This thesis consists of three essays on various topics in empirical financial studies. In Chapter 1, I study the profitability of momentum trading from evidence in mutual fund performance. I find that mutual funds that exhibit a strong momentum trading pattern earn significant risk-adjusted...

This dissertation analyzes the strategic implications of customization policies available to companies that must simultaneously provide service and learn about their customers through automated interfaces. The first part of the dissertation lays out the theoretical framework within which the...

This thesis consists of three essays in capital markets. The first essay presents a dynamic asset pricing model with heterogeneously informed agents. Unlike previous research, the general case where differential information leads to the problem of "forecasting the forecasts of others" and to...

The environment surrounding companies is constantly changing. and that change forces companies into paradigm shifts. If a company cannot cope with change, it faces the distinct possibility of being be weeded out of the industry. Today, Japanese companies are facing dramatic environmental change....

The environment surrounding telecom companies has changed dramatically since most were privatized in the 1980s. Under the influence of regulations, they had faced globalization and have repeatedly divided and consolidated to improve competitiveness. From the technology and marketing points of...

At the end of twentieth century, Kirin Brewery Co. began a strategic move to break out of the saturated domestic market by adopting an international orientation and diversification effort to become a leading company in the Asia and Oceania markets. Following consolidation of its distribution...

Essay 1- Effects of Feedback Delay on Learning. Learning figures prominently in many theories of organizations. Understanding barriers to learning is therefore central to understanding firms' performance. This essay investigates the role of time delays between taking an action and observing the...

To better understand large mergers and acquisitions (M&A) as major intercorporate strategic maneuvers, I study a key concern from the chief executive perspective at each stage of combining two firms. For the inception stage, I explore CEO merger motives; for the implementation stage, I examine...

Large pharmaceutical companies (Multinational Pharmaceutical Companies or MPCs) have struggled in recent years with the rapidly accelerating costs of drug-discovery research and development. These costs continue to rise while resulting in fewer drug leads. Several industries have realized...

The thesis comprises three essays on various aspects of the development and diffusion of pharmaceutical innovations, woven together by the idea that the production of clinical knowl- edge influences organizational design, pricing, and advertising decisions in the pharmaceutical industry - that...