A Temporal Approach to Retrenchment and Successful Turnaround in Declining Firms

This study extends current understanding of the retrenchment–turnaround relationship in declining firms by introducing a temporal approach and arguing that the effectiveness of retrenchment as a strategy is contingent on its adoption early in turnaround attempts. Drawing from the two‐stage turnaround model and insights from the literature on downward spirals in organizations, we develop and test a theoretical model that explains how temporal considerations in retrenchment influence the likelihood of successful turnaround. Using a matched pair sample of 96 US firms, we find that declining firms that implement retrenchment actions early have a higher likelihood of successful turnaround. The findings also indicate that while two specific retrenchment actions, early divestments and early geographic market exits, significantly contribute to the likelihood of successful turnaround, early layoffs do not. Overall, the findings shed some light on the importance of timing strategic actions in organizational turnarounds. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Firm Turnarounds: an Integrative Two-Stage Model*

This paper presents a model proposing that turnaround firms exhibit two classes of response to decline: (a) decline-stemming strategies that reverse the dysfunctional consequences of decline, and (b) recovery strategies that position the firm to better compete in its industry. We further propose that effective top management actions supporting both of these strategies are vital to recovering from decline. Our model of the turnaround process questions some existing assumptions about turnarounds and extends theory in several key areas. First, we argue that success in initially stemming decline requires managers to go beyond retrenchment or focusing on financial issues to include effective management of a firm's external stakeholders and internal climate and decision processes. Second, we outline important contingencies impacting each class or stage of response to decline and discuss the interaction between stages. Finally, we demonstrate how our model provides explanations for several unresolved issues regarding turnarounds and has implications for management practice.     

Success and failure in turnaround attempts. An analysis of SMEs within the Finnish Restructuring of Enterprises Act

This study focuses on the success and failure of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) attempting turnaround within Finland's Restructuring of Enterprises Act. In doing so, it aims to shed light on (1) how successful and unsuccessful SME turnarounds differ and (2) the effectiveness of the Finnish regime in promoting SME recovery. A preliminary review of the turnaround literature revealed 23 decline and recovery variables. Data on these variables were collected via a questionnaire sent to the administrators of failing SMEs that entered restructuring. Data from the sample of 228 returns were subjected to factor and logit analysis. The factor analysis finds four decline categories: poor management, high debt in adverse macroeconomy, an adverse microeconomic environment and one-off causes of decline. It also finds three recovery action categories: management change and cash generation, market reorientation and cost-cutting and retrenchment. The logit analysis finds that one-off causes of decline, management change and cash generation and cost-cutting and retrenchment are more important in successful turnarounds and that poor management and an adverse microeconomic environment are more important in unsuccessful turnarounds. The study also finds that the Finnish Restructuring of Enterprises Act has resulted in good rates of business survival. Fifty-four per cent of SMEs in our sample turnaround and survive.     

Stakeholder Influences in Organizational Survival*

abstract Although much has been written on declines and turnarounds, virtually no research has examined stakeholders' influence in an existence threatening crisis of an organization. This paper provides a theory and a historical case study that show how the most influential stakeholders can be identified and managed during an organizational survival. The proposed model demonstrates how stakeholders' influence in organizational survival consists of both direct resource dependence‐ and structure‐based forms of power. The case analysis then describes an examination of actual stakeholder influences and changes in them during the decline and turnaround process. Finally, based on the findings of the case analysis and the influence identification, propositions are developed. They relate specific types of behaviours of influential stakeholders to the probability of organizational survival, showing how stakeholder management can be operationalized in an organizational turnaround.     

