This dissertation consists of three essays on the effect of excess compensation and corporate governance changes on the firm’s performance. The first paper utilizes a cost minimization stochastic frontier approach to investigate the efficiency of director total compensation. Our findings suggest that board members are over compensated. We show that, on average, the director actual compensation level is above the efficient compensation level by around 63%. Our results suggest that an increase in director excess compensation decreases the likelihood of CEO turnover, reduces the turnover-performance sensitivity, and increases managerial entrenchment. Thus, the surplus in director compensation is directly associated with managerial job security and entrenchment. Furthermore, although director excess compensation is not significantly inversely related to the firm’s future performance, it has an indirect negative effect on future performance through its impact on the entrenchment-performance relationship. Therefore, this essay proposes that the overcompensation of directors is directly associated with a board culture predicated by mutual back-scratching and collusion between the CEO and the board members. The second essay tests the effect of an exogenous shock, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) of 2002, on the structure of corporate boards and their efficiency as a monitoring mechanism. The results suggest an increase in the participation of independent directors at the expense of insiders. Consequently, we investigate the implications of board composition changes on CEO turnover and firm value. We document a noticeable reduction in CEO turnover in the post-SOX period. We also demonstrate that, after SOX, a board dominated by independent directors is less likely to remove a CEO due to poor performance. Finally, we highlight a negative association between the change in board composition and firm value. We propose that our findings are predicated on an off equilibrium result whereby firms were forced to modify iv their endogenously chosen board composition. Therefore, contrary to the legislators’ objectives, we suggest that the change in board structure brought about inefficient monitoring and promoted an unfavorable tradeoff between independent directors and insiders. The third essay examines the relationship between the firm’s governance structure and its value during different economic conditions. We show that both relative industry turnover and CEO entrenchment increase during economic downturns. We also find that relative industry turnover and managerial entrenchment have opposite impacts on the value of the firm throughout the recessionary period. While industry turnover leads to an appreciation in firm value, managerial entrenchment reduces shareholders’ wealth. The negative impact of managerial entrenchment on firm value, however, outweighs the positive impact of industry turnover. Accordingly, we propose that a recession provides managers with a good opportunity to camouflage their behavior and extract more private benefits and, thus, blame the poor performance on bad economic conditions.

La Porta 等人以提高內部人持股可使內、外部股東利益一致，進而降低代理問題的觀點出發，在2002 年發表的實證研究中指出，提高內部人持股有助於提升公司的價值，特別是在對外部投資人保護較差的國家；他們也發現，對投資人保護程度愈好的國家，該國企業的價值也較高。本研究則從提高內部人持股可能產生的代理問題著手，在利弊同時存在之下，以涵蓋範圍更廣、時間更長的樣本，探討在不同的投資人保護環境下，提高內部人持股對公司價值的影響，以及投資人保護程度對於內部人持股集中與分散的公司價值是否也有不同的影響。 本研究發現，在投資人保護較佳的國家，提高內部人持股會傷害公司價值，但在投資人保護較差的國家，提高內部人持股可增加公司價值。另外，公司價值與內部人持股率之間呈現曲線關係，當內部人持股率相對較低時，提高內部人持股對公司價值是弊多於利；當內部人持股水準相對較高時，提高內部人持股則是利多於弊。而投資人保護程度對於內部人持股較分散的公司而言，顯得較為重要。因此，法律層面對投資人的保護程度和內部人持股集中度對於公司價值的影響有顯著的替代效果。 / This paper uses a sample of companies from 34 countries around the world to shed light on the relationships among legal protection of shareholders, ownership structure, and firm value. La Porta et al. (2002) indicate a positive relationship between cash flow, ownership, and firm value, especially in countries with poor investor protection. Besides, they also find evidence of higher valuation of firms in countries with better protection of minority shareholders. However, they don’t consider the effect of higher ownership on the cost of stealing, which may cause the controlling shareholders to expropriate more from minority shareholders. Also, their study covers only large firms with a controlling shareholder by one year data. Their results can be restricted to large firms and a particular year. Therefore, we use more comprehensive time series and cross section data to probe into the subject. Using various specifications of the valuation regressions of Fama and French (1998), we find that higher ownership improves valuation in poor protection countries while higher ownership deteriorates valuation in good protection countries. In addition, stronger legal protection improves firm value, especially the firms with low ownership concentration. That is, there is a substitute effect of legal protection and ownership concentration on firm valuation. Finally, we also testify that dividends are valued more in poor protection countries and firms with low ownership concentration.

