Master's Thesis from the year 2020 in the subject Business economics - Investment and Finance, grade: 1,3, University of Greenwich, language: English, abstract: This study investigates what kind of impact different leverage ratios have on firm performance measurements Return on Assets, Return on Equity and Tobin’s Q in selected firms listed on Nikkei 225 stock market (excluding Finance & Technology Sector). Furthermore, the influence of sector specific and possible control variables on capital structure (using long- & short-debt ratios) as well as firm performance will be analysed. The sample derive from 165 firms during the time period from 2014 to 2019 and analysed by using various Models multiple regression analysis. Control variables Size and Growth show a clear positive effect on firm performance. In contrast, Tangibility has a negative impact on the model in which all companies are included, but has more positive coefficients in the model in which companies are divided into their industries. Additionally, this study suggests that the effect of leverage on firm performance differs among industries. Short- and long-term debt has positive impacts on different firm performance measurements by the Materials, Reals Estate, Energy and Communication Services Sector.

This paper presents evidence that suggests that in Japan, corporate ownership structure affects the relation between capital investment expenditures and firm performance. Specifically, there is a negative relation between capital expenditures and subsequent risk-adjusted returns amongst keiretsu firms, which have a strong banking relationship, but a positive relation amongst independent firms. There is no relation between these returns and financial constraints for keiretsu firms. However, the positive relation between capital investments and stock returns for independent firms is strongest for those firms that have the lowest cash flows, and are thus likely to be the most financially constrained.

Debates regarding corporate governance have become increasingly important in Japan as the post-war model of bank-based, stakeholder-oriented corporate governance faces the new pressures associated with globalization and growing investor demands for shareholder value. Bringing together a group of leading scholars from economics, law, sociology and management studies, this book looks at how the Japanese approach to corporate governance and the firm have changed in the post-bubble era. The contributions offer a unique empirical exploration of why and how Japanese firms are reshaping their corporate governance arrangements, leading to greater diversity among firms and new 'hybrid' forms of corporate governance. The book concludes by looking at what effect these incremental but transformative changes may have on Japan's distinctive variety of capitalism.

This volume argues the need for a radical break with the methodological individualism that dominates economics, management and finance, asking 'How should we (re)define the concept of value?' and serving as a stepping stone for the rethinking of academic finance.

The 2008-9 financial crisis demands we look anew at the role of corporations, and the working of financial markets around the world. In this book, Masahiko Aoki provides a compelling new analysis of the corporate firm; the role of shareholders, managers and workers; and institutional governance structures.

Dividend policy continues to be among the premier unsolved puzzles in finance. A number of theories have been advanced to explain dividend policy. This e-book briefly reviews the principal theories of payout policy and dividend policy and summarizes the empirical evidence on these theories. Empirical evidence is equivocal and the search for new explanation for dividends continues.