No / We document rich variation across observed firms’ characteristics, and the accompanying macroeconomic volatility, often related to political turmoil for Ukrainian manufacturing firms. We use a unique annual firm-level data for the period from 2001 to 2009 compiled from the Derzhkomstat. To understand the evolution of distributions we utilize functional principal component analysis while accounting for the effects associated with firms’ region, industry, trade status, and firm turnover. The overall improvements in firm productivity in Ukraine’s manufacturing in 2001–2009 vary substantially by industry, trade status and with firm turnover, while regional effects are less important.

In this thesis the positive relationship between firm size and wages is investigated through the application of hierarchy theories. Many different explanations have been proposed for this relationship, but have met only limited success at best. The strongest finding to date is that unobserved ability is a significant factor. The question of interest here is ???why do wages increase as the size firm increases???? Hierarchy theories take a different approach towards the analysis of firms in comparison to the alternate theories which have dominated previous investigations. As a result of their focus on the organisational relationships within a firm???s internal structure, hierarchy theories offer certain insights to the size-wage relationship which to date have been unnoticed. An empirical investigation into the size-wage differential incorporating structural considerations into an augmented wage equation offers strong support for the propositions of hierarchy theories. I find that half of the firm size effect for workers can be explained by controlling for some aspects of management structure, and that span of control has a discontinuous effect on wages. These results are completely consistent with the existing findings on unobserved ability and have the added attraction of providing economic as well as statistical explanatory power.

In this thesis the positive relationship between firm size and wages is investigated through the application of hierarchy theories. Many different explanations have been proposed for this relationship, but have met only limited success at best. The strongest finding to date is that unobserved ability is a significant factor. The question of interest here is ???why do wages increase as the size firm increases???? Hierarchy theories take a different approach towards the analysis of firms in comparison to the alternate theories which have dominated previous investigations. As a result of their focus on the organisational relationships within a firm???s internal structure, hierarchy theories offer certain insights to the size-wage relationship which to date have been unnoticed. An empirical investigation into the size-wage differential incorporating structural considerations into an augmented wage equation offers strong support for the propositions of hierarchy theories. I find that half of the firm size effect for workers can be explained by controlling for some aspects of management structure, and that span of control has a discontinuous effect on wages. These results are completely consistent with the existing findings on unobserved ability and have the added attraction of providing economic as well as statistical explanatory power.

¡@¡@Treasury stock system allows listed companies to buy back their own shares in the open market. In general, when the company announced stock repurchase event, investors are optimistic about the prospects of the company. Therefore, the company's stock price usually rises. But will investors buy more stocks, leading to increased liquidity of stocks? This study combines with stock repurchase and liquidity to investigate the impact of stock repurchase on liquidity. Further events will be studied by different factors stratified, including firm size, stock price, industry, the purpose of stock repurchase, the proportion of execution, the holding ratio of insiders and institutional investors. By using three types of liquidity measures, the study is to observe the changes of liquidity of stocks in the different situations. ¡@¡@After conducting mean difference in pair-sample test, the empirical results indicate that the sample stocks in the stock repurchase announcement, the outcome supports liquidity increase hypothesis. In terms of the stratification factors, the smaller of the company size or lower stock price will help increase the liquidity of the stock in the market. Non-electronics sector, aims to buy back equity write-off shares can improve market liquidity. Higher or lower percentage of insider ownership shares in¡@companies will lead to the increase of stock liquidity. Higher holding shares proportion of institutional investor in companies will increase liquidity. The amount of execution ratio is of no factors, but the liquidity of the stock repurchase still supports the liquidity increase hypothesis.

We examine the hypothesis that firm size affects the sensitivity of bank term loan maturity to its underlying determinants. As borrower size increases, negotiating power with the lender and information transparency increase, while the lender is able to spread the fixed costs of loan production across a larger dollar value of the loan. We find strong evidence of firm size dependency in the determinants of bank term loan maturity and show that this is unrelated to syndication. Only large borrowers can manipulate bank loan contract terms so as to increase firm value.