This dissertation discusses three issues. First, we provide a thorough survey of political connections in the essay “A Survey of Political Connection Literature.” Then two empirical studies on political connections are presented in the following two essays, “Do Political Preferences Affect Investor Trading Behavior and Market Reaction?” and “The Relationship between Ownership Structure and the Value of Political Connections: Evidence from the Taiwanese Presidential Election and Global Financial Crisis of 2008,” respectively. Last, we present the conclusions in the final chapter. From the survey in the first essay, the impacts of political connections on firm value and corporate finance issues are discussed. A number of recent studies have found that political connections create value for firms when these connections are considered beneficial. Thus, in the second essay, we are motivated to investigate what kind of stock market investors would take such advantages that increase the value of their portfolio. We are also motivated by the argument in the literature that the officials’ rent-seeking behavior to establish political connections may bear some costs for the firms. Then, in the third essay, we address the question whether the value of political connections is associated with the firms’ managerial ownership structure. We organize our three essays into Chapters 2 to 4, respectively, and we briefly describe these issues below. Chapter 2 provides the theoretical and empirical background of this dissertation. We survey extant research on political connections, with special attention to its importance on corporate finance. First we discuss whether and how political connections affect firm value. Then we turn to the channel through which political connections affect firm value. For instance, political connections help firms obtain more external funds with lower costs, which results in a decline in the required rate of return and an increase in the market value. Studies that discuss the characteristics of politically connected firms are also surveyed in this essay. In Chapter 3, the essay discusses whether or not political preferences bring value to a firm. We approach the issue by checking the share trading and stock returns of politically connected firms during the 2008 Taiwanese Presidential Election. In particular, we classify investors into sophisticated and non-sophisticated investors. The political preference hypothesis is proposed to explore whether the trading behavior of the two types of investors shifts when their favorite political party loses or wins during a Presidential Election. First, a sophisticated investor holds more shares in the firm connected with the winning political party, but has fewer shares in the losing party. However, this may not hold for non-sophisticated investors. Second, firms connected with the winning party exhibit positive stock returns, whereas firms connected with the losing party do not experience the same success. Finally, the increment shares of sophisticated investors in firms connected with the winning party are positively correlated with the stock returns around the time of the election. Specifically, sophisticated investors invest more on firms connected with the winning party, thus obtaining more abnormal returns. However, the results may not hold for non-sophisticated investors. Consequently, foreign investors are found to be sophisticated investors and political preference brings market value to this kind of investors. In Chapter 4, the essay examines the relationship between ownership structure and the value of political connections. We address this issue with the data of Taiwanese publicly-traded firms during the 2008 Taiwanese Presidential Election and the 2008 global financial crisis. First, following the literature, the value of political connections is examined through the positive abnormal stock returns of the winning-party-connected firms during the election. Then we find a negative relationship between the value of political connections and the deviation of management group’s control rights from cash flow rights. Second, using the collapse of Lehman Brothers as an exogenous shock to control for the overall decline in investment opportunity, we find that politically connected firms with managers possessing more excess control rights underperformed in stock returns than firms without such potentially entrenched managers. Thus, studies that do not consider the inverse impacts of potential expropriation tend to present an incomplete picture of the value of political connections.

We employ S&P 1500 firms from 2000 to 2013 to investigate how female directors affect firm value. We explore two possible channels, the monitoring effect and the risk management effect, through which female directors can have material effect on firms. While the prior research shows a negative relation between female directors and firm value, we find that such a relation diminishes in the post-SOX period (2004 to 2007). More importantly, female directors enhance firm value in the crisis period (2008 to 2013). Our findings suggest that the way female directors affect firm value changes depending on the external environment. Female directors benefit firms mainly by monitoring in the post-SOX period but by risk management in the crisis period.

