Gishan Dissanaike

Interim Dean, Cambridge Judge Business School

Adam Smith Professor of Corporate Governance

Director of Studies in Management Studies at Trinity College

Fellow of Hughes Hall

BA (University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka), MPhil, PhD (University of Cambridge)

My research interests include stock markets and their role in corporate governance, the efficiency of stock markets, contrarian portfolio strategies, behavioural finance,
corporate finance and governance, management turnover, capital structure, and emerging markets finance. I’m a financial economist and have been consulted by a number of international corporations, investment banks, and regulatory agencies.

I’m a member of the Finance subject group at Cambridge Judge Business School, which focuses on the investment and financial decisions of firms and institutions.

Gishan Dissanaike.

My details

Academic area

Finance

Professional experience

Professor Dissanaike is a financial economist and holds the Adam Smith Professorship of Corporate Governance at the University. Prior to being promoted to a Chair, Gishan was a University Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, and then Reader at the University. He has previously held an ESRC Research Fellowship and an Academic Fellowship of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England & Wales. Professor Dissanaike has also held a visiting faculty appointment at Cornell University.

Gishan has been consulted by a number of international corporations, investment banks, and regulatory agencies. He previously worked for Banque Indosuez (now Crédit Agrigole Indosuez).

Gishan was the co-chair of the 2009 European Financial Management Association Symposium on Corporate Governance and Control. He is on the editorial boards of several journals, and a member of the Cambridge Corporate Governance Network (CCGN).

Publications

Selected publications

Journal articles

Conference papers

Dissanaike, G. and Lim, K.H. (2005) “The sophisticated and the simple: the profitability of contrarian strategies.” In: American Accounting Association 2005 Annual Meeting, 7-10 August 2005, San Francisco, CA.

Working papers

Dissanaike, G. and Papazian, A.V. (2004) “Management turnover in stock market winners and losers: a clinical investigation.” European Corporate Governance Institute, Working Paper Series in Finance No.2004/61

Dissanaike, G. and Wang, S. (2003) “A critical examination of orthogonal regression.” Social Science Research Network, Electronic Paper No.407560

Lambrecht, B., Dissanaike, G. and Saragga-Seabra, A. (2001) “Differentiating debt target from non-target firms: an empirical study on corporate capital structure.” Judge Institute of Management, Cambridge University, Research Paper no.2001/18

Dissanaike, G. (2000) “Does the size effect subsume the UK ‘winner-loser’ effect?” Judge Institute of Management, Cambridge University, Research Paper No.2000/6

Dissanaike, G. and Le Fur, A. (2000) “On the use of the Log CAR measure in event studies.” Judge Institute of Management, Cambridge University, Research Paper No.2000/8

Dissanaike, G. (1996) “Long-term stock price reversals in the UK: evidence from regression tests.” Applied Economics Department, Cambridge University, Discussion Papers in Accounting and Finance No.1996/24

Dissanaike, G. (1994) “Do stockmarket investors overreact? The UK evidence.” Applied Economics Department, Cambridge University, Discussion Papers in Accounting and Finance (AF) No.8

Awards and honours

  • Finalist of the European Corporate Governance Institute Clinical Papers Competition, co-sponsored by the Journal of Financial Economics (JFE) and Swedish Center for Business and Policy Studies (SNS), 2004
  • Pilkington Prize for Excellence in Teaching, University of Cambridge, 2002
  • Iddo Sarnat Prize, awarded by the Journal of Banking and Finance and the European Finance Association, 1995
  • Research Studentship for Economics, Trinity College, Cambridge, 1989-1992
  • Overseas Research Studentship (ORS), 1989-1992
  • P.D. Khan Gold Medal for the best performance in Economics, University of Peradeniya, 1986
  • Arts Faculty Scholarship for the best performance in the Arts Faculty, University of Peradeniya, 1986
  • Ryde Gold Medal, Trinity College, Kandy, 1982

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