no / This study examines the impact of financial flexibility on the investment and performance of East Asian firms over the period 1994–2009. We employ a sample of 1,068 firms and place particular emphasis on the periods of the Asian crisis (1997–1998) and the recent credit crisis (2007–2009). The results show that firms can attain financial flexibility, primarily through conservative leverage policies and less commonly by holding large cash balances. Financial flexibility appears to be an important determinant of investment and performance, mainly during the Asian 1997–1998 crisis. In particular, firms that are financially flexible prior to this crisis (1) have a greater ability to take investment opportunities, (2) rely much less on the availability of internal funds to invest, and (3) perform better than less flexible firms during the crisis. Our analysis covering the credit crisis period of 2007–2009 suggests that some of the advantages of flexible firms towards investing persist but are significantly less pronounced over that period. We also find that the value of financial flexibility is region/country specific, which may be explained by the fact that different regions/countries often adopt different macroeconomic policies and operate in diverse economic/legal environments.

This dissertation consists of two essays on the impact of managerial entrenchment and ethical corporate citizenship on capital structure decisions of the firm. The first essay examines the impact of managerial entrenchment on financial flexibility and capital structure decisions of firms. Agency conflicts and asymmetric information between managers and shareholders of firms exacerbate managerial entrenchment, which is operationalized using the entrenchment index. The excess cash ratio of a firm over the median cash ratio of firms within the same 3 digits SIC code is the proxy for financial flexibility. Capital structure decisions include the extent and maturity of debt as proxied by debt-to-equity ratio, and average debt maturity respectively. Results indicate that compared to managers who are not entrenched, entrenched managers obtain less rather than more debt, and they use long-term rather than short-term debt maturity. Also, entrenched managers keep more excess cash than managers who are not entrenched. This is especially the case for firms in small and large market value groups compared to medium sized firms. Results do not change before, during, and after the 2008 global economic crisis. The second essay examines the impact of ethical corporate citizenship and CEO power on cost of capital, and firm value in the context of stakeholder theory. Firms listed as World's Most Ethical Companies (WMECs) exemplify ethical corporate citizenship, which is operationalized as a binary variable of 1 for WMECs, and zero for non-WMECs. This paper matches WMECs and non-WMECs control firms in the same 3 digits SIC code, and within 10 percent of total assets. CEO power is primarily measured using CEO pay slice calculated as CEO total compensation as a percentage of top 5 executives of the firm. Powerful CEOs have pay slice above the 50th percentile, and weak CEOs pay slice is below the 50th percentile. Tobin's q is the proxy for firm value, and cost of capital is measured as the market value weighted cost of debt, and cost of equity. Results indicate that WMECs have neither lower cost of capital nor higher Tobin's q than matched control sample of non-WMECs. Firms led by powerful CEOs have significantly lower cost of debt capital, and lower industry-adjusted Tobin's q than firms led by weak CEOs. The negative impact of CEO power on firm value is consistent with agency theory that self-interested CEOs extract firm value for personal advantage, subject to managerial controls. Results have implications for research and practice in capital structure, corporate governance, CEO compensation, and corporate social responsibility. / Doctor of Philosophy / This study consists of two essays. Essay 1 examines the impact of managerial entrenchment on financial flexibility, and leverage decisions of the firm. Managerial entrenchment is measured using the entrenchment index. The excess cash ratio of a firm over the median cash ratio of firms measures financial flexibility. Capital structure decisions include the extent and maturity of debt as measured by debt-to-equity ratio, and average debt maturity respectively. I find that entrenched managers use less debt than managers who are not entrenched. Also, entrenched managers prefer using long-term rather than short-term debt, and they keep more excess cash than managers who are not entrenched. This is especially the case for small and large firms compared to medium sized firms. Essay 2 investigates the impact of ethical corporate citizenship and CEO power on cost of capital, and firm value. Ethical corporate citizenship (ECC) refers to firms' commitment to a culture of ethics, effective governance, leadership, and innovation. ECC is measured as a binary variable of one if a firm is listed on World's Most Ethical Companies (WMEC), and zero otherwise. CEO power is primarily measured using CEO pay slice that is calculated as CEO total compensation as a percentage of top 5 executives of the firm. Powerful CEOs have pay slice above the 50th percentile, and weak CEOs pay slice is below the 50th percentile. WMECs and non-WMECs in the same 3 digits standard industry classification, which have similar total assets as the WMECs are compared. I find that WMECs have neither lower cost of capital nor higher Tobin's q than non-WMECs. Powerful CEOs often utilize their influence to reduce cost of debt capital, but also reduce firm value compared to weak CEOs. Self-interested CEOs who extract firm value for personal advantage partly explains the negative effect of CEO power on firm value.

