Controlling shareholders' stock pledges and strategic change: the moderating effects of corporate governance

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xi Zhong ◽  
He Wan ◽  
Qiuping Peng

PurposeThe authors analyze the effects of controlling shareholders' stock pledging on firms' strategic change behavior, and investigate how the balance of power between shareholders and analyst coverage moderates those effects.Design/methodology/approachEmploying fixed effects models, the authors test hypotheses based on Chinese listed company data from 2011 to 2017.FindingsControlling shareholders' stock pledges has a negative effect on strategic change. As the balance of power among shareholders and/or analyst coverage increases, it mitigates the effect of controlling shareholder stock pledges on strategic change. In particular, the balance of power between shareholders and analyst coverage weakened the relationship between controlling shareholder stock pledges and strategic change. Lastly, after distinguishing family from nonfamily firms, the authors discovered that these findings only held for family firms.Originality/valueThis study makes important contributions to strategic change, stock pledge and family firm literature, and also provides guidance on firms' strategic change practices.

2014 ◽  
Vol 37 (12) ◽  
pp. 1110-1136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Kipkirong Tarus ◽  
Federico Aime

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of boards’ demographic diversity on firms’ strategic change and the interaction effect of firm performance. Design/methodology/approach – This paper used secondary data derived from publicly listed firms in Kenya during 2002-2010 and analyzed the data using fixed effects regression model to test the effect of board demographic and strategic change, while moderated regression analysis was used to test the moderating effect of firm performance. Findings – The results partially supported board demographic diversity–strategic change hypothesis. In particular, results indicate that age diversity produces less strategic change, while functional diversity is associated with greater levels of strategic change. The moderated regression results do not support our general logic that high firm performance enhances board demographic diversity–strategic change relationship. In effect, the results reveal that at high level of firm performance, board demographic diversity produces less strategic change. Originality/value – Despite few studies that have examined board demographic diversity and firm performance, this paper introduces strategic change as an outcome variable. This paper also explores the moderating role of firm performance in board demographic diversity–strategic change relationship, and finally, the study uses Kenyan dataset which in itself is unique because most governance and strategy research uses data from developed countries.


2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 245-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chang Hoon Oh ◽  
Jennifer Oetzel ◽  
Jorge Rivera ◽  
Donald Lien

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine how foreign firms consider natural disaster risk in subsequent investment decisions in a host country and whether different location portfolios can serve to mitigate investment risk. Design/methodology/approach The author sample includes data on 437 Fortune Global 500 firms and their initial entry into Chinese provinces between 1955 and 2008. Findings Using a fixed effects logit model of discrete time event history analysis, results show that geographic proximity to same multinational corporation (MNC) subsidiaries and different MNC subsidiaries from the same home country mitigates the negative effect of natural disasters on MNC entry into an affected province, while geographic proximity to other MNC subsidiaries from different home countries does not. Originality/value The knowledge needed to respond to severe disasters appears to be highly context-specific and shared only between firms with a high degree of commonality and trust.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 120-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vicente Lima Crisóstomo ◽  
Isac de Freitas Brandão

Purpose High ownership concentration makes controlling blockholders powerful enough to use private benefits of control and able to shape the corporate governance system to favor their own interests. This paper aims to examine the effect of the nature of the ultimate firm owner on the quality of corporate governance in Brazil. Design/methodology/approach Econometric models are estimated to assess whether the nature of the ultimate controlling shareholder affects the quality of the corporate governance system. Models are estimated using panel data methodology with coefficients estimated by the generalized method of moments system estimator. Findings The results show that the absence of a controlling shareholder has a positive effect on corporate governance, whereas the presence of a controlling blockholder, or a shareholder agreement among a few large shareholders, has a negative effect. This adverse effect holds when the controlling blockholder is a family or another firm. The findings are in line with the expropriation effect given that weaker corporate governance system facilitates controlling shareholders’ ability to extract private benefits of control. The findings also give support to the substitution effect as powerful blockholders take on the management monitoring function by weakening the board. Originality value Following important previous literature, the study investigates the effect of the nature of large controlling shareholders on the adoption of good corporate governance practices. The work provides additional evidence on the effect of the nature of large controlling shareholders on the quality of the corporate governance system in Brazil, taking into account the main kinds of controlling blockholders present in that market. The findings give support to both the expropriation and substitution hypotheses highlighting the presence of the principal-principal agency model in an important emerging market, Brazil.


