De acordo com a hipótese de flexibilidade financeira, as firmas preservariam maiores posições em ativos líquidos e capacidade de endividamento para reduzir as potenciais restrições ao acessar recursos externos, evitar o risco do subinvestimento e absorver choques exógenos adversos sobre as suas decisões financeiras. Entretanto, tal conjectura, que tem recebido pouca atenção na literatura de finanças corporativas, seria capaz de responder a importantes lacunas teórico-empíricas, em especial, das principais teorias de estrutura de capital. À vista disso, o trabalho objetivou avaliar a influência da manutenção de flexibilidade financeira sobre o financiamento e investimento das companhias abertas brasileiras no período de 2008 a 2017, bem como analisar a repercussão desta política nas empresas consideradas restritas e flexíveis financeiramente. Para tanto, foram desenvolvidas as modelagens de financiamento, investimento e de avaliação de impacto. Foram utilizados métodos de estimação que pudessem corrigir potenciais problemas decorrentes da endogeneidade entre as variáveis, sendo eles: GMM, difference-in-difference e propensity score matching. Na primeira modelagem, investigou-se o efeito adicional nos níveis de flexibilidade financeira sobre os níveis de alavancagem das firmas classificadas como restritas e irrestritas sob cinco critérios: índices KZ, WW, SA, ativo total e distribuição de dividendos. Como principal achado, mediante a regressão com dados em painel dinâmico (GMM), verificou-se que incrementos no excesso de caixa e na capacidade de financiamento propiciam acréscimos mais acentuados na alavancagem contábil das firmas restritas sob distintos critérios de restrição financeira. Na segunda modelagem, por meio de equações de investimento (GMM) de Q de Tobin e acelerador de vendas, averiguou-se a sensibilidade do investimento ao fluxo de caixa nas firmas flexíveis e inflexíveis sob três critérios: excesso de caixa, capacidade de financiamento e a intersecção de ambos. Nesta avaliação, no modelo Q de investimento, o resultado mais importante é que as empresas flexíveis financeiramente, ao obter capacidade de endividamento, reduziriam a dependência da geração de fluxo de caixa para investir, comparativamente às inflexíveis. Ao final, por intermédio de métodos de avaliação de impacto (diferenças-em-diferenças e pareamento), examinou-se como a retirada do grau de investimento do rating de crédito soberano brasileiro em 2015 (evento exógeno negativo) impactou as decisões de financiamento e investimento nas firmas flexíveis e não flexíveis (com e sem rating de crédito de grau de investimento, respectivamente). O método de pareamento ofereceu evidências de que, sobretudo, os índices de alavancagem a valores de mercado das firmas flexíveis são menos impactados após a ocorrência do choque adverso quando comparados às inflexíveis. Em contraste, tal evento não provocou diferenças estatisticamente significantes nos patamares de investimento dos grupos, em ambos os métodos. Estes resultados contribuem para o entendimento do: persistente comportamento de subalavancagem das firmas restritas e não restritas; declarado anseio dos gestores financeiros por folga financeira para investimentos futuros; comportamento proativo da firma em resposta a eventos esperados e inesperados. Em síntese, os referidos achados indicam que a manutenção de flexibilidade financeira exerce relevante influência nas principais decisões financeiras das companhias abertas brasileiras e em condições atípicas de mercado. / Under the financial flexibility hypothesis, firms would preserve greater positions in liquid assets and borrowing capacity to reduce potential constraints on accessing external resources, avoid the risk of underinvestment, and absorb adverse exogenous shocks to their financial decisions. However, such a conjecture, which has received little attention in the corporate finance literature, would be able to respond to important theoretical-empirical gaps, especially the main theories of capital structure. In view of this, the objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of the maintenance of financial flexibility on the financing and investment of Brazilian publicly traded companies from 2008 to 2017, as well as to analyze the repercussion of this policy on companies considered constrained and financially flexible. For that, the models of financing, investment and impact assessment were developed. It was used estimation methods that could correct potential problems due to endogeneity among the variables, such as: GMM, difference-in-difference and propensity score matching. In the first model, was investigated the additional effect on the levels of financial flexibility on the levels of leverage of firms classified as constrained and unconstrained under five criteria: KZ, WW, SA, total assets and dividend payout index measures. As a main finding, through dynamic panel data regression (GMM), it was verified that increases in excess cash and in financing capacity lead to more accentuated increases in the book leverage of constrained firms under different criteria of financial constraint. In the second model, through investment equations (GMM) of Tobin\'s q and sales-accelerator, the sensitivity of the investment to cash flow in flexible and inflexible firms was investigated under three criteria: excess cash, financing capacity and the intersection of both. In this evaluation, in the Q model of investment, the most important result is that financially flexible companies, when obtaining debt capacity, would reduce the dependency of cash flow generation to invest, compared to inflexible firms. Finally, through quasi-experimental methods (differences-in-differences and matching), it was examined how the withdrawal of investment grade of the Brazilian sovereign credit rating in 2015 (negative exogenous event) impacted financing decisions and investment in flexible and non-flexible firms (with and without investment grade credit rating, respectively). The matching method provided evidence that, above all, the market leverage of the flexible firms are less impacted after the occurrence of the adverse shock when compared to the inflexible firms. In contrast, this event did not cause statistically significant differences in the investment levels of the groups in both methods. These results contribute to the understanding of: the persistent under-leverage behavior of the constrained and unconstrained firms; declared financial managers\' desire for financial freedom for future investments; proactive behavior in response to expected and unexpected events. In summary, these findings indicate that the maintenance of financial flexibility exerts a relevant influence on the main financial decisions of Brazilian public companies and in unusual market conditions.

