Thesis (Ph.D.)--McMaster University, 2004. / Advisor: Tony Porter. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 225-238) Also available via World Wide Web.

M.Com. (Business Management) / This study concerns itself with the concepts of strategy, risk management and risk appetite. Strategy and risk management playa very important role in any business, but it is very difficult to determine the interrelationship between strategy and risk. There is no scientific/academic proof and there is no model or framework on what the alignment between an organisation's strategy and risk appetite is. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to develop a risk appetite model to align an organisation's strategy and risk management, so that management will be able to improve its decision-making. The research design is based on a qualitative evaluation of the various literature concepts on strategy, risk management and risk appetite. Furthermore, personal interviews were held with senior risk, strategy and financial managers in the South African financial services industry to test the risk appetite model and determine the relevance and robustness of the risk appetite model. The main findings of this study revealed that: • to take full advantage of business opportunities, risk management and strategy cannot operate independently in any organisation; they must be integrated or at least linked with one another; • risk appetite is an important concept on its own, but is even more crucial as the link between risk management and strategy; • most financial services organisations assume that there is a link between risk management, strategy and risk appetite but that there is no formal processor framework available to link the three concepts; • effective risk management enables financial services organisations to achieve a competitive advantage, which is achieved by optimising risks and rewards; and • organisations that probably will withstand future crises are those with appropriate enterprise risk management practices in place where risk and strategy are linked with each other; and the risk appetite model can play an important role in achieving this goal. The main conclusion is that the risk appetite model is the formal framework to integrate risk management with strategy, because the model: • takes a holistic view to risk management; • allows all employees at all levels to understand risk appetite because it is quantitative and not too mathematical; • utilises risk appetite as the "gel" to link strategy and risk management; • allows for measured decision-making and proper governing; • allows organisations to be proactive in their risk management; • takes the upside and downside of risk into consideration; • gives strategic direction to the business; and • addresses all the important steps to integrate risk management, risk appetite and strategy. Lastly, for the risk appetite model to be successful it is essential to: • have buy-in from everyone in the organisation; • have the right governance in place to ensure the effective implementation and communication of the organisation's risk appetite; and • continuously monitor the organisation's risk appetite.

M.Comm. / Achieving quality in products and services requires that TQM be viewed as "a journey to a destiny" in which many routes can be taken, rather than a destiny in itself. Organisations that wish to implement TQM have to study the map carefully before embarking on this "journey" as the Latin phrase "salutes in media via" or "safety lies in the middle route" is unfortunately not a guarantee to reaching the TQM destiny. The main aim of this study is to provide an understanding into the concerns, problems and challenges as well as advantages associated with TOM in modem financial services organisations, which can lead to a false sense of security if not managed correctly. The objectives of the study are therefore 1. To gain insight on how and why TQM developed, placing an emphasis on the change in markets and organisations as well as the management thereof over time To review current TQM trends and obstacles that modern organisations face within the South African financial services industry; and 3. To develop and arrive at a workable model for TOM implementation within the financial services industry. Specifically the study wishes to provide the reader with a broad understanding of TQM, as well as the necessary stimulation to further probe and exploit this management technique.

I investigate the association between large shareholder heterogeneity and firms' accounting quality and information asymmetry. Specifically, I construct three measures of ownership heterogeneity based on the type, size, and monitoring aggressiveness of large shareholders present in a firm. Applying these three measures of heterogeneity, I examine whether large shareholder heterogeneity is associated with the variation in firms' accounting quality and information asymmetry. I also examine new block formations to provide evidence on the consequences of large shareholder investment on firms' accounting quality and information asymmetry. I find that the monitoring aggressiveness of large shareholders is positively associated with firms' accounting quality and information asymmetry. These findings suggest that large aggressive shareholders constrain earnings management, but contribute to firms' overall information asymmetry. Further, using new blockholder data, I find that investments by large aggressive shareholders are positively associated with firms' accounting quality and firms' information asymmetry in the post investment period. This finding provides additional support to my hypotheses that large shareholders play an important role in firms' accounting quality and information asymmetry. / by Joseph E. Trainor. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2011. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2011. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Research linking marketing to financial outputs has been gaining significance in the marketing discipline. The pertinent questions are, therefore: how can marketing improve measures of firm performance and draw potential investors to the company, and where is the quantitative proof to back up these assertions? This research investigates the role of marketing expenditures in the context of initial public offerings (IPOs). The proposed theoretical framework comes from marketing and finance literature, and uses econometric models to test the hypotheses. First, we replicate the results of a previous study by Luo (2008) showing a relationship between the firm's pre-IPO marketing spending and IPO underpricing. Next, we extend the previous study by looking at the IPO's long-run returns, types of risk, analyst coverage, and market/industry characteristics. The results of this study, based on a sample of 2,103 IPOs from 1996 to 2008, suggest that increased marketing spending positively impac ts firm performance. We examine different measures of firm performance, such as risk and long-run performance, whose results are important to the firm, its shareholders, and potential investors. This study analyzes the impact marketing spending has on IPO characteristics (IPO underpricing in the short-run and cumulative abnormal returns in the long run); risk characteristics (systematic, unsystematic, bankruptcy risk, and total risk); analyst coverage characteristics (the number of analysts, optimistic coverage, and forecast error) and market characteristics (market volatility and industry type). We control for variables such as firm size, profitability, and IPO characteristics. In this paper, the results show that increased marketing spending lowers underpricing, lowers bankruptcy risk, lowers total risk, leads to greater analyst coverage, leads to more favorable analyst coverage, and lowers analyst forecast error. For theory, this paper advances the literature on the / marketing-financ e interface by extending the market-based assets and signaling theories. For practice, the results indicate that spending more money on marketing before the IPO and disclosing this information produces positive bottom-line results for the firm. KEYWORDS: Marketing-Finance, Risk, Financial Analysts, Marketing Spending, Firm Performance, Marketing Strategy Meets Wall Street, Long-Run Firm Performance, Underpricing, Stock Recommendations, Initial Public Offering, Marketing Strategy, Econometric Model. / by Monica B. Fine. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2012. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2012. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Thesis (M.S.)--New Jersey Institute of Technology, Dept. of Humanities and Social Sciences, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 42-43). Also available via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M.B.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 116-121).

Thesis (M.B.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (LL. M.)--Queen's University, 1994. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 192-199).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Northwestern University, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 379-411).