Dear Team,

Please see attached my research proposal below.

Kindly assist with the dissertation in line with the guidelines in the final project file attached.

Best Regards,

RESEARCH PROPOSAL----- JOSEPH UBONG AKPAN I1037523 Title The impact of corporate strategy decisions on capital structure in the UK banking sectoran analytical evaluation of Citibank Introduction Starting with the work of Modigliani and Miller (1958), many researchers have tried to understand capital structure decisions. Empirical evidence shows that a firm's capital structure is influenced by several firm-related characteristics including size, profitability, future growth options, the amount of tangible assets and non-debt tax-shields ( Titman and Wessels 1988; Haris and Raviv 1991). Barton and Gordon (1976) suggested the usefulness of the corporate strategy perspective in understanding capital structure. Haris and Raviv (1991) also suggested that the effect of strategic variables on capital structure is a relatively unexplored area. Owing to data availability, the research on the relationship between corporate diversification strategies and capital structure has focused primarily on US based firms. To our knowledge, there are no studies on the individual and interactive effects of product and geographical diversification on capital structure for European firms. Only Alonso (2003) and La Rocca et al. (2009) have studied the relationship between product diversification and leverage for a sample of Spanish and Italian firms, respectively. This paper tries to contribute to this area of study by analyzing Citibank UK and incorporating both product and international diversification into the analysis. Industry Background Citi group is a financial Company that has been in operation for a period of more than 100 years and as such there is a vast amount of information about this company in the local library and the Internet. The scope of this project is to highlight the relationship between corporate strategy and capital structure in Citi group is a financial Company as applied in its distribution of products in various markets across the globe. The emphasis of this project is on the structure of the Company and the identification of the key stakeholders in various functions of the Company, its environment of operations and the challenges it faces, and the plan and objectives it has towards becoming the leading financial company in its area of operations Ailawadi, K. L., Lehmann, D. R., & Neslin, S. A. (2001).. The rationale for this project will be the identification of Citi group is a financial Company outsourcing abilities and give the feedback that will be useful in undertaking improvements in other international markets that are yet to be exploited by the Citi group is a financial Company.. Citigroup is planning to move its UK-based retail banking operations to Dublin from London, the bank said today. The switch is designed to cut costs and give clients one main route into Citi's EU retail operations.However, the UK unit's management will remain in London and none of the 400 jobs will be moved to Dublin as part of the shakeup. The move comes amid growing uncertainty over Britain's relationship with Brussels and future membership of the EU. Ireland's position as a member of the Eurozone is not in doubt. By basing the office in Dublin, the US banking giant would avoid having to make changes, should Britain decide to leave the EU. Citi isn't the only bank with plans to move some of its operations out of the City. HSBC announced in April that it was considering moving its headquarters out of the UK, while Standard Chartered, another UK-based bank with a very international business model, could follow suit. "From a strategic perspective for Citi, moving to a single Pan-European bank is expected to reduce operational and regulatory complexity, capital requirements and costs," a spokesman for the bank said. "From our client's perspective, it will mean we can provide a single point of entry to Citi's EU passported bank for the banking products and services offered, while simplifying our legal structure and reducing complexity. The merger is fully aligned with Citi's goal of becoming simpler, smaller, safer and stronger." Citi said the change will not affect its main European investment and corporate banking units, which are based in London and employ the majority of its 10,000 staff in the country. Much of the retail operation in the UK exists to serve foreign customers spending time or doing business in Britain, and the bank has no plans to target British retail customers directly. Citi has previously warned that if the UK does leave the EU, some of the jobs currently based in its Canary Wharf tower may be lost to other financial centres, such as Frankfurt. However, it expects to keep a strong presence in London, regardless of the outcome of the referendum, as it says corporate and individual clients from around the world will still want to operate in the UK and will continue to look to the City for financial services expertise. Research aim and objectives This thesis, therefore, intends to enrich the literature that relates capital structure to corporate strategy in the UK banking/finance industry. Informed by the literature, this research seeks to develope a theoretical framework to study the influence of corporate strategy on capital structure. Research Question The motivation for this study came from the author's interest in combining the study of corporate strategies with the one of firm financial decisions. By extending the study of Singh et al. (2003) for a sample of European companies, this paper aims to investigate the individual as well as the interactive effects of product and geographic diversification on corporate leverage This project will seek to answer the following research question: To what extent does corporate strategy influence the capital structure decisions of banks in the United Kingdom? Does product diversification influence corporate leverage? Research on capital structure focuses on the proportion of debt and equity used by firms to finance their investments. While the literature on this topic is very broad, there is no universal theory to explain the capital structure choice (Myers 2001). Since the publication of Modigliani and Miller's work in 1958, there have evolved several theories of capital structure, the most important being the tradeoff theory and the pecking order theory. As such the importance of an organization having a corporate strategy and capital structure can never be underestimated. It is important for any organization wishing to attain important goals in the industry and be ahead of its competitors all time. It helps the organizational management be able to predict the future. By this it