This dissertation includes two related chapters that analyze financial condition of firms. In the first chapter, I examine the relationship between the firms' level of cash holdings and governance. The findings show that higher levels of cash holdings are significantly related to strong governance. The results also show that firms with strong governance hold asymmetrically higher levels of cash than firms with weak governance when they have high growth opportunities. Furthermore, I also test the impact of financial constraint status of the firm on the level of cash holdings for both good and poorly governed firms separately. The results suggest that strong governance firms hold higher levels of cash to use as financial slack in order to avoid financial distress. In the second essay I examine if a firm's success in leaving distress is explained by firm characteristics and manager decisions. I proxy the managers' decisions by measuring changes in operating, investing, and financing choice variables. Timely decisions with regard to product refinement, proxied by increased investment in research and development and reduction in capital expenditures, increase the probability of successful turnaround. Further the results show that increased financing through additional sale of equity, acquisitions and sale of assets do not help a firm exit financial distress.

Syfte: I takt med att hållbarhet blir allt viktigare, erhåller företagen en betydelsefull roll i arbetet för ett hållbart samhälle. Vilket medfört ett stort intresse för hur ESG-betyget påverkar de finansiella aspekterna av verksamheten i både företagsvärlden och den akademiska världen. Mycket av den tidigare forskningen har fokuserat på välutvecklade marknader när denna relation studerats, till följd av detta riktar denna studie in sig på tillväxtmarknader. I denna kontext har institutionella faktorer bidragit till att resultaten från tidigare forskning är motstridiga. Studiens syfte är att undersöka sambandet mellan ESG-betyg och finansiell prestation, samt hur financial slack påverkar denna relation på tillväxtmarknader. Metod: Studien har en deduktiv ansats och tillämpar en kvantitativ metod. Med hjälp av regressionsanalyser undersöks sambandet mellan ESG-betyg och finansiell prestation, samt hur financial slack påverkar det studerade sambandet på tillväxtmarknader. Urvalet består av 2 287 företag från 19 tillväxtmarknader fördelat över 11 sektorer. Samtliga data avser år 2022 och är hämtade från Refinitiv Eikons databas. Sekundärdata har analyserats genom univariat-, bivariat- och multivariat analys i statistikprogrammet IBM SPSS. Resultat och slutsats: Resultaten antyder ett positivt samband mellan ESG-betyg och ROE, samt mellan G-betyg och finansiell prestation. Samtidigt som inget samband observeras mellan E- och S-betyg och finansiell prestation. Vidare antyder resultaten att financial slack inte påverkar relationen mellan ESG-betyg och finansiell prestation. Examensarbetets bidrag: Studien bidrar med ny och ökad kunskap beträffande sambandet mellan ESG-betyg och finansiell prestation. Dels genom att en relativt outforskad kontext, i form av tillväxtmarknader studeras, dels då de tre dimensionerna av ESG och dess effekt på den finansiella prestationen undersöks var för sig. Förslag till framtida forskning: Med bakgrund mot studiens begränsningar föreslås att framtida forskare tillämpar en longitudinell forskningsdesign när sambandet mellan ESG-betyg och finansiell prestation studeras, detta för att fånga upp förändringar över tid. Ett ytterligare förslag är att använda marknadsbaserade mått för att mäta finansiell prestation. / Aim: As sustainability becomes increasingly important, companies are given a significant role in the work towards a sustainable society. Which has led to a great deal of interest in how the ESG-rating affects the financial aspects of the business in the corporate community as well as in the academia. Much of the previous research has focused on developed markets when studying this relationship, as a result this study focuses on emerging markets. In this context, institutional factors have contributed to conflicting results from previous research. The purpose of the study is to investigate the relationship between ESG-score and financial performance, as well as how financial slack affects this relationship in emerging markets. Method: The study has a deductive research approach and uses a quantitative method. Using regression analyses, the relationship between ESG-score and financial performance is examined, as well as how financial slack affects this relationship in emerging markets. The sample consists of 2 287 companies from 19 emerging markets, operating in 11 different sectors. All data refer to the year 2022 and are retrieved from Refinitiv Eikon's database. The secondary data has been analyzed through univariate, bivariate and multivariate analysis in the statistics program IBM SPSS. Results and conclusions: The results indicate a positive relationship between ESG-score and ROE, as well as between G-score and financial performance. Meanwhile, no relationship is observed between E-, and S-score and financial performance. Furthermore, the results suggest that financial slack does not affect the relationship between ESG-score and financial performance. Contribution of the thesis: The study contributes with new and increased knowledge regarding the relationship between ESG-score and financial performance. By studying a relatively unexplored context, in the form of emerging markets, and by examining the three dimensions of ESG and its effect on financial performance individually. Suggestions for future research: Due to the study's limitations, it is suggested that future researchers apply a longitudinal study design when investigating the relationship between ESG-score and financial performance, so that changes over time can be observed. Another suggestion is to use market-based key ratios to measure financial performance.