China's outward foreign direct investment: Location choice and firm ownership

This article evaluates the international location decisions made by public listed Chinese firms during the period 2006-2008, using a Poisson count data regression model. Further, we categorize the firms into state-controlled and privately owned according to majority ownership. We find that the determinants of internationalization differ based on ownership. State-controlled firms are attracted to countries with large sources of natural resources and risky political environments. Private firms are more market seekers. Although all firms have strategic intent, the attraction is commercially viable technology rather than core research content. Our findings also show that existing theories can sufficiently explain the actions of private Chinese firms, but adjustments are needed to understand the behavior of state-controlled multinationals.     

State ownership,political ideology,and firm performance around the world

It is often taken as a stylized fact that state ownership harms the financial performance of firms. Yet we show that this relationship varies greatly across national contexts. We argue that the political ideology of the government, both independently and in conjunction with political institutions (state capacity and political constraint), affects this relationship. We test our hypotheses using meta-analytical techniques on an international sample spanning 53 years and 131 countries. Our research sheds further light on the state ownership – firm performance relationship by highlighting the role of the political ideology of the government, and its interactions with political institutions.     

Status consumption and ethnicity in Bolivia: evidence from durables ownership

The ‘compensatory consumption’ hypothesis advanced by Caplovitz in 1967 predicts that households facing racial or ethnic discrimination tend to spend heavily on socially visible consumption goods to make up for their low‐status position in society. This paper provides an empirical test of this prediction in Bolivia, where people of indigenous origin face social exclusion. Using recent household survey data, we examine whether low‐income households of indigenous origin overspend on socially visible durable goods relative to equally poor, non‐indigenous households. We find a marked difference in the propensity for compensatory consumption between the two largest indigenous groups in Bolivia.     

投资者法律保护与终极所有权结构关系研究

以2004—2006年A股上市公司为样本,考察投资者法律保护与金字塔结构下终极所有权结构的关系。结果显示:投资者法律保护程度越低,控股股东越有动机以较少的现金流投入来掌握企业的控制权,以便于通过财富放大效应进行掏空和寻租来谋取控制权私利;但是,当企业由国有企业控制而非民营企业控制时,控股股东控制权与现金流所有权分离度对投资者法律保护程度的敏感度降低,原因在于,在当前转轨经济阶段,中国国有企业产权公有的性质本身就是一种替代性的投资者保护机制。     

Risk-taking behaviour and ownership in the banking industry: The Spanish evidence

This paper analyses the determinants of risk-taking in Spanish financial intermediaries, with special emphasis on the ownership structure and size of the different entities. On the one hand, the specific legal configuration of Spanish Savings banks may lead them to differ from Commercial banks in their risk behaviour. In particular, they may invest in riskier projects. Nevertheless, other theories indicate that greater stockholder control in Commercial banks may induce them towards greater risk-taking in certain situations. In this paper we test these hypotheses with a dynamic panel data model (1993–2000) for Spanish Commercial banks and Savings banks. We analyse whether differences in risk behaviour are related to different ownership structures or to other factors such as the size of the entity.     

Entrepreneurial strategy making,resources, and firm performance: evidence from China

This article builds a model to answer a critical but unsolved research question: What are the resources and/or the resource portfolio firms need to achieve the performance implications of entrepreneurial strategy making (ESM)? Based on a survey of Chinese firms, we find that ESM has a significant positive influence on firm performance. In addition, to accomplish the performance implications of ESM, firms need both flexible employed resources and unabsorbed slack, while just one of them does not work. Thus, a resource portfolio composed of high flexible employed resources and unabsorbed slack is the appropriate one to achieve the value of ESM.     

Board independence, firm performance and ownership concentration: Evidence from Chile

What determines the composition of companies' boards in the context of high ownership concentration? Are independent directors important as an internal governance mechanism in companies with high ownership concentration? Do markets favor companies whose controlling shareholders use voting rights to elect professional directors?Using a four-year, 160-company panel data, and controlling for endogeneity, this paper addresses these three related questions, finding that an increase in the proportion of outside directors affects company value. The paper also finds that companies that present more exacerbated agency conflicts tend to incorporate professional directors to the boards, in an effort to improve corporate governance and ameliorate the agency problem.     

