ASU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This collection includes most of the ASU Theses and Dissertations from 2011 to present. ASU Theses and Dissertations are available in downloadable PDF format; however, a small percentage of items are under embargo. Information about the dissertations/theses includes degree information, committee members, an abstract, supporting data or media.
In addition to the electronic theses found in the ASU Digital Repository, ASU Theses and Dissertations can be found in the ASU Library Catalog.
Dissertations and Theses granted by Arizona State University are archived and made available through a joint effort of the ASU Graduate College and the ASU Libraries. For more information or questions about this collection contact or visit the Digital Repository ETD Library Guide or contact the ASU Graduate College at gradformat@asu.edu.
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- Creators: Shen, Wei
- Creators: Holbrook, Amy
Description
In this study I investigate the organizational mechanisms (pathways) through which strategic investors can help a firm improve performance. Many commercial banks in China have recently invited foreign banks as strategic investors since China’s entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO), hoping to gain managerial and technological knowhow from the foreign banks. Using Shanghai Pudong Development Bank as a representative example, I conduct an in-depth qualitative analysis about how the joining of Citi Bank as a strategic investor has helped the local Chinese bank improve its financial performance. On the basis of a comprehensive review of the relevant literature, I first develop a theoretical model that describes the organizational mechanisms (pathways) through which foreign strategic investors can influence the local bank’s performance. Specifically, by participation in corporate governance, the foreign strategic investor can have a positive influence over the local bank’s strategy development, operational targets, incentive systems, and organizational culture, which consequently lead to improvements in the local banks operations and financial performance. I then use a case study method to substantiate the logic and the pathways of the model with the detailed information collected from the Shanghai Pudong Development Bank and Citi Bank strategic alliance. The results are consistent with the model’s descriptive validity.
ContributorsLiu, Xinyi (Author) / Pei, Ker-Wei (Thesis advisor) / Chen, Hong (Committee member) / Shen, Wei (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
This study investigates the performance effects of cross-industry mergers and acquisitions (M&A) using a sample of firms listed in China’s Growth Entrepreses Market (GEM). Compared to firms listed in the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges, firms listed in the GEM are much smaller and tend to derive the majority of their revenues from a single industry. I first analyze the motives for firms listed in the GEM to engage in M&As and propose a set of factors that may influence their likelihood of M&A activities. Using data on 55 cross-industry M&As between January 1, 2012 and December 31, 2016, I find that investor generally responded positively in short-term, as indicated by the positive accumulated abonormal returns over the first five trading days following the announcements. Meanwhile, I found no evidence that investors benefited from cross-industry M&As in long-term over three years after the event. Further analysis suggests that the short-term effects of cross-industry M&As by GEM listed firms were influenced by the target firm’s market valuation, whether the M&A was paid by cash, the amount of the payment, and the degree of difference between the acquiring firm’s and the target firm’s industries. These findings have important implications for the investors and senior executives of firms listed in the GEM.
ContributorsZhou, Wei (Author) / Shen, Wei (Thesis advisor) / Yu, Xiaoyun (Thesis advisor) / Jiang, Zhan (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
This thesis aims to investigate the impacts of foreign banks’ management model on their degree of localization and operating efficiency. I decompose their management model into five major factors, including two formative factors and three reflective factors. The two formative factors are (1) strategic orientation and (2) target customers, and the three reflective factors are (1) top management team composition, (2) organizational structure, and (3) managerial authority and incentives. I propose that the formative factors influence foreign banks’ degree of localization, as demonstrated by the reflective factors, which subsequently influence foreign banks’ operating efficiency in China.
To test the above proposition, I conduct the empirical analysis in three steps. In the first step, I investigate foreign banks’ management model by surveying 13 major foreign banks locally incorporated in Mainland China. The results suggest that these 13 foreign banks can be categorized into three distinct groups based on their management model: intergrators, customer-followers, and parent-followers. The results also indicate that intergrators have the highest level of localization while parent-followers have the lowest level of localization.
In the second step, I conduct DEA (Data Envelope Analysis) and CAMEL (Capital Adequacy, Asset Quality, Management, Earnings, Liquidity Analysis) to assess the operating efficiency of these 13 foreign banks. The assessment is conducted in two ways: 1) the inter-group comparison between foreign banks and local Chinese banks; 2) the intra-group comparison between the three distinct groups of foreign banks identified in the first step. The results indicates that the principal factor driving the operating efficiency of both local Chinese banks and foreign banks is the comprehensive technical efficiency, which includes both the quality of management and the quality of technical elements. I also find the uptrend of technical efficiency of the integrators is more stable than that of the other two groups of foreign banks.
