Research Methodology for Director Elections Analysis

Research Methodology for Director Elections Analysis The director and board performance from the perspectives of voting shareholders, the implementation of majority-approved shareholder proposals provide a more specific and tighter measure for the actions boards take to do their jobs. For this comprehensive exam paper, I will focus on votes withheld for director elections because implementation of majority-approved shareholder proposals requires non-trivial hand collection and might decrease the sample size significantly. This measure has several important merits in multiple directorships setting compared with commonly used measures. First, it has been well documented that reputational concerns from the director labor market, the increasing prevalence of vote-no campaigns, and increased prevalence of corporates voluntary adoption of Majority Voting standards makes votes withheld from director elections a good proxy for shareholder general evaluation of director, committee, and board performance. (Georgeson 2000-2016). Second, while uncontested shareholder voting rarely remove specific directors, the voting outcomes of director elections are associated with subsequent board conduct, governance changes and firm performance (Del Guercio, Seery, and Woidtke [2008], Cai, Garner, and Walkling [2009], Fischer, Gramlich, Miller, and White [2009], Ertimur, Ferri, and Muslu [2011], Ertimur, et al. [2015]). Third, academics and practitioners have consensus that the threshold of 20% of votes withheld represents s ubstantial shareholder dissatisfaction. (Del Guercio et al. [2008], Cai et al. [2009], Fischer et al. [2009], Ertimur, et al. [2011], Ertimur et al. [2015]). Fourth, data for this measure on individual director level is directly available, and can be easily aggregated to get measures on committee level and board level. For the aggregate level, I can use either the average percentage of votes withheld per director, or the percentage of directors with substantial shareholder dissatisfaction (at least 20 % votes withheld) of committees, or boards. In sum, to better measure the effort exerted by directors and the value added by boards, I use a comprehensive list of complementary performance metrics: voting outcome of director election, serving on committees and attendance rate at board meetings on individual director level; voting outcome, CEO turnover sensitivity to performance, excessive CEO pay, and financial reporting misstatement on committee level, and voting outcome, market-to-book ratio (M/B) and return on sales (ROS) on firm level. 3. Sample, data, empirical results, and additional analyses 3.1. Sample and data To answer these questions, I study the multiple directorships policies for SP 1500 firms for the period from 2000 to 2016. First, I construct a dataset of director-level data for SP 1500 firms from the Institutional Shareholder Services ((formerly MSI, IRRC, and RiskMetrics) Directors Database from 2000-2016. I restrict my sample to SP 1500 firms to make the data collection manageable. This dataset contains information on director attendance and a range of other director characteristics (e.g., name, age, tenure, gender, committee memberships, independence classification, primary employer and title, number of other public company boards serving on, shares owned, etc.) which are collected by ISS from company proxy statements, annual reports or company websites. My first multiple directorships measure, Multiple Directorships_traditional, are retrieved from this database directly.ÂÂ   Based on the directors total number of meetings required to attend and whether they attended fewer than 75%, I also construct a measure, Current Distraction, to better capture the time demand and the distraction effect of multiple directorships. To test H1 and H2, we need to know director attendance immediately before and immediately after firms adopt overboarding rules. However, only annual attendance data is publicly available. In addition, many overboarding policies set grace periods explicitly or implicitly. Therefore, I use the director attendance the year before adoption year to test H1, and the director attendance the year after adoption year to test H2. Next, I require these firms to have accounting data from Compustat, stock return and pricing data from CRSP, corporate-governance provisions data from ISS Governance database, director elections voting data from ISS Voting Analytics (VA) database, and financial reporting restatement data from AuditAnalytics database. (access?) For firm performance, I measure the market-to-book ratio (M/B) and return on sales (ROS), measured at the lagged fiscal year-end, to compare with previous literature (Fich and Shivdasani [2006], Field, et al. [2013]). Then I use BoardEx database, which includes profiles of executives and directors (demographics, education and career history, compensation, board and committee memberships, etc.) and the connections among them, to construct my second sets of measures of multiple directorships, Multiple Directorships_public, Multiple Directorships_private, and Multiple Directorships_total. Using BoardEx database, I also construct two measures of director qualification, Accumulated Directorships Experience and General Qualification, which reflect director qualification but are not necessarily associated with their current busyness. BoardExs coverage of U.S. public companies is extremely limited prior to 2000, causing serious survivorship bias (see, Fracassi and Tate [2012], Engelberg, Gao, and Parsons, [2013]). Similar to previous literature which also uses the BoardEx database, I focus on the period after 2000 to mitigate these concerns. It needs to be noted that while BoardEx database suffers survivo rship bias and some other issues, using BoardEx provides several important merits for my research. First, it provides information about directors seats on significant private firms and gives a better measure of directors total workload. Second, it allows me to test directors seats choices between public firms and private firms. Third, it provides information to construct a measure of directors resources/talent which is not necessarily connect with their current busyness. Finally, I hand-collect information on firms overboarding policies for this sample. Normally, firms overboarding policies are disclosed in their governance principles/governance guidelines. I retrieve firms current overboarding policies from their websites, and their historical overboarding policies from the Internet Archive library, which archives over hundreds of billion historical web pages on the Internet. ( https://archive.org/web/)

An Annotation of Anne Bradstreets In Memory of My Dear Grandchild Elizabeth Bradstreet :: Memory My Dear Grandchild Elizabeth Bradstreet

An Annotation of Anne Bradstreet's In Memory of My Dear Grandchild Elizabeth Bradstreet This poem is a firsthand account of how Anne Bradstreet was feeling when she experienced the loss of her granddaughter, Elizabeth. Although Bradstreet's attitude on Elizabeth's death seems to reflect her belief in God's plan, the diction suggests otherwise. In Memory of My Dear Grandchild Elizabeth Bradstreet, Who Deceased August, 1665, Being a Year and Half Oldby Anne Bradstreet 1 Farewell dear babe, my heart's too much content, Farewell sweet babe, the pleasure of mine eye, Farewell fair flower that for a space was lent, Then ta'en away unto eternity. Blest babe, why should I once bewail thy fate, Or sigh thy days so soon were terminate, Sith thou art settled in an everlasting state. 2 By nature trees do rot when they are grown, And plums and apples thoroughly ripe do fall, And corn and grass are in their season mown, And time brings down what is both strong and tall. But plants new set to be eradicate, And buds new blown to have so short a date, Is by His hand alone that guides nature and fate. Bradstreet begins the poem by describing how she felt for her granddaughter, and this is seen in the way she describes Elizabeth as a "babe" and "flower." In phrases such as "my heart's too much content" and "the pleasure of mine eye," it is quite clear that she felt deeply for the little girl. It is obvious that a grandmother would be deeply saddened by the loss of her grandchild. However, the poem shifts focus from what Elizabeth meant to her grandmother to how Bradstreet sees this death. The repetition of "farewell" emphasizes the tragedy of the situation and solidifies the fact that she is gone. She continues to say goodbye as though this little girl died before she should have. This declaration continues when Bradstreet describes her as a "fair flower that for a space was lent." In using the word "lent," it sounds as though the girl was robbed of the fullness of life and never had the opportunity to live. But who decides who gets to live? God. What Bradstreet is really saying is that God didn't let her granddaughter live, and, resultantly, she is marking his decision as a mistake by complaining about it. This is not characteristic for one of such alleged concrete beliefs in God. The fact that Bradstreet mentions that she should not complain of the loss because she is in "an everlasting state" questions her religious sincerity.

