How companies tackle health care costs: Part II.

In this continuing examination of responses to the growing costs of health care, based on a survey of more than 200 large companies, the author discusses the results of employers' efforts to trim these expenses. Most companies have chosen to meet the cost-cutting challenge by changing demand--that is, by redesigning their health insurance policies--and by changing the suppliers of health care services. After a critical analysis of these mechanisms, the author concludes that most of these strategies do little more than shift the costs from one payer to the next. To affect the total cost of the system, she maintains the business sector must use its power to bring about changes in the reimbursement of providers and in the underlying structure of the health care system.     

How companies tackle health care costs: Part III.

As corporations look for ways to cut the rising costs of health care, they direct most of their efforts at modifying the demand for services. Some have attempted to effect changes in the health care system as a whole, and a smaller number have instituted programs to attack the problem at its source by improving the health of their employees. This article explores and evaluates existing corporate health promotion activities and concludes that such programs should form the third part of a three-pronged attack on health care costs.     

How companies tackle health care costs: Part I.

From the experience of a cross-section of Fortune "500" companies and top nonindustrials, these authors develop a profile of the newer types of health plans and benefits designed to cut health care costs. After examining the various plans, their funding, and their results, however, the authors conclude that another form of health insurance, more like other kinds of insurance policies that cover only catastrophic events, is the most promising from all points of view. In a second article, Regina Herzlinger will examine corporate efforts to reshape the system of supplying health care.     

Service industry: Consumer or creator of national wealth?

This article focuses on a major recent publication from the UK Department of Employment, Structure and Employment Prospects of the Service Industries, by J.A.S. Robertson, J.M. Briggs and A. Goodchild.¹ The most comprehensive treatment of the UK service sector to date, it offers fresh insights on the structure and performance of the service sector, international comparisons, linkages with other sectors of the economy, and employment forecasts.     

Reward meritocracy or nepotism: The case of independent financial advisors appointed by Chinese listed companies

As independent financial advisors, securities firms are the core intermediaries in major asset reorganization (MAR) of listed companies. Furthermore, they play the dual roles of transaction and authentication. Based on this institutional background, this paper studies how listed companies choose between industry experience (“meritocracy”) and relationships (“nepotism”). Using the MAR of A-share listed companies from 2008 to 2013 as the sample, this paper shows that higher transaction costs (i.e., greater demand for the transaction function of advisors) are related to the higher possibility of advisors with weaker relationships and more industry experience being hired. It also shows that higher suspicion of tunneling (i.e., greater demand for the signal of fairness associated with advisors’ authentication function) is related to the higher possibility of advisors with weaker relationships being hired, but it is not significantly related to whether advisors have more or less industry experience. This paper also shows that reputation has a certain governance effect on the negative consequences of relationship. For the most part, listed companies reward meritocracy but not nepotism when appointing independent financial advisors.     

Dividends and financial health: Evidence from U.S. bank holding companies

Using a large sample of U.S. bank holding companies from 1986 to 2020, we show that there is a positive relationship between banks' dividends lagged by one quarter and their financial health in the current quarter. We also find that this positive relationship is more pronounced for banks with lower capital adequacy and during the 2007–2009 financial crisis, indicating that it is more necessary for banks with these characteristics to use dividends to convey information regarding their financial health. Our additional analyses suggest that total payout is also positively associated with bank financial health, and that the positive relationship between dividends and financial health applies to private banks as well, but that the magnitude is weaker for them than for public banks. Our overall findings primarily complement a risk reduction hypothesis in corporate finance and bank payout policies.     

