Unfinished Business: Nested Acquisitions, Managerial Capacity, and Firm Performance

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 1488-1516 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle L. Zorn ◽  
Jennifer C. Sexton ◽  
Manjot S. Bhussar ◽  
Bruce T. Lamont
Keyword(s):  
Firm Performance ◽  
Performance Outcomes ◽  
Matched Pair ◽  
Unfinished Business ◽  
Publicly Traded ◽  
Target Firm ◽  
Postacquisition Performance

We highlight a largely unstudied phenomenon that affects postacquisition performance: nested acquisitions. Nested acquisitions occur when a firm acquires a target firm that has itself recently acquired another firm. In our study of publicly traded U.S. acquirers and targets from 2000 to 2014, we theorize that nested acquirers face unique integration difficulties that reduce acquirer postacquisition performance. Specifically, we build on Penrosian logic and theorize that nested acquisitions tax the managerial capacity of the acquiring and acquired firms more than nonnested ones and that, as nested acquisition complexity increases due to variance within the embedded nested targets (i.e., greater number, more recent, less related, and larger nested targets), the drain on managerial capacity also increases. Ultimately, these challenges increase the likelihood of reduced postacquisition performance. Given these suggested difficulties, we theorize that retaining focal target managers can aid the acquiring firm and thereby help to reduce negative performance outcomes. In our unique sample of matched-pair firms, we find that nested acquisitions are associated with lower postacquisition performance but that retaining target firm managers can reduce this effect.

scholarly journals Does the CEO effect on performance differ in private versus public firms?

2021 ◽  
pp. 147612702110181
Author(s):  
Timothy J. Quigley ◽  
Francesco Chirico ◽  
Massimo Baù
Keyword(s):  
Firm Performance ◽  
Private Firm ◽  
Matched Pair ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Publicly Traded ◽  
Public Firms ◽  
Firm Profitability ◽  
Public Firm ◽  
Privately Held Firms ◽  
Privately Held

Scholars have long debated the effect CEOs have on firm performance, including a focus on how their effect shifts across industries, national settings, and time. Unexplored, however, is the possibility that the CEO effect might differ in publicly traded versus privately held firms. Drawing on a unique longitudinal sample of both publicly traded and large, privately held Swedish firms from 1997 to 2013, we replicate and build upon prior CEO effects studies and find that private-firm CEOs have a greater effect on firm performance, for good or for ill, than do their public firm counterparts. Our results are strengthened after controlling for industry, firm profitability, and size in a matched-pair sample. We discuss the implications and potential future research stemming from these findings.

Responding to “Discrediting” Events: Annual Report Disclosure Responses to Environmental Fines

2002 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hussein Warsame ◽  
Cynthia V. Simmons ◽  
Dean Neu
Keyword(s):  
Impression Management ◽  
Annual Report ◽  
Annual Reports ◽  
Matched Pair ◽  
Disclosure Quality ◽  
Publicly Traded ◽  
Environmental Disclosure ◽  
Environmental Disclosures ◽  
Disclosure Responses

In this study we consider how a discrediting event such as an environmental fine influences the quality of environmental disclosures in subsequent annual reports. Starting from prior work in the areas of impression management along with environmental and social responsibility disclosures, we propose that environmental disclosures provide organizations with a method of “managing” such discrediting events. Using a matched-pair sample of publicly traded Canadian companies that have been subject to environmental fines and those that have not; we analyze changes in pre-fine and post-fine environmental disclosure quality. After controlling for firm-specific characteristics, the provided results are consistent with this explanation.

Corporate governance practices and firm performance: a configurational analysis across corporate life cycles

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hala M. Amin ◽  
Ehab K.A. Mohamed ◽  
Mostaq M. Hussain
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Firm Performance ◽  
Analytical Approach ◽  
Research Study ◽  
Performance Outcomes ◽  
Life Cycles ◽  
Related Activity ◽  
Content Type ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Country Specific

