Increasing numbers of foreign firms are holding cross-border IPOs in attempts to raise capital in markets outside of their home nation. Within the United States cross-border IPOs consistently experience greater amounts of underpricing than domestic IPOs. This paper examines the effects of SIC industry classifications on cross-border and domestic IPO underpricing from 2004-2010. Analysis demonstrates that in various industries, SIC classification has a significant impact upon underpricing in comparison to other industries. While in other industries, significance is solely exhibited through the differing impacts of domestic and cross-border IPOs, within the industry itself, upon underpricing. The most significant industry effect is seen in high-technology industries which display a significant impact on underpricing on both the inter-industry and intra-industry level.

Utdelningspolitik är ett ämne inom finansieringsområdet som har varit flitigt omdiskuterat under många år. Huruvida branschen som företaget är verksam inom har en inverkan på utdelningspolitiken eller inte är ett område som det finns relativt lite forskning inom. Forskare är oense om branschen påverkar företagens utdelningsbeslut. Vissa hävdar att det finns branscheffekter vilket gör att företagens utdelningspolitik påverkas av branschen och som resulterar i att utdelning tenderar att se olika ut mellan branscher. Det finns också forskare som exempelvis Higgins (1972) som påstår motsatsen och menar att branschen inte har någon större påverkan utan att företagen bestämmer utdelningspolitiken utifrån deras egen situation. Uppsatsens syfte är att undersöka om det finns skillnader i utdelningspolitiken i sex olika branscher som jämförts. Det har gjorts genom att analysera utdelningsandelen från totalt 52 företag på OMX Stockholm under tidsperioden 2001-2011. För att jämföra om det finns skillnader mellan branscherna så har ett hypotestest och en regressionsanalys genomförts. Resultatet av undersökningen pekar på att det inte finns några skillnader mellan de undersökta branscherna, vilket tyder på en avsaknad av branscheffekter i utdelningspolitiken. / Payout policy is a controversial topic within corporate finance that has been discussed extensively for many years. Whether the industry that companies operate in has an impact on payout policy is an area that is less clear. Some researchers argue that there exist industry effects, which means that companies’ payout policy is influenced by the industries. On the contrary, there are also other researchers like Higgins (1972) who claim that industries do not have any impact on companies’ payout policy. Instead, companies decide the payout policy based on their own circumstances. This study aims to examine if there are any differences in payout policy among six different industries. By comparing the payout ratios of 52 companies from OMX Stockholm during the period 2001-2011, a hypothesis test and a regression analysis were performed. The result of the study indicates that there are no differences among these industries, which suggests a lack of industry effects in payout policy.

This study examines the impact of national culture on the content of corporate Web sites, and Web users’ attitudes and intentions toward culturally congruent or incongruent Web sites. In this work, culturally bipolar clusters based on Hofstede’s (1991) and Hall’s (1976) cultural dimensions are conceptualised. New Zealand and Korea are chosen as representatives of the respective bipolar clusters. This research utilises both content analysis and experimental research to provide deep insight into an area which has not yet been explored. Two studies are undertaken, Study One, focusing on the content analysis, examines how the use of visual communication and Web features differs between the two countries and between industry types. Study Two assesses Web users’ predispositions to respond favourably or unfavourably to the Web site. Web users’ perceptions, measured by experimental research with four culturally manipulated Web sites, are assumed to be the most suitable concept for studying the effectiveness of Web sites. Three ethnic groups are involved: Korean university students, New Zealand university students, and English-Korean bilingual university students. The findings reveal differences in the content of corporate Web sites from the two countries. However, these results do not support the findings of extant research. The results show that the corporate Web sites studied can be distinguished not only by the two national cultures, but also by other significant factors such as a company’s characteristics, its online presence strategy, national broadband infrastructure, and unique Internet culture. Additionally, the segment of young adults shows a convergence of cultural value systems which can be attributed to the fact that young adults in both countries have similar perceptions toward corporate Web sites regardless of their nationalities. Language structure and local terminology on the Web sites, however, are still important. This study contributes to knowledge by providing critical insights into the effectiveness and cultural congruence of Web sites. The results will benefit both academics and practitioners.