Finally, I integrate the results from step one and step two to assess the relevance between foreign banks’ localization level and operating efficiency. I find that foreign banks that score higher in localization tend to have a higher level of operating efficiency. Although this finding is not conclusive about the causal relationship between localization and operating efficiency, it nevertheless suggests that the management model of the higher performing integrators can serve as references for the other foreign banks attempting to enhance their localization and operating efficiency. I also discuss the future trends of development in the banking industry in China and what foreign banks can learn from local Chinese banks to improve their market positions.
To test the above proposition, I conduct the empirical analysis in three steps. In the first step, I investigate foreign banks’ management model by surveying 13 major foreign banks locally incorporated in Mainland China. The results suggest that these 13 foreign banks can be categorized into three distinct groups based on their management model: intergrators, customer-followers, and parent-followers. The results also indicate that intergrators have the highest level of localization while parent-followers have the lowest level of localization.
In the second step, I conduct DEA (Data Envelope Analysis) and CAMEL (Capital Adequacy, Asset Quality, Management, Earnings, Liquidity Analysis) to assess the operating efficiency of these 13 foreign banks. The assessment is conducted in two ways: 1) the inter-group comparison between foreign banks and local Chinese banks; 2) the intra-group comparison between the three distinct groups of foreign banks identified in the first step. The results indicates that the principal factor driving the operating efficiency of both local Chinese banks and foreign banks is the comprehensive technical efficiency, which includes both the quality of management and the quality of technical elements. I also find the uptrend of technical efficiency of the integrators is more stable than that of the other two groups of foreign banks.
Finally, I integrate the results from step one and step two to assess the relevance between foreign banks’ localization level and operating efficiency. I find that foreign banks that score higher in localization tend to have a higher level of operating efficiency. Although this finding is not conclusive about the causal relationship between localization and operating efficiency, it nevertheless suggests that the management model of the higher performing integrators can serve as references for the other foreign banks attempting to enhance their localization and operating efficiency. I also discuss the future trends of development in the banking industry in China and what foreign banks can learn from local Chinese banks to improve their market positions.
ContributorsSun, Minjie (Author) / Shen, Wei (Thesis advisor) / Qian, Jun (Thesis advisor) / Pei, Ker-Wei (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
This research paper is an explanatory document for the lecture recital presented by the author. The lecture recital focused on the mimicking of instruments in arrangements and transcriptions for piano of Chinese traditional music. There are five Chinese music instruments discussed in the paper, namely guqin, zheng, erhu, suona, and pipa. This document provides an introduction to the five instruments, including their origin, historical background, and physical characteristics. Then it discusses the selected traditional pieces for these instruments and compares them to their corresponding piano arrangements. The traditional pieces are Three Stanzas of Plum Blossoms (arranged by Jianzhong Wang), Liu Yang River (arranged by Jianzhong Wang), Moon Reflected on the Er-quan Spring (arranged by Wanghua Chu), A Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix (arranged by Jianzhong Wang), and Flute and Drum at Sunset (arranged by Yinghai Li). The comparison and the discussion of the technical issues in certain passages will help the pianist to create a fitting sound when performing the works.
ContributorsZhou, Jingchao (Author) / Pagano, Caio (Thesis advisor) / Holbrook, Amy (Committee member) / Creviston, Hannah (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020
Description
This study investigates the impact of a specific organizational form – partnership – on employees’ awareness of risk control and job engagement in securities companies. Given that their organizational performance relies heavily on the performance of individual employees, it is critical for securities companies in China to adopt appropriate organizational forms so that they can better captalize on their employees’ human capital to cope with the increasingly intense market competition. Partnership, as one of the few organizational forms, has been widely adopted in industries that rely on the performance of individuals, such as law, auditing, consulting, and investment banking, around the world. In the context of China’s emerging economy, it has also been adopted as an incentive system by market leaders across several industries, including Alibaba in online shopping, Vanke in real estate, and Fosun in investments. In contrast, partnership has not been adopted or implemented by securities companies in China as most of them are still state-owned enterprises.