Relative valuation of U.S. insurance companies

This study examines the accuracy of relative valuation methods in the U.S. insurance industry, using price as a proxy for intrinsic value. The approaches differ in terms of the fundamentals used, the adjustments made to the fundamentals, the use of conditioning variables, and the selection of comparables. Selected findings include the following. First, over the last decade, book value multiples have performed significantly better than earnings multiples in valuing insurance companies. Second, inconsistent with the practice of many analysts, excluding accumulated other comprehensive income from book value worsens rather than improves valuation accuracy. Third, as expected, using income before special items, instead of reported income, improves valuation accuracy, but, surprisingly, excluding realized investment gains and losses does not. An exception to this latter result occurred during the financial crisis, likely due to an increase in “gains trading.” Fourth, conditioning the price-to-book ratio on return on equity significantly improves the valuation accuracy of book value multiples. Finally, while valuations based on analysts’ earnings forecasts outperform those based on reported earnings or book value, the gap between the valuation performance of forecasted EPS and the conditional price-to-book approach was relatively small during the last decade.     

公司社会声望与高管薪酬:公共服务抑或职业声誉

本文基于"隐性—显性"契约激励研究范式,探讨公司社会声望对高管薪酬的影响以及作用机制。本文选取2009—2017年间的非金融A股上市公司为样本,研究发现,拥有较高社会声望的公司,其高管显性薪酬较低。具体而言,公共地位较高的国有企业、具有较高市场声誉的民营上市公司,其高管薪酬平均而言分别比其他上市公司低4.97%和6.30%。进一步地,我们发现公司声望对我国高管显性薪酬契约存在两种作用机制:一方面,公共地位较高的国有企业,可以为高管带来较高的社会声誉和社会认可,满足了"公共服务"类高管的社会声望偏好,从而降低了显性薪酬的支付水平;另一方面,市场声誉较高的民营企业,可以为高管带来较高的职业声誉和未来职业利益,符合"以商为荣"类高管的社会声望偏好,使高管愿意接受较低的显性薪酬。本文的结论为公司声望作为一种有价值的资源,可以对高管显性薪酬形成议价能力提供了重要证据,揭示了公司声望对高管显性契约激励的影响路径;同时,为国有企业高管薪酬契约设计以及激励机制提供了一定启示。     

公司社会声望与高管薪酬:公共服务抑或职业声誉

本文基于“隐性—显性”契约激励研究范式,探讨公司社会声望对高管薪酬的影响以及作用机制。本文选取2009—2017年间的非金融A股上市公司为样本,研究发现,拥有较高社会声望的公司,其高管显性薪酬较低。具体而言,公共地位较高的国有企业、具有较高市场声誉的民营上市公司,其高管薪酬平均而言分别比其他上市公司低4.97%和6.30%。进一步地,我们发现公司声望对我国高管显性薪酬契约存在两种作用机制:一方面,公共地位较高的国有企业,可以为高管带来较高的社会声誉和社会认可,满足了“公共服务”类高管的社会声望偏好,从而降低了显性薪酬的支付水平;另一方面,市场声誉较高的民营企业,可以为高管带来较高的职业声誉和未来职业利益,符合“以商为荣”类高管的社会声望偏好,使高管愿意接受较低的显性薪酬。本文的结论为公司声望作为一种有价值的资源,可以对高管显性薪酬形成议价能力提供了重要证据,揭示了公司声望对高管显性契约激励的影响路径;同时,为国有企业高管薪酬契约设计以及激励机制提供了一定启示。     

企业上市是优中选优

对于企业家朋友来说,如果您的企业目前还没有处于塔尖,您要想上市,首要任务则是加强自主创新,使您的企业早日跃上塔尖     

CTCBB:来自美国公司的解读

OTCBB究竟是什么? OTCBB即场外柜台交易系统(Over the Counter Bulletin Board),又称布告栏市场,是由NASDAQ的管理者全美券商协会(NASD)所管理的一个交易中介系统.OTCBB带有典型的第三层次市场的特征.OTCBB与众多的创业板相比具有真正的创业板特征:零散、小规模、简单的上市程序以及较低的费用.     

