Asset specificity and vertical integration in franchising

This study empirically tests transaction cost hypotheses with the use of data on publicly-owned franchised firms. We employ measures of the proportion of company-owned outlets for the degree of integration and brand name capital for the degree of asset specificity. The results suggest that for the sampled firms the degree of asset specificity is positively related to the degree of vertical integration. Additionly, increases in the real interest rate and firm growth rates are found to be positively related with vertical integration, while increases in unanticipated growth and firm experience are negatively related with vertical integration.     

Underpricing of initial public offerings in Singapore: A discriminating test of the information-signalling hypotheses

This study provides a discriminating test of two signalling models which explain the underpricing of initial public offerings. The empirical results suggest a one-signal equilibrium which is consistent with Leland and Pyle's model, but which rejects Grinblatt and Hwang's two-signal model. The fraction of equity that the issuer retains in the firm which goes public dominates the offering price as a signal for firm quality. A higher equity fraction indicates better firm quality and therefore a lowerex ante uncertainty over firm value. Investors should then expect a smaller initial return on the offering.The author thanks Warren Bailey for his useful comments and suggestions in the earlier draft. The author is also grateful for the financial assistance from the research grant programme at the National University of Singapore.     

In the Eye of the Beholder? The Effect of Product Appearance on Shareholder Value

In times of convergence with regard to product functionality and performance, the appearance of a product constitutes an important source of competitive advantage. Astonishingly, only a few studies have empirically examined the relationship between design‐related aspects and firm value. Moreover, existing studies predominantly use accounting‐based and/or subjective performance measures. Against this background, the present work assesses the contribution of the three most important product design dimensions (i.e., aesthetic, ergonomic, and symbolic value) to the creation of firm value in the context of the automotive and consumer electronics industry. To do so, we examine stock market reactions to the unveiling of a new product's appearance to the public using event study methodology. In particular, we combine perceptual data at the consumer level with stock market data to examine how target consumers' perceptions of the aforementioned design dimensions are related to abnormal returns following the unveiling of a new product. Results reveal that ergonomic value is positively related to abnormal returns, while aesthetic value only exerts a significant positive effect on abnormal returns if the product also exhibits a certain degree of functional product advantage. Finally, symbolic value exerts a negative influence on stock market reactions. These findings have important implications for the allocation of design‐related investments to aesthetic, ergonomic, and symbolic design features.     

资产质量、盈余质量与企业价值的关系研究——基于中国创业板制造业上市公司的数据分析

为了研究影响企业盈余、企业价值取向的相关因素,选取中国制造业创业板上市公司2010-2014年的数据为样本,采用主成分分析和多元线性回归方法,对企业资产质量与盈余质量以及盈余质量与企业价值之间的关系进行了研究。研究表明:企业的资产质量越高,盈余管理程度越低,其盈余质量越高,即企业的资产质量与企业的盈余质量正相关;企业的盈余质量越高,价值越高,即企业的盈余质量与企业价值正相关。研究结果对于企业提升盈余质量、提高自身价值具有参考作用。     

Capital market evaluation of M-form implementation and diversification strategy

Firm announcements of adoption of the multidivisional (M-form) structure are evaluated using stock market data and event methodology. Results indicate that investors positively value M-form adoption. Furthermore, some support is found for the hypothesis that firm diversification strategy (related versus unrelated) is contingently related to investors' valuation of M-form implementation.     

Socioemotional wealth and IPO underpricing of family firms

Socioemotional wealth (SEW), i.e., the noneconomic utility a family derives from its ownership position in a firm, is the primary reference point for family firms. Family firms are willing to sacrifice economic gains in order to preserve their noneconomic utility. Thus, we argue that family firms sacrifice IPO proceeds by choosing higher IPO underpricing than nonfamily firms if underpricing helps them protect their SEW. Our empirical results, based on a sample of 153 German IPOs, support our hypothesis. On average, family firms have 10 percentage points more IPO underpricing than nonfamily firms. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Managerial Style and Firm Value

This study analyzes the effect of managerial style on firm value by partitioning general and administrative (G&A) expenses in the real estate investment trust industry into a nondiscretionary "structural" component associated with the costs of asset and liability management and a discretionary or "style" component. The discretionary component is significantly related to at least one measure of style—specifically, the portfolio focus/diversification of the firm. Gross (project-level) cash flows are invariant to the nondiscretionary or structural component of G&A but are positively related to the style component of G&A. The structural component has a negative impact on share price while the style component has a neutral impact. Therefore, for this industry, creating larger, less-levered firms would result in enhanced value.     

