Board gender diversity and acquisition choices

We investigate the influence of gender diversity on the acquisition choices of bidding firms and find that firms with greater gender diversity are more likely to acquire nonlisted targets, use cash as the method of payment, and purchase firms in similar industries. Results show that these preferences are significantly influenced by female directors' financial expertise, target industry experience, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) experience, academic and professional qualifications, and networks. The percentage of female directors on boards is positively correlated with the market response to the announcement of acquisition choices preferred by female directors. Furthermore, bidders improve efficiency and accumulate long-term value gains through the contributions made by their female directors to these acquisition choices.     

Societal consequences of radioactive releases in March 2011 in Japan and implications for the resilience concept

The nuclear accident in Japan in March 2011 was an extreme event and studies of its consequences can offer new insights into long-term effects on society. This study of societal consequences in November 2012 is a follow-up of a previous study of the most important consequences a year earlier. At twenty months after the accident, the radioactive contamination and ensuing need for decontamination still dominates since reconstruction and return of evacuees cannot begin until an area has been decontaminated. Health concerns remain, although extensive screening is under way, and the results so far indicate that the risks for negative effects are low. The costs to society of these and other consequences of the nuclear accident are huge and will continue to grow. The future consequences related to the radioactive substances released in 2011 will develop as a function of the relatively long half-life of cesium-137 (ca. 30 years) and the perception of the situation guiding human and organisational behaviour. Temporal and spatial scales are noticeable in how the consequences have developed. A systems perspective also appears to be valid. These observations are used to explore the definition of resilience by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. This showed that the definition can apply to an extreme disaster, that it constructs resilience as a graded property and that it encompasses both proactive and reactive resilience. However, the underpinning abilities to resist, absorb, accommodate and recover as well as their internal relations need further exploration and discussion. The discussion here shows that examining resilience in relation to a real event can be fruitful for understanding the concept and its definition.     

The role of corporate governance in the write-off decision

The recent popularity of write-offs allows for examination of the role governance plays in the write-off decision. I find that well governed companies are more likely to announce write-offs. Additionally, better governed firms announce smaller write-offs relative to poorly governed firms. The evidence also indicates that the stocks of well governed firms experience announcement abnormal returns that are over six percent higher than those of poorly governed firms. The results suggest better governed firms take a pro-active approach to reveal bad news early, and thereby mitigate further uncertainty for investors.     

Volatility in Oilseeds and Vegetable Oils Markets: Drivers and Spillovers

Food price volatility has re‐emerged as an important topic of political discussion since the food price crisis of 2007–2008. Different volatility drivers have been identified for different markets in the theoretical and empirical literature. However, there is no comprehensive analysis that considers a large number of potential drivers and investigates their joint effects in a dynamic model of interrelated markets. Our study provides such a volatility analysis for the oilseeds and vegetable oils markets. We use a common GARCH approach and a VAR model to identify volatility drivers and spillover effects. Our results show that exchange rate volatility is very important. However, the hotly debated financialisation of commodity markets is not found to be volatility increasing in our monthly data. Impulse response functions show strong spillover effects. Because many volatility drivers found to be important in other markets have no significant effect in our study, our results suggest that volatility drivers are market specific. This implies that any volatility‐reducing policies need to be designed for the market in question.     

A Secular Decline in Capital Productivity in G7 Countries

Intereconomics - There is a commonly held notion that higher fixed investment allows one to have it all — a higher labour productivity, a higher wage growth and higher or at least sustained...     

A game of thrones—Dynamics of internal CEO succession and outcome

We examine the implications of chief executive officer (CEO) succession methods for firm outcomes and executive incentives. Focusing on internal CEO successions, we find that the largest U.S. firms typically rely on two types of succession methods, namely, heir apparent and horse race successions. Although heir apparent and horse race CEO candidates have similar qualifications, the consequences of these two succession methods differ significantly. We find that horse race successions induce conflict and are detrimental to firm performance but not necessarily to the newly appointed CEOs. Our findings suggest succession method influences firm performance, executive incentives and CEO labour markets.     

Global careers: a social capital paradox

Global careers, typically defined as involving multiple international relocations including various positions and assignments in several countries, have recently received increasing research attention. This interest is driven by a growing corporate need for managers who are able to deal with global integration and co-ordination in large multinational corporations. An important aspect of the competency of a global manager is his or her social capital, i.e. the network relationships he or she possesses. However, while the concept of social capital has been widely used in a number of research fields recently, it has received relatively little attention thus far in the IHRM context. This paper contributes to this research gap, and seeks to answer the empirical research question of how multiple international relocations affect the social capital of a manager. Our qualitative interviews of 20 Finnish MNC managers with global careers identified that such careers represent a ‘social capital paradox’. Global careers are characterized by a broad and diverse network of both internal and external ties. This breadth and diversity relate to (1) the managers' internal contact networks of weak ties (2) their internal support networks of strong ties and (3) their external networks of both strong and weak ties. These typical characteristics represent three major social capital paradoxes in the sense that they carry both significant social–capital-related benefits as well as potential risks.