Giorgia Profumo

Shock events and corporate announcements

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to verify if, in case of a shock event, there are types of corporate announcement that may influence stock price behaviour better than others. The authors also try to determine if the communication strategy may be affected by the type of shock event. Design/methodology/approach – Using the event study analysis, the authors estimate the Cumulative Abnormal Returns associated to the stocks of the selected firms hit by a shock event, in order to visualise the effectiveness of different types of corporate announcements after the event. Findings – The research confirms the negative effect of shock events on corporate stocks’ value. Moreover, the study envisages that financial market rewards companies that assume consistent and reassuring announcements during the event window. The authors also find that the effectiveness of corporate announcements is related to the shock’s typology. Research limitations/implications – The study employs a small and unbalanced sample of shoc...

Corporate governance mechanisms and disclosure in medium-sized listed firms: substitutes or complements?

This paper, focusing on a non-Anglo-Saxon market, attempts to advance knowledge in the understanding of the complementary/substitute relationship between governance mechanisms and corporate disclosure in medium-sized listed firms. The manuscript applies content analysis techniques and proposes a disclosure quality score index, based on the quantity, the variety and the completeness of information disclosed. Moreover, OLS regression analysis is performed for testing the explanatory power of internal and external corporate governance mechanisms as determinants of communication quality. The results demonstrate the relevance of internal control mechanism, as well as their current substitutive nature respect to disclosure. In addition, empirical evidence show that a diffuse ownership along with the existence of a high number of committees are associated with increased qualitative levels of voluntary disclosure.

Mergers, acquisitions and alliances in the cruise tourism industry:

The present paper addresses the antecedents of cruise companies’ strategy implementation, focusing on mergers, acquisitions and alliances as potential alternative choices for managers. Specifically, a model for interpreting the drivers of such decisions is proposed, based on two dimensions: (1) the level of riskiness and complexity of the industry and (2) the importance of the acquired resources and capabilities for the competitive advantage of the acquiring firm. The theoretical model is then applied to the cruise industry, through a qualitative analysis on three case studies based on the major companies: Carnival, RCCL, and Star Cruise–Norwegian Cruise Line (Genting Group). Such industry represents an ideal set for studying the issues, as, in the last few years, the growing turbulent environment has increased the number of mergers and acquisitions and strategic alliances with other partners belonging to the same supply chain. The results show that in the cruise tourism industry, the two aforementioned dimensions seem to matter in firms’ choice between the different external growth strategies, highlighting the presence of homogeneous behavioral models among the cruise companies. This contribution presents some valuable research implications, useful for researchers and academics, but also professionals and policy makers may benefit from this knowledge.

Merger&Acquisitions (M&As) e alliances delle imprese crocieristiche: un’analisi delle determinanti strategiche

Il presente contributo si propone di studiare le determinanti strategiche che stanno alla base delle operazioni di Mergers and Acquisitions (MA (2) la centralita delle risorse e delle competenze che vengono acquisite dall’impresa che realizza la strategia. Il modello teorico e stato poi applicato al settore crocieristico, mediante un’analisi qualitativa basata su tre case-study, ovvero sulle imprese leader Carnival Cruise, Royal Caribbean e Star Cruise-Norvegian Cruise Line. Il settore crocieristico e un campo privilegiato per studiare le determinanti alla base delle decisioni attuative della strategie, poiche e stato contraddistinto negli ultimi anni da ondate di fusioni e acquisizioni, nonche da numerose partnership strategiche attivate dalle cruise company con attori del sistema del valore crocieristico. I risultati hanno mostrato come le imprese crocieristiche abbiano nel tempo modificato le proprie modalita di implementazione delle strategie, essendo cambiate le motivazioni di natura strategica.