06/11/2026
By Naser Al-Ayyoub

The Department of Finance at the Manning School of Business invites you to attend a doctoral dissertation defense by Naser Al-Ayyoub on “Three Essays on Governance, Risk, and Product Market Dynamics.”

Candidate Name: Naser Al-Ayyoub
Degree: Doctoral
Defense Date: Friday, June 26, 2026
Time: 10 a.m.-noon
Location: Zoom. Those interested in attending should contact the student Naser_Alayyoub@student.uml.edu at least 24 hours prior to the defense to request access to the meeting.

Thesis/Dissertation Title: Three Essays on Governance, Risk, and Product Market Dynamics

Committee members:

  • Hieu Phan (Chair), Ph.D., Department of Finance, Manning School of Business, UMass Lowell
  • Steven Freund, Ph.D., Department of Finance, Manning School of Business, UMass Lowell
  • Chi Zhang, Ph.D., Department of Finance, Manning School of Business, UMass Lowell
  • Shakil Quayes, Ph.D., Department of Economics, UMass Lowell

Abstract
Firms navigate evolving legal, environmental, and technological risks. External risks and information flows shape managerial choices and dynamics. My dissertation investigates how litigation threats, climate exposure, and cybersecurity risk affect two core corporate domains—financing structure and competitive strategy.

The first essay investigates the relationship between shareholder litigation risk and product market outcomes. Using the staggered implementation of universal demand (UD) laws by U.S. states as an exogenous shock to shareholder litigation risk, we find that weaker shareholder litigation rights resulting from these laws leads to an increase in sales growth for the impacted firms. The effect is stronger for firms with lower agency concerns, greater financial constraints, higher ex ante litigation risk, and those operating in more competitive product markets. Additional analyses indicate that strategic aggressiveness represents an important channel through which reduced shareholder litigation risk improves product market outcomes. The findings suggest that shareholder litigation threats can have unintended negative effects on firm competitiveness.

The second essay examines how firm-level climate risk affects the choice between bank loans and public debt. Using a large sample of U.S. public firms from 2002 to 2021, I find that climate-exposed firms rely more on bank loans relative to public debt. This effect intensifies after the Paris Agreement and a tax policy change that eases debt renegotiation, highlighting banks’ value in flexibility and monitoring. The relationship is weaker among firms with lower default risk and stronger governance. My findings underscore debt structure as an important channel through which firms adapt to climate-related uncertainty.

The third essay investigates the effect of firm-level cybersecurity risk on product market outcomes. The results show that higher cybersecurity risk is associated with weaker product market outcomes, consistent with reputational and operational losses stemming from cyber risk. Using cyber breaches experienced by rival firms as plausibly exogenous shocks, I further show that heightened cybersecurity risk leads to weaker product market outcomes. The results are more pronounced following the adoption of data breach disclosure laws, for firms with ex ante higher supply chain risk, and for firms operating in more competitive industries. The findings highlight the strategic importance of cybersecurity as a determinant of firms’ competitive standing and contribute to the literature by linking ex-ante cyber risk exposure to real economic outcomes in product markets.