In my first chapter, we document and study the use of Rule 10b5 1 preset repurchase plans. We exploit this new and widespread form of payout to examine an issue at the core of payout decisions—the tradeoff between commitment and financial flexibility. Relative to open market repurchases, preset plans provide an expanded repurchase window and increased legal cover, albeit at the cost of reducing repurchase flexibility and the option to time repurchases. These costs and benefits are significantly associated with Rule 10b5-1 adoption. Consistent with preset plans signaling commitment, Rule 10b5-1 repurchase announcements are associated with greater and faster completion rates, with more positive market reactions, and with more dividend substitution than open market repurchases. Lastly, we find that preset repurchase plans represent a unique payout tool whose introduction encouraged a different set of firms to buy back stock and significantly altered the payout landscape. My second chapter examines the strategic use and timing of share repurchases by insiders for personal gain. Using grant level compensation data and a hand-collected sample of monthly repurchases, I find a positive relation between CEO equity sales and share repurchases. I identify the relationship by instrumenting equity sales with equity grant vesting schedules. This relation is persistent across firm characteristics and does not appear to be destroying shareholder value. The results indicate managerial self-interest motivates a subset of share repurchases.

The Labor Pension Act¡]LPA¡^was passed by the Taiwan Legislative Yuan on June 11, 2004 and the implementation date is July 1, 2005. The significant difference between the existing Taiwan Labor Standards Law (TLSL) and LPA is that LPA is a portable defined contribution (DC) type of scheme. Employers shall contribute on a monthly basis to the Labor Pension Fund by contributing maximum 6% of monthly wage into the individual pension fund accounts. The raised staffing cost is foreseeable and was expected to turn into a heavy burden to employers. To decrease the cost of staffing and the turnover rate, this study focuses on the reactions that enterprises would plan to take and response to. However, the new LPA was not carried out officially during the study period, we conclude the exploratory findings through the questionnaire to understand what type of flexibility practice that employers¡¦ plan to take and what kind of impact on organizational performance will be made. We selected the sample companies from manufacturing, services and financial industries from¡m2003 CommonWealth Magazine Top 1600 Enterprises Ranking¡n. In all, 137 of 630 HR managers to whom we sent surveys returned the questionnaires, this yielding a response rate of 21.75%. The findings are summarized as follows: 1.The larger scale of organization, the more tendencies toward numerical flexibility and financial flexibility practice. 2.Organizations that plan to exercise numerical flexibility practices e.g., layoff, severance, downsizing etc, expect the negative effects on organizational performance. 3.Organizations that plan to exercise functional flexibility expect the positive effects on organizational performance. Organizations plan to adopt job-rotations expect the enhancement of organizational performance. 4.Organizations that plan to exercise financial flexibility do not expect the noticeable positive effects on organizational performance. Among financial flexibility practices, organizations that plan to adjust current fringe benefits expect the negative effect on organizational performance. 5.Organizations that plan to execute the improved HRM exercises expect the improvement of the organizational performance. 6.Organizations that plan to exercise the numerical and financial flexibility expect to lead to tense relationships between workers and employers in the future.