IKEA Case Essay

1. ) There are three main factors that account for IKEA’s success in the furniture retailing industry: (a) its unique, Scandinavian designs, (b) its product strategy, and (c) its cost efficiency. a. IKEA’s simple, yet unique designs are undoubtedly a critical factor in its success as a furniture retailing company. In its early years, IKEA’s cost-focused strategy led to its manufacturing of â€Å"low-priced furniture [that] was functional at best, ugly at worst† (4). However, over the last decade, the company has deliberately focused on creating products with a more distinct design aesthetic. Today, consumers appreciate IKEA furniture for its both its functionality and appeal, rather than solely for its functionality. Ingvar Kamprad, the company’s founder, first introduced furniture into the IKEA product range in 1947. He solicited local Scandinavian manufacturers in the forests close to his home to design and build the furniture. The history of Scandinavian influence on IKEA’s products and its company culture was a major factor in its success. b. IKEA’s innovative â€Å"matrix† product strategy was also critical in the company’s success. Its product-development process was â€Å"overseen by a product-strategy council, which consisted of a group of senior managers who established priorities for IKEA’s product lineup† (3). After analyzing consumer trends, these priorities were established, and a product developer would use â€Å"the matrix† to set the product’s target retail price. The matrix is a grid that consists of three basic price ranges and four basic styles, and within each price range, the company would survey the competition and set benchmarks of prices 30% to 50% lower than those of its rivals (3). The matrix also used to identify gaps in IKEA’s product lineup, because there was a separate matrix for each type of product the company sold. The â€Å"matrix† product strategy was very successful and has generated massive amounts of revenue for the company. c. IKEA’s cost efficiency plan was a huge determinant of its success. In 1956, IKEA began designing products so that they could be packaged flat and assembled by customers on their own. This greatly reduced transportation, labor and storage costs, and it enabled the company to charge lower prices to consumers. IKEA estimated that its â€Å"transport volume was six times less than if it shipped its products assembled† (4). Like Wal-Mart, IKEA emphasized cost efficiency in its company culture. Employees were encouraged to save on electricity by turning off lights and idle computers, and managers always traveled coach and took buses instead of taxis if possible (3). The company focused on cost-efficiency in engineering its products as well. IKEA liked to use high-quality materials on furniture surfaces that were high-stress and visible and low-quality materials on surfaces that were low-stress and less visible to the consumer. These cost-cutting measures definitely helped IKEA become successful. 2. ) I believe IKEA’s slogan – â€Å"Low price with meaning† – perfectly parallels its product strategy and product range. The â€Å"matrix† development system seems overly simple, but it has been proven to work. Of course, there are sure to be some discrepancies regarding the competition’s prices, but IKEA’s product strategy and â€Å"matrix† system does a good job of targeting potential market opportunities as well as pinpointing areas of improvement and gaps in its product range. Overall, I think IKEA’s product strategy and its product range are perfectly suited to the company’s culture and slogan. The matrix system allows IKEA to deliver to customers the best possible product at low prices. 3. ) There are definitely some downsides to shopping at IKEA. The biggest downside is the realization that the furniture you are buying probably won’t last very long. Some of IKEA’s products have been known to fall apart after only a few years or during a simple move to another apartment. Another glaring downside is the fact that customers must pick-up and assemble their purchases without the help of an IKEA employee. Of course, this is part of what makes IKEA unique and what enables the company to charge its low prices. The final downside to shopping at IKEA is the low ratio of sales reps to customers. Ironically, the company’s vision statement proclaims that IKEA wishes to establish a â€Å"partnership† with its customers. On a global scale, IKEA has created a partnership with its customers through selling appealing yet affordable products. But on a smaller scale, and more specifically, within individual IKEA outlets, the company has failed its mission. Its strategy of having consumers purchase products (most likely without the help of a sales rep) and then immediately drive home to assemble them creates a clear disconnect between the company and its customers. Manufacturing functional furniture does not create relationships, it drives profits, and if IKEA truly wants to establish a â€Å"partnership† with each of its customers (while creating appealing and affordable furniture), it has to find a way to make consumers feel less disconnected; they have to feel as though they are a art of the brand. I believe more sales reps could be a good start to fixing this issue. 4. ) I agree with the concept of â€Å"mini-IKEA† stores. Implementing â€Å"IKEA Lite† shops would expose the brand to a larger and more diverse customer base. IKEA outlets are notorious for being large, cavernous warehouses – a typical outlet consumes 15,000 to 35,000 square meters. IKEA could create more brand awareness by installing IKEA Lite shops in shopping malls or in large, urban areas where retail space is scarce. Overall, I think it’s a great concept and would serve the brand well. 5. ) No, IKEA is not being overly optimistic in its growth plan of opening fifty stores in the United States by 2013. Many furniture retailers have far more than fifty stores in the United States. Wal-Mart, the leading US furniture retailer, has 4,005 stores in the US, so I think IKEA’s goal of fifty stores, while lofty, is perfectly reasonable and would position the company well to gain a greater market presence in North America. I think IKEA could improve its value proposition by providing more after-service support and communicating more with its consumers about who its suppliers are, what its working conditions are like, etc. , because Americans value ethical companies and transparency. We want to buy products from a company we can trust. 6. ) I don’t think IKEA needs to change a lot with regards to its product strategy in order to accomplish its goal of having 50 stores in the United States by 2013. I think IKEA should make the product matrix more detailed to account for the larger US furniture market. By this, I mean break down the designations of â€Å"high,† â€Å"medium,† and â€Å"low† in the product matrix into specific percentages. Going along with this, the company could add more than four styles to its product matrix to allow for more specificity. I believe if IKEA created more specific price points and furniture styles, the matrix system will continue to work and help the company identify gaps in its product line.