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:26:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Mario Kuniy.pdf: 1559806 bytes, checksum: d5744877a3803ca62936ca589f633225 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-08-13 / Fundo Mackenzie de Pesquisa / The purpose of this work was identify the relationship between capital structure and innovation in the brazilian context during the period from 2002 to 2006 and was based on O Brien (2003), whom estimated the importance of financing resources for companies in the competitive strategy based on innovation using equity or debt financing and for maintaining financial slack.. This work considered industrial sectors which had innovation in 2003 and 2005. The financial informations were collected by Serasa, next was merged with innovation information and advertising intensity offered by Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística-IBGE. The procedures of this work were similar of applied by Marques (2007) that will be explained in the sequence. In order to check the consistency of the results, many multiple regression were calculated with two databases which had different innovation investment levels, according to the questionary applied by IBGE each two years, in many sectors of brazilian industrial companies. The results confirmed the research of O Brien (2003) and indicated that the more companies invest in innovation less will be their leverage; the more innovation is important as strategy for companies less will be the relationship between leverage and performance and, exist a negative interaction between leverage and the importance of innovation in the strategy regarding the impacts on the performance of the company. Besides O Brien (2003) tests was applied another one which indicated the more is strategy investment more financial slack. / O objetivo deste estudo foi identificar a relação entre estrutura de capital e inovação nocontexto brasileiro, no período de 2002 a 2006 e teve como base o estudo de O Brien (2003), que avaliou a importância do financiamento de empresas para estratégia competitiva, baseada em inovação, por meio de recursos próprios ou de terceiros e pela manutenção de folga financeira (financial slack). A pesquisa englobou setores que apresentaram inovação na indústria em 2003 e 2005. Foram usadas informações financeiras cedidas pela Serasa e cruzadas com dados de inovação e investimentos em propaganda, disponibilizadas pelo Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE). Os procedimentos deste trabalho foram semelhantes aos utilizados por Marques (2007), que serão detalhados a seguir. Para verificação de consistência de resultados, foram rodadas regressões lineares múltiplas com duas amostras, que apresentaram diferentes níveis de investimentos em inovação, de acordo com o questionário aplicado a cada dois anos pelo IBGE, em empresas de diversos setores industriais. Os resultados corroboraram o estudo de O Brien (2003), que indicaram que quanto mais as empresas enfatizam a inovação, menor será o seu índice de alavancagem; que quanto mais importante for a inovação para a estratégia de uma empresa, menor será a relação entre alavancagem e rentabilidade e, que existe uma interação negativa entre alavancagem e a importância da inovação na estratégia da empresa, com respeito aos seus impactos sobre o desempenho da empresa. Além dos testes sugeridos por O Brien (2003), foi aplicado um teste que indicou que quanto maior o investimento em estratégia de inovação, maior a folga financeira.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:30:46Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Anderson Luis Saber Campos.pdf: 1751947 bytes, checksum: 84550d8dd776e4023c630d37d86a64b2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-08-11 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This study proposes to evaluate the role of financial slack in the long-term rebalancing of the capital structure of the firm. For that was developed and tested a new proxy that demonstrated the ability to assess the relative indebtedness of companies. The concept of financial slack appears to influence future borrowing even after controlling for traditional determinants of capital structure. So this study reinforcethe the role of the debt industry, and used the median debt of the sector as the target, and the fact that the further away from this value, the faster firms adjust their capital structure in an attempt to converge to the median sector. / Este trabalho se propôs a avaliar o papel da folga financeira de longo prazo no rebalanceamento da estrutura de capital das empresas. Para tanto foi desenvolvida e testada uma nova proxy que demonstrou capacidade de avaliar o endividamento relativo das empresas. O conceito de folga financeira parece influenciar o endividamento futuro mesmo controlando para os determinantes clássicos de estrutura de capital. Assim este trabalho reforça o papel do endividamento setorial, pois se utilizou a mediana do setor como endividamento-alvo, e o fato que quanto mais distante deste valor, mais rápido as empresas ajustam a sua estrutura de capital na tentativa de convergir para a mediana do setor.