Subsidiary goals,learning orientations,and ownership strategies of multinational enterprises: evidence from foreign direct investments in Korea

This paper investigates the links among subsidiary goals, learning orientations, and ownership strategies of multinational enterprises (MNEs). The authors hypothesize that an MNE's ownership strategy is determined by subsidiary goals and learning orientations. Furthermore, interactions between learning orientations and subsidiary goals are predicted to influence the ownership strategy. Based on 723 foreign subsidiaries of MNEs operating in Korea, our findings suggest that when MNE foreign subsidiaries influence ownership choice, market-seeking goals and resource-seeking goals have a stronger fit with the exploitation orientation than with the exploration orientation. In contrast, the category of knowledge-seeking goals has a stronger fit with exploration than with exploitation.     

The impact structure of social capital on corporate performance: Empirical evidence from listed companies in China

Vertical relationships with the government, particular relational capital and organizational social network capital, constitute corporate social capital (CSC). Using the empirical data of 97 listed companies in China, this paper examines the impact of CSC on corporate performance, finds that CSC has a positive impact on sales revenue but an insignificant impact on the improvement of ROA. More specifically, when a firm enlarges its sales revenue, the function of organizational network capital is stronger than that of a particular relational capital and that of governmental connections. The paper also finds that state-owned enterprises (SOEs) have more advantages in using governmental connections, therefore leading to better social status than non-SOEs do, who have fewer advantages in using any particular relational capital. The article suggests that managers should appraise carefully the effectiveness of CSC, and combine it with other resources; firms should distinguish the structure of the impact of CSC on performance improvement in a dynamic way. With respect to the implication of this paper, it could help in analyzing firm behaviors in the transitional China. Translated from paper in International Symposium on Entrepreneur Research and Education, 2006, April (in Chinese)     

Managerial ownership,diversification, and firm performance: Evidence from an emerging market

Numerous existing studies have explored the impact of corporate diversification on firm performance, whereas considerably less research has investigated the inter-relationships among managerial ownership, diversification, and firm performance. This paper develops several hypotheses based on the agency theory self-interest perspective and tests the relationships among managerial ownership, corporate diversification, and firm performance using a sample of 98 emerging market firms listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange. The results show a U-shaped relationship between managerial ownership and corporate diversification, similar to that found in prior studies. However, the inflection point is 33.17%, which is lower than that found in previous studies. Moreover, in contrast to prior results, corporate diversification is found to be positively associated with short-term firm performance and bears no relationship with mid-term firm performance, while firms engaged in unrelated diversification outperform those engaged in related diversification. This paper concludes with theoretical implications and suggestions for future research.     

终极控制人变更与公司业绩——基于股权分置改革背景的经验研究

以股权分置改革为背景,研究116家发生终极控制人直接变更和最终变更的上市公司在其控制权转移后3年的综合业绩变化情况及原因。研究结果显示:控制权最终转移比直接转移对公司综合业绩的改善作用更为显著,不管终极控制人是由国有控制实体转为民间控制实体,还是在民间控制人之间转移,都没有对业绩产生显著作用,但终极控制人在国有控制实体间转移却对公司业绩产生了负面影响;盈余管理对公司业绩的提升起了关键作用,股改效应的发挥需要一个长期过程。     

制度环境、产权性质与公司慈善捐赠--来自沪深A股上市公司的经验证据

公司慈善捐赠驱动因素的研究已有很多成果,但从制度环境和产权性质角度进行研究的很少。本文以沪深A股上市公司为样本,系统考察了制度环境、产权性质对公司慈善捐赠的影响。研究证实,中国各地区制度环境差异显著影响公司慈善捐赠,制度环境的改善促进了企业捐赠水平的提高,且这种正向影响在非国有控股企业表现更为明显。非国有控股企业捐赠水平高于国有控股企业,且在国有控股企业中,地方政府控股国有企业捐赠水平高于中央政府控股企业。这些结论对理解制度环境在促进企业捐赠中的作用,认识中国不同产权性质企业慈善行动的深层含义具有一定的启示意义。     

Determinants of ownership preference of international joint ventures: new evidence from Chinese manufacturing industries

Given the large size and rapid growth of foreign direct investment in China, the subject of ownership preference is of great interest to academics as well as to firms intending to invest in China. This study focuses on two sets of variables: industry-specific factors and venture-specific factors. Statistical tests based on information of 818 international joint ventures (IJVs) in China show that duration and scale of IJVs are positively associated with the level of foreign ownership. Industry-specific factors such as skill intensity, market concentration, market potentials, and foreign business agglomerations also positively influence the ownership preference of foreign firms, while local industry R and D intensity and productivity are found to be significant but negatively associated with the ownership preference.     

