Dissertation Defense Announcement

The Fogelman College of Business and Economics announces the Final Dissertation Defense of

Minxing Sun

for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy

April 25, 2018 at 2:00 PM in Room 360, Fogelman College of Business and Economics

Advisor: Ronald W Spahr

Three essays in finance, management, and real estate

ABSTRACT: This dissertation is comprised of three essays. The first essay investigates whether dismissal is more likely among female CEOs as compared to male CEOs and whether female CEO dismissal is less dependent or less sensitive to firm performance than for male CEOs who are dismissed. The second essay illustrates that managers use 10-K readability, strategically, as a defensive tool for deception and self-protection. Furthermore, managers may formulate less readable 10-K reports when firms are facing higher litigation risk, are more likely to be takeover targets or are attempting to protect firm-specific confidentiality. The third essay conducts a trend analysis for the City of Memphis blight conundrum and investigates potential causes of individual property and neighborhood blight. We find that both neighborhood demographics and changes in neighborhood demographics are indicators and predecessors of neighborhoods blight and that blight negatively impacts property values. Both individual property blight scores, as measured by a blight survey team for all properties in Memphis, and our neighborhood-specific blight indices negatively impact both sale prices and assessed valuations.