means they are able to know what the market looks like at certain times, what they can expect from their customers in terms of trends, and what the economy will be like in the future and how they will need to adjust their spending to fit that. Corporate strategy and capital structure also gives overall direction to the organization. That is they are able to understand what is needed of them, what their goal is, what their mission is and what they need to do to achieve the intended goals. Corporate strategy and capital structure is also planning for the organization as well. We all know how planning importance in any organization is. It's even one of the tools of management and strategic planning enables us to do this. Corporate strategy and capital structure also help the business in its budgeting task. They are able to know how much they will need and for how long and as such they are able to make their finances right. (Little, 2014) Research Methodology References Alonso, E. J. (2003). Does diversification strategy matter in explaining capital structure? Some evidence from Spain. Applied Financial Economics, 13, 427-430. Anderson, R. C., Bates, T. W., Bizjak, J. M., & Lemmon, M. L. (2000). Corporate governance and firm diversification. Financial Management, 29, 5-22. Anderson, T. W., & Hsiao, C. (1981). Estimation of dynamic models with Maguire, S., & Phillips, N. (2008). 'Citibankers' at Citigroup: a study of the loss of institutional trust after a merger. Journal of Management Studies, 45(2), 372-401. InterActive Master's in Business Administration Global MA/MSc in Finance and Investment MA/MSc in Strategic Marketing Module Integrative Research and Consultanc y Project Assignment Title Type of Assignment Word Limit Weighting Student Cohort Issue Date Submission Date Final Project Dissertation Issued by (Assessor) Internal Verifier Plagiarism Steve Priddy 15,000-20,000 Words + References & Appendices 80% 8th June 2016 28th September 2016 When submitting work for assessment, students should be aware of the LSBF guidance and regulations concerning plagiarism. All submissions should be your own, original work. You must submit an electronic copy of your work attached securely to your assignment. If you fail to do this your assignment will not be graded. Your submission will be electronically checked for plagiarism. Harvard Referencing The Harvard Referencing System must be used. The Wikipedia website must not be referenced in your work. Learning Outcomes On successful completion of this assignment you will be able to: Introduction Analyse critical components of research methods, from design, techniques, values and methods; Identify research methods for producing empirical data analysis, qualitative research outputs; Demonstrate critical evaluation of a research proposal and appreciate the limitations of research; Evaluate the quality of research designs when commissioning research; Work towards and complete a successful Master level research project. A dissertation '...is a display of your ability to identify a topic, justify that topic, write clear aims and objectives which are interrelated, search and review the relevant literature, design data collection tools, apply those tools, manage the data collection and make sense of it. Make valid conclusions and possibly recommendations' (Hart, 2007). Tasks 1. Produce a 15,000-20,000 word dissertation 2. The dissertation should be structured and presented as near as possible to the structure provided below in the guidelines section Guidelines Please read carefully or you could end up penalising yourself. Structure of Dissertation Chapter Detail Title Page This should have your dissertation title, your name, your student number, title of degree and the date. Acknowledgements It is usual but not compulsory to thank those who have been of particular help to you in completing the dissertation. Abstract This is a short section (maximum one page), which concisely summarises the whole of the dissertation; the main aim of the research, the findings of the Literature Review, the research methodology adopted, the findings of your primary research and the conclusions made. It should be written in the past tense. Contents Page This should be written on a separate page and should show chapter/section headings and page numbers. It should include all appendices and be followed by separate lists of tables and figures if appropriate. Introduction Your introduction should contain your topic clearly stated and defined, the reason why it is of interest to you, a clear overall purpose and definitions of all special and general terms. This chapter should also end with a clear research question or questions, a list of objectives and a hypothesis or hypotheses if needed. Literature Review This chapter should demonstrate that you have conducted a thorough and critical investigation of relevant sources, outlining, comparing and discussing key ideas, explanations, concepts, models and theories. You should present these ideas in a systematic, well-structured and logical sequence. You will be expected to use prominent and up-todate books and academic journals. This chapter should end with a statement of the gap in current knowledge which your research aims to fill. Methodology This chapter describes and assesses the approach you have taken to the data collection process (research philosophy, research strategy, method(s), validity etc.) For each research question or hypothesis and objectives you should have a method for achieving it, making sure that you offer clear rationales for the decisions that you have made. You should explicitly describe your chosen method(s) and any sampling techniques used. It is also important to give a brief assessment of other potential relevant data collection methods and why you discounted them. Do not describe all data collection methods. There should be a critique of the success, or otherwise, of your method(s). Explain the appropriateness of the data analysis techniques that you have selected. You must also discuss validity, reliability and generalisability. Findings / Results In this chapter the data generated should be reported as completely and neutrally as is possible such that the reader can assess it easily. This is where you will include such tables and graphs that will illustrate your findings. This chapter will also contain verbatim quotes from interviewees, or sections of narrative account that illustrate periods of unstructured observation. The purpose of this chapter is to present the facts. It is not appropriate in this chapter to begin to offer opinions on the facts. You should present your analysis clearly and logically and it should be relevant to your research aim, research question(s), hypothesis (es) and objectives. Make sure that you