Corporate Turnarounds: The Duality of Retrenchment and Recovery

Corporate turnaround research has described retrenchment and recovery as contradictory forces that should be addressed separately. While a few scholars have argued that retrenchment and recovery are interrelated and may have to be integrated, others have contended that such arguments are flawed since they downplay the contradictions between the two activities. In this paper, we clarify the nature of the retrenchment–recovery interrelations, as well as their importance for turnaround performance. Drawing on the paradox literature, we argue that retrenchment and recovery form a duality: they are both contradictory and complementary. Integrating the two activities allows turnaround firms to create benefits that exceed the costs of their integration, which affects turnaround performance positively. We test our arguments through an empirical study of 107 Central European turnaround initiatives and find evidence for the assumed duality between retrenchment and recovery. Our main contribution is integrating the hitherto disparate theory perspectives of corporate turnaround into an overarching framework.     

Corporate Governance and the Environment: What Type of Governance Creates Greener Companies?

We build on a stakeholder–agency theoretical perspective to explore the impact of particular corporate governance mechanisms on firm environmental performance. Our empirical evidence shows that several important corporate governance mechanisms such as the board of directors, managerial incentives, the market for corporate control, and the legal and regulatory system determine firms' environmental performance levels. These results suggest that these different governance mechanisms resolve, to some extent, the existing divergence of interests between stakeholders and managers with respect to environmental activities.     

Environmental Change, Human Resources and Organizational Turnaround

Research on turnaround has largely focused on the impact of retrenchment and repositioning, and has paid less attention to the impact of changes in the task environment and human resources on recovery from decline. Moreover, all of the empirical research on turnaround has been conducted on private organizations. We develop a new model that is derived from theories of environmental and human resource effects on organizational performance. We apply this model to failing school districts in Texas, and find that turnaround is influenced by changes in the munificence and complexity of task environments, and the appointment of a new chief executive and front-line staff.     

论基于利益相关者债权人财务

公司财务的价值导向逐渐由股东利益向相关者利益演进,与此伴随的是利益相关者财务的出现。本文基于利益相关者财务的前提讨论债权人财务,认为我国的债权人有能力和动力参与公司财务治理,并对债权人财务的理论基础,特征及作用等进行了探讨。     

Cooperative governance under increasing member diversity: Towards a new theoretical framework

In advancing the notion of stakeholder capitalism, the great reset of management and organization theory must address governance implications of stakeholder heterogeneity. The paper contributes to this task by focusing on the governance of agricultural cooperatives whose members often have heterogeneous preferences. The key novel idea is to conceptualize cooperative governance in the light of the proposed distinction between the core and peripheral activities of cooperatives. While core activities are based on members’ truly common interests, peripheral activities include all else. This approach allows tracing governance challenges of agricultural cooperatives back to the inflation of peripheral activities. Based on this approach, cooperative managers and members are advised to minimize these activities and to draw clear boundaries between core and periphery.     

Governance of the Entrepreneurial Threshold Firm: A Knowledge-based Perspective

ABSTRACT By building on a knowledge‐based view of the firm, this paper addresses a relatively unexplored area of roles and dynamics of corporate governance in younger, threshold firms that are undergoing a transition from the emergence to the professional management stage. Our analysis is focused on the process of capability development, exploring the effect of the asymmetry in knowledge that often exists between directors and senior managers on the governance of threshold firms. We examine the key sources of this asymmetry, explore ways directors and senior executives learn, and then discuss the implications of this learning on the evolution of governance systems in the threshold firm.     

Strategic stakeholder management,environmental corporate social responsibility engagement,and financial performance of stigmatized firms derived from Chinese special environmental policy

