Made available in DSpace on 2009-11-18T19:01:01Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2004 / A indústria brasileira de gás liquefeito de petróleo, GLP, tem sido alvo freqüente, nos últimos anos, da atenção de órgãos reguladores, mídia e público em geral. Muitas têm sido as especulações a respeito de seu padrão de conduta publicados na imprensa, variando desde práticas predatórias até a formação disciplinada de cartel. A presente pesquisa, baseada em depoimentos de executivos da indústria e no acesso a dados das firmas dessa indústria tomado públicos - dados financeiros e operacionais - explora qual seja, afinal, o padrão de competição desse oligopólio. O estudo parte da Teoria da Estrutura de Capital aplicada para decisões de competição e mercado - preços e quantidades a ofertar para constatar que, dadas suas escolhas de estrutura de capital, as firmas esta indústria específica simplesmente adotam um padrão tradicional de arrefecimento da competição a partir de sua dívida. A dívida, nesta indústria, é utilizada para a criação de barreiras de entrada. Ainda assim, casos de acirramento da competição e de concentração de mercado foram encontrados, indicando que não haja uma disciplina formal de conduta por parte de suas firmas as quais devem, eventualmente, encontrar dificuldades - ou falta de interesse - na convivência em um mercado em fase de transformação. / The Brazilian industry of liquefied petroleum gas, LPG, has been calling, in the late years, the attention of the media, regulatory agencies and the general publico Many speculations have emerged, in the press, over its pattems of behaviour, which have been ranging from predatory practices up to a formal cartel operating under collusion. The present research, based in statements from industry executives as well as in data publicly disclosed by those firms - financiaI and operational ones - explores what their competitive behaviour would be, after alI. The study starts from the Theory of Capital Structure applied to product market competition decisions - output and price decisions - to realize that, given their capital structure choices, the firms within that particular industry simply adopt a classical behaviour of sofier competition. Debt, in this industry, has the role of an entry barrier. Even though, cases of tougher competition have been found, indicating the lack of a formal discipline among its members which ones, eventually, may find it very difficult - or of no interest - to coexist together in a fast changing industrial environment.

L’objectif de cette thèse est d’étudier le rôle que joue la concurrence sur le marché des biens et services dans la prise des décisions ainsi que sur la valeur de la firme. En particulier, elle met l’accent sur l’impact de la pression concurrentielle sur le choix de la source de la dette, l’efficience des décisions d’investissement dans le capital humain, et le coût des fonds propres. Cette thèse est organisée en trois essais.Dans un premier essai, nous nous intéressons à l’effet de la concurrence sur le marché des biens et services sur la prise des décisions de financement, et particulièrement le choix de la source de la dette. À partir d’un échantillon de 3 831 entreprises américaines cotées au cours de la période 2001-2013 et en utilisant une nouvelle mesure de concurrence reflétant les menaces concurrentielles qui pèsent sur les entreprises, nous constatons que les entreprises faisant face à une concurrence accrue ont moins tendance à recourir à la dette bancaire. Ce résultat soutient l’hypothèse que la concurrence joue un rôle de gouvernance efficace qui, par conséquent, peut être substitutif à la fonction de surveillance et de contrôle des prêteurs bancaires. De plus, nos résultats montrent que l’impact négatif de la concurrence sur le recours à la dette bancaire est plus important pour les entreprises qui sont plus susceptibles d’être sensibles à la pression disciplinaire exercée par le marché, particulièrement les entreprises exposées à la pression concurrentielles et les entreprises ayant de sévères contraintes financières.Le deuxième essai examine l’impact de la concurrence sur le marché des biens et services sur l’efficience des décisions d’investissement des entreprises, et particulièrement l’investissement dans le capital humain, un sujet qui a été largement ignoré par les recherches antérieures. L’analyse empirique se base sur un échantillon de 18 957 observations durant la période 1998-2001. Les résultats montrent que l’intensification de la concurrence sur le marché des biens et services est négativement liée à l’efficience de l’investissement dans le capital humain. De plus, nous constatons que ce lien est plus important pour les entreprises risquées ainsi que les entreprises ayant des coûts importants associés à l’investissement dans le capital humain. Dans l’ensemble, nos résultats suggèrent que la concurrence sur le marché des biens et services