Taxes and risk-taking behavior: evidence from mergers and acquisitions in the G7 nations

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 277-294
Author(s):  
Poonyawat Sreesing
Keyword(s):  
Mergers And Acquisitions ◽  
Option Pricing ◽  
Risk Taking ◽  
Investment Decisions ◽  
Tax Rates ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Asset Risk ◽  
Tax Effects ◽  
Corporate Risk

PurposeThis study aims to examine how corporate taxes affect corporate risk-taking decisions.Design/methodology/approachThis study examines corporate risk-taking by analyzing how a firm’s asset risk changes following an acquisition carried out by publicly listed companies in the G7 nations. To measure the asset risk of a firm, this study uses the option pricing framework in Merton (1974).FindingsConsistent with an implication of the Merton (1974) framework, the findings show that firms take more risk in their investment decisions when tax rates are high. Moreover, the tax effects wane for firms with a relatively large borrowing opportunity and this suggests that the risk-taking incentive from taxes is moderated by the reputation concern in the debt market, lending support to the Diamond (1989) reputation-building model. The empirical results also show that the tax-induced risk-taking incentive is restrained by creditor rights. Overall, the study reveals an important role of taxes in the structure of corporate investment decisions.Practical implicationsThe implications of this study can be beneficial to policymakers when considering the alteration of tax rates, as it will affect the riskiness of firm investment decisions.Originality/valueThis study provides a better understanding of the role of taxes on risk-taking and also contributes to the growing body of evidence supporting tax effects of risk-taking. The relationship between taxes and risk-taking has proven that the corporate taxation is one of the key factors that firms consider during their selection of risky investments. Unlike previous studies, this research is the first to investigate the change in asset risk, estimating by the option pricing framework, through studying a particular event: mergers and acquisitions.

Which formula for corporate risk-taking around the world? Exploring happiness as the “black box”

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thao Phuong Tran ◽  
Anh-Tuan Le
Keyword(s):  
Risk Taking ◽  
Negative Influence ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
Alternative Measure ◽  
Firm Risk ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Financial Decisions ◽  
The World ◽  
Corporate Risk

PurposeThis paper examines how the degree of happiness affects corporate risk-taking and the moderating influence of family ownership of firms on this relationship.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use an international sample of 17,654 firm-year observations from 24 countries around the world from 2008 to 2016.FindingsUsing the happiness index from the World Happiness Report developed by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network, the authors show that a country's overall happiness is negatively correlated with risk-taking behavior by firms. The findings are robust to an alternative measure of risk-taking by firms. Further analyses document that the negative influence of happiness on firm risk-taking is more pronounced for family-owned firms.Practical implicationsThe paper is consistent with the notion that happier people are likely to be more risk-averse in making financial decisions, which, in turn, reduces corporate risk-taking.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the broad literature on the determinants of corporate risk-taking and the growing literature on the role of sentiment on investment decisions. The authors contribute to the current debate about family-owned firms by demonstrating that the presence of family trust strengthens the negative influence of happiness on corporate risk-taking, a topic that has been unexplored in previous studies.

Do narcissistic CEOs rock the boat?

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Aabo ◽  
Frederik Hoejland ◽  
Jesper Pedersen
Keyword(s):  
Risk Taking ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Large Firm ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Current Position ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Status ◽  
Ceo Narcissism ◽  
Corporate Risk

