Valuation effects of mergers and acquisitions in freight transportation

This study investigates valuation effects of mergers and acquisitions in the freight transportation industry. It is found that mergers and acquisitions create synergistic gains, especially tender offers, consistent with the view that freight transportation mergers and acquisitions occur for synergistic reasons rather than management’s desire for empire building or perk consumption. Both target’s and bidder’s shareholders are better-off, but most of the synergistic gains accrue to the target’s shareholders. Targets’ valuation effects are greater for vertical rather than horizontal mergers, indicating a positive valuation for firms that control and manage a more extensive supply chain. The bidders’ wealth effects are greater for friendly mergers. Overall, the findings have important implications for professional practice and the development of the theoretical literature.     

Hidden liquidity: An analysis of order exposure strategies in electronic stock markets

Many stock exchanges choose to reduce market transparency by allowing traders to hide some or all of their order size. We study the costs and benefits of order exposure and test hypotheses regarding hidden order usage using a sample of Euronext-Paris stocks, where hidden orders represent 44% of the sample order volume. Our results support the hypothesis that hidden orders are associated with a decreased probability of full execution and increased average time to completion, and fail to support the alternate hypothesis that order exposure causes defensive traders to withdraw from the market. However, exposing rather than hiding order size increases average execution costs. We assess the extent to which non-displayed size is truly hidden and document that the presence and magnitude of hidden orders can be predicted to a significant, but imperfect, degree based on observable order attributes, firm characteristics, and market conditions. Overall, the results indicate that the option to hide order size is valuable, in particular, to patient traders.     

Affirmative obligations and market making with inventory

Existing empirical studies provide little support for the theoretical prediction that market makers rebalance their inventory through revisions of quoted prices. This study provides evidence that the NYSE's specialist does engage in significant inventory rebalancing, but only when not constrained by the affirmative obligation to provide liquidity imposed by the Price Continuity rule. The evidence also suggests that such obligations are associated with better market quality, but impose significant costs on the specialist. The specialist mitigates these costs through discretionary trading when the rule is not binding. These findings shed light on how exchange rules affect market makers’ behavior and market quality.     

Common ownership and competition in product markets

We investigate the relation between common institutional ownership of the firms in an industry and product market competition. We find that common ownership is neither robustly positively related with industry profitability or output prices nor is it robustly negatively related with measures of nonprice competition, as would be expected if common ownership reduces competition. This conclusion holds regardless of industry classification choice, common ownership measure, profitability measure, nonprice competition proxy, or model specification. Our point estimates are close to zero with tight bounds, rejecting even modestly sized economic effects. We conclude that antitrust restrictions seeking to limit intra-industry common ownership are not currently warranted.     

The impact of trust on innovativeness and supply chain performance

Trust is identified as a significant predictor of positive performance in business relationships. On the premise that the effects of trust have not been given the deserved scholarly attention in the supply chain context, this paper investigates the effects of trust on innovativeness and supply chain performance. The hypothesised model is operationalised with survey data and analysed using structural equation modelling. The findings add credence to the positive effects of trust and identify trust and innovativeness as antecedents to higher performance in the supply chain.     

Cross-Listing, Bonding Hypothesis and Corporate Governance

Abstract:  This paper examines the relationship between cross-listing and corporate governance for Canadian firms, that were cross-listed on US stock exchanges during the period 1997–2003. We find that cross-listed firms have more independent boards and audit committees after the listing relative to a non-cross-listed matched sample of firms and relative to the pre-listing period. Moreover, cross-listed firms experience changes in their ownership structure after the listing. Finally, we provide evidence that the sensitivity of the relation between cross-listed firm valuation with audit committee independence and ownership structure becomes more important after the listing. The results are robust after adjusting for various firm risk characteristics. Overall, the results are consistent with the literature on the bonding role of cross-listings on US stock exchanges.     

EFFECTS OF ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING IN THIRD‐PARTY LOGISTICS

Logistics service providers operate in an intense competitive environment that requires continuous improvement in logistics service quality and firm performance. Key organizational resources may contribute toward the improvement in performance of logistics service providers. This paper investigates the effect of organizational learning within logistics service providers on client relationship orientation, logistics service quality and firm performance. The study proposes and examines an original concept in logistics research that contributes to theory in the area, provides the opportunity for further research and addresses how organizational resources can contribute to performance in logistics.