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