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of narcissistic supply for the association between CEO narcissism and corporate risk taking.Design/methodology/approachThe authors investigate a sample of 281 non-financial S&P 1500 firms and a corresponding 457 CEOs in the 10-yr period 2006–2015.FindingsThe association between CEO narcissism and corporate risk taking depends on the admiration, attention, and affirmation of own superiority (“narcissistic supply”) that the CEO receives given her/his current position. Thus, a narcissistic CEO with an insufficient narcissistic supply (small firm/small compensation) will crave for more and take more risks (“rock the boat”) while a narcissistic CEO with a sufficient narcissistic supply (large firm/large compensation) will protect the status quo and be reluctant to take new risks. Specifically, the authors find that a change from a slightly narcissistic CEO to a strongly narcissistic CEO, for positions entailing limited (abundant) narcissistic supply, is associated with an increase (a decrease) in corporate risk of 6%–8% (11%–27%).Originality/valuePrevious research indicates a positive association between CEO narcissism and corporate risk taking in specific domains such as M&A and R&D activities. This paper provides a novel contribution to the existing literature by identifying and assessing the important role of narcissistic supply for the association between CEO narcissism and corporate risk taking in general.

Product market competition and corporate investment decisions

2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 128-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Indrarini Laksmana ◽  
Ya-wen Yang
Keyword(s):  
Risk Taking ◽  
Market Competition ◽  
Investment Decisions ◽  
Product Market ◽  
Corporate Investment ◽  
Product Market Competition ◽  
Term Survival ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Risky Investment

Purpose – The study aims to examine the association between product market competition and corporate investment decisions on, particularly, risk-taking and investment efficiency. Existing theoretical studies on whether product market competition mitigates or exacerbates agency problems are inconclusive. Prior research generally finds that competition constrains management opportunism in reporting operating performance. However, the association between product market competition and managerial investment decisions has largely been unexplored. Design/methodology/approach – The primary measure of product market competition is the Herfindahl–Hirschman Index. The authors use regression analysis to examine the association between corporate risk-taking and over-investment of free cash flow (FCF) (as dependent variables) and product market competition (as an independent variable). Findings – Using firm-year observations from 1990 to 2010, the authors find that competition encourages managers to invest in risky investment. They also find that competition disciplines management on its use of FCFs. Overall, their results provide support for the disciplining role of product market competition in management investment decisions. The results are robust after they control for shareholder activism and executive compensations. Originality/value – The paper contributes to the literature by providing evidence of the disciplining role of product market competition in management investment decisions. First, the results suggest that competition encourages managers to invest in risky investment. One potential explanation for the results is that competition reduces opportunities for resource diversion for management personal benefits and, in turn, decreases management risk aversion. Another explanation is that competition forces management to take more risks for the long-term survival of the company. Second, the results indicate that competition disciplines management on its use of FCFs. Although firms in highly competitive industries make investment decisions that are less conservative, they tend to avoid suboptimal investment decisions, such as over-investment of FCF, compared to their counterparts.

The ascension of executives' tenure, corporate risk-taking and corporate performance: evidence from Malaysia

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Osama F. Atayah ◽  
Khakan Najaf ◽  
Ravichandran K. Subramaniam ◽  
Phaik Nie Chin
Keyword(s):  
Risk Taking ◽  
Corporate Performance ◽  
Stock Exchange ◽  
Generalized Method Of Moments ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Executive Management ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Top Executives ◽  
Corporate Risk

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the implication of top executives’ number of years of experience (tenure) on corporate risk-taking behaviour and corporate performance in Malaysian corporations.Design/methodology/approachTo test the hypothesis efficiently, the authors have extracted the data from Bloomberg for 788 listed companies of the Malaysian Stock Exchange. The methodology entails ordinary least squares regressions, quantile regression and dynamic system generalized method of moments model.FindingsFirst, the authors show that executive management tenure has a significant negative relationship with corporate risk-taking. It means that the long-tenured executives tend to undertake less risky strategies and decisions. Second, this study reveals that the longer executive management tenure has a positive relationship with corporate performance. Third, the moderating effect of corporate risk-taking with executive tenure (Tenure dummy*Risk) has a negative relationship with the corporate performance by 1%.Practical implicationsIt implies that the appointment of experienced executive management contributes towards corporate performance directly. However, experienced management trends take less risk, which eventually results in mitigating the corporate performance. On that basis, the findings are significant in highlighting the usefulness of executive leadership term and offers insights to academics, practitioners and policymakers.Originality/valueThis paper is novel since it is unique in evaluating the executive tenure and the preferences to handle risk strategies and how that impact the firm performance.

