Resource determinants of strategy and performance: The case of British exporters

This study adopts the RBV of the firm in order to identify critical advantage-generating resources and capabilities with strong positive export strategy and performance implications. The proposed export performance model is tested using a structural equation modelling approach on a sample of 356 British exporters. We examine the individual as well as the concurrent (simultaneous) direct and indirect effects of five resource bundles on export performance. We find that four resources/capabilities: managerial, knowledge, planning, and technology, have a significant positive direct effect on export performance, while relational and physical resources exhibited no unique positive effect. We also find that the firm's export strategy mediates the resource–performance nexus in the case of managerial and knowledge-based resources. The theoretical and methodological grounding of this study contributes to the advancement of export related research by providing better specification of the nature of the effects – direct or indirect – of particular resource factors on export performance.     

Valuation effects of rollout publicly traded partnerships in the oil and gas industry

In trying to explain the often painful process of corporate restructuring, fingers are frequently pointed at inefficient management. This gives short shrift, however, to an important result of breaking up large, integrated corporations and selling them in smaller pieces: it makes the capital market more nearly complete, and there are strong theoretical arguments that this enhances value. We report the results of a natural experiment that occurred in the oil and gas industry, in which eleven integrated corporations formed publicly traded partnerships to hold their domestic production properties, yet (with few exceptions) retained most of the partnership units under corporate ownership. This behavior avoids any significant change in corporate governance, and is inconsistent with the tax motive popularly attributed as the reason for forming these partnerships; yet we find that significant positive abnormal returns accrued to stockholders when the formations were announced. The results we observe, therefore, support the theory that additional value can be realized by expanding the set of opportunities available to the investment community.     

The valuation of initial public offerings*

Abstract. This paper examines the empirical validity of hypothesized relationships between the initial value of unseasoned common shares and information revealed to outside investors. In addition to the direct accounting disclosures contained in the offering prospectus, the entrepreneur is believed to signal the firm's true value through the proportion of ownership retained in the firm and the selection of prestigious underwriting services. The underwriter, in turn, intermediates in the disclosure of information to investors and applies a fee schedule which provides outsiders with further indications of project quality. Résumé. Les auteurs examinent la validité empirique des relations dont ils posent l'hypothèse entre la valeur des actions ordinaires lors d'une émission initiale et l'information livrée aux investisseurs extérieurs. En plus de l'information comptable directe contenue dans le prospectus d'émission, l'entrepreneur s'attend à ce que le pourcentage de la participation qu'il conserve dans l'entreprise et la sélection de services de prise ferme prestigieux soient des indicateurs de la valeur véritable de l'entreprise. Le preneur ferme, à son tour, joue le rôle d'intermédiaire dans la communication d'information aux investisseurs et applique un barème de frais qui véhicule, aux yeux des investisseurs extérieurs, d'autres indications au sujet de la qualité de l'émission.     

Measuring International Harmonization and Standardization

This paper analyses six recent studies dealing with the measurement of international harmonization of financial reporting. Methodological issues and problems relating to the definition and operationalization of terms, sources of data, statistical methods and causation are discussed, and an alternative methodology for measuring harmonization suggested.     

International Capital Structure Equilibrium

This paper develops a theory of capital structure in an international setting with corporate and personal taxes. We generalize the Miller analysis to an international equilibrium characterized by differential international taxation and inflation in otherwise perfect international capital markets. Our analysis highlights the key role that corporate tax arbitrage plays in generating an international capital structure equilibrium, and we set forth a number of mechanisms for tax arbitrage transactions. We close the paper by outlining some implications of our analysis for national differences in capital structure, the International Fisher Effect, and international tax effects on yield differentials.     

Boekbesprekingen - Reviews

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Hysteresis in economic relationships: An overview

I am grateful for helpful comments to G. Heidbrink, J. Möller, H.J. Ramser, W. Scheremet, and W. Smolny (University of Konstanz).