Antecedents and consequences of corporate governance reform: the case of Germany

The paper examines the antecedents and consequences of the voluntary adoption of corporate governance reform in firms embedded in a relationship‐based governance system with less protection of minority shareholders. In such locations, ownership structure should be a key determinant of governance reform. Firms with dispersed ownership are likely to face agency problems but may lack sufficient ownership power in the hand of external owners for adoption to occur. Extensive ownership by external parties facilitates adoption but decreases the need and motivation to adopt governance reform. We examined the adoption of stock‐based incentive plans and transparent accounting regulations (e.g., greater disclosure to shareholders) among large German firms (DAX 100) during the late 1990s. We found an inverse ‘U’‐shaped relationship between ownership concentration and governance reform. In addition, we found that firms adopting governance reform were more likely to engage in corporate divestitures and achieve higher levels of market performance than firms not adopting governance reform. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Corporate Governance and Expected Stock Returns: Evidence from Germany

Recent empirical work shows evidence for higher valuation of firms in countries with a better legal environment. We investigate whether differences in the quality of firm‐level corporate governance also help to explain firm performance in a cross‐section of companies within a single jurisdiction. Constructing a broad corporate governance rating (CGR) for German public firms, we document a positive relationship between governance practices and firm valuation. There is also evidence that expected stock returns are negatively correlated with firm‐level corporate governance, if dividend yields are used as proxies for the cost of capital. An investment strategy that bought high‐CGR firms and shorted low‐CGR firms earned abnormal returns of around 12% on an annual basis during the sample period.     

Revisiting the Miles and Snow strategic framework: uncovering interrelationships between strategic types,capabilities, environmental uncertainty,and firm performance

The Miles and Snow strategic type framework is re‐examined with respect to interrelationships with several theoretically relevant batteries of variables, including SBU strategic capabilities, environmental uncertainty, and performance. A newly developed constrained, multi‐objective, classification methodology is modified to empirically derive an alternative quantitative typology using survey data obtained from 709 firms in three countries (China, Japan, United States). We compare the Miles and Snow typology to the classification empirically derived utilizing this combinatorial optimization clustering procedure. With respect to both variable battery associations and objective statistical criteria, we show that the empirically derived solution clearly dominates the traditional P‐A‐D‐R typology of Miles and Snow. Implications and directions for future research are provided. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Zombie Board: Board Tenure and Firm Performance

We show that board tenure exhibits an inverted U‐shaped relation with firm value and accounting performance. The quality of corporate decisions, such as M&A, financial reporting quality, and CEO compensation, also has a quadratic relation with board tenure. Our results are consistent with the interpretation that directors’ on‐the‐job learning improves firm value up to a threshold, at which point entrenchment dominates and firm performance suffers. To address endogeneity concerns, we use a sample of firms in which an outside director suffered a sudden death, and find that sudden deaths that move board tenure away from (toward) the empirically observed optimum level in the cross‐section are associated with negative (positive) announcement returns. The quality of corporate decisions also follows an inverted U‐shaped pattern in a sample of firms affected by the death of a director.     

事务所规模与年报会计政策“类准则”披露——基于文本分析的经验证据

通过计算上市公司年报会计政策披露的“类准则”程度,讨论会计师事务所规模是否为影响上市公司会计政策披露行为的重要因素。研究发现：（1）由规模较大的会计师事务所审计的上市公司,年报会计政策披露的“类准则”程度较低,会提供更多公司会计政策的个性化信息。（2）在上市公司风险增强和会计准则重大变化的两大类场景中,事务所规模与年报会计政策披露“类准则”程度之间的关系都得到增强,说明事务所的风险压力和事务所能力是重要的机制路径。（3）由同一事务所审计的上市公司会计政策披露的“类准则”程度更一致,具有同所效应。（4）基于会计师事务所变更的检验发现,若变更后的事务所规模更大,则会计政策披露的“类准则”程度会降低;若变更后的事务所规模更小,则会计政策披露的“类准则”程度会提高。     

国际贸易理论研究的新动向——基于异质企业的研究

主流国际贸易理论均基于同质企业的假定来分析国际贸易的原因和影响。近年来以Melitz为代表的经济学家开始将企业异质性纳入国际贸易理论研究。本文以被Helpman称为基石性的Melitz"贸易对行业内资源配置与生产率的影响"一文为基础,介绍当前"新"贸易理论①的主要理论框架、主要观点和贸易自由化的经济效应。     

企业智力资本计量问题研究

企业智力资本计量是目前国内外理论界和实业界正在探索的一个热点领域。迄今已初步形成了一些计量模式和方法，但这些模式和方法存在许多缺陷。因而很有必要在此基础上，进一步探索更为科学的计量模式和方法。从企业价值创造机理来看，可以采用“动态四分法”对智力资本进行科学地分类，然后进行计量与估价，进而得出一种由识别、诊断和结果构成的三步式的企业智力资本计量的框架结构。     

文化因素对企业经营绩效影响的研究

本文利用霍夫斯塔德（Hofstede）和他的同事跨文化研究的相关成果，结合新制度经济学的交易成本分析工具，对文化因素与企业经营绩效的关系进行了理论研究．并利用1995年世界最大500家公司的面板数据等．对文化因素与企业经营绩效的关系进行了计量检验，结果显示，个人主义与集体主义、权力距离和合作性三个文化因素对企业经营绩效有显著的影响。在此基础上．本文分析了文化因素对我国企业经营绩效的影响．并提出了相关的政策建议．     

新时期我国高增长行业的产业政策分析

高增长行业在推动经济增长、解决就业、促进技术进步等方面具有重要的意义。高增长行业的产业政策必须根据高增长行业自身的技术属性、初始条件和外部环境的变化进行动态的调整。本文就此提出了动态能力导向的高增长行业产业政策。与传统的产业政策相比,动态能力导向的产业政策具有动态性和创业性两方面的特征。传统产业政策的理论基础是新古典的市场失败理论,在该框架下,政府的核心功能是对产业发展进行长期计划。动态能力导向的产业政策则建构于演化理论的基础上。在该理论框架下,由于环境是不确定的、复杂的,因此,政府的作用主要不是计划,而是努力通过与企业的信息交流和互动来共同克服产业发展的障碍,并最终形成产业与环境的动态匹配;由于环境是变化的,因此,产业政策的重点不是加强既有的企业和产品,而是通过促进企业的创业性活动实现企业和产业竞争能力的培育和提升。     

中国中小企业成长的影响因素研究——基于中国东北地区中小企业的实证研究

本文从中小企业的成长动机——企业家导向、成长能力——企业创新能力、成长资源基础——企业内部资源和企业的资源外取、成长机会——企业环境四个角度．构建中小企业成长影响因素分析模型。通过我国东北地区235家中小企业的实证数据对理论模型及相关假设进行验证。数据分析结果表明企业的风险趋向、企业环境的不确定性、企业创新实现能力和创新推广能力都会直接激发和推动我国中小企业的成长：而企业的先动性和企业环境的动态性则被证实会恶化中小企业的短期成长：充足的金融资源和高水平的企业网络通过对其他因素的作用间接提升了中小企业的成长绩效．但其对中小企业成长的直接影响尚需进一步的细化研究。