We draw upon the stigma literature and strategic stakeholder management model to develop a framework capable of explaining the link between environmental corporate social responsibility (ECSR) engagement and financial performance of stigmatized firms, taking stakeholder‐oriented governance and density of local stigmatized firms into consideration. Using a uniquely compiled dataset of Chinese firms specifically monitored by the Ministry of Environmental Protection of China, we conducted propensity score matching analysis to estimate the impact of stigma on corporate financial performance and corporate environmental responsibility. The result shows that the financial performance of stigmatized firms is negatively affected by the stigma label, spurring them to engage in more ECSR than their peers to improve their legitimacy. Though ECSR engagement of stigmatized firms is found to be negatively associated with their financial performance in current study. Our results also confirm that (a) the financial performance of stigmatized firms is positively affected by two proxies for corporate stakeholder‐oriented governance (i.e., institutional ownership and corporate transparency) and negatively affected by the density of local stigmatized firms; (b) corporate stakeholder‐oriented governance compensates for the negative effect of ECSR engagement; (c) high intensity of local stigmatized firms provides focal firms with an opportunity to improve their financial performance through ECSR engagement; and (d) the positive effects of corporate stakeholder‐oriented governance are diminished by the density of local stigmatized firms.     

For Better or worse: Organizational turnaround in New York City schools

The performance of public organizations has become a more salient issue as the popularity of accountability policies has grown. Though organizations are often defined as underperforming, little is known about the effectiveness of various strategies commonly recommended for agency turnaround. This study provides a large-N test of three common categories of turnaround mechanisms – retrenchment, repositioning, and reorganization – in nearly 300 failing New York City schools between 2008 and 2011. Models show that none of the three turnaround strategies appear to be significantly associated with improvements in core organizational performance from an administrative perspective, although repositioning appears to improve client satisfaction.     

Asset Productivity Turnaround: the Growth/Efficiency Challenge

Growth and productivity have been linked together as the path to increasing profitability. However, companies that embark on aggressive growth strategies often find their efficiency severely compromised. This research examined companies whose asset productivity declined severely during periods of aggressive growth. Contrary to conventional turnaround wisdom, asset pruning and debt reduction did not accompany asset productivity turnarounds; however, successful turnaround companies did decrease their long-term debt ratios as they continued to expand. Companies that failed to turn around their asset productivity declines suffered subsequent declines in sales and income growth. Although the firms in this study did not publicly acknowledge the presence of decline, takeover attempts were more likely to occur during or immediately after the period of asset productivity decline.     

Corporate governance beyond the shareholder–stakeholder dichotomy: Lessons from Japanese corporations' environmental performance

Although corporate environmental performance (CEP) is determined by corporate governance (CG) typified by board and ownership structures, in‐depth research on stakeholder‐oriented CG is sparse. This study seeks to fill this void and promote an alternative vision of good governance. Japanese corporations have often been criticized for their stakeholder‐oriented practices such as less independent boards and the dominance of stable domestic shareholders. However, these practices are not necessarily problematic if effective monitoring mechanisms are in place. Using a database of Japanese listed corporations over 2012–2015, this study shows that both board size and composition enhance CEP, confirming the advisory function of boards. Contrastingly, foreign blockholders, who are expected to play a monitoring role, significantly constrain CEP. Japanese corporations are evolving toward a hybrid CG that aims to narrow the shareholder–stakeholder divide, and the findings will offer useful lessons for the modification of shareholder‐oriented CG.     

Institutional Constraints,Stakeholder Pressure and Corporate Environmental Reporting Policies

Within the theoretical framework of socio‐political economics, and more specifically of stakeholder theory, this work examines whether companies operating under different institutional constraints and stakeholder pressure tend to emphasize different models of corporate environmental reporting. Furthermore, the paper tests whether different corporate environmental reporting policies are driven by the countries' corporate governance systems. A sample of 3931 international companies was examined through a logistic biplot and conditional mean linear regression models. The main results reveal that companies follow two distinct environmental reporting approaches, which depend on specific stakeholders and institutional requirements. The first model, which is followed by firms within codified law countries, mostly focuses on water and emissions. The second approach, mainly followed by companies operating in common law countries, emphasizes materials and energy issues. This finding reveals that companies gradually modify their environmental strategies to make themselves more compatible with the characteristics of the social and institutional environment, which will result in several corporate benefits. The paper provides several outstanding implications for companies' strategic managers, national institutions and firms' stakeholders, especially for investors and customers. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