International commercial harbor is being in international, liberal and global conflict. It is facing the pressure of domestic and overseas market¡¦s competition. The enterprises need to reform the organization urgently. Harbor organization is researching to change from the enterprising organization of transportation into administrative legal person. The characteristics have the autonomy of personnel matters and utilize human resource flexibly. It is realized by way of implementing functional flexibility, numerical flexibility, temporal or working-time flexibility, wage or financial flexibility. The object is to serve for shipping company and increases employees ¡¦organizational adaptability, job efficiency, employees¡¦ productivity, service quality, personnel cost reduction and achieving budget target. At the same time, the organization utilizes flexible strategy have to consider the employees who have realized the change of job conditions. BY adjusting employees¡¦ work attitude which including job satisfaction, job involvement and organizational commitment etc. And then, it will increase organizational performance really. The study surveys the case organization which is the employees of the Kaohsiung Harbor Bureau (KHB). It utilizes employees¡¦ questionnaires to survey the influences of organization performance during the period of the strategy of implementing organization reform. The study finds the following results: 1. The perception of employees has significantly influences on organizational performance. 2. The functional flexibility has significantly influences on organizational performance. 3. The numerical flexibility has significantly influences on organizational performance. 4. The temporal or working-time flexibility has significantly influences on organizational performance. 5. The wage or financial flexibility has significantly influences on organizational performance. 6. The employees ¡¦different point of view on human resource utilization strategy will produce some differences due to different characteristics. According to the research result, implementing human resource flexible utilization which has significantly influences on organizational performance mostly. But different point of view on the strategy of human resource utilizing still have differences due to different characteristics. The KHB needs various kinds of improvable action to integrate employees¡¦ different point of view by communicating and coordinating with employees. Let employees understand the organizational reform is very important. It is in favor of organizational performance and increasing competitive power.

La crise financière des subprimes confirme l'importance, pour les banques, de disposer de capitaux propres suffisants afin de répondre aux aléas économiques et aux risques opérationnels, et d'assurer leur solvabilité. Se pose, désormais, la question de la flexibilité et de son utilisation dans le secteur bancaire. Il se trouve qu'une meilleure capitalisation permet de capturer des opportunités et d'exercer des options de croissance. D'ailleurs, les évolutions récentes (crises, consolidation, croissance, etc.) démontrent l'importance de la valeur financière de la flexibilité. Ces deux aspects classiques en finance d'entreprise prennent une tournure spécifique en fonction de l'environnement réglementaire et opérationnel de l'activité bancaire.Les résultats dégagés de nos études nous permettent de nous prononcer sur le rôle primordial des flexibilités et performance financières dans le processus de création de valeur dans la banque. En outre, ces résultats ont montré qu’un niveau des fonds propres supérieur au minimum exigé est bénéfique et contribuait, dans certaines conditions, à améliorer la valeur boursière des banques systémiques. Celles-ci sont amenées à investir plus dans la flexibilité financière versus coussins de sécurité. Des telles banques n’auront pas besoin de faire appel aux marchés en cas de détresse financière. Toutefois, tout changement de la structure financière par augmentation de capital est accueilli négativement par les marchés. En revanche, les investisseurs réagissent différemment à l'annonce des augmentations de capital, selon les motivations annoncées. / The subprime financial crisis confirms the importance for banks to have sufficient equity to meet the economic uncertainties and operational risks and to ensure their solvency. In this context arises the question of flexibility and its use in banking. It appears that a better capitalization allows capturing opportunities and open options for growth. Moreover, recent developments (crises, consolidation, growth, etc.) demonstrate the importance of the financial value of flexibility. These two classical aspects in corporate finance take a specific twist according to the regulatory and operating environment of the banking sector.The results that emerged from our studies allow us to comment on the essential role of the flexibility and financial performance in the value creation process in banks. In addition, these results showed that a higher level of shareholders’ equity, than the minimum required, is beneficial and contributed, under certain conditions, to improve the market value of systemic banks. The systemic banks are forced to invest more in financial flexibility according to capital buffers. Such banks will not need to seek for help from markets when in financial distress. However, any change in the financial structure through the capital increase is regarded negatively by the markets. But, investors react differently to the announcement of the capital increase, according to the announced motivations.