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Innovation and commercialization are crucial for the competitiveness and economic well-being of countries. Despite the importance of innovation, recent studies have showed that Canada is lagging behind other countries in terms of its innovation and commercialization performance. The claim is often made that Canada performs well in generating the knowledge needed for innovation; however, the problem lies in transforming this knowledge into commercial success. Thus, a major preoccupation is how to turnaround this weak commercialization performance. Despite the wide range of programs, policies and regulations implemented by the Canadian Government along with its provincial counterparts to engender a turnaround, little has changed in Canada’s commercialization performance. Therefore, the search for solutions continues. Given that commercialization takes place at the firm-level, this study will explore the relationship between firm-size and commercialization. Several existing studies have examined the link between innovation and firm size, but few have examined the link between commercialization and firm size. Despite the arguments supporting medium-sized firms’ ability to commercialize innovations, there is a weak empirical base that explores the position of Canadian medium-sized firms and their innovation and commercialization capabilities. This study will contribute to the existing knowledge by covering the gap in the literature concerning the role of medium-sized firms in commercialization, compared to small and large firms. This study provides evidence suggesting that small and medium-sized firms should be considered differently.

Innovation and commercialization are crucial for the competitiveness and economic well-being of countries. Despite the importance of innovation, recent studies have showed that Canada is lagging behind other countries in terms of its innovation and commercialization performance. The claim is often made that Canada performs well in generating the knowledge needed for innovation; however, the problem lies in transforming this knowledge into commercial success. Thus, a major preoccupation is how to turnaround this weak commercialization performance. Despite the wide range of programs, policies and regulations implemented by the Canadian Government along with its provincial counterparts to engender a turnaround, little has changed in Canada’s commercialization performance. Therefore, the search for solutions continues. Given that commercialization takes place at the firm-level, this study will explore the relationship between firm-size and commercialization. Several existing studies have examined the link between innovation and firm size, but few have examined the link between commercialization and firm size. Despite the arguments supporting medium-sized firms’ ability to commercialize innovations, there is a weak empirical base that explores the position of Canadian medium-sized firms and their innovation and commercialization capabilities. This study will contribute to the existing knowledge by covering the gap in the literature concerning the role of medium-sized firms in commercialization, compared to small and large firms. This study provides evidence suggesting that small and medium-sized firms should be considered differently.

Food recalls caused by pathogens receive considerable public attention due to health risk and the potential loss to the companies involved. There are very few studies analyzing the relationship between food recalls and characteristics of the companies involved. Because of the significance of the problem and lack of available research, the association between food recalls caused by pathogen and characteristics of the companies involved is examined in this thesis. To address the problem, data on food product recalls in the United States from January 2000 to October 2009 are used. Only the events caused by pathogens are analyzed in the thesis. The firms that have multiple recall incidents are the units of analysis. The study employs an econometric model with discrete choice modeling approaches: logit and probit. There are two main hypotheses. Firstly, it is hypothesized that branding decreases the likelihood of the occurrence of the repeated recall event. Secondly, size of the firm is hypothesized to be associated with higher likelihood of recurrence. The major finding is that branding and firm size are associated with higher probability of the recurrence of food recall events associated with pathogenic contamination. A firm that produces branded products is around 15 percent more likely to have a recurrence of food recall events than a firm producing unbranded product. This finding points out the interesting and unexpected issue that branding is not associated with improved performance in food safety. Additionally, an increase in firm size has a minute but significant association with rising likelihood to have a recurrence of a food recall event. This study is the first concerning the firm level factors that can influence risk of the recurrence of food recall incidents involving pathogens. Thus, its results are distinctive and can benefit both government and private sectors with respect to food safety policy or food safety standards.

Innovation and commercialization are crucial for the competitiveness and economic well-being of countries. Despite the importance of innovation, recent studies have showed that Canada is lagging behind other countries in terms of its innovation and commercialization performance. The claim is often made that Canada performs well in generating the knowledge needed for innovation; however, the problem lies in transforming this knowledge into commercial success. Thus, a major preoccupation is how to turnaround this weak commercialization performance. Despite the wide range of programs, policies and regulations implemented by the Canadian Government along with its provincial counterparts to engender a turnaround, little has changed in Canada’s commercialization performance. Therefore, the search for solutions continues. Given that commercialization takes place at the firm-level, this study will explore the relationship between firm-size and commercialization. Several existing studies have examined the link between innovation and firm size, but few have examined the link between commercialization and firm size. Despite the arguments supporting medium-sized firms’ ability to commercialize innovations, there is a weak empirical base that explores the position of Canadian medium-sized firms and their innovation and commercialization capabilities. This study will contribute to the existing knowledge by covering the gap in the literature concerning the role of medium-sized firms in commercialization, compared to small and large firms. This study provides evidence suggesting that small and medium-sized firms should be considered differently.