Stock market liberalization and operating performance at the firm level

I use firm-specific measures of openness to foreign investors to study the impact of stock market liberalization on firm-level operating performance. In a sample of over 1,100 firms from 28 countries, firms with stocks that are open to foreign investors experience higher growth, greater investment, greater profitability, greater efficiency, and lower leverage. Strategies to address potential endogeneity suggest that the observed relation reflects, at least in part, a causal effect of openness on operating performance.     

Big business stability and economic growth: Is what's good for General Motors good for America?

What is good for a country may not be good for its big businesses, at least recently. More turnover in top businesses correlates with faster per capita gross domestic product, productivity, and capital growth; supporting Schumpeter's [1942. Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, third ed., Harper & Bros., New York, NY] theory of “creative destruction”—innovative firms blooming as stagnant ones wither. These correlations are greater in more developed economies, supporting Aghion and Howitt's [1992. A model of growth through creative destruction. Econometrica 60, 323–351] thesis that creative destruction matters more to economies nearer the technological frontier. More big business turnover also correlates with smaller government, common law, less bank-dependence, stronger shareholder rights, and greater openness.     

Democratizing entry: Banking deregulations,financing constraints,and entrepreneurship

We examine entrepreneurship and creative destruction following US banking deregulations using US Census Bureau data. US banking reforms brought about exceptional growth in both entrepreneurship and business closures. Most of the closures, however, were the new ventures themselves. Although we find evidence for the standard story of creative destruction, the most pronounced impact was a massive increase in churning among new entrants. We argue that creative destruction requires many business failures along with the few great successes. The successes are difficult to identify ex ante, which is why democratizing entry is an important trait of well-functioning capital markets.     

Incentive and entrenchment effects in European ownership

In a large sample of European firms we analyze the value discount associated with disproportional ownership structures first documented by Claessens et al. (2002). Consistent with a theoretical model of incentive and entrenchment effects, we find higher value discount in family firms, in firms with low cash flow concentration, and in industries with higher amenity value. Furthermore, the discount is higher in countries with good investor protection and higher for dual class shares than for pyramids. We find no impact on operating performance, likelihood of bankruptcy, dividend policy, or growth. Finally, we discuss policy implications of these findings.     

Firm-specific risk and equity market development

We show that the increase in firm-specific risk in the US stock market is the result of new listings by riskier companies. In addition, our results explain why prior researchers have found that growth opportunities, profit margin, firm size, and industry composition (among other factors) are related to increases in firm-specific risk. The new listing effect is not driven by small companies becoming riskier but instead by a riskier sub-sample of the economy becoming publicly traded. These results are consistent with prior research that documents time trends in financial market development.     

Y2K spending by entrepreneurial firms

While public debate leading up to year 2000 focused on the potential negative consequences of Y2K, some writers recognized that Y2K could set in motion a period of intense strategic investment in information technology (IT) of the type characterized by Schumpeter [Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy, third ed., Harper and Row, New York, 1950, p. 81] as creative destruction. In performing the study presented here, we formulated hypotheses, based on Schumpeter's [The Theory of Economic Development, Harvard University, Cambridge, 1934, p. 57] theory of economic development, about the characteristics of firms that would have responded most aggressively to Y2K and tested these hypotheses using data obtained from Y2K disclosures made in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Our findings provide striking evidence that Y2K spending increased with economic factors that are characteristic of entrepreneurial firms and with the competitiveness of the firms' industries. This observation of systematic Y2K spending patterns suggests that accounting disclosures of IT spending are informative and illustrates the potential power of economic catalysts for change, particularly with respect to IT resources.     

The Industry Effects Regarding the Probability of Takeovers

This study attempts to determine whether an acquisition announcement signals potential gains to the corresponding industry rivals of the target, and whether these gains can be explained by industry-specific and rival firm-specific factors that reflect the likelihood of a takeover. The research finds that the valuation effects of the target, combined acquirer and target, and industry rivals of the target are positive and significant. The mean valuation effects per corresponding industry are significantly related to industry-specific characteristics that reflect the probability of a takeover. Specifically, industries characterized as having a higher level of free cash flow, a higher level of tangible assets, and a smaller market value experience a more favorable revaluation. A supplemental analysis of the individual rival firms is also conducted, since the variation in the valuation effects between rival firms within each of the industries is distinctly different from the variation of mean industry effect across industries. The analysis of the individual rivals finds that the same rival-specific variables are significant and in the same direction as the analysis of the industry-specific variables. In addition, the valuation effects of individual rivals are also inversely related to their previous performance. Overall, the results suggest that industry-specific and rival firm-specific characteristics that reflect a higher probability of a takeover are important in explaining acquisition gains and motivation.     