scholarly journals Corporate risk and the humpback of CEO narcissism

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 252-273 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Aabo ◽  
Nicklas Bang Eriksen
Keyword(s):  
Risk Taking ◽  
Stock Return ◽  
Return Volatility ◽  
Moderate Degree ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Stock Return Volatility ◽  
Unobtrusive Measure ◽  
Ceo Narcissism ◽  
High Level ◽  
Corporate Risk

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the association between CEO narcissism and corporate risk taking. Design/methodology/approach The authors provide a novel and unobtrusive measure of CEO narcissism based on LinkedIn profiling. The authors investigate the relationship between CEO narcissism and corporate risk taking (stock return volatility) for a sample of 475 US manufacturing firms in the period 2010-2014. Findings The authors find an inverse U-shape relationship between CEO narcissism and stock return volatility. The inverse U-shape relationship (the “humpback”) is caused by the paradoxical nature of the narcissistic personality in which the self-esteem is high but at the same time fragile with a combination of self-admiration and a constant need of having this positive self-view confirmed. The results are robust to alternative specifications of CEO narcissism and corporate risk taking. The results are economically meaningful. Thus, a moderate degree of CEO narcissism – as compared to a very low or a very high level of CEO narcissism – is associated with an increase in corporate risk taking of approximately 12 percent. Originality/value Previous literature provides multiple analyses on the association between managerial overconfidence and corporate decisions. As opposed to overconfidence, narcissism is a personality trait having both cognitive and behavioral dimensions. This paper provides a novel contribution to the growing literature on the association between managerial biases/traits and corporate decision-making.

Role of gender and corporate risk taking

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 383-399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dene Hurley ◽  
Amod Choudhary
Keyword(s):  
Panel Data ◽  
Risk Taking ◽  
Financial Risk ◽  
Chief Financial Officers ◽  
Board Members ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Equity Ratio ◽  
Glass Cliff ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the role of chief financial officers’ (CFOs’) gender in financial risk taking of 58 US companies along with the impact of having women board members. Design/methodology/approach Using a panel data of 58 selected S&P 500 companies during the period 2012-2016, this paper determines whether the gender of CFOs and having women board members play a role in risk-taking behavior of firms. Findings Firms led by female CFOs are smaller in size with lower net income and net revenue. The panel data analysis shows that the impact of female CFOs on firms’ financial risk is mixed, depending on risk measures used, whereas increasing female board members reduces that risk. Research limitations/implications The data used is limited to 58 S&P 500 companies, and two of the three risk-taking measures used in the study, specifically investment in property, plant and equipment (PPE) and debt/equity ratio, may not be applicable to some industries. Practical implications The findings provide mixed evidence of risk aversion by females in executive and leadership positions, depending on the measures used and the management responsibilities they undertake (CFO versus board member) with support for the glass cliff phenomenon in which females may be leading financially precarious organizations. Social implications Female CFOs are found to be leading relatively smaller and financially poor-performing firms compared with the male CFO-led firms, thereby giving support to the glass cliff arguments. Originality/value The paper examines the role of CFOs’ gender and board diversity in risk taking as measured by the investment in PPE, debt/equity ratio and stock return volatility.

Corruption and corporate risk-taking: evidence from emerging markets

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Quoc Trung Tran
Keyword(s):  
Emerging Markets ◽  
Risk Taking ◽  
Information Disclosure ◽  
Emerging Market ◽  
Generalized Method Of Moments ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Financing Cost ◽  
Market Index ◽  
Public Enemy ◽  
Corporate Risk

PurposeThis paper investigates the relationship between corruption and corporate risk-taking in emerging markets where corruption is considered as “public enemy number one.”Design/methodology/approachThe study measures corruption based on Corruption Control Index annually published by World Bank and examines how corruption affects corporate risk-taking in emerging markets covered in MSCI Emerging Market Index.FindingsWith a sample of 75,338 observations from 8,326 firms across 20 emerging stock markets during the period 2005–2016, the author finds that corruption negatively affects corporate risk-taking. Robustness checks with a reduced sample without China and India, alternatives of corruption measures, various measures of risk-taking and Generalized method of moments (GMM) estimator also show consistent results. Moreover, additional analysis shows that information disclosure mitigates the effect of corruption on risk-taking.Originality/valueThe extant literature implies that corruption may decrease corporate risk-taking behavior through two channels including operational cost and debt financing cost.