The Impact of the Asian Financial Crisis on Conservatism and Timeliness of Earnings: Evidence from Hong Kong,Malaysia, Singapore,and Thailand

This paper examines conservatism and timeliness of earnings in the period surrounding the 1997 Asian financial crisis in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. Prior research suggests that managers tended to be more aggressive in reporting good news and delayed recognition of bad news during the financial crisis (less conservative and less timely in financial reporting). After the crisis, these four countries implemented corporate governance measures to stabilize their financial systems and improve regulation and supervision (that should improve conservatism and timeliness). We examine and find that conservatism and timeliness of earnings during the crisis period are low, but improved in the post‐crisis period. More importantly, conservatism and timeliness in the post‐crisis period is even greater than in the pre‐crisis period. We measure conservatism using Basu's model and the accumulation of non‐operating accruals suggested by Givoly and Hayn. The findings from both measures are consistent with an increase in conservatism after the crisis period. Overall, the results indicate that corporate governance reforms in these four countries had a positive impact on conservatism and timeliness of earnings.     

论关系契约网络逻辑下的利益相关者共同治理模式

文章首先把利益相关者区分为“初级利益相关者”和“次级利益相关者”,并解释了利益相关者参与公司治理的原因;在此基础上提出“随机索取权”和“随机控制权”的概念,进一步探讨利益相关者关系契约网络化下的公司治理结构的一般模型;最后文章认为,公司的共同治理是利益相关者关于公司所有权结构最优配置的契约集合,它是由内部治理结构、外部治理结构和边缘治理结构有机组合而成。     

University Board Composition: Causes and Consequences

This paper examines the structure of university boards of trustees and the role of trustees in university governance. The analysis focuses on how trustees are selected at private universities, the role of trustees in representing stakeholder interests, and how these choices are related to institutional mission. A unique data set on board composition in 1968 and 2005 provides the opportunity to examine the empirical relationships between university characteristics, board structure, and performance. The results suggest that larger boards are not related to poorer performance and that having more trustees selected by the alumni may lead to better performance. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

CEO retention,firm performance and corporate governance

This paper seeks to determine if CEO turnover is a function of firm performance, and therefore attempts to gauge the extent to which CEO interests are aligned with those of stockholders. The methodology in this paper focuses primarily on estimating the relationship between the probability of CEO exit and indices of firm performance and corporate governance structure. A major finding of the paper is that the accountability of CEOs to stockholders is significantly limited by CEO power, and CEO turnover is influenced more by internal governance structure than by firm profit or sales performance.     

A study of environmental policies and regulations,governance structures,and environmental performance: The role of female directors

This paper seeks to contribute to the existing business strategy and the environment literature by examining the effect of governance structures on environmental performance within a unique context of improving environmental governance, policies, regulations, and management. Specifically, we investigate the extent to which corporate board gender diversity, including the proportion, age, and level of education of female directors, affects environmental performance of Chinese publicly listed corporations. Using one of the largest Chinese data sets to date, consisting of a sample of 383 listed A‐shares from 2011 to 2015 (i.e., observations of 1,674), our findings are threefold. First, we find that the proportion and age of female directors have a positive effect on the overall corporate environmental performance. Second, our findings indicate that the proportion and age of female directors also have a positive effect on the three individual environmental performance components, namely, environmental (a) strategy, (b) implementation, and (c) disclosure. Finally, and by contrast, we do not find any evidence that suggests that the level of education of female directors has any impact on environmental performance, neither the overall environmental performance measure nor its individual components. Our findings have important implication for regulators and policymakers. Our evidence is robust to controlling for alternative measures, other governance and firm‐level control variables, and possible endogeneities. We interpret our findings within a multitheoretical framework that draws insights from agency, legitimacy, neo‐institutional, resource dependence, stakeholder, and tokenism theoretical perspectives.