This study examines the impact of national culture on the content of corporate Web sites, and Web users’ attitudes and intentions toward culturally congruent or incongruent Web sites. In this work, culturally bipolar clusters based on Hofstede’s (1991) and Hall’s (1976) cultural dimensions are conceptualised. New Zealand and Korea are chosen as representatives of the respective bipolar clusters. This research utilises both content analysis and experimental research to provide deep insight into an area which has not yet been explored. Two studies are undertaken, Study One, focusing on the content analysis, examines how the use of visual communication and Web features differs between the two countries and between industry types. Study Two assesses Web users’ predispositions to respond favourably or unfavourably to the Web site. Web users’ perceptions, measured by experimental research with four culturally manipulated Web sites, are assumed to be the most suitable concept for studying the effectiveness of Web sites. Three ethnic groups are involved: Korean university students, New Zealand university students, and English-Korean bilingual university students. The findings reveal differences in the content of corporate Web sites from the two countries. However, these results do not support the findings of extant research. The results show that the corporate Web sites studied can be distinguished not only by the two national cultures, but also by other significant factors such as a company’s characteristics, its online presence strategy, national broadband infrastructure, and unique Internet culture. Additionally, the segment of young adults shows a convergence of cultural value systems which can be attributed to the fact that young adults in both countries have similar perceptions toward corporate Web sites regardless of their nationalities. Language structure and local terminology on the Web sites, however, are still important. This study contributes to knowledge by providing critical insights into the effectiveness and cultural congruence of Web sites. The results will benefit both academics and practitioners.

It is well established in the financial economics literature that potential gains from international diversification are generated from the imperfect correlation between national stock market returns. This empirical study explores the factors that impede perfect integration among national equity markets by examining emerging markets data. The first major topic of the dissertation is to re-visit the debate on the relative importance of country and industry effects in the cross-sectional variation of stock returns. By applying the standard Heston and Rouwenhorst (1994) dummy variable decomposition method to $U. S. nominal returns from 11 industry sectors of 13 emerging markets from 1984 to 2004, this work confirms that country effects do play a dominant role in determining the cross-sectional variation in stock returns in emerging markets but since late 1990s, the industry effects have become increasingly important. This conclusion is robust even after the removal of three potential biases: inflation rate, exchange rate and interest rate effects, all of which may amplify the country effects. The second topic is to investigate the debate from the perspective of stock risk. Stock risk is modeled and calculated independently from a return model with ARCH type errors. By applying the standard dummy variable decomposition method to stock risks, the empirical evidence is found to support the conclusions drawn on stock return decompositions. Finally, in order to find the fundamental sources of the country and industry factors, pure country and industry effects are then regressed on fundamental characteristics of country and industry. The findings show that the change in the variables representing the exchange rate can explain a substantial amount of the country effect variations, while at the same time, banking and stock markets development also contribute to the variations. The regressions also find evidence that the legal origin of the market does matter to stock returns. Regressions on industry effects are not as promising as the results of the country effects regression. Only the geographical concentration of industries is found to explain a small amount of the industry effects.

Den 10 mars 2000 blev det lagligt för publika aktiebolag att köpa tillbaka sina egna aktier i Sverige. Företag har därefter tagit tillfället i akt och använt detta distributionssätt. Denna studie syftar till att undersöka huruvida det finns skillnader i olika branscher gällande aktieåterköp under tidsperioden 2011–2019. Branscherna som studerades var industri, läkemedel, fastigheter, dagligvaror och telekommunikation. Undersökningen utfördes för att se om branschtillhörighet hade en inverkan på företag som använder sig av aktieåterköp. Samtliga företag som ingår i undersökningen är noterade på Nasdaq OMX Stockholm, Large-Cap. Studien använde en kvantitativ metod med en deduktiv ansats. Ett hypotestest utfördes som sedan prövades med en regressionsanalys för att se om det fanns signifikanta skillnader på aktieåterköp i olika branscher. Resultatet påvisade att det inte fanns några signifikanta branschskillnader, och branschtillhörighet har därför ingen inverkan på huruvida ett företag använder sig av aktieåterköp. Resultatet i denna studie går i linje med Higgins (1972) studie The corporate dividend-saving decision som menade att valet av utdelningspolitik inte påverkas av branschen företaget befinner sig i. / On March 10, 2000, it became legal for public limited companies to buy back their own shares in Sweden. Companies have since taken the opportunity and used this method of distribution. This study aims to examine whether there are differences in different industries regarding share repurchases during the period 2011-2019. The industries studied were pharmaceuticals, real estate, industry, consumer goods and telecommunications. The survey was conducted to see if industry affiliation had an impact on companies that use share repurchases. All companies included in the survey are listed on Nasdaq OMX Stockholm, Large-Cap. The study used a quantitative method with a deductive approach. A hypothesis test was performed which was then tested with a regression analysis to see if there were significant differences in share repurchases in various industries. The results showed that there were no significant industry differences, and industry affiliation therefore has no effect on whether a company uses share repurchases. The results of this study are in line with Higgins' (1972) study the corporate dividend-saving decision, which stated that the choice of dividend policy is not affected by the industry the company operates in.

