应对气候变暖：投融资之路

作为应对气候变化的减缓和适应行动,发展低碳经济需要大量的资金投入。截至2009年12月,主要发达国家已宣布的低碳经济发展计划的资金规模已经超过5000亿美元,但目前全世界每年节能减排融资缺口仍高达1700亿～3000亿美元     

Accelerated share repurchases

Accelerated share repurchases (ASRs) are credible commitments by firms to repurchase shares immediately. Including an ASR in a repurchase program reduces the flexibility that firms have to alter an announced program in response to subsequent changes in the price and liquidity of its shares, unexpected shocks to cash flow and/or investment, etc. Thus, we investigate whether firms' decisions to include ASRs in their repurchase programs are associated with factors expected to influence the costs of lost flexibility and the benefits of enhanced credibility and immediacy. We find robust evidence consistent with the costs of lost flexibility and the benefits of credibility and immediacy being important determinants of ASR adoption. Additionally, we find that ASR announcements are associated with positive average abnormal stock returns.     

Accelerated share repurchases: value creation or extraction

Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting - In this paper, we examine firms’ motivation to conduct an Accelerated Share Repurchase (ASR) comparing to an OMR. ASRs have become the second...     

Public policies against global warming: a supply side approach

The countries that have ratified the Kyoto Protocol have pledged to limit global warming by reducing the demand for fossil fuels. But what about supply? If suppliers do not react, demand reductions by a subset of countries are ineffective. They simply depress the world price of carbon and induce the environmental sinners to consume what the Kyoto countries have economized on. Even worse, if suppliers feel threatened by a gradual greening of economic policies in the Kyoto countries that would damage their future prices; they will extract their stocks more rapidly, thus accelerating global warming. The paper discusses the remaining policy options against global warming from an intertemporal supply-side perspective.     

亚信:十年再回首

经历多元化＂跨业并购＂的尝试后,收缩战线、回归强势业务领域的亚信,在其上市10年发展历程中积累了宝贵的商业经验。这是一个曾备受追捧的公司,其17年的创业发展历程书写了中国高科技企业崛起的传奇,开创了本土企业赴海外上市的资本通道;这也是一个曾饱受非议的公司,上市10年来股价从最高点的近百美元跌破到冰点时的4美元……这就是亚信,为中国互联网建设做了很多工程,     

Accelerated Vesting in Takeovers: The Impact on Shareholder Wealth

We study the impact of accelerated vesting of equity awards on takeovers, whereby the restricted stock and/or stock options of the target chief executive officer (CEO) immediately vest and become unrestricted upon the close of the acquisition. We find that takeover premiums are significantly larger when the target CEO receives the benefit of accelerated vesting as compared to target firms with CEO's that continue to vest in their awards after closing the deal. Our evidence suggests that these cash windfalls triggered by accelerated vesting are beneficial to shareholders in completed deals. Accelerated vesting appears to be an efficient form of ex ante managerial contracting.     

Competitive advantage on a warming planet

Whether you're in a traditional smokestack industry or a "clean" business like investment banking, your company will increasingly feel the effects of climate change. Even people skeptical about global warming's dangers are recognizing that, simply because so many others are concerned, the phenomenon has wide-ranging implications. Investors already are discounting share prices of companies poorly positioned to compete in a warming world. Many businesses face higher raw material and energy costs as more and more governments enact policies placing a cost on emissions. Consumers are taking into account a company's environmental record when making purchasing decisions. There's also a burgeoning market in greenhouse gas emission allowances (the carbon market), with annual trading in these assets valued at tens of billions of dollars. Companies that manage and mitigate their exposure to the risks associated with climate change while seeking new opportunities for profit will generate a competitive advantage over rivals in a carbon-constrained future. This article offers a systematic approach to mapping and responding to climate change risks. According to Jonathan Lash and Fred Wellington of the World Resources Institute, an environmental think tank, the risks can be divided into six categories: regulatory (policies such as new emissions standards), products and technology (the development and marketing of climate-friendly products and services), litigation (lawsuits alleging environmental harm), reputational (how a company's environmental policies affect its brand), supply chain (potentially higher raw material and energy costs), and physical (such as an increase in the incidence of hurricanes). The authors propose a four-step process for responding to climate change risk: Quantify your company's carbon footprint; identify the risks and opportunities you face; adapt your business in response; and do it better than your competitors.     

金融危机策马东亚区域储备库提速

在全球金融危机蔓延,全球经济陷入衰退之时,2009年5月3日,第十二届"东盟+中日韩"财长会议达成共识,在2009年年底前建立总规模达1200亿美元的区域储备库,并就各自出资额、贷款额、独立监督机构等关键要素作出具体安排.     