企業社會績效(Corporate Social Performance; CSP)和企業財務績效(Corporate Financial Performance; CFP)的關聯性是近年來在學術界最常被討論的一個議題，從企業經營的觀點，到底企業進行企業社會責任(Corporate Social Responsibility; CSR)所表現出來的企業社會績效能不能帶動企業財務績效的提升最後創造企業價值(Firm Value; FV)，則是許多企業經營者所關心的。本文試圖研究企業社會績效和企業價值的關聯，希望藉由全盤的分析，從企業社會績效對企業財務績效的因果關係，和企業社會績效透過何種管道提升企業價值，以及企業到底該如何看待企業社會責任這幾個面向，去探討企業社會績效和企業價值的關係。希望能夠將學理上的理論和實務面的思考進行結合。 　　本研究利用Tobin’ q拆解的方式分析可能的假說，接著採取迴歸模型進行實證分析，之後進一步利用兩階段迴歸模型排除可能的內生性問題，最後得到以下的實證結果：企業社會績效能夠提升企業財務績效最後創造企業價值，而企業社會責任是一種策略性的思維，是一種價值維護甚至是創造的手段，財務績效好的公司會更有能耐去利用企業社會責任做為差異化的策略。從以上發現，本研究實證結果支持企業社會責任對於企業經營與企業價值創造有正面的效益，換言之，企業社會績效的提升對企業價值的創造是正面的。 / The relationship between corporate social performance (CSP) and corporate financial performance (CFP) is the most popular issue for the past few years. From the perspective of business administration, there is always a question aroused. “As a company investment, is it really make sense to invest corporate social responsibility (CSR) in order to increase the CSP?” In other words, is higher CSP really means higher CFP and creating more firm value? This is the central question that all the business manager will like to know. This is the topic that this research paper wants to study. Besides, this research paper not only try to understand the linkage between CSP and CFP but also try to clarify how CSP affect CFP and create firm value. 　　The methodology be used in this study is the decomposition of Tobin’s q and two-stage regression in order to avoid potential endogenous problem. After several empirical tests for the potential hypothesis, the empirical evidence shows that a higher CSP can increase CFP and create firm value in the end. Furthermore, the investment of CSR is a strategic thinking for company to preserve their firm value and create new value of the firm. The linkage between CSP and firm value is positive and should be consider as a strategy for company who want value creation.

Bakgrund Rörelsekapitalet är ett företags livsnerv, det kan öppna upp för nya affärsmöjligheter; upprätthålla och förbättra kundrelationer samt föra nya produkter och teknologi till marknaden. Samtidigt kan dess hantering vara avgörande för om företaget riskerar att bli insolvent och gå i konkurs. Hur rörelsekapitalet hanteras är därmed av yttersta vikt för ett företag, då det påverkar företagets lönsamhet, likviditet och risk. Detta borde vara av intresse för investerare som vill maximera sin avkastning och för företagsledare som önskar maximera verksamhetens genererade vinst. Syfte Studiens ämnar analysera vikten av rörelsekapitalets hantering för nyintroducerade svenska företag och hur det påverkar deras finansiella prestation och värdeutveckling i en tid av ekonomisk tillväxt. Metod Detta är en kvantitativ studie med en deduktiv ansats. Finansiella data kommer analyseras över en tidsperiod på fem, fyra eller tre år beroende på när företagen introduceras på börsen vilket gör det till en longitudinell studie. Vidare används korrelationsmatris och regressioner för att analysera variablernas samband och därmed besvara studiens syfte. Slutsats Resultatet pekar på ett negativt samband mellan rörelsekapitalshantering och lönsamhet, positivt samband mellan rörelsekapitalshantering och likviditet samt ett negativt samband mellan rörelsekapitalshantering och värdeutveckling. / Introduction Working capital is the life blood of a company. It is an enabler of business opportunities; a sustainer and improver of businessrelations and also an envoy of new products and technology. The management of working capital decides if a company might become insolvent or even file for bankrupcy. How the working capital is managed is therefore of utmost importancet to a company, since it detirmines the company's performance, liquidity and risk. Hence, it should be of import to prospect investors that want to maximize the return of the investment and also decision makers who wishes to maximize the operational profits. Purpose The purpose of this study is to analyze the importance of efficient working capital management and its effect on financial performance and firm value for Swedish IPO companies during an economic boom. Methodology This is a quantiative study utilizing a deductive approach. Financial data is analysed over a period of five, four or three years depending on when the IPO occured, which classifies this as a longitudinal study. A correlation matrix and regressions will be used to establish the relationships between the variables and thereby fulfill the purpose of the study. Findings The resuslts indicate a negative correlation between CCC and profitability, a positive correlation between CCC and liquidity and a negative correlation between CCC and Tobin's Q.