The main objective of this study was to explain top management perceptions of industry and firm effects on firm performance through the mediation of competitive advantage in financial service firms operating in a regulated industry in a developing Ethiopian economy. The resource-based and industry-based views, constituting the two main schools of thought explaining performance variations among firms, were used as theoretical foundation of this study. Porter’s five-forces framework was used during this process. The researcher employed a post-positivist paradigm using a cross-sectional survey design. A total of 27 financial service firms (15 banks and 12 insurance firms) that had functioned for three and more years were selected for the study. The unit of analysis was ‘firms’, while respondents were top level managers with a total target population of less than 300. A census survey rather than a sample survey was undertaken. A total of 287 survey questionnaires were distributed (banks 180 and insurance industry 107), of which 215 were collected from 26 firms (15 banks and 11 insurance firms). Of the questionnaires 206 were properly completed leading to a valid response rate of 71%. These were used for the data analysis. A variance-based PLS-SEM approach, which is relevant to evaluate the predictive effects of the industry and firm factors on firm performance, was used to explain the hypothesized model using SmartPLS 2.00 software as well as the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences program. The assessment of the hypothesized model indicated that the R2 result on firm performance variance due to the combined industry effects and firm effects was 39%, indicating a moderately significant predictive accuracy of the model. The relative direct effect size (f2) of the industry on firm performance was 3%, while firm had a direct effect size of 2%, which was small. The combined indirect relative predictive accuracy of industry and firm effect sizes on firm performance through competitive advantage was high at 27%. This was driven by the relative substantial predictive power of firm effect on competitive advantage (f2 = 65%). Furthermore, the predictive capability (Q2) assessment result of the model indicated that both industry and firm effects had a 23% relevant predictive power on firm performance. The direct relative measure of the predictive relevance (q2) value of industry effect (q2 = 0.02) on firm performance was relatively higher than that of the firm effect (q2 = 0.01). Competitive advantage had a relative predictive power of 0.12, which was driven by the direct relative predictive capability of firm effect (q2 = 0.25) on competitive advantage. The overall assessment results of the structural model revealed that the model had satisfactory statistical power to predict the hypothetical research model. The hypothesis that industry effects had an influence on the performance of financial service firms was not supported. The result indicated that industry effects had a positive and non-significant relationship with firm performance, which points to competitiveness in the financial services industry. These results were achieved against the tenets of Porter’s five-forces framework. The hypothesis that firm effects had a positive predictive effect on firm performance was also not supported, indicating that resources and capabilities do not directly lead to improved firm performance. The direct effect of competitive advantage on firm performance was supported. The mediating effect of competitive advantage between industry effects and firm performance was not significant, while the mediation of competitive advantage between firm effects and firm performance was highly significant. The findings of this study revealed that firm effects were relevant through the mediation of competitive advantage in explaining performance variances among financial service firms, operating in a strictly regulated industry. The relative predictive power of firm effect on competitive advantage was high. Firm resources, particularly intangible resources and dynamic capabilities, are the key predictors of firm performance indirectly through the mediation of competitive advantage. Such an advantage may not last long given the excessive supervision and regulations that exist and the fact that firms are being dictated to by the government to comply with its strategic direction as opposed to pursuing their own firm specific strategies. Such practice could encourage competing financial firms to converge and pursue similar types of strategies and encourage imitations to gain short term competitive advantage and superior performance. This finding contradicts the fundamental premise of the resource-based view and firm heterogeneity even though it tentatively supports the argument made by Foss and Knudsen (2003) who argue that heterogeneity is not a necessary condition to gain competitive advantage and superior firm performance. Financial service firms should not only develop and manage their resources and capabilities, but they should also monitor the changes in the industry. This finding highlights the fact that firms can create competitive advantage and enjoy superior performance in a closed and regulated industry. The findings of this research make a significant contribution to the existing debate on the resource-based and industry-based views in explaining the causes of firms’ performance variations specifically in a regulated environment. / Business Management / D.B.L.