Board composition,share ownership,and ‘underpricing’ of U.K. IPO firms

Using a sample of 251 IPOs in the United Kingdom, this paper examines interlinks between executive and nonexecutive characteristics, share ownership, and short‐term performance measured in terms of share offer ‘underpricing.’ It argues that executives' power and previous experience directly affect ex ante choice of nonexecutive directors and their ownership interests in the firm. These endogenously developed governance factors may be used by IPO teams strategically to reduce the extent of underpricing. However, there is a selective response of investors to different board characteristics and share ownership structure. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

关联担保、隧道效应与公司价值

本文以1998—2004年765家对外提供关联担保的上市公司为样本,考察了关联担保程度与企业价值的关系。同时截取2004年的225个样本公司,采用Logistic回归,检验了非正常关联担保发生概率与股权结构、自由现金流以及上市公司所在地区信贷分配市场化程度的关系。最后,根据关联担保对象,以1998—2004年仅发生一种类型关联担保的390家公司为样本,研究了不同类型关联担保对企业价值的影响差异。我们发现,①关联担保程度与企业价值显著负相关,关联担保程度越大,对企业的价值侵害程度越高。②企业财务杠杆和自由现金流量水平越高,发生非正常关联担保的相对概率越大,而最终股东持股比例越高,上市公司所在地区信贷分配的市场化指数越大,发生非正常关联担保的相对概率则越小。③不同类型的关联担保对企业价值的影响程度是有差异的,上市公司向控股股东提供关联担保对企业价值的损害程度最大。     

Excess market value,market power,and inside ownership structure

This study is an empirical investigation of whether principal-agent problems do in fact significantly affect corporate managers' decision making, and hence the price of the firms' securities. If inside ownership structure of firms is reflected in firm market value, then agency theory leads one to expect that market value will be a positive function of the degree of inside ownership. This study demonstrates that rational investors recognize inside ownership and its resultant effect on market value. Furthermore, it is shown that excess market value as measured by the Tobin's Q-ratio is related to the level of advertising and R&D expenditure, the degree of market power as proxied by the Lerner Index, leverage, and firm size.     

Complex adaptive system mechanisms,adaptive management practices,and firm product innovativeness

As a fascinating concept, the mechanisms of complex adaptive system (CAS) attracted many researchers from a variety of disciplines. Nevertheless, how the mechanism‐related variables, such as strategic resonance, accreting nodes, pattern forming, and catalytic behavior of organization, impact the firm product innovativeness is rarely addressed empirically in the new product development (NPD) literature. Also, there exist limited studies on the antecedents of the mechanisms of CAS in the NPD literature. In this respect, we identified and operationalized the adaptive management practices, which involve bonding, nonlinear, and attractor behaviors of management, as antecedents of mechanisms and firm product innovativeness. By studying 235 firms, we found that (1) strategic resonance and accreting nodes are positively related to firm product innovativeness, (2) bonding, nonlinear, and attractor behaviors of management positively influence the mechanism variables, and (3) market and technology turbulence impact the adaptive management practices. We also found that mechanisms of CAS partially mediate the relationship between adaptive management practices and firm product innovativeness.     

CEO championing of pricing,pricing capabilities and firm performance in industrial firms

CEOs uniquely shape activities within the firm. Among potential activities, pricing is unique: pricing has a direct and substantial effect on firm performance. In what may be the first quantitative study in industrial marketing polling exclusively CEOs globally we examine to which degree CEO championing of pricing influences pricing capabilities and firm performance. Our sample consists of 358 CEOs of industrial firms. Our results suggest that the level of championing of pricing by the CEO positively influences decision-making rationality, pricing capabilities, and collective mindfulness thereby leading to a significantly higher firm performance. This study also documents a relationship between decision making rationality and pricing capabilities (but not firm performance) thus suggesting that intuition in pricing decisions could drive firm performance.     

The Role of Trustworthiness in Maintaining Employee Commitment During Restructuring in China

The influence of competency- and affect-based attributions of managerial trustworthiness on employee commitment during restructuring is investigated within a large telecommunications firm in greater China. It was found that competency-based attributions are positively related to employees' value commitment, whereas affect-based attributions are positively related to employees' continuance commitment (i.e., the propensity to maintain employment). Attributions of trustworthiness were also found to interact with perceptions of uncertainty associated with restructuring. Although no interaction effects were found for continuance commitment, three moderating effects involving trustworthiness attributions were observed between uncertainty and value commitment. Generally speaking, these moderating influences of trustworthiness tended to attenuate the influences of uncertainties on commitment. Overall, the relationships between uncertainties associated with restructuring and organizational commitment were negative with the exception of uncertainty about the restructuring effort itself, which was positively related to continuance commitment.     

Product Market Competition and Corporate Real Estate Investment under Demand Uncertainty

This article theoretically and empirically analyzes the interactions among corporate real estate investment, product market competition and firm risk. In our model, firms own strategic real estate or lease generic real estate. Our model predicts that strategic real estate ownership is positively correlated with industry concentration and negatively related to demand uncertainty. Also, firm risk is higher for firms with more strategic real estate operating in a more concentrated market. This prediction arises because smaller investments induce greater market competition, which effectively eliminates the right tail of the firm's profit distribution. We provide strong empirical support for our predictions. In particular, firm value is more volatile in less competitive markets for a given level of demand uncertainty.     

