This paper attempts to partially answer the question of how leadership matters in a Flat World (Friedman, 2006) based upon the experiences of a comprehensive six-month American cultural immersion program at Millersville University in Pennsylvania begun in 1996. The paper examines the social...

We study 130 large asset downsizings in 1985-1994. We find that downsizings are most often accomplished by selling assets. The decision to downsize is negatively related to operating performance at both the firm and industry levels and is positively related to firm debt ratio and level of...

The existing literature reports insignificant 'total' exposure for multinational or exporting firms, where total exposure incorporates both firm specific and macroeconomic effects. We propose a dual-effect hypothesis to explain this result which seemingly contradicts conventional wisdom....

Changes in exchange rates are expected to affect the competitiveness of companies: a strong dollar is bad for American exporters and a weak dollar is good. Yet empirical research has not found much evidence of the expected contemporaneous correlation between exchange rate changes and stock...

We report that traditional seasoned equity offerings (SEOs) are no longer firms' preferred choice for raising seasoned public equity. Traditional offerings have recently been surpassed by shelf-registered offerings in terms of both annual frequency and total capital raised. This represents a...

Altinkiliç and Hansen (2000) show that underwriter spreads in seasoned equity offerings (SEOs) overwhelmingly reflect variable costs. This research attempts to begin filling the gap created by this result, as to what are the important constituents of the variable costs. In particular, I...

Some firms allow their CEO to hold the position of Chair of the Board of Directors while other firms choose to split those two positions between two different individuals. This dissertation first examines whether agency control mechanisms, agency problems, and other firm characteristics are...

This dissertation examines two different topics relatedto the issuance of a convertible debt security. The firstessay addresses the question of how managers set theequity value in a convertible debt issue. A convertibledebt security has value derived from an equitycomponent and a debt component....

Since the 1970s, dividends have not only become less common (Fama and French, 2001), they have become less sticky, too. Today, it is not uncommon for a firm to cease dividend payments within three years of initiation. I examine the differences between firms that continue to pay dividends for a...

This dissertation consists of two essays. The first provides evidence that the recent revival of shelf equity offers is related to changes in how firms use shelf registration. During 1990-2003 firms that make shelf filings have no immediate intent and low probability of issuance, lower...