Submitted by Edimilson Costa Lucas (costalucas@yahoo.com) on 2015-11-10T13:28:51Z No. of bitstreams: 1 EdimilsonCostaLucas_TESE.pdf: 2525096 bytes, checksum: 88b5fc4a39e14115350d9a7fddece121 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Maria Tereza Fernandes Conselmo (maria.conselmo@fgv.br) on 2015-11-11T12:34:10Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 EdimilsonCostaLucas_TESE.pdf: 2525096 bytes, checksum: 88b5fc4a39e14115350d9a7fddece121 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-11-11T12:38:48Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 EdimilsonCostaLucas_TESE.pdf: 2525096 bytes, checksum: 88b5fc4a39e14115350d9a7fddece121 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-10-19 / The occurrence of extreme weather events, such as increased temperature, hurricanes, floods and droughts has been increasingly common around of the world. The finance literature has documented efforts directed to the assessment of economic impacts from climate change that can bring significant consequences for the world economy. However, especially in Brazil, a key emerging market, little has been studied mainly with a view to assessing the impacts of climate events in the company level. Thus, this thesis analyzes, in an unprecedented manner, the impact of weather events on the value of companies belonging to two high national interest industries, in the form of two essays. First it analyzes the impact of extreme rainfall on the stock price of the Brazilian food sector. Therefore, it is conducted the research using daily data in share prices of six companies of this industry. From the location to the main area of activity of these companies, they are considered their daily data on extreme rainfall. With the use of hybrid methodology ARMA-GARCH-GPD, it was found that the evaluated companies, the extreme rainfall impacted significantly in more than half of the 198 days of extreme rainfall between 02/28/2005 and 12/30/2014, resulting in average losses daily around 1.97% on the day after the heavy rainfall. In terms of market value, this represents total average loss of around US$ 682.15 million in a single day. Second it evaluates the impact of climate variables and location on the value of companies in the energy sector in Brazil, from data on companies in the Brazilian electricity sector, as well as rainfall, temperature and geographical location of the companies. From the analysis of data in static panel and spatial panel, the results suggest that temperature and precipitation have significant effect on the value of these companies. This study can contribute in the process of structuring and creating a weather derivatives market in Brazil. / A ocorrência de eventos climáticos extremos, tais como aumento da temperatura, furacões, enchentes e secas, tem sido cada vez mais frequente ao redor do mundo. A literatura de finanças tem documentado esforços dirigidos à avaliação de impactos econômicos oriundos das variações climáticas, com consequências significantes na economia mundial. Entretanto, especialmente no Brasil, um dos principais mercados emergentes, pouco tem sido pesquisado, sobretudo com vistas à avaliação dos impactos de eventos climáticos no nível das empresas. Sendo assim, esta tese analisa, de forma inédita, o impacto de eventos climáticos sobre o valor de empresas pertencentes a duas indústrias de elevado interesse nacional, sob a forma de dois ensaios. Em primeiro lugar analisa-se o impacto de chuvas extremas sobre o preço de ações do setor de alimentos brasileiro. Para tanto, é conduzida a pesquisa empregando dados diários do preço de ações de seis empresas dessa indústria. A partir da localização da principal região de atuação dessas empresas, são considerados os respectivos dados diários referentes às chuvas extremas. Com o emprego da metodologia híbrida ARMA-GARCH-GPD, constatou-se que, nas empresas avaliadas, as chuvas extremas impactaram significantemente em mais da metade dos 198 dias de chuvas extremas ocorridos entre 28/02/2005 e 30/12/2014, acarretando perdas médias diárias ao redor de 1,97% no dia posterior a chuva extrema. Em termos de valor de mercado, isso representa perda média total ao redor de US$682,15 mi em um único dia. Em segundo lugar avalia-se o impacto de variáveis climáticas e localização sobre o valor das empresas do setor de energia do Brasil, a partir de dados referentes às empresas do setor elétrico brasileiro, bem como precipitação pluviométrica, temperatura e localização geográfica das empresas. A partir da análise de dados em painel estático e painel espacial, os resultados sugerem que temperatura e precipitação pluviométrica têm efeito significante sobre o valor dessas empresas. O presente estudo pode vir a contribuir no processo de estruturação e criação de um mercado de derivativos climáticos no Brasil.