Corporate risk taking and sustainability: a case of listed firms from USA and Germany

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zahid Irhsad Younas ◽  
Ameena Zafar
Keyword(s):  
Risk Taking ◽  
Profit Maximization ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Least Square ◽  
Board Structure ◽  
Best Interest ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Listed Firms ◽  
Corporate Risk ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThis study aims to analyze the impact of corporate risk taking on the sustainability of firms in USA and Germany. As risk taking is an expensive phenomenon, the firm may shift the resources from stakeholder well-being to profit maximization of shareholders. Ultimately, risk taking results in the reduction of firm’s sustainability.Design/methodology/approachTo capture the impact of corporate risk taking, the corporate-governance variables, i.e. “independent board structure” and “board size,” were used as instrumental variables to control excessive corporate risk taking and restrict it at a healthy level. A sample of 3,387 unbalanced panel observations from USA and Germany, for the period 2004-2015, were assessed.FindingsThe results confirm that corporate risk taking has a negative and significant impact on the sustainability of firms.Research limitations/implicationsGovernment and policymakers in USA and Germany may introduce regulations to curb excessive corporate risk taking for sustainable corporations and sustainable society. This research suggests that corporate risk taking is not in the best interest of stakeholders.Originality/valuePrevious literature only finds the impact of sustainability on corporate risk taking and there is not a single study that examines the impact of corporate risk taking on the sustainability of a firm. Thus, this study contributes to existing literature on corporate risk taking and sustainability. The study further contributes by using the instrumental variable two stage least square.

How entrepreneurial orientation drives farmers' innovation differential in Ugandan coffee multi-stakeholder platforms

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 629-650
Author(s):  
Carlos Luis Barzola Iza ◽  
Domenico Dentoni
Keyword(s):  
Risk Taking ◽  
Entrepreneurial Orientation ◽  
Partial Least Square ◽  
Least Square ◽  
Entrepreneurial Intentions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
African Context ◽  
Key Dimensions ◽  
Multi Stakeholder

PurposeThis study explores the role of the key dimensions of farmers' entrepreneurial orientation – namely proactiveness, risk-taking, innovativeness and intentions – as drivers of product, process and market innovation in the context of one coffee MSP in Uganda.Design/methodology/approachEmpirical data from 152 coffee farmers were analyzed via confirmatory factor analysis and partial least square multi-variate statistics.FindingsFindings highlight, first, that farmers' proactiveness significantly drives their product innovation and, to a lesser extent, process innovation. This effect holds when considering key control variables, such as access to key resources and associated actors. Second, more surprisingly, farmers' innovativeness hampers market innovation. Third, entrepreneurial intentions per se did not play a significant role in farmers' innovation. Fourth, the adapted measurement of risk-taking from the Western literature did not suit well the Ugandan coffee farming context.Research limitations/implicationsThese results lead to methodological implications for the measurement of farmers' risk-taking, innovative and proactive attitudes, as well as market innovation in rural Africa. Furthermore, they expand the role farmers' entrepreneurial orientation on product, process and market innovation in a rural African context.Originality/valueMulti-stakeholder platforms (MSPs) are often claimed to play an important role in stimulating farmers' innovation and enhancing rural development. Nevertheless, little is known yet on if why some farmers participating in MSPs may innovate more than others. This paper addresses this gap by shedding light on the role of farmers' entrepreneurial orientation.

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