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This paper aims to analyze the impact of reclassifications trends in credit rating decisions in capital structure of listed non-financial companies in Latin America. To verify both the existence of this association were employed data belonging to all non-financial companies listed in Latin America, possessing ratings issued by the three major international ratings agencies international (i.e. Standard & Poor's, Moody's and Fitch) in January, 2010. When considering data for the period 2001-2010, through analysis of panel data, the main results suggest that the reclassifications of ratings seem have no informational content to the capital structure decisions of firms. However, some results indicate that companies classified in the worst levels of risk, and which are on the verge of the rating reclassifications, tend to use more debt than other companies, suggesting the existence of market timing.

Social Network Analysis (SNA) is an emerging research field in finance, above all in Brazil. This work is pioneering in that it is supported by reference to different areas of knowledge: social network analysis and corporate governance, for dealing with a similarly emerging topic in finance; interlocking boards, the purpose being to check the validity of the small-world model in the Brazilian capital market, and the existence of associations between the positioning of the firm in the network of corporate relationships and its worth. To do so official data relating to more than 400 companies listed in Brazil between 1997 and 2007 were used. The main results obtained suggest that the configuration of the networks of relationships between board members and companies reflects the small-world model. Furthermore, there seems to be a significant relationship between the firm’s centrality and its worth, described according to an “inverted U” curve, which suggests the existence of optimum values of social prominence in the corporate network.

The role played by the board of a firm is one of the main aspects considered in literature on corporate governance around of the world. simultaneously, the social and institutional relations have been seen as preponderant factor for the happened results of the performance of such boards of big companies. However not yet research is verified that analyze the role of the boards from the Social Network Analysis (SNA) in Brazil. In this manner, this study aims to verify the existence of associations between centrality level, density and cohesion of the boards of Brazilian companies and firm performance. Then, we evaluate 615 individuals, that had formed the boards of the 90 listed companies in the Novo Mercado of the S˜ao Paulo Stock Exchange in 2007. The analysis was lead in two phases. In the first one we present the configuration of the networks of board members, in second place, we verify associations between structure of the network and performance. It was verified that the centrality, density and the cohesion of the firms, in terms of its board members, are related with performance, some times in terms of Return Over Assets (Roa), some times in debt. Of this form, we conclude that organizations most located in the networks of corporative relations tend to present greater yield and minor debt. (Full article in Portuguese only)