Power priorities in buyer–seller relationships: A comparative analysis

Power, as a significant dimension of relationships, continues to be of critical interest in the inter-organizational literature. This article assesses how different relationship types and strategic foci are related to buyers' and sellers' power priorities. Contributing to the discussion of buyer–seller power priority areas as commercial detail, operational issues, strategic issues and attitudes, the research focuses on the influence of relationship types (new, approved, preferred, partnership) on these power priorities in B2B contexts. This is important as partnerships do not simply emerge, but evolve over time suggesting that for both parties there is a period that is transitory. Through a survey of buyers and sellers (n = 355), the research highlights that as partnerships evolve, relational issues complement, but do not supersede, the focus on commercial and operational concerns. Furthermore, within partnerships, whilst sellers' focus on strategic issues increases, it is the total power that grows and the influence agenda is extended, rather than re-distributed. Additionally, it provides detail on how power priorities vary and are differentially distributed between buyers and sellers in different relationship types. This paper contributes to B2B partnership and power theories, challenging assumptions about relationships and adding weight to the increasing suggestion that relationship success is overplayed.     

What do equity issuances signal? A study of equity issuances in the UK before and during the financial crisis

The financial crisis provides an ideal setting to study how quality signalling by firms, and information asymmetries, might explain the stock price reactions around seasoned equity offerings. The heightened information asymmetry levels during the GFC should have increased the importance of issuance quality and information asymmetries in explaining announcement returns. However, we document new and, in some cases, surprising findings, using a sample of 700 UK seasoned equity offerings between 2003 and 2012: (1) Contrary to expectations, announcement returns during the crisis were driven less by signalling and asymmetric information effects and more by macroeconomic conditions and general uncertainty. (2) In constrained capital markets, firms that were able to move more quickly to raise significant amounts of capital, made the capital-raising environment more challenging for firms that followed, such that the latter had to incur additional costs. (3) Contrary to the traditional view that the low book-to-market ratios may proxy for overvaluation and thus lower announcement returns, we found a negative relationship during the crisis period. The latter is consistent with the view that book-to-market ratios may also proxy for a distressed firm effect which may have dominated the conventional ‘market timing’ effect during the GFC. (4) Announcement returns were strongly positive for many firms at the peak of the crisis, possibly because the market was relieved to see that equity issues might potentially save firms from insolvency; an equity issuance could, in such circumstances, be a positive signal, even though equity issues are conventionally seen as negative signals. Overall, our paper documents fresh and surprising results about equity capital-raising during the GFC, and also offers insights for corporate finance that are of interest beyond the current crisis.     

Market Behavior of Institutional Investors around Bankruptcy Announcements

This paper examines, using proprietary ASX data containing institutional holdings, if institutional investors exit en mass prior to announcements of financial distress. Evidence indicates that while some institutional investors exit the stock, the withdrawal is gradual, commencing approximately 115 days prior to event. This is driven by active institutional investors reacting to the release of the financially distressed companies’ last publicly released financial reports. There is no significant decline in institutional holdings before announcements; most institutional investors hold financially distressed shares through to failure. There is evidence that the lack of disclosure drives the increase in information asymmetry prior to company failure.     

Economic consequences of implementing and communicating value based management systems

We study the consequences of implementing and communicating Value Based Management (VBM) systems on information asymmetries and the cost of capital. We analyse the firms’ reporting on internal control systems as the source of information for market participants. In addition, literature posits that improving communications with shareholders by providing additional information on value generation (Value Based Reporting, VBR) is an integral part of implementing VBM. We find that the implementation of VBM and the extent of VBR are, both individually and jointly, significantly related to lower information asymmetries and lower cost of capital. We find a slight moderation of the effect of VBM by VBR. For increasing VBR, we find that information asymmetries and cost of capital decrease more strongly for firms without implemented VBM systems. This indicates that VBR can to some extent substitute VBM. Overall, however, firms using a combination of VBM and VBR attain lower levels of information asymmetry and cost of capital. We provide evidence for the real effects of disclosure, suggesting that disclosures on internal control systems serve as a governance mechanism, reducing information asymmetries and the cost of capital by aligning shareholders’ and managers’ interests.     