OTCBB：来自美国公司的解读

本刊曾经发表若干关于美国OTCBB的章，或是警告OTCBB中有陷阱，或是披露中国企业在OTCBB的遭遇，也有其他媒体干脆说OTCBB根本融不了资。是中国作误读了美国资本市场，给了读“盲人摸象”的结论，还是所言就是一个真实的美国资本市场。在前不久2007中国多层次资本市场发展论坛上美国纽约国际集团总裁本杰明·卫针对OTCBB做了一番演讲，也算是来自美国本土的一种解读[编按]     

Relevance of U.S.-GAAP for Japanese companies

We use differences in U.S.-GAAP and Japanese-GAAP accounting measures to evaluate the value-relevance of U.S.-GAAP reports. We show data provided in U.S.-GAAP financial statements of Japanese firms is value-relevant beyond that contained in domestic-GAAP statements. Our results complement extant research and support the proposition that U.S. reporting methods provide value-relevant data. Understanding the value-relevance of data from Japanese firms is important in its own right because of the major role these firms play in intenational markets. We also provide evidence on significant transnational firms that voluntarily provide U.S.-GAAP statements.     

Standalone CSR reporting by U.S. retail companies

We investigate first-time use of standalone CSR reporting in the U.S. retail industry. We find it is limited to publicly traded companies and that environmental rather than other social disclosures are most prominent. We document that firms focus on discussing CSR initiatives and programs as opposed to providing performance data, suggesting the reports are more about image enhancement than transparent accountability. We explore impacts of the choice to disclose, and our findings suggest that standalone CSR reporting by the retail companies appears to positively influence perceptions of company reputation, and may be leading to increased appeal to socially responsible investors.     

Organigraphs: drawing how companies really work

Walk into any organization and you will get a snapshot of the company in action--people and products moving every which way. But ask for a picture of the company and you will be given the org chart, with its orderly little boxes showing just the names and titles of managers. Now there's a more revealing way to depict the people and operations within an organization--an approach called the organigraph. The organigraph is not a chart. It's a map that offers an overview of the company's functions and the ways that people organize themselves at work. Perhaps most important, an organigraph can help managers see untapped competitive opportunities. Drawing on the organigraphs they created for about a dozen companies, authors Mintzberg and Van der Heyden illustrate just how valuable a tool the organigraph is. For instance, one they created for Electrocomponents, a British distributor of electrical and mechanical items, led managers to a better understanding of the company's real expertise--business-to-business relationships. As a result of that insight, the company wisely decided to expand in Asia and to increase its Internet business. As one manager says, "It allowed the company to see all sorts of new possibilities." With traditional hierarchies vanishing and newfangled--and often quite complex--organizational forms taking their place, people are struggling to understand how their companies work. What parts connect to one another? How should processes and people come together? Whose ideas have to flow where? With their flexibility and realism, organigraphs give managers a new way to answer those questions.     

Biases in multi-year management financial forecasts: Evidence from private venture-backed U.S. companies

This paper studies the properties and determinants of managers’ multi-year financial forecasts. Using one- to five-year-ahead forecasts reported by private venture-backed firms, we ask whether, by how much, and why biases in managers’ forecasts of revenues, expenses and profits depend on the forecasting horizon and the verifiability of assets. We find that profitability forecasts contain a strategic component, in that [1] one-year-ahead revenue (expense) forecasts are slightly and asymmetrically pessimistic (optimistic), while five-year-ahead forecasts are hugely and asymmetrically optimistic (pessimistic); and [2] biases in revenue and expense forecasts are larger, the harder to verify or more intangible-intensive are firms’ assets.     

地理位置服务山寨还是创新

2009年3月Foursquare在美国上线,用了不到半年的时间就吸引了百万级用户,并且以每天上万用户递增。不久,众多COPY者便追随而至。不过,对于地理位置服务的鼻祖Foursquare及其众多追随者来说,这场竞争究竟是一场COPY秀还是创新秀,还不得而知。     

企业生命周期改进了应计模型吗?——基于中国上市公司的实证检验

本文采用多种方法,运用中国上市公司1998年—2005年的数据,实证检验了加入企业生命周期的代理变量是否改进了应计模型。结果表明,企业的应计特征远比现有模型所反映的丰富和复杂,加入企业生命周期的代理变量,显著改进了常用的应计模型。