augmente le risque de défaut des entreprises qui, par conséquent, réduisent leurs activités d’investissement, conduisant à un problème de sous-investissement dans le capital humain.Dans le troisième essai, nous examinons si la concurrence sur le marché des biens et services pourrait influencer la valeur de l’entreprise à travers son impact sur le taux de rentabilité exigé par les actionnaires, ou le coût des fonds propres. L’utilisation d’un large échantillon d’entreprises américaines cotées en bourse durant la période 1998-2013 montre que la concurrence sur le marché des biens et services a un effet négatif sur le taux de rentabilité exigé par les actionnaires. Les analyses additionnelles ont montré que cet effet négatif est particulièrement significatif dans les entreprises qui souffrent principalement d’une mauvaise gouvernance. Ce résultat suggère que la concurrence joue un rôle de gouvernance qui permet de discipliner le comportement discrétionnaire des dirigeants, notamment en les incitant à fournir plus d’effort pour protéger leur entreprise contre le risque de faillite. Par conséquent, ce rôle de gouvernance améliore les attentes des investisseurs à l’égard des perspectives futures de l’entreprise et réduit ainsi le taux de rentabilité exigé ou le coût des fonds propres. / This dissertation investigates the effect of product market competition on corporate decisions and firm valuation. It is a collection of three essays. The first one examines the role of competition in driving the choice of debt source. Using a large sample of U.S. listed firms over the period 2001-2013, we show that product market competitive pressure is negatively associated with bank debt financing. This result is consistent with the view that competition plays an effective governance role that disciplines managers, and hence substitutes for the need to bank strict monitoring. In further analysis, we also show that the negative impact of competition on bank debt financing is stronger for firms with a higher exposure to competition and tighter financial constraints as they are more sensitive to external market discipline.The second essay explores whether product market competition matters for investment decisions, and more specifically labor investment decisions. To test our research hypotheses, we consider a large sample of U.S. listed firms over the 1998-2013 period and provide strong evidence that product market competitive pressure distorts labor investment efficiency. This result highlights the risk-increasing effect of competition. To the extent that firms in competitive industries have lower profit margins and higher bankruptcy risk, they are more willing to under-invest in labor in order to reduce labor costs and avoid further earnings declines. In addition, our cross-sectional tests show that the negative impact of competition on labor investment efficiency is intensified for firms with a higher exposure to competition, tighter financial constraints, and higher labor unionization rates.The third essay further investigates the implications of product market competition by examining its impact on the cost of equity capital which is viewed as one of the key considerations for managers in their investment and financing decisions. We employ a large panel of U.S. listed firms from 1998 to 2013 and find that firms facing intense competitive pressure have a lower cost of equity financing. Additionally, we show that the role of competition in reducing equity financing costs is more pronounced for firms with a higher exposure to competition and firms with poorer governance quality. Taken together, our findings suggest that product market competition serves as an external disciplinary mechanism that improves investors’ beliefs in the stock market, hence leading to a lower cost of equity capital.

The master’s thesis on the topic “Market analysis and competition on the soft drinks market” describes current situation on the market, its structure with the focus on existing competition, it put the accent on the evaluation of the strategy applied by the strongest undertaking on the market, examines a describes distribution channels and analyse the market demand for products including its estimation of the trend in the future. This thesis results from theoretical resources as are general analysis used for the purpose of the market studies oriented on business sector as well as common environment and its own functioning and the thesis is based on the competitive strategy defined by M.E. Porter. Further the thesis is dealing with data resources and methods of data handling, including data collection, classification, segmentation and its following evaluation. Master´s thesis is the guideline for the market analysis and decisions concerning entering new markets and among others gives the answers to the questions concerned the actual situation on the market and subjects that are operation on the market.