税制改革:须尽快提速

在2003年全国政协十届一次会议经济和农业联组会议上,全国政协委员王超斌一份关于减免农民税的提案引起了前来参会的温家宝总理的高度重视。在2004年全国人大十届二次会议政府工作报告中正式提出,将用3至5年时间减免农业税。王超斌没有想到,这一建议会这么快被采纳。今年,温总理在报告中又提出:明年免征农业税。今年他又提出了《建议取消货物在生产、批发和零售各环节的定额征税,统一增值税课征制度的提案问题》,吴敬琏等16位委员联名在该提案上签名。由于过去制定的税收制度已经远远不能适应当前经济发展的需要,税制中暴露出来的种种问题,成为本次会议委员们呼吁最多的一个方面,今年温总理又提出:明年免征农业税     

Decision Usefulness and Accelerated Filing Deadlines

In this study we examine the impact of the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) decision to accelerate the filing of 10‐Ks. The SEC argued that the accelerated deadline would increase the relevance of the disclosures, making the reports more useful. Opponents countered that the accelerated deadline would decrease the representational faithfulness of the disclosures, especially for smaller firms. We document a significant decrease in the 10‐K market reaction for smaller firms as they accelerate from 90 to 75 days. For larger firms we find no significant change in the market reaction from 90 to 75 days. However, as these larger firms accelerate their 10‐K deadline to 60 days, we find a significant increase in the market reaction. We also examine changes in reporting quality, shifts in information content, and changes in 10‐K filing order and clustering and find results that are consistent with accelerated filing having significant impacts on representational faithfulness and relevance.     

积极推进中国的信用评级制度

本文介绍了国际上一些国家信用评级制度模式的做法，分析了信用评级与金融监管的关系，提出应在借鉴国际经验、结合国情的基础上，尽快制定和完善有关法律法规，明确规定我国信用评级制度的法律地位、市场规则，发挥其对金融监管的作用。     

The Rise of Accelerated Seasoned Equity Underwritings

Seasoned equity offerings (SEOs) executed through accelerated underwritings have recently seen significant increases in global market share, and now account for a majority of the proceeds from both U.S. and European SEOs. Based on their study of over 30,000 global SEOs during the period 1991‐2004, the authors conclude that accelerated offerings occur more rapidly (as their name suggests), raise more capital, and require fewer underwriters than conventional fully marketed SEOs. Accelerated transactions also typically involve larger, better‐known companies that tend to be selling substantial amounts of secondary as well as primary secondary shares (whereas traditional SEOs consist almost entirely of primary shares). Besides speed of execution, the growing popularity of accelerated deals is also attributed to lower spreads, the reduced price risk for issuers resulting from the brief underwriting period, and “market‐impact” costs that are no larger than those that accompany traditional SEOs. Indeed, according to the authors' estimates, accelerated deals reduce the total issuance costs of U.S. issuers—in the form of lower spreads, market‐impact costs, and underpricing—by 250 basis points, on average, while the cost reduction for European sellers is said to be close to 400 basis points. The authors also present an analysis of SEO investment banking syndicates that illustrates that accelerated deals yield much smaller, more capital‐intensive, and presumably riskier underwriting syndicates that generate comparable revenues over much shorter transactions periods. In so doing, they enable larger, more reputable banks to “buy” market share and league table rankings. The authors' findings underscore three major trends that are shaping global investment banking. First, the fact that accelerated deals are marketed almost exclusively to institutional investors, and that these underwriting methods are gaining market share, suggests the declining importance of retail investors in equity markets everywhere. Second, the rise of accelerated deals both promotes and reflects increasing concentration in the investment banking industry, since only the largest banks have the capital base and risk tolerance required to buy large share blocks outright and assume all or most of the price risk of later resale. Finally, the increasing use of accelerated underwritings for SEOs provides another case of the “commoditization” of financial transactions characterized by relatively low asymmetric information. Since ATs can be employed for shares of only large and well‐known companies, these offerings are executed very quickly and cheaply—in much the same way plain vanilla corporate bonds are sold—and with minimal need for the placement and marketing services that investment banks use for IPOs and other non‐transparent security offerings.     