Purpose This study aims to explore corporate governance (CG) practices that can lead to firms’ better performance in different organizational life cycles. The authors propose a configurational approach to explore how a set of CG practices combine in bundles to achieve high performance outcomes for firms across their corporate life cycles. Design/methodology/approach Fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis was used to analyze a sample of data of 21 countries and 9 industries. Data referred to the period of 9 years extending from the year 2005 to the year 2013. Findings This study reveals that there are multiple CG practices that exist through firms that can achieve high firm performance. Moreover, CG practices combine in different ways for firms in their growth, maturity and declining stages. Research limitations/implications This study demonstrates the value of using a configurational analytical approach to explore both the firm and country-specific CG practices (together) that engage firms to achieve the desired level of performance across the corporate life cycles. Practical implications The current study draws attention to the policymakers’ need to assess the current level of regulatory and competitive development of their countries and form policy accordingly. The approach used in the current research study not only offers the linkages between CG and performance to managers as incentives to comply with regulation but also to view CG-related activity as a strategic move. Social implications The approach used in the current research study not only offers the linkages between CG and performance to managers as incentives to comply with regulation but also to view CG-related activity as a strategic move. Originality/value This study broadening the focus of CG studies to include a rigorous explanation of the global CG phenomena and to provide effective solutions for the practitioners. Contribution to Impact This study demonstrates the value of using a configurational analytical approach to explore both the firm and country-specific CG practices (together) that engage firms to achieve the desired level of performance across the corporate life cycles.

Does family involvement matter post IPO? Adding value through advertising in family firms

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 218-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Atanas Nik Nikolov ◽  
Yuan Wen
Keyword(s):  
Firm Performance ◽  
Family Involvement ◽  
Family Business ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Family Firm ◽  
Family Businesses ◽  
Publicly Traded ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Family

PurposeThis paper brings together research on advertising, family business, and the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm to examine performance differences between publicly traded US family vs non-family firms. The purpose of this paper is to understand the heterogeneity of family vs non-family firm advertising after such firms become publicly traded.Design/methodology/approachThe authors draw on the RBV of the firm, as well as on extensive empirical literature in family business and advertising research to empirically examine the differences between family and non-family firms in terms of performance.FindingsUsing panel data from over 2,000 companies across ten years, this research demonstrates that family businesses have higher advertising intensity than competitors, and achieve higher performance returns on their advertising investments, relative to non-family competitors. The results suggest that the “familiness” of public family firms is an intangible resource that, when combined with their advertising investments, affords family businesses a relative advantage compared to non-family businesses.Research limitations/implicationsFamily involvement in publicly traded firms may contribute toward a richer resource endowment and result in creating synergistic effects between firm “familiness” and the public status of the firm. The paper contributes toward the RBV of the firm and the advertising literature. Limitations include the lack of qualitative data to ground the findings and potential moderating effects.Practical implicationsUnderstanding how family firms’ advertising spending influences their consequent performance provides new information to family firms’ owners and management, as well as investors. The authors suggest that the “familiness” of public family firms may provide a significant advantage over their non-family-owned competitors.Social implicationsThe implications for society include that the family firm as an organizational form does not need to be relegated to a second-class citizen status in the business world: indeed, combining family firms’ characteristics within a publicly traded platform may provide firm performance benefits which benefit the founding family and other stakeholders.Originality/valueThis study contributes by highlighting the important influence of family involvement on advertising investment in the public family firm, a topic which has received limited attention. Second, it also integrates public ownership in family firms with the family involvement–advertising–firm performance relationship. As such, it uncovers a new pathway through which the family effect is leveraged to increase firm performance. Third, this study also contributes to the advertising and resource building literatures by identifying advertising as an additional resource which magnifies the impact of the bundle of resources available to the public family firm. Fourth, the use of an extensive panel data set allows for a more complex empirical investigation of the inherently dynamic relationships in the data and thus provides a contribution to the empirical stream of research in family business.

GREEN INNOVATION ANDFIRM PERFORMANCE: THE ECOLOGICAL MODERNIZATION PERSPECTIVE

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (Number 1) ◽  
pp. 21-31
Author(s):  
Fadhilah Mohd. Zahari ◽  
T. Ramayah
Keyword(s):  
Firm Performance ◽  
Business Strategy ◽  
Performance Outcomes ◽  
Ecological Modernization ◽  
Economic Prosperity ◽  
Green Innovation ◽  
Sustainable Environment ◽  
Central Argument ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Economic Improvement