Based on my review of the corporate governance literature and qualitative analysis of partnership adoption in China, I propose that partnership can help better alighn the interests of employees with owners in securities companies as well. Specifically, the prospect of becoming a partner in the future can improve employees’ awareness of risk control and increase their job engagement. Taking advantage of partnership adoption at a Chinese securities company as a natural field experienment, I surveyed its employees about their awareness of risk contrl and job dedication before and after the adoption. The results from 505 matched surveys showed an increase in the average scores of both awareness of risk control and job dedication after the company adopted partnership as a new organizational form. Findings of this study have important implications for organizational and incentive design for securities companies in China.
Based on my review of the corporate governance literature and qualitative analysis of partnership adoption in China, I propose that partnership can help better alighn the interests of employees with owners in securities companies as well. Specifically, the prospect of becoming a partner in the future can improve employees’ awareness of risk control and increase their job engagement. Taking advantage of partnership adoption at a Chinese securities company as a natural field experienment, I surveyed its employees about their awareness of risk contrl and job dedication before and after the adoption. The results from 505 matched surveys showed an increase in the average scores of both awareness of risk control and job dedication after the company adopted partnership as a new organizational form. Findings of this study have important implications for organizational and incentive design for securities companies in China.
ContributorsSha, Changming (Author) / Shen, Wei (Thesis advisor) / Li, Feng (Thesis advisor) / Gu, Bin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
Positioned between Beethoven and Liszt in the golden period, Carl Czerny (1791-1857) played a significant historical role in the area of piano pedagogy. Many pianists are familiar with and have played Czerny’s études, or technical exercises. However, few delve into Czerny’s piano works for performance, including eleven piano sonatas and more than 180 works titled variations. The project at hand examines three of Carl Czerny’s variation works for piano: Opus 33 (on a theme of Rode), Opus 281 (on a theme from Bellini’s Norma, in its solo piano version), and Opus 292 (on an original theme). These works are explored from both compositional and performance perspectives. After a brief biography of Czerny that places his variations into the context of his compositional output, the three variation sets are given analytical description. A chapter on the “Rode Variations” focuses on the technical and musical challenges for the pianist. An important conclusion reached is that these somewhat-neglected works might be attractive to pianists looking to expand their repertoire.
ContributorsTang, Tingshuo (Author) / Hamilton, Robert (Thesis advisor) / Creviston, Hannah (Committee member) / Holbrook, Amy (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020
Description
The call to crusade in 1145 prompted a movement fueled not only by religious writings and sermons, but by calls to arms in secular song. During the mid-twelfth to thirteenth centuries, French Trouvères and Occitan Troubadours wrote over one hundred crusade songs, the majority of which are rife with propaganda and support for the crusades and the attacks against the Saracens and the East. The crusade song corpus not only deals with sacred motivations to go overseas, such as the crusade indulgence present in papal bulls, but also summons biblical figures and epic persons as motivation to crusade.
Previous scholars have not adequately defined the genre of a crusade song, and have overlooked connections to the crusading rhetoric of the genre of crusade literature. I offer a precise definition of crusade song and examine commonalities between crusade literature and song. During the crusades, troubadours and trouvères wrote crusade songs to draw support for the campaigns. The propaganda in these songs demonstrates that the authors had an understanding of current events and may have had some knowledge of other crusading literature, such as papal calls to crusade, crusade sermons, the Old French Crusade Cycle, and various crusade chronicles. These documents show how the themes and allusions present in crusade song have broader connotations and connections to crusade culture in Medieval Europe.
Previous scholars have not adequately defined the genre of a crusade song, and have overlooked connections to the crusading rhetoric of the genre of crusade literature. I offer a precise definition of crusade song and examine commonalities between crusade literature and song. During the crusades, troubadours and trouvères wrote crusade songs to draw support for the campaigns. The propaganda in these songs demonstrates that the authors had an understanding of current events and may have had some knowledge of other crusading literature, such as papal calls to crusade, crusade sermons, the Old French Crusade Cycle, and various crusade chronicles. These documents show how the themes and allusions present in crusade song have broader connotations and connections to crusade culture in Medieval Europe.
ContributorsChoin, Victoria (Author) / Saucier, Catherine (Thesis advisor) / Cruse, Markus (Committee member) / Holbrook, Amy (Committee member) / Norton, Kay (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
China's city commercial banks were reorganized by the urban credit cooperatives in the same city in the 1990s. Although they are allowed to open branches outside the registered city, the location and the number of their branches have been strictly restricted. It is fatal to them to increase the competitiveness of their branches. Based on the diversity theory and its mechanism, in this study I examined the impact of source diversity of the senior management in the branches of the city commercial bank on the branches’ productivity and their asset yield. Invoking the resource-based theory and the social capital framework, the source diversity lead to the organization resources diversity and the organization knowledge diversity. The results demonstrate that the source diversity contribute to the branches’ competitiveness advantage. Both internal trained personnel and external introduction personnel are important for the branches’ top management team. But one of the two kinds of personnel is more suitable to their middle management team.