Corporate giving in Taiwan: agency cost theory vs. value enhancement theory

This article examines the determinants of corporate giving (CG) in Taiwan according to agency cost (AC) and value enhancement (VE) theories. Panel regression test results reveal several new and interesting pieces of evidence. First, VE determinants outweigh AC determinants in explaining CG there. Second, the positive link between the current CG ratio (CGR) and the lagged CGR (CGR(-1)) suggests the consistent nature of CG. Third, after the global financial crisis in 2008, the influence of debt leverage on CGR vanished, but the impact of managerial insiders’ shareholdings on CGR became significant. Last, the influences of VE determinants and CGR(-1) on CGR remain during both pre-crisis and post-crisis periods. Moreover, after the crisis, CG was still motivated to create current value for shareholders, and was apparently used as a business strategy to signal companies’ financial or managerial stability.     

Managerial ownership and performance: A commentary essay

Florackis, Kostakis, and Ozkan [Florackis, C., Kostakis, A., and Ozkan, A., 2008. Managerial ownership and performance, Journal of Business Research, forthcoming] empirically examine the exact nature of the relationship between managerial ownership and corporate performance in the framework of semi-parametric regression. This commentary explores the authors' contribution to the corporate governance literature in the light of recent advances in semi-parametric regression. The commentary also considers how Florackis et al.'s findings align with important, emerging work in the corporate governance literature.     

The role of family management and ownership on semi-globalization pattern of globalization: The case of family business groups

Employing a multi-level with longitudinal concern data analysis this research examines the impact from family management and ownership on semi-globalization pattern of globalization in family business groups from an integrated framework. The results reveal that the more likelihood that the controlling family utilize family management in the subsidiary, and the higher degree of pyramidal ownership in the subsidiary, the more likelihood that the family business group will choose to engage in the host regions. Additionally, family management and pyramidal ownership is positively related with the choice to engage in a higher difference region instead of a lower difference region in family business groups. The theoretical and future research implications of these findings for family enterprises and globalization research are discussed.     

The impact of residual government ownership in privatized firms: New evidence from China

This study investigates the determinants of residual government ownership and the impact of such ownership on post-privatization performance in China. Using hand collected data, we find that government shareholders are more likely to be present in small firms, while large firms are more likely to have politically connected CEOs on their boards. Contrary to the “political interference” hypothesis, our results show that residual government ownership has a positive impact on Tobin's Q. This study indicates that when the risk of expropriation by parent companies is high, government shareholders can add value to firms by signalling their commitment to privatization.     

Age and firm growth: evidence from three European countries

This article provides new insights into the dependence of firm growth on age along the entire distribution of growth rates, and conditional on survival. Using data from the European firms in a global economy survey, and adopting a quantile regression approach, we uncover evidence for a sample of French, Italian and Spanish manufacturing firms with more than ten employees in the period from 2001 to 2008. We find that: (1) young firms grow faster than old firms, especially in the highest growth quantiles; (2) young firms face the same probability of declining as their older counterparts; (3) results are robust to the inclusion of other firms’ characteristics such as labor productivity, capital intensity and the financial structure; (4) high growth is associated with younger chief executive officers and other attributes that capture the attitude of the firm toward growth and change. The effect of age on firm growth is rather similar across countries.     

Supplier development programs and firm performance: evidence from Chile

This paper evaluates the impact of the Chilean Supplier Development Program, aimed at improving and stabilizing the commercial linkages between small and medium-sized suppliers and their large firm customers, during the period 2003–2008. We use the panel structure of our dataset to control for observables and time-invariant unobservable factors that affect the participation and performance of firms. We find that both small and medium enterprises and large firms benefited from the coordination efforts. The program increased sales, employment, and the sustainability of small and medium-sized suppliers; it also increased the sales of large firms and raised their ability to become exporters. In addition, we find that the timing of the effect is different for suppliers and large firms. While the effect on suppliers appeared 1 year after the firms enrolled in the program, the effect on large firms took 2 years to appear.     

Partial credit guarantees and firm performance: evidence from Colombia

This paper studies the effect of government-backed partial credit guarantees on firms’ performance in Colombia. These guarantees are automatically granted by the National Guarantee Fund (NGF) to firms without enough collateral to lift their credit constraints. We put together a panel of firms covering the period 1997–2007 that allows us to control for observed and unobserved firm characteristics potentially affecting both the selection of firms into the program and firms’ performance. We find that firms that gain access to credit backed by the NGF were able to grow in terms of both output and employment. However, we do not find any effect on productivity, wages, or investment.