Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Human Ecology-Personal Financial Planning / Sonya Britt / The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of self-regulation on positive financial behaviors and bankruptcy filings of high net worth individuals. The implications are directed toward various groups and factions of high net worth individuals as populations of interest. The basic premise of self-regulation of behavior theory is that human action is driven by attainment of goals and the degrees and forms of behavior expressed by an individual can be quantified by specific personality characteristics which affect both the response to, and velocity toward, those goals (Carver & Scheier, 1998). A survey administered to high net worth individuals (i.e., net worth of $1 million or greater) with a oversampling of high net worth individuals who have filed bankruptcy focused on self-reporting personality measures key to the self-regulation of behavior theory, such as optimism-pessimism and appetitive motives. By utilizing data gathered from high net worth individuals, a t test was used to examine mean differences in the personality characteristics of high net worth individuals who have filed bankruptcy and high net worth individuals who have not filed bankruptcy. The debt-to-income and debt-to-assets ratios were utilized as the dependent variables in an OLS regression analysis to analyze if any of the variables of interest significantly influenced the debt-to-income ratio, or DTI, or debt-to-assets ratio, or debt-ratio. This was followed by a logistic regression analysis predicting the odds of a bankruptcy filing based on the variables of interest. Potential differences in personality and behavior may explain wealth management issues that exist between high net worth individuals who have filed bankruptcy and high net worth individuals who have not filed bankruptcy.

Note: Volume one of two

Bankruptcy is a negative event that not only affects the company in question but all stakeholders of society. Our research will focus on one stakeholder group, business competitors. How are competitors affected by bankruptcy announcements? Past research has tried to answer this question in different ways. Some compared two industries with different characteristics while others worked with multiple industries. Past researchers suggested and tested three independent variables that they thought influence the returns of competitors in the face of bankruptcy: leverage, size and industry concentration. We adopt a different perspective when researching this topic in that we focus on competitors that are close to the bankrupt firm (business competitors) as opposed to using all competitors in an industry. The purpose of our research is to investigate if a chapter 11 bankruptcy announcement has an influence on business competitors within the same economic sector during the time horizon 2004-2012. In order to explore this topic, we incorporate three independent variables: economic sector concentration, firm leverage and firm size, to study if different characteristics of different economic sectors and firms would affect the bankruptcy announcement effect. Based on the quantitative method, our research utilized secondary data to study the relationships between the three independent variables and bankruptcy announcement effect on competitors. We found that the best way to carry out this research is by using a deductive approach and quantitative method. The results of our research showed weak correlations between the three variables and the bankruptcy announcement effect, among which the concentration was the most determinant variable and size has the weakest effect. For both concentration and firm size, we found inverse relationships between these two variables and abnormal returns of the business competitors. The abnormal returns earned by the high leveraged firms were less than the low leveraged ones. The conclusions of our research were that the chapter 11 bankruptcy announcement indeed influence the stock returns of business competitors. The firms in highly concentrated economic sectors had contagion effect while competitive effect happened to the firms in low concentrated ones. The same conclusion was drawn in terms of the firm size. For the leverage, there was no conclusion regarding the contagion or competitive effect as the results were inconclusive.

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ABSTRACT Due to the global economic depression, enterprise bankruptcy and reorganization cases are increasing tremendously during the recent years. However, the current laws and regulations respecting reorganization and bankruptcy are not comprehensive enough to help the enterprises and protect the rights and interests of creditors and investors. It is a common place that the court could not render decision immediately and precisely while the enterprises file for reorganization when encountering financial problems, due to lack of sufficient information or clear provisions of laws. Therefore, some enterprises that were worthy to give assistance and should have had a chance to regenerate their business, had fallen into the destiny of bankruptcy. On the contrary, some other enterprises use the Bankruptcy Law as their protector to have their cunning maneuver happened all the time. By the comparison of the R.O.C. and America bankrupt systems, the author has tried to find out how to appraise the enterprise while a financial crisis occurs. It is the author's hope that this thesis could provide the investors with an accurate and effective assessment principle to assist the enterprises out of the predicament, and furnish the government a helpful reference for amending the bankruptcy law. This thesis includes the comparison of the differences between R.O.C. and American bankrupt systems, some certain grave Chinese and American enterprises bankruptcy and reorganization cases that happened in the recent years, as well as the analyses of the relevant provisions of Company Law, Bankrupt Law, Law Governing Merger of Financial Institutions, Financial Holding Company Law, and Merger and Acquisition Law. The objects of all these analyses and comparison are to interpret the insufficiency and implicit points of current laws and regulations. This thesis has also applied and analyzed some theories about corporate governance. This research does not cover the procedures of liquidation and personal bankruptcy.

1983--Met reg.

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität, Wien, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references and register.

Thesis (LLD.)--University of Pretoria, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references and index.

The enactment of the 2006 Enterprise Bankruptcy Law of the PRC marked a new stage in China’s bankruptcy regime by the inclusion of a new reorganization system. The first 5 years of the implementation of the law and further scholarly research, however, have exposed the problems that underlie it, especially those concerning the reorganization of listed companies. The pressing need to address these problems calls for a better understanding of the goals of reorganization. This is because it is by applying the criterion of what best serves the desired reorganization goals that distinguishes an optimal from a less-than-optimal reorganization law and sense from nonsense in its implementation. Thus far, however, no scholar has carried out systemic research of China’s reorganization goals. This thesis, set out in two parts, attempts to fill this gap in the literature for both the dynamics of reorganization legislation and the effectiveness of reorganization implementation in China. Employing the methods of theoretical analysis, economic analysis of law, case analysis and comparative study, the first part of this thesis argues that preserving going-concern surplus and fair distribution are the two fundamental goals of reorganization in China. Although protecting community interest is important, it should be considered only an incidental goal of reorganization. The second part of this thesis examines how the most important aspects of the current reorganization system under the EBL can be improved so as to better achieve the two fundamental goals in reality. As to the goal of preserving going-concern surplus, it discusses the early rescue, preservation and sale of the viable parts of the business in a distressed enterprise. As to the goal of fair distribution, it analyzes both the distributional boundaries and rules of reorganization, with a focus on the absolute priority rule. How to balance the values underlying the two fundamental goals of reorganization and the practical impediments to the implementation of the reorganization law are then discussed. Both a sound grasp of the reorganization goals under the EBL and a deep understanding of why and how specific reorganization mechanisms and provisions exist to serve these goals are needed. Only with such understanding, together with a grasp of the relationships between different fundamental goals and different mechanisms and provisions, can the efforts aiming to improve China’s reorganization system achieve the desired level of effectiveness as a whole. / published_or_final_version / Law / Master / Doctor of Legal Studies

Barbados enacted the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act in the year 2001. This Act is based entirely on the Canadian Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act. Barbados reformed its bankruptcy and insolvency laws in order to offer greater protection to debtors while simultaneously protecting creditors from fraud. Additionally, the new reforms were designed to remove the stigma that attaches to insolvent and bankrupt individuals and businesses and to make Barbados a more attractive destination for the creation of and investment in new businesses. Despite the existence of a legislative framework designed to assist debtors and creditors only five matters have been initiated under the Barbados Act. In this thesis I examine why there has been reluctance to rely on the Act. Ultimately, I conclude that the bankruptcy and insolvency regime that exists in Barbados is ineffective and lacks many of the features that are necessary for the efficient administration of bankruptcies and insolvencies.