Firm-specific attributes and the cross-section of momentum

This paper identifies observable firm-specific attributes that drive momentum. We find that a firm's revenues, costs, and growth options combine to determine the dynamics of its return autocorrelation. We use these insights to implement momentum strategies (buying winners and selling losers) with both numerically simulated returns and CRSP/Compustat data. In both sets of data, momentum strategies that use firms with high revenue growth volatility, low costs, or valuable growth options outperform traditional momentum strategies by approximately 5% per year.     

Does IT investment improve bank performance? Evidence from Europe

This paper investigates whether investment in information technology (IT) – hardware, software and other IT services – influences the performance of banks. Using a sample of 737 European banks over the period 1995–2000 we analyse whether IT investment is reflected in improved performance (measured using both standard accounting ratios and cost and alternative profit efficiency measures). Despite banks being major investors in IT we find little relationship between total IT investment and improved bank profitability or efficiency indicating the existence of a profitability paradox. However, the impact of different types of IT investment (hardware, software and services) on banks’ performance is heterogeneous. Investment in IT services from external providers (consulting services, implementation services, training and education, support services) appears to have a positive influence on accounting profits and profit efficiency, while the acquisition of hardware and software seems to reduce banks’ performance.     

Do star analysts know more firm-specific information? Evidence from China

Using a unique database in China, we extend the literature to further distinguish the information production role of star vs. non-star analysts. We confirm the general conclusion of a positive association between analyst coverage and stock return synchronicity measured by a firm’s R² in China. The findings from star analysts, however, show that star analyst coverage actually decreases stock return synchronicity. We contend that the firm-specific human capital in star analysts helps the analysts overcome the challenges of information production in an emerging market. The superior firm-specific human capital argument of star analysts is further supported by the negative association of star analysts’ firm-specific experiences and stock return synchronicity. Our conclusions are robust to different specifications of star analyst presence and different definitions of analysts’ firm-specific experiences. We also find that star analysts exhibit a more accurate earnings forecast than non-star analysts.     

Information asymmetry and the value of cash

This study investigates the market value of corporate cash holdings in connection with firm-specific and time-varying information asymmetry. Analyzing a large international sample, we test two opposing hypotheses. According to the pecking order theory, adverse selection problems make external financing costly and imply a higher market value of a marginal dollar of cash in states with higher information asymmetry. In contrast, the free cash flow theory predicts that excessive cash holdings bundled with higher information asymmetry generate moral hazard problems and lead to a lower market value of a marginal dollar of cash. We use the dispersion of analysts’ earnings per share forecasts as our main measure of firm-specific and time-varying information asymmetry. Extending the valuation regressions of Fama and French [Fama, E.F., French, K.R., 1998. Taxes, financing decisions, and firm value. Journal of Finance 53, 819–843], our results support the free cash flow theory and indicate that the value of corporate cash holdings is lower in states with a higher degree of information asymmetry.     

Does industry-wide distress affect defaulted firms? Evidence from creditor recoveries

Using data on defaulted firms in the United States over the period 1982–1999, we show that creditors of defaulted firms recover significantly lower amounts in present-value terms when the industry of defaulted firms is in distress. We investigate whether this is purely an economic-downturn effect or also a fire-sales effect along the lines of Shleifer and Vishny [1992. Liquidation values and debt capacity: a market equilibrium approach. Journal of Finance 47, 1343–1366]. We find the fire-sales effect to be also at work: Creditors recover less if the industry is in distress and non-defaulted firms in the industry are illiquid, particularly if the industry is characterized by assets that are specific, that is, not easily redeployable by other industries, and if the debt is collateralized by such specific assets. The interaction effect of industry-level distress and asset-specificity is strongest for senior unsecured creditors, is economically significant, and robust to contract-specific, firm-specific, macroeconomic, and bond-market supply effects. We also document that defaulted firms in distressed industries are more likely to emerge as restructured firms than to be acquired or liquidated, and spend longer time in bankruptcy.     

Generalists versus specialists: Lifetime work experience and chief executive officer pay

We show that pay is higher for chief executive officers (CEOs) with general managerial skills gathered during lifetime work experience. We use CEOs' résumés of Standard and Poor's 1,500 firms from 1993 through 2007 to construct an index of general skills that are transferable across firms and industries. We estimate an annual pay premium for generalist CEOs (those with an index value above the median) of 19% relative to specialist CEOs, which represents nearly a million dollars per year. This relation is robust to the inclusion of firm- and CEO-level controls, including fixed effects. CEO pay increases the most when firms externally hire a new CEO and switch from a specialist to a generalist CEO. Furthermore, the pay premium is higher when CEOs are hired to perform complex tasks such as restructurings and acquisitions. Our findings provide direct evidence of the increased importance of general managerial skills over firm-specific human capital in the market for CEOs in the last decades.     

