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This chapter discusses the importance of maintaining an exit strategy for the owner(s) of a closely held firm. Except for the smallest of businesses, a major component of a good exit plan is knowledge about the value of the business. An exit strategy can take one of three broad approaches. First, the owners can consider going public, or selling the firm to widely dispersed third-party investors. Assuming the firm will remain closely held, two broad exit strategies exist. The firm can be sold to outsiders in an arm's-length transaction, or it can be sold or given to insiders, including the original owners' heirs, partners, or employees.

This chapter examines the Trump White House’s efforts to lead public opinion, often referred to as going public, and concentrates on the classic challenges that every administration faces in reaching the public with its messages (including national addresses), focusing the public’s attention, and framing issues to its advantage. It devotes special attention to the president’s unique approach to public relations, including his narrow emphasis on his base. Donald Trump was skilled at attracting attention. His actions, statements, and tweets dominated the news. Nevertheless, he faced the same challenges that bedevil all presidents in obtaining and focusing the public’s attention and framing the terms of debate. Moreover, sometimes his inflammatory rhetoric and lack of message discipline created distractions from his priorities and alienated voters.

Chapter 1 considers why members of Congress may want to use media to influence policy in the wake of several historical developments and the obstacles members may face. The decline of traditional intermediaries between government and the public, presidents’ increasing use of media, and growing individualism and political polarization in Congress have increased the attractiveness and even necessity of public strategies in Congress. At the same time, congressional members must overcome challenges created by journalists’ definition of what is newsworthy, by the political context—notably whether a member is in the majority or minority in Congress and which party controls the White House—as well as by increasing polarization in their efforts to attract media attention. To the extent they are able to overcome these challenges, members will turn to the media to move beyond their institutional weaknesses.

This chapter focuses on the process whereby a company raises finance by offering its equity securities to investors in the market. Topics discussed include reasons for going public; where shares can be listed; EU capital market regulation; giving effect to EU law in the UK; standards for admission to trading on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM); forms of public offer of shares; determining the issue price; the principle of mandatory prospectus disclosure; the operation of the mandatory prospectus disclosure regime; enforcement of securities laws regulating public issues and admission to trading; civil liability in the UK for defective prospectuses; civil liability for false prospectuses; public offers of securities by private companies; periodic and episodic disclosure obligations of listed and quoted companies; issuer disclosure obligations derived from the transparency obligations directive; and annual corporate governance disclosures by issuers admitted to trading on a regulated market; and civil liability for periodic and episodic disclosures.

The concept of public offer of shares and debentures and its legal context forms the focus of this chapter. This concept is intertwined with that of prospectus because a public company issues securities to the public through a document called prospectus. Therefore, the concept of prospectus, too, is the focus of this chapter. With public offer and prospectus as the topics, this chapter examines the reasons why company makes public offer of its securities. It then examines the meaning and constituents of prospectus, the principal legal requirements that a prospectus attracts, the function of a prospectus, and types of prospectuses that are issued in the securities market. The chapter then examines what is listing of securities, types of public offerings, proponents of public offer and the concept of ‘offer for sale’. The chapter ends with describing prospectuses issued in India of companies incorporated outside India.

This chapter empirically examines the performance of Chinese initial public offerings (IPOs). The sample consists of 437 companies listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, and 447 companies listed on the Shenzhen exchange (for a longer time period) from 1995 to 1999. The chapter is organized as follows. Section 7.2 discusses the equity structure and corporate governance mechanism. Section 7.3 establishes financial indicators to evaluate the operational performance of listed companies. Section 7.4 reports the empirical results of the IPOs' performance, and Section 7.5 provides concluding remarks. The results show that in terms of growth, profitability, and stability, the only industries in China in which listed companies display strong performance are the public utilities, transportation, and finance. The overall operational performance of all other industries is poor, especially in terms of growth. Two commentaries are also included at the end of the chapter.

Chapter 8 provides information and resources for completing a scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) project. These include why it is a good idea to have one or more collaborators when doing SoTL, and where to find them, as well as sources of support and possible venues for dissemination. It describes the benefits of having a “critical friend” to act as a peer mentor. It details a variety of factors to consider when choosing a conference to present a paper. It also offers advice for choosing a journal, completing a manuscript for publication, and responding to reviews or rejection. In addition to conference papers and journal publications, the chapter describes several other options for going public.