Patent trolls have changed the innovation and patent policy landscape. This thesis is an empirical event study that focuses on two landmark cases of patent troll litigation, RIM v. NTP and eBay v. Mercexchange, to determine whether pro-troll litigation outcomes significantly impact the market values of the firms in the high-tech industries they target. I find that the Supreme Court ruling in eBay v. Mercexchange did seem to significantly impact a proportion of firms in the market. The decisive factors in distinguishing affected vs. unaffected firms include a firm's R&D to Sales ratio, market value, and NAICS code specification.

The primary objective of this thesis is to investigate the value implications of the mergers and acquisitions deals initiated by the firms from the CEE region. We examine the sample of the 203 M&A announcements made by the bidder firms from the two major economies in the region-Poland and Russia-over the period 2006-2016. We apply the event study methodology to investigate the effect of the M&A announcement on the wealth of the acquirers' shareholders. The results demonstrate that on average investors of the Polish acquirers receive positive short-term wealth effect, while the investors of the Russian firms lose in short-term value. Our empirical findings provide partial support for the positive wealth effect when acquirers target the strategically important asset. Our results hold after controlling for the number of firm and transaction-specific characteristics. JEL Classification G14, G32, G34 Keywords mergers and acquisitions, event study, bidder gains, shareholder wealth effects, Central and Eastern Europe Author's e-mail lukashova.a.v@gmail.com Supervisor's e-mail kocenda@fsv.cuni.cz

In this Thesis I will examine technology adoption by analyzing how different organizations come to interpret a technology as a specific kind of innovation based on a certain set of criteria. The kind of innovation an organization interprets a technology to be effects how quickly the organization will adopt that technology. To analyze how organizations come to interpret technologies as a specific kind of innovation I will construct a model. I will utilize the Actor-Network Theory from Science and Technology Studies as the framework to combined theories regarding technology adoption from other disciplines. This new model of technology adoption will be able to address the individual weakness of each theory that I use, and at the same time build on the strengths of the Actor-Network Theory. I will conclude my thesis by testing my new model using an event study from econometrics. Using the surrogate measure of the stock market to represent consumers, the event study will allow me to gauge if the kind of innovation a technology is interpreted as affects the rate of its adoption. / Master of Science

This paper investigates the impact of dividend reduction announcements on the returns to stocks listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. We perform an event study on dividend cutting firms between 2002-2016 to determine if contrarian trading on the basis of negative dividend announcement yields abnormal returns. We evaluate the immediate market reaction during a three-day event window surrounding dividend announcements. Thereafter we test a contrarian trading strategy by examining abnormal returns during a holding period up to twenty days following the initial event. We evaluate the results in reference to previous literature on post earnings (dividend) announcement drift and contrarian investment strategies. The findings suggest that the initial market reaction to dividend cuts is negative, but that the abnormal returns to buying stock following dividend reduction announcements are negligible. Furthermore, we argue that there might be means of increasing these returns by supplementary analysis of firm specifics.

This dissertation consists of three essays evaluating topics in industrial organization. The first essay investigates a market structure or property regime in which a final good exists only by assembling multiple, monopoly-supplied components. In such dynamic settings, any sunk cost results in an outcome of hold-up, also known as tragedy of the anticommons. I design a model showing conditions for which two factors that reduce sunk cost, refunds and complementarities, mitigate hold-up. If the first component purchased has positive stand alone value or the first seller offers a full refund, hold-up is mitigated. My results suggest several policies that can mitigate inefficient outcomes in assembly problems, including legal requirements on full refunds, regulation on the purchasing order of components, and prohibition of price discrimination. The second essay applies Bayesian statistics to single-firm event studies used in securities litigation and antitrust investigations. Inference based on Bayesian analysis does not require an assumption of normality that potentially invalidates standard inference of classical single-firm event studies. I investigate ten events, five from actual securities litigation cases. Various Bayesian models, including replication of the frequentist approach, are examined. A flexible Bayesian model, replacing parametric likelihood functions with the empirical distribution function, also is explored. Our approach suggests an alternative, valid method for inference with easy implementation and interpretation. The third essay, motivated in the context of pharmaceutical advertising, analyzes demand rotations caused by an exogenously determined advertising parameter under Cournot oligopoly competition. We find that firms and consumers prefer extreme levels of advertising, but preferences for which extreme do not necessarily align. However, these differences can be alleviated with few or many firms in the market or cheap or expensive technologies. Therefore, advertising levels, regulated or not, might not serve consumers' best interests unless certain market attributes hold.