Green innovation is becoming an essential business strategy in the 21stcentury as it brings sustainable environment and economic prosperity hand in hand. Consequently, the impact of green innovation on firm performance has drawn enormous attention among the scholars for the past few decades, aiming at empirically justify the positive implications of being green in business. However, the analysis from the ecological modernization perspective remains limited, although the focus on preventive approach to achieve environmentaland economic improvement is the central argument of this theoretical lens. This study tackles the above issue by examining the performance outcomes of green innovation adoption in view of ecological modernization perspective. A quantitative, survey based study collected data from 130 Malaysian manufacturing firms, which was subsequently analyzed using SmartPLS 2.0. The findings generally corroborate the positive implications of green innovation on firm performance in the aspects of environment, economic and competitive advantage. Likewise, EM perspective fits in offering plausible insights of the findings, hence entails the alternative ground to be employed in other studies of the like.

The Relationship Between Work-Life Balance (WLB) and Firm Performance

2017 ◽  
pp. 402-411
Author(s):  
Choi Sang Long
Keyword(s):  
Firm Performance ◽  
Organizational Performance ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Longitudinal Research ◽  
Synergistic Effects ◽  
Performance Outcomes ◽  
Favorable Effect ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The Relationship

It is paramount that firms accurately assess the cost-effectiveness of WLB policies as initiatives to conduct such policies involve cost. WLB policies should be considered due to synergistic effects by employing a variety of policies. The benefits are usually under-estimated while the costs over-estimated, as the latter is easier to measure. Until longitudinal research is conducted, we cannot discount the possibility that successful organizations are more likely to offer WLB practices, and that the practices themselves are not exerting any favorable effect on organizational performance. Instead, it might simply be that organizations offering WLB practices are more predisposed to engaging in high-quality management practices and that this approach usually generates a positive effect on employees and performance outcomes. Thus, we can surmise that improved firm performance is a result of effective management usually associated with the implementation of WLB policies in the workplace, and not solely because of WLB per se.

scholarly journals Refining the influence of family involvement in management on firm performance: The mediating role of technological innovation efficiency

2020 ◽  
pp. 234094442095733
Author(s):  
Rubén Martínez-Alonso ◽  
María J. Martínez-Romero ◽  
Alfonso A. Rojo-Ramírez
Keyword(s):  
Firm Performance ◽  
Technological Innovation ◽  
Family Involvement ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Performance Outcomes ◽  
Jel Classification ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Mediating Role ◽  
Research Fields ◽  
Family Involvement In Management

Determining what factors influence firm performance constitutes an essential issue in both the management and the family firm research fields. This article, building on the resource-based view perspective, develops a mediation model that involves a unique intervening mechanism, namely, technological innovation efficiency (TI efficiency), with the potential to explain the inconsistencies found in prior work on the ways through which family involvement in management affects performance outcomes. Regression analyses utilizing a longitudinal sample of 1,118 Spanish private firms largely support the hypothesized mediating relationship, revealing that TI efficiency leads to richer firm performance in family firms with active family involvement in management. Overall, our findings help elucidate the black box of performance outcomes within family firms and make several contributions to theory and practice. JEL CLASSIFICATION L25; M12; O32

New evidence of the relationship between employee satisfaction and firm economic performance

2015 ◽  
Vol 44 (6) ◽  
pp. 906-929 ◽  
Author(s):  
Santiago Melián-González ◽  
Jacques Bulchand-Gidumal ◽  
Beatriz González López-Valcárcel
Keyword(s):  
Firm Performance ◽  
Organizational Performance ◽  
Employee Satisfaction ◽  
Performance Outcomes ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Worker Satisfaction ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Level Performance