2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yong Ye ◽  
Lei Huang ◽  
Ming Li

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze the relationship among negative media coverage, law environment and tunneling of controlling shareholders. Design/methodology/approach – Under the Chinese especial institutional background, this paper empirically test the relationship among negative media coverage, law environment and tunneling of controlling shareholders with the sample of 2009-2011 Chinese listed companies. Findings – The empirical results demonstrate that negative media coverage can reduce tunneling of controlling shareholder, and compared with state-owned listed companies, negative media coverage have a greater effect on tunneling in non-state-owned listed companies; and negative media coverage have a greater effect on tunneling in areas with better law environment. Further study shows that the reduction of controlling shareholder’s behavior of tunneling can improve company performance, and the improvement is more significant in non-state-owned listed companies and areas with better law environment. The research results indicate that media coverage play a very active role on restraining stakeholder’s behavior and perfecting corporate governing. Originality/value – First, this paper will study of tunneling from the perspective of media coverage for the first time. Second, this paper further analyzes how the decrease of tunneling improves corporate performance following the research of how media coverage influence tunneling. Third, this study enrich literatures about the effects of media coverage on corporate governance in Chinese capital market.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Guenichi Hassen ◽  
Khalfaoui Hamdi

PurposeThis paper examines the effect of oil price uncertainty on corporate social responsibility (CSR) for 507 US firms over the period 1985–2019.Design/methodology/approachTo investigate the nexus between oil price uncertainty and CSR, we have proceeded with a fixed-effects panel regression model over the period 1985–2019.FindingsUsing a dataset of 507 US firms, different specifications of CSR and two alternatives measures of oil price uncertainty, we show that oil price uncertainty negatively influences the CSR in the global US panel and firm's characterized panel. This negative effect is dependent on firms' size, firm's age and value of book share of firms.Research limitations/implicationsUS firms are exposed to more risk when carrying high levels of debt, resulting in reduced spending to improve social and environmental conditions. While the negative effect of oil price uncertainty on CSR is exacerbated in economic crisis periods.Practical implicationsUS firms are influenced by energy price volatility especially by oil price fluctuations which are the main factor of American economic growth. The rise of oil price uncertainty reduces sustainable corporate development and investment in the green economy.Social implicationsRethinking renewable energies as an alternative solution in order to guarantee the performance and sustainability of social, environmental and cultural activities.Originality/valueYoung and small firms, lower-share outstanding firms and high book value per share firms are the most negatively affected by oil price uncertainty and therefore their social responsibilities are reduced. However, by introducing interaction variables in the main model, we find that the most indebted firms on one hand and big firms and high-number shares outstanding firms, on the other hand, are the most influenced by oil price uncertainty which consequently limits their social and environmental responsibility.


2019 ◽  
Vol 58 (6) ◽  
pp. 1021-1034
Author(s):  
Jihad Al-Okaily ◽  
Salma Naueihed

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the relationship between audit committee characteristics and firm performance, and whether family ownership and involvement moderate the latter relationship. Design/methodology/approach Following Anderson and Reeb (2003), this paper estimates a two-way fixed effects model. A sub-sample analysis is used by first examining the impact of audit committee effectiveness on firm performance only in non-family firms and then only in family firms. A fully interacted model was also analyzed in the robustness tests. Findings This paper finds that the audit committee characteristics of size, expertise and meeting frequency are positively and significantly related to non-family firm performance, while insignificantly related to family firm performance. Research limitations/implications The evidence reported in this paper may be of use for regulators and policy makers pondering corporate governance reforms, as well as for investors, managers and minority shareholders concerned with firm performance and valuation. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study of its kind to examine the moderating effect of family control and involvement on the relationship between firm performance and audit committee effectiveness in terms of size, expertise and meeting frequency.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (7) ◽  
pp. 68-91
Author(s):  
Giovanna Gavana ◽  
Pietro Gottardo ◽  
Anna Maria Moisello

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate the effect of the nature of ownership and board characteristics on the investment choices in joint ventures (JVs) from the dimensional point of view, controlling for the effect of JV type and other components of intellectual capital.Design/methodology/approachThe authors study a sample of Italian, Spanish, German and French nonfinancial listed firms over the 2010–2018 period, controlling for the fixed effects of the company's sector of operation and the year. The authors also analyze the effect of family control and influence on JV investment size, taking into consideration certain board characteristics, the type of JV, human capital efficiency, structural capital efficiency and capital employed efficiency while also controlling for a firm's profitability and size. To test the hypotheses, GLS panel data was used.FindingsThe results indicate that the size of the investment in JVs is smaller for family firms than for nonfamily businesses. The presence of CEO duality has an opposing effect on the size of the investment in joint ventures as it has a lowering effect in family businesses while it exerts an amplifier influence in nonfamily businesses. Moreover, the type of joint venture has a significant effect for family firms: the choice of a link joint venture reduces the size of the investment. The authors find that human capital efficiency increases JV investment size for all firms.Originality/valueThis study is the first to analyze the effect of the main dimension of socioemotional wealth – family control and influence – on a firm's JV investment size. It controls for the effect of JV type – link or scale – and the interplay of the other IC components.


