Unlocking value: Equity carve outs as strategic real options

Equity carve outs, the partial listing of a corporate subsidiary, appear to be transitory arrangements, usually dissolved within a few years by either a complete sale or a buy back. Why do firms perform expensive listings just to reverse them thereafter? We interpret carve outs of a production unit as strategic options to attract information from the market over its value as an independent entity. This improves the decision to exercise the option to sell out or to regain control. A listing is costly, as it reduces coordination of production, but generates valuable information from the market over the optimal allocation of ownership. We compute the optimal timing for the final sale or buy back decisions, the value of the strategic options embedded in the carve out and the optimal shares retained. The model explains the temporary nature of carve outs, and suggests an explanation for many empirical findings. In particular, it explains why carve outs are more common in highly uncertain sectors and in more informative markets.     

地方政府债务规模与城市创新创业活跃度——基于激励效应和挤出效应的视角

选取2010—2020年275个地级及以上城市面板数据,实证检验地方政府债务规模对城市创新创业活跃度的影响效果及作用机理。结果显示：地方政府债务规模对城市创新创业活跃度的影响呈倒U形,即随着地方政府债务规模的增长,其对城市创新创业活跃度表现出先促进后抑制的作用;异质性上,基础设施用途类债务所发挥的作用更强,规模较大、产业结构高级化和知识产权保护水平较高的城市倒U形变化更明显;作用机理上,适度的税收水平和基础设施建设分别在地方政府债务与城市创新创业活跃度间产生债税替代效应与担保效应,进而促进激励效应的发挥,而过度的税收水平和基础设施建设会放大二者间的挤出效应。因此,应优化地方政府债务规模与结构、提升债务资金配置效率、统筹协调债务水平与财税政策,进而提高城市创新创业活跃度。     

中国省际环境基本公共服务绩效差异分析

利用\"纵横向\"拉开档次评价法实证分析中国30个省级政府2002~2011年的环境基本公共服务绩效,结果表明省际差异显著。中西部大部分地区绩效整体逐年上升但总得分偏低,东部综合绩效水平明显高于中西部;环境安全性服务和环境信息性服务占综合绩效得分比重明显偏小。为此,应加大对中西部省份环境基本公共服务的财政投入,实施差异化区域性环境基本公共服务战略;同时增加对环境安全性服务和环境信息性服务的投入,提升环境基本公共服务整体水平。     

Ritual legitimation, de-coupling and the budgetary process: managing organizational hypocrisies in a multinational company

The study of participation in the budgetary cycle has formed a prominent part of the research literature concerned with the budgetary process. More recently there has emerged a body of literature concerned with exploring the political and symbolic nature of the budgetary process. The paper reports upon the outcomes of an empirical study of the introduction of `budgetary participation' in a division of a European subsidiary of a large North American car manufacturer. We detail the long process of consultation and negotiation within the subsidiary, and between it and the European Headquarters. The study provides a revealing instance of the roles of formal budget participation as a ritual of control and legitimation without the substantive involvement of middle managers and suggested to us the introduction of de-coupling and organizational hypocrisy alongside the introduction of budget participation. The study pays close attention to the contingent effects of the wider political context of the division and the relationships between the division, its organizational context and organizational environment, and how this context played upon the budgetary process in the division. The outcomes that we analyse at `Delta' reflect the de-coupling strategies and organizational hypocrisies commonly found in public sector organizations. In this wider setting the corporation persists with the ritual of `tight' budget negotiation and target setting and apparent underachievement in performance. Yet we conclude that the complex technological and political context to the formation and siting of Delta continued and may continue to support its existence.$g0