The role of consumer identity in access-based consumption
On 15 May 2024 Katrine Berg Nødtvedt will hold a trial lecture on a prescribed topic and defend her thesis for the PhD degree at NHH.
Essays on Shareholders Engagement and Voting
On Tuesday 7 May 2024 Xuan Li will hold a trial lecture on a prescribed topic and defend her thesis for the PhD degree at NHH.
Shareholder engagement and voting is an important channel for investors to govern corporations and influence stock prices in the financial market. This thesis studies how investors exercise their shareholder rights and the impact of shareholder engagement and voting in the real world.
The first chapter investigates the role of geographic distance in voting behavior among institutional investors worldwide. The study shows that investors are more likely to vote with management at domestic firms than at foreign firms, especially when ISS disagrees with management. It further demonstrates that the home bias can be explained by local investors’ information advantage and favoritism for domestic firms.
In the second chapter, the authors examine the voting strategies of mutual funds in the context of a relative performance-based incentive framework. They find that, consistent with indirect incentives for shareholder engagement, mutual funds are more likely to vote actively for companies whose portfolio weights deviate from the benchmark weights, especially if the company is overweighted by the fund manager.
The third chapter looks at the impact of shareholder engagement. The authors ask whether shareholder resolutions can help address real-world challenges such as climate change. They find a decline in corporate environmental innovation following shareholder activism. Their findings reflect the limitations of shareholder proposals under current regulatory requirements.
Prescribed topic for the trial lecture:
A new dimension in asset management: How do fund managers respond to sustainability-related mandates?
Trial lecture:
Aud. L NHH, 10:15
Title of the thesis:
Essays on Shareholders Engagement and Voting
Defense:
Aud. L, NHH, 12:15
Members of the evaluation committee:
Associate Professor Paul Pelzl (leader of the committee), Department of Business and Management Science, NHH
Professor Andrej Gill, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
Professor Charlotte Christiansen, Aarhus University
Supervisors:
Associate Professor Geir Drage Berentsen (main supervisor), Department of Business and Management Science, NHH
Associate Professor Håkon Otneim, Department of Business and Management Science, NHH
The trial lecture and thesis defense will be open to the public.
Representations of Uncertainty for Decision Modelling
On Monday 6 May 2024 Benjamin Narum will hold a trial lecture on a prescribed topic and defend his thesis for the PhD degree at NHH.