2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 886-910 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovana Bueno ◽  
Rosilene Marcon ◽  
Andre Leonardo Pruner-da-Silva ◽  
Fabio Ribeirete

Purpose Since 2012, the Brazilian Stock Exchange has recommended that listed companies inform them if they have conducted voluntary disclosure. The purpose of this study is to describe the voluntary disclosure by companies listed in the B3 in Brazil and to analyze which characteristics of the board of directors influence this disclosure. Design/methodology/approach The study involves quantitative research using a sample of 285 companies and 575 reports from 2011 to 2014. A fixed-effects regression model with panel data was used for the analysis. Findings The results were statistically significant for gender and duality variables, which confirms the theory that the presence of women as members of the board positively influences voluntary disclosure and that chief executive officer and chairman of the board positions have a negative effect. The age and independence of the board variables did not present statistical significance. Research limitations/implications As a theoretical contribution, the authors aim to complement sustainability, finance and strategy research by using agency theory and measuring the variable of voluntary disclosure and the board, which is rarely studied in this context. Practical implications As social and empirical contributions, a better understanding of this theme in the context of emerging countries, which is the peculiarities of Brazil with little information transparency and well-known corruption scandals, is likely to aid investors. Increased access to company information can help investors better select their investment portfolios and assist in the choice of their board representatives in companies in which they have participation and voting rights. Originality/value The fact that Brazil is an emerging country, where the lack of transparency of information and corruption in these environments stand out the importance of studying the subject of voluntary disclosure in this context. All data were collected manually specifically for this research.


2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (9) ◽  
pp. 3664-3682
Author(s):  
Sungbeen Park ◽  
Sujin Song ◽  
Seoki Lee

Purpose Based on the agency theory and risk management perspective, this study aims to examine the relationship between CEOs’ pay schemes and corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities in the restaurant industry. Specifically, the authors propose that CEOs with a higher proportion of equity-based compensation (EBC), which induces a greater propensity for risk-taking, are prone to indulge less in CSR. In addition, the authors investigate how institutional ownership moderates the proposed main relationship. Design/methodology/approach This study performs two-way fixed-effects models and clustered standard errors to test the proposed hypotheses. Findings The results of the panel analysis show a significant negative effect of CEOs’ EBC on CSR. Also, the authors found a significant positive moderating effect of institutional ownership between CEOs’ EBC and CSR. Originality/value Given the lack of empirical studies that incorporate both agency theory and the risk management perspective, and given the importance of understanding the determinants of restaurant firms’ CSR activities, this study expands upon the existing literature by showing the relationship between CEOs’ compensation schemes and restaurant firms’ CSR activities.


2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 362-383
Author(s):  
Rayenda Khresna Brahmana ◽  
Doddy Setiawan ◽  
Chee Wooi Hooy

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the presence of controlling shareholder affects the value of diversification based on Indonesian listed firms. It further examines whether the degree of controlling ownership and the types of controlling ownership matter. Design/methodology/approach Panel data were used over the period 2006-2010 with dynamic generalised method-of-moments estimations and it defined diversification as industrial diversification, international diversification or diversification in both. A few different thresholds for the control rights of the largest shareholder are also set. Findings The results show that industrial diversification improves firm value but international diversification does not, while diversified in both strategies discounted firm value. The presence of a controlling shareholder is found to have a significant diversification discount, and the effect is nonlinear, where the entrenchment effect occurs around 20 to60 per cent threshold of controlling across all types of diversified firms. Last, foreign firms are found to enjoy more value from industrial diversification, but it takes an adverse turn when these involve both diversification strategies. Government firms do not seem to be different from family firms. Research limitations/implications The study shows the need to differentiate diversification strategies and account for non-linearity and ownership identity in modelling diversification value. Also, the degree of shareholders’ control can be a significant channel to address the agency issue on diversification value. Practical implications Under the backdrop of unique Indonesian corporate ownership, the presence of controlling owners is shown, and their ownership affects the value of diversification. The entrenchment effect however appears only at a certain range of ownership. This is a crucial guide for the shareholders to ensure an appropriate monitoring system is installed to maximize the shareholder’s value, especially in family firms. Originality/value The value of this paper is twofold. At first, the first empirical evidence on the diversification debate with Indonesian firms for its unique institutional setting is presented. Second, the standard modelling framework to investigate the types of ownership on diversification value is extended, which has rarely been covered in previous investigations.


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