Stop holding yourself back

After working with hundreds of leaders in a wide variety of organizations and in countries all over the globe, the authors found one very clear pattern: When it comes to meeting their leadership potential, many people unintentionally get in their own way. Five barriers in particular tend to keep promising managers from becoming exceptional leaders: People overemphasize personal goals, protect their public image, turn their competitors into two-dimensional enemies, go it alone instead of soliciting support and advice, and wait for permission to lead. Troy, a customer service manager, endangered his job and his company's reputation by focusing on protecting his position, not helping his team; when a trusted friend advised him to change his behavior, the results were striking. Anita's insistence on sticking to the tough personal she'd created for herself caused her to ignore the more intuitive part of the leadership equation, with disastrous results--until she let go of the need to appear invulnerable and reached out to another manager. Jon, a personal trainer who had virtually no experience with either youth development programs or urban life, opened a highly successful gym for inner-city kids at risk; he refused to be daunted by his lack of expertise and decided to simply "go for it." As these and other examples from the authors' research demonstrate, being a leader means making an active decision to lead. Only then will the workforce--and society--benefit from the enormous amount of talent currently sitting on the bench.     

Firing back: how great leaders rebound after career disasters

Among the tests of a leader, few are more challenging-and more painful-than recovering from a career catastrophe. Most fallen leaders, in fact, don't recover. Still, two decades of consulting experience, scholarly research, and their own personal experiences have convinced the authors that leaders can triumph over tragedy--if they do so deliberately. Great business leaders have much in common with the great heroes of universal myth, and they can learn to overcome profound setbacks by thinking in heroic terms. First, they must decide whether or not to fight back. Either way, they must recruit others into their battle. They must then take steps to recover their heroic status, in the process proving, both to others and to themselves, that they have the mettle necessary to recover their heroic mission. Bernie Marcus exemplifies this process. Devastated after Sandy Sigoloff ired him from Handy Dan, Marcus decided to forgo the distraction of litigation and instead make the marketplace his batttleground. Drawing from his network of carefully nurtured relationships with both close and more distant acquaintances, Marcus was able to get funding for a new venture. He proved that he had the mettle, and recovered his heroic status, by building Home Depot, whose entrepreneurial spirit embodied his heroic mission. As Bank One's Jamie Dimon, J.Crew's Mickey Drexler, and even Jimmy Carter, Martha Stewart, and Michael Milken have shown, stunning comebacks are possible in all industries and walks of life. Whatever the cause of your predicament, it makes sense to get your story out. The alternative is likely to be long-lasting unemployment. If the facts of your dismissal cannot be made public because they are damning, then show authentic remorse.The public is often enormously forgiving when it sees genuine contrition and atonement.     

Guidelines for managing low back pain: a policy checklist

Back injuries devour one-third of health care benefits and workers' compensation, yet corporate strategies vary widely in their approach to back pain prevention, treatment and rehabilitation. These recommendations provide a benchmark for evaluation policies on low back pain. They emphasize a sports medicine approach, focused on returning workers to activity as soon as possible.     

采用加速折旧法就一定会减少纳税支出吗?

按照我国目前财务制度规定,企业固定资产折旧方法一般采用平均年限法,但对于在国民经济中具有重要地位和技术进步快的电子生产企业、船舶工业企业、生产"母机"的机械企业、飞机制造企业、汽车制造企业、化工生产企业和医药生产企业以及其他经财政部批准的特殊行业的企业,其机械设备可以采用双倍余额递减法或者年数总和法计算折旧,即可采用加速折旧法.一些企业认为,只要采用加速折旧就一定会起到节税效果,即要么减少了实际纳税支出要么推迟了企业缴纳所得税的时间,即便是推迟了缴纳所得税的时间,从资金的时同价值角度来讲也是降低了税负.理由是:加速折旧使企业前些年度的折旧增大,抵减了税前利润,从而减少了当期所得税.乍一看,确实有道理.     

Putting leadership back into strategy

In recent decades an infusion of economics has lent the study of strategy much needed theory and empirical evidence. Strategy consultants, armed with frameworks and techniques, have stepped forward to help managers analyze their industries and position their companies for strategic advantage. Strategy has come to be seen as an analytical problem to be solved. But, says Montgomery, the Timken Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, the benefits of this rigorous approach have attendant costs: Strategy has become a competitive game plan, separate from the company's larger sense of purpose. The CEO's unique role as arbiter and steward of strategy has been eclipsed. And an overemphasis on sustainable competitive advantage has obscured the importance of making strategy a dynamic tool for guiding the company's development over time. For any company, intelligent guidance requires a clear sense of purpose, of what makes the organization truly distinctive. Purpose, Montgomery says, serves as both a constraint on activity and a guide to behavior. Creativity and insight are key to forging a compelling organizational purpose; analysis alone will never suffice. As the CEO--properly a company's chief strategist--translates purpose into practice, he or she must remain open to the possibility that the purpose itself may need to change. Lou Gerstner did this in the 1990s, when he decided that IBM would evolve to focus on applying technology rather than on inventing it. So did Steve Jobs, when he rescued Apple from a poorly performing strategy and expanded the company into attractive new businesses. Watching over strategy day in and day out is the CEO's greatest opportunity to shape the firm as well as outwit the competition.