Keeping Public Institutions Invested in Tobacco

Increasingly through the 1990s, tobacco control advocates questioned the practice of public institutions investing in tobacco company stocks. The questioning was framed in at least three ways. First, is it ethical to fund public expenditures with profits from a product that causes addiction and disease? Second, is it sound social policy to derive public income from a product that increases healthcare costs and reduces worker productivity? Finally, is it sound fiscal policy to invest in an historically profitable industry facing multiplying legal and regulatory challenges? While the tobacco industry preferred to restrict discussion to the fiscal question, and offered an affirmative answer, its position was weakened by depressed stock prices brought on by actions of the industry as much as by tobacco control activism. As part of a campaign to restore its credibility as an investment vehicle with public fund managers, Philip Morris (PM) commissioned a report from the influential investment managers/advisors Wilshire Associates. However, Wilshire had only recently conducted such a study for the Washington State Investment Board (WSIB), assuring the board that the value tobacco stocks added to an investment portfolio – if any – was too small to be measured. Nonetheless, within a year, Wilshire produced a report for PM which appeared to laud the investment value of tobacco and to dismiss tobacco-excluded investment alternatives. This paper examines how Wilshire produced apparently diametrically opposed reports for clients with different interests. It reveals a pattern of potential conflicts of interest among tobacco companies, financial analysis firms, investment authorities, and institutional fund managers. It demonstrates substantial violations of two generally accepted ethical principles of business consulting: veracity and transparency.     

跨国公司撤资研究的述评与展望

随着跨国公司不断地在全球范围内进行直接投资和调整布局,由此引发的撤资行为逐渐受到一定的关注。尽管现有研究成果十分丰富,但作为国际商务活动的跨国公司撤资行为仍然没有得到应有重视和充分解释。本文从跨国公司撤资的含义与类型、动机与原因、影响与对策等方面对国内外现有研究进行梳理,评述了相关研究的进展与不足,并提出未来应该从微观层面对撤资行为进行多学科交叉研究,构建完整的跨国公司撤资理论体系。     

The diffusion of foreign divestment from Burma

We examine variation in the rate of divestment by multinational firms from Burma. We argue that in addition to a set of firm‐level characteristics known to impact divestment decisions, firms are also influenced by characteristics of their home country and the divestment patterns of others. Using data on firms operating in Burma during 1996–2002, we model these multiple influences on firms to divest. Our results show that beyond firm‐level concerns, firms divest in response to the political characteristics of their home country, including protest, the level of political freedom, and transparency of institutions. We also find that the centrality of their home country in the network of intergovernmental organizations impacts divestment patterns in interesting ways. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Predicting divestiture of unrelated acquisitions: an integrative model of ex ante conditions

The majority of unrelated acquisitions are divested shortly after their purchase. Often, those acquisitions-turned-divestitures result in strategic, organizational, and financial losses for both the acquiring and the acquired companies. To consider how such divestitures can be avoided, this study examined some of the differences between divested and retained unrelated acquisitions. The study integrated four explanations for why unrelated acquisitions occur and related them to the fates of such acquisitions. Unrelated acquisitions were hypothesized to be divested when they fail to realize some motives and expectations that prevailed at the time of acquisition. Two samples of unrelated acquisitions (135 from 1977 and 140 from 1987) were tracked over 5-year periods. The results indicate that motives and conditions at the time of acquisition, and changes in those motives and conditions, were related to the fates of the acquisitions. In addition, the relative importance of those factors varied across the periods studied. Discriminant analyses further demonstrate that most divestitures could be predicted correctly on the basis of those motivations and conditions. The implications of the findings are discussed. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

私人股权基金投资业绩研究

私人股权投资已经成为近几年资本市场上最具争议的投资明星,然而在本轮东亚地区尤其是中国的私人股权投资的热潮中,并非所有的私人股权基金都取得了满意的业绩。利用来自Private Equity Intelligence的基金业绩数据,对目前投资于中国及周边地区的私人股权基金的表现进行实证分析,研究影响私人股权基金业绩的主要因素,并对其中的因素之——投资期和退出期的划分情况进行确定。     

Distance and divestment of Korean MNC affiliates: the moderating role of entry mode and experience

In this study, we examine the impact of cross-national distance on the divestment of foreign affiliates. On the basis of the nine dimensions of cross-national distance (Berry et al. 2010. “An Institutional Approach to Cross-National Distance.” Journal of International Business Studies 41 (9): 1460-1480), we empirically examine the impact of each measure of distance on the divestment of affiliates. Using a data set of 1697 multinational corporations (MNCs) headquartered in Korea and their 2435 affiliates in 67 host countries from 2000 to 2010, we find that distance created by economic, financial, political, administrative, cultural, demographic, knowledge and global connectedness leads to the divestment of foreign affiliates. We also find that the positive relationship between cross-national distance and affiliate divestment is likely to become stronger when an MNC enters the host country through a joint venture and weaker for affiliates with greater experience in the host country.     

外商对华撤资的原因与对策分析

撤资行为是和对外直接投资相伴而生的国际经济活动。跨国公司在华进行直接投资的同时也一直存在撤资行为。2008年全球金融危机爆发以来,在华外商投资企业出现了一定范围的撤资行为,给我国的经济发展带来了一定的消极影响。面对在华外商投资企业的撤资行为,必须分析其发生的原因,并采取措施应对,保证我国与跨国公司在经济全球化中取得双赢。     

跨国公司撤资原因的理论分析

跨国公司撤资分为自愿撤资和非自愿撤资,本文研究的是自愿撤资。自愿撤资又分为防御型的自愿撤资和进攻型的自愿撤资。防御型的自愿撤资是由跨国公司投资经营最终失败引起的,进攻型的自愿撤资则是跨国公司公司重构战略的一部分。无论何种形态的自愿撤资都是资本逐利的表现,是符合经济规律的。     

The role of subsidiary learning behavior and absorptive capacity in foreign subsidiary expansion

We examine how subsidiaries can implement business expansion successfully to capitalize on growth potentials. Building on our baseline hypothesis, which examines the effect of the extent of business expansion on subsidiary divestment, we identify the boundary condition of the tendency of subsidiary’s learning behavior in foreign expansion. Specifically, we argue that subsidiaries that expand multiple businesses through competence-creating learning behaviors are more likely to be divested due to increasing complexity. We further suggest a remedial condition to offer a viable approach to implement business expansion through competence-creating learning successfully. Based on a sample of 6040 foreign subsidiaries operating over 14 years, we show that affiliates are more likely to expand into unfamiliar business domains successfully if they have a higher level of absorptive capacity.     

Executive Remuneration and Corporate Divestment: Motivating Managers to Make Unpalatable Decisions

Abstract:  This study examines the impact of voluntary divestment on executive remuneration, using an unbalanced panel of 107 UK quoted companies over the period 1988 to 1993. It employs a dynamic compensation equation, with a vector of controls and alternative specifications of the divestment effect. The results show no general direct evidence of a remuneration process that rewards managers for downsizing their firms. Indeed the substantial pay-size elasticity implies the reverse. However, divestment does have a positive and significant effect in raising executive remuneration under a regime of strong corporate governance, defined in terms of the presence of a substantial blockholder.