You are a researcher at the Institute of Investor Protection (IIP). IIP conducts research into corporate governance and sells reports to the investment community and academics. Recently, you are trying to identify corporate governance weakness for CoreSecurity, a US-listed company (8 marks).

(a) You notice that CoreSecurity has a staggered board. Explain what a staggered board is and how the use of staggered boards affects hostile takeovers (2 marks).

(b) Suppose that you find that the CEO of CoreSecurity sold 75,000 shares of CoreSecurity in one week before the release of its earnings per share (EPS), which is much lower than investors expectation. What is the terminology of the CEOs activity? Explain the adverse effect of the CEOs activity (3 marks).

(c) Suppose you are told that the US government just reduced the tariff dramatically for CoreSecuritys industry. Explain whether the reduction in the tariff help to discipline the managers of CoreSecurity (3 marks).