An ecological survey of the Gulf of Naples area : conducted during September 15 to October 15, 1976, for the Region of Campania

Submitted to Assessore Dr. Silvio Pavia, Region of Campania, Naples, Italy 80100, June 20, 1977Marine Scienc

Africans Investing in Africa: Building Prosperity through Intra-African trade and investment

Africa is on the global corporate agenda. A series of announcements from multi-nationals such as Coke, GE, Nestlé and Samsung regarding billion-dollar investments on the continent, have caught the attention of the global media. Management consultancies, development agencies and financial institutions have followed swiftly with increasingly positive reports on the business opportunities, which go far beyond the traditional perception of Africa as a resource story and a recipient of charity.The African macroeconomic environment is transforming, as policy makers have pushed through painful structural adjustment programmes, established independent central banks and adopted pragmatic fiscal and monetary policies -- all of which have helped to create a more business enabling environment. Also critical has been the decline of armed conflict -- once the scourge of Africa, intra- and interstatewars have declined by over 60 per cent since the beginning of the millennium. In turn, political stability, in much of Africa, is becoming the norm rather than the exception as countries democratise and begin to set their own agendas.What has been less noticed is the role and influence of African businesses, entrepreneurs, policy makers and consumers in this revolution. A new generation of African entrepreneurs has been created -- new African-owned and managed businesses are challenging traditional incumbents and introducing new business models and strategies that are driving domestic growth.Our objective is to ensure that this profound change receives the attention it deserves, providing a rigorous analysis of the drivers of Africa's entrepreneurial-led growth, but also identifying the continuing barriers to progress and the means by which Africans themselves can overcome those barriers

On the Quantum Theory of the Autoelectric Field Currents

By the application of a sufficiently intense electric field a Bohr atom could be rendered unstable. For when the drop in potential across the electronic orbit reaches a value of the order of magnitude of the ionizing potential of the atom (10^9 volts/cm.), the electron, instead of remaining in the neighborhood of the nucleus will fall down the hill of potential energy, and the atom will be dissociated. This dissociation is explosive in character. For there is a critical field strength, below which the atom remains stable indefinitely and above which it dissociates in a time of the order of the orbital periods of the atom. The characteristic for the autoelectric current should accordingly show abrupt discontinuities

Fame: Ownership Implications of Intellectual Property and Agency Law

In the pre-internet era, it was difficult to reach a wide audience without the help of a professional organization, so as a practical matter control typically rested with distributors rather than with talent. Now that direct public distribution is easy and inexpensive, distributors’ practical control has greatly diminished, and it is therefore important to consider the legal principles that govern the control of the use of “fame.” This Article defines fame as a bundle of intellectual property rights and analyzes the ownership of those rights under intellectual property and agency theories

Acquisitions of Bankrupt and Distressed Firms

In this paper we focus on acquisitions of bankrupt firms and firms that recently emerged from Chapter 11 and compare these firms with acquired distressed firms to determine whether or not transaction timing plays a role in the outcomes of the mergers. We analyze deal premiums (or lack thereof) and evaluate post-merger operating cash flows to determine whether or not timing of the transactions impacts their effectiveness and success. We also evaluate targets and their acquirers’ stock price reactions to the announcements of acquisitions. We find that distressed targets sell their assets at a premium or at a discount smaller than bankrupt firms do, thereby benefiting from acquisitions more than bankrupt targets—and the announcement day abnormal returns are reflective of the disparity of these purchases with bankrupt firms having significant negative abnormal returns and distressed firms having significant positive announcement day abnormal returns and acquirers of both having material announcement day abnormal returns. We also find that abnormal post-merger cash flow and cumulative abnormal return changes are more pronounced for bankrupt than distressed firms, indicating that acquisitions in Chapter 11 add greater economic value for both target and its acquirer than do acquisitions outside of bankruptcy. We also find post-merger market performance improvements for bankrupt and not distressed firms. In summary, distressed firms get a merger announcement premium and bankrupt firms give it away to their acquirers whose shareholders benefit from acquisition premiums in a year after the mergers

Analyst Ratings for Firms Filing and Reorganizing Under Chapter 11

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine analyst followings of firms starting from one year prior to their filing for Chapter 11 and as the firms progress through bankruptcy proceedings with a focus on firms receiving “Hold” or better recommendations. The authors attempt to answer questions such as what the common characteristics of the firms receiving stronger than expected recommendations one year prior to filing for bankruptcy reorganization or while in bankruptcy are, and how the market reacts to the issuance of stronger ratings for those firms. Design/methodology/approach The authors design various regressions and apply them to a total of 2,754 sell-side analyst recommendations and 325 firms that are either approaching bankruptcy filing or in the process of reorganizing. In each analysis, the authors control for several firm and performance characteristics. Findings The authors find that the probability of securing stronger ratings is higher for small firms and for those followed by a greater number of analysts than for large firms and firms followed by fewer analysts. The market becomes more skeptical of optimistic evaluations closer to the date of bankruptcy filing (perhaps reflecting some anticipation) and reacts more positively to rating upgrades issued during bankruptcy protection than to the upgrades issued before the bankruptcy filing. Research limitations/implications The conclusions are based on the analysis of analyst recommendations issued shortly before Chapter 11 filings and during bankruptcy proceedings. The conclusions could be strengthened by further analysis of firms’ post-bankruptcy recovery and performance and examination of analyst recommendations issued for the firms after they emerge from Chapter 11.. Practical implications Analyst security ratings that are more positive than expected are perhaps the result of superior expertise and access to private information. During bankruptcy proceedings, when information disclosure is limited, investors could greatly benefit from reports issued by security analysts. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature in a number of ways. First, the authors contribute to the literature on the analyst ratings of firms in distress by considering the period between bankruptcy filing and emergence, while the existing literature provides analysis of pre-bankruptcy recommendations and forecasts. Second, the authors focus on better than expected ratings rather than all types of ratings as the firms approach bankruptcy filings and proceed through reorganization. Finally, they evaluate how investors react to stronger than expected analyst ratings

What Do Institutional Investors Know and Act on Before Almost Everyone Else: Evidence from Corporate Bankruptcies

We analyze investment behavior of institutional managers who hold and trade shares of firms that file for bankruptcy. We find that during the five-year period preceding a bankruptcy filing, institutional investors (except those managing investment companies) are net buyers with a positive abnormal net number of shares traded during the period. Institutional managers start to sell shares of bankrupt firms sooner in some firms than in others; these earlier sales are of smaller firms with weaker operating performance, and lower equity risk. We do not find evidence that institutional stockholders trade strategically and avoid material price declines before they occur