This study investigates whether different acquisition strategies provide dissimilar abnormal returns forthe bidders’ investors before, during and after the financial crisis. The study focuses on acquisitionsconducted by banks between 2004 and 2012. The data is split in a pre-, mid-, and post-crisis sample.The dataset consists out of 950 completed acquisitions conducted by 378 unique banks. Crosssectionalresults point out that investors are generally indifferent to which acquisition strategy is usedby banks, both at announcement and at completion. Moreover, it seems that investors do not reactfiercer to the announcement compared to the completion of a deal. The results are robust whensplitting the sample in acquirers originating from common- and code law countries. However, the studyfinds that opposed to what is suggested by prior research, shareholders from code law countries earnhigher returns than shareholders from common law countries.

Understanding the financial value resulting from IS security investments is critically important to organizations focused on protecting service confidentiality, integrity, and availability in order to preserve firm revenues and reputations. Quantifying the financial effect from IS security investments is difficult to derive. This study investigated the relationship between e-banking investments in IS security and their market value impacts. Using an event study approach, the author captured e-banking firm specific data and isolated the IS security effect through the measured change in market values. The author hypothesized that announcements of IS security investments would result in statistically significant changes in market values. The author also hypothesized two sub-segments of the selected security investment data, technology and people, would support statistically significant changes in the market values of e-banking service providers. The hypotheses were tested by measuring stock market reactions to the IS security announcements selected from an eight-year period (2003-2010). Study findings indicated statistically significant market reactions for e-banking firms making IS security investment announcements and suggested that investors rewarded IS security technology investments more highly than e-banking firms making IS security people-focused investment announcements. The author concluded that because investors understand that mandatory regulatory compliance represents an e-banking firm's commitment to creating a secure computing environment, e-banking information systems are perceived as secure therefore, disclosing IS security investments results in weak changes to market values. Ultimately effective management of IS security requires acceptance of the idea that it is not technically feasible or financially viable to implement protections for all identified IS security risks therefore IS security investments must be effectively measured and risk levels consciously selected in order to implement the right technical and operational protections to support a firm's selected risk posture. The study contributes to the event study literature as well as the literature examining the economic effects of information systems security.

The Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 (CAFA) was signed into law on February 18, 2005. Prior to CAFA, plaintiffs found it easier for class action lawsuits to be tried in their preferred venue—state courts. Changes introduced by CAFA practically removed the majority of class action jurisdiction from state to federal courts. Since law and regulation might serve as an external corporate governance mechanism, an interesting question is whether CAFA has strengthened or weakened corporate governance. If CAFA improves corporate governance, associated marginal benefits would outweigh marginal costs. The opposite would be true if CAFA weakens corporate governance. This issue was hotly debated in the US Congress. The proponents argued that CAFA would reduce costs for the affected firms, while opponents argued the opposite. The main purpose of this paper is to examine which side of the debate is reflected in market reactions to various events that either enhanced or reduced the chances of the passage of CAFA. We identify the firms that are most likely to be affected by CAFA and find that the overall market reaction for these firms is positive when the likelihood of CAFA passage increases, while the reaction has been negative when the chance of its passage diminishes. We also hypothesize that firms that are more likely to be exposed to product liability litigation would experience a significantly higher (positive or negative) abnormal return than firms that are more likely to be involved in contract liability law suits. The results support this hypothesis. We also examine potential factors that might explain cross-sectional variations in abnormal returns and find that duality of Chairmanship and CEO has negative impact, while the

