1,720,962 research outputs found
Why do family firms congregate in certain industries?
No full textWe propose that family firm involvement and performance across industries is not random and is related to specific industry conditions. Using the population of listed companies on the Taiwan Stock Exchange over the period 1997-2007 we find that family firms are more involved in industries with more fixed assets, consistent with the long-term view of family owners, and in industry conditions that make it potentially easier for family owners to consume private benefits of control. Overall, we document a positive relationship between family firm involvement and performance, which indicates a net advantage for family firm shareholders in industries where family firms congregate. However, we also find that family firm performance is negatively affected when family firms use more debt and maintain a higher control wedge than their industry counterparts
Optimal monitoring in family-owned companies? Evidence from Asia
No full textManuscript Type: Empirical\ud
Research Issue: We propose that high levels of monitoring are not always in the best\ud
interests of minority shareholders. In family-owned companies the optimal level of\ud
board monitoring required by minority shareholders is expected to be lower than that\ud
of other companies. This is because the relative benefits and costs of monitoring are\ud
different in family-owned companies.\ud
Research Findings: At moderate levels of board monitoring, we find concave\ud
relationships between board monitoring variables and firm performance for\ud
family-owned companies but not for other companies. The optimal level of board\ud
monitoring for our sample of Asian family-owned companies equates to board\ud
independence of 38%, separation of the Chairman and CEO positions and\ud
establishment of audit and remuneration committees. Additional testing shows that the\ud
optimal level of board monitoring is sensitive to the magnitude of the agency conflict\ud
between the family group and minority shareholders and the presence of substitute\ud
monitoring.\ud
Practitioner/Policy Implications: For policymakers, the results show that more\ud
monitoring is not always in the best interests of minority shareholders. Therefore, it\ud
may be inappropriate for regulators to advise all companies to follow the same set of\ud
corporate governance guidelines. However, our results also indicate that the board\ud
governance practices of family-owned companies are still well below the identified\ud
optimal levels.\ud
Keywords: Corporate Governance, Board Independence, Board of Directors, Family\ud
Firms, Monitoring
Multiple founders and firm value
No full textIn this paper, we highlight the existence of multi-founder firms, which were founded by multiple individuals (with no family connections) who are still actively involved in the firm as directors and/or managers. These firms provide a unique setting to shed further light on the net valuation effects of founder involvement. In particular, multi-founder firms provide us with the opportunity to examine the benefits and costs to shareholders of multiple founders involved as directors, CEOs and managers in the same firm. Our analysis indicates that multi-founder firms are more valuable than all other types of firms, including single-founder firms and family firms, with the valuation premium positively related to the number of founders involved in the firm. Further analysis confirms that this valuation premium is linked to the direct involvement of the multiple founders as directors and CEOs. However, further founder involvement in vice president positions has a negative relationship with firm value
Financial liberalization and sectoral reallocation of capital in South Africa
No full textWe examine the impact of financial reforms on efficient reallocation of capital within and between sectors in South Africa using firm-level panel data for the period 1991–2008. The measure of efficient allocation of capital is based on the Tobin’s Q. We find that financial reforms are associated with improvements in within-sector, but not between-sector allocation of capital. These results imply that for South Africa to unleash the potential for take-off that is often associated with reallocation of resources from the primitive to modern sectors, reforms that focus beyond the financial sector are necessary. While more research is necessary to determine what would fully constitute such additional reforms, our analysis shows that reforms that improve the quality of economic institutions may be a step in the right the direction
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Are lifecycle funds appropriate as default options in participant-directed retirement plans?
No full textThe appropriateness of default investment options in participant-directed retirement plans like 401(k) has been in sharp focus given that most participants fail to nominate an investment option to direct their contributions. In United States (US), prior to the Pension Protection Act (PPA) of 2006, plan fiduciaries often selected a money market fund as the default option. Whilst this ‘low risk and low return’ investment option was considered to be a ‘safe’ choice by many fiduciaries who were fearful of litigation risk, it was heavily criticized for resulting in inadequate wealth at retirement, particularly when retirees were living much longer and facing inflation risk (see, for example, Viceira, 2008; Skinner, 2009)..
The effectiveness of corporate governance codes: Long-term analysis from East Asia
No full textThis study examines the effectiveness of corporate governance codes in four East Asian markets by investigating the timing and persistence of firm compliance with code recommendations. Over the period 1999 to 2009 we find a number of significant improvements in code compliance, but not all can be attributed to the introduction of code recommendations. We also provide evidence of the codes having unintended consequences — firms previously with higher board or committee independence reducing their independence to code recommendation levels. Our results suggest that code recommendations targeting the creation of new mechanisms (e.g., remuneration committees) have been effective but that policymakers need to be particularly careful when formulating code recommendations about existing governance practices
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
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