Purpose – Employee satisfaction appears in any discussion about how employees can contribute to organizational performance. The purpose of this paper is to test the relationship between employee satisfaction and organizational performance; this later measured with three firm-level performance outcomes (return over assets, operating margin, and revenue per employee). Design/methodology/approach – At different times and from two independent sources the authors obtained firms’ data about worker attitudes and financial and productivity performance, respectively. The analyzed sample of 475 firms is the biggest among the studies that analyze performance and employee satisfaction at the firm level. The impact of employee satisfaction over firm performance was assessed. Findings – Overall satisfaction and satisfaction with senior leadership, compensation, and work/life balance, respectively impact firm performance. Research limitations/implications – The ratings come from both employees and ex-employees and the individual characteristics were unknown. Additionally as an internet-based sample there has been a lack of control over the individuals’ response process. Practical implications – Managers have evidence about the importance of their employees’ satisfaction on firm performance, and on how the facets involved on worker satisfaction impact the performance. Social implications – Employer review web sites are increasing their popularity. However, unlike the marketing field with consumers HR area has not taken advantage of this trend. The found results may contribute to highlight the importance of this kind of data. Originality/value – Hitherto there is only one empirical evidence about the positive role of worker satisfaction in objective and financial firm level performance. That was based in best-firms type data. The current study draws in a big sample independent of this kind of rankings. Additionally, the job facet satisfaction conceptualization considered demonstrates the usefulness of this way to understand the employee satisfaction.

Clarity of CSR orientation and firm performance: case of Japanese SMEs

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 1581-1596 ◽  
Author(s):  
YeJin Park ◽  
YoungWon Park ◽  
Paul C. Hong ◽  
Soye Yang
Keyword(s):  
Firm Performance ◽  
Resource Constraints ◽  
Performance Outcomes ◽  
Valuable Insight ◽  
Entrepreneurial Firms ◽  
Research Model ◽  
Linkage Mechanism ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Csr Orientation

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how clarity of corporate social responsibility (CSR) orientation of Japanese small and medium enterprises (SMEs) achieves constructive firm performance outcomes. Design/methodology/approach On the basis of the literature review, the authors present a research model that defines key constructs and provide propositions that explain the interrelationships with theoretical rationale and practical implications. Using careful selection criteria, the authors have further conducted the in-depth interviews of the executives of two prominent Japanese SMEs. Findings The results suggest that CEOs with strong CSR orientation are more likely to influence their firms to achieve effective firm performance. If CSR philosophy is strategically formulated, clearly communicated, and widely accepted, then such firm is more likely to attain desirable business performance outcomes for larger stakeholders. Furthermore, CSR implementation of SMEs is not necessarily too costly; in fact, the long-term rate of return on SMEs’ CSR investment, with proper priority and prudent focus, is quite competitive. Research limitations/implications In spite of the specificity of the two case studies, the research model and the study findings give valuable insight on the role of CEO’s philosophy on CSR implementation in the international market. The linkage mechanism between business operation and CSR by these SMEs is applicable to many innovative entrepreneurial firms that target beyond domestic markets. Originality/value The authors highlight how the clarity of CSR philosophy in terms of firm orientation and linkage mechanism aids SMEs in overcoming their resource constraints. Furthermore, well-implemented CSR activities may become instrumental in achieving long-term desirable performance in the form of customer loyalty, employee’s sense of pride, and corporate socio-economic reputation.

Learning organization and firm performance

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 689-708
Author(s):  
C. Muhammad Siddique
Keyword(s):  
Resource Management ◽  
Firm Performance ◽  
Human Resource Management ◽  
Human Resource ◽  
Learning Organization ◽  
Organizational Support ◽  
Performance Outcomes ◽  
Superior Performance ◽  
Gulf Region ◽  
Content Type

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify organizational resources that may enhance the performance outcomes of a learning culture; this study was undertaken in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), an emerging economy in the Arabian Gulf region. Design/methodology/approach A survey questionnaire was used to collect data on a sample of 254 firms from the Emirates of Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The target respondents included middle to senior managers working in logistics, operations, finance and general management positions. Findings The data revealed a positive relationship between learning organization (LO) initiatives and four measures of firm performance considered in the study: employee skills development, product/service innovation, cost-effectiveness and growth in revenues. This relationship was moderated by strategic orientation of the human resource management function and perceived organizational support. Effective HRM strategies and organizational support systems were identified as critical resources that can add substantial value to the performance outcomes of an LO culture. These findings suggest that investing in the development of an LO culture makes a good business sense. Research limitations/implications Use of perceptual measures was one of the major limitations of the present study. Practical implications The largely positive impact of LO-related programs underscores the strategic importance of the LO concept to maintain superior performance outcomes in the emerging knowledge economy of UAE. Originality/value The paper represents an initial effort at making a business case for the LO concept in a non-western context. It brings into focus the role of organizational support and strategically oriented human resource management initiatives in optimizing the performance impact an LO culture.

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