Made available in DSpace on 2010-04-20T21:00:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 4 Danilo Guedini Serafini.pdf.jpg: 18107 bytes, checksum: 231e5e7ff6639cb9bf07e0da602960e8 (MD5) Danilo Guedini Serafini.pdf.txt: 74258 bytes, checksum: 3c27d068713a82b88abc4fad5ea7853e (MD5) Danilo Guedini Serafini.pdf: 244599 bytes, checksum: 7501654f37b05a5ae9f560a669e40252 (MD5) license.txt: 4886 bytes, checksum: 8887497480d44841931640a6c72a3fc0 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-02-16T00:00:00Z / Este trabalho examina o impacto da utilização de derivativos de moedas no valor de mercado da firma, a partir de uma amostra de 48 empresas não-financeiras listadas na Bolsa de Valores de São Paulo no período de 1999 a 2007. Utilizando o índice Q de Tobin como aproximação do valor da firma, o modelo é regredido em três metodologias: pooled OLS, modelo de efeito fixo e modelo de efeito aleatório. Além disso, é testada a causalidade reversa e a causalidade direta entre o uso de derivativos cambiais e o valor de mercado da firma. Os resultados empíricos encontrados sugerem que não há clara evidência que o uso de derivativos de moedas está associado ao valor de mercado da firma. / The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of the use of currency derivatives in the market capitalization of the companies, from a sample of 48 non financial companies listed on the São Paulo Stock Exchange from 1999 to 2007 time period. Using Tobin’s Q ratio as a proxy for the companies’ values, the model is estimated following three different methodologies: pooled OLS, fixed effect model and random walk model. Furthermore, the direct and reverse causality of the use of currency derivatives and the firm market capitalization is tested. Empirical results found suggest that there is no clear evidence that the use of currency derivatives is associated with firm market value.

Submitted by Cristiane Oliveira (cristiane.oliveira@fgv.br) on 2011-06-03T15:32:55Z No. of bitstreams: 1 66080100256.pdf: 1176091 bytes, checksum: fcc0a2692cf5fd1eb1a05eb610c446c2 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Vera Lúcia Mourão(vera.mourao@fgv.br) on 2011-06-03T16:43:34Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 66080100256.pdf: 1176091 bytes, checksum: fcc0a2692cf5fd1eb1a05eb610c446c2 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Vera Lúcia Mourão(vera.mourao@fgv.br) on 2011-06-03T16:57:44Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 66080100256.pdf: 1176091 bytes, checksum: fcc0a2692cf5fd1eb1a05eb610c446c2 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2011-06-03T17:04:48Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 66080100256.pdf: 1176091 bytes, checksum: fcc0a2692cf5fd1eb1a05eb610c446c2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-01-14 / After the deep financial crisis in 2008, there has been an increasing questioning of the Firm’s objectives and its relationship with the financial markets. There is a paradox between the current practice of maximizing financial short-term performance of organizations, demanded by financial agents to corporate executives, and the financial concept of valuation of the Firm, which considers Firm value as the present value of discounted future cash flows. Therefore, according to the maximizing value proposition the Firm's objective is to increase its long-term total value (Jensen, 2000). The primary function of marketing strategies, innovations (R&D investments) included, is to generate both growth and consistent long-term business, i.e. the expansion of intangible assets to generate tangible assets. Based on the conceptual framework of Market-based Assets (Srivastava, Shervani and Fahey 1998), this paper seeks to contribute to the subject by proposing simple metrics, the adjusted performance indexes of retail sector, the Customer Average Ticket (TMC) and the Customer Average Ticket Earnings (LTMC). These metrics could relate investments in marketing to the value of the Firm (shareholder value) through the variation in quality of the company's customer base, which is the source of revenue generation and part of the intangible assets. For empirical tests, this study used data from the