Characters in Romeo and Juliet by Williams Shakespeare Essay

This is the excellent foppery of the world, that, when we are sick in fortune,--often the surfeit of our own behavior,--we make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, and the stars: as if we were villains by necessity; fools by heavenly compulsion; knaves, thieves, and treachers, by spherical predominance; drunkards, liars, and adulterers, by an enforced obedience of planetary influence; and all that we are evil in, by a divine thrusting on. (I.II.442-449) When this quote was spoken, Edmund was telling Gloucester about a letter that Edgar wrote about killing him to get his money, however, Edmund faked the letter, making Gloucester believe that Edgar was a villain. Upon hearing this, Gloucester said, These late eclipses in†¦show more content†¦The audience should understand that moving fast into love makes people suffer, and taking it slow may be better. Also, love at first sight should be approached with caution because it could just be lust. Because of this, Romeo and Juliet didn’t realize the drawbacks that came with their love. One drawback came when Lady Capulet informed Juliet that, The County Paris, at Saint Peter’s Church,/ Shall happily make thee there a joyful bride.(III.V.113-115) Juliet suffers because of this. She wants to be with Romeo, the one she loves, instead of Paris. O sweet my mother, cast me not away! Delay this marriage for a month, a week. Or, if you do not, make the bridal bed In that dim monument where Tybalt lies.(III.V.199-202) This quote means that Juliet would rather be dead on her wedding night instead of marry Paris. This is important because it foreshadows to Juliet’s death when she stabs herself because Romeo is dead. The greater meaning of this is that people should be careful with true love because it can end in tragedy and suffering. Love can overpower a person completely, for better or worse. Shakespeare shows the latter, that their love overpowered them to kill themselves. Shakespeare made his characters suffer because of this. In King Lear, Shakespeare uses nature and discovery to show the audience the truths of suffering. Lear encounters a harsh storm and he stays outside even though the Fool urges him to find shelter, Here’s a night pities/Show MoreRelatedExamining the Character of Juliet in Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare1748 Words   |  7 PagesExamining the Character of Juliet in Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare A wealthy girl like Juliet would be expected to obey her parents. Juliet would have to listen to anything her parents said. She would be expected to marry at a young age and carry on the family legacy. She would be married off to a rich husband, even though Juliet is about thirteen now, that is why her parents won’t marry her to Paris yet. Her father is also protective of her he says’ she is theRead MoreFemale Characters Of William Shakespeare s Romeo And Juliet2248 Words   |  9 PagesAbstract—Numerous characters appear in the works of England’s most prominent play writer, William Shakespeare. Most of the time, his male protagonists possess various and complex characteristics throughout the storyline of his work, making it interesting for the readers to analyze their actions in many different aspects. However, some critics argue that unlike male characters, Shakespeare’s female characters are rather more flat and one-sided, pointing out that they are either the extreme versionRead MoreCharacter Analysis of Romeo in William Shakespeare ´s Romeo and Juliet1270 Words   |  6 Pages Romeo, at the beginning of the play, is a love-struck, immature, and impulsive young man. In the beginning of the play, Romeo believes that he has found the person and place â€Å"where I am in love† speaking of Rosaline, a girl who he barely knows (I.i). Romeo is love-struck and impulsive, saying that about Rosaline after just meeting her. Romeo doesn’t know what real love is, he is just an immature young man who doesn’t see reality as it is. Towards the end of the scene, Romeo sees a new girl namedRead MoreThe Fatal Flaws of the Calamitous Characters