The main objective of this study was to explain top management perceptions of industry and firm effects on firm performance through the mediation of competitive advantage in financial service firms operating in a regulated industry in a developing Ethiopian economy. The resource-based and industry-based views, constituting the two main schools of thought explaining performance variations among firms, were used as theoretical foundation of this study. Porter’s five-forces framework was used during this process. The researcher employed a post-positivist paradigm using a cross-sectional survey design. A total of 27 financial service firms (15 banks and 12 insurance firms) that had functioned for three and more years were selected for the study. The unit of analysis was ‘firms’, while respondents were top level managers with a total target population of less than 300. A census survey rather than a sample survey was undertaken. A total of 287 survey questionnaires were distributed (banks 180 and insurance industry 107), of which 215 were collected from 26 firms (15 banks and 11 insurance firms). Of the questionnaires 206 were properly completed leading to a valid response rate of 71%. These were used for the data analysis. A variance-based PLS-SEM approach, which is relevant to evaluate the predictive effects of the industry and firm factors on firm performance, was used to explain the hypothesized model using SmartPLS 2.00 software as well as the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences program. The assessment of the hypothesized model indicated that the R2 result on firm performance variance due to the combined industry effects and firm effects was 39%, indicating a moderately significant predictive accuracy of the model. The relative direct effect size (f2) of the industry on firm performance was 3%, while firm had a direct effect size of 2%, which was small. The combined indirect relative predictive accuracy of industry and firm effect sizes on firm performance through competitive advantage was high at 27%. This was driven by the relative substantial predictive power of firm effect on competitive advantage (f2 = 65%). Furthermore, the predictive capability (Q2) assessment result of the model indicated that both industry and firm effects had a 23% relevant predictive power on firm performance. The direct relative measure of the predictive relevance (q2) value of industry effect (q2 = 0.02) on firm performance was relatively higher than that of the firm effect (q2 = 0.01). Competitive advantage had a relative predictive power of 0.12, which was driven by the direct relative predictive capability of firm effect (q2 = 0.25) on competitive advantage. The overall assessment results of the structural model revealed that the model had satisfactory statistical power to predict the hypothetical research model. The hypothesis that industry effects had an influence on the performance of financial service firms was not supported. The result indicated that industry effects had a positive and non-significant relationship with firm performance, which points to competitiveness in the financial services industry. These results were achieved against the tenets of Porter’s five-forces framework. The hypothesis that firm effects had a positive predictive effect on firm performance was also not supported, indicating that resources and capabilities do not directly lead to improved firm performance. The direct effect of competitive advantage on firm performance was supported. The mediating effect of competitive advantage between industry effects and firm performance was not significant, while the mediation of competitive advantage between firm effects and firm performance was highly significant. The findings of this study revealed that firm effects were relevant through the mediation of competitive advantage in explaining performance variances among financial service firms, operating in a strictly regulated industry. The relative predictive power of firm effect on competitive advantage was high. Firm resources, particularly intangible resources and dynamic capabilities, are the key predictors of firm performance indirectly through the mediation of competitive advantage. Such an advantage may not last long given the excessive supervision and regulations that exist and the fact that firms are being dictated to by the government to comply with its strategic direction as opposed to pursuing their own firm specific strategies. Such practice could encourage competing financial firms to converge and pursue similar types of strategies and encourage imitations to gain short term competitive advantage and superior performance. This finding contradicts the fundamental premise of the resource-based view and firm heterogeneity even though it tentatively supports the argument made by Foss and Knudsen (2003) who argue that heterogeneity is not a necessary condition to gain competitive advantage and superior firm performance. Financial service firms should not only develop and manage their resources and capabilities, but they should also monitor the changes in the industry. This finding highlights the fact that firms can create competitive advantage and enjoy superior performance in a closed and regulated industry. The findings of this research make a significant contribution to the existing debate on the resource-based and industry-based views in explaining the causes of firms’ performance variations specifically in a regulated environment. / Business Management / D.B.L.