Conflict-coordination learning in marketing channel relationships: The distributor view

Although a fairly large body of literature exists on channel conflict management, little research has been done from an interorganizational conflict-learning perspective. This study explores how channel members can use conflict-coordination learning (CCL), as a conflict resolution mechanism, which leads to improved capabilities, which in turn can enhance co-created value in marketing channel relationships from a distributor point of view. Drawing on both a resource-based view of the firm, an absorptive capacity perspective, and an interorganizational learning approach, we propose that conflict values (positive conflict attitudes and avoidance of conflict behaviors) can be viewed as firm resources that directly influence CCL, which in turn can enhance co-created value (joint marketing strategy quality and joint profit performance). To explore these issues, we developed and tested our hypotheses with data from 101 distributors within the food industry in Taiwan. As predicted, we find that positive conflict attitudes are positively related to CCL, and that avoidance of conflict behaviors is negatively related to CCL. Furthermore, the results indicate that joint marketing strategy quality mediates the relationship between CCL and joint profit performance. Specifically, under high positive conflict attitudes, CCL strongly appears related to joint marketing strategy quality.     

The antecedents and outcome of control in IJVs: A control gap framework

Plenty of researchers have explored the relationship between parent firm control and international joint venture (IJV) performance. However, the conclusions of these researchers are inconsistent. Some studies suggest that total control from foreign parent firms produces better outcomes, while other studies consider that shared control or split control structures result in higher IJV performance. All of these studies argue that a parent firm’s control over an IJV would influence the performance of the IJV. This paper contributes to these debates by exploring the control gap, that is, the difference between desired control and exercised control of a parent firm. Evidence from 80 IJVs in Taiwan indicates that control gaps in the areas of manufacturing, financial, and human resource management have negative impacts on IJV performance. Empirical results also show that the level of a parent firm’s resource contribution to an IJV positively influences the parent firm’s desired control. The extent of a parent firm’s learning intent in marketing and R&D management is also positively linked with the degree of control desired by the parent firm. These findings provide important implications for the study of control structure in IJV management.     

Partners' centrality diversity and firm innovation performance: Evidence from China

While most studies of firm innovation with a social network perspective have focused on the focal firm's network structure, we explore the value of second-order social capital by examining partners' network structure to better understand firm innovation. Specifically, we examine how centrality diversity of the focal firm's network partners affects its innovation performance. A longitudinal study of Chinese publicly listed manufacturing firms from 2000 to 2016 indicates that partners' centrality diversity in a firm's board interlock network is positively related to that firm's innovation performance. We also find that the focal firm's knowledge breadth weakens the effect of partners' centrality diversity on innovation performance for the focal firm, while the proportion of non-independent ties between the focal firm and its network partners strengthens the effect.     

规模、研发支出与企业价值

理论分析表明,规模、研发支出与企业价值相关;规模会影响研发支出与企业价值的关系。基于中国上市公司样本的实证研究发现,研发支出与企业价值显著正相关,规模与企业价值之间存在先下降后上升然后再下降的水平的S形关系。研发支出的作用会受到企业规模的影响。研发支出与企业价值之间显著的正相关关系仅存在于小企业中,在大企业里,研发支出与企业价值负相关,但统计上不显著。稳健性检验表明,这些结论不受样本选择的影响。     

Rent‐Sharing under Different Bargaining Regimes: Evidence from Linked Employer–Employee Data

Using Belgian linked employer–employee data, we examine how collective bargaining arrangements affect the relationship between firms' profitability and individual wages via rent‐sharing. In industries where agreements are usually renegotiated at firm‐level (‘decentralized industries’) wages and firm‐level profits are positively correlated regardless of the type of collective wage agreement by which the workers are covered (industry or firm). On the other hand, where firm‐level wage renegotiation is less common (‘centralized industries’), wages are only significantly related to firms' profitability for workers covered by a firm‐level collective agreement. Thus, industry‐wide contracts that are not complemented by a firm‐level collective agreement suppress the impact of firm profits on workers' wages in centralized industries.     

When do they care to share? How manufacturers make contracted service partners share knowledge

Manufacturing firms that outsource customer-facing services, risk losing touch with their customers and thereby forfeit valuable market and customer-related knowledge. To maintain informed and competitive, the manufacturer's customer-facing service partners should engage in knowledge sharing and transfer their market knowledge and insight to the firm. Building on knowledge transfer and organizational learning theory, this study investigates how contractual and non-contractual (i.e., relationship) characteristics influence knowledge sharing behavior by service partners. The authors specifically distinguish between sharing exploitative knowledge (insights that help the manufacturing firm to refine current skills and procedures) and exploratory knowledge (insights that help the manufacturing firm to challenge prior approaches to interfacing with the market). Based on survey data from 70 relationship managers from a large multinational firm and partial least squares path modeling, results show that contractual incentives had a negative effect on exploratory knowledge sharing, but not on exploitative knowledge sharing. The level of contract specification and relationship quality positively related to both types of knowledge sharing. Relationship manager experience related positively to exploratory knowledge sharing, but not to exploitative knowledge sharing. These findings provide valuable insights on how (non-)contractual mechanisms can be used to manage knowledge sharing in outsourced services.