following publicly companies listed in Bovespa (São Paulo Stock Exchange): Sadia and Perdigao, belonging to the food processing sector, in the period of 1999 to 2010, and also the air line companies TAM and Gol in the period of 2004 to 2010. The tests were inconclusive, due to certain data limitations, not allowing proving or ruling out the tested hypotheses. But the logical line and simplicity of the method should be explored by future studies. If the method could be confirmed and proven, it would provide all agents (marketing executives, CEOs and CFOs, market analysts and investors) with a simple and objective tool for analysis and way of communication about the value creation of Marketbased Assets (intangible assets) that impact the total Firm value. / Após a profunda crise financeira de 2008, houve um aumento do questionamento sobre os objetivos da Firma e a sua relação com os mercados financeiros. Existe um paradoxo entre a prática corrente de maximização da performance financeira de curto-prazo da organização, demandada pelos agentes financeiros aos executivos das empresas, e o próprio conceito financeiro de valoração da Firma., que considera como valor da Firma o valor presente dos fluxos de caixa futuros descontados. Portanto, segundo a proposição de maximização de valor, o objetivo da Firma é aumentar o seu valor total de longo prazo (JENSEN, 2000). É função primordial das estratégias de marketing, aí incluídos os investimentos em inovação (P&D), o objetivo de gerar crescimento e consistência de longo prazo do negócio, isto é, a ampliação dos ativos intangíveis para gerar ativos tangíveis. Norteado pela estrutura conceitual de Ativos base Mercado (SRIVASTAVA; SHERVANI; FAHEY, 1998), o presente trabalho busca contribuir para o tema, com uma proposição de métricas simples, adaptadas de índices de desempenho do setor varejo, o Ticket Médio Cliente (TMC) e o Lucro Ticket Médio Cliente (LTMC), que possam relacionar os investimentos em marketing e o valor da Firma através da variação da qualidade da base de clientes da empresa, que é a fonte de geração de receitas e parte dos ativos intangíveis. O estudo utilizou para os testes empíricos dados das seguintes empresas, com ações negociadas na Bovespa: Sadia e Perdigão, pertencentes ao setor de alimentos processados, de 1999 a 2010, e também as companhias aéreas TAM e Gol no período de 2004 a 2010. Os testes não foram conclusivos, devido a determinadas limitações dos dados, não permitindo provar ou descartar as hipóteses testadas. Porém a linha lógica e a simplicidade do método deveriam ser exploradas por estudos futuros, pois se confirmado e provado, forneceria uma ferramenta simples e objetiva de análise e comunicação por parte de todos os agentes envolvidos (executivos de marketing, diretores financeiros e presidentes, analistas de mercado e investidores), com relação à criação de valor de Ativos base Mercado (ativos intangíveis) que impactam o valor da Firma.

Doctoral dissertation work that results from the new management theory has explored in both theory and practice new directions in approach to the strategy in German iron-foundries. It has explained the reasons that lead to structural changes, made the foundation for decision process, described the problems that occur when put in practice and suggested their resolution. Further on, it was explored and critically evaluated which competitive advantages these strategy directions contributed to and consequently discussed the superior aim of strategy. It has resulted from the empirical research that the German iron-foundries have been strongly influenced especially by new information technologies and car industry and its strategies. The most significant trend of iron-foundries is the focus on the key branch of activity. Cooperation and innovative strategy represent the complementary strategy to the primary strategy and enable to merge the comprehensive requirements of customers with the needed specialization and hereby retain their competitiveness. The research respecting the global economic crisis in the car industry shows that German iron-foundries have to re-evaluate their actual strategies and convert the growth to stability and long lasting development.