ContributorsZhang, Xiande (Author) / Gu, Bin (Thesis advisor) / Wang, Tan (Thesis advisor) / Shen, Wei (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
Solar power, as an important part of renewable energy, has become one of the main choices for countries around the world in their energy strategic layout due to its cleanliness, renewability, and distributed attributes. In the context of the booming photovoltaic industry, China has emerged a large number of excellent photovoltaic companies, driving the whole industry to reduce costs and increase efficiency, making many contributions to the grid parity of photovoltaic power generation. In the development lifecycle of the photovoltaic industry, various companies choose different competitive strategies to deal with industry cyclical changes and external uncertainty based on their core competitiveness and market opportunities. Vertical integration is one of the strategic paths chosen by many photovoltaic companies. Therefore, it is an important issue to explore the impact of vertical integration on the development of Chinese photovoltaic companies.Based on the data of China's A-share listed photovoltaic companies from 2018 to 2022, this paper uses panel fixed effect model to empirically test the impact of vertical integration on corporate valuation, explores its influencing mechanism, and further analyzes the moderating effect of enterprise heterogeneity factors. The research in this paper shows that: (1) under other conditions unchanged, vertical integration significantly improves the valuation level of enterprises, and this positive impact will not change with the measurement method of enterprise valuation level. This is because the higher the vertical integration degree of enterprises, the stronger their ability to respond to external uncertainty. The more enterprises can obtain capital market preferences, the higher the enterprise valuation will be. This also means that the higher the vertical integration degree of photovoltaic enterprises, the higher their market share is, and they are more able to avoid the impact of external uncertainty, thus obtaining a higher valuation level in the secondary market. (2) The intermediary effect test shows that the channel for vertical integration of photovoltaic enterprises to affect enterprise valuation levels is to increase their market share. (3) Further heterogeneity analysis shows that enterprise profitability and enterprise size positively regulate the impact of vertical integration on enterprise valuation, while enterprise management shareholding ratio and enterprise operating cost ratio will weaken the positive promotion effect of vertical integration.
The research conclusions of this paper provide micro-empirical evidence for how photovoltaic companies can improve their enterprise valuation, and also provide some management references for other unlisted companies in the same industry.
Keywords: Photovoltaic enterprises; Vertical integration; Corporate valuation; Fixed effect model
ContributorsZheng, Ren (Author) / Shen, Wei (Thesis advisor) / Wu, Fei (Thesis advisor) / Zhao, Yanfei (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2024
Description
On January 30, 2019, the China Securities Regulatory Commission issued the Implementation Opinions on the Establishment of the Science and Technology Innovation Board on the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the Pilot Registration-based System, announcing the establishment of a new Science and Technology Innovation Board(STAR). The STAR Market is an important measure in China's capital market reform, aiming to promote the transformation of China's economy from a stage of rapid growth to a stage of high-quality development. The companies listed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board are mainly scientific and technological innovation enterprises that are at the forefront of the world's science and technology, the main battlefield of the economy, and the major needs of the country, in line with the national strategy, breaking through key core technologies, and with high market recognition. Since its launch on July 22, 2019, to May, 15, 2023, there are 522 companies have been listed on the STAR Market, with a total market capitalization of more than RMB 7 trillion. The successful listing of these enterprises will provide strong support for the deep integration of China's high-tech industries and strategic emerging industries.This paper analyzes the influencing factors of IPO listing pricing on the STAR Market, and studies 1478 companies listed on the three listing platforms of the STAR Market, ChiNext and Hong Kong stocks. Through descriptive statistical analysis and multivariate regression model, the influencing factors of the 1st day and the 20th day were empirically studied. The results of the study will provide a pricing reference for
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listed companies in the future, and provide a reference for policymakers to meet the expectations of the new regulatory reforms.
Through analysis of multiple factors includes but not limited as the NR,IPE, LEAD, ISCA, T10, AOL, BC, STL, RDI, CAGR, DTOR, these influencing factors have an important impact on the IPO of the STAR Market.
ContributorsHuang, Danyang (Author) / Shen, Wei (Thesis advisor) / Cheng, Shijun (Thesis advisor) / Jiang, Zhan (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2024