relate the findings of your primary research to your Literature Review. You can do this by comparison: discussing similarities and particularly differences. If you think your findings have confirmed some literature findings, say so and say why. If you think your findings are at variance with the literature, say so and say why. Analysis / Discussion of Findings Conclusions/ Recommendations State the main conclusions of your dissertation. State explicitly how and to what extent you have met your aims and objectives / answered your research question(s) / proved your hypothesis (es) whichever is appropriate. Your conclusions should follow logically from your findings and not contain any new material. Recommendations can be made if appropriate. Appendices, illustrations etc Any necessary information should be here, for example, sampled questionnaires, topic guides, etc. Each appendix should be lettered (A, B, C etc.) and should consist of detailed information that is interesting but not essential to the main thrust of your findings section. References Full references to every source used, presented in the format of the Harvard System of Referencing. Presentation of the Dissertation The dissertation should conform to the following standards: Length The length of the dissertation should be between 15,000 and 20,000 words (chapters 1 to 6, from introduction chapter to conclusions chapter) The word count should be written on your feedback sheet. Quotes and the References List are not included in the word count The dissertation should be word-processed Font You can use any font style available (as long as it is legible). Once you have chosen a style be consistent, do not change to another. Font size 11 should be used. The size of chapter headings and section headings are left to your discretion but should not be unduly large. Bolding and Italics It is normal to bold just the headings Italicise your quotations Do not italicise or underline any text that you think is important Pagination All page number should be numbered in Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3 etc.) Page 1 is the first page of the Introduction The sections that come before the Introduction are usually numbered with small Roman numerals (i, ii, iii, iv etc.) All page numbers should be at the bottom centre of the page Margins Margins at the binding edge must not be less than 40mm (1.5 inches) and other margins not less than 20mm (0.75 inch) Spacing 1.5 spacing should be used for all text However, indented quotations should have single line spacing Chapters and Section Headings Each chapter should have a title Section headings should be used and be numbered The system of numbering should be consistent Each chapter should be started on a new sheet of paper Tables and Figures Where tables and figures (graphs, charts and diagrams) are used they should, as far as possible, be given margins equal to or greater than a page of text They should be displayed or pasted into the dissertation as near as possible to the relevant text. Each one should be numbered consecutively, for example, Table 1, Figure 1, etc All Tables and Figures should clearly state their source Deviations from the set formatting guidelines will severely affect your grade, regardless of report content. This is to ensure optimal length consistency and fairness for all submitted student reports. NB: Marks will be awarded for proper referencing and originality of work. Also note that plagiarism is a serious offence and your submission will be electronically checked. Your dissertation must be handed in electronically no later than the date stated on this assignment brief. Please note that lecturers and students are not allowed to negotiate individual extensions. Late submission could result in failure. Grading Criteria Grading Criteria 70%+100 60-69% 50-59% 0 -49% Fail Generic skills: communication and presentation. Comprehensive and correctly structured assessment. Style of writing is very fluent and develops a coherent and logical argument. Excellent referencing. Demonstrates excellent knowledge of theory and provides critical theoretical underpinning. Very good interpretations and summarising of main themes. Analysis Excellent use of theoretical and conceptual models to guide analysis linked with a critical discussion of main themes. Deconstructs the major themes used in the argument. Logical presentation of themes with appropriate examples being demonstrated. Very good demonstration of synthesis. Models have been clearly applied to the argument. Shows clear evidence of in-depth critical reflection and evaluation of the argument by providing a robust defence of the opinions presented in the assessment. Good report in most aspects but suffers from variations in quality and the layout contains some inadequacies. Style of writing is satisfactory. Referencing needs improving. Good range of knowledge demonstrated but weaknesses in key areas. Some understanding displayed of the topic. Summary and interpretation are satisfactory. Use of theory and concepts limited but relevant. Application could be improved and there is a tendency towards description. Must provide more evidence of deconstruction. Good account of main themes with some attempt at application. Limited evidence of synthesis. Very poor report which is incorrectly structured and contains major errors and omissions. Style of writing lacks coherence and fluency. Poor referencing. Knowledge & Understanding Well structured report which follows appropriate format but some aspects of layout and referencing could be improved. Style of writing is fairly fluent. Good referencing. Wide range of knowledge demonstrated and evidence of good understanding of the topic. Ability to interpret and summarise succinctly. Shows some evidence of critical reflection but could have been developed. Shows little or no evidence of critical reflection and needs to be much more developed. There is no defence of the opinions presented. Synthesis/ Creativity/ Application Evaluation Very good use of the theoretical and conceptual models with good critical discussion and application. Good evidence of deconstruction. Very good account of main themes with sound application. Good attempt at applying models to the argument. .Fairly good attempt at synthesising the salient points. Shows evidence of critical reflection and evaluation and a fairly cohesive defence of the argument Very poor range of knowledge demonstrated and there are major weaknesses evident in interpretation and understanding. No clear interpretation of main themes. Very poor use of theory and very little application of concepts. Very little description with not much evidence of analysis. Very poor account of main themes with little or no application. No links between models and argument