As práticas de governança corporativa visam mitigar os problemas oriundos da relação de agência, que surgem quando há a separação entre propriedade e controle da empresa. A Bovespa, no final do ano de 2000, introduziu o conceito de níveis diferenciados de práticas de governança corporativa, em que as empresas, para obter um dos selos (Nível 1, Nível 2 ou Novo Mercado), devem seguir determinadas regras de práticas de governança. Esta dissertação tem como objetivo analisar se os preços das ações das companhias brasileiras possuem relação com sua decisão de adotar um dos níveis diferenciados de práticas de governança corporativa da Bovespa, divulgadas por meio de anúncios em jornais ou por adesão (por meio do registro) a um dos níveis de governança corporativa diferenciada na Bovespa. A pesquisa abrange o período de janeiro de 2001 a janeiro de 2006. Busca-se, dessa forma, aferir a eficiência informacional do mercado na forma semiforte. Essa análise é realizada por meio do retorno anormal das ações, considerando-se duas datas distintas de evento: a primeira como sendo a data em que ocorreu o anúncio em jornais da adesão a um dos níveis diferenciados de governança corporativa, constituindo a amostra da ?Data do Anúncio?; e a segunda, como a data oficial do registro junto à Bovespa a um dos níveis de governança, constituindo a amostra da ?Data de Adesão?. A metodologia consiste em um estudo de evento para se determinar o retorno anormal médio ( AR ) e o retorno anormal médio acumulado (CAR ) das amostras ao longo da janela do evento. Ao mesmo tempo, é elaborado um modelo multivariado que procura verificar o impacto de certas variáveis qualitativas (ADR, ELE, PRIV e FAM) no retorno anormal das ações. Os resultados referentes à amostra da Data do Anúncio indicam uma reação positiva do mercado com relação ao anúncio de migração a um dos níveis diferenciados de governança corporativa da Bovespa, principalmente próximos à data do evento. Nesse contexto, as variáveis qualitativas não apresentaram influências estatisticamente significantes no retorno anormal. Já com a amostra da Data de Adesão, não houve evidências de retornos anormais médios positivos e estatisticamente significantes ao longo da janela do evento, e as variáveis qualitativas também não revelaram influências estatisticamente significantes no retorno anormal. Esses resultados corroboram para a teoria de Eficiência informacional de Mercado na sua forma semiforte, uma vez que a informação de migração a um dos níveis já fora divulgada pela empresa na Data do Anúncio (antes da data oficial de adesão). / Corporate Governance practices? aim is to mitigate the problems originated from managerial agency issues, which arise when corporate ownership and its control are detached. In the end of the year 2000, Bovespa (São Paulo Stock Exchange) introduced the concept of differentiated corporate governance practices levels (Level 1, Level 2 or ?Novo Mercado?). In order to enter one of these levels the companies had to adhere to certain rules related to corporate governance practices. The goal of the dissertation herein is to analyze if Brazilian stocks? price is affected by the company?s decision to adopt Bovespa corporate governance practices differentiated levels, which are released via newspaper announcements or via adherence (through registration) to one of Bovespa?s corporate governance distinguished levels. Research encompasses the period between January 2001 and January 2006. The dissertation, therefore, seeks to detect the market information efficiency under the semi-strong format. The analysis is based on stocks? abnormal return, considering two distinct event dates: the first being the date of the adherence announcement in the newspapers, constituting the ?Announcement Date? sample; and, the second, Bovespa?s official registration date in one of the governance levels, constituting the ?Adherence Date? sample. Methodology consists of an event study to determine the average abnormal return ( AR ) and the average accumulated abnormal return (CAR) of the samples during the event?s window. Meanwhile, a multivariate model is developed in order to verify the impact of certain qualitative variables (ADR, ELE, PRIV and FAM) on the stocks? abnormal return. The Announcement Date sample results indicate a positive reaction from the market regarding the migration announcement to one of Bovespa?s differentiated corporate governance levels, especially in the proximity of the event date. In this scenario, the qualitative variables statistically did not present significant influence in the abnormal return. In the Adherence Date sample, however, there were no evidences of positive average abnormal returns and statistically significant throughout the event´s window. Moreover, the qualitative variables did not reveal statistically significant influence in the abnormal return. These results corroborate with the informational market efficiency theory in the semi-strong format, since the information concerning the migration to one of the levels had already been published in the Announcement Date (which took place before the official adherence date).

This thesis investigates the impact of the reform of the split share structure on the Chinese capital market. It adopts an event study methodology to examine the share price performance around the announcements of the reform and its predicted determinants, the type and level of consideration by using a sample of the top 300 companies listed in the combined Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) and Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE). I find the three-day cumulative abnormal returns (CAR) to be negative and significant around government announcement of the reform on 29 April 2005, but the three-day CAR around company???s announcement of the reform to be positive and significant. I attribute this change of sentiment by the market to the release of information about the reform process concerning features such as type and level of consideration. I also regress the company???s CAR on the type and level of consideration and find evidence to suggest that type of consideration matters, where investors prefer payment of shares from capital reserves or retained profits, cash, warrants or any combination of these methods as opposed to payment of shares from non-tradable shareholders. However, I observe no relation between level of consideration and CAR. I interpret this reaction to be that investors perceive that the consideration level is fair and reasonable based on the company???s financial and operating conditions. These results imply that the reform of the split share structure exerts a positive impact on a company???s share price and the extent of impact is a function of the type of consideration.