Nowadays, the value creation and measurement of the economic performances have changed from traditional ways of maximizing shareholder’s wealth to maximizing stakeholder’s wealth. Companies are responsible for creating value not only for their organizationsbut also for the society as a whole because CSR issues attract a global attention and most countries are urging the companies to follow sustainable ways. In Nordic countries, Sweden is well known as a pioneer for sustainability and all the CSR activities aredisclosed in Sustainability or CSR reports. Although there are many researches related to the impacts of sustainability reporting and CSR performance on firm’s growth or financial performance, a research examining the relationship between CSR performance and stock price volatility of the companies cannot be found. Therefore, we aim to investigate the impact of the residual sustainability which is one of the dimensions to measure sustainability, on stock behaviorsand formulated the research question:What is the impact of Residual Sustainability on stock behaviors?The purpose of the thesis is to find out how residual sustainability is allocated in terms of monetary value, and whether this allocation of resources creates value for the shareholders or not. This leads to investigate the stock price volatility against the size of residual sustainability of the companies listed on Nasdaq OMX Stockholm. In adopting research methodology, we followed functionalist paradigm through the assumptions: regulatory side undersociology, objectivism under ontology, positivism under epistemology, and positivism under axiologybecause we consider that companies are rational entities and aim to provide rational explanation of whether residual sustainability haspossible impacts to stock behaviors or not. We answered the research question by adopting deductive approach. Based on exploratory and explanatory research, we designed archival research method to perform quantitative analysis in a cross-sectional study. We developed our theoretical framework based on Sustainable Enterprise Theory, Legitimacy Theory, Shareholder Theory, Stakeholder Theory and Resource-based view Theory and the analysis was conducted and discussed by relating with those theories. We extracted the data from EikonDataStream for years 2015, 2016 and 2017. We used different statistical methods to test normality of our variables, and run the tests with multilinear regression model to address our research question. The result indicates that there is no statistically significant relationship between residual sustainability and stock behaviorswithin the specific time frame. The possible reason is that the stock price is well adjusted before creating stock volatility because the sustainability in Sweden is likely to be predicted for the future. Secondly, most of the Swedish companies are fully utilized the residual fund for innovation, talent retention, research and development and other purposes and thereby it may create delay adjustment on stock price until value creation for organizationis generated.

Free cash flow and capital structure is a widely covered topic, with several studies conducted in previous years and markets. We set out to examine the possible effects of free cash flow and capital structure on the Stockholm Nasdaq OMX between the years 2018 and 2022. Regarding this period, no previous studies had been conducted that consisted of a population encompassing an entire market. We decided to employ a deductive approach to perform our quantitative research. Using the ORBIS database, we gathered data regarding variables free cash flow, debt ratio, debt-equity ratio, asset turnover ratio, return on equity and return on assets. Return on equity and return on assets worked as our dependent variables, with free cash flow, debt ratio, debt-equity ratio and asset turnover ratio as independent variables. After testing the data for heteroskedasticity and autocorrelation, a fixed effects regression model was both constructed and examined along with a Pearson’s correlation test.  Our results indicated a significant negative relationship between free cash flow and return on equity, as well as a significant positive relationship between asset turnover ratio and return on equity. From these results, we gathered we had detected evidence to support the financial slack theory, which is a theory that highlights the importance of keeping an excess of resources to use when needed. The theory advocates using additional resources and not allowing an overflow of assets to gather dust in inventory.