吉林省文化创意产业规模、结构的时空分布和趋势——基于信息熵和区位熵的分析

文化创意产业已成为世界各国竞相发展的朝阳产业,对于区域转变经济增长方式、提升城市核心竞争力具有重要的实践意义。当前吉林省文化创意产业增加值以递增速度增加,法人单位、营业收入和从业人员比重增大,但是内部发展不平衡。1998年到2009年吉林省文化创意产业发展经历了三个阶段,并呈现一定收敛趋势,文化创意产业几个典型行业出现了一定的集聚,产业优势比较突出,但是由于行业发展的非均衡性导致了内部产业优势存在差异。     

发展创意产业与振兴东北老工业基地

在东北老工业基地的振兴中,创意产业具有推动新兴产业的形成、培育地方经济新的增长点、促进体制创新和产业结构升级、缓解就业压力等作用.应采取培育创意产业园区、加强政府引导扶持和知识产权的保护、营造创意产业平台、培育创意人才和经营管理技能等促进创意产业发展的策略.     

Capital structure around the world: The roles of firm- and country-specific determinants

We analyze the importance of firm-specific and country-specific factors in the leverage choice of firms from 42 countries around the world. Our analysis yields two new results. First, we find that firm-specific determinants of leverage differ across countries, while prior studies implicitly assume equal impact of these determinants. Second, although we concur with the conventional direct impact of country-specific factors on the capital structure of firms, we show that there is an indirect impact because country-specific factors also influence the roles of firm-specific determinants of leverage.     

IT internal control weaknesses and firm performance: An organizational liability lens

The information systems literature and the public press have called for organizations to more closely scrutinize their information technology (IT) controls; however, little more than anecdotal evidence exists on the business value of quality IT internal control, beyond regulatory compliance. In this paper, we (a) advance an organizational liability perspective to the question of IT internal control value; and (b) use the unique setting provided by the enactment of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) to investigate the relationship between IT internal control weaknesses (ICWs) and both accounting earnings (a contemporaneous measure of firm performance) and market value (a forward looking, risk-adjusted measure of firm performance). Using a data set that provides audited annual assessments of the effectiveness of both IT and non-IT internal controls for a cross-section of companies as mandated by SOX, we find that firms that report an IT ICW have lower accounting earnings compared to firms with strong IT internal controls. We also find that IT ICW moderates the association between accounting earnings and market valuation, with firms reporting weak IT internal controls having a lower earnings multiple. These results are sustained even after controlling for non-IT ICWs and firm-specific factors that are known determinants of ICWs, and are reinforced using an inter-temporal changes analysis in which we use each firm as its own control at a different point in time. Overall, our results provide empirical evidence which suggests that IT internal controls are a strategic necessity and that information systems risk is priced by the capital markets. The implications of these findings for theory and practice are discussed.     

Firm-specific information and the efficiency of investment

In the three-year period following stock market liberalizations, the growth rate of the typical firm's capital stock exceeds its pre-liberalization mean by an average of 4.1 percentage points. Cross-sectional changes in investment are significantly correlated with the signals about fundamentals embedded in the stock price changes that occur upon liberalization. Panel-data estimations show that a 10-percentage point increase in a firm's expected future sales growth predicts a 2.9- to 3.5-percentage point increase in the growth rate of its capital stock. Country-specific changes in the cost of capital drive changes in investment but firm-specific changes in the cost of capital do not.     

内蒙古文化创意产业的知识产权保护问题研究

近几年来我国的文化创意产业发展异军突起,在推动经济发展中起到了积极的促进作用,成为最受关注的“朝阳产业”。由于创意产业在本质上建立在知识产权基础之上,且创意成果在表现形式上大部分符合知识产权保护范围,因此知识产权是创意产业发展的基础,掌握、分析和解决创意产业发展中知识产权保护存在的问题意义重大。     

Riding the waves of technology through the decades: The relation between industry-level information technology intensity and the cost of equity capital

This paper examines the effect that information technology (IT) investments have on the industry cost of equity capital. We find that industry IT intensity, defined as the relative amount of IT investment to total fixed asset expenditures, is negatively related to the industry cost of equity capital. These results indicate that industries with higher levels of IT investment have lower cost of equity capital. We also find that the relation between IT intensity and cost of equity capital changes over time. Initially, investors viewed IT investments as risky ventures and demanded higher levels of cost of equity (or higher return on their investment) for those industries investing in IT. However, beginning in the 1980s, as IT became more reliable, more cost effective, and had the ability to transform businesses, investors viewed IT Intensity as a positive business strategy with less associated risks and reduced their required cost of equity capital (or lower return on their investment). Extrapolating from our industry results, IT investments allow firms to potentially raise capital at a lower price so they have more assets to employ, indicating that IT investments can be a key factor for business success.