, and the quantitative phase was then based on the learning’s from the first phase. An exploratory design was ideal for exploring relationships as the study variables were unknown, and a new instrument needed to be developed based on a preliminary qualitative inquiry. Therefore, the research was divided into two phases with the first phase facilitating the design of the instrument for the quantitative second phase of the study. The data collected with the questionnaire was coded, and aside from the normal descriptive statistical analysis such as frequency percentages and standard deviations, hypotheses testing using Pearson product correlations was conducted. For the two smaller groups of respondents a Spearman rank was used, and a Parametric test was employed for the larger group as the variables were normally distributed.

published_or_final_version / abstract / Business / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

University of Macau / Faculty of Business Administration. / Department of Accounting and Information Management

This thesis explores the processes of interpersonal communication and influence and its impact on the purchase of durable goods by Saudi consumers. It attempts to develop grounded theory about these processes and their effects on the purchase decision, using a qualitative methodology of semi-structured interviews in data collection, and a method close to that of Glaser and Strauss (1967)'s constant comparative method for data analysis. The first chapter in this thesis discusses the objectives of the research and the reasons for choosing the particular topic. Chapter Two provides an overview of the literature in this area and a framework for the research. Chapter Three discusses the methodology involved and the reasons for adopting this methodology. Chapters Six to Ten present the findings of this research. They explore the various ways through which Saudi consumers may exchange product information with other people, the reasons for doing so, the types of people with whom they tend to exchange consumption-related information, and the impact of this information on the purchasing decision. In addition to this 'informational' influence, the research suggests that there can be significant normative influence on the Saudi consumer's purchasing decision. Chapter Six discusses this normative influence and Chapter Seven discusses how this influence may function through social comparison processes, the type of comparisons in which Saudi consumers may engage, and the bases on which 'comparison other' may be selected. In general, the results of this research suggest that interpersonal communication can play a major role in product information transfer in Saudi society and that interpersonal influence affects pervasively various aspects of the purchasing decision. Chapter Ten discusses these various effects including those on the diffusion of new products. Chapter Eleven provides a summary of the findings of this research, its theoretical and practical implications and provides suggestions for further research in the field.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 1973. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 154-159). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center.

I denna uppsats har en studie genomförts med målet att ur ett företagsekonomiskt perspektiv beskriva och sedan analysera hur mindre optikerföretag styrs mot value added selling filosofin. Studien har genomförts med en abduktiv ansats och med en kvalitativ metod. Empiriskt material har samlats in via semi-strukturerade intervjuer med Hagelin & Co, Björkegrens Optik AB, Optiker Tottie och Specsavers. Vi författare har kommit fram till att value added selling filosofin finns mer eller mindre implementerat de flesta mindre företag i någon form av norm eller företagskultur. Det är också företagskulturen vi författare identifierar som det viktigaste styrmedlet för value-added selling.  I optikerbranschen som vi studerat är detta speciellt intressant av den anledningen att respondenterna visat flera tecken på hur value added selling filosofin fungerar, vilket vi författare anser gör studien relevant för mindre företag i allmänhet som verkar på en konkurrensintensiv marknad.