Capital gains lock-in and governance choices

Differences in accrued gains and investors’ tax-sensitivity induce variation in a capital gains lock-in effect across mutual funds even for the same stock at the same time. Exploiting this variation, we show this effect influences funds’ governance decisions: higher capital gains decrease the likelihood a fund exits prior to contentious votes and increase the likelihood a fund votes against management. Consistent with tax motivation, these findings are concentrated among funds with tax-sensitive investors. Further, high aggregate capital gains across funds holding a stock predict a higher likelihood management loses a vote and a lower likelihood a contentious vote is proposed.     

Old flames never die – the role of binding social ties for corporate entrepreneurship in family firms

This paper investigates the role of social ties and family embeddedness for corporate entrepreneurship in family firms. Family firms are mostly characterized by close and often inseparable ties between the dominant family coalition and the firm and offer specific resources within a context of both rational as well as non-rational factors that influence entrepreneurial strategies. We empirically test (n =?181) the relationship between binding social ties and innovation, strategic renewal, and corporate venturing. Our findings indicate a strong significance for networks and close and stable relationships both to inside the firm and the outside in decision making for corporate venturing and innovation. In contrast, the results for strategic renewal show no relevance of strong social ties. We link up with the debate on the role of owners as an important stakeholder group.

     

The economic effects of agricultural policy in West Germany

Zusammenfassung Die ?konomischen Wirkungen der Agrarpolitik in Westdeutschland. - In diesem Aufsatz wird ein Modell des allgemeinen Gleichgewichts benutzt, um die Wirkungen der Agrarprotektion auf die gesamte Volkswirtschaft abzusch?tzen bzw. zu ermitteln, wie sich eine Liberalisierung auswirkt. Dabei werden die nationalen, aber auch die von der EG gew?hrten Subventionen berücksichtigt. Es wird simuliert, da? alle an Auflagen gebundenen Subventionen und der implizite Zoll auf Agrareinfuhren in H?he von 54 vH abgeschafft werden. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, da? nach einer Liberalisierung die gesamte Besch?ftigung um rund 4 vH und das Einkommen um etwa 3 vH zunehmen würden. Die Importe landwirtschaftlicher Erzeugnisse würden ebenso steigen wie die Exporte von Sektoren wie der Elektroindustrie und des Maschinenbaus, bei deren Produkten die Bundesrepublik einen komparativen Vorteil hat. Der Agrarprotektionismus verursacht also viel h?here Kosten als nur die, die sich im ?ffentlichen Haushalt und in den Preissteigerungen für die Verbraucher zeigen.

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Résumé Les effets économiques de la politique agricole en Allemagne de l’Ouest. - Dans cet article les auteurs appliquent un modèle de l’équilibre générale pour évaluer les conséquences de la protection agricole ou d’une libéralisation. Les subventions sur le niveau national et international sont considérées. Les auteurs simulent une élimination de toutes les subventions liées à un but spécifique et du tarif implicite sur les importations agricoles de 54 pourcent. Les résultats démontrent qu’après une libéralisation l’emploi agrégé accro?traient à peu près par 4 pourcent et le revenu par 3 pourcent. Les importations agricoles accroissent aussi bien que les exportations des secteurs - comme par example de la construction des machines électriques et mécaniques - où l’Allemagne de l’Ouest possède un avantage comparatif. La protection agricole implique des co?ts beaucoup plus hauts que ceux qui sont reflétés dans le budget publique et dans les augmentations des prix au consommateur.

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Resumen Los efectos económicos de la política agraria en Alemania Occidental. - En este trabajo se utiliza un modelo aplicado de equilibrio general para investigar las consecuencias de la protección al sector agrario y de una liberalizatión sobre toda la economía. Se toman en cuenta subsidios tanto a nivel nacional cómo a nivel de la Comunidad. Se simula la eliminación de todos los subsidios condicionales y del arancel implícito sobre las importaciones agrarias del 54%. Los resultados muestran que bajo una liberalizatión el empleo agregado incrementaría en un 4 % y el ingreso en un 3 %. Las importaciones de productos agrarios aumentarían, como también las exportaciones de sectores como ingeniería eléctrica y mecánica, en los cuales Alemania goza de ventajas comparativas. Se concluye que la protección al sector agrario genera más costos que aquellos que se reflejan en el presupuesto nacional y en incrementos de los precios al consumidor.

     

Double income taxation as a response to tax competition in the EU

The following article discusses the undesired consequences of tax competition and presents a proposal for tax reform derived from a very general normative basis: the idea of exchange between governments and taxpayers and the principle of equality. The aim is to tie tax competition to jurisdictional competition in general and thereby maintain tax competition as a productive procedure instead of abolishing it by harmonising tax systems. Surprisingly, systematic double taxation of income, as factor income following the source principle and as citizens' income following the residence principle, is one element of the solution. The other is unitary taxation of business income.     

Predicting fraud by investment managers

We test the predictability of investment fraud using a panel of mandatory disclosures filed with the SEC. We find that disclosures related to past regulatory and legal violations, conflicts of interest, and monitoring have significant power to predict fraud. Avoiding the 5% of firms with the highest ex ante predicted fraud risk would allow an investor to avoid 29% of fraud cases and over 40% of the total dollar losses from fraud. We find no evidence that investors receive compensation for fraud risk through superior performance or lower fees. We examine the barriers to implementing fraud prediction models and suggest changes to the SEC's data access policies that could benefit investors.     

One year ahead! Investigating the time lag between patent publication and market launch: insights from a longitudinal study in the automotive industry

Technology‐oriented companies find themselves confronted with the challenge of having to react quickly to technology‐based innovations by competitors. Especially the market launches of innovative products have the ability to change the competitive environment dramatically. This calls for the ability to discern product technologies in due time. Even though several methods of technology monitoring are based on patent information, the important time lag between patent disclosure and market launch is still unclear and volatile for reasons unknown. Therefore, we have analyzed this time lag of a respective product by way of a longitudinal case study in the field of automotive engineering. The results show that in our case, patents form a valuable information source in short‐term product technology monitoring. Hence, analyzing patents in the context of product technologies and reacting to emerging products is a race against time.     

How business methods accompany technological innovations – a case study using semantic patent analysis and a novel informetric measure

Usually, the development of a technology interacts with the development of business methods, which are needed to enter the application fields. For some years now, it is possible to analyse their interaction as, next to technological innovations, business method innovations can be patented. To investigate this interplay, we select the case of radio frequency identification devices (RFID) – a technology that first emerged many years ago, but is still undergoing further development. We analyse approximately 37,000 patents related to RFID technology from the period between 1990 and 2014, differentiating between technological and business method patents, by means of bibliographic and semantic analyses, using one well established and one novel informetric measure. Contrary to our expectations, the results point to technological innovations that are not ensued but constantly accompanied by business methods. Furthermore, we identify two types of players, that is technology and application specialists. There is a clear distinction between these two types, though all companies of both types apply for technological as well as business method patents. As our semantic analysis reveals, RFID were successively introduced in their application fields between 1998 and 2008, starting with industrial applications, and then moving on to service applications. In future, technology managers should develop strategies based on the interaction between technological and business method patents, keeping in mind the early start and sequential development of different application fields.