独立董事背景与公司经营绩效

本文从独立董事背景的角度检验其对公司经营业绩的影响。研究发现,独立董事的教育背景对公司业绩并没有正面的影响,同时发现有政府背景和银行背景的独立董事比例越高,公司经营业绩越好。研究的结果也支持限制个人担任过多独立董事的主张。本文的研究在丰富了公司治理文献的同时,对于正确理解独立董事对公司经营业绩的影响也提供了新的观点,并对我国公司治理的进一步改革提供了重要的经验证据。     

Productivity efficiency and firm size: An empirical analysis of foreign owned companies

There are various arguments about the impact of firm size on productivity growth. On one hand, it is claimed that large firms could be more efficient in production because they could use more specialized inputs, better coordinate their resources, etc. On the other hand, it is emphasized that small firms could be more efficient because they have flexible, non-hierarchical structures, and do not usually suffer from the so-called agency problem. This paper argues that size exerts an indirect effect on firms’ productivity, as it conditions the impact of internal factors on productivity. By using different methodological approaches to assess the impact of different characteristics of foreign owned firms on productivity, this paper analyzes to what extend the heterogeneous pattern of productivity can be accounted for by the levels of those factors.     

Does doing “good” always translate into doing “well”? An eco‐efficiency perspective

Does doing “good” always translate into doing “well”? Debate over the “value” of corporate social responsibility is high on the agenda of corporate finance research. Deeper understanding is required on managers' incentives to pursue and implement corporate social responsibility related strategies, as is more thorough comprehension of the effect of these strategies to firms' performance levels as well as shareholder and wider stakeholder valuations of the firm. This paper provides a new lens by approaching the subject from a different methodological paradigm, grounded in the performance benchmarking methods more commonly applied in operational research. In so doing, we provide novel evidence of the effect of corporate choices on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) strategic investment compliance (i.e., doing good) to firms' eco‐efficiency levels (doing well). In brief, our empirical findings suggest that ESG and firm's eco‐performance are nonlinearly related. Specifically, advanced ESG policies and disclosure levels are associated with a positive affect to firms' eco‐efficiency levels, but only up to a point, after which the effect becomes “neutral,” that is, ESG demonstrates a visible pattern of diminishing marginal returns. Thus, we may humbly conclude that a firm may “do well” by doing good, but it is not clear they should ever expect to “do great” just by “doing good.” The threshold at which this “neutrality” appears varies systematically with the characteristics of the sector in which the firm is operating, as well as dimensions of board diversity. Finally, it is evident that ESG implementation choices can be a source of managerial agency problems.     

Modeling the effect of competition on US manufacturing sectors’ efficiency: an order-m frontier analysis

Journal of Productivity Analysis - The study applies the probabilistic framework of nonparametric frontier estimation to model the effect of competitive conditions on sectors’ production...     

The Cadbury Committee, Corporate Performance, and Top Management Turnover

In 1992, the Cadbury Committee issued the Code of Best Practice which recommends that boards of U.K. corporations include at least three outside directors and that the positions of chairman and CEO be held by different individuals. The underlying presumption was that these recommendations would lead to improved board oversight. We empirically analyze the relationship between CEO turnover and corporate performance. CEO turnover increased following issuance of the Code ; the negative relationship between CEO turnover and performance became stronger following the Code 's issuance; and the increase in sensitivity of turnover to performance was concentrated among firms that adopted the Code .     

Electricity Generation and Economic Efficiency: Panel Data Evidence from World and East Asian Countries

Abstract

This paper investigates the effect of electricity generation on countries’ economic efficiency. By using a sample of 42 World and East Asian countries for the time period 1996–2006 the paper employs Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) window analysis and econometric panel techniques. The results reveal that there is an inverted U-shape relationship between electricity generation and countries’ economic efficiency. Finally, the turning point for the European countries is much smaller compared to the one of East Asian countries indicating that the European countries shift in energy use from electricity to other sources of energy. In addition the electricity generation–economic efficiency relationship depends also on the structure of the economy.     

Financial crisis and hotels’ labour productivity growth: evidence from Spanish islands

The article examines hotels’ labour productivity growth over the period of financial crisis. We decompose hotels’ labour productivity into three components: technological change, technological catch-up (efficiency improvement/convergence) and capital deepening. Specifically, we apply our analysis over a sample of 820 Spanish hotels from Balearic and Canary Islands distinguishing three different stages during the crisis period. The results suggest that average terms hotels’ labour productivity was resistant to the financial crisis.     

Exploring the existence of Kuznets curve in countries' environmental efficiency using DEA window analysis

This paper, using data envelopment (DEA) window analysis and generalized method of moments (GMM) estimators, examines the existence of a Kuznets type relationship between countries' environmental efficiency and national income. Specifically, it measures the environmental efficiency of 17 OECD countries by constructing environmental efficiency ratios for the time period 1980-2002. The analysis with the application of dynamic panel data reveals that there isn't a Kuznets type relationship between environmental efficiency and income. Allowing for dynamic effects we find that the adjustment to the target ratio is instantaneous. We also find that increased economic activity does not always ensure environmental protection and thus the path of growth is important in addition to the growth itself.     

Trade efficiency and economic development: evidence from a cross country comparison

Economic theory suggests that development is enhanced through income growth, which is driven through increased trade. However, the empirical evidence of such a relationship most of the times is proved to be weak. In this study we try to determine the factors influencing this relationship by measuring ‘trade efficiency’. Using the data envelopment analysis (DEA) window method for a sample of 16 OECD countries, we obtained the efficiency scores and the optimal output levels for the inefficient countries for a time period of 5 years under consideration. Results drawn from the broadly used ratio analysis were also compared to the results derived from the DEA model. Our empirical findings show that ‘trade efficient’ countries have clear characteristics like low-exchange rates for exports, low R&D intensity, high-value intra industry trade and positive impact of net trade on their gross domestic product.