of William Shakespeare ´s Romeo Juliet 1588 Words   |  7 Pagesimperfection can slowly kill a whole tree, just like one hideous trait can ruin a whole person. Even in literature characters carry flaws, and William Shakespeare in particular is able to skillfully exaggerate and display how imperfections create impact. The clear flaws of Tybalt’s hot headedness, Juliet’s naivetà ©, and Friar Laure nce’s big ego all contribute to the epic conclusion of Romeo and Juliet. Tybalt’s fervent temper is able to cause a number of plot-changing events in the play. Tybalt consistentlyRead MoreThe Tense Atmosphere Of The Characters Of William Shakespeare s Romeo And Juliet2639 Words   |  11 PagesDoes the tense atmosphere of the characters’ worlds influence their decisions? Circumstance is a key word needed in both stories defining unforeseen events outside ones’ control. In William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and John Wender’s The Chrysalids characters are in a constant battle with their environment. Throughout both tales, there are controlling parents, and includes a lot of fighting meanwhile in Romeo and Juliet, there is a family feud, rivalry, and star-crossed lovers and in The ChrysalidsRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s Romeo And Juliet1264 Words   |  6 Pagestheater-going public the most important dramatist in English literature, Shakespeare occupies a well-known position in the world of talented authors. His cano n contains thirty-seven plays, written in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Additionally, throughout the years, they continue to sustain critical attention, with the majority of his works circling tragedies, one being Romeo and Juliet. William Shakespeare s Romeo and Juliet speaks to the timeless appeal of star-crossed lovers. Their loveRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s Romeo And Juliet1287 Words   |  6 PagesLizzy Baginski English Composition 2 Mr. Spera March 10, 2015 Romeo and Juliet Research Paper The movie Romeo and Juliet is a modern classic film that took place in 1996. Overall this is a timeless story that everyone should go and watch. This movie has an intriguing plot line that tells the story of two feuding families, The Montagues and The Capulets, and how the children of these two different families fall in love. The two children overcome various obstacles such as hiding their chemistry fromRead MoreThe Rise and Fall of Juliet and Her Romeo1250 Words   |  5 PagesThere is no story quite as well-known as that of Romeo and Juliet (2007) and its playwright, William Shakespeare. Each line was placed intentionally, twists in the plot were well versed and foreshadowed, and each word was meaningful to the story and the development of the characters. Shakespeare had the unquestionable ability to take a story and, using techniques like imagery, metaphors and foreshadowing, was able to transform this narrative into a dramatic piece of literature. Dramas reenact storiesRead Mor eWriting Devices in Romeo and Juliet Essay1059 Words   |  5 Pagesof the English playwright William Shakespeare. His use of language in all of his plays, especially Romeo and Juliet, is one that impacts its audience both emotionally and intellectually. For anyone wishing to pursue a career specifically in the Language Arts, the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare should be continued to be studied and analyzed for its unique and clever uses of English dialect. One creative use of language in the play is its imagery. Shakespeare uses it at several pointsRead MoreThe Plays of William Shakespeare681 Words   |  3 PagesShakespeare’s Plays William Shakespeare, a British playwright and poet, is born in 1564. The exact day is not known. Shakespeare is baptized on April 25, so they say his birthday is April 23, 1564 (Boyce, Shakespeare). As an infant, he survives the plague that kills tons of people living near him. He is the son of John and Mary Arden Shakespeare. â€Å"His father is a prosperous and prominent tradesman, bailiff, and alderman, who suffered a decline in fortune and prestige† (Burt, Shakespeare). His father ran