Submitted by Sabrina Rocha Andrade (sabrina_andrade88@hotmail.com) on 2018-09-03T20:41:03Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Sabrina Andrade_FINAL.pdf: 1234290 bytes, checksum: 666ad49bc10ef2b4fc83146b16b6aaee (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Joana Martorini (joana.martorini@fgv.br) on 2018-09-04T14:41:50Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Sabrina Andrade_FINAL.pdf: 1234290 bytes, checksum: 666ad49bc10ef2b4fc83146b16b6aaee (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Suzane Guimarães (suzane.guimaraes@fgv.br) on 2018-09-05T12:37:15Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Sabrina Andrade_FINAL.pdf: 1234290 bytes, checksum: 666ad49bc10ef2b4fc83146b16b6aaee (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-09-05T12:37:15Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Sabrina Andrade_FINAL.pdf: 1234290 bytes, checksum: 666ad49bc10ef2b4fc83146b16b6aaee (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-08-06 / As empresas normalmente se alavancam através de emissão de dívida e fazem isso para gerenciar suas necessidades financeiras e/ou operacionais. A teoria de trade off defende que administradores busquem um nível estático e pré-determinado de endividamento para maximizar o valor da empresa. Portanto, é esperado que saltos na alavancagem não sejam frequentes e eventuais desvios em relação ao nível ótimo sejam rapidamente corrigidos. Este trabalho analisou a estrutura de capital das empresas listadas na B3, de 2010 a 2016, a fim de verificar se a teoria de trade off pode explicar o comportamento observado durante esse período. Foi constatado que, embora não retornem prontamente ao nível anterior de alavancagem, as empresas permaneceram em níveis compatíveis com o ótimo, o que é consistente com a teoria de trade off e sinaliza que flexibilidade financeira é também uma preocupação. / Firms normally leverage their capital structure through debt issuance, in order to manage their financial and operational needs. Trade off theory suggests that managers must aim at a pre-determined and static leverage target to maximize the firm’s value. Therefore, one should not expect to observe frequent jumps in leverage, and any difference between optimal and observed leverage would be promptly corrected. This paper studied the capital structure of companies listed at B3, from 2010 to 2016, aiming to investigate if trade off theory can be used to explain their behavior during this period. It was observed that, although companies do not return to previous leverage levels quickly, they tend to stay around optimal levels, which is consistent with trade off theory and suggests that financial flexibility is also a concern.

In this study, we examine the effect of ESG-ranking and strong financial flexibility have on Swedish firms’ stock price during the initial stage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This study is based on examining this theme during Russia's invasion of Ukraine with a time frame that lasts during the first half of 2022. The sample for this study is limited to the large index OMXS30 that is part of the Stockholm Stock Exchange. Moreover, in this paper five portfolios have been formed for this purpose, which are divided into high respectively low ESG ranking and high respectively low financial flexibility in comparison to the markets portfolio. The findings in this paper show that the portfolios with Swedish firms that have strong financial flexibility and low ESG-ranking outperform the market portfolio. Meanwhile the portfolios with Swedish firms that have high ESG-ranking and low financial flexibility underperform the market portfolio. In addition to this, the paper found that the Swedish firms with high ESG-ranking have a stable excess return and they are the safest option in terms of investments. While the Swedish firms with strong financial flexibility have high excess return but they are riskier.

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Die vier Beiträge der vorliegenden Dissertationsschrift untersuchen das Entscheidungsverhalten von Landwirten in unterschiedlichen Entscheidungssituationen. Das übergeordnete Ziel ist es, die Präferenzstruktur und Zahlungsbereitschaft von Landwirten in den untersuchten Entscheidungssituationen zu analysieren, um so die Informationsgrundlage als Entscheidungsbasis für Politiker und Berater sowie der Landwirte selbst zu erweitern. Hierzu findet die Methode der Discrete Choice Experimente in allen vier Beiträgen Anwendung. Im Einzelnen werden in den Beiträgen folgende Forschungsfragen untersucht: Der erste Beitrag prüft welche Faktoren die Entscheidung von Landwirten beeinflussen, den Preis für ihr Erntegut ex ante abzusichern. Im zweiten Beitrag werden die Präferenzen von Landwirten für das Eingehen einer Kooperation unter expliziter Berücksichtigung von nicht-monetären Faktoren analysiert. Der dritte Beitrag geht der Frage nach, welche Rolle die finanzielle Flexibilität in Investitionsentscheidungen von Landwirten spielt. Wie Anbauverträge für Biogas-Zuckerrüben aus Sicht der anbauenden Landwirte ausgestaltet sein müssen, wird im vierten Beitrag geklärt.