投资成本与收益不对称条件下的企业并购决策——基于博弈论与实物期权模型的分析

本文构建了一个在投资成本与收益不对称的情况下基于增长型实物期权的企业并购两阶段博弈模型。该模型使用二叉树期权定价方法确定企业并购中产生的增长型实物期权的价值,考虑了并购各阶段的投入成本、投资收益、风险中性概率、无风险收益率以及企业并购时产生的相互影响效应等因素,分析了成本占优或收益占优的两企业间在公司并购中的行为模式,得到了两企业项目并购成功所对应的临界收益和临界成本以及与上述因素之间的关系。     

中国增长动力切换、时空演变与“双门槛”测度 ——来自省际层面的经验证据

我国经济正处于增速换挡的增长动力切换关键时期,逐步迈向高质量发展阶段。本文基于2000—2022年中国省际层面的面板数据,聚焦研究中国经济增长动力切换问题,探讨了经济增长动力切换的时空演变与“双门槛”效应。结果表明：(1)生产性劳动、研发性劳动、生产投入以及研发投入显著地促进了我国经济增长;(2)中国增长动力切换经历了“生产性劳动与生产投入”、“研发性劳动与生产投入”以及“研发性劳动与研发投入”三个阶段;(3)中国经济增长动力时空演变存在区域异质性和时段异质性,不同区域和时段的经济增长动力存在显著差异;(4)中国经济增长动力切换具有外部制约条件,存在“双门槛”效应。同时,采用主实验加入控制变量前后对比、双边缩尾、排除新冠肺炎疫情影响和倾向得分匹配等方法进行稳健性检验,发现实证结果具有稳健性。本研究有助于理解经济增长动力切换的机制、路径与制约条件,为制定相应的政策和战略提供参考依据。     

Colonising the future: Mega-trade deals,education services and global higher education markets

This paper explores a less well-examined aspect of time in relation to higher education and the academy; that of ‘time-future’. The paper takes the case of education trade strategies being pursued by governments and allied agencies, and explores the multiple ways in which time-future is mobilised. Drawing on trade documents, government statistics, and related reports, the paper points to two time-future dynamics at work. The first dynamic focuses on the ways in which the future is imagined by strategic actors, and legitimated through creating equivalences between education trade, economic growth and prosperity. The second dynamic explores the ways in which the current round of global and regional trade negotiations colonise the future as a political resource. I reflect on how time-future is a key resource and modality of power to be claimed and cognitively shaped so as to reorient actor’s expectations towards the rhythms and demands of capitalism, and away from the temporal orders of the academy. However, efforts to commodify higher education, on the one hand, and colonise higher education futures exclusively to serve the interests of economic investors, on the other, continues to be contested. As a result, a new temporal order is yet to become common-sense, and an existing order is yet to die.     

Investor heterogeneity,trading account types and competing liquidity channels for Malaysian stocks

This paper examines the relationship between various investor groups and stock liquidity for Malaysian public listed firms over the 2002–2009 sample period. Using the Amihud illiquidity ratio, we extend the literature by addressing the issues of investor heterogeneity, trading account types and the interactions of competing liquidity channels. The analysis reveals that only local institutions and local individual investors who trade through the direct accounts are significantly associated with the liquidity of domestic firms. In contrast, the significant liquidity effect for foreign investors operates through the nominee accounts. While institutional ownership exhibits a linear negative relationship, our findings on local individuals and foreign nominees differ greatly from previous studies in that their relationship with stock liquidity is non-monotonic. Apart from the widely-researched information asymmetry and trading effects, we find that liquidity is also driven by the largely ignored information competition channel. An important insight from our findings is that the large shareholdings by any particular investor group is detrimental to stock liquidity as they exacerbate information asymmetry, reduce the degree of competition and lower the level of trading activity.     

The likelihood of management involvement,offer premiums,and target shareholder wealth effects: Evidence from the 2002–2007 LBO wave

This study analyzes the likelihood of management's involvement, the determinants of the offer premium and the market's reaction to the target in order to evaluate the pervasiveness of the agency cost motive and the information asymmetry motive in LBO transactions in the most recent LBO wave. In addition, we consider the role that market volatility plays in the key elements of LBOs. There is strong evidence to suggest that market volatility plays an important role in determining all three elements under investigation due to its effect on the market value of the firm. In addition, management's involvement has a strong positive effect on offer premiums indicating that positive information asymmetry remains to be a motive for management's involvement in LBOs. The agency cost hypothesis is also supported in all three analyses and there is evidence that increased financial distress costs are a concern to private equity groups.     

S&P 500 Membership and Managers’ Supply of Conservative Financial Reports

Our study is motivated by economic theory and the debate among practitioners, standard setters, and academics on the role of conditional conservatism in financial reporting. We find that managers provide less conditionally conservative financial reports after their firms are added to the Standard and Poor's (S&P) 500 index. S&P 500 membership is expected to reduce information asymmetry between managers and outside stakeholders due to an increased flow of public and private information. As a result, the contracting benefits of conservative accounting choices are reduced, and managers are less willing to provide conditionally conservative reports. In contrast, we find that managers provide more conditionally conservative financial reports after their firms are deleted from the index. Firms being deleted from the S&P 500 index probably incur an increase in information asymmetry. Overall, our results provide evidence consistent with conditional conservatism being a response by managers to the information needs of financial statements users.